• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Only one thing could.

Shooting the gun.

Before she got to me, I got to her.

I shot her clean.

My lead stopped her lead.

She fell to the ground.

Dead.

I ran.

MURDER WAS THE CASE

Snoop Dogg said it. Snoop Pearson lived it.

Snoop kept running until she got to one of her niggas’ house.

She stayed there for a night. That night she dreamed. Baseball bats were still flying at her head.

In the morning, there was a knock on the door. She peeped through the blinds. Uncle was standing there.

He hugged her. She expected him to cuss her out but he didn’t.

“I know what happened,” Uncle said. “I done heard all about it.”

“The bitch was coming after me with a goddamn bat,” Snoop explained. “What was I gonna do?”

“You did what you did,” said Uncle. “But now you can’t stay here. This neighborhood’s too hot.”

“Where am I gonna go?” asked Snoop.

“My crib,” said Uncle.

Uncle’s crib was way ’cross town. Uncle put Snoop in the back room and told her, “You lay low.”

Laying low was hard for Snoop. Snoop had to hit the streets. Snoop hated being cooped up anywhere for long.

“If you don’t lay low you gonna be cooped up for a lot longer than you can imagine,” said Uncle.

“How long I gotta stay here?” asked Snoop.

“Long as I say,” Uncle made clear. “Lot of people saw what you did.”

“What I did was done in self-defense.”

“Whatever you did, the heat’s on. Don’t move from here.”

Snoop had a hard time not moving.

On the television she’d watch The Cosby Show. She loved The Cosby Show. She pretended like her daddy was a doctor and her mama was a lawyer. Her daddy would say funny things and act the fool, but he’d always be there for her. Her mother was young and beautiful. She’d have all these sisters and brothers, one cleaner than the next. They’d have their little dumb-ass problems like the new dress is too long or the curtains in the bedroom are the wrong color. Snoop would imagine being surrounded by all these people night and day. Nothing could happen to her. Nothing could go wrong.

“Nothing will go wrong long as you keep your ass right where it is,” Uncle would tell Snoop soon as he came home from supervising his shops.

“Can’t even go out to buy some chips?” Snoop asked.

“We got chips up here in the crib. Stay put.”

Staying put meant watching more television.

Reruns of Mama’s Family. Snoop loved Mama’s Family. Loved laughing at those crazy white people. Loved how Mama would shoot her mouth off any damn way she pleased.

But how many hours can you watch TV without going nuts?

Snoop would peep out the window. Car rolling by. Snoop Dogg spittin’ ’bout “Murder Was the Case That They Gave Me.”

Biggie blowing up with “Ready to Die.” “Big Poppa” and “Juicy” all over the streets.

The streets were calling.

“Stay inside,” Uncle kept saying.

“Just wanna see what’s happening,” Snoop kept saying.

“I’ll tell you what’s happening,” said Uncle. “They after you.”

Snoop stayed in. Four days, five days. Then a whole week. More Cosby. More Mama’s Family.

More dreams.

More nightmares.

Then came the rain, thunder and lightning. Rained like holy hell for days on end.

Cooped inside. Going crazy. Going stir crazy. Rain pounding against the roof. Pounding and pounding and pounding.

Then silence. Sweet silence.

Snoop woke up. It was morning. House was empty. Went to the window. Peeped through the curtains.

Sunshine!

Blue sky!

No clouds! No rain!

Beautiful, beautiful day!

Had to get out.

Just for a minute.

Just for a quick walk to the corner store to buy a little candy bar.

Wouldn’t take more than a minute.

Once I was out, I was gone. I was feeling bold. Feeling like they’ll never find me. They’ll never catch me. I’ll duck in this alley. I’ll hide behind this van. I’ll keep moving so fast, changing up routes and crisscrossing the city, that no one will trace my path.

I had all the moves.

I had all the confidence in the world.

I was so confident, in fact, that I even went back to East Oliver. Stopped by to give Mama a quick kiss. Mama didn