The Grind Don't Stop Read Online Free PDF Page A

gave the only answer possible. “Yeeeeaaaah.”
    Beverly was putting her groceries in the trunk in the Kroger parking lot when her attention was drawn to the staticky police band. She automatically wondered if her boys, Rainbow and Sparkle, had answered the call of the wild with all the shootings along I-20. She knew there was no way that they were going to let that drive-by shooting pass without responding. She started reminiscing.
    Deep in her heart she knew they’d pooled their mediocre bankrolls to keep her in nice clothes and to get her in and through college. There was no way that her sweet old nana’s social security check could have come up with all that money.
    Beverly thought back to the days when she and her girlfriends would sit around admiring them at the dope hangouts. They called it their days of being so-called gentlemen of leisure. Pimping macks was how they jokingly labeled it. They became star protégés of the legendary queen of the con, Loretta. practicing the many scams she’d taught them in her basement on Auburn Avenue. It continued all the way to her tuition fees at Georgia State, where she began her quest for a law degree.
    Neither ever volunteered to offer an explanation of the source of the money. She’d always had her doubts about all the different lies they’d tell. Whenever she would question them, as a group or one-on-one, they would never confirm or deny it; they’d stare at her blankly until she stomped away pouting. Sparkle was the only one who seemed like he wanted to tell her but even he wouldn’t. The bottom line from way back was that she wanted to grow and make a difference in her hood, in her city and in their lives.
    How could she ever deny any of them? From kindergarten to elementary, to high school to college, she always felt that she was nowhere near the brainiest hen in the flock. So, if not for their constant nagging and encouragements that she could really make something out of her life, she wouldn’t be where she was today.
    Talking about skeletons in the closet, she certainly had her share. She had to keep those skeletons hidden, well hidden. Actually, her career depended on it. Still on her oath to keep the streets clean, she certainly couldn’t allow the violence to escalate out of control.
    As she turned the key in the ignition, she looked in her eyes in the mirror wondering how far her loyalty could extend; and forthat matter which way that loyalty would lean. As she pulled into the Candler Road traffic, she pondered her dilemma.
    Big Al was in a foul mood when he pulled up behind Don’s car in his driveway. The heavy-set big man of fifty odd years was con- templating if he should run his usual poker game tonight. The past few days had begun to really stress him out; from dealing with all the different personalities that frequented his game room to test their luck at the card table to dealing with that crooked cop JR in their hijacking furniture trucks to supply the condos recently built to that punk Black Don. He’d helped run his dope investment and the many dope dealers that worked his product. He checked out the streets of his upper-class neighborhood before squinting into the rearview mirror. Was he really a celebrity look- alike as most folk had been telling him? Maybe, except more handsome. He smiled.
    Lately, everything seemed to be grinding on his nerves. From the sound and feel of the gravel sprinkled along the entryway, to the raindrops that barely sprinkled his neck when he got out of the car, made his fist ball up in disgust. He even feinted at a harmless squirrel when it sprinted across his path on the way to scampering up a tree. The fresh smell of the opening skies mixed with the faint smell of the peat moss surrounding the two orange trees in his yard made his teeth grit. He fought the urge to stomp the rose bed along the front of the house because he felt that the aroma was too strong. Damn, could he