Street Fame (18 page)

T
he sky was blood red as the sun began to fade away. Alicia was lying on the beach in a white G-string. Her head rested on Tommy’s lap. He was staring at the sky. She asked what was wrong.

“Baby, I know you by now. I can tell when something is troubling you.”
He smiled. It felt good to have someone who knew him.
“So are you going to tell me?”
“You ever been scared that things are not going to work out the way you planned?”
“What do you mean? Everything is going just fine.”
He sighed. “I don’t know about that. I feel something just ain’t right. You know what I mean?”
She sat up and looked him in his eyes. “Baby, you can’t think like that. You gotta think positive. You’re a good person, good will always prevail.”
“Only in movies. I mean, what you are saying sounds like a Hallmark card. You know?”
“Tommy, like I said, this country was built on lies and deception. Some of the people here with the most wealth have stolen to get it. Don’t worry about nothing. You’re about to be totally legit.”
“You’re right. A lot of people have stolen to get ahead, and a lot of people today have beat the system, but most have one thing going for them.”
“What’s that?” Alicia asked, picking up a handful of sand and then dropping it between her toes.
“Most of them are white. Let me tell you, the white man makes the law. He enforces and interprets the law the way he feels. I just don’t think I’m going to make it. I just got a gut feeling that this whole thing is going to come to an end.”
Alicia rubbed Tommy’s chest. “Baby, you gotta think positive.”
Tommy was glad that she was so enthusiastic. He felt good to have her with him, and he started to think positive again.
He leaned forward and kissed her.
“What was that for?”
“Just ‘cause I love you. That’s all.”
“That’s so sweet.”
The sun had gone down, and a gentle breeze was blowing. Tommy wished the moment could last forever. But he would be handling a transaction in Miami as early as tomorrow.

Morgan and Jennifer sat in the Miami hotel room, prepping the drugs for delivery. The ecstasy was being shrink-wrapped then stuffed into cereal boxes. They prepped the drugs for two hours before Jennifer excused herself to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, she stuffed a hundred X pills into three balloons.
Nobody will know
, she told herself. Out of thousands of pills, who would miss a hundred? There were simply too many for anybody to notice.

When she stepped back into the room, Morgan was finishing the packaging of the product. After they were done, they cleaned the room up really well and made sure that they hadn’t dropped any product.

Morgan had rented a dark blue Chrysler 300 from Hertz, but when they were all packed up and ready to drive off, Jennifer made an announcement to Morgan.

“I don’t think I can go through with this.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like something is going to happen.” Morgan looked at her, puzzled. “What? Are you crazy? Nothing is

“Maybe God was on our side. Maybe it was just luck. I don’t know,” Jennifer said, avoiding Morgan’s eyes.
Morgan sighed. “Jennifer, I don’t know about you, but I need the money, hon, and I’m willing to chance it.”
Jennifer jumped out of the car and opened the trunk. “What are you doing?” Morgan asked.
“I’m getting my luggage out. I’m catching a flight back to Charlotte.” “Jennifer, you can’t leave me.”
Jennifer got her suitcase from the trunk and placed it on the pavement.
“I’m calling Twin,” Morgan said. She pulled out her cell phone and called Twin.
“Yeah, what up?”
“Jennifer says she not going back with me.”
“What the fuck you mean?”
“She says she don’t want to do it anymore.”
“Let me speak to her.”
Morgan passed Jennifer the phone.
“Hello.”
“What the fuck is Morgan talking about?”
“I just don’t want to do it anymore,” Jennifer said.
“Where are you at now?”
“I’m in front of the hotel.”
“Okay. Me and Tommy are on our way there. Just hold up another three or four minutes.”
Jennifer grabbed a red overnight bag, picked up her suitcase, and walked into the hotel lobby.
Six minutes later, Twin and Tommy entered the lobby.
Jennifer had already asked a bellman to get her a taxi to the airport.
Twin yanked her by the arm and pulled her aside. “What the fuck do you think you are doing?”
“Let go of my fucking arm or I will fucking tell everything I know.”
Twin pulled her outside. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re trying to prove, but you ain’t fucking bailing out on me now.”
Tommy walked outside but remained silent.
Tears filled Jennifer’s eyes. “My heart ain’t in this no more, Twin. I just can’t go on like this.”
“Bitch, you owe me. You do know that you ran off with my money, don’t you?”
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“You’re damn right you’re sorry, but you ain’t getting away like this. I will fucking kill you, bitch. Don’t you know that after this we won’t have to do this shit again?”
“I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”
“You are going to do it or else ... What the fuck you mean you can’t do it? I ain’t listening to that shit.”
“Don’t you ever threaten me. I know your secrets, Twin. I know you set your friends up to get robbed, remember?”
Twin yanked her arm again, this time pulling her so close that she could smell his breath. “I will bring cannons to destroy that trailer park you’re from. You hear me?”
“Let me go, Twin, or I swear I will make it bad for your black ass!”
“My black ass? Where the fuck did that come from? You racist little bitch.”
“Muthafucka, you know I ain’t racist. I been putting up with your ass for years.”
The taxi pulled up. The bellman stepped outside with Jennifer’s luggage. “Madam, your taxi is here.”
Twin let her arm go.
She walked over to the bellman and tipped him.
Jennifer and Twin stared at one another.
The taxi driver finally asked, “Ma’am, are you going to the airport now or later?”
“Goodbye, Twin, and good luck to you.”

