Crackhead II: A Novel (27 page)

When the girls arrived in the business district it was packed. They found a parking spot and Laci squeezed her way into it. “Damn, shit poppin’ down here,” Shaunna said, getting out of the car and hoisting her two-year-old on her hip. She closed the door and grabbed the stroller out of the trunk for her baby. Laci went
to her and helped unfold the stroller, but neither Tonette nor Monique offered to help.

Plopping the carrier into the stroller, all four girls walked down the strip. Not only were they checking out the niggas, but the niggas were checking them out, too. Laci saw a couple of faces from her past, but the memories were vague. She couldn’t remember if they’d fucked her or supplied her with what she needed, or both. It didn’t matter though. She had something for them too if they approached her.

The strip was the hot spot for hustlers. They hung out there not only for quick and easy trade, but to get first dibs on a honey that nobody in the Bronx had been up in.

The girls walked into Zales and looked around. They let Laci do her thing, because diamonds didn’t mean anything to them.

“Come here, girls,” Laci said after the clerk put a row of earrings on the counter. “Look at this.”

The girls came over and ogled the perfect stones, and they nodded with approval.

“Would you like to fill out a credit app?” the clerk asked happily. She was looking for commission and was doing everything she could to secure it.

“Sure,” Laci told her and began filling out the paperwork.

The girls looked at her like
yeah, we knew you were gonna pull this shit.
Within minutes, Laci spoke loudly, “That’s fine. I didn’t want your funky-ass earrings anyway.” She stormed out of the store. The girls looked on and mouthed to each other,
what the fuck just happened?

“Fuck that heifer,” Laci mumbled angrily as she stomped away. “Said my credit ain’t been approved.”

They made their way to Pandora’s Fashions and browsed until Tonette saw a store she liked.

“Yo, let me stop here,” she announced once she saw the Gold Palace jewelry store. They all walked in, and Tonette’s gray eyes lit up as she looked at the new styles of name-plate necklaces. After careful deliberation, she chose the style she wanted and ordered one.

“Make that two,” Laci said to the man behind the counter. “One for me and one for her. We’ll be back in an hour. They’ll be ready then, right?”

“Yes ma’am,” he told them.

The girls went to Kentucky Fried Chicken to grab a bite to eat. They ran into some guys who wanted to holla, so they bummed around with them to pass the time.

As promised, the girls returned to the Gold Palace to pick up their orders. Tonette took her name-plate out of the small plastic bag and admired her name, spelled out in small gold letters. She already had a big one, but the small one was perfect. Laci put hers in her bag and the girls headed out of the store.

They window-shopped a little more and left around eight
P.M
. They all piled in Laci’s mother’s car and as they rode, none of the girls, especially Tonette, could believe the change in Laci. She had gone from stuck-up to hood rich, and Tonette liked the new Laci.
If she was like this when I first met her, hell, I wouldn’t have turned her out,
she thought to herself.

“Y’all wanna get into something else tonight?” Laci asked once they got back to Tonette’s and got settled. She helped Shaunna change her son’s diaper and went into the bathroom to wash her hands. “Y’all wanna hit the clubs or something?” she asked once she’d returned, wiping her hands on her jeans.

“Damn, girl, you off the chain,” Tonette remarked, seeing just how down Laci was now.

“Nah, I’m cool,” Monique said truthfully. “I gotta work tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Shaunna replied.

“What?” Monique looked at her like she was crazy. “Bitch, you ain’t got no damn job.”

“That’s right, and I don’t want none either,” Shaunna snapped back. “This check I get every month does me just fine!”

Laci looked at her girls and laughed. “That’s cool,” she told them all. “I’ll just holla at y’all tomorrow.” She walked toward the door. “Oh, I forgot, I have a little present for you.” Laci reached into her bag and pulled out three small burgundy boxes and handed them to each of her friends. “Don’t ever say I ain’t never give you nothing,” she laughed.

The girls were amazed when they saw one-carat diamond studs.

“Laci, how did you—”

“Girl, please.” Laci smacked her lips. “That was a piece of cake. They fell right into my purse. Oops,” Laci joked. “I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” She burned out.

