Country Boy (13 page)

“Aiight y ‘all, I’m out. “

Q said goodbye to everybody and they left the salon. “So where to ma?” He said to Tee.

“My place,” she said sarcastically.

“Ah come on ma? I’m starving.”

“Me too,” she said reaching behind him gently massaging his neck. “How about Pizza Hut?”

“That’s cool wit’ me, he said now feeling intoxicated from her touch. They talked about a lot of different things while they enjoyed lunch.

She spoke, “You know Terri’s madly in love don’t you?”

“Yeah. But she’s not the only one in love. Tim was the last person I ever thought would slow down.”

“Maybe his accident changed his outlook on life. Some people have to go through certain things before reality sets in. Sometimes those trials are life threatening, causing them to stop taking things for granted. I don’t know exactly how Tim feels because I haven’t been around him much since the shooting, but I see Terri every day, Q. She loves that boy so much it ain’t funny. If something was to happen to him, or if he was taken away from her for some reason, she wouldn’t live. It seems to me like Tim was that missing link in her life. Nothing matters to her right now except Lil’ Ty and Tim’s safety.”

“Well he’ll be coming home soon ma,” Q told her.

“For real?” said Tee.

“Yeah ma, the doctors are planning on releasing him in a couple weeks. He’ll still have to continue his therapy three times a week.”

“What are you two gonna do for your birthdays?” asked Tee.

“His birthday is before mine ma."

She interrupted him. “They're only two days apart Q!”

“Well The Crew was thinking about having his party on the day of the bike rally.”

“That would be nice Q I’m sure everyone misses him. Someone is getting old,” she said fiddling with the last piece of pizza.

“Nah ma, I’m still twenty four right now!” He laughs. After spending nearly three hours together Q dropped Tee back of at the salon. Looking over in the passenger seat at her Q could see her meek expression telling him she wasn’t ready for him to leave. He broke her silence. “Baby you think that maybe I could come over a little later?”

She smiled giving him her answer. “My bed is always home to you Q.”

“I didn’t say bed ma...”

“But I did,” she said cutting him off. After kissing him on the cheek she climbed out of the car.

“See you tonight.”

“Aiight shawty.”

Picking up his cell phone Q dialed a number.

Ring ... Ring. .. “Hello.”

“Hello, may I speak to Keonne?”

“Daddy, daddy, hey daddy, you coming to get me?”

“Wait, slow down lil’ lady. I haven’t heard my favorite words yet.”

“I love you daddy.”

“I love you too lil’ mama. After talking to Keonne and her mother, Q headed for his kennel. As he was driving his mind began to drift back to Da Da. Just thinking about that hoe ass nigga made heat waves rise in front of his face. Killing him was easy. Da Da had showed no remorse so why should he. By the time Baby Rasta had arrived Da Da was already dead.

Yuma, his sister, had offered to dispose of the body, but Q had something different in mind. Thinking of Yuma he kept coming to the same conclusion... Killer. Whatever or whoever had crossed her in the past had created a monster. Her most deadly weapon was her beauty. She watched in silence as Q raised his pistols shooting Da Da. But before death could set in she slowly walked past Q’s still outstretched arms and straddled Da Da’s twitching body. Pulling his blood soaked head up to hers she tongue kissed him. Q had only heard of the kiss of death before. Now he had witnessed it.

Pulling into his kennel he saw a lot of commotion coming from the side of the yard where Skull was kept. All the other dogs were going crazy. Q jumped out of his car running towards his storage building. One of his dogs had broken loose and run into Skull. Finally after opening the lock, Q grabbed two break-sticks and a leash then ran in the direction of the fight. When he reached Skull’s chain space he found his best forty-one pound male named Tyson going toe to toe with Skull. Tyson was smaller than Skull but he was all bulldog. Q had rolled them against each other as young dogs. They had been arch rivals ever since. No matter how far he separated them on the kennel yard, whichever one got loose they found the other one. “Damn,” he said to himself. “Tyson how tha fuck did you get off yo’ chain.” Breaking up two pitbulls was hard enough with two people, but by yourself was damn near impossible unless you were experienced with doing it. Skull was still on his chain, which was good for Q but bad for him. It was too easy for a dog to get tangled in his chain causing him to break a leg. Q looked at both dogs as they fought for the best hold. After further examining them he could tell they had only been fighting for a few minutes. There was no use in trying to break them now. Especially by himself. Both dogs were still fresh. Q grabbed a bucket of water and sat down to watch two of his best bulldogs trying their best to please him by killing one another.

