Durty South Grind (41 page)

In hot pursuit she leaped over the two balled-up youth on the ground and gave chase to the fleeing boys. “Halt, freeze, stop, police,” she shouted to no avail as the boys widened the distance, turning over huge garbage cans into her path. The years of sitting behind desks started to quickly take its toll and she realized that a snowball had a better chance in hell than she had of catching them. Once they hit the end of the alley, the mob split in each direction.

Beverly felt her ankle twist awkwardly when she hurdled over some cans and landed on a huge rock. Her head flung backward with her arms waving wildly as she slowed to a halt and bent over to rest her elbows across her knees, sighing in disappointment. Squeezing her eyes tight, she took several deep breaths before finally raising her head and blinked them open. She squinted at a figure in a car across the street whose head was swerving back and forth at the fast-moving youth. She knuckled the corners of her eyes, snorted and stretched her neck toward the car. If only it hadn't been the beginning of dusk, she could've been more certain of whom she thought she was seeing.

She strained stiffly to her feet and started toward the car. As if
they had recognized her for the first time, the driver shot the car into reverse and squealed tires to the end of the street, straightened out and screamed away.

I know damn well that wasn't…Naw, it couldn't have been. No way,
she thought as she hobbled to the middle of the street. She looked in the other direction in time to see three of the boys disappear around the corner. For some reason she couldn't shake the icky feeling that whoever was in the car was connected to the beat-down crew.

She pinched the back of her neck, twisted it from side to side to relieve the tension, and then headed back down the alley.
What the fuck?
she thought when she noticed the boys who had gotten the beat down were gone. As she neared the spot of attack, her attention was drawn to a object leaning against the wall of the Laundromat. Her brows were wrinkled in concentration as she walked to the end of the alley and looked in both directions for the fallen youth. They were nowhere to be seen. Full of caution and concern she turned around and walked over to get the object that turned out to be a plastic bag full of what she suspected was cocaine and an envelope. She opened it and saw a stack of money and a note that was written in some kind of code. Placing it inside her jacket she walked back to her car and drove around the block several times in search for any sign of the youths. Her police mind was running wild now with all kinds of suspicion. Did this have anything to do with her boys? Why was that the first thing that came to her mind? Was she playing the overprotective mother hen when it came to those fools again? If her impulses were on point, as they usually were, what connection was there to those that raced into the night when she spotted them? She decided to put her car search to an end and headed for Mother Dobbs' house. Her mind was working overtime with
whos, whats and whys. As she pulled up to the house of many adolescent memories, she saw Mother Dobbs swinging back and forth on the porch swing where she'd learn how to be a woman.

It had been quite a while since Beverly had felt such warmth. Seeing the sweet, gentle older woman's glittering eyes and smile made her sigh with joy. As she shifted the car into park, her attention was drawn to Rainbow's shiny red pimp-mobile down the street at old man OJ's corner store.

Gray-bearded Mr. OJ, the neighborhood's ultimate gossip, had his cream-colored Stetson cocked acey-deucy over his outdated Jheri Curl was plopping on his red suspenders and laying a checker's whipping on some young hoodlum draped in dark blue Rocawear gear. Beverly had an immediate flashback when she saw his side profile but dismissed it because she couldn't put her finger on where it could have been. She could tell the old pro was getting the better of the youngun when he started flashing both fists full of money around like he owned the hood. The trash talking was very loud and brash to the point where she could make out nearly every word.

Even without seeing him, the sight of Rainbow's car made her naturally suspicious.
Why hadn't he just walked to the store from his mother's house?
It didn't make too much sense to her unless he was up to no good, which was usually the case.

“Hey there, Bevy sweetie, how ya doing? What brings ya around these parts? Mmph, don't get to see ya that much since you turned
‘Wonder Woman'
for the whole city.” Mama Dobbs' chirpy voice broke through her concentration down the street. Beverly's cheeks glowed as she turned toward the still gorgeous and loving woman.

Mama Dobbs sat there smiling as pretty as an early ray of morning sunrise. A granny version of Alicia Keys twinkled before Beverly's eyes. She was knitting a colorful woolen sweater as she
rocked back and forth to whatever beautiful music was flowing through her head. Beverly instantly recalled the days when they'd sit in that same swing for countless hours after she'd come home from school while waiting for her nana to come home. Mama Dobbs hummed to the Temptations or the Supremes and she bobbed her head to some LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Prince or Michael Jackson.

Beverly scooped up a blue, roughly scarred plastic pitcher off the edge of the stoop. She began prancing up and down the porch watering Mama Dobbs' array of beautiful flowers suspended from different colored ropes from the roof.

Beverly luxuriated at the mixture of wonderful scents caressing her nostrils before she sat beside her favorite teacher. “You mean to tell me that hard-headed son of yours didn't let you know that I'd stopped a little while back?”

