Still Candy Shopping (22 page)

“Ben! Open this door!” Celeste hollered from the other side.

Ben jumped. He snatched the bundles of drugs and lifted his thin mattress and slid all three bundles under it. Inhaling and exhaling to get his nerves together, he walked over and opened his door. His mother eyed him up and down suspiciously.

“Did you get paid today?” Celeste said, letting her eyes scan his room. Ben sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes. He could not stand his pain in the ass mother when she acted so money hungry.

“Whatchu was doin’ up in here with the door locked? Tryna hide ya little bit a money?” Celeste snapped as Ben pushed pass her to go into the kitchen.

“Nah, I ain’t hidin’ nothin’ from you!” Ben snapped back. He started unloading his little bit of groceries.

“Well, gimme what’s mine nigga. Ain’t no free stays up in here . . . shit your ass gettin’ grown,” Celeste told him, sticking her hand out.

Ben did as he was told. He handed Celeste $40 out of the money he had left. That left him with about $30 after he had already spent about $30 on groceries. He acted angry but he wasn’t really mad. He didn’t mind helping his mother out, she was a single mother with no help from whoever his no good ass father was. However, Ben didn’t appreciate it when men came over and he and his mother were hungry and those niggas didn’t even help out by buying as much as a loaf of bread. Ben thought his mother was real stupid for giving up her ass to no good niggas for free.

Ben sat down to eat his hero, but when he lifted the greasy sandwich to his mouth he found that he didn’t have an appetite. He was thinking hard about the packages under his mattress. He thought he could go out there and sell every bit of those drugs and make good money. He also knew if he did that, Quan and Deezo would surely be looking for him. Ben decided to just wait and see if they ever came to claim what was theirs. After thinking about the drugs, the money and Quan and Deezo repeatedly, Ben finally forced himself to eat his sandwich. He went to bed full and worried. All he could do was hope that things were going to start looking up.

Ben didn’t hear from Quan for the entire night. He tossed and turned all night knowing that the package was under his mattress. The next day, he woke up to knocks on his door. Ben scrambled out of his bed and raced to the door before his mother could answer it. When Ben pulled back the door, Quan and Deezo were standing there. Ben almost shit his pants.

“Whaddup Shorty? I came to pick up my shit,” Quan said. Deezo stood silently with a serious glare on his face. He didn’t look happy.

Ben shook his head up and down absentmindedly, too star struck to even speak. Quan and Deezo stepped inside of the apartment without Ben inviting them in. Ben knew Celeste slept late so he wanted to hurry up and get what they came for before she got up and saw the two biggest neighborhood hustlers in her living room. He rushed to his room, retrieved the three bundles and proudly handed them over to Quan. Deezo kept his eyes on Ben while Quan surveyed the bundles. Ben could feel sweat dripping down his back.

“It’s all here Shorty. Good lookin’ out. You did a’ight,” Quan said, smiling at Ben.

Ben’s shoulders slumped in relief. Although he knew he hadn’t taken anything out of the bundles, he was still scared as hell.

“That’s wassup Shorty. Here, this is for ya troubles. Look like a nigga could use the help and shit,” Deezo said, handing Ben two crisp one hundred dollar bills.

Ben’s eyes lit up. “Thank you,” he smiled up at Deezo.

“Buy ya self something Shorty. Ya moms be trippin’ the way she got this crib lookin’. This ain’t no way for a lil’ nigga to live,” Deezo commented, turning around to head for the door. Been shook his head agreeing with anything Deezo had to say. “And Shorty, since you did so good with this little job, I got something you can do to make some money if you want to. I’ma see you out there. I might can help you get ya chips up, feel me?” Deezo stopped walking and told Ben.

Ben couldn’t stop smiling. He couldn’t believe Deezo was offering him a job. He had dreamed about being down with Deezo. When Deezo and Quan left, Ben raced over to the window and watched them get into Deezo’s Escalade. He could see all of their bling sparkling against the sun. The whole scene excited Ben. “I’ma have that car when I get older,” he said to himself, gripping the money Deezo gave him.

