Vince’s high suddenly vanished when he saw the cops pulling them over. There was a drunk, scantily clad white girl in the backseat half-sleep and the parkway was a few minutes away.
Spoon knew there was half a pound of weed in the trunk, and a loaded 9mm under the driver’s seat. Another patrol car pulled up, shining light on the dirty Acura.
“Yo man, what da fuck!” Vince shouted. His heart beating like he was running two hundred miles a minute. He tried to keep his composure.
Three male white cops slowly approached the car with their hands on their weapons. A bright flashlight was beaming.
“Driver, remove the car keys and drop them out the window,” one cop instructed.
“Yo, we ain’t do nuthin,” Spoon shouted.
“Driver, remove your car keys and drop them out the window… slowly.”
Too tipsy to put up a fight, Spoon sighed and did as instructed.
“Passenger, slowly put both your hands out the window and open the car door slowly.”
Vince did what he was told and Spoon soon followed. Both men were soon thrown against the car and detained. Susan, high and drunk in the backseat opened her eyes and saw a cop staring down at her. “Hey…what’s up? Where my niggas at?” she hiccupped.
She was drunk, half naked with her nipple showing from her bikini top that was loosely untied.
“Ma’am, are you okay?” the cop asked, clearly disgusted by her behavior.
“She’s doing her thang with us. Why y’all asking her some stupid shit like that? We just came from her crib,” Spoon exclaimed.
“You shut up!”
Susan was asked to step out of the car. When she did, she staggered all over the place, collapsing into one of the officer’s arms. Her bikini top became completely untied and her business was soon in view for everyone to see. Susan laughed, not caring at all.
Spoon and Vince were placed in handcuffs while the officers searched the vehicle. It didn’t take long to find the gun and weed. Under arrest, they were transported to the station house.
“This is all fucked up. My pops is going to kill me and I missed work.” Vince cried.
Susan’s parents were called. She was free to go home when a relative came to pick her up. Spoon and Vince wasn’t as lucky.
“Boy, have you lost your Damn mind!” Mr. Grey shouted, furious with his son for getting arrested in Long Island.
Vince was released on a ten thousand dollar bond. But he would rather be still in lock up than to deal with his father and his attitude. His father used a bail bondsman along with ten percent of the bail. Mr. Grey wanted his son home so he could kill him.
“It wasn’t my fault; they were wit’ some racial-profiling, pops. They had no reason to pull us over,” Vince argued.
“Jean, I’m gonna murder him that fuckin’ boy! You get caught with drugs and a loaded gun in a car with a naked white girl. You should have been at work!” Mr. Grey shouted furiously.
“She wasn’t naked; she had on a skirt….” Vince countered.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if she was dressed like a Pope. You shouldn’t have been there. You don’t give a damn about us or what you want to do with your life…do you?”
Jean was also disappointed with their son. She cried and wanted to calm him down. But understood the anger and rage he felt. She was furious too—but chose not to explode with anger and screaming like her husband.
“Jason, your blood pressure,” she warned him.
“Damn my blood pressure! Is this boy retarded? I don’t understand you, Vincent. You wanna end up like your friends? Boy, keep fuckin’ up and you’ll be out this house faster than these got-damn mice. I don’t wanna even see your damn face…you make me damn sick.”
“Jason,” Jean cried out.
“This boy is goin’ to straighten up, or get the fuck out my house. It’s your choice.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be out of here soon and you ain’t gotta worry wit’ shit I do no more.”
Vince stormed upstairs into his bedroom and was ready to pack his bags. He heard his mother crying out to him but ignored her and kept it moving.
Tensions were high in the home. Vince wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he was scared. He had charges of gun possession, drugs and intent to distribute hanging over his head. It wasn’t the first time he got into trouble with the law but the charges were the most serious he faced.
The days passed and Vince’s lawyer informed him that Spoon confessed up to owning everything. Spoon would take a plea and the judge would give Vince a year’s probation. His mother was ecstatic and so was Vince. Spoon took the heat and would do jail time. The news did nothing to relieve the strained relationship between father and son. Mr. Grey was still angry.
Spoon called Vince collect.
“Yo, why you confessed and copped a plea?”
“Cuz you don’t need to be caught up in this system. I’ve been through it before and know how to do my thang. You about to start school this fall and got a lot going for you. If it wasn’t for me and Tyriq you’d be doing your thang at your job. Do your thang, my nigga. Live life, don’t worry ‘bout me.”
“I owe you, Spoon,” Vince said.
“Yo, do your thang and stay away from ‘em slutty, white bitches… too much heat.”
They both laughed.
Spoon got a five-year stretch. Vince tried to get on with his life. But when it rains it pours. Vince’s pops died from a severe heart-attack two weeks before school was to begin. The passing of his father crushed Vince. He was unable to mend the hardship between his father and himself. He knew his father loved him so much and only wanted the best for him. The day he got arrested, he knew that hurt his pops so much. The experience haunted Vince and left him thinking if he would’ve gone to work, his pops wouldn’t have been so stressed.
When they lowered his father into the ground, his mother held Vince tightly, sobbing. Vince stared at his father’s casket and made a promise to himself to get his life right and do just.
Part One
Today... 2002
My alarm went off at exactly 6:10 every damn morning, indicating that it was time to get my ass up and ready for work. I didn’t know why I was getting up to go to work. I had two weeks left then I’d be permanently laid off. I received my notice in the mail a few days ago. My job sent me papers saying that they regret to inform me, but my employment status will be affected by reduction in workforce requirements in my classification—which meant I was soon to be unemployed.
I worked for American Airlines for four years. Things started going bad after 9/11 happened. I knew it would be my turn soon. I’d hope and pray that the downfall wouldn’t affect me, but it did. The economy took a nose dive and had a big domino effect. Businesses started closing down and layoffs were next. Now it was my turn and soon I’d be out of a job.
I didn’t fall asleep till two in the morning and was still groggy when I jumped in the shower. Unemployment was not an option. There weren’t any companies hiring at the moment. I applied at Jet blue Airlines, the sanitation department, MTA, even the