My mother passes through again, sighing hard. “Dem find weed pan him,” she says, not hiding her disappointment.
I look at Jordane. He just laughs. “No bother scold me now, bredda,” he says quickly. “’Cause a nuh like you better… look how much time mi watch yuh get sus.”
He’s right, he did see me mess up more than once. “And a that’s why mi a go scold you,” I tell him straight. “Cause mi nuh want yuh repeat the same foolishness weh mi do.”
He nods. “Real meds, bro… a tomorrow mi a go back though,” he says after a while, leaning against the wall.
“Just easy wid certain things, bad man. Get the subjects dem first, ‘cause dem cya tek dem back from yuh,” I tell him, and he nods again.
“Fi real,” he agrees.
“We have money enuh, so just get the education, man. You can flass wid wi later.” I hit him playfully, and he chuckles.
“Tomorrow mi a go in still… and a go different thing,” he says, sounding more motivated.
Seet… sometime a just a likkle push yuh want, even if a just words.
“That mi wah hear, man.” I chuckle before walking into the house.
Most of my mother’s family live in Flankers, so only a few cousins are physically here. The rest are on FaceTime, chatting up a storm with my mother. I’m usually distant, so if I just greet them, it won’t come off weird. And mi woulda rather nuh call to dem enuh. Mi nuh wah come off guilty though.
I walk over to the cousins in the living room, and they all start smiling when they see me. “Wah gwan, Nickoi?” they smile.
“Unuh gov?” I reply casually.
Mi coulda careless though. Mi nuh really fancy cousins… cause dem be the fakest.Neva lie.Keno a the only cousin mi rate.
“Mi cyaa believe smaddy woulda kill Uncle Adonis. And look how the man did nice to everybody.”
Hmmm… him deh weh him fi deh man.
Yuh savage enuh, Nick…
I sigh. “Eh cut up, man.”
Wah really cut up though… is the fact that mi affi deh yasso a pretend. Jah Jah.
“We just a lose people so,” the same cousin adds.
Mi mad fi move enuh… cause she a chat too much, man. I shift closer to the phone, just to avoid her, but that move backfires. My aunts on the video call immediately start talking to me all at once, making me regret the decision instantly.
You gone inna suh’m worse, bredda.
Jah Jah. Some of them a say Adonis always did want fi link wid me. Crap. While some a reminisce ‘bout di good days, some a ask why somebody woulda kill him—you know, the usual. Then you have the fass one dem weh a try investigate every little ting ‘bout mi life.
“Yuh nuh reach 23 yet?” one of them asks.
A wah dem a try calculate now? “24,” I say simply.
Adonis’ mother steps in front of the camera, her face soaked in tears. “Yuh nuh see dem kill mi big bwoy? Now a Dane lef back, and it a affect him bad… cause him and Adonis did close.”
As soon as she says it, my mind flash to when the person from Mobay called Zara. A probably Dane enuh. Sounds like him right hand to me.
“Mi miss mi bwoy,” she cries.
“It sad, man,” I say, dropping mi voice into something soft, something that sound like grief.
It neva sad when him try kill mi woman? Mi sure a same way dem woulda come bawl if him did rob and kill mi madda. Same way. The only regret mi have is the fact that mi never get fi kill him Monday… but that was just cause the bwoy did a hide. Mi kill him anyways, though, so it nuh really matta. A the right place him deh now. Right place. Anybody mess ‘round me or mi people dem? A dirt.
