Storymania - The Wannabe by Brotherman

The Wannabe
Brotherman

About 30 minutes before the last day of his junior year, Dale "D-mac" Johnson was in detention, staring at the trees. He would blankly stare past the long row of evergreens, counting the minutes before he could get out of class. He would spend most of his days in that room because of his numerous fights, which spawned from his incessant need to prove his hardness to his fellow students at Curtis preparatory academy.

His "Hardness" was his most obsessive theme during his duration as a freshman, sophomore and a junior at the school. His exterior bespoke of a designer blackness: 195.00 Kobe Bryant sneakers, oversized pants customized by the Gap, plastic ice and jewelry that he bought from the back pages of the Source, a custom official raiders jersey and a gold colored visor that he bought from the used racks at Layne Bryant. But that couldn’t get him" the respect he deserved" and that p!ssed him off. Didn’t they know how much money he spent, how he had watched BET every day and memorized the songs on cue?

But it was all for not, and because he" didn’t get the love he deserved", he would sit in the back of the detention room moping, exiled this time because he was trying to flash gang signs he saw on Menace to society. Because he was caught flashing "gang signs" and cussed out the teacher who had caught him doing so, he was sitting, scowling and moping in the corner of the room, raging at the circumstances of his environment, no matter how self imposing the rage or how ludicrous it's tenants.

He had spent most of the day in question staring into the trees illuminated by the late spring 2:00 sun. He liked to strike poses; mumble curse words and plan in his mind how he could obtain his cool from the academy's populace. This, however, would be the day he would find it. It was out of the corner of his eye while he was paying scant attention to the remedial lesson taught five minutes before he was supposed to leave. He saw Rodney Craig and Antjuan Collins playing bones on a wooden table five feet away from a huge 77 Coupe Deville. At first he paid scant attention to it because he had heard horror stories on how bad Antjuan was and Rodney dressed and acted too much like a white boy for his taste. But as he saw Antjuan grab a CD from the front seat his mind began to work. Antjuan was hard, Rodney had a ride and Antjuan was Rodney's friend. He would roll with both of them, and then they would have to recognize how real he is.

Rodney and Antjuan knew each other from when their fathers worked as janitors at the same apartment building, before both men started sucking on the devil’s orifice. Growing up in the same project, Antjuan had quite an affinity for Rodney, a brainy book worm in an area where brainy bookworms have a tendency to get their ass kicked daily. He would serve his personal bodyguard so that various thugs wouldn’t give him a beat down while he was walking home.

Rodney would eventually move to the suburbs while Antjuan would get involved in various gangs, but when he tried to straighten his life out and was transferred to Curtis, Rodney felt a need to repay his kindness. In Antjuan, Rodney found an old friend from the neighborhood who he could help out with the homogenous culture clash. In Rodney, Antjuan found an old friend from the neighborhood who understood where he was coming from.

They would make a routine of skipping the last period, playing bones (dominoes), as they remembered the way their fathers used to do. Rodney would usually be in his red cardinals jersey, with his hulking build, size 15 brown Timbalands that blended with his beige skin tone and Rodney with his black beret, black v neck sweaters and rose colored hippie glasses. They would usually discuss football, females or the frustrating monotony of the school itself. Because they knew each other for fifteen years, they talked more like old men then teenagers.

And at first when they saw Dale come up to them they looked at him with a special bemusement, like how one sees a trained seal walking down a city street.

" Zup homies" Dale said to the both of them.

" Hello Dale" replied Rodney with a twinge of sarcasm.

" What the f*ck you want" replied Antjuan.

" You know homies there is a Friday night bonfire in Ruston way and there is gonna be a lot of honeys. If we merge together we can mack and be a crew like the Westside Connection."

" Man get the f*ck..."

" Wait" whispered Rodney in Antjuan’s ear " I heard about these parties and this motherf*cker ain't joking. It's in Ruston Way, a nice little white neighborhood on the other side of the island on the water. We can hustle him for a couple of bucks, leave his azz to take the bus, and get our party on."

" But this motherf*cker's a joke"

" I know that, you know that, these white folks don’t know that. We ain�t gonna take his azz to crip territory, We can make this fun, dawg."

" You better be right about this sh!t man"

" Okay" Rodney said to Dale "Meet us at six o clock right here."

" Why don’t you pick me up in my house. I live in the Bristonwood secti..."

" Like hell I’m gonna pick you up and risk being stopped driving my car in your lily white cauldesac, bring your azz here at six."

