Still Candy Shopping (8 page)

Once all the cards were laid out on the table, Slim stepped away from me and Paris. As soon as he got far enough away from us where he couldn’t hear what we said, Paris leaned toward me and said, “Come on, let’s get to work before he starts to flip out.”

I followed Paris over to where Jennifer was standing, which was on the side of the Shop & Go convenience store. Slim walked across to the other side of C Avenue and sat on the foot stoop of an abandoned house. I couldn’t help but to ask Paris how Slim kept any of his women from running off.

“Have you seen that big ass gun he’s got?” she asked me.

Stunned by her reply, I said, “No.”

“Well, you best believe he has it on him. He uses it to run cats off who ain’t trying to pay us our money. But don’t get it twisted, because he will use it on us if we try to get out of pocket with him.”

“Don’t worry about me, because I’m trying to get paid,” I told her, and then I turned my back to her so I could get the attention of the next car that drove by.

Candy Shop part 2 Kiki Swinson

I hung out on the corner of C Avenue and Church Street for three hours straight and made two hundred twenty-five dollars. I was very happy, but Slim wasn’t thrilled. After he collected money from me and all the other girls, he stormed back over to his spot by the abandoned house. But before he left, he screamed at all of us. “If y’all don’t want me to go upside y’all fucking heads, then y’all better get me more money than this,” he complained.

Of course, no one dared to challenge him, so I left well enough alone. I was, however, upset with myself that I didn’t keep a few bucks. It had been a few hours since my last dose of dope and my body was beginning to feel the effects. I knew that I needed to get me a pill sooner rather than later, because if I waited until later, then I wouldn’t be any good to Slim or myself.

I tried to hold out at least until after I served up one more date, but the night had slowed down and it seemed like no one was willing to cough up any more money. I stood alongside the Shop & Go for about thirty more minutes, and when I realized that no one was trying to spend their money, I got up the gumption to walk across the street to where Slim was standing.

He looked at me like I stunk when I approached him. “Why the fuck you over here in my face? You know you ain’t supposed to leave your post until I say so,” he roared.

“I know, but I’m starting to feel really ill. And if I don’t get another pill of dope, I’m gonna get sick as hell,” I warned him.

“Bitch, don’t you think I know about fiends like you? Y’all dope heads snort that heroin through your nose or shoot that shit in your veins all day long. And as soon as that shit wears off, y’all are ’round here trying to get another fix. I’ve been ’round that shit all my life. My mama ODed off that shit when I was fifteen, so I know how that shit works.”

“Look nothing!” he roared. “Now if you think I’m gon’ let you close down shop so you can run and go cop yourself a pill of dope, then you got me fucked up! I ain’t gon’ let no bitch stop me from getting my paper. So getcha ass back ’cross that street and get me some more money.”

The tone of his voice made it clear that he didn’t give a fuck about me getting sick. And the fact that I knew he had a gun on him made it even more clear to me that whatever I decided to do from this point forward would have to be done with caution.

I was beginning to feel really weak. And if I did not get a grip of something from a needle really soon, then I wasn’t going to be able to do anything.

As instructed, I walked back across C Avenue and stood beside Paris. “Are you all right?” she asked me.

“Nah, I’m starting to get ill. And if I don’t get me a pill of dope soon, then my body is going to start aching and I’m gonna start throwing up all over the place.”

I had no idea what she was about to do, but I was willing to find out. I followed Paris to the back of the Shop & Go, but before we turned the corner we heard Slim yell at us, “Where the fuck y’all going?”

“We gotta pee,” Paris said. “so we’re gonna watch each other’s backs.”

As soon as we turned the corner, she ducked down behind the bush and reached into her purse. Seconds later she pulled out a cap filled with a white substance. My heart fluttered at the sight of it.

“Is that heroin?” I asked in a low whisper.

“Yeah. So take some before you get ill,” she insisted.

I couldn’t tell you how happy I was to see Paris handing me some of her dope. But there was a problem. I didn’t have a needle, nor did I have a spoon and a lighter. I was fucked up and back to square one.

I held the pill of dope in my hand like I didn’t know what to do with it. Paris peered around the corner for a brief second, and then she looked back at me. “Look, Faith, we ain’t got all day, so you better hurry up and do something. Because if Slim comes over here and catches us fucking around with this shit while we’re working, then he’s going to bust our asses for sure.”

“Fuck it!” I said and unscrewed the top part of the cap. I dumped part of it into my right nostril and snorted it as hard as I could. When it felt like I had gotten all of it in, I wiped my nose with the back of my hand and waited for the drug to take effect.

Paris snorted the other half of the cap of heroin like a pro. She didn’t leave behind even a trace of the substance inside the clear medicine capsule. After she wiped the heroin residue from her nose with the palm of her hand, we fixed ourselves up and headed back around the building to our post. When I looked to see what Slim was doing, I noticed that he was preoccupied with Tacora, so we eased back to our spot and chatted for a bit.

“Nah. I just started snorting heroin about six months ago. When I first started working for Slim I was only smoking weed. But then I got introduced to heroin through one of my dates. Slim knows I snort it, but he told me if he caught me using it while I was working then he was gon’ fuck me up.”

