The Weight Watchers

chapter 3: back to 2014

                                                                                                                Ro

     Parked on 23rd and Diamond street in the turtletop van sat me (Ro), Mar and Pork watching ESPN highlights on the 37 inch flat screen tv. The van was tinted all the way around including the front windshield. The back even had curtains. We put money into it to make the conversion van more suitable. There was the tv, xbox one, playstation 4. Pioneer sound system. Satellite and laptop with wifi. More like an office on wheels. A couple of stash boxes, and some spots we made hiding spots. The outside was normal. No rims. Smoke grey paint. Ford emblems.

    "Where's N.R.?" I asked Mar.
    Mar was usually the driver. After all he drove the best out of the four of us. He made The Transporter look like a 16 year old permit carrier.
    "Here come Mr. Knockout now." Mar said seeing N.R. approaching. N.R. and myself were the closest. His name stood for No Rap. When it came down to it he had none, in the past. Over time I'm beggining to see that's not always the case. I guess it comes with age. The other day he told me out his own mouth "With maturity comes insight. With age comes a different outlook. You start to see things differently." He was now taking boxing more serious. He'd been in and out the ring since middle school. It was second nature to him, he was good, naturally good. Too good not to fight.
    "Before you say something Ro..." N.R. said hopping in the van. "I had to put my kids to bed. Gotta kiss my girls goodnight."
    "I wasn't gonna say nothing about that. We all got a kid or three. Except Mar. You know he still a virgin."
    "Ro you just mad I hit Ashley and you didn't." Mar shot back.
    "Like I was saying, since you here now, the nigga I got lined up is big time. I been on him for a while."
    "Who is he?" Asked Pork.
    "Arty. Oldhead from south philly. Long money. Been getting it since the 80's. I mess with his daughter Katrina. If she knew I was doing this she would lose it. Really, she the reason I know so much. Like him, she thinks he's untouchable because of the nigga Josh he roll with. They brothers. Same dad, different mom. Josh a lunatic. He move out. But, that shit don't matter."
    "I was thinking the same shit." Pork added.
    "The crib we about to run in," I continued. "is the stash house. One of them atleast. He got 3 cars. He always go to this crib in collingdale. I put a gps tracker on his Audi and his Benz. When he go there, he go in with a bag and don't come out with it. All the other spots he go to he be in there for about a half hour tops. This crib he be in for hours. Alone. I know this is the spot. We can't kick in the door. I got this circular saw to cut through the backdoor. We going in." I said looking from Pork to N.R. "Mar you pull the van up to the front when I tell you we coming out. That's when you open the side door for us to hop in and we out. It's a sloman shield sign out front so we gotta be quick. Split up, find the safe. Find it, get it, gone. Y'all ready?"
     They agreed and we pulled off. Simple job. In and out. But, it's always a possibility something can go wrong. When we got out and I turned on my hand radio. Mar had the other one. No masks. No all black clothing. Too obvious in this neighborhood. We looked like we belonged here or was invited and thats how we approached the backdoor of the corner house, like we were told to go there. I pulled out the saw and cut around the locks in the wooden door. It took 10 seconds tops, if that. Once inside we all rushed upstairs checking the rooms.
                                                                                    _________________________________
                                                                                                           N.R.

     I found the safe in the backroom. Inside a walk-in closet and yelled out to Ro and Pork. The closet had a closet inside it. Goofy stuff. Unnecessary. The safe had to be almost three feet tall. "How we gonna open this?" I asked Ro.
     "We not." He shot back. "I told y'all we taking it."
     He radioed Mar in the van telling him to pull up. We struggled with the safe all the way to the steps. Once there we pushed it down. It tipped over at the bottom and crashed to the floor. It was extremely loud. We ran down the steps Pork came last toting a heavy blanket. He must of just grabbed it. We flipped the safe on to the blanket and dragged it outside. In seconds we were in the van pulling off. We drove all the way to the Kensington section of the city. Mar had an apartment there. A tore down neighborhood. You could carry around a body in a bag and no one would notice. Carrying a safe under a blanket was like carrying a couch. No one payed us any mind. Crackheads and dope fiends. Drug dealers and prostitutes flooded the area. For obvious reasons Mar kept the place sparsely furnished. Break ins were frequent down here. A fold out table, plastic chairs, 13 inch tv, empty fridge, bare bed and an old couch was all the place consisted of. Mar called a locksmith he knew to come open the safe. It took him almost an hour to show up.
     "Curt, you think you can open this jawn?" Mar asked the locksmith.
     Curt was a dark slender looking dude. Had to be in his early 20's or atleast looked to be since he was one of those baby faced dudes like Ro.
     "Yeah, it's gonna cost you. This is top of the line right here. And, it's illegal. I know this ain't y'all safe. But, hey, I don't wanna know nothing so don't tell me."
     "Just open it then." Pork snapped.
     "How much Curt?" Asked Ro.
     "A stack."
     "A what? $1000 for what?"
     "I'll give you 50 grand if you can open that." Curt said.
     "Curt you ain't got 50 grand." I said.
     "Mar, I'll rob a bank if I have to if you can get this thing open. It's everything proof. Especially nigga proof."
     "Nigga! Open the fucking safe." Pork snapped again.
     It took what seemed like forever to get the thing open. When he unlocked it, he didn't open it. He stood and  put out his hand waiting to be paid. After recieving his payment I walked him to the door locking it behind him.
     "Y'all standing around, open it." I said.
     "What the fuck!" Pork yelled looking in the safe. Ro moved him aside and repeated the same thing. Looking inside I was also speechless. There was a asmall stack of money. A pound of weed and a diamond flooded watch.
     "Call that nigga back." I said. "I want my money back."
     The money in the safe equalled $4000 even. I got my stack back.
     "We did all of that for some weed, four stacks and a watch!" Pork snapped.
     "What the hell is hub-lot." I asked looking at the watch.
     "N.R. it's pronounced hue-bloat not hub-lot." Ro replied. "I wouldn't expect you to know that Mr. G-shock."
     "I'm not training to fight in a Rolex. Imagine me training in a Hublot. I ain't into all of that anyway. You can keep that jawn I'm cool."
     Once the disappointment subsided we were back in the van trying to figure out who to hit next. Especially since that was a waste of time. We split the money. They split the weed I think. I don't smoke or sell it. Ro kept the watch. He claimed it was worth atleast $40,000. He was the watch man after all. Next up was Mar with the jewelry. Pork spends his money on clothes like the rest of them. Gucci. Prada, and all those other designers that sound the same. I leave that mess to them and my girl Naeema. We been together since the end of the 12th grade. I always kept a girl. Before her I was with my previous girl since I was 9. Now I got in over 9 years with Naeema and two beautiful girls. Na'ilah who's 7 and Aaliyah who's 5. I tiptoed in the house, my girls had school in the morning. I looked at Naeema sleeping peacefully in bed. She still looked the same. I'm 5'8 she's only 5'2. I ain't gonna say she something she ain't but my baby is gorgeous. I love her smile and babydoll eyes. A few shades from darkskin and a few pounds from petite. Looks like she never even gave birth, no stretch marks. Soft little butt. Nice titties. Too bad her period was on. She woke up as I slid in bed snuggling up against me and adjusting her position due to my hardness. I kissed the back of her neck as she pulled my arm around her. Oh well. I had to be at the gym in the morning anyway.