Mama Dobbs pursed her lips and sucked on her teeth. “Girl please, you know that boy don't nevah tell me nuthin'.”

Beverly shook her head and sighed. “Yeah, I guess you right…” She froze in mid-sentence when Mama Dobbs continued to talk right through whatever she was saying. All she could do was smile. Suddenly her attention was drawn to the sound of Rainbow's familiar voice as he stepped out of the store and blended right in the mix of the old man and youngsters' banter.

Sparkle's eyes gleamed with pleasurable pride as he watched his two women in the rearview mirror. His veteran street queen Violet was giving his new honey Mercedes some more 4-1-1 on the boosting game. He was smiling because he knew that the old lady was a genius in her field and Mercedes was like a sponge absorbing every drop.

Yep, Boo done really got into her mother hen role with little shawtie, for sho.
“Whaddafuck dat ho doing around her?” he muttered when he spotted Lt. Woo's Catwoman-mobile and her two cop henchmen parked across the street from his planned rendezvous spot with Rainbow. Sparkle knew Woo hadn't spotted him yet. His intuition told him to slow down and observe.

Rainbow's loud boisterous voice diverted his attention away from Woo just in time for him to see his boy coming out of the store. He started cursing under his breath. “He know damn well he was supposed to wait 'til I got in the store. Shit.” The girls arched their brows at each other and grimaced at his sudden change of attitude. He wondered if Rainbow had spotted Woo and her crew. Or did he come out as a warning for him to keep away? Or was it something else?

He frowned. “Oh shit; what the hell.” Somebody's car tires were smoking as it screeched past them.

Beverly saw and heard the car's tires screeching as it veered around the slow-moving traffic and sped down the street. There was something familiar about the silhouette of the man in the driver's seat of the one it had passed. She was straining to see who it was before her instincts were drawn to the windows of the speeding car. As the windows started lowering she saw all the passengers' heads turn in the direction of the store.
Were those guns they were pointing out of the window?
She sprung from her seat as adrenaline rushed to her head. She barely heard Mama Dobbs' next few words.

Beverly knew Mama Dobbs was stunned by her sudden reaction. From the expression on her face it was evident that she wasn't aware of the danger nor that Rainbow was possibly in the line of
fire. She'd do whatever it took to keep her from seeing her son get hurt.

When Mama Dobbs' head started turn toward the commotion, Beverly reached down and grabbed her wrist. “Come on, Mama; I sure could use some of that special lemon juice stuff you be hooking up.”

“What, girl? You mean to tell me that you came all the way over here for some of the dangnamit juice? Honey please, just tell me that the moon's out for the day and the sun's gonna be here tonight.”

Beverly's smile brightened as she helped her up and led her into the house. It disappeared immediately as Mama Dobbs headed for the kitchen. She had to get her to safety and then spring out the door without her becoming too suspicious. “Hmm, go ahead and hook that up. I got to get something out of my car right quick.”

“Huh?” Mama Dobbs turned around but Beverly was already about to go out the door. She pressed her gun to her thigh and peeked out the screen door. She still couldn't see clear enough into the other car but she could definitely feel the vibes.
Was it that nigga? And if it was who were the others with him?
Was that a tinge of jealousy running down her spine?
Boom, boom, booooom.
She sprung out of the door with her pistol raised high with both hands.

Sparkle looked beyond the speeding car for a brief second toward Rainbow's mother's house. He squinted at the familiar figure leading Mama Dobbs into the house.
Was it? Could it be? Oh no, it damn sho is. Man, I ain't ready to see this woman.
Why was that? And what was he afraid of?

He checked the mirror again just in time to see the girls' expressions change from wide-eyed exuberance to shocked concern. He spun around frowning. “What's wrong with ya'll…..?”

He paused when their mouths shot open and their arms pointed down the street at the same time they heard the
pop, pop, pop
of gunfire. He spun back around in time to see Rainbow diving for cover beside his car.

Automatically he reached under the seat to get his piece. The girls screamed. He kicked the door open and rolled out of the car into a crouch. But before he could let the lead fly, the speeding car made it around the corner with several arms sticking out of the window with their guns blazing.

He sprinted for Rainbow's car. His boy was pressed to the side of the vehicle. The shock on his face told it all before it turned into a gasping smile when he saw who it was.

Sparkle looked toward the store. The old man was leaning back in his chair with blood spewing from a red blotch on his chest. Rainbow sat up and followed his partner's gaze. His mouth suddenly formed into a big “O” before he blinked several times and croaked, “Man, where the hell that nigga go?”

Sparkle leaned down and grasped his elbow to help him get up. “What nigga, dog…?” He froze when he spotted Beverly sprinting across the street with her gun held high. He wasn't ready for this and let his boy's elbow go, ignoring his waving arms as he plopped back into the car and ran for his car.