Ben was too excited to eat his Apple Jacks that morning. He rushed and got dressed. He didn’t take his newspaper bag or anything else. He left the house, grabbed his bike and headed for downtown Brooklyn. Ben went straight to Footlocker first. He copped a fresh, crisp new pair of white Nike Uptowns. Then he went to several other stores and copped a traditional navy blue Yankees fitted cap, a brand new pair of Sean Jean jeans and a five pack of crisp white tees. He felt good about himself now. He wore his new sneakers right out the store, the same for his jeans and one of the t-shirts. Ben even had enough money to eat a super-sized meal from McDonalds. He felt like a man. No, he felt like the man. He felt independent. It was a feeling Ben wanted to have all the time. He was definitely going to take Deezo up on his offer.

When Ben returned to his hood that evening he rode his bike past the corner store. He was secretly hoping he would run into Deezo or Quan.

“Shorty!” Quan called after Ben. Ben smiled to himself and stopped his bike.

“Yeah,” he answered. His prayers had been answered.

“Deezo told me to hook you up son. All you gotta do is go getcha newspaper bag, come get a package and deliver it to a address across the way . . . two hun’ned is what Deezo paying for the one trip,” Quan told Ben.

Ben felt like he would piss his pants. Two hundred more dollars just like that! Ben thought excitedly. “A’ight. I’ll be right back,” Ben said, excitement lacing his words. He took flight on his bike, and ran into the house in a huff. He scrambled to his room to get his bag. But his activity was interrupted.

“Where you been at?” Celeste said dryly, stepping into Ben’s bedroom with her arms folded. Ben stopped like a deer caught in headlights.

“I went to work and then shopping,” Ben lied.

“Where you get money to shop?” Celeste asked suspiciously. She always wanted to know every dollar he had.

“I saved it up from the newspaper route,” Ben told her impatiently. He didn’t know why his mother was sweating him. It was annoying. Ben screwed up his face at Celeste.

She looked at him up and down. “I got something to tell you,” she said. Ben gave her a blank stare. He wanted to tell her to get the hell out of his room so he could get his bag and be out. He was preoccupied and full of anticipation for the job he had coming up.

“So you shouldn’ta told me then,” Ben said with an attitude. He grabbed his bag and brushed pass his mother bumping her slightly. “Another mouth to feed and she don’t even feed me,” he mumbled on his way out. He knew whoever his mother was pregnant by was probably not going to be around or help out in the house. This annoyed him even more. Ben snatched his bike and started out the apartment door. He didn’t have time for his mother and her bullshit right now.

“Where the hell you goin’ at this time with that bag?” Celeste asked.

Ben didn’t answer his mother. He felt like she wasn’t in any position to question him. Thirteen or not, Ben was the breadwinner in their household.

“Benjamin Early!” Celeste called after him.

Ben let the door slam behind him. He had to get back outside. Quan was waiting on him. “A’ight, I’m back,” Ben huffed putting his feet on the ground to stop his bike.

Quan dropped a package into Ben’s newspaper bag. “Take this across the way to Howard Houses, there’s a kid named Spider waiting on you. Don’t fuck this up lil’ nigga,” Quan warned.

Ben pulled himself up on his bike and was out. He had a new job and it paid more than he could ever dream of making as a newspaper delivery boy.

Two weeks had passed and Ben had made eight deliveries for Deezo. He had more money than he could have ever dreamed of. Each time he earned another two hundred dollars, he would buy another full outfit, complete with fitted cap. Ben started giving Celeste $100 instead of the $40 she was accustomed to getting from his paper route. Celeste was happy as hell. She had only questioned Ben once about where he got the extra money from. He told her he had picked up a new route that paid more money, which was not a complete lie. Celeste was satisfied with the answer . . . at least, that is what she told herself.

A Sucker 4 Candy Amaleka McCall

Chapter 2

It had been a year since Ben had first got down with Deezo. He had graduated from delivery boy to an actual hand-to-hand corner boy. It had happened one day after Ben had made all of his drop offs with his newspaper bag. He had come back to the block to let Quan know that everything had been delivered as planned and to collect his money. That day when Ben rode up on his bike, Deezo was talking to Quan. They both noticed Ben at the same time.

“Yo Shorty, c’mere and lemme holla atchu,” Deezo called out to Ben.

Ben looked at Quan and then back at Deezo. He wanna holla at me! Ben thought to himself. He nervously wheeled his bike over to Deezo’s ride.

“Nigga, you can’t get up in my shit with that piece of shit bike,” Deezo said, chuckling. Ben smiled and put his bike down on the sidewalk. He could not believe Deezo was letting him get into his car. “Get in lil’ nigga, I ain’t got all day,” Deezo demanded.

