In My Hood Read Online Free PDF Page B

know you my girl.” She smiled.
    “I don’t have much money. I’m going to go and join this program my counselor told me about. I’ve been out of work for a long time. Did you know I had marketing skills as a top buyer?”
    “Yeah,” Beverly drawled, “I remembered you told me before.”
    “So I’m tryna get back into that. After I finish the program, they’re supposed to send me to school to improve my skills, then I’m gonna get me a good job. I gotta get my life back on track.”
    “I hear you, girl. I can’t go to nobody’s school though. School wasn’t never for me. Nope, I’m gonna keep doing what I’m doing and enjoy myself,” Beverly stated proudly.
    Beverly was a master at robbing the system. She received three hundred dollars a month in food stamps and got five hundred dollars a month welfare for two kids—eleven-year-old Tony Jr. and nine-year-old Michaela.
    She paid a hundred dollars a month for rent, and she received energy checks to pay her utilities. Beverly milked the system for all that it’s worth. She got furniture vouchers every two years and appliance vouchers every three years. She sold the vouchers to locals or whoever would buy them.
    The attractive days were long gone for Beverly. She had missing teeth, and the ones she still had were rotting. She had beautiful wavy hair that she kept in a ponytail. She stood five-two and had a brown liver-spotted complexion.
    Everyone knew her, and she knew everyone and their business as well. Beverly was the 411 of the hood. If she didn’t know it, she would surely find it out for you.
    “I went by your old place and found out that you moved. Where did you move to?” Desiree asked as the two continued to walk.
    “I’m on Eighteenth Avenue now. I got me a two-bedroom, and it’s got a service porch that I can use as a bedroom. You can have that if you want, and I can get you a bed.”
    “That’s cool. I’m not going to be there long anyway,” she said.
    But in the back of Desiree’s mind, it wasn’t cool. She just hoped that Eighteenth Avenue wasn’t anything like it was when she left with drugs, addicts, and more drugs cluttering the corners. Desiree just prayed that she would be able to maintain her sobriety.

Can’t Let Go
    T wo days had past, and Desiree was sitting in her room at Beverly’s apartment. It was a quaint apartment on the second floor in a four-family duplex that sat in the middle of the block. It was clean and decorated with the new furniture that Beverly acquired from the state. She didn’t have any pictures hanging on the walls, but nonetheless the apartment was comfortable. The downfall to living with Beverly was the noisy neighbors and drug trafficking that went on down below on the street corners.
    It was the first of the month, and Desiree was watching the news in her room while Beverly waited downstairs on the street for the mailman to bring her welfare check and food stamps.
    The mailman came, and Beverly went to the liquor store to cash her check. When Beverly returned, she asked Desiree to go with her to the grocery store. Desiree didn’t want to go, but she figured she would have to leave the apartment sooner or later. She said a prayer and was off to the Super food store to shop.
    To her surprise Beverly took her clothes shopping as well. She only bought her a few things, but Desiree was happy just being able to put the government-issued jeans away for a few days.
    They arrived home and put away the food, and Beverly prepared dinner. It was only 3:30 in the afternoon, but she couldn’t wait to eat. She hadn’t had a home-cooked meal in a long time. Since she’d been living with Beverly she’d only eaten sandwiches made by the corner store that Beverly went and got for her. She was down to thirty dollars from her commissary money.
    The new bed Beverly had gotten her was a twin. It was small but better then the cot she slept on in the facility.
    Desiree sat on her bed after eating dinner. She was