MOMMA & DADDY
Philadelphia winters have always been known to be somewhat brutal. Especially once the snow started hitting the ground. The last batch of storms had bought with it over three and a half feet of snow in the last few days, most of which was still unshoveled and on the ground of the sidewalks in the inner-city. Most of the snow had fallen over the weekend and by Sunday night had stopped. It gave the city's snow clean up crews an opportunity to clear out the snow in certain areas, but of course none of those areas were in the hood. While the streets of Center City and the suburbs were cleared, the inner city streets still looked as if it was hit heavy by the snow storm. By Monday morning the school officials came to the conclusion that the streets were clear enough for the kids to go back to school. Jerome Harris trudged through the heavy snow and cussed with every step that he took. The mounds of snow that he had to walk through was ridiculous. He couldn't believe that his mom would send him outside in this shit. What the hell was she thinking? He was not equipped to be outside in this kind of weather. The old coat he wore that he'd had for the last three years did nothing to keep him warm on this 5 degree below zero morning. It was freezing cold and the wind was hawking. His old ass coat may as well had been a t-shirt. It felt exactly the same. Jerome's pants were just as bad as his coat. He had holes damn near everywhere in his jeans and they weren't that way for the sake of fashion or style. They were like that because he'd had them for at least three years, and they were "hand me downs" when he got them. Jerome didn't have boots. He wore his Converse sneakers that he stole from some fool that decided to wear his good sneakers to the swimming pool in the summer that had just passed. Low- top Converse were not built for this weather and snow flowed into the shoes like water every time Jerome took a step. His dirty socks were becoming soaking wet, which was making Jerome even more uncomfortable. He had no hat or gloves. Those type of luxuries were unimaginable to him and his family. As he walked and thought about the things that he did not have he wondered more and more if his mom even cared about him and his little sister. She probably cared about his sister a little bit more than him because her school was right around the corner from their house, but how could she find it in her heart to send him to school in this weather? Their house was on 13th & York Streets in North Philadelphia and Jerome's high school was located at 8th & Lehigh Avenue. It was not a great distance to walk on a regular day, but in this damn near knee high snow this was going to be a very long hike. The snow wasn't even the worst part about his hike to school. It was the gangs. In 1975 the streets of Philadelphia were filled with small gangs from almost every street corner in the city. If you were just a nobody from no gang walking through another gang's territory you would probably just get jumped and beat up. That was no big deal, but if you happened to be a known member of another gang like Jerome was, you were probably going to get sent to the hospital or killed for walking through someone's turf. If you walked through someone else's turf you were looking for some trouble. There was no exception to this rule. A normal person could have just walked straight up 13th Street then turned when they got to Lehigh Avenue, and then simply walked down to 8th Street. Jerome couldn't do that. He would have to take the long way to school to try to avoid walking through anyone's turf. If he had just one of his gang members with him they would walk anywhere they wanted and fight whoever stood in their way. None of Jerome's gang members went to his high school though. Jerome's gang was from 10th & Oxford Streets and they all went to their neighborhood high schools William Penn or either Ben Franklin. Jerome would have went there too if it had not been for his mom moving them to York Street. He was alone all the way over here. Jerome knew that the only reason that his mom had even moved them over here was to be with her latest love interest Mr. Mike.
