“Yo, Verna, why you wildin’?” The young man snatched her up off his bloodied girlfriend. Without uttering a word, Verna spun on the young man and smashed the can into his jaw. The young man was out cold before he even hit the ground.

“What the fuck was that all about?” Rhonda asked, panting.

“Young bitches not knowing how to act over a piece of dick,” Verna said, gathering her cans of formula.

Rhonda, not wanting to be around for the fallout, bid her friend good-bye and took her children up the block.

By the time Rhonda got to her mother’s building, news of the fight had already reached the stoop. Resting in a lawn chair, recounting an exaggerated version of what had happened, was Ms. Lulu. Lulu lived on the first floor, where she spent most of her time perched in the window smoking Camels. Not much went on that she didn’t see and relay to her seniors crew on the stoop.

“Hey, y’all,” Rhonda greeted everyone on the stoop.

“Hey, Rhonda.” Bernadine smiled, showing off her coffee-stained teeth. Bernadine didn’t live in the building, but spent most of her time sitting on its stoop.

“Was you in that fight down the block?” Ms. Lulu squinted. She had horrible eyesight, but that still didn’t stop her from trying to catch any and everything that went on, and getting it all ass backward.

“No, Ms. Lulu,” Rhonda lied.

“I heard it was that Verna girl,” Ms. Yvonne added. Her wig sat at an odd angle on her head, but no one said anything. Even standing ten feet away Rhonda could smell the Captain Morgan rum on her breath. It wasn’t even midafternoon and the old woman had been sipping. It was what she, Ms. Lulu, and Bernadine did to pass the time.

“I seen her whip two girls and a po-lice officer,” Ms. Lulu said.

“You need to quit yo lying, Lu. You ain’t seen no such thing,” Bernadine disputed. “That cheap-ass wine you was sipping for breakfast got you seeing things, wit’ yo drunk ass.”

“If that ain’t the damn pot. If I recall correctly, yo thirsty ass was sitting right beside me sipping.”

“I had one damn drink and that was only half a cup.” Bernadine and Ms. Lulu went on like this all the time. When they’d been drinking, they were always going at it. On several occasions, they had even come to blows. But once sobriety hit, they continued as if nothing had ever happened. Rhonda caught a chill envisioning her and her crew in their places.

“Anybody at my mom’s?” Rhonda asked.

“I don’t know, I’m just coming out,” Ms. Yvonne said.

“Ya sister Kelly was round here a while ago, but I ain’t seen ya mama today,” Ms. Lulu said.