Part 27 (2/2)
No one knehat I had said, but they did know that it was not Crip talk They all broke into smiles-Tamu, Kendis, Kershaun, and Kerwin
I tried to explain to the but it was hard to co es I had made, and I kneas up to s had always paired off in twos: Kevin and Kiether; Kerwin and Kendis were coconspirators; and Shaun and I were coether or all gotten along at the same time Kim went on to join the Air Force and Kevin ot a job and spied on us for Mo to reet along too ith anyone And Shaun and I were looked upon with dismay by all Now, here I was, back in the ruins of etting it across Kendis kept cutting her eyes to Kerwin and he kept sighing Ta about sohtest prospects for conversion
Over the next hour, the hoga?!” said Red ecstatically
”Don't call a, Red I'ht, yeah Me and E got soed ht,” said Red like he hadn't even heardelse let us know We gone”
He handed me a bunch of bills folded neatly I didn't count them, just put them in my pocket and walked Red and Eric to the door
”Thanks, hohteous But if you need soht, brotha”
When I finally did count the , the financier of the 'hood and a stoh not much of a talker He called the house from his Blazer out on the street
”Yo, cuz, I heard you was out Is it cool if I co was the only New Afrikan I kneith a press and curl I adh, because he never put nuclear waste in his hair Dog was cool shi+t, he still wore pork-chop sideburns! He has never denied anyone anything Like ”The Rebirth of Slick” by the coable Planets, he was ”cool like dat”
”Eh, yo, what up, Monster?” Dog said in his smooth, cool style As usual, he had blue rollers in his hair and a sweatsuit on
”Ain't nothin', just coolin' wit' ed my name while I was a prisoner”
”Oh yeah?”
”Yeah, my naenuinely curious
”No, there is no 'Muslie But there is Arabic, that Muslims speak But my name is Kiswahili”
”Where is Kiswahili? In Afrika, I know”
”There is no place called Kiswahili Kiswahili is a language spoken in East Afrika”
”That's deep And how you say it again?”
”San-yi-ka,” I said slowly, sounding out the syllables
”What does that s, you know, say somethin' 'bout people”
”Pretty much, which shows the depth of our culture Sanyika atherer of his people' ”
”Cool How you say Dog?”
”Mbwa”
”Naw, that's too hard People rinned bashfully ”Hey, hoet at me”
”Oh, wait, wait Yo, what is this, crack?”
”Yeah, it's two zones there for you”
”Dog, I ain't no drug dealer no mo', man I can't feed my family wit' this They can't wear this or live in this Howrather disappointed, ”they go fo' five hundred apiece, but I be givin' them to the ho back the two ounces, ”let me have six hundred bucks then, 'cause I can't deal no dope That's treason”
”It's what?”
”Long story, ho bored and stir-crazy in the house
”All right, hoain, but I hear what you sayin' I can respect that Here you go” He handed ”
”Only fo' you though, cuz Oh, and Li'l Monster, too Cuz' naetting up to show Dog out, ”for right now it is”
When I went back into the living room, Whiteboy Eric was there
”Get yo' coat on,” said Whiteboy
”Fo' what?”