Jerome hated Mr. Mike and he was pretty sure that Mr. Mike hated him too. Jerome's mom was 28 years old and Mr. Mike was about 65. Jerome could see no reason other than sex that a man that old would want to be with a woman so young. In Jerome's eyes Mr. Mike was a con artist who was getting over on his mother. If it was one thing that Jerome hated it was someone trying to get over on his mother. Before his father died five years ago from a liver disease he made Jerome promise to look after and care for his mother. Jerome admired his father even though he was a known alcoholic who was usually a drunken mess whenever Jerome saw him, but that was still his dad and Jerome was starting to feel like he was letting his father down by allowing his mother to be with a old ass perverted scumbag like Mr. Mike. Before Jerome's mom met Mr. Mike she never smoke or drank or anything. Shortly after meeting Mr. Mike Jerome noticed his mother started to smoke cigarettes. A few weeks later he noticed that she started drinking. The first time his mom bought Mr. Mike home to meet Jerome and his little sister Nadine, he promised them that he was going to give them the world. He said that he was going to buy them bikes, toys, a bunch of clothes, and a dog. He said that they were all going to live together in his huge mansion in New York City. Mr. Mike was a smooth talker who made everything he said out of his mouth sound believable and Jerome believed every word that was coming out of his mouth at that moment. It wasn't long before Jerome saw through the wall of bullshit that Mr. Mike had built around himself. Jerome began seeing Mr. Mike in the neighborhood doing things that he didn't think Mr. Mike would do if he really loved his mom like he claimed to. He always saw Mr. Mike going in and out of known prostitution houses. He always saw Mr. Mike going in and coming out of places that people who bought and shot heroin were known to frequent.( A.K.A - shooting galleries) When Jerome thought that he had enough evidence to prove to his mother that Mr. Mike was a cheating junkie he confronted him one night as they all sat in his mom's house. Mr. Mike became enraged by Jerome's accusations and punched Jerome in the face. His mother did nothing as Mr. Mike beat Jerome's ass from room to room as he attempted to run from him. She was blindly in love with the much older man and didn't want to believe a word her son had said about her lover. A few weeks later Mr. Mike moved them into his big mansion in New York City which turned out to be the raggedy ass three story house on 13th Street that they lived in now. From the minute they got there Mr. Mike's true colors started to show. He got Jerome's mom to quit her job and collect welfare. The welfare allowed Mr. Mike's rent to drop to $10 a month, they got free food and food stamps, and plus they still collected cash every two weeks. Mr. Mike was taking everything. He was taking most of the food and selling it for drugs, and all of the money that was meant to provide for Jerome and his sister was being used by Mr. Mike to buy cheap wine and heroin. Eventually Jerome's mom started using the heroin with her lover and they were now both full blown junkies. Jerome believed that Mr. Mike was leading his mother down a very dark path and as the real man of the house it was up to him to stop the downfall. Jerome wasn't the little 13 year old boy that Mr. Mike had punched and slapped around two years ago. He was now 15 years old and big enough to handle himself against the old man. Jerome was going to beat the shit out of Mr. Mike as soon as he could get some money and find a place for him, his little sister, and his mother to live at in peace........without old ass Mr. Mike.
After what felt like hours of walking Jerome finally made it to school. He was wet and freezing. He was mad that he was at school, but he had to admit that it felt good to come inside from the freezing cold. Jerome walked to his first period class and sat down in his usual seat in the back of the classroom. His first period class was music. The teacher was a little white lady named Ms. Masterson who did nothing but play the piano all period. She never assigned any work, taught them anything, or said anything to anyone who didn't say something to her. Usually the only time someone said something to her was when they were asking to be excused to go to the restroom. All of the students in the class usually sat and talked loudly to each other while Ms. Masterson played her piano. Nothing seemed to bother her. It was like she was in another world or something. Her mind clearly wasn't here because it would be almost impossible for anyone to concentrate on doing anything with all of the noise and commotion that was going on in the classroom. Nobody cared though because Ms. Masterson gave everyone who came to class A's and B's on their report cards. It was like a free period for the students. Jerome used the free period to stare at his high school crush Aesha. Every day he sat there and dreamed of an imaginary future with the beautiful chocolate sista'. Even though he knew that he would never approach her or say anything to her, it still couldn't hurt to dream. Aesha was the kind of pretty that was intimidating to someone who wasn't confident in themselves. Jerome was far from confident in himself. The dingy dirty clothes that Jerome wore to school everyday made him not want to be seen by anyone. He was usually made fun of by people who barely had more than he did. Not only was Aesha beautiful, she always wore nice clothes to school. It was hard for Jerome to even imagine why her family lived in North Philly. With the expensive looking clothes that Aesha wore to school everyday it was obvious to him that her people must've had some kind of money. Jerome knew his bummy looking self didn't stand a chance with a girl like Aesha, but it still couldn't hurt to look and dream. Aesha usually sat quietly in the front of the room, but she was no where to be found today and someone else was sitting in her usual seat. Jerome was disappointed. Seeing Aesha was one of the only things that had motivated him to walk through all of the snow this morning. After feeling as though his dream girl wasn't coming to class today Jerome started trying to find something to do with himself to past the time. He walked to the front of the classroom and grabbed Ms Masterson's newspaper off of her desk. She didn't bother to stop playing the piano or even look at him. Jerome walked back to his desk and went straight to the sports page. All he really wanted to read about was the football game that the Eagles won yesterday against the Giants. Jerome immediately found himself caught up in the article that he was reading. He was instantly taken away from the classroom and placed on the football field yesterday. He could now understand why Ms. Masterson seemed not to be here as she played her piano every day.
