“Rhonda, you must be fucking crazy. There’s no way in hell I’d suck his whole team off for no paper. Maybe him and his right-hand man, though.” The three of them burst out laughing. Their jovial moment was shattered when shouting reached the stoop. They turned their attention back to the dice game just in time to see Jah pull his hammer and blast some kid in the chest. While the rest of the players took cover, Jah snatched the money off the floor and vanished.

Reese just shook her head. “I told you he’s always on some bullshit.”

Forty minutes after the shooting, the police escorted an ambulance through the cramped block to load the wounded man and cart him off to the hospital. They tried asking anyone if they had seen or heard anything, but only drew blank stares. Figuring it’d be easier to talk to a female than it had been a male, the two uniformed officers walked over to where Rhonda and her friends were sitting.

“Evening, ladies,” the dark-skinned cop said, tipping his hat. “We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions.”

“We ain’t seen shit…” Yoshi began.

“… Ain’t heard shit…” Reese picked up.

“… Don’t know shit,” Rhonda finished it off.

“How the hell do you girls expect us to do our jobs when no one wants to help out?” the white cop asked. “The only way we can protect these neighborhoods is to get these animals off the streets.”

“Your job.” Rhonda chuckled. “That the funniest shit I heard all day. The only time you muthafuckas even come through this block is to harass niggaz and collect bribes. Fuck outta here wit that job shit!”

“You’d better watch your mouth, miss,” the black cop said.

“And you better watch your ass, Tom,” Reese added. “How the fuck can you sleep with yourself knowing that the people you work with don’t give a fuck about the people you live with? That shit ain’t never made sense to me.”

“Listen, sis,” the black cop began, switching up his tone to make himself sound more down. “Ain’t nobody trying to give you a hard time, we just wanna catch the punk muthafucka that popped shorty. Now, we know y’all be on this stoop twenty-four seven, so don’t act like you don’t know what happened.”

The dark-skinned cop kept his face serious and his eyes sincere. He talked a good one about wanting to protect the neighborhood, but all he really wanted was a gold shield and possibly some sergeant’s bars. He looked at Rhonda’s face and seeing her bottom lip begin to quiver, he thought he might’ve been making some progress. That all changed when she doubled over laughing.