The Circle: Rain's Story (6 page)

Autumn dialed 911 from the cell. Told to act scared, her trembling voice required little acting.

“9-1-1.
what’s your emergency?”

In a
ball of jitters, Autumn in a voice thin and frail said, “they shot my mommy. They shot my mommy. They shot my mommy!” Little Autumn shouted in calamity.

“I want you to calm down and talk slow?” The dispatcher said, doing her job.
“Sweetie are you saying they shot your mommy?”

“Yes,” Autumn repeated.

“What is your location?” Autumn told them and then begged them. “Please hurry.”

“
Help is on the way.” The dispatcher said assuredly.

Seconds later,
the walkie-talkie chirped. Dayvid’s voice ordered. “Do it!” 

Without hesitation, Fallon stuck the weapon out the window
and once again, letting off round after round until she saw her older brother and sister exit the trap house, black plastic bags in both hands, as they made their way across the street back into their building safely— perfect distraction.

Sirens blared off in the distance. Rain and Dayvid made it safe inside the house as tires screeched, turning the corner on two wheels, flooding the street with lights. B
ags in hand, both out of breath, chest heaving heavily, they each let out a long exaggerated sigh. Back against the bedroom door, heart thumping faster than she’d ever remembered, Rain dropped her bags, then spirited toward the window. She was amazed watching as the shootout unfolded like something off of television. They’d done it. They’d actually pulled it off.

A
quick head check, she ordered everyone to follow her into the back room for their safety and to reveal their loot.

Full of
adrenaline, Dayvid followed his sister’s suit, and peeled from the black hoodie, then tossed it to the ground. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he looked towards his sister with a tremendous smile; she gave him a nod to do the honors.

He lifted the first bag and emptied it out on the top of Rain’s bed. Stacks and stacks
of money, all of them secured with rubber bands, peppering the bed top. Mouths agape, Fallon and Autumn lit up like Christmas trees. And this was but the beginning. Dayvid lifted the second bag and emptied it across the bed.

All eyes turned toward Rain, the big sis
stood raging with pride as money flowed from the bag. The girls giggled as they jumped up and down clapping. Then finally, Rain picked up the last bag, her face rippled because of the weight of that one. She opened it up, as she did with the last, lifted it up, and poured out the content. This time it wasn’t stacks of cash, it was cellophane wrapped kilos of dope, lying awkwardly on the money. Collectively, they all stared downward at it as if it was a snake.

It took the Porters a total of
five hours to count up and organize the money. It took them so long because the bills consisted mainly of small denominations. Twenties, tens, fives and ones, with a few stacks of fifties and hundreds, the grand total was $79, 667, not including the four kilos of dope. Clueless to the value of the wrapped packages, they brushed it aside to deal with later. In regards to splitting the money, Rain announced that the four of them will split it equally, and she stressed that they were family and above all, they were Porters and that’s what Porters do… everyone eats equally.

Money
arranged and stacked neatly in ten thousand per unit, Rain stood by and held court.

“
We are not going to be fools when it comes to money, so we are going to do the smart thing and put half aside and not to be touched only for emergency. Y’all understand?”

The siblings all nodded in unison. Rain rem
oved half the loot off the bed and put it away in a duffle bag.

“We are going to give ten percent of the remaini
ng forty thousand to Aunt Nanny. How much is that Fallon?” Rain tested her sister.

Fallon look
ed upward and mumbled, doing the calculations in her head. “That’s four thousand dollars.” She answered proudly.

Rain nodded her approval then
peeled four thousand dollars from one of the stacks.

“Now that leaves us with about thirty six thousand dollars.” She looked at Autumn, the youngest
of the clan. “Autumn, what’s thirty six thousand dollars split four ways?”

Autumn didn’t
hesitate. She already had the number in her head. “Nine thousand dollars between the four of us.”

Proud, Rain nodded. O
ne by one she counted off nine thousand dollars and handed it to each sibling. Autumn looked at the large pile of money in her hand and questioned.

“Rain, if the total amount was
$79,667 minus the forty thousand you put away, and then gave Auntie Nanny ten percent of the remaining forty, four thousand dollars, and you gave us nine thousand dollars each, right?” 

Rain shrugged and said, “Right, but
what your point is?”

Autumn looked at the remaining portion of money on the bed and answered. “If I did my math correctly, you would not
get an equal share, and have four hundred dollars less than all of us.”

Rain chuckled and said, “Four hundred dollars ain’t no big deal.”

Autumn countered and reminded her. “We Porters… and Porters make everything equal. At least that’s what you always said.”

Rain, more amused than anything, smiled and said, “Okay, and?”

Autumn, small hands and all licked her thumb and counted back one hundred and twenty-five dollars and extended the money out to her big sister and said, “Well, if we are Porters lets be Porters right down to the very last dollar. One hundred twenty five dollars would make us all even.”

Rain gazed
her sister’s doe-like eyes and wanted to melt.

Autumn added
. “If we in for a penny we in for a pound.”

Rendered speechless when
one by one, Rain watched her other siblings peel off the same amount from their take, extending the money out to her to take also.

OVER THE COURSE of the next few days, the chaos that went down in the streets just days earlier had come to a drastic halt. No one was killed that day, but two dozen or so dealers were arrested and the strip had become even hotter. The strong presence of police crippled all drug operations.