"Did the Eagles win yesterday?"
Jerome was startled to hear a voice coming from next to him. He looked up from the newspaper and was even more startled to see that it was Aesha who was talking to him and she was sitting there looking cuter than ever with the big smile that was on her face. Jerome was excited and nervous at the same time, but he managed to pull himself together before he spoke.
"Yeah."
He only said one word, but it had taken him a lot of courage to get that one word to come out of his mouth. Aesha grinned even harder and clapped her hands.
"Good! I can't stand the Giants! I hope they lose every game they play this year!"
Jerome laughed.
"So I guess that you're an Eagles fan?"
"I don't like the Eagles either. I just hate them less than I hate the Giants. The Steelers is my team."
"How you live in Philly and don't like the Eagles?"
"Maybe because they're always losing!"
Jerome laughed. Talking about football made him forget all about how nervous he was just to be in Aesha's presence. She wasn't one of them girls who faked it like she knew about football, Aesha really knew her stuff. She came with statistics and facts in order to prove every argument that she was making. If Jerome was not staring at her beautiful face he would have thought he was talking to one of his homies. As they talked and talked about football Jerome kept peeking at the clock on the wall. Time was going so fast and he wanted to talk to Aesha about so much more than football. He was scared to try to bring up another subject because that might chase her away, but he knew that he had to do something. This might be his only shot at having the chance to get to know her. She probably wouldn't even look his way tomorrow. As hard as he tried to find a way to change the subject to something else, Jerome just could not get up the heart to ask her anything about herself. As class ended Aesha said bye and pleasantly said "that she would see him tomorrow." Jerome had no idea if she was just being pleasant or if she really meant that she would be looking for him tomorrow in class. He really didn't care. A win was a win and as far as Jerome was concerned he'd made progress today with his dream girl. He was winning. Jerome told himself that eventually Aesha would be his and they would be married with kids. Having something to believe in is a powerful thing. This belief gave Jerome a reason to want to come to school every day.
The conversation with Aesha in music class seemed to make Jerome's day at school a lot more tolerable. Nothing bothered him today and by the time school was over with Jerome was still floating on cloud nine. He was so caught up in his daydreams about him and Aesha that he paid no attention to the route he was taking home. He found himself on the corner of 11th & Huntingdon Streets before he came to his senses and realized where he was at. This was definitely a bad place for someone in Jerome's gang to be caught at. Oxford Street and Huntingdon Street had been beefing ever since Jerome could remember. Both sides had lost homies to the violent gang wars and the Oxford-Huntingdon Street beef seemed to be a beef that would not be dying down anytime soon. Jerome began to put a little more pep in his step when he realized where he was at. If he could make it down to Cumberland Street without being noticed by anyone he might be alright. That would only be if he didn't run into anyone from Fairhill Projects when he got to Cumberland Street. He would worry about that when he got to Cumberland Street. Right now he needed to get the hell off of Huntingdon Street and do it fast. People didn't stay inside after a heavy snow storm. Most people came outside to play in the snow, and just Jerome's luck there was a huge football game going on right in the middle of 11th Street right now. Jerome put his head down in the hopes that no one would recognize him. Jerome only got the chance to take two more steps before he heard one of the boys yell out
"HEY NIGGA! WHERE THE FUCK YOU FROM?"
Without even having to look over at them Jerome knew that the boys were talking to him. He yelled out
"OXFORD STREET CHUMP!"
and then took off running without looking back. The snow was knee deep, but Jerome looked like he was running on top of it. This had to be what it looked like to walk on water! Jerome didn't look behind him until he got halfway down the block. When he did it looked like a lot more people were chasing him than just the boys who were outside playing football. Jerome started to run faster. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be beat into a coma if the boys caught up to him. Jerome got to the corner of the block and headed for the park. It was a shortcut to get to York Street. Jerome also knew that the Huntigdon Street gang would be reluctant to cross the park out of fear of clashing with York Street. They weren't allies of Jerome or Oxford Street, but Jerome was sure that they hated Huntingdon Street more than they hated Jerome and if Huntingdon Street stepped foot onto York Street's territory it would be on and poppin'. Jerome looked behind him again when he got halfway through the park. Just as he thought, most of the gang were not willing to cross the park and take the chance of stepping into York Streets territory. Not all of the boys stopped. There was still one little dude chasing Jerome down. He was a small dude and looked to be about 12 years old. Jerome slowed down to let the little boy catch up to him. The little boy must've had no idea that the rest of his friends were not with him anymore because when he got close to Jerome he grinned mischievously. Jerome stopped running and the little boy ran right into him. He yelled out
"I GOT HIM!"
