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“Yeah, Ma,” he said in a low, exasperated tone.
Diamond stood and began to pace the floor. “I’m just saying, Dante, I want better for me. I had it going on when I was your age. I mean, I didn’t want for nothing because my father gave me everything, and you asking me questions.”
She went on and on and on about Dante being an ungrateful child.
Dante heard his mother bitching and complaining, but he wasn’t really listening.
“Do you hear me?” she finally asked, standing in front of him, her hands on her hips.
“Yes, Ma.”
ELEVEN
Kids No More
Three months later
“Al-Malik!” Dante yelled as he stepped off the bus.
Al-Malik stood on the corner where the bus had dropped off Dante.
“What’s up, man?” Dante asked as they slapped hands. “Where you been?”
“I been around,” Al-Malik told him without making eye contact.
“Where, man? You ain’t been in school or work for almost three months. Darren already fired you, man,” Dante said, referring to their boss.
“Man, I don’t care.” Al-Malik shrugged.
“You don’t care about school either? Darren said you called out sick and never called back. I called your crib, and your sister said she ain’t seen you in a minute. What’s up?”
Al-Malik didn’t respond right away. He was searching for the right lie to tell Dante. Al-Malik had always looked up to Dante and loved him like a brother. Dante was always there for him more than his real brothers. Dante always took up for him in school and helped him with his homework when he had problems.
But Al-Malik had grown weary of the life he was living. Trey was in his ear more than Dante knew, and he saw firsthand how easy it was to make quick cash. He had moved in with Trey and was now slinging on the very block they stood on, right under Dante’s nose.
Dante went to school and worked long hours, so he never saw this change coming. As long as Al-Malik showed up for school and work, he thought it was all good, but now he was about to find out that his friend had folded under the pressure.
Before Al-Malik could answer Dante, a female fiend walked up to him. She was skin and bones and desperately needed a bath, judging from the funk fog that surrounded her.
“Hey, Malik, can I get two bags?” she asked, referring to heroin.
Dante’s mouth dropped open.
Al-Malik wouldn’t look at Dante. He simply backpedaled over to a box of cereal that sat on the side of the building, reached inside, and pulled out the bags that held the dope. He walked back over to the woman and handed her the drugs once she gave him the crumpled bills she held in her fist.
Al-Malik carefully unfolded the money, observing his surroundings. He had become a pro at slinging. He pulled out a knot and put the money the fiend had given him with the other bills then placed it back in his pocket. Finally he looked up at Dante.
“Oh, word? It’s like that, Malik?”
Al-Malik saw the hurt look on his friend’s face. “Yo, Tae, man, my bad, but I couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much for me, man. I couldn’t even stay at home no more. I couldn’t study, and the money we was making wasn’t doing nothing for me. Besides, you got promoted, not me.”
“All you had to do was come talk to me, Malik. I’m your boy. Haven’t I always looked out for you?”
“Yeah, man, but—”
“We said we weren’t gonna do this, man. We was gonna get up outta the hood the legal way. A
l-Malik, you could have come to me, straight up. I would have let you crash at the crib, man. Shit! How many times before have you come and crashed at the crib?”
