Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rewrite)

Chapter 23: Catalyst

CJ arrived on his street and pulled up in front of Ryder's house. He hopped off the bike and ran to the front door.

"Yo Ryder!" he called to his friend, knocking on the door.

No answer.

CJ saw that the door was open and turned the knob. "Ryder?" he called, entering the house. "You in there?"

The song "Fantastic Voyage" by Lakeside was playing inside. CJ entered the kitchen and finally saw Ryder standing by the pot in front of the stove cooking something that was strong.

"Hey, Ryder?" he called. "What the hell you doing?"

"Nigga, I couldn't find that wet I buried," Ryder told him. "So I'm making my own. It's easy, fool."

"Oooh!" CJ said, fanning the stench out of his face. "That's strong."

When he saw that Ryder was trying to turn up the flame, he quickly pushed him away. "Man, don't do that!" CJ said. "You'll sauté the both of us."

Man, where the fuck is Lisa when you need her? CJ thought.

He wasn't upset though. Because even though his friend was a total pothead, he was at least still on Grove Street's side and opposed to the Ballas. There was nothing that could ruin this evening.

"Morning boys!" he suddenly heard Tenpenny shout out.

Shit! CJ thought. Spoke too fucking soon!

Ryder glanced at the doorway to see Tenpenny, Pulaski, and Hernandez walking inside the kitchen looking very annoyed. "Man, who you calling a boy, fool?" he shot back at the cop.

"What should I call you?" Tenpenny asked facetiously. "Midget?"

Ryder didn't like it when people commented on his short height. He was only 5 feet tall, just seven inches shorter than CJ and the shortest of his gang, and he always showed blatant fury whenever anyone would bring it up.

"How about prick?" Pulaski added.

"Prick..." Tenpenny repeated.

"Yeah, prick works," Pulaski agreed as he and the other two cops walked closer to the two Grove Street gangsters.

"Man, fuck you," Ryder told them, getting back to his cooking.

"Bitch, get outta here," Tenpenny barked, shoving Ryder out of the way.

He took a whiff of the cooking. "Mmm... Smells good," he announced. "What's cooking? Where's mine?"

Ryder just stared at him in a rather confused matter. CJ knew that something was up when a stoner like Ryder was confused as to why someone would want some of his sherm. But then again, this was Tenpenny he was talking about here.

"Man, just chill out, a'ight?" Ryder grumbled, shoving Tenpenny out of the way. "Move!"

Ryder reached for the bottle of sherm on the counter. "Here!" he growled silently. "Don't be sweating me, motherfucker."

"Mmm, my wife loves this stuff, man," Tenpenny said.

So apparently, his wife is a fucking crack addict? CJ thought to himself. I'm surprised this asshole even has a wife to begin with.

Tenpenny then handed the bottle to Hernandez as Pulaski chuckled. He then turned to CJ and Ryder. "Anyway," Tenpenny started to explain, "there's a train gonna make an unscheduled stop just down the way. It's got a, how you say, "little something something" on board for you boys. Square business, man."

The cops then turned to leave. "Catch you later, homeboys," Pulaski told them mockingly. Whenever Pulaski used the term "homeboys", it was his way of using it as a euphemism of racial slurs against the gang.