To their surprise he was there at 6:00, only with an entirely new get up: red 97 air Jordan�s, red bulls sweat shirt, genuine bulls game shorts, and backward red bulls cap along with brand net sets of fake ice. And all Antjuan and Rodney could think of was that this motherf*cker got too much money.

" You ready " said Rodney

" Yep yep"

" Get in the car then"

" Crip crip, n!gga" Dale says as he tries to flash a gang sign

" HOLD IT." says Rodney " We got some rules up in here and you have just violated both of them. Rule #1 Do not flash any gang signs that you saw on either south central, menace to society or any variable BET movie of the week. When white people try and flash gang signs they almost always look like children who are having an epileptic fit"

" Rule #2, " said Antjuan " do not under any circumstances said the word n!gga whatsoever. I don’t care if Snoop, DMX, and the Lox come in here and put a cap to your head, you will not say that word in this car"

" Okay dude okay"

" Just follow these rules, and you gonna be alright"

As Rodney drove up past the school, through the main road enveloping several sets of houses, Antjuan lighted up a blunt. Dale knew he had to find a way to impress them. As he sat in the back of the plush maroon colored seats he started brainstorming again. Try rapping- yeah that will impress them.

" You know I won a rapping contest. "
" For real" said Rodney as he turned back with his left eye warily open to show that he was interested but not amazed.

" Spit a few bars" replied Antjuan, but as soon as he said that dale prepared to hock a lugie, which in turn forced Antjuan to grab him buy the neck." Listen spitting bars means rapping verses. Verses a$*hole, verses and if you spit on me I swear to god ill....

" Okay dude I�ll do it, just let me go....see I’m gonna take it old school..yeah... rolling down the street smoking smoking sipping on gin and juice

" WHAT???" both responded simultaneously

" Rolling down the street...smoking smoking...sipping on gin and juice..yeah"

They both laughed in his face " Motherf*cker you need to stop listening to the radio so much." said Rodney "The lyrics are rolling down the smoking INDO. Smokin smokin is the radio edit."
“ But I swear it’s smokin smokin”

"No its smokin indo and your flow sucks. Now shut up until we get to the store"

The car went down the main street past more houses, through a gated community, then a forest, then another gated community until they got to tupelo park; where they saw a well proportioned brown skinned woman wearing a tank top and daisy dukes, prompting all three of them to turn their heads and focus their eyes on her.

" Damm she's fine,� said Rodney

" I�d like to wax that,� said Antjuan

" That�s one fine black ho,� said Dale prompting Antjuan to grab his shirt." why she gotta be a black ho man, you are on such thin ice. You ain�t hip, you ain�t down and if your say another word your a$$ is walking back to Bristonwood"

In response dale sulked as the Cadillac went past the park, going up the steep hill where the store was on top of. The scenery was beautiful: big ranging trees that had different and diverse shades of green reflected by the sun; which going up the hill caused a breathless view of the conglomerate of exquisite houses surrounding the islands of the Puget sound; which in itself were bathed by the fantastic array and arrangement of colors that the sun blesses the area with whenever she decides to show up. Breathtaking colors, dark pinks, burnt blues, bright greens, burnt oranges, lemon yellow's and so forth. But Dale was too concerned with Antjuan’s puffy size and too stung from the criticism to notice. They stopped at the Fred Meyer on top of the hill.

" We gonna get some food. You can come with us but don’t say or do anything stupid." Antjuan told him as they were getting out of the car.

" I’m gonna surprise you, homies"

" What the hell did I just say" but Dale did a quick beeline to the store before he finished. Befuddled, they went inside. Rodney got chips and ice cream while Antjuan went to look for Dale before he gave up and bought some jelly donuts. They met at the front of store curious.

" Where the hell this fool at" asked Antjuan

" I don�t know let�s go"

When they got to the car they saw him in the backseat with a wicked grin on his face. " What the hell did you do?� Rodney asked as he got inside, only to see him slowly pull out a 40 ounce, provoking both him and Antjuan to start to freak out." Oh god what the hell did you do man. Why you do that for, do you know much trouble we can get into."

" What's the problem? Nobody saw me," bellowed Dale as he started to unscrew the bottle top "lets party homies!"

" Man I got a couple of strikes,� Antjuan said in a high pitched voice. " I�m gonna be in so much sh!t, man what if we get stopped, man you gotta get the f*ck out of the car"

Just as he said that two knocks on the window came from two policemen, one from the drivers and one from the passenger�s seat. And as Antjuan and Rodney assumed the position and got out of the car, dale froze in terror. Quickly, in a subconscious defensive reflex, he screwed the cap back on the bottle, threw it under the driver�s seat, and got out with waves of cold sweat emanating from his body.

