Paper Chasers by Mark Anthony

to be working from sunup to way beyond sundown. From now on we are gonna be a bunch of ruthless hooligans! We can’t care about nothing! If we die in the process, we die! We can’t even care about our own lives! That’s the kind of mind that we have to have. No conscience. But hey, yo, I know y’all know the tricks to this game, or should I go over them? Y’all know the simple things like don’t commit crimes in your own neighborhood. Or, if you’re going to use a stolen car, don’t steal a nice flashy one, and make sure that it has gas in it. And yeah, make sure that it is fast enough to at least outrun the cops if needed.”
    J.P., sounding very insulted, interrupted Dwight.
    â€œYeah, yeah, we know all of that. We ain’t stupid!”
    â€œA’ight,” Dwight said. “Just checking up.”
    â€œShouldn’t we keep this crime thing going until Saturday night?” J.P. asked. “That’s the night that we could get the most loot. Saturday night is party night.”
    â€œNo, gotdamit!” Dwight yelled as he banged his fist on the table. “I already told y’all Friday is the last day! Remember, I’m the Godfather! We’re gonna do this my way or no way at all! We need a shorter time frame so y’all will see the urgency and work harder toward what it is that we’re after.”
    â€œNow, anybody else got something to say?” Dwight asked after a short pause.
    Silence swept across the room.
    â€œWell then,” Dwight replied to the silence, “let’s bounce.”
    Latiefe informed us that we had the rest of the weekend to think about what we were getting ourselves into. He then added that Monday was showtime.
    â€œMonday morning at seven thirty we’ll all meet up in front of Kwame’s crib and take off from there. A’ight?”
    â€œA’ight,” the crew responded.
    â€œA’ight, let’s be Audi five thousand,” Latiefe finished.
    Dwight interrupted our exit from the restaurant.
    â€œOh yo, next Saturday we’re having breakfast at the McDonald’s near our block over in Rosedale. By then, we’ll have the loot. And we’ll need to lay down the solid plan about the drug distribution scenario. A’ight. Yo, Earl, go call a cab.”
    â€œYeah, a’ight, Dee,” Earl replied.

Stick-up
    When I know that I have to wake up early for something, I prepare myself. I tend not to sleep as hard as I normally do. A light sleeper, that’s what I become. The Sunday before the crime spree, I didn’t really sleep at all because I knew that soon it would be Monday morning and our crime wave would begin.
    Yeah, I was up early that Monday morning. I woke up at about six-thirty. I took a shower, got dressed, and waited for the phone to ring. My nerves were running rampant. I felt like I was going to a new job for the first time. I guess I felt that way because that morning marked my first day on the job as a stick-up kid. Yeah, I knew that would make my parents proud , I thought sarcastically.
    What was it that made me stop chasing those dreams of becoming a stockbroker or a doctor? At least those professions didn’t have a guilty conscience or a jail sentence attached to them. Stick-up kid, now that profession had many negatives associated with it.
    My palms were sweaty and my heart was beating a little faster than normal. The picture of Jesus Christ that was on my desk seemed as if it was watching my every move. I glanced at the picture, then I quickly glanced away from it. But it seemed as if something magnetic made my eyes lock into that picture.
    My palms continued to sweat. In the background the telephone rang and it startled me. It sounded more like a fire alarm. The ring scared the hell out of me. I was really beginning to think that I was paranoid.
    â€œHello,” I answered shakily.
    â€œYo, Holz, it’s Kwame. Man, you ready?”
    â€œYeah . .