In My Hood (2 page)

D
esiree stepped out of the opening prison gates and into her freedom. She looked up into the sky and took a deep breath as she heard the loud clink of the prison gates closing behind her. With ninety-seven dollars, a train ticket to New Jersey, the clothes on her back, and a few items in a bag, she was free after five years serving time for accessory to armed robbery. She was sentenced to ten years and got out after five years for good behavior. Being this was her first offense with no priors, the judge was very lenient on her. He gave her five years’ probation.

She boarded the prison van, taking a window seat and stared off into the distance, remembering the day Roc and Tracey had been murdered. After five years she still could see it vividly in her mind. In fact she thought about it almost every night while locked down. She really believed it was an act of God on that day. She and Bilal were supposed to be dead. She didn’t know why, but the masked men walked out of the apartment and didn’t harm her and Bilal.

On that terrible day in their apartment when the police investigated and questioned them, they managed to get out of being charged with the murders, which went into the police files as unsolved.

Some say they never did a thorough investigation. But why would they? It was your typical black-on-black crime over drugs. As long as one of Newark’s finest wasn’t being affected, there was no reason to waste man hours and paperwork over it.

Bilal and Desiree had to move from the apartment into a studio a few blocks away down the street. It didn’t take long for them to get back into the swing of things and continue their lives as addicts.

Before Roc met his untimely death on that blood-curdling day, he had told Bilal the plan for the robbery that would bring them big money. Bilal decided he and Desiree would pull it off together. It was a brilliantly thought-out plan, and they were sure to come off with at least a hundred grand, if not more. Desiree agreed, and they began to execute the plan.

As she rode on the prison bus, she thought back to how she and Bilal committed the robbery that landed her in prison.

R
oc was good with his hands and knew everything there was to know about electronics. He had done some work for a local bowling alley call Groovers I a few times. He was cool with the owner who use to get his cocaine from Roc back in the day, so when Roc fell off, Harry the owner helped him out by letting him come repair things when needed. Harry owned three bowling alleys—Groovers I, Groovers II, and Groovers III. Each bowling alley housed a nightclub-type sports bar and restaurant in three different cities. His bowling alleys were popular and profited a lot of money.

Roc learned the routine of the money collector. They collected the money from the other bowling alleys first, making Groovers I the last stop. Roc knew that Harry would count the money in his huge office on Wednesday nights before putting it into the safe for Thursday morning’s deposit. Roc was there on occasions when he had caught a glimpse of the cash all laid out on Harry’s huge oak conference table in his office. His assistant fed the money into the money machine to be counted. There were no security guards in Groovers I that time of the day. The heavy-duty security came at 6:00 p.m., once everyone piled in from work. The alley and restaurant opened at 11:00 a.m. and closed at midnight during the week. The club and sports bar stayed open until 2:00 a.m. The bowling leagues usually started around 6:30 p.m.

Roc’s plan was to advise Harry that he had some unfinished work to do in the office located right next to Harry’s. He and Bilal planned to go there around 4:00 p.m., right after the delivery of the money, which would leave them a hour to a hour and a half tops to jack Harry and then bounce without anyone noticing.

The day of Roc and Tracey’s murder, Bilal and Roc were going to the alley so that Roc could introduce him to Harry as his brother and so Bilal could get a feel of the place. So Bilal planned on going to meet with Harry to take Roc’s place as his brother. He was sure that Harry would fall for it.

Bilal and Desiree arrived at Groovers I around 11:30 that Monday morning. They took baths and Bilal cut his hair. Desiree slicked her hair back with styling gel, and they then proceeded to the Salvation Army and picked out a few decent pieces of clothing.

They walked into the alley and asked the front desk clerk to speak with Harry. She advised them that he would be in at noon. They decided to sit and watch a couple bowl while they waited for Harry.

Ten minutes later, a short, fat, older-looking gentleman walked into the alley with a tall, slender beauty queen on his arm. He sported a wide-brimmed hat tilted to the side and a huge diamond pinky ring that sparkled like a disco ball.

