Black Buck(48)

Ma shut the TV off and stared at me for a long time before saying anything. “Dar, you know ’bout all this mess?”

“Yeah, Ma. But we’re gonna take care of it. They’re tryna make us out to be bad people, but we’re not.”

“I know that, baby, but I don’ know if you wanna be caught up in all of this. It could end up hurtin’ you.”

I kissed her forehead. “Don’ worry, Ma. I’m not caught up in this. I’m jus’ someone who works at the company doin’ my job, tha’s all. I love you.”

“Love you too, Dar.”

I grabbed my bag and headed out. Down the stairs. Turn the corner. Wave to Mr. Aziz. But when I passed his bodega, he waved me over.

“Sabah al-kheir, Mr. Aziz. How’s it going?”

“Kullu tamam, Darren. Everything’s fine. But Soraya is inside and said she just saw something on TV about your company. Maybe head in there for a second?”

I walked in, the doorbells clanging.

“Darren!” Soraya yelled, wearing tight blue jeans, red flats, and a black T-shirt with NINA SIMONE FOR PRESIDENT written on it. I know it’ll make me sound soft, but every time I saw her felt like I was seeing her for the first time, like the earth only orbited the sun so it could see her from all angles.

Behind the transparent plexiglass display, surrounded by all kinds of colorful candies, beef jerky, and lotto tickets, she swung around and pointed to the tiny flat-screen TV in the corner of the store.

“I jus’ saw Channel Seven, D. They’re sayin’ some crazy stuff about Sumwun and that little girl who got murdered. What do you know about it?”

“Not much, really,” I said, snapping back to reality. “Shit’s crazy over there right now and we got all of our clients cancelin’. Rhett says it’s war.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. I made sure Mr. Aziz was still sweeping before bringing her in for a kiss. “I’m aight. What’s good with you, Miss Nurse?”

She smiled and pointed to a thick textbook on the counter. “Gettin’ a head start now, but I’m sorta nervous about—”

The bells clanged, and a tall white woman dressed in black leather from her head to her patent leather Doc Martens walked in. She looked like she was about to hit either an early morning BDSM session or a neo-Nazi rally. “Got any American Spirit rolling tobacco?”

Soraya stood on her tippy-toes, scanning the overhead rows with her hand. “Yeah.” She placed a light-blue pack on the counter.

The dominatrix looked down and scrunched her face. “The organic kind,” she said.

“We don’t have that one,” Soraya replied. “But this is just as good.”

The heavy-metal hippie grabbed the pack and threw some cash on the counter. “Jesus. You people have nothing in this fucking neighborhood,” she said, before stomping out and bumping Mr. Aziz with her shoulder.

“What the fuck is her problem?” I asked.

Soraya popped open the cash register and placed the money in with a smile, shrugging. “Who knows. A lot of them are like that. But a lot of them are also really nice and like to make small talk. It’s fine. You wanna hang later?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking at the time. 6:45 a.m. “We’ll see. I gotta go, habibti.” I leaned over for a kiss, but she turned around and began arranging candy in the window display.

Mr. Aziz walked in, my cue to leave.

Once I got to the corner, Jason hit me with a nod and I nodded back. Word, a peace offering. We hadn’t really spoken since we got into that argument a few months ago. Some days he’d hit the corner with bruises all over his face, other days he was shining like he’d made a million bucks. Today was one of the former. Various shades of red bloomed all over his face like ripe plums.

“You aight?” I asked.

“What it look like?”

“Looks like you got fucked up.”

“Aight then, why you askin’? Should jus’ keep mindin’ your own business like you been doin’. Chump.”

The way I saw it, people, no matter how close you once were, could grow apart. And maybe that’s what was happening to us.

“Yo, tha’s your problem right there,” I spat, pointing in his face. “Always blamin’ people for shit instead of lookin’ at yourself. Thinkin’ you’re too smart to get a real job. You’re a loser, bro.”

He brought his hands up, jerking his head at me. I flinched. He laughed. “Yeah, tha’s what I thought. If a loser can make you shook, what does that make you?”

“Aye, Darren!” Wally Cat called. “Where yo’ momma at, boy? Ain’ seen her in a minute.”

I stared at Jason, spat on the ground, and walked away. He’s just jealous I’m moving up and he’s moving backward.

“She’s still sorta sick,” I said to Wally Cat, plopping my ass down on a crate. “But she’ll be aight.”

“Mm-hmm, tha’s right. Faith, nigga. Always gotta have it. What’s new in the WWW?”

I burst out laughing. WWW is what Wally Cat had started calling Sumwun a couple months ago. “The World White Web is aight, man. I mean, nah, not really.”

He scooted his crate closer. “What’s goin’ on? You didn’ fuck no snow bunnies, right? Remember what I said. They is trouble. They will steal yo’ fuckin’ soul if you let ’em.”