Lil' man looked around and realized that his friends were not with him anymore. Jerome punched him in his stomach. It knocked the wind out of him and lil' man dropped to his knees and grabbed his stomach. Jerome kicked him in his ass and laughed as he ran down York Street headed for his house.
Jerome was still laughing when he got into the house until he saw his mother sitting on the couch looking like she was asleep with a syringe hanging from her arm. This was not the first time Jerome came home from school and saw his mother like this. Her dope habit was probably the main reason that she was in such a rush to make him and his sister go to school this morning. She tried not to shoot the dope when Jerome and his sister were in the house, but it was obvious that she did it when they weren't around. Jerome walked to the couch and gently removed the needle from his mother's arm. He picked his mother up and carried her up the stairs to her room. He hated to see his mother like this, but he hated for his little sister to see his mom like this even more. She was 12 years old, but Nadine was very naive to most things and Jerome wanted to keep it like that. She probably had no idea that their mom was addicted to dope and Jerome tried his best to help his mom hide the fact from Nadine. Jerome put his mom in the bed and put the covers on her. Jerome's mom was pretty much normal after she got her dope in her and Jerome hoped that she would be back to being herself by the time Nadine got home from school in an hour. Jerome walked back downstairs and opened the refrigerator. He knew there was nothing in there, but he just hoped that he would be wrong for once......He wasn't. There was nothing in there except for some baking soda and a half gallon of sour milk. Jerome sighed. He knew he had to hit the streets and go get some money or steal some food if they were going to eat tonight. Jerome blamed everything that was wrong with his family on Mr. Mike. His mom wouldn't be on drugs right now and their fridge wouldn't be empty if it wasn't for him. Jerome really hated Mr. Mike and it was just a matter of time before Jerome was going to give him what he had coming to him.
Jerome made the hike down to 10th & Oxford to meet up with his gang. He found three of them sitting around a trash can drinking a bottle of wine and trying to keep warm next to the fire that they had burning. Jerome only had one thing on his mind as he approached his crew and that was getting his hands on some money or some food so he could feed his family tonight. Jerome walked over to Lito and snatched the bottle of wine from him.
"Where T-Bone at?"
T-Bone was the leader of the10th & Oxford Street gang and nothing moved without T-Bone's say so. Jerome was second in command and when T-Bone wasn't around Jerome was in charge. Lito gave Jerome a mean glare before he spoke. He never liked the fact that Jerome held the position that he wanted.
"They around 8th Street. They putting one of the youngins' through the kangaroo line for running when we was fighting Master Street last week."
The kangaroo line was punishment for violating or not following the gangs rules. A person would have to run between the gang members as they made a line on each side of the person and punched and kicked them as they ran by. That wouldn't be that bad of a punishment if it wasn't for the fact that some gang members wore brass knuckles and not everyone used their hands in the beating. Some people used bats and sticks. It was kind of harsh to beat your fellow gang member this way, but loyalty was demanded by all, and if you violated that loyalty then you had to be dealt with. Getting the shit beat out of you was a lot better than getting killed which was the only other alternative. The beatings seemed to work because most people that went through the kangaroo line were smart enough to never violate the gangs rules in that way again. It was normal procedure for everyone in the gang to be at the beating and Jerome found it unusual that Lito, Tiger, and Harold was sitting here drinking and not at the beating. They had to be up to something sneaky right now.
"Why the fuck ya'll ain't around there with them then?"
The three boys looked at each other like they'd just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Lito was the only one to speak up.
"That ain't none of your business nigga! We're handling official business for Bone!"
Jerome knew that Lito was lying, and if he didn't have shit to do right now he would have pressed him for answers. He had no time for their nonsense right now, he needed to go get some money.
"Yeah whatever man. Look go get me one of them roscoes out of the stash house. I got a job to do."
