Against the Grain Read Free Page A

take a bunch of pictures of him and T-Kie for you.”
    “Do that,” Kay said. “But check this out, where’s Tramaine?”
    “He’s at work.”
    “What about Lyniece?”
    “She’s upstairs in her room.”
    “Tell her to pick up the phone.”
    “Aiight, I love you, man.”
    “I love you, too, little bro. Stay out of trouble,” Kay said.
    “I will,” Caleek said.
    “Lyniece!!! LY-NIECE!!!” Caleek yelled.
    Kay heard Lyniece yell from upstairs, “What?”
    “Pick up the phone, it’s Kay.”
    “Hello.”
    “What up ho?”
    “Heeey, baaaby!” Lyniece yelled into the phone. Kay could tell she was smiling.
    “How’s T-Kie doing?” Kay asked.
    “Your niece is as bad as ever and she’s getting big, too. Her and Lil ‘C’ tore the house up yesterday. What’s up with you? Are you alright?”
    “Yeah, I’m straight. I’m just worried about Mom.”
    “Oh, you heard already, huh?”
    “Not everything. What’s wrong with her?”
    “She has cancer.” It was hard for Lyniece to say because she still didn’t want to believe it was true.
    Hearing that caused Kay to see his mother in a casket and he couldn’t swallow because of the lump in his throat.
    “We’re all having a hard time dealing with it but you know
your mother.
She doesn’t want anyone to worry about it so she’s running around here like she’s a teenager or something. You should see her, eating healthy and jogging around the block and taking T-Kie to the park every day. That’s why she ain’t home now; she’s out running the streets with one of her girlfriends.”
    “Yo, you heard from any of the fellaz?” Kay asked.
    “Not really. All of them left town when you got busted. Dre and Mina just got back. They stopped by here as soon as they got in Baltimore. Dre gave Mommy a thousand dollars to send to you. Did you get it?”
    “Yeah, I got it.”
    “All the rest of them are spread out and no one has heard anything from them. There is a rumor going around that Mike came home about a month ago. They said he was driving a brand-new car and he had some Spanish guys with him. But I haven’t seen him.”
    “What about Apache’s little girl, Kaneeka?”
    “Kay, after Apache got killed, Kahdijah couldn’t handle it and really let herself go. She started using drugs and now she’s living anywhere she can and she won’t let anyone keep Kaneeka. She has that baby up and down the street all times of the night. She went to jail for a few months and her cousin kept Kaneeka. Kahdijah claimed she was going to get herself together, but as soon as she came home, a week later she was getting high and turning tricks again. She knows that she can always come here to eat and rest but I think she’s embarrassed to come around Mommy. You should see them, Kay, both of them are so pretty. Kahdijah just livin’ foul.” Kay felt fucked up after his sister told him that. Since it was his fault that Apache had been killed, hearing that his woman and child had fallen on hard times had to be his fault, too.
    “Kay!” Lyniece yelled, bringing him out of his daydream.
    “Yeah, I’m still here.”
    “Oh, you got so quiet on me for a minute I thought we had got cut off.”
    “What about you? Have you found Mr. Right yet?”
    “Nah, I’m still single. I don’t trust niggaz around my daughter. Plus I don’t want to confuse her by letting her see me with different men. I don’t want her to grow up thinking that shit is cool when she starts dating. Mommy taught me that. The man she sees me with is going to marry me and take me out of the ghetto. Whatever happened to those two girls, Kay?”
    Kay thought about the day at the car wash when he helped two sisters.

3
    Kay looked at his watch; he had to meet Mike in an hour and had time to kill so he headed for the car wash. It was a do-it-yourself car wash, but Kay had no intention of washing his own ride. The place stayed full of crackheads and dope fiends trying to make a hustle to get their shot on.