The Circle: Rain's Story (4 page)

“You know my brother Dayvid, right?”

Veronica sucked her teeth. “Yeah, I know that bad ass nigga. He robbed my lil cousin of his bike last year.” She huffed and added, “But he gave it to him back.”

The
y all chuckled when Dayvid shrugged it off and joked. “It wasn’t me it was my twin.”

Veronica turned her attention back to Rain
as she tapped her on the arm. “I ain’t seen yo ass in a minute. What’s up with those Gucci boots I ask you to get me?”

“I got you ma,
it’s just taking me longer than I expected. But my connect told me they got a fresh line coming in next week and you are first on the list.” she lied. “Size six right?”

Veronica smiled gleefully that she had remembered. “You know it, girl.” It was a brief pause until Veronica asked curiously, “So, what you doing over this way?”

“We were looking for you.” Rain answered quickly.

Veronica frowned slightly and asked inquisitively
. “What y’all want me for?”

Rain looked her directly in the eye and said
, “You want to make some money?”

Her flawless pretty face lit up like a Christmas tree.

*              *              *

Lat
er that night, the Porter clan congregated in Rain’s locked bedroom to have a meeting that could change their lives forever. Fallon and Autumn sat attentive at the edge of the bed. Their eyes glued to the serious faces of their older brother and sister, both dying to know what it was about, as they stood over them. Even though Rain was their older sister, since the accidental and tragic death of their parents, she became their parents and had come to trust and rely on her totally.

Rain was forced to grow
up light years ahead of her time, so was Dayvid. Their exclusive mission was to take care of each other in an unforgiving world and teach their younger siblings that it was them against the world— period, point blank and explanation mark. When people meet or talk to her, it was as if she could read right through them because of standoff behavior, deep penetrating eyes, and short usage of words. She made them uncomfortable, even adults. She was often told by the older folks that she had an old soul and wisdom beyond her years.

Rain opened up and spoke first.

“Up until this point, we have been doing okay for ourselves with the little scam jobs Auntie Nanny have taught us, but like I said, they are ‘little’. It’s about time we step outside that petty Annie shit and step our game up and go for the real money.”

Rain paused to gauge the girls’ reaction.
Both children displayed no fear and she was proud of them so she continued.

“When I walk outside or
look out the window, all I see are motherfuckers suffering. That includes the dope heads, as well as, the dealers because they all gonna get the same thing in the end: death, jail time and a fucked up future. They are one in the same.”

Rain’s voice grew stern
. “But, you really want to know who is suffering the most?” She looked in both her little sisters’ blank eyes before she answered. “Our good neighbors on this block like the older people, the working people or motherfuckers who don’t do shit and just take it and still live around this bitch. They are the real ones who suffering because they got comfortable at the bottom and gave up and got nowhere else to go.”

Rain’s face grew into
a snarl. “And that’s not going to be us because we are bigger than that. We are Porters and I’m not going to let any of us go out like that as long as I got something to do with it.”

Rain had to calm herself because she didn’t want to scare her sisters with her dire passion and urgency.
She glanced at the locked door behind her and lowered her tone.

“
Aunt Nanny is cool and all that, but she ain’t no Porter and if their last name isn’t Porter, don’t trust them. We are cut from a different cloth from her and she is content with what she got and where she lives. We ain’t built like that and I refuse to wait around for one of those stray bullets to come in here and kill one of us.”

She turned to her brother and tapped him on the arm
.

“
Me and Dayvid came up with a plan to get enough money that can get us up out of here. Far, far away from here.” she emphasized. “And we all got to do is come together if we gonna pull this thing off, ‘cause we can’t be waiting around for anyone to give us nothing, we gonna take ours!”

She directed her
attention to each sibling one by one then asked, “Y’all understand?”

In unison they all
nodded. She smiled for the first time, more so for them. To put them at ease for the daunting task they had ahead of them.

Rain and
Dayvid spent the rest of the night going over the plan with their sisters down to the smallest detail. By Rain’s observations, they decided to hit the trap spot Saturday evening, right before sundown because it was the day that Brooklyn and his crew exits out the building with several bags at a time, looking particularly vigilant and guarded each time.
It had to be the money
, she thought.

It was all or nothing for the Porter
s. When Rain was absolutely sure everyone knew their roles down to the miniscule detail, she ordered.

“Al
right y’all, ain’t too much left to cover. Remember when I told y’all to always keep a stash of money just in case of an emergency? Well, this is why. Go get your stash and bring it back here right now.” She took a quick glance at the time on her cable box. “I got some people coming by in twenty minutes.”

Each sibling didn’t hesitate and headed to their respective room. Fallon and Autumn came back first. A
utumn, the youngest, had her money in a single black sock. She reached her small hand inside and pulled unorganized mounds of bills and placed them all over Rain’s bed. Rain smiled inwardly, because she really stacked and saved her money like she was advised. She even saw a few hundred dollar bills in it, clearly over five-six hundred dollars.

After she finished she
stepped back and smiled proudly. Rain nodded her satisfaction to her. Fallon was next, and she had her hands behind her and when her big sister looked towards her signifying it was her turn to show and prove. From behind her back, she exposed a thick wad of bills lined neatly the long way with a red rubber band around it and tossed into the pot on the bed.

“$1,414 dollars
,” she proudly said.

Rain shook her head in satisfaction. Rain
did not need any of their money. She had more than enough of her own money to handle anything she needed to do. So did Dayvid, she knew, because he was notoriously stingy with his money. It was merely an opportunity to give them one of the many tests and lessons she taught them to prepare them for the future.

