A Project Chick (32 page)

"Oh, for real.

"When Merk got married. I kept taking him back to court and he finally filed for joint custody, and now the $3,000 I used to get a month, I don't get anymore."

"What?" Was Tressa's response, but she thought to herself,
that's what you get for being a greedy bitch!
I had heard that every time Gypsy heard that Merk bought his wife anything new, that she would get mad and take him back to court for a child support increase, and they got tired of her greedy, begging butt and now look, she's stuck with nothing. She's in here practically begging me to come back and get my hair done. Damn, ain't it funny how the tables turn. At first, everybody used to beg her to do their hair. And now, she got the nerve to try be recruiting old clients! While Tressa was sitting in Gypsy's chair, the lady before Tressa paid Gypsy. Gypsy needed change, she asked every single person in the shop if they had change, except Tressa. She made Tressa the very last person she asked.

"Tressa, give me change for a twenty." With calmness in her voice, but with a little giggle, she said, "no sweetheart, I don't carry anything less than hundreds."

That one comment is what could have sold Gypsy for a penny.
When it comes time for this broad to pay me, she
better not pull out no tens or fives because I am going to let
her have it.

There was complete silence between the two of them and Tressa wondered to herself,
why do we put up with
people treating us any kind of way? It's so many people
waiting to make this money, and yet, even me, I still let this
broad abuse me and say what she wants to, and treat me
any kind of way. We do it at the restaurant too. Why do we
go to places that we know don't want us there? But, yet and
still, we still there, not knowing what these people are really
doing to our food. Do we do it to prove a point. "Hey, I can
afford this?" Or what? I know this is the last time for me.

I'm not giving money to anybody who does not appreciate me
.

I didn't read David Walker's Appeal for nothing.

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And when it was finally time for Tressa to pay Gypsy, she pulled out a hundred dollar bill and Gypsy was again left in silence for a minute. Rest assure, Gypsy was not letting her get out of that shop without a low blow. She looked for something, anything to throw a curve ball at Tressa, only there was nothing. As she watched, in green eyed envy, Tressa was putting on her coat, she said,

"Tressa, why would you wear a mink to get your hair done?

To me that's crazy. I wouldn't pull my coat out until I was really going out on a night on the town or somewhere special."

Tressa laughed a little to herself, because she knew Gypsy wasn't going to let her get out of the shop without a low blow. Tressa was quick on her feet and was dead serious when she replied, "Darling, I don't need to go anywhere special to wear this coat here. We don't live in Chicago, Illinois, we live in Richmond, VA, and we only get a few real cold days, and every time a cold day rolls around, I'm going to put on one of my mink ensembles, regardless to what or where I have to go. That's what a mink's sole purpose is for, to keep me warm. So, if I'm going to the grocery store or playing carpool to my kids, I am going to wear my this here kick around mink. Besides, this is my casual mink, worn for outings just like today. Best believe, when I have to go to the opera or somewhere like that, I have an array of sables, chinchillas, in the cedar closet to pick from."

That spill shut Gypsy up. A goal that many had set out to try to conquer, but only two would ever leave Gypsy speechless, and Tressa was one of them. On that note, Tressa's mission was complete.

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-24-

Surprise! Surprise!

Surprise!

Close to three years back, in 95, when MCI put the long distance collect call block on Tressa's phone, Wiggles agreed to allow Taj to call her house so he could speak to Tressa. Sometimes, he would call and Tressa wouldn't be at Wiggles, or at home when Wiggles would place a three-way call to Tressa. In those instances, Taj would just talk to Wiggles. Taj became intrigued with the woman that Wiggles had become, the addiction that she overcame, and especially the support Wiggles provided to his sister. All of those things combined, made it possible for Wiggles to be able to squirm her way back into Taj's heart.

They got to know each other all over again, through letters, phone calls and then visits. Tressa was happy for them both, because Taj needed someone to take away that coldness and emptiness out of his heart. Besides, Tressa 215

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knew for a fact that Wiggles was the only woman her brother had ever loved.

Wiggles was happy for Tressa, as Tressa was happy for Wiggles. Wiggles called Tressa up. "I need to talk to you. It's an emergency."

Tressa rushed over. Tressa used her key to enter into Wiggles' little two-bedroom apartment. Wiggles had sat on her couch bearing a sneaky little smile.

"What's wrong?" Tressa asked, with grave concern written all over her face. This was the first time that she realized that Wiggles must have problems too. Wiggles had spoiled Tressa so much, always being the big sister, and sometimes mother figure, that she needed. So, no matter what, Tressa would be there to be Wiggles' support.

"Nothing bad, I just felt the need to give you a present." Wiggles handed her a gift bag.

Tressa pulled out the white tissue paper, and unwrapped the baby pacifier. Tressa looked at Wiggles with a bewildered look while she smiled with a big Kool Aid smile. "You mean you are having a baby?" Tressa asked confused as she could be.

"Yes." Wiggles said, almost screaming.

"Oh, my God. I am going to be an aunt!" Tressa screamed, although she didn't have the foggiest idea who the father was.

"Tressa you don't understand, no baby, you really are going to be a auntie by blood. It's Taj's baby!"

"What?" Tressa smiled, but looking at Wiggles with a crazy expression on her face.

"Remember the last family day, the boys had their championship football game? And I went by myself."

"Right." Tressa recalled.

"Well, it was packed with wall to wall people, and it was too many people for the three correctional officers they had working the room. And you know I go on a regular basis, and the same old chicks be there seeing their man and we all have become real cool. At first, we just use to talk small talk complaining about all the corruption and bullshit that the prison puts us through to get in to see our men. What at first started out as an alliance, turned into a friendship and we watched each other's back."