Lito was the "Sergeant At Arms." He held all of the weapons for the gang at his mom's house. He took his little job as a reason to act as if he had some kind of authority over anyone who asked for a weapon. Even though the gang only had two .38 specials in the stash and a bunch of knives and bats.
"Fuck you need a roscoe for?"
Jerome really didn't have to answer him or explain anything to Lito. He out ranked him. Jerome told him anyway. He might need them to be backup for him on this job.
"I'm about to hit the numbers man. I'm a catch him before he make his drop off."
Lito shook his head emphatically.
"Naw you can't hit the numbers man! That's Bone job! We doing that shit Friday when he going to be carrying bank on him. You ain't fuckin' that up for us!"
Jerome was fed up with Lito's bullshit.
"Look nigga you either go get me one of them guns or put your fuckin' hands up pussy!"
Jerome started to take his coat off. For all of the tough shit Lito talked, he knew he didn't really want any trouble from Jerome with the hands. Everybody in the gang knew that Jerome was nice with his hands. That was one of the reasons he was second in command. Lito stood up and removed the .38 from his waist. He passed the gun to Jerome who snatched it out of his hands. Jerome put the gun on his waist and looked at the three of them.
"Ya'll niggas coming to get some of this money with me?"
Nobody said anything or moved from where they were sitting. Jerome turned around and walked away by himself. He knew that the three were up to no good. Why else would they be sitting here with one of the guns on them? They weren't at war with anyone right now. He couldn't figure out what they were up to and he didn't have time to think about it right now. He was about to go get some money.
The robbery went perfectly. Jerome caught the numbers man stumbling out of the bar in the middle of the day and walked up behind him in the alley. He put the gun to the back of ol' head Reds head and Reds gave the doe up with no problems and then took off running. He never even got a look at Jerome's face. Jerome was amazed when he counted his small come up. He had $520. He'd never seen this much money in his life. Jerome knew it wouldn't be smart to buy a bunch of groceries for the house because Mr. Mike would surely sell the groceries for drugs the first chance that he got. He also wasn't going to let anybody know that he had the money. If Mr. Mike found out he had money he would probably be searching around in Jerome's room until he found it. Jerome went to the grocery store and got a few items of food that him and his mom and sister could cook and eat for dinner tonight. He planned on doing this every night. That way there wouldn't be a bunch of food laying around for Mr. Mike to try to sell for drugs.
For the first time in a while Jerome was looking forward to going to school. He was not going to take the chance of leaving his money in the house. He had a pocket full of money and he was sure that him and Aesha was going to pick up where they left off yesterday. There was no way in hell that today was going to be anything but good for him today. When Jerome got to school he headed for his first period music class. He saw Aesha standing in the hallway talking to her friends. Jerome put his head down. He was sure that Aesha wouldn't want her girlfriends to see her talking to him. Jerome didn't have many clothes and it was not unusual for him to wear the same jeans and shirt to school three or four days in a row. That was a no-no in high school, and because Jerome had to do this he was considered a bum by most people at the school. Aesha wasn't wildly popular, but she hung with a clique of girls who had very high standards. Her friends wouldn't be seen dead talking to a bum in public. As Jerome got closer to the group of girls he got up enough courage to hold his head high. The first thing he saw was Aesha smiling at him. She waved at him and had to raise her voice in order to be heard in the noisy hallways.
"Hey Jerome did you see the game last night?"
Jerome was shocked that she would speak to him in public. He waved back at her and nodded his head. Despite the nasty looks that she was getting from her friends Aesha walked over to Jerome and stepped right into his path.
"How bout them Steelers!?"
Aesha laughed as she teased him. Jerome laughed too.
"They got lucky. Your boys was supposed to lose that game last night."
"Should've, could've, would've! We did what winners are supposed to do.....win!"
Aesha's friends were upset that Aesha left the circle to go talk to the dirty boy. They all turned up their noses and walked off to their classes. Jerome noticed the looks on Aesha's friends faces.
"I think your homegirls might be mad at you."
Aesha flagged her hand in the direction of her friends who were walking away.
"I don't care. They don't do nothing but talk about people all day anyway. The minute somebody ain't around they be talking about each other too. They probably talking about me right now. With friends like that who needs enemies?"
Jerome nodded.
"True."
