Authors: Nikki Turner
101
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
Her oldest child was by a guy who was older than she, but was a well-respected old head in the town. She slept with him a couple times for money, and seeing the money he had and how he loved his other twelve children, she saw opportunity and purposely got pregnant. It was no big deal to the old head, because he had so many other children, just another one to add to the brood. The old head did everything for the child and was a security blanket for Gypsy. She knew for sure, if all else failed, the old head would look out for her on the strength they shared, a son.
Then there was the middle child that was by a local drug dealer, Pee. She deliberately got pregnant by him because she saw he was a loyal type of guy. He was an only child and hadn't yet fathered any kids. He and his mother, Ethel, were close and Gypsy knew the mother would surely cater to her and her child. The mother, Ms. Ethel, always wanted a daughter and was everything that Gypsy wanted her mother to be. Gypsy was certain that the responsibility for this child would always fall on Ms. Ethel and never on her, she was right. Ms. Ethel took total control over the baby once he was born. Pee was brutally killed while Gypsy was still pregnant, which made it almost natural for Ms.
Ethel to keep this baby all the time. Gypsy had Ms. Ethel eating out of the palms of her hands because the baby was the only connection Ms. Ethel had to her dead son.
Although the baby spent only 10% of its life with Gypsy, Gypsy maintained legal custody of the baby solely to receive the social security check each month for the baby from Pee's death. The four hundred dollars a month, check was money that she knew was coming in every month regardless of how many heads she did or dicks she sucked. Ms. Ethel didn't care anything about any social security because she too had a healthy insurance policy on Pee. Ms. Ethel vowed to use that money to take care of her grandson. As far as Ms. Ethel was concerned, she was fully aware of Gypsy's kind and her low-life mentality, but if the $400 a month kept Gypsy away, then by all means, she could have it.
Then there was the youngest child, another planned pregnancy, but this was the most lucrative one that she'd cashed in on, as of yet, Lil Merk.
Big Merk was a professional football player that she had met at a celebrity's birthday party. Now, make no 102
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
mistake about it, at the end of the day, Gypsy is and will always be a no-good guttersnipe. But once she jumps into costume, as she does, no one would ever know. Rolling up in her late model two-year old Mercedes Benz, her "look no further", spunky feisty, "I am the shit attitude", which turns a man on right away. Then to top it off, she has the face and everything else falls right in place. Her well- manicured nails, pedicured feet, picture perfect makeup on her beauty queen face makes any man, white, black, or Chinese feel that it's imperative to know who this woman is. Once they are formally introduced, oh, the show begins. Gypsy keeps the men well entertained from that moment on to the day she gets tired of them or they serve no more purpose in her life.
For some reason, as grimey as she was, the men from coast to coast still lined up to be with Gypsy. This was the same way with Big Merk, but once Big Merk saw through her lies and deceit, he gave her a Navigator truck for the kids and moved her out of her little two-bedroom apartment into a nice one hundred and fifty thousand dollar house, set up healthy child support payments and fled. Gypsy was amicable, but when the word got around that there was a new beauty in Big Merk's life, all hell broke loose.
In the hair salon:
Gypsy agreed to do Tressa's hair Monday, but at 6
a.m. in the morning. The following morning, Tressa was up bright and early off to the salon. Gypsy had a way of making Tressa feel extremely uncomfortable. Tressa couldn't understand why Gypsy was so fickle towards her, for she had never done anything to Gypsy to make her have such a negative disposition towards her. Gypsy most of the time acted as if Tressa and her were cool, but at the same time, she would often have to throw some shade in it. So, Tressa never trusted Gypsy but she played along as if they were super cool.
Today Gypsy's niceness, laughing, joking and trying oh so hard to make conversation out of small talk was so sickening. Gypsy wanted to know, but she didn't want to come straight out and ask, how exactly was Tressa's broke 103
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
ass able to get her hair done over again, when she was just in yesterday?
Gypsy was thinking to herself,
I know this broke
down chick ain't got nobody to replace Lucky's ass that quick.
I know she scrambling. Where the hell she get money from?
Hum, let me check out her jewelry. She ain't even got all her
jewelry no more. She sure ain't have it on yesterday when
she was in here, I heard the bitch pawned it all.
Gypsy tried to make heads of the situation.
"Tressa, where all your jewelry at today?" Gypsy casually asked Tressa.
"Girl, it's too early in the morning. Shoot girl, I barely got myself here, talkin' 'bout putting on all that daggone jewelry."
Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. All I know is this bitch better have my damn money when I get finished doing her head, Gypsy thought. I don't want no short money and she better not ask me for no credit neither. I don't care if she has been coming to me since back in the day and she referred a bunch of people to me either. I don't owe her nothing. I could give a damn about her doing bad or about her stupid ass leaving her man and now she scrambling.
Better believe I don't feel sorry for her. That's what she get, cause I would have never left that paid ass nigga. I don't care what he did, he could've been fucking my damn momma on my bed. I would have just walked in and just asked him for some money. As long as he gave it to me, I wouldn't have cared. She just better have mine when I'm done.
When Tressa's hair was finished drying and she was back in Gypsy's chair to get styled, Gypsy had to continue to pry, but on the down low.
"Girl, I can't remember who it was, but one of my customers was asking about you just yesterday."
