Authors: Kevin Bullock
Big Tab wasn’t the type to rub things in, so he dropped the subject. Plus, he knew that there was going to be some days that he wasn’t going to be late.
“What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get out?” asked Big Tab. He then started curling the seventy-five pound dumbbells. “’Cause I know you got something big planned.”
“Actually I have to have a long talk with my daughter so we can revive our relationship. “
Big Tab finished his rep and handed the dumbbells to Hammer.
“That’s important, no doubt. But I’m talking about some fun time.”
“Uh, I’m not sure. I fiending to soak in the tub. Fourteen years of taking showers got me feeling like I’m cheating myself of a thorough cleansing.”
“I feel the same way. I’m tired of wearing them fucking shower shoes, too.”
“Tell me about it.”
The men alternated the sets until it was time for another exercise. Hammer couldn’t help but to notice the inquisitive look on his friend’s face.
“What’s up?”
“Who’s the first broad you’re going to get with when you get out?”
“Now that’s something that I don’t know. I really haven’t given that much thought.”
“What!”
“Seriously. I ain’t never and any trouble getting any-“
“Carl Bobbit, please report to the Chapel. Carl Bobbit, please report to the Chapel.”
All of the inmates that heard Hammer being summoned over the loud speaker turned to him with a concerned expression. Hammer was cool, collective, and unconcerned. His mother’s condition was flourishing, and Ron had his daughter. Those were the only people that he cared about, so he was confident that the incident was work related.
“You don’t think that something bad happened, do you, Hammer? I’ll walk with you up there.”
“I appreciate it, I’m straight. I suppose to be waxing the floor up there at one. He must’ve got the time mixed up.”
“Oh. I keep forgetting you work up there. I’ll catch you later.”
“Okay.”
The men bumped fists before Hammer departed. He entered the Chapel with a conscience as clear as the Bahamas’ water. But when he saw the Chaplin’s eyes, his shoulders instinctively sagged.
* * *
“I’m telling you,” Kam said, convincingly, “it’s the same model as yours.”
Suge’ had a hard time believing anything that came out of his associate because he was a pathological liar. Kam either lied or exaggerated a situation no matter how important the situation was.
“So you’re trying to tell me that somebody abandoned the same model car as mine on the dead end street that your ex just happened to just moved on?”
“With the original rims dipped in chrome.” Kam added, matter-of-factly.
“Hell nah!”
“You’ll see.”
“If I drive all the way over here and find out you’re lying just so you can spy on that chic, I swear to God I’m cutting you off.”
“When you see that I’m telling the truth, I want a hundred dollars.”
“Man, I’ll do better than that. I’ll give you two-hundred if you are.”
“Deal!”
They switched the subject after the agreement was sealed. Kam talked about not wanting his ex back before he fell silent. The two hundred dollars that he was looking to make was already spent. Half of it was going to the weed and the other half would be spent on some new sneakers. He could see Nikki’s face now when she saw that he was stepping his game up.
Suge’ couldn’t believe his eyes when he turned on the dead end. The car, which was the same model as the one that he was driving, sat awkwardly on the side of the street with a rag hanging from the door handle.
“You wasn’t lying this time.”
I told you! Give me my money.”
“I got to see if I can steal it first.” He pulled behind the car. “I’m not no dummy.”
Kam got out with hm. “that wasn’t the deal!”
“You better slow your road, partner. If I see that it’s a go, I’mma give you your money.”
Kam calmed down when he realized that he was overplaying his hand. He had never known Suge’ to go back on his word.
“That’s understandable. Come on, let’s see what we got.” He walked up on the car. “Un-fucking believable!”
“What?”
“The keys are in the ignition. It doesn’t get any better than this. Come on, I’ll follow you.”
Suge’ stopped him. “Wait!”
“Wait for what? Everything’s perfect. Let’s get out of here before somebody comes reclaims our shit.”
“No, man. Something isn’t right about this. This is too easy. I remember seeing a T.V. show her the police lured car thieves by leaving the keys in the ignition-“
“And when they pulled off, the car cut off and then the police arrested them,” Kam said, finishing his sentence.
“Yep, that’s the one.”
The men scanned their surrounding until doubt began to settle in. Kam reached in the car to open the door.
“Nah, Suge’. In them shows, the doors wouldn’t open from the inside.”
“That was only when they switched the car off.”
“If you’re of shit! I’m just being precautious. I’m not trying to go to jail over no stupid sit.
“Shit. Me either. But this ain’t no set up. Maybe the owner panicked when it broke down and left the keys in a rush.”
“That sounds about right, this is a rough neighborhood. Fuck it, I ain’t pressed. Let’s just get the rims and roll out.”
“Alright. What about my money?”
Suge’ counted out a hundred dollars. “Here.”
“This is only half of what we agreed to.”
Suge’ gave him a ‘take it or leave it’ look. Kam took it. It was more than what he had in his pocket.
“Pop the trunk so I can get the jack.”
Kam walked to the trunk feeling very disappointed.
So much for them shoes,
he thought. “I still say we should at least see if this muthafucker cranks. We could sell the parts on E-Bay.”
“Pop the trunk! You’re talking crazy now.”
“I’m just trying to come up,” he said, pulling the trunk latch. “You’re already straight.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with wanting to come up, but to see some car parts on E-Bay that’s possible stolen? That’s just straight up insane.”
“Like I said before, I’m just trying to come up.”