When Tonette got back to her apartment, she sat back on her living room couch, with one leg over the arm. She thought the new Laci was cool, but it was all too coincidental.
I know this shit can’t be real,
she thought to herself.
I know this bitch ain’t go from a prissy heifa, to a crackhead, to this shit overnight. I’ma put her to the test and see if this is real.

BEFORE SHE GOT
home, Laci paged Officer Jones.

“Yo, who dis?” he yelled into the receiver.

“This is Laci.”

“Oh yeah. How’s it going?”

“Officer Jones, can you meet me at the park on 159th? I need to talk to you.” Within twenty minutes, Laci was sitting inside Officer Jones’s car.

She told him, “I overheard Dink and Smurf talking about a dossier before. What was in it? If it can incriminate Dink, I gotta do something about it.”

He knew she could do nothing about the street shit, but he remembered one piece of paper that he’d seen. Dink’s account numbers.

“Before Dink left, what did he do with his money?”

“Um,” Laci had to think back, “he closed his accounts. Why?”

“Damn.” He rubbed his chin.

“What’s wrong?”

“Even though they’re closed, it’s traceable.”

“Can you get me some money?” Laci asked.

“What? How?”

“You a cop. When ya’ll apprehend drug dealers, don’t you get money from them?”

“Well, yeah,” Officer Jones smiled.

“Can you get me some? How much unaccountable money can get someone in trouble?”

“Um, about five to ten G’s.”

Laci thought about it. “Well, can you get me ten G’s? You’ll get it back on Friday, I promise.”

Officer Jones thought about her request. “Let me see what I can do. Hit me up in the morning.”

Back at home, Laci’s nerves got the better of her. She even threw up a few times. It disgusted her to be near those heifas.
Keep going
, she told herself.
You can’t stop now.

T
HE NEXT MORNING,
Laci awakened, still throwing up. She didn’t know if it was the pregnancy or the fact that she would have to see the girls again. In the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror. “What are you doing?” she asked herself, looking at who she had become. Laci splashed cold water on her face.

Just as she turned to go out of the bathroom, her phone rang.

She answered with a groggy, “Hello?”

“Hey Laci, what you doing, girl?” Laci knew it was Shaunna, because she heard a baby crying in the background.

“Shit, nothing right now.” Laci yawned. “What’s up? The kids okay?”

“Um . . . do you think you can swing by and pick me up? I don’t wanna drag the baby on the damn bus. He’s sick.”

Laci looked at the clock. It was eight-thirty in the morning and she had somewhere to be at nine. “A’ight,” she told Shaunna. “I’ll be there in about an hour.”

Margaret walked into Laci’s room. She wanted to hang out today, but she thought she’d heard Laci come in very early that morning. She had been keeping strange hours and Margaret was
concerned. Seeing that she wasn’t in her bedroom, Margaret walked to the bathroom door and tried to open it. It was locked.

“Laci, Laci!” Margaret called out.

“Yes, Mom?”

“Sweetheart, you okay?”

“Yes, Mom, I’m fine,” Laci told her.

“Come out here. I want to see you.”

“Mom!” Laci yelled.

“Now!” Margaret responded forcefully.

Laci opened the bathroom door and looked at her mother. “Yes, Mom.” Laci had straightened her hair, but she decided not to say anything about it.

“Sweetheart, are you okay? Were you throwing up?”

“I was just a little sick earlier, that’s all.”

Margaret looked at her daughter. “Laci, I have to ask.”

“No, Mom, I’m not.” Laci was hurt that her mother would think that she was back on drugs, but she couldn’t blame her. Laci knew that her behavior had been different lately, but rightfully so. She just couldn’t tell her mother what she was doing. Laci now knew what Dink meant when he said the less she knew, the better off she was, and he was right.

“You wanna do something today? I haven’t really spent any time with you over the last couple of days.”

“Um . . . Mom,” Laci stuttered, “I’m meeting some friends, but I promise, we’ll do something.” She pulled up her Jordache jeans, put on a pink sweatshirt, and laced up her pink Reeboks.

“Why are you dressed like that, Laci?” Margaret asked.

Laci didn’t respond. She just grabbed her purse and kissed her mother on the way out of the house. “I’ll see you later, Mom.”

AFTER MEETING WITH
Officer Jones, Laci pulled up to the parking lot of the First Bank of New York, where Dink used to bank. First Bank was well known as the place where hustlers kept their stash and nobody asked questions.

