Page 6 of Heart of a Savage
My late grandfather, Russell, and his brother, Ruford, founded Crawford Pharmaceutical in 1955. Both men were heavily into science, creating medicines straight from their mama’s kitchen for home remedies. During Hurricane Katrina, they were able to supply medications for the people who had gotten sick during that time. My grandfather died of natural causes in 1979 and left the company to my father and Uncle Raylon. The first order of business when my father and uncle took over was altering the company’s name to C&C Pharmaceutical.
The company had seen its fair share of hard times since the change in ownership. Being influenced by the money and drugs, my father branched off and began selling illegal drugsto kingpins and politicians, which was why the business wasn’t doing so great in the first few years of his presidency. It wasn’t until Uncle Raylon died that my brothers and I entered the fold; then, the company began to thrive again by recreating the product my grandfather and great-uncle started. Papi took care of the street business, while my brothers, my sister, and I took over the corporate world.
That was until Pops started to slack off, so my brothers took over the street shit.
“What’s up with everybody today? It’s like watching the same episode ofTheCosbyShow. Papi, you good over there?” I asked him.
He cleared his throat and sat up in his chair. “Maddie, baby, could you give me and your brothers a minute?”
“Uh… sure, Papi. Is everything okay, though?”
“Everything’s great, baby.”
“Okay. I’ll be in my office if you all need me.” She stood, gathered her things, and then left the conference room.
Mo looked over at our pops. “What’s wrong, Papi? You’ve been quiet all week, and every time we ask what’s up, you say shit is good. What’s up?”
We all looked to him as he intertwined his fingers over the marble table. “It’s because I’ve been thinking about how to transition from the business—both of them.”
“What?” Mike asked.
“You heard me. I’m getting older and need to choose one of you as my successor. Well... I actually already chose.”
We all looked at him, waiting for him to name-drop.
I prayed to God it wasn’t me. I had way too much shit on my plate as is. Not only was I the top distributor and administrator at C&C Pharmaceutical, but I was also the CEO of our realty company, Crawford Realty. We bought homes for dirt cheapfrom other privately owned real estate companies, fixed them up, and then sold them or turned them into trap houses.
Not only was it because my plate was full, my pops knew I wasn’t the friendliest sometimes. I was mild-tempered, especially when people didn’t know how to conduct good business. I wouldn’t say I was the smartest man in the world, but I was smarter than most, and having to deal with incompetent people really made me want to blow a gasket sometimes. It’s why I stayed in the office going over paperwork, in the lab watching over the product for distribution, or at home relaxing until I had to do this shit all over again. I wasn’t a sane person seventy-two percent of the time, but my ability to keep things in order was why I oversaw most of the day-to-day operations.
“Well, it’s only right that it goes to the eldest child,” Mo said, taking a sip of his water.
I frowned. “The fuck it is! You niggas are more than capable of being chosen as his successor.”
Fuck he mean?
“Yeah, but you’re already running the distro here. You may as well oversee the street distro too,” Mike chimed in.
“And what are y’all doing besides deliveries and collecting money? Y’all want to do all the easy shit while I have to do all the hard shit?” I asked.
Mo scoffed. “What hard shit? All you do is sit up in ya office all day or watch niggas in the lab.”
“Are you serious? I’m in my office reading over documents and signing off on paperwork—putting out fires, and making sure deals get made. It’s me who always makes sure our employees ain’t stealing the product or slacking off, and you want to downplay my position like I got it easy? Please, by all means, take my position, and I’ll take yours, my nigga. Since you think this shit is fucking easy.”
“And you think making sure the count is right on both ends is easy?” Mo countered.
“All right, enough!” Papi’s voice elevated. “All of your positions play a vital part in making this company run smoothly. One man’s job is no greater than the other, so cut out all the back and forth. Moses, you will take my place as CEO.”
“Papi…”
“That’s final, Mo. Your brothers will help you with whatever you need whenever you need it, but as of today, you will oversee both the street distribution and the allocation of this company. Madisyn will continue as the accountant and CFO. She already knows what to do and has been asking for a bigger position. Also, we need to have a meeting with the realty team and officially make Oliver the CEO of CR.”
“Papi…” Madisyn walked inside the conference room, looking flustered. “Oliver’s mom just called. He’s dead. The police just found his body this morning.”
“What?” Papi frowned. “I just spoke with him the other day. How the hell did that happen?”
“She said he had a heart attack…”
“Damn it.” Papi sat back in his chair and rubbed his temples.
