The Stick Up Kid

Scheming

Thirty minutes later, Raquan and I were just making it to his house. His grandmother’s car was outside collecting dust. That was a good sign. Raquan jogged up the frail wooden stairway and unlocked the door. I followed him inside.

            “Yo Mama!” he shouted, waiting for his grandma to answer. When he got none he looked at me and we both shrugged. “Guess she not home,” Raquan walked into his grandparent’s room and came back out twirling a set of keys on his finger. “Yo we out!” We left the house as quickly as we came and hopped in the old 1993 Honda.

            Raquan shoved the key in the ignition and cranked the engine several times before it actually started. The motor sounded weak, but the car roared to life. I leaned back in the seat getting comfortable. I would have rolled up, but I didn’t feel like paying for another gaur, plus I was still high from earlier.

            Raquan hit the gas and swerved out of our neighborhood so hard he almost flipped the car over. I shot him with the ‘WTF’ look, but he acted like he was too focused on driving to see me. Raquan continued to speed up the road with out a care in the world. We made it too North San Tera in record time.

            “Yo, hit that nigga up,” Raquan said, tossing the phone in my lap. I sat up in the seat while grabbing his phone. He had an old school flip-phone with faded out buttons and a cracked screen.

            “Man this shitty ass phone,” I mocked, but I couldn’t judge too hard because my phone was a piece of junk too. I scrolled through the contacts and found Ajax, pressing dial.

            The phone rang three times before someone answered. “Yo,” Ajax said in a deep voice.

            “What up man, this K.T, how we get to the spot?” I asked. Ajax paused on the phone, like he was thinking.

            “Man you get on Stark street, and go up until you see a burger king, You make a right at that light, and there gon be a tattoo parlor called ‘Dope’ to yo right. You can’t miss it bro,” Ajax instructed. I made a mental note of everything he just told me, nodding my head.           

            “Ight yo,” I said, hanging up. Raquan looked at me, waiting to know where to go.

            When I finished giving Raquan directions we were finally at the Tattoo parlor. I’ve never really been in the slums of North Tera before, but it looked a lot like the South Side, and that’s not a complement. The Tattoo parlor it self seemed gritty and suspect.

            I got out of the car first, pulling up my pants. Raquan snuck behind me and nudged my arm. “Let’s see what they bout,” He told me, walking to the door. We entered the tattoo parlor and looked around. Ajax sat in a chair talking with two other sketchy looking white guys. He glanced at us after the door shut.

            “What up man?” Ajax greeted, getting out of his seat. He dapped us up.

            “Nothin’,” I shot back. “This ya’ll spot?” Ajax motioned for us to follow him.

            “One of em,” he walked to the back of the shop where two more people were. One was a white female who had blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and a slim build. She was eyeing me down as we passed by. “Aye this my cuz Zora, and my homie Troy.” Troy nodded his head, but Zora looked at me and smiled. I shot her a stare that showed I was ‘interested’.

            Ajax removed a key from his right pocket and unlocked the back door. “This where the real money is made,” he pushed the door open, revealing a laboratory that created methamphetamine. I saw a number of empty and half filled containers. I’ve never actually seen a meth lab before. It was a pretty big set up, but it smelled like crap. “If ya’ll boys trynna make some real paper, let me know. I’ll show you the ropes.”

            “I’m good,” I refused. Selling drugs wasn’t me. Raquan shook his head at the offer as well.

            “Word, too each his own,” Ajax said. “But I still got a job for ya’ll, if you up for it.”

            “What is it?”” I wondered.

            “Easy money. I got this dude I sell to just about every other week. He’s a bitch ass, but he makes me good money,” Ajax stated. “ What I want ya’ll to do is hit this man up, and bring me back what eva narcotics he got on him. He usually stacked up, so you can keep what eva money you get, or what eva else he got. Just get me the drugs.”

            I nodded my head liking the plan. “That aint no problem, but how much money you think he gon have on em?”

            Ajax shrugged. “I can’t say for sure, but if he been slangin’ like he usually do, a couple of hundred.” I smirked at the sound of that. Ajax was right; it’s easy money.

            “So where he at?” Raquan asked.

            “There gon a be a party tonight on college street, I know he’s gon be down there. My man Blake gon be there to serve em up, and that’s were you two come in,” Ajax explained.

            “I like that,” I grinned, dapping Ajax up. “That’s shit’s as good as done.”