Page 16 of Love Sanctioned

“So, what’s up with you and Sis? You trap her yet?” he asked randomly, making me look up from my phone.

“Ay, yo.”

“What? I’m asking. Already got a nephew who just hit me for fifteen hundred for a fucking pair of shoes. Tryna see if you boutta hit me with a niece too.”

I shook my head. “You are the only person I know crazy enough to give him that much bread for those shoes too. I told his ass when he starts needing shoes that cost that much it’s about time to get some applications in somewhere.”

He laughed. “Says the motherfucker who has him enrolled in a private school in Uptown where they wear those fucking shoes and don’t want him to get a job. That’s your son, but you gotta figure how you want him to grow, bro.”

“What do you mean?”

“Means it was all cool when he was about eight or nine, but he’s boutta be a man. I know damn well you don’t want him playing in the same streets we did, so I get the change of scenery and all that, but he’s also coming up around those motherfuckers. So it’s natural for him to want a car and all the shit he sees up there. That’s where he is most of the time, Psy.”

He made sense, which had me narrowing my eyes. “You must’ve just come from Jordyn’s?”

“Hell nah. I got original thoughts. But like I asked, you trapped Sis yet?” That playful grin was back at his lips.

“I ain’t gotta trap what’s mine. We talked and she knows where I stand.”

He laughed. “Ol’ whipped ass. Where do you stand? Communicating and shit instead of making it happen the old fashioned way. Aight.”

“Yo, you always talk about trapping somebody. You ain’t trapped Jordyn yet. Practice what you preach, hoe.”

“How do you know I didn’t? She blocked me and I got her phone cut off. Can’t nobody call her ass now.”

I laughed at him even though I knew he was dead ass serious.

“What are you getting into today?”

“Nothing honestly. I thought Unc’s appointment was today, but it’s Saturday. He’s talking about needing to get a flu shot. Who the fuck schedules flu shots?”

“Old heads like him.”

I laughed hard as fuck because he was right. Unc was serious about his flu shots and vaccines, which I found to be extremely comical because he had the strongest distrust for the government.

“But on some real shit, Kal hit me up. He said he’s in town and needs a word and some motion.”

“For real? You know Kim moved his ass to Westmere and turned him into a bear.” I sat up in my seat. Kal Turner used to be heavy into the street shit until he had a few kids and his wife gave him an ultimatum. He left Watertown so fast he left tire tracks. The funny thing was, he still worked out this way from time to time, but never strayed too long.

“He said that ain’t work out, but that’s your conversation to have with him.”

I nodded.

We talked for a while longer, then I had to head out. I was on my way toward the crib when Carla called. It wasn’t too unusual because she checked in with me weekly but talked to our son several times throughout the week.

I sat back in the seat and closed my eyes for a second. “What’s up, Carla?”

“You sound like you’re not sleeping again, Psy.”

“I’m straight. I got up early this morning. You must’ve talked to your expensive ass son.”

She laughed. “Nope, not today. What does he do?”

“Talking about a fucking car and he got Killah buying fifteen-hundred-dollar shoes.”

She laughed even more, a cough escaping her lips, letting me know she was smoking. Carla never escaped smoking without the coughing fits. Shorty had been that way since we were young. “Yo, that’s your fault, sending him to that school. I told you he could come here with me.”

“Nah, you should’ve told him he had to come there with you, not giving him a fucking choice.”