All She Can Take

T W E N T Y - F I V E

 It was almost midnight when Sid finally pulled into a parking spot on her street. Summer was approaching, so the late hour meant little to Brooklyn. The block was still buzzing. The mobile police unit was still stationed on the corner, keeping a close watch after the shooting and arrests. But people were slowly coming back out. Like kids approaching the swimming pool again after they nearly drowned the first time. Sid kept her head down and briskly approached the front door while trying to remain unnoticed. 

No sooner than she finally allowed her shoulders to relax, she spotted Frenchie, taking deep drags off a cigarette just in front of the metal door. Sid hesitated. She was halfway there. Ducking behind a bench would look extremely suspicious. But moving forward meant possible having a conversation and she wasn't confident she wouldn't blurt out I stole it! right to Frenchie's face. She groaned, shook her nerves away and forced her body not to turn and run in the other direction. 

In the days following the arrests she had not seen anyone from Phil's crew and assumed they were all in Riker's Island doing a long bid. But here was Frenchie, reappearing on the block out of thin air and resuming her post. Sid irrationally resented her for being there and not locked away somewhere where she couldn't make paranoia pulse through Sid. Was she dumb enough to try to sell while the cops were still crawling all over the place?

Sid squared her shoulders and took purposeful steps toward Frenchie.

"Hi, Frenchie." Sid tossed coolly into the air as she fumbled to find her keys to her purse. The lobby door was usually wide open for any and all to come and go as they pleased but that too had changed. The management office sent people to repair all the broken locks and plaster No Loitering signs all over. It still was going to take some time to get used to.

"Sid, right? How you doing, Mami?" Frenchie blew smoke out of the side of her mouth before taking another long drag.

"I'm good. Haven't seen you around in a bit." Sid kicked herself. She wasn't supposed to seem like she was keeping an eye out for any of them. God, help me. She should have just kept it moving but something made her test the waters. See if anyone had even noticed that Phil's stash was missing. Chante wasn't able to tell her much which was frustrating. What was the use of being nosey if you never found out any useful information? All Chante could tell her was that everyone in Phil's crew had gotten locked up and Sid already knew that from watching the news.

"Yeah, baby. Things been hot over here for a min. The squad is a bit out of commission, ya know..." She looked anxious and shifty. Running her hand over her cornrows every few minutes. Nothing like the cool laid back chick that threw Sid a sly smile the first day they met.

"...But we'll get back though." She threw in at the end. Like she sensed that she was coming across soft and had to make up for it. Sid nodded as she wrapped her hands around her keys at the bottom of her purse finally. But instead of putting the metal into the lock and hurrying inside she ventured another question. One that had been on her mind since seeing Phil shoved into the back seat of that police car on TV.

"How's Phil?" Sid asked. Frenchie closed her eyes at the mention of his name. Ran that hand over those braids again and took another drag.

"My dude is still inside. Kru is pissed and won't bail him out. It's bullshit."

"Kru?" Sid asked.

"Phil's brother. Kru? OG who runs this shit?"

Ah, him. The guy that caused Phil's face to drop every time he talked about him.

"Oh, yea. Kru." Sid tried to act like she was in the know. She didn't want Frenchie to sense that she was saying too much but it may have been too late. Frenchie cleared her throat and took one last drag off of the cigarette before smashing it again the side of the building.