On the surface, Dayvid and Rain thought they pulled off t
he perfect heist. Until one day after school, their Aunt Nanny had a rare guest sitting in their living room when they walked into the apartment. From the moment they saw him, Rain, Dayvid, Fallon and Autumn, immediately went into suspicious mode and fell deafly quiet, eying him like a hawk.

He sat, cross legged on the loveseat, wearing a beige fedora hat,
tilted slightly to the side. Dark shades obscured his eyes while a toothpick dangled from his mouth. The hairs on the back of Rain’s neck stood. By the curvature of Dayvid’s brow, she knew her twin felt the same. Seated comfy, cozy in their living room as if he belonged, there was something about the stranger that didn’t sit well with Rain. 

Dayvid, a fierce
protector when it came to his sisters, growled and demanded. “Who the fuck are you and what you doing here, man?”

A hint of gold peeped through the man’s
lips as he smiled and stood up from the couch, extending his hand to greet them. “My name is Smitty and I’m a friend of your Aunt Rachel.”

N
ot one of the Porter clan moved, leaving his hand dangling in the air. Just then, Aunt Nanny walked in the living room from the kitchen, with a chilled beverage in her hand.

“Oh, I see you all met already.
”

She handed the
glass to Smitty who stood grinning wide.

“Thank you Rachel. Yes, I just had
the pleasure of meeting them.” he answered smoothly.

Sensing the thick tension in the air, and knowing her nephew and
niece's standoffish behavior towards outsiders, Aunt Nanny made an attempt to lighten the mood and offered the introduction herself.

“Rain, Dayvid,
Fallen and Autumn—Smitty is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Smitty these are my dear nieces and nephew.” She beamed proudly.

This time, Smitty had the right mind to simply greet them with a nod. Dayvid, still stone-faced,
suddenly trailed off to the back room.

Studying the man who called himself Smitty,
Rain ordered her sisters, “Fallon, Autumn, follow your brother to the back and start doing y’all homework.”

Without the thought of protest, the two girls followed
behind their brother like two soldiers. After another long and uncomfortable pause, Nanny cleared her throat.

“
Rain, Smitty here is what you may call an everything man around the neighborhood. He’s well connected. If ever you need anything, he’s the person you should go see.”

Seconds later, Dayvid reappeared.

“Dayvid, Smitty –”

“I heard you,” he said.

Nanny looked at Rain and Dayvid for a reaction, she received none. They remained unfazed and expressionless.

“We did a lot of work together in the past, and made a
lot of money too. He doesn’t deal in the little leagues. He’s someone you can trust.”

Still nothing. Rain and Dayvid remained unmoved, never batting an eye. Rain could sense the man before her
sizing them up. She knew he had something up his sleeves. He definitely knew something, she was worried.

“Rachel, do you t
hink I could talk to them alone?” He quickly turned towards Rain and Dayvid and said respectfully, “That’s if you could give me a moment of your time, of course.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Nanny squeaked, “I’m up here being all nosey when you got business to attend to.
I’ll go help the kids with their homework. Call me if you need me.” She giggled, and strutted off down the hallway.

Smitty decided to get straight to the reason he came to see them and took off his shades to let them see his eyes.

“I’m not going to waste any of your time and get straight down to business. I know about the heist you two did the other night at that boy Brooklyn’s spot.”

That was all Dayvid needed to hear
. He reached behind his back, pulled out his weapon and aimed it at him.

“Nigga, you better have a damn good reason for coming up in
here talking that bullshit ‘cause you ain’t walking out here alive if you don’t.”

The toothpick fell from Smitty’s mouth.
Eyes stretched in shock, Smitty threw up his hands, caught off guard. Immediately, he realized he may have made a fatal miscalculation by underestimating these youngins. Rain, on cue, walked over to the stereo system and turned up the volume, making his heart pound even harder. He remained as calm as possible and commenced explaining with caution.

“Just let me explain and if you don’t like or trust my proposition I’m about to lay on you, you do what you got to do. Just hear me out first.”

Rain and Dayvid searched the man’s eyes looking for even a smidgen of trickery. Dayvid, still holding his weapon steady on him, looked towards his sister for an answer. She nodded and Dayvid lowered his gun to his side, but still highly vigilant and ready for anything.

“Okay, mister. On the strength of my aunt, we gonna give yo
u this one time pass. But you better have a damn good reason for stepping to us like that in our home and around my family.”

Smitty closed his eyes
, as if to thank God, and agreed with rapid nods. Eyes open, he removed his hat, revealing a matted baby fro.

“May I sit?
” he asked respectfully.

Rain shrugged
, caring none if he stood or sat. “Just keep your hands on your lap so we can see them.”

Dangling
along the edge of the couch, he left nothing to chance. Following her instructions, he parked his hands on his thigh.

“Let me just say, that I mean
no disrespect. I underestimated you because of your age and should have come better than I did and it will never happen again if we do business together, I promise you.”

Rain and Dayvid respected that, but still remained silent and allowed him to continue
and took a seat on the couch, sitting directly in front of him.

“Like
I said from the start, I know about the heist. I was outside when all the shit went down. I heard the first shot. The Vietnam in me dropped to the ground and took cover behind a parked car. That’s when I saw two figures dressed in all black run out of this very building and into ole New York boy Brooklyn’s stash spot directly across the street.”

Smitty
smiled as his words lingered.