Jennifer called Mark. He answered on the first ring. “Hey, Mark.” “What’s up?”
“Nothing, just leaving Miami. I’m sure you know that already.” “What do you mean?”
“You know, the girl whose picture is on your dresser, muthafucka.” “What are you talking about?”
“Mark, I slept at your house. I put two and two together. Now

come off the bullshit.”
He hesitated. “So, does Tommy and Twin know what you know?” “No. Nobody knows shit.”
“So, you decided not to come back with Morgan, huh?” “You know everything, huh?”
“I’m a fed, remember?”
“Yeah, I decided not to come back with Morgan.”
“That was a good choice, because it’s going to go down soon,

you know.”
“You were going to bust me, huh?”
He sighed. “I had no choice; I mean, it’s business, not personal.” “Yeah, but I helped you, muthafucka. I gave you information, and

“No. I would never play with you like that. Listen, you’re getting emotional.”
“Oh, is that what I am?”
Flight 355 to Charlotte, North Carolina is now boarding
.
“Well I have a plane to catch, Agent Pratt.” Jennifer ended the call.
She sat on row 25-A in a window seat. Nobody had the middle seat, but an elderly white man had the aisle seat. Jennifer thought about Twin, Tommy, and JoJo, and how their lives were about to be destroyed simply because they wanted to better their financial situations. She thought about Tommy in particular, though Twin was once her man. Tommy had been used by everybody around him. Then she thought about Mark again. She thought he had been genuinely interested in her well-being, but he’d used her for personal gain. How could she be so stupid? How could she fall for the police? Tears rolled down her face. She felt so used.
She pulled a cell phone from her purse and decided to make one more call. She would call Twin to tell him what was going on—not because she wanted to save his ass, but because she wanted to spare Tommy. He was really a good person. She dialed Twin’s number.
No answer.
She tried again, but still no answer.
The flight attendant announced that all cell phones had to be turned off at this time.
She dialed Twin’s number one last time and ducked behind the seats.
Twin answered. “Listen, you dirty bitch, I wish you quit calling my phone.”
“I got to tell you something.”
A flight attendant walked over. The thin black woman with short hair said, “Ma’am turn off your cell phone.”
“Twin, listen to me.”
“Ma’am, turn off your cell phone or else I’ll have to ask you to exit the plane,” the flight attendant said again.
“Listen, man...” Jennifer pleads.
“Eat shit and die, bitch,” Twin said and ended the call.
Jennifer looked up at the flight attendant, smiled, and turned the cell phone off.
Five minutes later, the plane took off.
She dozed, her head resting against the window.

A
n hour later, when the plane arrived in Charlotte, the old man sitting next to Jennifer shook her. “Hey, it’s time to get off the plane. We’re here.”

Jennifer didn’t move, so the man shook her again, but still there was no response. He called the flight attendant.
The woman with the short hair came, and an older blonde woman with a nametag that read: ‘Peggy’ took Jennifer’s pulse. “Oh my God! She has no pulse. Somebody get a doctor.”
A tall white man with graying hair announced that he was a doctor. Everybody made room for the man. He loosened his tie and checked for Jennifer’s pulse. Nothing. He checked her heart. No sign of a heartbeat. The man tilted Jennifer’s head back and performed CPR, but she still did not breathe.
The captain came to the back where everybody was staring.
The doctor looked into the captain’s eyes and announced, “I’m afraid she’s dead.”
“Oh no,” Peggy said.
“My guess is that she has been dead for at least ten minutes,” the doctor said.