“I bet you that’s Harry,” Bilal said, pointing to the gentleman.

He grabbed Desiree’s hand and escorted her toward the couple. They approached the front desk where the gentleman and his companion were engaged in a conversation with the desk clerk. They all looked at Bilal and Desiree as they approached. A formal introduction was done, and they had a brief conversation about the follow-up on Roc’s unfinished job. A few drinks and a couple of laughs later, Bilal and Desiree were in like Flynn.

Desiree never had any doubts that Bilal wouldn’t be able to gain Harry’s trust. Bilal was just that type of person. He could talk a snake into giving up his fangs. He was a charmer, and everyone who came in contact with him loved him.

For the next four weeks they learned the routines of the bowling alley in and out, but Desiree began to grow impatient.

“Bunchy, how long do we have to wait before we get this money? We’ve been casing this joint long enough.”

“Listen, Rae-Rae, if you want to do something right, you have to have patience,” he said, dragging on his Newport as they stood out front of the bowling alley taking a cigarette break.

“Besides the man has been paying us well. He really likes us. He may even give you a permanent job in the kitchen.” Bilal flicked an ash from his cigarette. “I mean, Rae-Rae, look at us. We got a real sweet deal here, baby. We got jobs, and we get paid under the table every day at closing time. You can’t beat that. Shit, we get our high on every night, and we don’t have to report to work until eleven in the morning,” he boasted.

“Yeah, I hear you, but hell I’m looking at that hundred G’s and not having to come to work at all. Shit, yo’ ass got it made. All you do is walk around all day or go up to one of them offices and go to sleep. I’m in that damn kitchen scrubbing dirty-ass pots all day,” she said and rolled her eyes, flicking her cigarette butt away.

“Walk around? She-it. I be busting my ass. I don’t even know about half of this electronic shit I’m doing. I know about some of it, but most of the time I’m just frontin’. Last week I got the shock of my life three times tryna get the light switch repaired. That shit went all up my damn arm,” he complained as he rubbed his arm, remembering the pain he felt that day.

Desiree laughed. “Good for you . . . got me scrubbing dishes. Let’s go because I’m telling you after this week if you’re not ready to pull this off on Wednesday, I’m going to do the shit by my damn self.” She walked into the building, leaving him standing outside.

D
esiree caught herself nodding off to sleep as her head dipped downward. Jerking it back up, snapping her out of her dream, she looked around to see if anyone was looking at her. As the prison van pulled up in front of the Roanoke train station, she walked past the guard sitting in the front.

“Make something of yourself, Jackson,” he announced.

She didn’t answer the guard. She exited the van, never to turn back. After finding a seat in the station, she waited for her 12:30 train to arrive.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a Butterfinger candy bar that was given to her by her prison cellmate Jessie. Along with the Butterfinger she had some other items that were given to her by the girls holding it down back at Roanoke Correctional Institute Facility in Virginia. As she ate her candy, she watched an attractive woman take a seat on the bench diagonally in front of her. She studied the woman from head to toe. The woman was dressed neatly in a cranberry-colored Versacé business suit. Her cranberry shoes matched to a tee. She wore her hair neatly in a wrap that fell just below her jawbone. Her makeup was light but visibly flawless. She wore a few pieces of gold jewelry that accented her cocoa skin. Desiree watched her with envy as she looked down at herself. She was wearing some government-issued jeans and a pair of Air Jordans given to her as a gift by one of the inmates.

Desiree lost her appetite and put her candy back in her bag. She looked at the schedule and saw that she had thirty minutes until the train arrived. She took the time and walked over to the ladies’ room. Once inside, she approached the mirror and stared at her reflection.

“What happened to you?” she questioned herself.

Desiree stood about five-seven and had caramel smooth skin, which became healthy and smooth after going to prison and recovering from drugs. She had green eyes, which she inherited from the father she never knew.