Dink was smart, though. Unlike most hustlers, he deposited money weekly into his accounts, as if he had a real job. Most cats got busted when they made hefty deposits without a traceable source of income.

She waited in line until she was called.

“Next!” the teller yelled.

Laci walked up to the window.

“Um . . . yeah,” Laci spoke, in true ghetto-girl fashion. “I need to reopen my man’s account but I need my name on it.”

The teller looked on in disgust, wondering how she’d pulled a hustler. “Here,” she snapped, handing her two half-sheets of paper, “fill this out, and I need to copy your ID or driver’s license.”

Laci handed the teller her photo ID along with the two completed sheets. Moments later, the teller handed Laci the cashier’s check she’d requested in addition to a key to the safety deposit box she had just rented.

“Thank you, Ms. Thomas, and come again,” the teller said.

“Thank you,” Laci said, “and I’ll be back.”

It was colder than normal for a November day and Laci was glad she’d dressed appropriately. After she left the bank, she gave Officer Jones the updated account information, then arrived at Shaunna’s four hours after she’d told her she would be there, making it a point to be late only to see what Shaunna was going to do or say. Surprisingly, she said nothing.

Laci helped Shaunna get her baby in the car.

“Where’s the lil’ man?” Laci asked of her two-year-old son.

“At the babysitter, girl. She just lives a few blocks over. I need a break.”

“I understand.” Laci helped put the stroller in the trunk and helped secure the baby in the car seat. “So where we rollin’?” She asked after Shaunna got in the car. She looked at her quizzically. “You alright?”

Shaunna looked at Laci. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m about to fuckin’ lose it,” she told Laci truthfully.

“What’s wrong?”

“Girl, look at me,” she said sharply. “I’m eighteen years old, got two kids in diapers, and neither one of my baby daddies are around.” Shaunna looked like she was going to cry. “I ain’t got a damn job, no real transportation, but I was ridin’ dirty anyway when them niggas was stickin’ they dick in me, try’na knock my ass up. Shit, my life is fucked up, Laci, that’s what’s wrong.”

“No it’s not, Shaunna, it could be a lot worse.”

“A lot worse, how?”

“Shit, you could be homeless, strung out on drugs, or being beaten.”

“Yeah, but that might be better than me being stuck with kids and can’t provide for them.”

Laci began to feel sorry for her, and reached over and hugged her. Shaunna was grateful, because she felt the sincerity come through Laci’s hug.

“Why, Laci?”

“Why what?”

“You know what we did to you, so why are you so nice?” Shaunna said, breaking the embrace.

“What do you mean, why am I so nice?”

“I mean, I called Tonette earlier to see if she could run me around. She told me flat-out no. You know Monique is at the
post office but when I call you, you come. You even ask about my kids. The other girls never do. With the shit we did to you, why would you still fuck with us?”

Laci paused momentarily to gather the right words. “Y’all had a problem with me,” she pointed to herself, “but I never had a problem with y’all.” Laci was serious in her admission. “I considered you my friends back then and regardless of what happened, I consider you my friends now, and friends help each other out, right?” Shaunna nodded her head. “As far as your kids go, they’re kids. They’ve never done anything to me.”

“I guess you’re right,” Shaunna said. She couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Laci forced out a few droplets of her own. She did care about Shaunna’s children. She felt bad for them because her kids were given a bad start at life by having Shaunna as a mother. They didn’t know their fathers, and unfortunately, Shaunna’s choices would dictate how they lived.

Shaunna gained her composure and wiped her face. “Um . . . okay, can you run me down to Southview? I know someone in Housing and they supposed to hook me up with a two-bedroom. Right now that one-bedroom ain’t workin’ no more.”

“A’ight, we on our way.” Laci took off, hoping to show Shaunna her new home but canvassing the spot for herself, too.

An hour later, they were leaving Southview and Shaunna looked over at Laci. “Well, what did you think?”

“Think about what?”

“The apartment.”

“It’s fine.”

“Really? Do you think so?”

Laci knew what she was getting at. Shaunna wanted her approval. She really didn’t give a fuck where Shaunna lived. Most snakes lived under rocks, but she couldn’t tell her that.

“Yeah, it’s fine. The kids will share a room and you got that big room with the huge-ass walk-in closet.”