"Oh, for real?" Tressa asked, but growing real tired of the small talk.
"Girl, I told her you were just in here."
"Oh, OK."
"Don't you know she had the nerve to ask me, how you going to take care of your kids now since you and your baby father broke up."
104
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
Tressa thought to herself,
Naw, baby I know that's
really what you want to ask me, but don't have the gall to
dare ask me. I am hip to broads like you. But you will never
know in your wildest dream how I make it happen for mines
and me. Believe that.
"Oh, what she had some money to contribute or something?" Tressa said sarcastically.
"Yes, girl I had to check her because people always gotta know what the hell is goin' on. Why can't they mind their business?" Gypsy acted like she put the other girl in check, but she know good and well she didn't, because there was no other girl.
Tressa responded with a little giggle. As Gypsy held the hand-held mirror for Tressa so that she could look up close at the finished, beautiful creation.
"That'll be thirty-five dollars." Gypsy informed Tressa. Tressa, without hesitation, went into her pocketbook, pulled out the fifty-dollar bill and gave it to Gypsy.
"How much change you need?"
"Naw boo, I don't need none."
Although it was only fifteen dollars, she could have definitely put it to use. She knew good and well Gypsy didn't deserve the tip, and she tried to justify and reason with herself.
Sometimes you just gotta pay the cost and take
the lost, simply to put a bitch in her place, and to keep their
head wondering. See, they think I'm doing bad. They want
me to crumble. As long as I got breath in my body, they will
never see me sweat.
When the dust settles, I'll always be the
last chick standing. Mark my words!
105
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
106
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
-12-
Double Trouble!!!
Stepping out the door of the salon with a fresh do always boosted Tressa's self-esteem. This was the very reason she always wore something cute to the salon. She knew that her hair pinned up in a volcano looking French roll on the top of her head, with not a piece of hair out of place, would only accent her super cute outfit. Today it was some mint green Calvin Klein jean shorts, that stopped at her thighs, and a white and green print Calvin Klein halter-top that matched. What made the simple but cute outfit stand out, were the Calvin Klein white sandals with the same mint green print as the shirt, with the pocketbook to match. Tressa knew she looked good, but now she had nowhere to go. Someone had to see her. Her children were at school, Wiggles had dropped them off on her way back to the program Monday morning. So, she had nowhere to be or obligations until 5 p.m., when she had to pick up the kids. As good as she looked, somebody had to, needed to and was going to see her this day.
Tressa looked at the crushed potato chips the boys had scattered all over the back seat and the floor of the car.
It was then that the bright plan popped into her head. She drove to "Big Willie's Car Repair, Custom, Detail Shop", which was a place Lucky always barred her from because this was indeed the place all the hustlers, ballers, pimps and players were known to take their cars, trucks and vans 107
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
to get washed and hooked up. The fact that Big Willie's had girls dressed in bathing suits washing cars, naturally drew in regular men too. Since this was the designated place where all the "money-getting men" were, that was indeed the place for Tressa to swing by. Although she had no desire for a hustler in her life, after the whole ordeal with Lucky, but she did want companionship, and if he had some money, that would come in handy. She had no intentions of developing a relationship with any guy, not yet anyway, but she wanted to see if she still had
it
. She wanted some male attention like she used to get when she was with Lucky and she was certain Big Willie's was just the place to go and get it. So, it was off to Big Willie's she went.
Tressa was sitting at the stop light when one of her all time favorite songs came on. She turned the volume knob up almost as loud as it could go. The music at the beginning of the song got her excited, then she began to sing word for word. Tressa was "Shaking her thang" just the way Salt-N-Pepa were telling her to!
Word for word, the whole song flowed out of her mouth as if she had wrote the lyrics herself. She had memorized this song and just about every other one of Salt-N-Pepa's songs.
In addition to washing and detailing cars, Big Willie's sold pagers and cell phones, so he had a lot of things going on and a lot of people coming in and out.
Although Big Willie's looked like a cheap run down brick building on the outside, inside he only used state of the art equipment. The "decor" consisted of cheap plastic chairs and an old raggedy sofa, with two of the cushions missing, for the customers to sit while waiting. It was rumored that it was definitely a front for the owner, who sold more drugs then a little bit, but so was almost every black owned business that prospered. Tressa decided to go in and pretend she was looking for a new pager while her car was being washed. When she walked in, the men all stared at her because they had never seen her before.
Tressa walked up to the counter and the guy who fronted like he was the owner, but he was just that, a front man. The fake Jake bragged 24-7, around the clock, like all 108
Triple Crown Publications Presents
A PROJECT CHICK
of that was his. Tressa could see right through it all because he tried too hard.
He tried to hit on her with the weak come on line.
"Damn, baby where I know you from?" Holding his chin, trying to act as if he was figuring it out, while the other guys looked on.
"Boo, that's the oldest line in the book," Tressa said with a slight laugh.
Just then, Boo-Boo walked up and rescued her from whack Jack.
Boo-Boo and Tressa had gone to elementary school together. Boo-Boo was one of those guys who didn't really have to hustle. Growing up, he never knew what struggle was, his middle class parents provided him with whatever his little heart desired. His older sister became a veterinarian, while he went on become a nickel and dime hustler. He was presented with every opportunity that his sister was, but he wanted to fit in with the street fellas, for it always seemed as if they had the most fun.