"OK." Tressa said, waiting for the juice to come.

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"Well, we saw an opportunity with a crowded visiting room and we all took turns on lookout while each couple got their chance to go into the restroom and get their groove on. Girl, and if Taj wasn't your brother, I'd give you the details." Wiggles said with a giggle and continued. "It was quick indeed, but you know that prison sperm is some powerful stuff!"

Tressa hugged Wiggles, feeling so happy that she was going to finally be an aunt. There was one thing Tressa had to remind Wiggles of on a more serious note.

"Wiggles, I know that you don't smoke cigarettes around me or the boys because you know I hate cigarette smoke. But you gotta stop, at least until after you have the baby.

"I will, I know I got to for the sake of this baby. I won't smoke, trust me."

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-25-

All Hell Breaks Loose

News traveled fast that Tressa was on the "come-up" financially. When rumors got to Lucky, he was outraged. Especially, when he saw the engagement announcement in the local newspaper. Lucky was sick of this New Yorker and he had to be dealt with. See, there was an unspoken hostility between a lot of New Yorkers and Richmond guys. The Richmond guys automatically hated New York guys, mostly because New Yorkers in the drug game came down to Richmond and set up shop. They have a cheaper product so they take the Richmond drug dealer's clientele. And, not only do they take the customers, but they take their women too.

In most of these type of cases, there are two kinds of New York guys, the one who foolishly thinks, that since he's from up north, that the people down south are slow and can be taken advantage of. So, they sleep on the Southerners, and most of the time, these are the ones going back to New York in a body bag. Then, there's the New Yorker who knows he's an out-of-towner, and instead of him constantly trying to insult a Southerner's intelligence with that "city slicker" mentality, he thinks long term.

Instead of trying to beat them, he joins them. He becomes the supplier with a good quality product with a slightly lower price. So, nobody loses. He gets what he wants, and plenty of it, and so does the Southerner. At the end of the 219

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day, everybody is happy and there is peace. These are usually the ones who have longevity in the out of town drug hustling game. This is the type that Indie was.

Indie was well respected throughout the town. He gave respect and played fair with anybody who crossed his path, as long as they didn't bring shadiness to the table. If they did, Indie had no problem dealing with them and nipping it in the bud. Since Indie played the game with the highest morals and principles, he didn't have many problems. In addition, Indie wasn't the limelight, gleam, glitz and glam type of guy. He appeared to look like an ordinary guy, although he was extraordinary. Keeping in mind, that he just wasn't about Indie anymore, he had welcomed three other people in his life now. So, with all of that being taken into consideration, Indie kept his drug transactions to a bare minimum, slowly winging himself from that lifestyle to a family man.

Lucky knew that he had to eliminate Indie from the equation. He was determined to remove anybody that Tressa loved from her life as punishment for leaving him.

Lucky watched from across the street while Indie sat in Gator's barbershop getting his haircut. They all sat in the barbershop laughing and joking on when Wiggles' belly was going to finally protrude out like a normal pregnancy.

It was hard for her to accept that her belly had grown so much in the past few months since she stopped getting high, she had faithfully done sit-ups for the past few years to get it down. She was grateful that she wasn't showing a lot, but at the same time, happy that this time her stomach growth would result in the birth of a baby girl in three more months. They all surrounded Wiggles and felt as the baby moved. Wiggles waited for Tressa at the barbershop, they had agreed to meet to go get the things Wiggles needed for her baby shower.

Tressa called to tell Wiggles she was running late.

"Hey, big belly."

"Hey Tress, where the heck you at with ya late self?"

"Girl, I'm not late, you're just early, as always. But I'm going to be a lil late. Sorry, but please hold tight."

"I'm good, my brother-in-law and cousin-in-law is over here taking good care of me."

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"OK, bye," Wiggles said, as she hung up the phone.

Tressa called the barber shop right back to speak to Wiggles. "Look, are you trying to tell me something?"

"What?" Wiggles asked, not having a clue what Tressa was talking about.

"You said bye to me, and bye means forever."

"No, I didn't." Wiggles raised her voice.

"Oh, OK. Maybe I heard you wrong then, but sister always know I love you regardless of what."

"Same here sister, you know I'd die for you right."

"I know."

"I'll see you later."

Once Wiggles hung up the phone, she walked next door to the Jamaican restaurant and ordered some curry goat. She had just finished eating her food, when Gator glanced at the clock and made the announcement, alerting the patrons of the barbershop that there is no parking between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

"It's five till four. Anybody parked on the street, you need to move your car because the tow truck will be through here in a minute."

Indie was in the barber chair getting his hair cut and he threw his keys at Wiggles, "go move my car and make sure you roll the windows all da way up." Wiggles strolled out to Indie's car, and once she got in, she spotted the cartons of Newport cigarettes that lay across the backseat. Since hustling cigarettes were Indie's first hustle, it never mattered how much money Indie had now, he'd always keep cigarettes in his car. Although most people thought he smoked, since he always had them in his possession, but Indie never smoked anything. For some reason, he kept them for people he came into contact who did. When Wiggles saw all the cigarettes, she felt like a kid in a candy shop, as well as opportunity. Once she pulled away from the barbershop, a light bulb went off in her head when she saw an opened pack of cigarettes laying in between the two seats near the gearshift that rested in the floor. The open pack made her realize that there was a way she could have a cigarette and nobody would ever know.