Hood Ornaments

When Dennis opened the back door of the kitchen, a cold gust of wind surprised Malik and chilled him to the bone. What was chilling him even more was the look on Dennis’ face. Malik stopped pouring his coffee and raised his eyebrow.

“Something wrong with Ma?

Dennis shook his head quickly, but the expression on his face never changed,

“No. No. Your mother is fine. I just wanted to catch you before you headed out to the site.”

“It’s cold as balls out there, D. You could have just called.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to say that shit over the phone.”

Malik finished pouring his coffee and took a sip. He was frowning over the rim of his mug.

“What shit? The hell you talking about?”

“We won’t be going to work for a while.” Dennis said while reaching in a cupboard for a mug.

Malik already knew what was happening. Construction was a seasonal occupation. With the site being on the waterfront and winter trying to sneak in and take hold of the city, it was expected.

“Layoff because of the weather?”

Dennis was now pouring his own cup of coffee, “Layoff because the site is now a crime scene.”

Malik’s insides were trembling, but outwardly he was resolved.

“Crime scene?”

Dennis reached into the refrigerator for creamer and began stirring it into his mug, “Don’t worry, since something like this isn’t mentioned in our contract we will get paid regardless. Look at it as a vacation. I figure it’s gonna take some time to identify the bodies and figure out what happened to them.”

Malik, for the first time, lost his resolve and his coffee mug came crashing down onto the kitchen floor.

“Fuck.” Malik said at a volume that only he and Dennis could hear. Dennis sat down at the tiny table and continued to drink his coffee while Malik tried to clean up the mess as quickly as he could. Then a realization came to Malik. He stopped mopping and his brows took on a shape of anger and confusion.

“Wait? You didn’t call because you think I have something to do with this?”

“No, I didn’t call because of what you used to do, and I didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to you now that you are getting your life together.”

“Appreciate it.” Malik muttered.

“No problem.”

“Can I see your phone D?”

Dennis nonchalantly took his phone off of his belt and handed it to Malik then went upstairs to check on Stacey. He sighed heavily as he walked, for he knew Malik wanted his phone so that what he was about to text couldn’t necessarily be traced.

Jesus what did that boy get himself into.

Malik texted Dell first. Dell was already with Sticks at the loft.

The meeting was set at the diner the in an hour.

Malik finished cleaning up the mess he made.

The last thing he wanted to do is piss off Sticks any more than he was going to be. But when he got to the diner, it appeared that he and Dell were in good spirits. Dell was really into the double cheeseburger he ordered while Sticks was drowning his salad in French dressing. In between the eating, they were speaking in a jovial manner. It confused Malik as he pulled open the diner door and immediately went to the back table where the pair were sitting. Dell slid over in the booth so Malik could sit down. Sticks continued to eat his salad but in between forkfuls he mumbled,

“So what’s up Leek? Why are you so amped?”

Malik took a deep breath and reiterated the news that Dennis told him. Sticks sat there and calmly continued to eat. Dell, however, put the rest of his burger on the plate and pushed it away. Both he and Malik glared at Sticks waiting for some sort of response. It felt like an hour went by before he actually put his fork down.

“Leek, if you are worried about the bodies they found in the basement of my building, don’t be. They are relocating me to a hotel until the investigation is finished which will take a while, so y’all are welcome to come over and order room service because…it is courtesy of the city. No one suspects anything. For all they know, it was a tragic construction accident.”

Malik swallowed and in a whisper inquired, “What kind of construction accident involves a bullet in three hoods skulls?”

“Scuse me,” Dell said as he damn near pushed Malik out of the booth and rushed to the restroom.

Sticks let out a long sigh, “You have to excuse him. He really wasn’t cut out for this life. To be honest, neither were you, but it’s in your blood. You’re a natural. I mean, shit, when this went down you followed protocol like you have always been a soldier.”

Malik smirked and huffed. “A lot of good that’s gonna do me. Or any of us for that matter.”

At that point Dell returned gray and shaken. Sticks let out another sigh, but this one was one of disgust, “You gonna be aiight youngin?”

“I will be. Apparently so will y’all. But Tor…”

Sticks interrupted with a seething whisper “Never, ever bring up her name in regards to this situation. She has a life now; she’s happy. Let her be happy.”

“And Tone?” Malik asked.

Sticks sucked his teeth, “Shit. Aiight we gotta somehow reach him. He, technically, is our only loose end. I don’t like loose ends. They unravel shit.” He looked Dell straight in the eye, “Don’t you need to get to class?”

Dell sighed again and ushered Malik out of the booth. Sticks decided to meet him. He embraced Dell and whispered in his ear, “I got this Nephew. Relax. Your girl will be fine. You have my word.”

Malik went to take the check off of the table and Sticks snatched it from him, “You ain’t eat. You don’t have to pay for shit.”

Malik wasn’t sure how to respond to Sticks until he saw his smirk. Then Malik shook his head and grinned slightly, “Aiight Sticks. I’m out.”

Sticks then shook Malik’s hand, “Aiight Leek. I meant what I said. You did good soldier.” With that Malik left the restaurant and headed home. Sticks left out the back door and headed to the corner bar.

Even though it was unseasonably cold, Dell decided to walk the couple of blocks to school. He needed to clear his mind. It was full of thoughts. The only regret he had was not being there for Tori when she was attacked. If he was even close to where those bastards raped her, they would have been murked. This was all his fault. There had to be something he could do to make this right for Tori. Sticks was right, she is happy now. She has a life.

He entered the lobby of the building and walked towards the vending machines. In between the sodas and the snacks was a payphone. He was actually kind of shocked because they were phasing out pay phones since cell phones with pagers came out. He lifted up the receiver and looked at the number, entered it into his phone, and sent the text.

911 @ 3pm tomorrow call 963 4187