Crazy Summer (42 page)

“The smoke doesn’t bother you, do it?” he asked.

Lil’ Danté shook his head and then looked toward the waiting car in the Toys R Us parking lot.

He looked back at Bookie and said, “You know I seen you wit’ my mama’s friend, Red Bone.”

Then he removed his Glock .40 and aimed it at Bookie’s temple. Without another word, he pulled the trigger. The gun roared, blood spattered on the window, and Bookie’s head fell over. Danté stared briefly while squinting his eyes.

He jumped out and moved like a Cheetah. The Yukon rammed the rear of a Toyota Camry. He was moving, though, fighting for his life as usual. Bookie wasn’t ready to die today. He had something to live for; that’s for sure. He wouldn’t have ever guessed it would end like this, the one who he least expected.

Three hours later, Summer had gotten the news, and Lil’ Danté wasn’t the one who gave it to her. The police had notified every person whose number was stored in the phone found inside Bookie’s SUV. The ambulance raced him to the Medical College of Georgia. Despite the heavy traffic, it only took the ambulance seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds.

When Summer arrived, he’d already been taken into surgery. Lil’ Danté waited in the waiting room with her. Before long, there were over fifty people waiting and praying, hoping he’d pull through. Lil’ Danté stood against the wall. He didn’t know Bookie had this much support. Some of the guys that were there he’d seen on the news for murder. Some of them were big dope boys, and nearly every last one of them had a bulge in their waistline. He knew how a gun looked tucked underneath a shirt.

Lil’ Danté stuffed his hands in his Red Monkey jeans, his eyes still searching the crowd. He was too young to be this heartless. His calmness showed across his face. Then Red Bone walked in. She was stunning, dressed in a tight-fitting summer dress with open-toe sandals. She hugged a few people and then glanced around the room as if she was looking for somebody.

Danté watched her every move. He pulled his hands from his pockets and folded his arms across his chest. Their eyes met, hers squinting, and then she started towards him. He left the wall and headed in her direction, also.

“Hey,” she said, hugging him. “Where ya mama?” 

She sounded very concerned. She felt the strength in Lil’ Danté’s powerful arms. Leave it to her to be thinking such sexual thoughts at a time like this, but it was a mental note that she’d keep to herself…at least for now anyway.

Before he could answer, Summer entered the waiting room with her eyes fire red. The crowd parted and closed in behind her, everybody staring in her direction. Lil’ Danté removed himself from Red Bone when he saw his mother coming from the rear. When she reached them, Danté faced her. He just knew she’d found out.

“Is he alright?” he asked.

Not wanting to make a scene, Summer kept her cool.

“He’s not looking good,” was all she said, and everybody heard her.

Two weeks later, Summer was at home collecting her thoughts. Her mother was gone, Bookie was gone, and the twins were away at college. At least their future was promising. She banked on that. In her bedroom, she had a list of names of everybody who owed her money from a few blocks and a few pounds. She knew a lot of cats in the streets that owed her probably wouldn’t pay because Bookie was gone. He had been her muscle and strength. Now she was vulnerable.

The first name on the list was a guy called Crazy Legs. Summer knew of him only from what Bookie had told her. Beside his name was one hundred and eighty thousand. It was spelled out in code.

She picked up a cell phone, one that couldn’t be traced or bugged. The number she dialed was disconnected.

Bitch,
she said to herself. A worried look appeared across her face as she dialed another number. The name was Cheerio. Summer had dealt with him before. She knew his MO, and he was thorough. He only owed like seventy-three grand. An odd number, but still a nice piece of change.

Cheerio answered. “Hello.”

“It’s me,” Summer whispered. Her name wouldn’t go across the airwaves…at least not on a business note anyway.

“We got a bad connection. Let me call you back.”

The line went dead, and she stared at the phone blankly.

“I know these niggas ain’t trying me like this,” she said angrily.

Lil’ Danté had entered her room. He’d been there; she just hadn’t noticed. He really wanted to tell Summer that he was the one who offed Bookie, but he decided to keep it under his belt. He sat on the bed next to her. His strong hands grabbed hers. There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Lil’ Danté wanted her to break first. He needed her to tell him everything. She wouldn’t, though. Dark circles and bags were forming underneath her eyes.

“You alright?” he asked.

Her body quivered and her eyes became moist. “You know everybody thinks I had Bookie knocked off.”

“Where you hear that from?” A concerned look spread across his hardened face.

“We still keep an ear to the street. Red Bone comes through with valuable information from the strip club.”

