A Ghetto Story

The next morning I got up too late so my mom took Anthony Jr. to school, then came back to pick me up so I could go by my Brenda’s house. She ended up becoming one of my best friends. We use to party together and at one time we lived next door to each other. I remember one time we went out to this club in Downtown, and we both had our packages on us. My drugs was in my bra, Brenda had hers’ in her underwear, and forgot she put it there. She went to pee and accidentally flushed it down the toilet. That shit was so funny because we were both drinking, not drunk but with a nice buzz on. Anyway, Brenda and I are still the best of friends to this day, we still laugh about the $200 she flushed that night. As I was saying, we were on the way to Brenda’s house. I had my 4 month old son in the back seat and I was in the front passenger seat. My mom was driving her ford bronco she had just bought from her brother. I looked over at my mom and her hand fell off the wheel, that day changed my life forever. I grabbed the steering wheel and took us off the road away from traffic. She had a massive heart attack. She never told us how sick she was, she loved us to much to hurt us like that. A week before that she told me that she prayed to God all the time to die before us. She didn’t like the reality that a lot of parents have had to bury their children. I flagged down cars and blew the horn screaming for help. At the same time I was trying to give my mom CPR. The doctors told me that what I did was the right thing to do. I called my sister and told her our mom had a heart attack, she was on the next bus to Charleston. When she got there, we had to give her the bad news that our queen was gone. I never saw my sister cry like that, I felt so bad because she called while her bus made a stop to Atlanta, Georgia and we lied and told her she was still alive. I just didn’t want to upset her like that while she was on the road. Once she had arrived in Charleston, my brother and I met her at the bus station and gave her a diamond ring our mother had left her. And then told her, “our queen is gone!” We stood there and cried for a while. We got back in the Ford Bronco my mom left me and went to Bernard's house to get our thoughts together. Later that evening we decided to go to Kingstree, SC, to plan our mother's funeral. After our mom’s Funeral I gave the dope game a rest. I left Big G about an ounce of work I had left, and I gave that junkie Tony, who shoes I took, a few stones, then I moved to Memphis with my sister and her boyfriend. It was January, 4 1995. About four months after me and my 2 boys moved in, they got married. Memphis was a beautiful and dangerous city. I loved their style and the way the people spoke, my children enjoyed the change. I had moved to a new city, new faces, new men, new life. When I first got there, someone had just killed his ex girlfriend, so to tell you the truth my sister was afraid for me to get my own place. So I stayed with her and her husband. Memphis was pretty crazy, it seemed like everybody down there was on that “get it how you live” mind frame. We lived in a area called White Haven or some called it “Black Haven.” Mostly every pay phone I walked by had the change holder ripped out. I remember one night we heard an alarm sounding. The alarm went off from about 9:00 that night until the next morning. The next day we found out that it was the Radio Shack that we lived behind. By the time the police checked on it, it was cleaned out! Shortly after that, I was at a car wash cleaning up my truck. I was talking to my sister and this guyvasked us where we were from, he liked our accents. We exchanged numbers, later that day he came by to visit, or scope the scene! We smoked a blunt and got to know each other a little bit. I got to use the bathroom and when I came out he was gone. It seemed really odd to me so I checked the house to see if anything was missing. I noticed that my closet was missing something, the cock sucker had taken a $400 I bought some time back. I then grabbed up my boys, hopped in my Bronco, and went on the prowl! I knew the nigga was on feet so I stopped the closest bus I saw. He was on it! He went through the back door, ran across a highway and started leaping fences. I got back in my truck and started chasing him. He ended up running by a school house and when I saw him I tried to ram him with my truck. He jumped across a few more gates then I lost him. I looked for him for a little more that day, if I had caught him I knew I would have shot him. I had too much stress on me! I just buried my mother and that type of shit I wasn't going for. My philosophy was that I can rob you but you bet not ever rob me! Later that week me and my sister decided to go to Wal-Mart. I had been there about 4 months so I was still in mourning. I pulled in the parking lot and took a space while someone was backing out, I guess I came I the wrong way but I didn't give a fuck! Some young ladies in a car were waiting also but I took the space. She circled the parking lot then found a space much closer to the store then I was. As me, my sister and my kids walked towards the store, they stood at the trunk of their car and waited for us to approach. The driver said, “Excuse me, that was wrong what you did! I was waiting for that parking space and you took it. I said, “Look, it's too hot for this shit! I'm not from here, nobody had a name on that space, leave it alone.” Me and my family proceeded in the store and my son Anthony grabbed a buggy. My sister carried Richard on her hip. The girl grabbed a buggy also, followed us to the clothing area and tried to hit my sister with her buggy. She missed! But she did hit my son Richard's foot.