Searching each and every one of her siblings' eyes, she reminded all of them
. "If you're going to take a risk at all, you might as well make it a big risk. We are Porters and we don't do shit half way. We double up!"

CHAPTER 6

IN THE WANING HOURS of the night, Rain lay wide awake, waiting for the most important call of her life. Veronica came through earlier that evening
to collect her first half payment of $1000 to fuck and suck heaven out of the dealer known as Lil Dot.

Veronica knew Lil Dot
very well from around the way; she used to fuck with his boss, who was his uncle who was recently murdered less than a year ago. Back then, he was too small time and too young acting for her, and she rarely fucked with the
help
.

Since
Lil Dot took over his uncle’s spot and operation, his name started ringing bells throughout the city as someone not to mess with. Veronica was the perfect vixen, a spider woman, and had no problem taking on this job. She had many, many unsuspecting victims and dealers set up and murdered in her past, so this one would be easy and she never asked any questions when she’s doing a job. She didn’t care as long as the money was right. She had the rising street star Lil Dot on her radar anyway, so it was a win/win for her.

It was a little past four in the morning when she received the news
she was hoping for. Veronica sexed Lil Dot out like crazy and got the boy sprung. Rain hung up the phone. She lay back on her pillow and clasped her fingers behind her head and smiled.

Phas
e one
, she thought.

*
              *              *

The job, the operation, the heist, was approaching fast, all players engrossed in their own thought
s, as they replay their roles over and over. The silence was broken when Dayvid called her name and chucked his head for her to follow him. She trailed him to his room and he locked the door behind them.

“W
hat’s up?” Rain asked, curious.

Without saying a word, he
reached down and lifted up his bed mattress and revealed to her two black automatic handguns. As always, Rain was expressionless, but never stammered and simply asked her twin brother.

“What’s up with that?”

“Our protection.” he stated bluntly

“So, you’re making moves on your own without letting me know about it?” Rain quizzed.

“Nah, it ain’t that. It’s just our missing link to the puzzle. Our equalizers.” Rain’s brow furled when she caught his expression and read between lines at the same time, and then questioned him.

“So, what you
are trying to say Dayvid… you ain’t happy with my plan?” He eyed the ground, unable to look her in the eye. Even though they were twins, and Rain being only two minutes older than him, she might as well had been twenty years older, because he held that much respect for her. Dayvid shook his head and explained, “Nah, sis, it ain’t nothing like that that.” he quipped.

Rained folded
her arms and shifted her weight to her other side and demanded to know the truth.

“
C’mon, D, I know you. Say what’s on your mind. We are in this shit together.” She said, masking her displeasure.

Dayvid
relented, then came right out and said it. “In for a penny, you’re in for a pound. Do you remember teaching us that Rain?”

Rain answered
with a nod. Dayvid continued. “Well, I took that shit to heart.”

His eyes narrowed and his tone began to strain into a dire sense of urgency. “If we gon’ do this shit we gonna go all out. No halfway shit.” His jaw began to grind. “ ‘Cause it’s no fucking way I’m going to let anything happen to you if something goes wrong and something should happen to you.”

Dayvid cast h
is eyes to the ceiling, trying to avoid his sister’s gaze. Rain saw him trying to fight his tears. It all made sense to her now. He was simply being the man-child, the big brother, her other half, the protector. It just further solidified and reminded her just how deep family was. He would die for her, as she would for him. Rain cracked a smile, opened her arms for him to give her a hug. He did. Dayvid hugged her long enough to wipe the tear drop from his eye, so she couldn’t see it, as he pulled away, and joked, to lighten the mood.

“We’ll be thirteen next week and
become teenagers, and Veronica said she was going to give me some for my birthday to make me a man.” Rain laughed hard, while saying seriously,               “Just make sure you wear some condoms.”

*
              *              *

Rain
and Dayvid were dressed in all black everything… black hoodies, black jeans, sneakers and gloves. They stood impatiently with their heads down, in their own thoughts, nervous, but ready. In the downstairs hallway staircase near the entrance of their building, they waited for Veronica to arrive to complete her mission. Upstairs, Fallon and Autumn were their eyes, as they lurked at the corner of their window, observing the whole block.

Earlier that day
Dayvid made a stop at Radio Shack and purchased two way radios; Fallon had one and Dayvid with the other. Finally, at exactly 5:30, the radio cracked.

“She’s here…”
Fallon’s voice squeaked, echoing the hallway. They lifted their heads at the same time, eyed each other, and nodded.

Easing
towards the entrance door of their building, from a distance, they saw Veronica sashaying up the block like the world was her runway. All eyes were on her, with her ass dangling from a pair of DKNY jeans. Dressed to perfection, pressed to show off her pretty toes, freshly polished in a hot pink gloss, she knew she was the shit in her tight, white pants and thong Gucci sandals.

Coordinated, she strolled on the same side of
the street that her prey was on. Brooklyn, as usual was clean dressed in an all-white sweat suit and fresh air force ones. Sucking on a cherry lollipop, she smiled to herself, spotting Lil’ Dot in her view directly up the block chopping it up with his crew. She turned her sights back to Brooklyn, who was loud and flashy indeed, just like his rims on his milk, white Benz and the bling glistening from his wrist, pinky finger and the diamond crested cross that hung faithfully around his neck. Veronica had to hand him his props. New York dudes were just on another swag level than Baltimore dudes, hands down. B-more dudes were always bragging on their dicks and the multiple ways they claim to make a girl’s toes curl. Lil’ Dot was no different, but the night before, when she put the snapper turtle pussy on him, he sang a whole other tune; begging her to be with him, promising to buy her the world. The plan coincided perfectly because he promised to take her shopping if she came around today to show her off to his crew of course.