“Nah, he didn’t pull me in like that. I was already on the streets when I met him. I used to work on the other end of Church Street by Young’s Park. And one night he was walking by when I was getting my ass kicked by one of my tricks, so when I saw him I yelled and asked him for his help. He hesitated at first. But when I started begging him, he came to my rescue and told me that if I worked for him then he’d protect me. So that’s how our paths crossed.”

“Do you know he almost choked me to death back at his apartment?”

“I kind of figured he would do that. He’s the type of man that wants all the control. If he feels like you threatening his manhood, then he’s gonna come down hard on you.”

“Somebody should’ve warned me,” I commented underneath my breath, and hen I changed the subject. “So how old are the other girls?”

“Well Jennifer started right after I did. That’s why we’re always together. And the other two started tricking for him like a couple months ago. I think Sabrina is his favorite, so you better watch her because she’s one sneaky bitch!”

“Yep, he sho did. And the only people who was out here when it happened was me, Jennifer and Sabrina. And Jennifer ain’t gonna tell on herself.”

“That makes sense.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page. So keep your eyes open and your mouth closed,” she advised, and then she took her attention off me and turned it toward the streets. She smiled as soon as she saw a small, dark blue pickup truck pull up curbside. “There goes one of my regulars,” she said as she walked off in the direction of the truck.

I stood there and watched as Paris opened the passenger side door of the truck and got inside.

“Hey, baby,” I heard her say.

And before she had a chance to close the door behind her, I heard a man’s voice say, “You gave me herpes, bitch!” And then I saw bright sparks and heard a loud roar like there was an explosion.

I nearly jumped out of my fucking skin as my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I knew at that very moment that what I saw and heard was gunfire. And so did everyone else who was standing around, because they scattered like roaches. But I stood there. I was completely frozen. With all the chaos, I couldn’t think straight. It seemed like everything was happening so fast.

“Oh my God! Paris got shot!” I heard Sabrina scream. Tacora and Jennifer started screaming for help, but no one listened. And then I saw Slim through my peripheral vision running toward the pickup truck, letting off gunshots. When the driver saw that he was being shot at, he pushed Paris’s lifeless body out of his truck and squealed his tires as he sped off. Paris’s body fell to the curb.

I freaked out. I mean, she was just standing beside me, giving me a head’s up about how to deal with Slim and his girls. But now she was dead. What the fuck was this world coming to?

Unfortunately the guy driving that pickup truck got away before Slim got a chance to get him. Tacora, Sabrina, and Jennifer ran to Paris’s limp body and cried over her.

“She’s dead!” Sabrina yelled while sobbing.

Jennifer sat down on the curb, lifted Paris’s head, and laid it in her lap. Blood oozed from Paris’s head as Jennifer wrapped her arms around her face.

“Somebody call the fucking ambulance!” Jennifer screamed. But there was no one in sight except the four of us.

Slim ran back to where we were standing a few minutes later. He was completely out of breath. “We gotta go before the police come,” he told us.

Jennifer looked up at Slim like he was crazy. “We can’t just leave her here.” She continued to sob.

Slim grabbed Jennifer by her arm and lifted her from the ground. Paris’s blood was all over Jennifer’s hands and clothes. “Let’s go now!” he demanded.

The minute he lifted Jennifer from the ground she became hysterical. She started kicking and screaming. “I can’t believe she is dead, Slim. That man killed her just like that.”

Slim realized that Jennifer wasn’t going to leave Paris’s body willingly, so he picked her up and threw her over his shoulders. Before he walked off, he looked at me and instructed me to grab Paris’s purse. I looked at him like he was fucking crazy. I mean, who did that? Who tried to rob the dead? I knew I’d done some fucked up shit to people, but I’d never taken anything from a dead person. That was by far the most foul thing any human being could do.

Frustrated with my lack of cooperation, Slim looked like he was about to spit venom out of his mouth. “Faith, why the fuck are you standing there when I told you to get her purse?”

“It’s got blood all over it,” I said.

“Do you think I give a fuck? Pick that shit up before somebody else gets it,” he demanded.

I reached down, grabbed the strap of Paris’s purse, and I immediately handed it to Slim so I would not have to carry it. Slim clutched the purse in his right hand while he used his left hand to hold Jennifer’s body across his shoulders. Let’s go,” he roared, and then he walked away.

Sabrina, Tacora, and I walked behind Slim as he led the way back to his apartment. Paris’s blood was all over my hand, and I desperately wanted to wash it off. I had not started crying yet. I was more focused on processing what had just happened.

In the distance we all heard paramedics and sirens from several police cars blaring loudly. The louder they got, the closer we knew they were. Slim panicked. He took Jennifer off his shoulder and made her run beside him. As a matter of fact, he instructed all of us to do the same.

We were all out of breath when we arrived back at Slim’s apartment. There were a couple of his neighbors standing outside when we ran up to the building. They looked at all of us and I was sure they wondered why we were running, and why Jennifer and Slim were covered in blood. They didn’t open their mouths to question us, but they watched until we disappeared behind the door of the apartment.

The Candy Shop part 2 Kiki Swinson

Jennifer tried to collapse on the living room floor when we entered the apartment, but Slim grabbed her and took her into the bathroom while Sabrina and Tacora took a seat on the sofa. I walked into the kitchen to rinse the blood off my hands. When I was done I joined Tacora and Sabrina in the living room.