Lil’ Danté thought for a minute. He was a sharp thinker and quick on his feet, something he learned from the boxing club. He studied his mother again. She looked devastated. Her eyes shifted to the nightstand where a framed photograph of her and Bookie sat.

It began to rain outside. Lil’ Danté stood up and went to the window to stare at the dark gray skies with his back to Summer.

Then out of nowhere, he said, “He died for a reason.”

*****

Cheerio was a short, handsome guy who kept himself well groomed. He wore a goatee and a low haircut. He arrived in the Applebee’s parking lot on Wrightsboro Road in a beat-up Ford 1500 pickup truck. The rain was coming down relentlessly. A guy who had been waiting in a parked car next to him got out and jumped in with Cheerio, a duffel bag folded underneath his arm.

“Whuzzup?” the guy asked Cheerio. Paranoid, he glanced around the parking lot. The cocaine and X-pills had him that way.

Cheerio stared at him. “I got us a lick, nigga.” 

The guy’s face lit up. “Show nuff?” he responded. “Who?”

“Dis bitch named Summer. Shawty used to fuck wit’ Bookie. Dey say she da one had him knocked off.”

The guy looked around again as if someone was following him or about to kill him. “Where she live?”

“She out in Columbia County, big-boy crib with the electrical fence and everything.”

“Nigga, you act like you glad she got all dat. How da hell we gonna get in?”

Cheerio paused briefly with a sinful grin across his face. “I owe her money and she wants it. All we got to do is put the plan together.” 

The guy looked around again before removing a nearly empty pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit one up and stuffed his last one back in his pocket. The menthol smoke circulated through the truck. He glanced in the rearview mirror on his side, his hand twitching a little when he brought it up to his mouth.

“How much money we talkin’?” he asked.

“I’ma estimate over a quarter million,” Cheerio said.

The guy snubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray and nodded his head nervously. “Count me in.”

*****

Summer had a mini Glock. It was smaller than a .25 automatic, and it was aimed at Lil’ Danté. Tears streamed her face while he stood there in disbelief, his eyes squinting angrily. He was under a lot of pressure right now, but he didn’t show it.

“So you gonna shoot me, Mama?” 

The contempt in his voice hit her like a punch. His face was slowly beginning to cover with perspiration. Summer couldn’t believe him; she just shook her head.

“Why would you do something like that, Danté?”

She tried desperately hard to calm down, but her voice still trembled. Lil’ Danté hesitated for a minute, his eyes shifting from hers, to the barrel of the gun, and then back to her eyes.

“I caught him and Red Bone together at Grandma’s birthday party.”

Summer’s eyes displayed much pain. She stared at him for what seemed like forever before she slowly lowered the gun. He maneuvered cautiously in her direction and hugged her. Her arms wrapped around him tightly.

She whispered in his ear, “I love you, Danté, but right now, I can’t stand to look at you.” 

He nearly pushed himself away from her. He was so mad that he almost lost his breath.

“And that’s it?” he asked her.

“You on your own,” she whispered and then turned her back to him.

Lil’ Danté went toward the door. When he opened it, he heard his name. He turned and faced Summer, who ran to him and hugged him.

“Don’t leave,” she whispered.

He was her youngest son, and she wasn’t about to lose him. What she saw in him is that he was aggressive and he could think. This was her son literally, and in the back of her mind, she knew he had his father’s ways…or much worse.

“Well, if you don’t want me to come to yo’ house, jus’ let me know where you wanna meet at?” Cheerio said into the phone to Summer.

He and a couple more goons were in a hotel room on Washington Road. There were two mini assault rifles, and three had guns amongst them. An ounce of powdered cocaine was being passed around in a clean ashtray, and they weren’t wasting any time with it either.

“Are you alone at this moment?” Summer asked.

Cheerio’s eyes glanced around the room. He wasn’t stupid, but then again, people tend to make stupid decisions while high on coke. He was thinking,
Easy lick
. Summer was thinking ten steps ahead of him.

“Right now I’m at a room on Washington Road. I got a couple of partnas wit’ me.” He dipped his pinky nail in the mound of raw powder, brought it to his nose, moved the phone away from his face, and sniffed all in one swift motion.

“Can I come to you?”

Cheerio glanced around again. His partners were talking in the back, so he snapped his fingers to gain their attention. They turned to him in unison, and he placed his index finger to his mouth to silence them.

“Yeah, you can come to me.” His eyes swept around the room to read their facial expressions.

What Summer said next made him catch butterflies. “I’m sure I can trust you, right?”

His throat became dry, and his stomach began bubbling from the cocaine.

“What makes you think you can’t trust me, Summer?” he said. “You know I’ll handle business.”