Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

his reputation tramped in front of
and behind him.
I remember one night we wuz
at the Roller Derby and Blue wuz
high . He turned to me . "Buy me
sum pop, youngblood!"
"Gimme duh money!" I wuz
frontin to see how far I could go .
And anyway it wuz better to get
yo head whupped than to suck ass .
"My money is in yo pocket,"
Blue run back .
"If it is, it gon stay dere too,"
wuz my rap .
All the other dudes had been
watchin the game, but when the
conversation started to lead to some
serious raps, the other dudes
jumped in and started to push the
stuff.
"I know lil Willie aint gon take
dat," Tutti dropped in .
"What you got tuh do wit it halfwhite
nigga?" I screamed on Tutti
to throw things away from myself.
At that moment one of the female
Westerners hit the floor and
slid off the rink . The crowd roared.
The humor of the moment saved
me, for Blue along with the crowd
wuz crackin up as the skater kept
losin her footin at the edge of the
rink . Blue wuz in such a happy
thnng that he put off my whuppin
for the moment .
After the game we slid down
Wabash, headin south, looking for
some drunks to roll . We were almost
at Eighteenth Street when we
heard a familiar voice. "Hey!"
We looked on the other side of
the street and saw Jake . He sat in
his dingy grey Ford. Jake wuz a
54
red conk-head nigga who served as
Youth Officer . He seldom missed
an opportunity to send us through
changes .
"Cmon ovah heah!"
"We wuz goin home!"
"I didnt ask you where you wuz
goin, git ovah heah to duh cah!"
We checked the traffic and
trotted across the street to the car.
"Where you goin?"
"We wuz goin home," Tutti answered
.
"Where you comin from ."
"We just left the Derby, heahs
a program and a pennant."
"You stole em, huh?"
"Naw I bought dese," I said.
"Yeah, well git yo asses on home
befo I catch you wrong and start
hangin my foot in em!"
We started away from the car
feeling relieved that Jake had let us
slide, even though we hadnt done
nothing.
"Cmere boy!" Jake yelled flashing
his spot on Blue . Blue drug over
to the car . We stopped and waited .
"I didnt call all yall, but if you
got sum bisness back heah JUST
WAIT THERE!" Spit sprayed
through his yellow teeth .
We moved on down the street
lookin back cautiously .
Blue leaned over to talk to Jake ;
his head wuz lost to us inside the
car. We heard a loud thud and saw
Blues body tremble with pain . We
knew that Jake had pulled off his
specialty . Tell you to put your head
in the car ; hit his electric window
button letting the window up on
your neck ; he would then tell you
March 1970 NEGRO DIGEST