Aesha and Jerome talked in the hallway until the bell to start class rang. When they went into the classroom together they were still talking. Aesha sat in the back of the classroom next to Jerome again. They talked about much more than football today. He learned plenty of things about Aesha from their chat today and by the end of the period he'd worked up enough courage to ask her out on a date. To his surprise Aesha suggested that they leave school early today and head down to the movie theatre on 5th Street to catch a movie. Jerome gladly agreed. Their morning/afternoon date did not end after catching a movie. Aesha bought Jerome back to her house. Both of her parents were at work and Aesha and Jerome had sex at her house until 5 o'clock when she told him her mother would soon be coming home from work. Jerome was in love. He didn't want to do anything besides being with Aesha.
Jerome walked home from Aesha's house feeling great. He planned to drop off his books then head down to Oxford Street to kick it with the gang. Jerome's good mood changed when he got to his block and saw Lito and Harold standing in front of his house. He didn't like Lito and he damn sure didn't want him anywhere near his family. Jerome walked up to Lito and Harold. Lito greeted him with a handshake before he told Jerome his reason for being here.
"T-bone wanna see you."
Jerome instantly knew something was wrong. It was usually bad news when T-bone sent someone to your house to come and get you.
"Alright I'll be down there later. I got some other shit to do right now."
Lito pressed the issue.
"Bone wanna see you right now nigga!"
"Fuck he want with me?"
Lito let out a dry laugh.
"Nigga you know exactly what he want! You violated! I told you not to rob old ass Reds. You fucked it up for us! That old nigga walking around with security now."
"That don't mean that he can't still be got. Fuck his security!"
Lito smirked.
"It's too late for all that shit now. Yo ass going through the kangaroo line! Oh yeah let me get that roscoe back too."
Jerome was not scared of going through the kangaroo line. What was bothering him right now was the fact that Lito seemed to be enjoying breaking the bad news to him. Jerome pulled out the gun and pointed it at Lito's head.
"If you want it then take it from me bitch!"
Lito was smart enough not to tempt Jerome to shoot him. He turned around and walked away. As he got close to the corner of the block he turned back around and yelled out
"BEST BELIEVE IT"S GONE BE SOME PAYBACK FOR THIS SHIT ROME!"
Jerome hollered back at him.
"WELL COME GIVE IT TO ME THEN BITCH!"
Jerome stood there and shook his head after they were out of sight. This was probably going to end very badly for him and he knew it. He now had two violations. The best case scenario that he could see would be to get a few bones broken and probably some stitches. The worse case scenario was surely going to be death. Whatever came with the violations he was going to take it like a man. This was the life he chose. He planned to walk down to Oxford Street after he checked on his mom. Jerome walked into the house and saw his mother laying on the couch looking like she was passed out with a needle in her arm as usual. Jerome sighed loudly. He hated the fact that his mom got high like this, but he hated that Mr. Mike left her here sleep like this every day and crept off to his other girlfriends house. Jerome knew that Mr. Mike had been doing this for a while, but he never told his mom because he still remembered what happened the first time he told her about Mr. Mike two years ago. He walked over to the couch getting ready to carry her up to her bed like he usually did when he found her like this. As he bent down to pick her up he noticed that she was not breathing. Jerome yelled.
"MOMMA!"
She didn't move or respond in any way no matter how hard he shook her. His mother was gone.
Jerome's life was quickly spiraling out of control. His mother was gone, he was sure that his gang had put a green light on him because he didn't go get his beating, and oddly enough Mr. Mike had not been back to the house all week. Jerome spent the whole week caring for his sister, spending time with Aesha, and trying to avoid his old gang and all other gangs for that matter. Just because Oxford Street had kicked him out that didn't mean that Oxford Street's enemies would give him a pass. Once you were known to be from a gang you were always going to be known to be from that gang in the eyes of the other gangs. Jerome needed to try to stay alive for his little sister. He was all that she had left.
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A few months passed and Jerome and Aesha were leaving school early and having sex every day. It wasn't long before she got pregnant. She knew that she was pregnant without taking a pregnancy test or going to the doctor. She could feel the change in her body. Aesha's parents were very snobby and uppity. Jerome and Aesha had no doubt in their minds that her parents were going to flip out when they found out that their innocent angel was pregnant by a street thug. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jerome's little money from the robbery was starting to run out. He needed money. Mr. Mike's bitch ass was still running around here spending his mother's welfare money. He had her checks and her food stamps coming to his new girlfriend's house. Jerome decided that it was time for him to confront Mr. Mike and take back what belonged to him and his sister. Jerome didn't travel anywhere without the .38 and he carried it on his hip as he walked to Mr. Mike's girlfriend's house on Gratz Street. Jerome banged on the door when he got there. Mr. Mike opened the door. He was clearly high as his words slurred.
