Chiraq II

Chapter 2

"Ouch, Ouch! Momma stop hitting me with that belt," screamed Big Shorty. He and his mother were in the parking lot outside of the detention center. She stood with the passenger side door opened and motioned with her belt, "Get your butt in the car and wait until I get you home, you're about to get your butt tore up." Victoria was fuming.. "Forget this belt," as she threw it into the backseat. "I'm getting an extension cord or whatever else I can find around the house," she exclaimed angerly. There was a lot of cars honking there horn at them as the car swerved into traffic, with Victoria using one hand to drive and the other hand she was smacking Big Shorty on the back of his head.

They pulled up to the house, before Victoria had a chance to turn off the car. Big Shorty was out the passenger door and walking towards the end of the block. He rightfully thought that this would be his only chance of escape from his hysterical mother. "Tyrone! Get your butt in the house. Where do you think you're going?" Victoria exclaimed. Big Shorty looked back once, then continued towards the corner. "That woman must be silly is she thought that I was going in that house with her," thought Big Shorty.

Victoria was tempted to run down the gang infested street after Big Shorty, but instead searched awkardly for her keys. Despite the anger that made her shake, she managed to unlock the door. Slamming the door behind her and dumping her keys and purse on the coffee table. She then sat down on the patent leather sofa and looke at the picture of her two children that sat on the table. She could feel the exhaustion from standing all day while working at the local Arab store. Victoria inhaled deeply to relax her nerves while staring at her reflection in the silver picture frame. She saw a woman with dark brown skin and shoulder length hair. The person in the reflection had a face that was unmarred by the use of make-up and the only thing that showed her age were the dark circles around her pretty black eyes.

Although, the faint reflection in the mirror of the picture frame made her look like a mother. She smirked at the reflection and found herself wondering why Tyrone's father had abandoned them before Tyrone's birth. Four years later, after the birth of Tyrone, she was pregnant again with her daughter Helena. The anger she had was still with her, but now it was an ice-cold controlled anger. She thought of her son and how the streets had swept him away. She felt as though she had failed as a parent. Despite her anger, Victoria decided she would drive around before dark to look for Tyrone. As she worried about her little man....

Her eyes began to close, but not before the first tear fell down her cheek. She cried until she fell asleep. The only sounds that remained in the house were the ticking of the wall clock and the whirling sound from the ceiling fan. A few weeks before Big Shorty had been picked up for selling rocks, a badly decomposed body had been discovered in the sewage in the Alligator Gardens Projects, which was also known as the, "Valley of Death." The authorities had retrieved the body from the sewer directly in front of the Elementary school. The sewage officials and the police had not properly sealed off the crime scene. So a crowd had gathered and saw the whole operation, as they brought the body from below the ground.

The body was so decomposed, that the limbs almost were seperated from the torso. It wasn't a pretty sight for the people who gathered around. It had remained a mystery as to how the body had got in to the sewer, but there were rumors going around that the death had been caused by gang violence. This terror caused the Community Leaders to speak to all of the area gangs and to push for an immediate Peace Treaty. The gangs, seeing no alternative, agreed to all of the terms. This agreement was primarily brought about by one man, the Reverend Bailey, who was an elderly man, close to the end of his life. The Reverend Bailey feared no evil, especially, when it came to the gangs. Some say that he resembled a short Jesse Jackson.

So when he and the other religious leaders, along with the managers and owners of the housing projects got together to protest the gang violence. The gangs had to listen. This was how the truce came about. Besides the Gangstas, there were two other well-known gangs in the area. These were the Lords and the Stones. The Lords and the Stones wore red and black and were under the same five-point star, and were usually in alliance against the Gangstas. The Gangstas wore blue and black and were under the six-point star. The Gangstas usually acknowledge one another with a hand sign that was formed by their middle and index fingers, along with their thumb. To form something that resembled a trident. This sign was called a, "Pitch Fork." The Lords and the Stones had their own set of hand signs. The gangs used the color of their clothing to identify each other and to be caught on the wrong block wearing the wrong colors could cost you your life.

Big Shorty was known as a Gangsta and associated with Day-Day, Oldie King, Jello, and Dinky-G, all of whom were in their early 20's. They all embraced Big Shorty because they knew he was the next generation. The older Gangstas were all ballers and flamboyant and always flossing their riches in the Gangsta Paradise of Eden Green. Day-Day was the pretty boy of the bunch. He, like the others, was tall, but unlike the others, he was tattooed. His younger brother, Oldie King, resembled him in most ways. Jello was heavy-set and a smooth talker and the comedian of the group.

More to come.......