" What's the problem officer" Rodney said sheepishly, standing frozen in front of him.

" We were in the vicinity when we received a shoplifting call. You don’t mind if we look around.." but before he finished his partner flashed a spotlight right on the 40 ounce beneath the drivers seat. " Uh fred, I think we have something here."

As soon as he said that, the officer cuffed Rodney, struggled with him and threw him on the ground, causing blood to come from his scarred lips. Antjuan rushed toward the officer only to be slammed on the hood by his partner. All this while Dale watched and said nothing.

" C'mon dawg! We didn�t do nothing man. My dawg's an A student. Motherf*cker tell him " Antjuan said as he pointed to dale." tell him! Tell him!! TELL HIM!!!"

But suddenly a seemingly phantasmagoric change came over dale. He started to speak mannered without a hit of slang. He put his pants up, took the fake gold tooth out of his mouth, adjusted his cap forward and announced clearly to the officer " I don’t know what he is talking about"

" F*CK YOU MOTHERF*CKER! he stole that sh!t, he set us up" Antjuan screamed " I swear to god I�ll beat you within an inch of your life. I'll.......Rodney, Rodney quit fighting back man...breathe n*gga, breathe you need air."

" I...am a Curtis preparatory academy student,� said a terse Dale. " I ...live.... in Bristonwood."

"Please officer... I know I ain�t sh!t man but let my boy live, let my n!gga live, man!! He�s got a future, man he's got a life. Put it on me, I'll go down for it" then Antjuan, breaking into tears, pointed to Dale " Please man, you gotta tell them the truth, I swear to god, you gotta tell them the truth."

" Do ...you know my father." Dale replied, half nervous half cold blooded." My father is an insurance executive....I was just getting a ride home from these gentleman, nothing more" But before he could finish, Rodney, from a lack of oxygen started to go into convulsions. The arresting officer let him go as he shook violently for two minutes, with pus coming out of his nose and foam coming out of his mouth, before he stopped, turned over with his face to the sky and breathed his last breath of air.

The usual processes were took and it was ruled that because of the proximity of the stolen object and the resistance of the suspects, the officers had probable cause. In a written statement Dale told them an elaborate story: that they offered him a ride home, forced him to smoke a joint and threatened to beat him if he didn’t steal with them. In the middle of night, the police drove Dale back to his house to an emotional reception from his mother and father, relieved and ecstatic that he had come home safely from his ordeal.

About 30 minutes before the last day of his senior year at Curtis preparatory academy, Dale Johnson was running up the steps leading to the top floor parking lot, patting his hair to make sure it was in perfect place. He was pledging at Alpha Pi Epsilon, the same University of Puget sound fraternity his father pledged, and he wanted to make a good impression. He was a half a grade point and 200 SAT points below the requirements to get into the school, but his father pulled some strings and got him in. Everybody he knew marveled at his miraculous renaissance. Instead of sports jerseys and baggy shorts, he wore v-neck sweaters and j crew pants. He threw away his fake ice and brought a nice bulova watch. His parents, booming with pride, bought him a used BMW that he liked to drive around with his friends.

As he was walking to the car, he spotted the glance of a heavyset man gazing at him with a long Afro and a giant unkept beard. It was Antjuan, staring at him from the detention room with his hand on the window and eye twitching violently. Dale stared back for a second and walked to his car, trying to ignore him. Just as he was about to get in he looked back and saw Antjuan still there with that same crazed look.

Angered, Dale ran to the window. " What the fuck are you looking at, boy!" he screamed, but Antjuan just stood there without saying a word.
" Don�t look at me like that, Antjuan. My family can fucking buy and sell you two times over!" but Antjuan just laughed.

" I SAID DONT FUCKING LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!" he screamed, jumping up and down on the grass and shaking his hands like a child. But he turned to see that Antjuan had that same frightening look . Frantic, he ran as fast as he could to his bmw and violently slammed the front door.

With his heart racing, he looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath. Keep it together, Dale said in his head as he tried to straighten his hair in the mirror and get the grass off his shoes and pants. But in his head he could never get his hair quite straight or his clothes quite clean. Jittered, he told himself that everything was ok, he was better than all this and he soon was going to be an Alpha Pi Epsilion. He sped out of the parking lot saying that to himself over and over again, desperately trying to convince himself that he wasn�t as frightened as he was.