Twin had just arrived in Charlotte when he got the call from Barb, Jennifer’s mother. When he saw the number on the caller ID, he was inclined to ignore the call, but then decided that it would be best to advise her not to call him again. “Hello.”

“You black muthafucka. I know you killed my daughter.” “What are you talking about? Nobody’s dead, stupid bitch.” “Jennifer’s gone, and I know you had something to do with it.” “Who told you that?”
“The hospital called me today and said she had died on a plane

from Miami, and I know that’s where you took her.”
“Are you serious? This is no time to be playing games, woman.” “Do you think I would play games with you like that … about my

daughter, my flesh and blood?”
“How did she die?” Twin asked. He began to feel emotional. “You killed her. That’s how she died, and that’s what I’m going to

Twin moved the phone away from his ear as Barbara kept shouting obscenities. Finally he hung up. He called Tommy.
“Hello.”
“Jennifer died.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Her Mom just called me and told me she died on the plane from Miami.”
“Are you serious?”
“That’s what the bitch said.”
Tommy sighed. “I wonder do Morgan know.”
“She couldn’t know. She’s still on the road.”
“Have you checked on her to make sure she hasn’t been pulled over or anything?”
“No, but I’m going to call her in a minute.”
“Don’t tell her about Jennifer just yet. You know how women can get all emotional and shit.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to you later,” Twin said and hung up the phone. He began to pace. He thought about Jennifer and what she had meant to him. He thought about the good times they’d had in the beginning of their relationship. He felt like they were meant for one another. Although she was white, she could identify with his struggle. She was an outcast, too. Her family was poor, as was his; and she had an occupation that people frowned upon. So did he.
He picked up a picture of Jennifer and himself taken at an amusement park. They were so happy then. He remembered all the stares he would get from black women, but he didn’t care. He was with someone who truly understood him, regardless of color, and he believed that Jennifer truly loved him. That was before the big money, the trips to Miami, and the kilos of cocaine ... before Tommy got the major connection with Manny.
He’d always hustled, but never on a major level. He was considered small-time when he met Jennifer, selling an ounce of cocaine here and there to supplement his income. He had been a city sanitation worker, but he always dressed nice and drove nice cars, so women always thought he was a big-time hustler.
The money came, and so did the problems. Jennifer would complain that they weren’t spending enough time together. So he’d give her money to keep her mouth shut. He’d buy her new purses and jewels to make up for lost time together. And then it was new cars, and he’d even given her the money to buy her new breasts. This kept her quiet for a few weeks, but then she wanted to go to Miami. Twin had initially told her that she couldn’t come, but she was adamant, even accused him of seeing “some bitch” in Miami. After weeks of opposition, Twin finally let her come. She became part of the operation. Jennifer became a drug-trafficking mule. The money had changed Twin, had changed his relationship, and had replaced the love of his life. He’d gotten to the point where he needed then money more than Jennifer.
Twin picked up another picture of Jennifer. She was smiling brightly. It was her 25th birthday. He kissed the picture, and the tears continued to fall.

Twin hopped in his the truck and drove to JoJo’s house. Nia answered the door. She invited him in.
“What’s up, Twin? Why you look so down?” JoJo asked. “Jennifer died.”
“What?” JoJo said. “Come in and have a seat.”
They sat in the living room. Nia stood beside Joe. Nobody said

anything for about a minute. Finally JoJo asked, “How did she die?” “I don’t know. All I know so far is that she passed out on the
plane.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, I know. This whole thing has made me realize that life is
too short, and I think you and Tommy should try to work out your
differences. We’ve been friends for too long.”
“I’m willing to put all the bullshit behind us,” JoJo said. Twin sighed, then he glanced at Nia.
“Hey, Twin, I’m sorry Tommy had to get hurt … I really am. I
mean, we all know Tommy’s a good person. The man wears his heart
on his sleeve, and we know there’s nothing he won’t do for anybody,”
Nia said.
“I know, and that’s what’s fucked up about the whole situation,”
Twin said. “Even though Tommy said he was thinking of moving to
San Fran with Alicia, we don’t want him holding a grudge.” “You’re right, I think I should call and talk to him first,” Nia said. “I think I should talk to him first,” JoJo said.
Twin stood. “I have to be going. I have to find out what happened
to Jennifer.”
JoJo and Twin hugged.