RIPPED & READY (S2) PART 43

RIPPED & READY (S2)

Excerpt from 41 thru 50 posting

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RIPPED & READY (S2/PART 43)

 RIPPED & READY S2/XLIII

You mad at me, I think I know why, you’re nothing but a window shopper, D’Andre Washington, looking at shit you cannot buy.  When the rapper spit out those lyrics I don’t know who he had in mind, but in my mind it was D’Andre.  I walked away from him because I didn’t even feel like engaging in any further tit-for-tat conversation with him.  If I had any inkling of a thought about accepting him back into my life, he was fucking it up with his assertiveness. 

What part of back the fuck up did he not get?

Now, as annoyed as I was with him don’t think it slipped past me when he included Peewee along with Collin’s name on his who-hit-Marco list, which meant that Peewee had been running his mouth about us, but it didn’t surprise me, most niggas were like bad refrigerators anyway, couldn’t hold a “dayum” thing.

You could hear sirens wailing in the distance and in the immediate vicinity you could hear muffled conversations taking place between the different groups of neighbors that had assembled outside.  In the air you could smell smoke from fires that had most likely started in the parameter outside of where we were (luckily there were no fires in our area). 

I asked Ella if she needed me to give her a ride home, and she happily accepted.  I was pretty glad too, because this gave me the opportunity to find out where she lived without me having to ask if she was related to Peewee’s family.  I sincerely hoped that she wasn’t because it would definitely add more stress to an already stressful situation.  I knew that once he found out about the two of them he would use their affiliation for his own twisted purposes.       

Peewee was a scourge to the race because, instead of using his abilities to uplift it he was out to exploit it, make money off of it and flood it with the toxicity of drugs.  Every time I saw a crack fiend roaming the streets lost, I hated him for what he was doing to the community and its people.  After pulling what he did in that Motel room, forcing me to sniff that cocaine, I knew that he was trying to turn me out as well. 

I couldn’t allow that to happen to me…

I had to get stronger somehow… 

Just the thought of being caught up in the drug world was enough to cause a chill to run up my back.  I remember the way it made me feel and how I felt myself wanting more after that first toot; and the way it heightened my sexual prowess, I couldn’t get enough of his dick that night.  I didn’t care how hard he hit my ass during that ordeal because the drug had literally removed all of my inhibitions. It was both an exhilarating and frightening experience because I never tried leaving until after the high induced by that white devil dust had dissipated.

Moving past those thoughts my mental car raced toward Todd Berry’s final words that he had said to me prior to his departure; he told me that if I were still single when he got back, then I would be his.  I couldn’t help but think about that song by Heather Headley, “In My Mind” because it ran parallel to what was occurring in my life.  With Ewuare Agbowo on the scene I was pretty sure that whatever might have been between us might get eclipsed by whatever was about to occur between Ewuare and I. 

“Baby, you’re daydreaming like you used to do when you were a little boy,” my moms said, locking arms with me. 

“I guess some old habits never die, huh, moms” I said, leaning my head sideways, gently touching hers with mine.  

She brushed the top of my hand with hers. 

“I’m very proud of you for accepting little Rafael into your heart,” she told me. 

“Hey, he’s an interesting little guy, moms, I believe he has a chance, and that reminds me, I need to get Ella home,” I told her. 

“Oh, yes, you had better get that child home, I’m sure her parents are worried sick about her.  Has she called them yet?” moms asked me.

“I don’t know, but I’ll make sure to check with her while I’m driving her there,” I assured her. 

“Okay, baby, and you be careful driving around in all of this darkness, because I know some fools are out there trying to take advantage of the situation, you know what I mean?” She asked, grabbing me around the waist, pulling me into her loving warmth.

“Yes, I know they are, moms” I said, agreeing with her.

Some people would steal the stink rising off of shit if they thought they could get something out of it.  I tell you, the world we lived in was filled with a bunch of opportunistic souls, always out for there’s with little regards for whom they got it from or how they were gonna get it. 

It’s true, I remember the Rodney King riots, people were rowdy, pillaging and breaking into stores like they had lost their “got-dayum” minds; and let’s not even get on the Katrina aftermath; niggas were stealing flat screen TV’s and Stereo equipment wading through the waters with appliances over their heads, and I kept wondering where in the fuck they thought they were going to plug all that electrical shit into?

I’m just sayin…

“Ella, let’s get you home,” I told her, resting my hand on her shoulder.

“I wanna come too, Marco,” Rafael asked. 

I looked at him and said, “Of course you’re coming, she’s your friend isn’t she?”

He smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist with glee. 

Now ain’t that some shit?  From the tender moments last night when he fell asleep listening to MJ’s “Childhood”, to this latest smile and gesture of belonging from him, I was beaming lighter than last year’s Christmas Tree.  He was really finding his place into my heart and I liked the hell out of it.  I never had a little brother before and I was really beginning to dig it a whole lot.

On the drive over, the two of them were conversing about school and all the folks they liked and didn’t like; this included teachers as well as classes they didn’t care for.  Listening to them go back and forth caused a lump to lodge in the back of my throat, because they reminded me of D’Andre, Todd, Collin and I when we were younger.  If I had the opportunity to go back in time and cherish those moments more, I would; hell, I’d welcome all of those worries right now because they paled in comparison to the ones I had now. 

Taking directions from her I turned right on one street and left on another; the closer I got towards Peewee’s area I felt my knees knock a little.  When she told me to turn left on his street my heart sank and I was almost certain that she was related to the object of my dismay. 

“Okay, stop right here.  Oh, look, there’s my uncle Peewee, hey boo, “she called out to him from the back seat. 

When he saw my car he smiled and if I read it right it was an I-gotcha-smile.

I was beyond frustrated, this little community was too damn small. 

When he walked over to the car, he stopped on the driver’s side where I was sitting and stooped down and tapped on the glass. 

I rolled down my window.

“Hey, I really want to thank you for looking out for my niece, we were worried about her, she is the apple of my eye,” he said, winking at me, sending a message that I was too. 

“No problem, I’m glad I could make sure that she got home safely,” I told him, as I avoided keeping eye contact with him too long. 

He reached in and touched my arm. 

“I’ll see you around, thick… I mean Brotha Marco,” he said, catching himself from making the mistake of calling me thickness in front of adolescent ears and their roving eyes.  

“Yea, I’m sure that’s your plan,” I responded, nervously, knowing that he loved every minute of discomfort he was creating in me.

Remember when I said you had to be grateful for those blessed moments when they happened, well, here was one that I felt less blessed about.  

He winked at me and licked his lips.

Uh, huh…it was time to bounce.  

I put the car in drive, and sped off, glad to be out of his presence.    

Why couldn’t I get rid of this fly by just swatting it?

Shit!