After an hour and fifteen minutes Q picked his leash up and walked over to the two dogs. Both of them were sweating heavy. He hooked the leash to Tyson’s collar then pulled one of the break-sticks from his pocket. They both sensed the break-up of the fight and began biting each other hard again. Q then pulled Tyson and Skull both to the end of Skulls chain. He held them there while sticking the break-stick in Tyson’s mouth. Skull didn’t want to let go but he only had an ear hold. Releasing his hold Q snatched Tyson back out of reach. They both screamed wanting to go back. A tired Q smiled to himself knowing that’s what every serious bulldog owner loves to hear coming from his two warriors. No amount of pussy or money can replace that feeling.

Once the two dogs were treated for their wounds Q fed the rest of them and headed home. At home he messed around in the garage until he saw Van pulling in the driveway. Bear jumped around happy to see Van as well. She still had her nursing outfit on.

“Hey Baby”, she said getting out of the car.

Q grabbed her and picked her up. “Hummm, that feels good,” they both say. Closing the door with his feet he carried her inside the house. Bear growled showing jealousy.

“Shut up Bear, we’ve had plenty of time together,” said Van. Q took Van straight to the shower.

“Baby I missed you,” she said now breathing heavy as he undressed her. He took his time bathing her body. She was sensitive to his every touch. After drying her off, he rubbed on his favorite body lotion, watermelon/raspberry. Van was exhausted. He massaged her until she was snoring lightly. He then showered himself and climbed back in bed beside her for some much needed R & R. A knock at the door woke them from their deep sleep. Q reached for one of his Colts off the night stand. Leaving the bedroom he noticed Bear was nowhere to be found. The flood lights outside were on. Reaching the door Q didn’t use the peep-hole. Instead he stepped to the side and calmly said

“Who dat’?”

Pointing the infa-red at the center of the door.

“It’s me Q,” a familiar voice yelled on the other side of the door.

“And hurry up before this damn dog lick me to death.”

It was Kiki. Opening the door Q laughed as Bear had Kiki penned in one corner licking her face.

“Get this damn dog Q.”

“Aiight baby sis.”

After moving Bear Q got his first look at Kiki’s stomach. “Damn Kiki, what the hell is that,” he asked pointing?

“It’s your God-son Q and I’ll be glad when he gets here. He about to kick me to death. Where’s Van?”

“In the bedroom asleep ma.”

“We’ll let her know I made it here,” Kiki said as she wobbled towards the kitchen.

Van interrupts them, “Who can sleep with all this noise gurl?”

She turned to Q and handed him the phone. “It’s June,” she said while following Kiki in the kitchen.

“What up my nigga?” Q said into the phone.

“What’s up Q? Baby’s here homie. He says it’s important that he talk to you.”

“Aiight homie, I’m on the way.”

“Yo’ Van, I’ll be back as soon as I can ma.”

“You need to, we’ve got some unfinished business Baby!” “Aiight sexy, I can’t hardly wait!”

The Setup

Baby Rasta was waiting on The Block for Q. They sat in the Chill-Grill and talked.

“You know they found the body to day mun,” said Rasta.

“The po-po got that strip on fire mun. People scared to death Q.”

“Did Inga put the body where she was told Baby Rasta?”

“Yeah mun, Inga do as she told mun.”

Word had spread quickly about Da Da’s death. Baby Rasta had only told what he knew. All over the news was they had found a body in the dumpster without its head. Q had started to think it wasn’t Da Da until they matched his tattoos. “But what happened to his head?” he thought. Then it hit him... Yuma. Had she cut Da Da’s head off? From the way she had stuck her tongue in his mouth giving him the kiss of death; Q felt she was capable of anything. He contemplated asking Rasta but quickly changed his mind.

Baby Rasta told Q all of Tex’s hangouts. He had a complete layout of his daily routine.

“Ras’, you and your sister have done more than enough. Me and The Crew can handle it from here.”

No mun. We family. You have problem mun, we have problem. It’s Respect mun.”

