Eastside Read Free

“Are you gonna let me sport ’em?”
    Too-Low smiled at his younger brother. “I gotta stay on the cuts all night, ’cause tomorrow’s the first. If I make enough ends, I’ll take you to the mall and get you some.”
    â€œCool!”
    â€œSo, how are your grades in school?” Too-Low asked.
    â€œThey’re all right.”
    â€œAll right? They need to be better than just all right.” Too-Low leaned forward and jabbed his finger into Travon’s chest. “You better not be fuckin’ up in school!”
    â€œI’m not.” Travon frowned. “My grades are okay.”
    â€œI’ll tell you what,” Too-Low told him. “I’ll spring for some fresh gear for school this fall, if you do well the rest of this year.”
    â€œPut me down, and I can buy my own shit,” Travon replied.
    Too-Low slapped Travon across the back of his head.
    â€œFuck!” Travon shot a venomous glance toward his bother. “What the hell was that for?”
    Too-Low jabbed his finger into his younger brother’s face. “Tre, if I catch you anywhere near this shit, I’ma put a foot in your ass! Do you hear me?”
    â€œYou’re doing it, so why can’t I?” Travon replied. “You won’t even let me get down with the hood! That shit ain’t fair, Too-Low!”
    Too-Low kicked a crushed beer can that was lying on the ground near his foot, sending it tumbling noisily across the roughly paved street.
    â€œFuck this shit, Tre!” Too-Low shouted, once he had turned back toward his brother. “I’m doing this shit so you don’t have to! And I already made it clear to everybody that I’ll kill anybody who puts you on the hood, and everybody who was there watching!”
    â€œEverybody else is down!” Travon protested.
    â€œTre, you better not ever join a gang, or pick up any kind of dope. Do you hear me?”
    Travon shifted his eyes away from his brother, to a distant spot down the dark and empty street.
    Too-Low grabbed Tre by his arm and shook him violently. “I said do you hear me?”
    â€œYeah, yeah, I hear you!” Travon yanked his arm away from his brother and again stared down the dark, trash-strewn street. All of his friends were joining, and it wasn’t fair that he wasn’t allowed to. All the girls in school were falling all over the guys who had joined. He would almost kill to be able to wear burnt orange to school.
    â€œThis shit is dangerous,” Too-Low added. “The first chance I get, I’m getting us the hell outta these fuckin’ courts!” When he saw the moisture welling in his younger brother’s eyes, Too-Low decided that he had been a little too harsh. He decided to make up for it.
    â€œHere.” He reached beneath his burnt-orange University of Texas T-shirt and pulled out his nine-millimeter Beretta handgun. He handed the cold, steel, death black weapon to Travon. “Take this home and put it under my mattress. Go straight home with it, Tre. And don’t be fuckin’ ’round with it either.”
    Travon lifted the weapon into the air and examined it. After a few seconds, he turned back toward his brother. “You ain’t gonna need this tonight?”
    Too-Low shook his head. “No. Lil Anthony, Pop, and Tech Nine are on their way. We all gonna stay down tonight. I know that them fools is strapped, so I don’t need to be. ’Sides, if one time runs up on us tonight, I ain’t trying to catch a pistol case.”
    Travon slid the gun into his pants and pulled his shirt down over it. Too-Low reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a wad of rolled-up bills. He counted out fifteen hundred dollars and handed it to Travon.
    â€œTonight, when Momma goes to sleep, put four hundred dollars in her purse. Don’t let her catch you. If she asks you in the morning where it came from, just tell her that you don’t