"What you gone do Tye? She left you... For a bitch." I stood up and grabbed the glass ashtray. I looked at my homebody from jail and threw it at his head but he ducked and it shattered against the wall. "Don't you think I fucking know that ! Why you think Im sitting here quiet nigga ! I'm thinking Q ! I'm fucking thinking man !" He looked at me like I was crazy. "Tye we cool and everything but I'm not them niggas you was knocking out in jail when they wanted to play in ya booty cause you light skin and cute. It's not gone be too much ashtray throwing going on. I'll fuck yo ass up and you don't got to worry bout that bitch, she'll be at ya funeral."
"Tye baby when you coming home?" The sweet voice of my mother always makes my heart sing. "I'll be home soon mami. First I got some unfinished business to handle." I heard her sigh as she struggled to breath. "Tye don't do anything to get yourself locked back up, my heart and soul can't take it. You my last child I have left, I lost your other two brothers to violence, I don't want to have to visit you again or bury you." I lowered my head as my mothers words left prints on my heart. "I know mami. I'll be home soon. Enough about me, how are you? How is your health?" She let out a soft chuckle. "I'm a fighter baby, I'm okay. I have my good days and bad days. Have you talk to papi?" I shook my head as I slammed my hand against the wall. "You know papi don't want to talk to me. He blames me for your health problems. He says me and my brothers are the reason your slowly dying." It got quiet. "Mami, Mami I'm sorry. I got a little frustrated." She sighed. "Don't worry about it, you just get home soon so I can see that beautiful face of yours okay?" I smiled as butterflies filled my stomach. "Si mami. I love you." She let out a soft chuckle. "I love you." I hung up the phone and turned around to see Q looking at me with a smirk. "Boy got a soft spot for his mama huh?" I shook my head. "My mother is the only woman, the only person who didn't leave my side through everything I've been dealing with. I don't know what I'll do when she dies." Q sat beside me. "Man my mother died when I was twelve, my older sisters took care of me. My oldest sister told me if I got in anymore trouble to never speak her name or call her phone again. Then that's when I got locked up for robbery. She didn't come visit me, no money on my books, nothing. Haven't saw her in 15 years but I miss her, I still love her. Don't even know if she's still alive or not." I shook my head and watched Q throw back a shot of Hennessy. "What about your other sisters?" He shook his head. "My second oldest sister is locked up for murder, her baby daddy was beating on her, he was white. She killed him and they instantly ruled out self defense. My baby sister, the last I've heard about her is she got 5 kids, 3 different baby daddy's and living off welfare in the South somewhere." I sat there and listened as Q continued about his family. "What about your brothers though Tye?" I was so deep in my thoughts I didn't know he was talking to me. "Tye?!" I jumped and looked up at his teary eyes. "What happen to your brothers?" I took a shot of Hennessey along with a deep breath. "My oldest brother Ricardo, he was one of the biggest drug dealers in Cali. When the police came looking for him he told my mother pick out her black dress cause they gone have to kill him. He was sitting outside his home with his wife, pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow, 11 gunshots for two people. Police killed him, said they knew he was armed but he wasn't. They didn't find a single gun in that car, just a pack of cigarettes and their cellphones. He was 34 years old and she was 32." I took another shot of Hennessy. "My other brother Carlos, ha, he was a joker. Dude was mad goofy, had all the latest jokes and was the best prankster in the house. He was the good boy, innocent boy. He was working at a shoe store because he learned he had a baby girl on the way by his long term girlfriend. He got off work and had to stop by the store for the baby some milk one night. Left out the store and on his way walking home a car rolled up on him thinking he was a guy name 'Iggy'. They shot my innocent brother 6 times but he still didn't die until 24 hours later. He tried so hard to fight and be strong but like mami say, Ricardo told him to come on home with him. His girlfriend Toya kept money on my books after I got locked up because she says that's what Carlos would do. She kept money on her phone so I could call and talk to my niece. They wrote me letters and sent pictures. I'm grateful for them and mami cause they were all I had. They kept me sane."
"Tye don't do anything to get yourself locked back up, my heart and soul can't take it. You my last child I have left, I lost your other two brothers to violence, I don't want to have to visit you again or bury you."
