Crack Head II. Lisa Lennox

was ready to get his grind on.

      Little did Smurf know, he was a living legend and many cats wanted to be like him. He knew he wouldn't have a problem with his chosen three because under his watch, Smurf wasn't going to put up with any unnecessary bullshit.

      Smurf paged Drake prior to hitting the streets. Waiting for a return call, Smurf decided to go see his mother whom he hadn't seen since Dink left. He had a surprise for her. With the stash he had accumulated by being Dink's right hand man, and along with the money in the safe, Smurf now had the means to help his moms. She could now live the way she'd always wanted. Nothing was too good for her in his eyes. He figured she wouldn't want to stay at his place, so he furnished another apartment just for her, in the same building that he now lived in. He couldn't wait to tell her and see the expression on her face.

      Smurf drove back to his old neighborhood and the cats on the streets acknowledged him. The same kids who took advantage of young Smurf's small size as a kid now respected him. He had a commanding sense of power and now truly felt like the man.

      When he reached the apartment building, Smurf contemplated going up the back like he used to, but he looked down at his fly clothes and decided not to. Smurf had on a Fila jogging suit with matching Fila tennis shoes. He didn't want to scuff his clean shoes by pulling some Spiderman shit climbing up the fire escape. Besides, he was the dope man now and he had a reputation to uphold. He heard that his mother stopped tricking months ago, so it was safe to enter through the front door.

      Smurf walked into his mother's apartment and couldn't close the door all the way before his mother came out from the bedroom and walked toward the bathroom.

      “Mama!” Smurf shrieked and quickly put his hands up to shield his eyes. His mother was butt naked and her hair was all over her head. Smurf knew what that meant—she had just got through fucking.

      For years, Smurf had seen his mother used and abused by men. It was a never ending cycle. No matter how much he told his mother how he felt, Gloria always dismissed her son's feelings and often took his dignity away by forcing him to bow down to the busters she had running through her. When the relationships were over, Gloria always apologized…until the next man.

      “Wayne! Baby!” Gloria screamed in shock. She covered up her private areas and dashed back into the bedroom. She returned with a sheet wrapped around her. “What you doing here?”

      Instantly, anger rose in his chest. Smurf tried to push his way past her and rush into the bedroom, but his mother stopped him with a fixed hand on his chest.

      “No Wayne, stop it!” she said firmly.

      “Mama, you don't have to do this anymore.” He pointed toward her, then to the bedroom.

      “Move in with me, mama. I got a nice apartment for you. Fixed up just the way you like it. I got enough money for the both of us.” He pulled out a wad of money, ten thousand dollars to be exact, and fanned it in front of her face. “Mama, it's more where this came from.” The hard core killer that the streets knew was now gone and the child that she raised was now in front of her.

      Her eyes bucked momentarily, but, the wad of cash didn't faze Gloria.

      “Wayne, I can't move in with you,” she told him seriously.

      “Why mama? I can give you everything you want and more.”

      She looked back at her bedroom, then back at her son. “It's not about you anymore. It's about me.” She lowered her voice and spoke again with authority. “I've done the best I could with you but I can't teach you to become a man. I know what you're doing on the streets.”

      “But that's for us, mama. I'm only doing this shit to take care of you!” Wayne shouted defensively.

      “Watch your mouth, boy, I'm still your mama!” He calmed down and allowed her to finish talking. “That's your way of life, Wayne, and this is mine. Let me live my life,” she said, pointing to herself. “Your mama will be just fine.”

      Gloria's eyes filled up with tears. Smurf was her only child but she made a decision about her life, she'd rather be with any man than to be alone. She began walking to the door and Wayne followed her. He got the distinct feeling that she was trying to get rid of him…and she was.

      Gloria opened the front door and a male voice called out from her bedroom, followed by three hand claps.

      “Gloria! Bitch get back in here now!” he yelled.

      Gloria jumped at the startling request. “Bye baby,” she told her son as she once again put her hand on his chest forcing him to walk backward out the door. She took one last look at Wayne and closed the door.

      Not only was Smurf furious, he was hurt. He had seen his mother get dogged out by men for as long as he could remember. Now, he was giving her the opportunity to live the life she wanted without a man fucking her and leaving her or beating her ass. Instinctively, Smurf reached toward his gun and thought about kicking the door in and killing the nigga who was in there calling her like she was some loyal dog. Then he remembered something she just told him, “Let me live my life.” Those words brought Smurf back to reality. She was right. He now understood that no amount of money that he gave her or his ability to provide for her would be good enough. His mother chose to be a whore and just like him, her method of survival was her choice.

      To take his mind off of his mother, Smurf decided to go to the Jackson Projects and round up his soldiers. As he rested at a stop light he thought about all that had happened over the last couple of months. Right before the light turned green, a police car sped by him and Smurf's radar went up. There was a familiar face riding shotgun, and if it was who he thought it was, there would be hell to pay.

      7

      TWO HOURS LATER, like old times, the three remaining South Bronx Bitches were sitting on the floor around Tonette's dark cherry wood coffee table eating fried bologna sandwiches with mustard and drinking grape Kool Aid. They were smoking bud and reminiscing about Crystal's crazy ass, filling the air with laughter. That gave Tonette the opening she needed.

      “Crystal…damn!” she said, somberly. “I still can't believe this shit.”

      Quietness surrounded them and Monique put her hands up to her face to block out the painful memory that clouded her mind.

      “It's been almost two months and the shit still all over the streets,” Shaunna confirmed, rubbing her big belly. “What the fuck she doing carrying a gun around like it's nothin' anyway?”

      Both Tonette and Shaunna looked at Monique.

      “I don't know what y'all looking at me for,” she smacked her lips, rolled her neck and looked back at them with bucked eyes as big as saucers.

      “Weren't you with her?” Shaunna asked, trying to get up off the floor to sit on the couch.

      “Yeah, but shit, I ain't know what was up. We was goin' to the show,” Monique said truthfully. “Dink's ass called her, wanting her to make a run for him.”

      “A run?”

      “Yeah. Wanted her to take something to that nigga, Stoney.”

      “Stoney?”

      “Yeah.”

      “What the fuck he give her?”

      “Girl, I don't know. Shit. What's with all the questions?” Monique raised her voice.

      Tonette was getting pissed that Monique was getting loud. Everyone in the crew knew that she had the last word but when Tonette was onto something it was best to be seen and not heard. Most people would be fooled by Tonette. She had a small frame, a toffee colored complexion and a soft smile of an angel with white teeth which rivaled her light-gray eyes. Even though she looked like Vanessa Williams when she wore her long, relaxed hair parted down the middle, her girls knew what was up. She could be a straight up bitch—the devil's liveliest advocate, and she didn't hesitate to spew her venom on anyone who crossed her.

      “What