rocking back and forth and went to work.
“It must be real hard being back in New York after being gone for so long. Everything probably looks real strange to you. I bet you missed a lot of people too. Especially your son.”
Monique picked up her mug from the table and held it carefully. Salida was rocking so damn hard she was scared she might make her spill the hot liquid all over herself.
“He was around here not too long ago, you know,” Monique said slyly. “Me and him used to hang out a lot.”
“Gino?” Salida stopped rocking. “You talking about my boy?”
Monique nodded and sipped. “Yeah. He’s a grown-ass man now, though. He’s even taller than G was, and swole up too. Real smart dude. G woulda had him running things in Harlem by now if it wasn’t for that bitch Juicy.”
“Juicy?” Salida sniffed. She snatched a cigarette from the open pack on the table and lit it.
Monique shrugged. “Hell yeah. Juicy. She’s just some low-down young bird from 136th Street. Your sisters didn’t tell you about her? She’s the chick who got between G and Gino. She had ’em tearing at each other’s throats all out in the streets and shit. Them two was real tight before Juicy came along and ruined everything. You shoulda seen how close they used to be. Gino loved his father, and G was always bragging on his son.”
Salida kept smoking, but now tears were in her eyes. “But how could G turn his back on our baby like that?” she moaned, her face crumpling with pain. “What happened to the two of them?”
“Like I said….” Monique got ready to spin a long tale, “That young bitch Juicy came along and ripped them apart. Some kinda way she caught G slippin’. She got in real deep with him and got him open. Man, Juicy had G tricking up all his money on her and her brother, and leaving Gino out of everything! I guess Gino musta started feeling real lost and left out behind that shit. He told G he was gonna have to choose between his son and his bitch. Juicy probably saw her dollars turning into cents, because the next thing everybody knew she started banging Gino! After that, the father-son relationship was definitely over. From what I heard, Juicy’s brother is the one who murdered G. I think the cops was looking for Juicy to see if she had anything to do with it, but her and Gino ran off somewhere together.”
Monique spent the next twenty minutes dropping funky loads of bullshit into Salida’s ear. She told her all kinds of dirty, scandalous lies about Juicy, making up shocking incidents of greed and manipulation as she went along. She really sold that shit, too. She invented devastating tales of betrayal between Gino and G. She painted a picture of Juicy that was so ugly and evil that by the time she finished yapping Salida’s eyes were red from crying and her lips were tight with rage.
“So,” Monique finally concluded. She had the mother in Salida on boil, and she could actually feel the steam coming off the older woman. “Nobody knows where Gino and Juicy ran off to. Ain’t nobody been able to find them. But from what people say, Juicy ain’t never gonna let Gino come back to Harlem. You probably ain’t never gonna get your son back, Mizz Salida. That’s word. Never .”
Hearing that, Salida cried out like she had been punched. She snatched Monique’s cigarettes from the table and took the last one out of the pack.
“Oh, my poor Gino,” she said pounding the tip of the cigarette on the table before sparking it up and puffing on it real hard. “My baby boy is lost to me!” she wailed, her eyes running like a faucet. “G was supposed to take care of him! How could he let a piece of tail tear them apart?”
I got her crazy ass going! Monique cheered inside. Now all she had to do was find a way to get some of that cash outta Salida’s pocketbook and her work would be done.
Her chance came at about ten o’clock that morning. Her and Salida had stayed up talking for hours, and
“It must be real hard being back in New York after being gone for so long. Everything probably looks real strange to you. I bet you missed a lot of people too. Especially your son.”
Monique picked up her mug from the table and held it carefully. Salida was rocking so damn hard she was scared she might make her spill the hot liquid all over herself.
“He was around here not too long ago, you know,” Monique said slyly. “Me and him used to hang out a lot.”
“Gino?” Salida stopped rocking. “You talking about my boy?”
Monique nodded and sipped. “Yeah. He’s a grown-ass man now, though. He’s even taller than G was, and swole up too. Real smart dude. G woulda had him running things in Harlem by now if it wasn’t for that bitch Juicy.”
“Juicy?” Salida sniffed. She snatched a cigarette from the open pack on the table and lit it.
Monique shrugged. “Hell yeah. Juicy. She’s just some low-down young bird from 136th Street. Your sisters didn’t tell you about her? She’s the chick who got between G and Gino. She had ’em tearing at each other’s throats all out in the streets and shit. Them two was real tight before Juicy came along and ruined everything. You shoulda seen how close they used to be. Gino loved his father, and G was always bragging on his son.”
Salida kept smoking, but now tears were in her eyes. “But how could G turn his back on our baby like that?” she moaned, her face crumpling with pain. “What happened to the two of them?”
“Like I said….” Monique got ready to spin a long tale, “That young bitch Juicy came along and ripped them apart. Some kinda way she caught G slippin’. She got in real deep with him and got him open. Man, Juicy had G tricking up all his money on her and her brother, and leaving Gino out of everything! I guess Gino musta started feeling real lost and left out behind that shit. He told G he was gonna have to choose between his son and his bitch. Juicy probably saw her dollars turning into cents, because the next thing everybody knew she started banging Gino! After that, the father-son relationship was definitely over. From what I heard, Juicy’s brother is the one who murdered G. I think the cops was looking for Juicy to see if she had anything to do with it, but her and Gino ran off somewhere together.”
Monique spent the next twenty minutes dropping funky loads of bullshit into Salida’s ear. She told her all kinds of dirty, scandalous lies about Juicy, making up shocking incidents of greed and manipulation as she went along. She really sold that shit, too. She invented devastating tales of betrayal between Gino and G. She painted a picture of Juicy that was so ugly and evil that by the time she finished yapping Salida’s eyes were red from crying and her lips were tight with rage.
“So,” Monique finally concluded. She had the mother in Salida on boil, and she could actually feel the steam coming off the older woman. “Nobody knows where Gino and Juicy ran off to. Ain’t nobody been able to find them. But from what people say, Juicy ain’t never gonna let Gino come back to Harlem. You probably ain’t never gonna get your son back, Mizz Salida. That’s word. Never .”
Hearing that, Salida cried out like she had been punched. She snatched Monique’s cigarettes from the table and took the last one out of the pack.
“Oh, my poor Gino,” she said pounding the tip of the cigarette on the table before sparking it up and puffing on it real hard. “My baby boy is lost to me!” she wailed, her eyes running like a faucet. “G was supposed to take care of him! How could he let a piece of tail tear them apart?”
I got her crazy ass going! Monique cheered inside. Now all she had to do was find a way to get some of that cash outta Salida’s pocketbook and her work would be done.
Her chance came at about ten o’clock that morning. Her and Salida had stayed up talking for hours, and
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