“How do you expect to come up and you spend every dime you get on weed?”
Kam gave the question some thought. “That’s a good question. Maybe I should try to quit.”
“You just got to learn how to stack.” He opened the trunk. “It’s a limit-“
“Oh, shit!”
Suge’ didn’t know what startled Kam until he looked down. It took a lot of discipline for him to walk away calmly. People were now watching, and the last thing he needed was to be charge with a murder that he didn’t commit.
* * *
“Good morning, Bobbit, the Chaplin greeted solemnly. “Have a seat.”
“I’m not suppose to wax the floors until this afternoon, remember?”
“I remember. Have a seat, we’ll worry about the floors later.”
Hammer did as he was told. His trembling legs told him that something was wrong. He denied his instincts by telling his self that everything was fine.
“I received a call from your daughter thirty minutes ago-“
He stood. “Please tell me that my momma didn’t die!”
“No, Bobbit. She never mentioned your mother. However, I must admit, she was raging.”
Hammer instantly relaxed. He knew for the start that she was going to be enraged when Ron finally got a hold of her. He could live with that. Her discomfort was far better than her absence.
“Thanks once again, Chaplin. I’m about to go call her now.”
“You’re welcome. Have a seat, you can save them some money and call them here.”
“Thanks. Dial 704-277-33-“
The Chaplin started shaking his head. “That’s not the number that she left me.”
“W…what number d…did she give you?”
“919-220…”
Once Hammer heard the Durham area code, it dawned on him that maybe the plan hadn’t gone accordingly. There were a few scenarios that came to mind, but he didn’t want to speculate. The Chaplin handed him the phone.
“Hello?” Fannie answered.
“Is Cataya there?”
“Who’s this?”
“This is her father.”
“Are you fucking happy now?! You destroy everything you come in contact with. I hope you burn in Hell, you bastard! Cataya! Come get this phone before I throw it through the wall. And tell this fucker not to call my goddamn house anymore!”
Cataya came on the line. “Hello?”
“I got your message, baby.”
“How could you?” she asked, sobbing.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know what you did! You sent him over here to kill Uncle Ra-Ra! I hate you!”
The line went dead.
––Chapter Thirteen–—
An hour had passed since Ching had been discovered, and police cruisers filtered the dead end street. A crowd of onlookers stood fifty feet from the crime scene, giving their synopsis of what they thought occurred.
None of them were closer to the truth that the actual person that had been involved and the ambulance was pulling off with him in an unhurried fashion.
A forensic team was sweeping the car and its perimeter. It was unclear if they had found anything useful, due to the fact that a group of kids had took it upon their selves to get a close up. It was almost for certain that the scene had been contaminated.
* * *
When Hammer realized that Cataya had hung up on him, he took liberties of pressing the redial button himself.
“Hello?!”
“Please don’t hand on me again, Taya. I didn’t send Ron over there to kill anybody. I sent him over there to bring you home.”
“That’s your problem; you’re always trying to control somebody! The only person that you can control is yourself!”
“I don’t understand what’s going on. This isn’t you talking.”
“Yes, it is!”
“Please don’t let them folks fill your head up with lies.”
“Ain’t nobody filling my head up with nothing! I got eyes! I see what’s going on!”
“Then you can see that I love you.”
“Ha! Like you loved my mom? Or like you loved Ron?”
“What does that suppose to mean, Cataya?”
She ignored his question for the fear that she would comprise her plan. “To be honest with you, I don’t think you love anybody but yourself.”
“How can you say that? I never shown you or your mother anything but love. The whole reason I’m in here revolves around my love for y’all.”
“Don’t give me that mess, because I’m not trying to hear it! If you love me you wouldn’t sent Ron over here with that agenda.”
“Baby, listen to me, for the last time, I only sent Ron over there to bring you back to Charlotte. I didn’t know that Ra-Ra was going to get killed in the process. And that’s if Ron was actually the one that did it,” he added, to cover Ron.
“No, daddy. Your plan failed all the way around the board. I’m staying with Aunt Fannie, and Uncle Ra-Ra is still alive.”
“So…I don’t understand. You said that Ron killed him.”
“I never said that. Ron tried to kill uncle Ra-Ra, but he shot Ron first. Now you don’t have nobody to do your dirty work!”
She hung up.
* * *
“Can you hear me, sir?” the nurse asked. “Sir?”
“Huh?”
“Can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t worry, you’re safe now.”
“Why so dark here?”
“It’s dark because your eyes are swollen shut. You suffered a severe nose break.”
Ching sat up when the incident with Ron came back to him. “Got to warn Cataya!”
“Just relax, everything’s fine. Your parents are out in the hallway talking to the police.’
“No! Let go!”
She watched Ching struggle trying to dial out and decided to assist him.
“I’ll do it for you. What’s the number?”
Cataya answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Cataya!”
“Ching? Where have you been? Everybody has been looking for you.”
“You got to leave. Ron coming! I sorry, he made me! I sorry!”
“Calm down, Ching. It’s okay. He-“
“No! He coming, I promise!”
“Ron is dead.”
“He coming! I…Dead?”
“Yes. Uncle Ra-Ra shot him in self defense.”
“When? What happened?”
“What’s wrong with your voice? You sound strange.”
While the two exchanged their life altering stories, they began to weep and blame their selves for each other’s misfortunes. They unknowingly talked for a whole hour, building a bond that they already shared.