Page 121 of Quasim: King Inferno

“Those chrome pussies!” Ryder said.

Blair covered her mouth before turning around. “Ryder, I’m telling your father.”

“I heard it from him. Him and Suga were talking about it.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry.”

Blair reached back and touched her cheek. “Our little secret. Just don’t say it again… okay?” she smiled.

My phone buzzed in the cup holder, and I hit the button to answer. The usual recorded verbiage went through. I never got used to this shit. Just got over doing it with Cappadonna, andthen both my guys were home. Now we were back to the same shit, and I was counting down the days.

“Fuck you meannnnn!” Goon’s deep voice barreled through the car’s speaker.

“In the whip with Elijah.” I had put Goon onto the situation with Elijah a few weeks ago when he called to do his check in.

Even when he was free, that nigga would call me to check in and make sure I was good. “My bad… what up, Lil Simmy?”

“Hi G-Uncle!”

“That ain’t mini–Lady Inferno, is it?”

“Yup!”

“You taking care of my goddaughter and being a good big sister.”

“Of course… freakkk you mean!”

I looked through the mirror, and Elijah still had the biggest smile because Goon referred to him as a little me. “Ry, you on real thin ice.”

“Sorry, Uncle Simmy.” She apologized.

Blair smiled, as her thumb caressed the side of my head, while we bent down the blocks back to the lake house. “Hey Goon… I hope you’re doing good in there.”

“Would be better if you could tell me how Ms. Lawyer doing?”

“She’s good… working.”

“Hmm, always working with her fine ass.” He paused. “Yo, not gonna keep you long… when you get time, come see me.” I already knew that meant he had some shit to run down to me.

“Got you… handling some shit with Tookie. Rode through IG territory, so trying to get the fam home.”

“Gods burn the faces of their enemies.”

“The flames burn slow because the Gods are Inferno,” I replied, and we ended the call, and I looked at Blair.

That nigga Tookie thought he saw crazy, he ain’t see my crazy. In his defense, his cousin was done up while he was in prison… but I had no problem revisiting the lesson for the class – again.

“I’ve made more than enough; you can take more if you want some.” Loretta said, as she pushed the plate of pastries toward me.

I loved being around older people. They had a lesson and wisdom to give, and if you were smart then you absorbed everything and learned from them. The reason I knew how to knit was because I used to go to the senior center that was a few blocks from my house after I lost Harley. As much as I enjoyed sitting in the house in my grief, at times my thoughts scared me, and I didn’t want to be around the IG’s or my family, so I went to the senior center and volunteered. The city wasn’t kicking out money like that to save shit that was needed for the city, so I walked in during a sweltering summer day and all of the older ladies were in there knitting but sweating at the same time.

The director told me that they didn’t have the budget to fix the air conditioner, so they used the fans to keep the elders cool because some of them didn’t have air conditioning at their own homes. I got on the phone and called Wylie, one of the IG’s that owned an AC and refrigeration company. He came and fixed it, and I took on the role of donating whatever they needed for the center.

In return, I sat with the older ladies, and they were messy as hell. The tea that was spilled was that aged shit that QueenElizabeth was sipping. Old and good as shit that kept you around to find out what else happened.

The more I came around, the more those thoughts stopped consuming me. Being around people that have experienced life, loss, and grief was healing for me in a way. If they had lost, loved, lost, and loved again, who says that I couldn’t have the same thing?

While everyone thought I was in the house grieving, I was sitting with the elders, soaking everything in, and one of those lessons was how to knit. When I was chilling, I pulled out my shit and knitted.

You needed shit to do when you were out there being a devil, and that brought me peace. “Nana, what friend are you talking abou…” All the air in Tookie’s body left as he stood in that doorway to the small ass kitchen that smelled like moth balls and cat piss.

---