“You never smoke, Daddy? I mean,
tobacco.”
“Long time ago for about ten years.”
“Reupeon mountain gold tobacco is
like champagne for cigaret smokers.
Mellow. Is in the kids’ hands.” He
shook his head. “Anybody think they
gone a put my son into that...”
14
They climbed the four flights of stairs
to Harlem Central. Daddy Peaceful let
them into the apartment with keys that
he carried in a pouch that Cherie had
sewn by hand. Nana-Lily had returned
to her kitchen. Jasmine sat hunched
over her keyboard and screen.
“Somebody saw them on the 59th street
bridge. A little white boy in cornrows
and a little latina girl with long black
hair waving out the window of a gray
stretch limo.” Jasmine shouted from
the livingroom, then followed her
words into the kitchen. “And Tulip
found somebody who saw the whole
thing. She phoned on her cell. Up that
block, they has a little reefer selling
strip and the chief dude has no left leg
from the knee down. He was on the
number four platform at eightysixth
street and a homeless man pushed a
woman onto the tracks and this dude
jumped down to help her and pushed
her up but the train took his left foot
and all. And it tragic because the
brother was a star in the playground
leagues and had just been offered a
contract. So the drug dealers set him
up bossing that reefer strip from a little
shop near the corner. But they outside
in front because it was a sunny day.
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