"What the fuck you want lil nigga!?"
"I want my mom's food stamps that you been stealing and all of her checks!"
Mr. Mike laughed and tried to slam the door in Jerome's face. Jerome stopped the door with his hands. Mr. Mike wiped the grin from his face and now looked as if he was ready to kill someone.
"You come to my house and try to disrespect me!? I'm a beat your little ass like I did before!"
Mr. Mike took a step toward Jerome with his arm raised. Jerome did not back down. He dived into his body and the two fell inside the house. Mr. Mike quickly got the advantage and managed to get on top of Jerome. He swung wildly as Jerome tried to block the punches. Out of fear Jerome grabbed the gun from his waist and pumped two shots into Mr. Mike's chest. Mr. Mike rolled from on top of him and laid on his back gasping for air. Jerome looked at the man wide eyed as he watched the life drain from Mr. Mike's body. Jerome was scared, but he was not feeling any sympathy for the dying man. He went through Mr. Mike's pockets as he laid on the floor dying. He ran upstairs and searched the rest of the house for money or anything else that had some kind of value.
When Jerome got home he was terrified. He sat on the couch waiting for the cops to come and lock him up. He wondered what would happen to his little sister Nadine when he got locked up. Jerome was startled by a knock on the door. He told Nadine to go upstairs and Jerome walked to the front door. He was ready to take the punishment for his actions like a man. He was shocked to see that it was not the cops knocking on his door, it was Aesha. She told her parents that she was pregnant and they kicked her out of the house because they said that she was an embarrassment to the family. She had no where else to go. Jerome welcomed her with open arms. Jerome had come up off of a little money from searching Mr. Mike's house, but he knew it would not be enough to care for his little family that would be getting bigger in six months when Aesha had the baby. Jerome went out looking for a job.....any job. He searched for days and finally got a job sweeping the floor of the Quaker ice cream factory on 9th & Cumberland Streets. He didn't make much money, but he worked eight hours a day and sometimes got overtime. He was making enough money to pay the rent and keep food on the table. Jerome was forced to drop out of school. Six months later their first child came into the world. They had a baby girl that Aesha wanted to name Janine after her deceased grandmother. From the minute they bought baby Janine home from the hospital Nadine was jealous. She'd always had all of her big brother's attention before, but now things had changed since the new baby arrived. Nadine was 13 years old now and starting to be a little too old to be so petty. She didn't care though. She wanted some attention. With Aesha and Jerome giving all of their attention to the baby Nadine managed to sneak away whenever she wanted and get the attention she craved from the boys outside. Nadine was on the fast track to getting a reputation around the neighborhood as a ho who was an easy target.
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Two years after Janine was born there was a new addition to the family. A baby boy that Jerome got to name this time. Surprisingly he didn't name the baby after himself. He named him Marcus after his father. There was more good news for Jerome too. Things were starting to look up for him at work. He'd been promoted from floor sweeper to the assembly line. His pay also went up with the promotion. Jerome never did much besides work and come home. He'd heard through the grapevine that most of his friends in the Oxford Street gang had recently got locked up for the big war that they had with Huntingdon Street. Five of them got killed including T-Bone and Harold. He heard that Lito was doing ten years upstate for shooting one of the Huntingdon Street gang members. When Jerome heard the news about his old gang he was saddened but happy at the same time. He knew he would've surely been among the dead or incarcerated if he was still running with the gang. The fact that he was aware of this made Jerome love his family even more and on his 18th birthday him and Aesha went to City Hall and got married. Aesha got a job at a nursing home to help bring in a little more income. They could have moved from their North Philly home, but they both fell in love with the neighborhood. Instead of getting a new home they had another baby a year after getting married. Another baby girl that they named Michele. Baby Michele wasn't the only addition to the family that year. At 16 years old Nadine had a baby girl that she named Clarice. The baby's father was an 18 year old knucklehead named James who was locked up for a stolen car at the time his baby girl was born. The three story house on 13th & York Streets was starting to get a little crowded and it would get even more crowded the next year when Jerome and Aesha's fourth child Jamillah was born.
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