When I started selling paint I hadn't set out to sell. I was in town having hit the tracks and thought I'd buy some spray paint to tag a few buildings. Some dudes from my dorm saw me with the paint and asked me to sell them a few shots. I didn't know what huffing was or how to sell, so he showed me that if I sprayed a few shots into a soda can for him that would be worth about two dollars. They seemed to like the gold and silver paint better. Black, which is what I had at the time, would work, but not as good as the gold and silver. So I started to keep a can of gold or silver in my locker just to have on hand for when it was needed, which was mostly on the weekends because it would knock them on their tails so hard they needed time to recover.
As I have been there for a while there wasn't really a need for me to have any kind of weapons, but I kept a pair of brass knuckles just in case something went down and I found a need for them. And sure enough, that time came. We was at a weekend dance when my play brother (we was tight and a lot of people said we looked like brothers and it didn't hurt that we was both from Houston) came to ask me if I still had my brass knuckles. I told him that I did, but I had left them at the dorm, and if he needed them I could get them. He ran the low down to me telling me that he needed me there to watch his back. Some dude was tripping with him because he was dancing with ol' boy's girlfriend. I told him that he was in violation even thinking about fighting over some girl. As I said before, the motto was we didn't mind fighting 'for' our women, but never over a woman. He explained that he wasn't fighting over her, she wanted to dance with him and he wasn't going to allow her boyfriend to stop that if that's what she wanted. Okay, cool, I could feel that. So I took off to get my knuckles. Seeing me leave and return running, folks knew something was in the mix…
Halfway back, I realized that I might have thought to change clothes while I was at the dorm…I had on an all-white Michael Jordan sweat suit. And it wasn't just white but it was that shiny material that reflects. Word got around that there was going to be a fight after the dance and wasn't anyone going to leave without seeing a fight…Sure enough, as soon as the dance was over they met in the streets like two pit bulls. Straight up blow for blow. Before long, they was he center of a small circle. And just as my brother thought, there was need for him to have some backup. I caught one guy getting ready to blindside him; I made eye contact and showed him my brass knuckles…He didn't want any.
Security showed up with their dreaded cameras, and there was a stampede. That's the only thing I can think to call it. There was some tall bushes nearby, and that's the direction everyone went. I felt sorry for those folks that fell 'cause they got stepped on and ran over! It was expected that the fight would resume on another part of campus, and that's what security must have been thinking too, because they went over and sat in their trucks waiting and watching. Then they did something that I had never seen them do in all my time there: They began to approach us in their trucks by driving up through the grass lawn to the gazebo where most of us was. Me being in all-white, I stood out bad…Plus I still had the knuckles on me. So I took off running with nowhere to go and nowhere to hide wearing all-white. So I hit a few corners, stashed the knuckles, and went back to the same place I had taken off from. I noticed Tonya (we hadn't broken up yet) standing near on the sidewalk, so I went to stand with her in my arms hoping they wouldn't notice me in my all-white. No such luck!
I spent the whole night in security trying to explain to them why I took off running. I told them some nonsense about just running for the hell of it, but they wasn't buying and told me that they was searching the back of the dorm I had run around to see if they could find something. They said if they did, I'd be on my way home. I wasn't concerned about them finding anything as I was sure that I had picked a good spot. They wrote me up on some bullshit just so they could place me on a 'type' of probation. I was forced to chill for a while.
Three months of being in diesel mechanics, and I knew that there wasn't any way I was going to be ready to graduate within the next 15 months. Plus I was getting tired of being in Job Corps anyway. It was too much like school and I didn't want to be there anymore. Tameka had gotten pregnant, so she was leaving soon. She was from Bryan, but she had family in Houston so we planned to meet up there. I gave her the numbers to call to let me know what was what when she left to have the baby. I know I was young, but this was my second child and I planned to claim and take care of mine.
I had also been going home more often, spending time with my cousin and Yolanda during the day and running the streets at night. Yolanda and I had begun to try to be back home on the same weekend (she had gotten in trouble with the police and had been sent to a center, something like Job Corps) so we could spend more time together. Her being in that center was the reason that her first two children lived with her Godmother. One, the oldest girl I always felt was mine, and the youngest was for another guy. One of those weekend visits she got pregnant again with my little girl Tikeira. More and more, I was getting tired of being in Job Corps, but I knew that I needed to leave with something…As I was starting to gain more and more responsibilities…
I got out of diesel mechanics, and went into a six month trade at the advice of my mom's boyfriend. He had advised me to take up building maintenance, and that's just what I did. He told me that any building over four stories high had to always keep a repairman on hand and there was always going to be jobs open for that, so I tried it…
My last few months at Job Corps I chilled. I didn't in anything much anymore. I loved my music, and the parties that I threw turned out to be better than the dances that were held. I had done some DJ-ing before Gary, plus I kept up with all the newest music. Couldn't too many people touch my collection. I had even tried to get Gary to allow me to DJ their parties, but they wasn't having it. So I brought my own stereo from home and would take it out under a gazebo on Friday and Saturday night and I'd do my own party. In fact, that started a trend as it cost to go to the dances that the institution did. Ours were free.
Gang members started to show up at Gary around that time, mostly a lot of Crips. Not that there wasn't any there before, but more and more of them was making their way down. And as I told you with numbers, numbers rule. I don't think they would have ever ruled in the time that I was there. Pride of being from Houston was too strong, so any Crip from Houston always understood that it was hometown before all of that nonsense. Yet I did start to meet some of them, and even learn some of their verbal and hand lingo. I didn't hang out with them because a lot of them was what is known as Wanna-Be (Want To Be) Crips and they tended to do a lot of really stupid and careless shit. Plus they was always at it with one group or another, and personally, I was done with that type of silly drama. Not that I hadn't had my own moments, because I did. I was in Job Corps when I first learned that I could knock someone out. After that night it took about a week of me going out to find someone to practice on as I tried to get my technique down just to get it out of my system and reassure myself that I could actually do it...without the knuckles…
I had a new girlfriend, Victoria, and my attention was on her. I stopped hitting the tracks; I didn't run with the fellas as much (maybe on weekends). Most of my time was spent going to my classes, where I was getting my work done, and spending time with Victoria. Her dorm was right next to mine, so Iif I wasn't with her I was in my dorm or behind my dorm playing football, basketball, or volleyball. We only played volleyball trying to be fair to the girls. Odd how just when things seem to be coming together, or when I seem to really be trying to get my act together, shit just goes wrong…
I seen him steal it. I knew it was stolen, and I knew who he stole it from. But for some damn reason, I still bought I yellow Walkman that at the time was the best Sony made. Like I said, I knew it was hot, so I put it up for a while. Then for some reason I took it out and started using it. Someone knew the radio by sight, and when I was seen with it they told the owner that I had it. I won't even try to guess why he didn't come and try to take it from me, but somehow word got to me that he had told security and they was on the way to get me. Not knowing what to do, I thought about throwing it away, but was sure they would check the dumpster. I knew I needed to hide it until I could throw it away. Somehow Victoria got wind of what was going on and came to check on me. I told her what the play was she she took the radio. Before she could hide it, she got jammed up.
I knew someone had seen her take the radio and had told on us. So I told her to give it up as I didn't want her to be in any more trouble than she already was. Security took me to the office and questioned me about the whole deal. They believed me when I told 'em that I didn't steal it, but that I had bought it off of someone. But they wanted me to tell them who I had gotten it from, and that was some information that I couldn't give them. I got written up for theft. Another 12.88 added to my long list of 12.88's; I was sure to be kicked out as I had a pile of 12.88's by this time.