Ben climbed the high step of Deezo’s luxury SUV and got into the passenger seat. Deezo rolled up all of his smoke-out black tinted windows. Ben swallowed a lump of fear that sat at the back of his throat and stared straight ahead. He wouldn’t dare grill Deezo straight on, that was a violation he had seen another little corner boy get slapped for in the past.

“Yo, you been real good with them deliveries and real smart about how you handle yours Shorty,” Deezo complimented. Ben was smiling inside but he didn’t dare part his lips into a smile. “I like that you stay hungry and humble, feel me? I can tell you want this real bad and shit. Som’a these niggas I got working the block is cocky. They make a lil’ bit a money and they think that make they dick grown and shit. Feel me?”

Ben shook his head eagerly. “But you . . . I been watching you Shorty,” Deezo continued spiel. “You keep your humble attitude all the time. That’s the right way to be . . . when you get cocky is when you get caught. A kid like you can make it far in this game Shorty. How old is you?”

“F . . . F . . . Fourteen,” Ben stammered, his nerves were on edge.

“Shiiit, I remember when I was fourteen. I was in the same boat as you. Mother was single, a bunch of fucked up niggas in and out the house and shit. No food up in the crib. House dirty. She having a baby every year and shit . . . I was just like you, I worked hard and made my way in the game. I stood up and made my own money and ain’t neva ask my moms for shit again. I was the man in my crib after a while, feel me?”

Ben was hanging onto Deezo’s every word. He couldn’t believe Deezo had compared himself to him. He felt really good inside. He was ready to do anything Deezo asked of him.

“Now, I wanna move you up from deliveries. You know . . . give you your own lil’ candy shop and shit. If you thought two hun’ned was good, how you feel about makin’ a stack every two to three days . . . that’s the type of money I’m talkin’,” Deezo said seriously.

“Yeah, yeah . . . I’m down . . . I can do it,” Ben said excitedly. He had goose bumps just thinking about that kind of money. He could see himself buying a chain down Canal Street as soon as he made his first stack.

Deezo laughed. “Damn Shorty, I love that hungry attitude,” Deezo said. “You gon’ be a’ight in this game. I’ma tell Quan to start you out light . . . lemme see how you handle ya’self and then we’ll talk.” He extended his fist towards Ben for a pound. Ben responded in kind and bumped his fist against Deezo’s. Ben went to get out of the car.

“Shorty, just don’t ever try to cross me or fuck with my paper. Don’t become a sucka fo’ candy like some’a these lil’ niggas I gotta deal with,” Deezo warned.

“Nah, I won’t,” Ben said sincerely.

“Good, cuz niggas don’t survive crossing me,” Deezo said seriously.

With that, Ben climbed out of the SUV with a wide smile on his face. He would never dream of crossing Deezo. He knew he could be loyal since Deezo was good enough to give him a chance. My own spot! Ben thought excitedly.

“Damn lil’ nigga, you look like Deezo just gave you a million fuckin’ dollars,” Quan said, laughing when Ben walked back over to him. That was exactly how Ben felt. The only obstacle he had was hiding his new job from Celeste. Although she was money hungry, she was totally against hustling. She had warned Ben repeatedly that he better not ever try to sell drugs or bring them into her home. Ben was determined to make money so he would just have to find a way around his mother’s rules.

Quan started Ben off with his first package of weed to sell. It was a couple of ounces with a real good street value. Ben was responsible for getting rid of three bundles of weed a day. The weed had a street value of three thousand dollars. He would get $300 off each thousand. Ben had already started planning what he would do with his money.

Quan assigned Ben to a spot in front of an abandoned building ten blocks from his house. That worked for Ben because he didn’t want his mother to see him on the corner of his own block by the store. Ben’s business immediately started booming on that block. Quan had told him to keep his stash in a paper bag behind a rotting piece of wood that was nailed to the building’s missing windows. Ben was only supposed to grab something from the stash when he had the money in hand from the customer. He followed his directions to the letter. Quan would come by and check on Ben every so often. Quan had given Ben a disposable track phone. When Ben had burned through his package, he would call Quan for instructions. Most of the time it was still before dark so Ben would wait for Quan to pick up the money, give him his cut and then Ben either got a new package or rode his bike back to the block. Word on the street was that Deezo was supplying the best weed in Brooklyn so Ben’s product really sold itself. Ben had to admit that this was the easiest money he had ever come by.