As a child she was told her father was overseas in the Navy, but that lie didn’t last long when she realized he never came home. When she became an adult, she inquired about the father that was missing from her life. Her mother told her she and a few friends had gone down to the Baltimore harbor where she met an Italian Navy man who had the most gorgeous green eyes she’d ever seen. They got drunk and had sex one time. Despite her giving him all of her contact information, she was left pregnant and never heard or saw him again.

Desiree’s body had filled out since being incarcerated. She wasn’t a voluptuous woman, but she had enough in the right places. She worked out while in prison with some of the other inmates, which created a solid physique with no body fat. She tucked her shirt inside her jeans then unraveled her hair from its bun, letting it fall to her shoulders. She reached in her bag for a comb and began combing her hair down.

Her soft, wavy hair was also inherited from her father. She stared at herself in the mirror, and she didn’t recognize the woman who stared back at her. She had been clean for five years and never once did she realize how her life had taken a turn for the worst.

“All boarding,” the conductor announced as the train came to a complete stop at the station.

The conductor stepped onto the platform, clearing the way for passengers to exit and board the train. Desiree picked up her bag, throwing it over her shoulder and boarded the train. With ticket in hand, she found a cozy seat by the window in the fourth car.

“All boarded,” the conductor announced.

Soon after, the train slowly moved toward its next destination.

“Next stop, Richmond,” the conductor announced over the loudspeaker.

A conductor made her way up the aisles collecting each ticket. She punched holes in the tickets and returned them to their owners. Desiree watched the chocolate-colored woman as she worked. Her haircut was very short but neatly curled. Her pointy nose seemed to lead the way as she walked. Once she arrived at Desiree, the woman gave her a pleasant smile while taking her ticket. Desiree returned the smile and retrieved her ticket from the woman. She reached into her bag and pulled out a fleece jacket, rolled it into a ball, and placed it between the window and the chair. She laid her head on it and closed her eyes. It was going to be a few hours before she reached her destination.

She thought about Bilal. The last she heard he was killed in prison two years ago. He was found hanging in his cell one morning. News traveled through the prison system on the inside almost as fast as it did on the outside. She was crushed by the news of his death. Some say that the system killed him, but it went down on record as a suicide. Desiree knew that Bilal would never take his own life. Now he was gone forever, and she didn’t know what she was going to do out on the streets alone.

They use to write each other, but they had lost contact when he was transferred to upstate New York. Bilal had life with no possibility of parole for murder and armed robbery. She missed him so much. He was her heart, her soul mate, her everything. Now she would have to face the world on her own. She would always tell him, if it weren’t for her greediness, they would have never gotten caught. Through the letters they wrote each other, he was constantly giving her hope to make it through one day at a time.

She cried a silent cry for her man. She loved him so much and didn’t know if she would be able to go on living without him. While thinking of Bilal, she drifted off into a deep sleep.

“N
ewark Penn Station,” the conductor announced over the train’s PA system.

Desiree opened her eyes and stretched her arms. She had slept the whole ride back to Newark. She gathered her things and exited the train into the muggy air. The train’s fumes mixed with humidity were suffocating. She merged in with the train’s crowd and left the platform. The escalator wasn’t working so she had to walk down the heavy steel steps. Once in the station, she looked around at all the people hustling to their destinations. She walked past the various newsstands and eateries. The aroma of food and bad air filled her nostrils.

Home sweet home,
she said to herself.

She walked past a hotdog stand. “I ain’t had one of them in years,” she said aloud.

She purchased a foot-long hotdog and a Pepsi. She gobbled down the hotdog and sipped on her soda as she walked through the station, taking in the scenery. Once outside, lines and lines of taxicabs hugged the curb. Rows of cars pulled up and away after either dropping off or picking up passengers. She didn’t know which way to go. She had no destination. She had been dreading this day although she longed for her freedom. Without Bilal she didn’t know where to begin again. What family she had left had disowned her. The friends she had before she started using were afraid of her, so the only people she knew as family were the addicts with whom she had surrounded herself.