The Usual Suspects

Greetings Fam! I sincerely hope this week is going well for ya. If not, then make an effort to change it. As for me, it was another slow motion day for your Hustleman. I don't know what it is about the last week of the month, but things don't get good until Fridays (my favorite day of the week - I thought you knew!). Clientele still came by to show some monetary love to your Hustleman so I'm not complaining, well in a way I am because there need to be more of them LOL. Just playin'. Overall this week has been pretty good so far, my wiriting is going well and I've actually had time to rest.

Big Boy E the part-timey Hustler was at the spot and we got on the conversation of women as usual. We shared our stories of getting oral jobs and driving on the freeway and how dangerous of a situation that is. If I'm going over 35 mph I can't take it. Me and that girl will probably end up dead in a ditch somewhere, no bullshit. I love it, just not that much, feel me?

My man Moose also stopped by. He's an older brother from Cali, the country part as he puts it, and is loving "The A" right now. He's going on about 4 or 5 months here, and I'll say this, it takes a good year to adjust. I don't care where you're from.

Seems him and his wife are going through it right now so he always tells me about it. I guess it all goes back to the power struggle present in most relationships. Everybody wants to wear the pants and no one wants to wear the panties. I've met his wife and have talked to her on a few occasions, she seems pleasant enough, but then again I don't live with her. I can't stand relationship drama which is one reason I'm hesitant to get married. Most men I know say a woman changes when they get those vows. Anyway moving on...

Not to far from my huslte spot is a grocery store. So I'm walking by and two Fulton County squad cars pull up. One of the officers gets out and goes inside. I'm chillin' outside and running my mouth to the locals but also trying to check out what's going on. You have to know what's going on in and around your spot at all times.

About a half hour passes and that's when I realize what's going on. Someone was trying to steal something and the usual suspects were in the store that day at the same time. Of course they were rounded up for questioning. Who are the usual suspects you ask? Our local crackheads. We have about 4 males and 2 females. A couple have been banned from going into the store at all and a couple more have been arrested and they still come back to the same damn store. Go figure. When they do steal it's usually either meat or simple things like toothpaste, deodorant, soap etc. Now the twist is they don't steal this stuff to use it, they steal it to sell it. This should go without saying but never buy meat off a crackhead. If they cant get it out of the store, they usually grab the out-dated meat from the garbage bins in the back. Mmmm tasty.

Seems someone was at it again, but this time they knew that they were being watched so they made their way to the bathroom and left it in there. It was the men's bathroom and 3 of the males were there. One of them, we'll call him Ant, was prime suspect. When he first moved to Georgia him and I wre pretty cool. He was another failed drug-dealer who got busted, did Fed time and when he got out refused to go back into The Life. Now he's a crackhead, check the irony. Needless to say we're not cool anymore because 1) I don't hang with crakheads and 2) I don't like thieves like that.

He was interrogated for about 15 minutes and since they couldn't prove anything he left, but the cop wouldn't let up on him. And sure enough when he saw me he had to make his case. "You know me Shai, if I was going to get somethin' then I would have got somethin'. I would have just walked out." I nodded and he continued, "Why would I do that? Why would I get somethin and just leave it. I can run you know. I wouldn't leave it I woulda left and run. I could out run those bitches." I replied, "I hear you." He continued, "What sense does that make, just to leave it? I would have already been gone."

I looked at him then looked at his hands. No grocery bag, which makes me wonder why he was in the store in the first place. I just nodded and kept my thoughts to myself. Why does this dude need to justify himself to me? When did your Hustleman become the block judge and jury? And why does he think I would believe him, and why would I care? My motto: Do you, just don't do you around me, if it's some bullshit.

He rambled on for another minute and walked off. Maybe he just had to get that off his chest, I hope he felt better. I listened to him just for the information, I needed to know what was going down so I could be alert if any drama on my block was going to jump off. But anyway on to my point. Once you're labled as something negative, it's hard to get rid of that. You can live most of your life as a holy moly saint, but do one bad thing and people will remember you for that more than the good things you've done. People are people, and people are a trip. Whether he did it or not I don't know, but he will continue to be watched and harassed. What a wonderful life. Anyhow Fam keep it moving and stay up, your Hustleman will return in a couple days. Until then, Peace!