“Yeah Rasta, much respect.” Q was able to convince Baby Rasta to promise him that he and his sister would step to the side when it came time to settle up with Tex. He had promised Tex a killing if they ever crossed paths again. Even if it meant dying in the process.

***

Tex had called a meeting with all of him and Da Da’s workers. Most of the younger runners were shook. One of the young hustlers spoke, “Tex, whoever did this was one vicious mothafucka homie. They cut Da Da’s head off.”

Tex responded, “Yeah Lil’ Bushwick, they fucked our homie up. Caught him slippin’. Da Da was a walking street Bible. Whoever set him up was close to him.”

The whole group of hustlers began staring at each other.

“Wait a minute niggas. I know it wasn’t any of y’all. If it was you would already be dead. I didn’t call this meeting to point fingers. Somebody knows something. If not us then who? That’s what we’ve got to find out. First we pay our respect to our homie, then its back on the grind.”

“Has anyone gotten a look at our new connects face?”

“I didn’t get a good look but it was a female.” This was spoken by Ham. “

Do you remember what she was driving?” Tex asked.

“Yeah homie, it was dark but I’ll remember the car if I see it.”

“Good. Everybody listen up.”

He gave a description of the car then informed everybody to be on the lookout. They were to page him immediately and keep track of where she went.

After hitting everybody off with their work Tex and Ham sat alone across the street from the Mini-Mart.

“Da Da was good peoples, Tex. From the looks of it he never had a chance,” said Ham.

“That nigga had plenty of chances Ham. I asked Da Da time and time again to let me meet this new connect. I’m willing to bet my life that greed got the best of him.”

“What if his connect had nothing to do with it Tex? I don’t see no female being that gangster. They cut our homies head off Tex.”

Tex sat in silence, his mind racing. The connect was a woman, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have had men waiting. Hell, she could have killed Da Da herself. This hustle game brought all types of shit to the table. Tex mind lapsed further into the past, now oblivious to his conversation with Ham.

His thoughts turned to Dirk. Him and Da Da had thrown Dirk’s body into a dumpster behind the old Bait & tackle shop outside the Boro. Coincidence was a mothafucka, but there wasn’t enough money in the world to make Tex feel that Da Da was thrown in the same dumpster as Dirk’s by chance. Whoever killed Da Da had to know he was linked to Dirk’s death. “Was it those

P.G. niggas?” he thought to himself. “Damn Tex, you alright homie?” “Yea Ham, I’m cool, I was just thinking ‘bout our boy.” “I feel you. Shit’s fucked up.” After dropping Ham off on the strip. Tex rode to the carwash to meet his favorite group of winos. They would be waiting for him to come through for his daily clean-up.

***

Da Da’s funeral was packed with the typical people you have when a street soldier falls victim to The Game. Fainting family members everywhere, baby mama’s trying to fight one another. Instead of grieving for the headless corpse lying in the bronze casket.

A week after the funeral Da Da’s head was found in the trunk of his car behind the rock quarry in Lilesville, NC outside

Wadesboro. Da Da’s mother couldn’t go through another service, so she had his body exhumed and placed his head with the rest of him.

Kiki

“Hurry up Q, the contractions are nine minutes apart” yelled Van.

“I’m going twenty-five miles over the speed limit now.”

“Calm her down, said Q. “You have to keep her calm.”

Van continued to relax Kiki as much as she could. “Kiki just relax and breath like you did in class.”

“Fuck the class, this shit hurts” Kiki yelled.

At the hospital the doctors were already waiting for Kiki to arrive. Her contractions were now three minutes apart. She was in labor. Van went into the delivery room while Q waited restlessly out front.

Four hours, thirty minutes later he walked in Kiki’s room and held his godson for the first time.

Kiki broke down when she saw the tears rolling down Q’s face. She had never seen him show emotions before. Wrapping her arms around him Van spoke.

“She named him Umar Jr. Isn’t that beautiful Q?”

“Yeah ma, he looks just like my nigga.”

Lil Umar weighed 8 pounds and 4 ounces. Kiki’s room was almost full with blue balloons and cards from all of Kiki’s and Umar’s family and friends. Reading all of the cards made Q think of his own family. He never involved them in his lifestyle. After his mother and father divorced they still remained good friends. His siblings, which consisted of two sisters, were his heart. Fucking with any of them was a good way to die.