came barreling through her brother’s front door. She looked at him anxiously, and he nodded toward his spare bedroom. She opened the door hesitantly and found Alessa in bed, lying on her back and staring vacantly at the ceiling.
“Sweetie, I’m here,” Tasha whispered.
Alessa turned and looked at her, struggling to get her eyes to focus. But the moment her friend moved farther into the room and came into view, Alessa cried and reached out to her like a child needing comfort. In a moment, Tasha was lying on the bed next to her, the two friends entwined like a pretzel. As Tasha held her tight, Alessa let the tears flow. They lay there together for a long time. Then Tasha pulled back so she could look at her face.
“What happened?” she asked. “I want you to tell me everything those bastards did to you.”
As Alessa related the details of the incident, Tasha’s expression changed from dismay to horror. By now, she knew all about Alessa’s past with her uncle and Carl. She knew that Alessa had fled her home, fearing being gang raped by her uncle’s friends. And now, the very thing she had feared haunted her here on Dauphin Street. When Alessa hesitated for a moment while telling the story, Tasha could sense she was holding something back.
“Okay, girl,” Tasha said. “What ain’t you telling me? I can tell you’re holding out. Come on now. You know you can trust me.”
Alessa cried again. “Tasha, Harlin killed a man! He stuck a knife in his gut. It was horrible. What if someone finds out it was Harlin? What if they think I started it all, that it was all my fault, and send me to prison? I know he was protecting me, but I saw him murder someone. I’m scared.”
Tasha took Alessa’s chin in her hand. “Listen, sweetie,” she said gently. “You ain’t got nothin’ to worry about. Here in the streets of North Philly, it’s different from where you came from. Ain’t nobody gonna tell the police that Harlin killed that loser. Harlin told me what he did and it ain’t no big deal. It ain’t the first time he had to kill. You need to forget you saw anything. You understand?”
Alessa nodded, but her friend’s assurance didn’t ease her worry. Tasha helped her out of bed and led her to the bathroom. She helped her undress, turned on a hot shower, and urged her inside.
“I want you to get yourself washed up real good,” she told her. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes to check on you.”
Tasha left to find her brother.
“Did she tell you that Tag raped her?” Harlin asked.
Tasha nodded.
“Well, I took care of that, too. Ain’t nothing left of him but some ashes.”
Tasha put her arms around her brother’s neck. “Thank you,” she said.
“You need to remind your friend that she should keep her mouth shut about what happened that night,” Harlin cautioned her. “She needs to understand that people who live in this neighborhood don’t talk about the things they see.”
Tasha assured him she had explained it to Alessa and he had nothing to worry about. Satisfied with his sister’s confidence in her friend, Harlin went back to weighing the weed he was placing in small bags.
Once Alessa finished showering, Tasha went into the bathroom to help with her hair. Alessa’s black eye looked painful. Then she noticed the bruises and scratches on her legs. Tasha’s blood boiled thinking about those teens taking advantage of her friend.
She helped Alessa dress, made her toast for breakfast, and when she had eaten it, commanded, “Come on. We need to go down to the Dauphin Mini-Mart and get some things for this house. Harlin is out of orange juice and paper towels.”
Alessa recoiled at the idea. “No, please,” she pleaded. “I don’t want to go there. I’m afraid, Tasha. What if those boys are there? What if they hurt both of us this time?”
“Sweetie, you can’t stay inside forever,” she reasoned. “On these streets, news travels fast. I’m sure most of the neighborhood knows that you were attacked. To regain respect, you need to go back out and show them that you ain’t afraid. If you don’t, people will think that you let them win. What’s worse, they will wonder why you’re afraid to be out, with Harlin and his crew protecting you. That’s what we do here. When bad stuff happens, we keep moving. Otherwise, we would never survive.”
Alessa looked at her friend. She realized that Tasha couldn’t bear to let anyone think ill of her brother. Harlin had saved her life. Recognizing that she was now part of something bigger than herself, Alessa agreed to go out, but only after Tasha had promised not to leave her side for even one second. An hour later, they were walking toward the mini-mart. Suddenly, Alessa froze on the sidewalk. Tasha, who had been talking about her trip to Atlanta, stopped and looked at her.
“What’s wrong?” Tasha asked. “Why you stoppin’?” She followed Alessa’s gaze to a spot across the street. Tag’s gang was there. “Were they all there the other night?” she asked.
“Yeah, all of them. O God, Tasha, what are we gonna do? Let’s go back.”
Tasha’s face twisted with anger and she cocked her head to the side. “We ain’t going back nowhere!” she said firmly. Then with a swift jerk, Tasha snatched Alessa’s hand and pulled her across the street toward the boys.
When the two girls were standing in front of the gang, Tasha said, “I understand you dudes messed with my girl. I also hear that Tag’s been out of town ever since.” She smiled tightly at them, her searing gaze roving among them. “Maybe some more of you will be going out of town, too. You know, since you all had your hands on this ‘sweet meat.’”
The boys shifted uncomfortably.
“Not too sure how this is going to work out for all of you,” Tasha went on. “You know, she ain’t just with me. She’s with Harlin, too. And you know how he gets when ya mess with the people he cares about.”
One boy finally summoned up the courage to speak. “So what the hell ya want us to do? We didn’t know she was with Harlin. And it ain’t no big deal anyway. Ain’t like we all had her. We barely got started before Harlin broke it up.”
Tasha walked close to the boy and looked him in the eyes. “Might not be a big deal to you, but it sure is to me. So I guess it wouldn’t be no big deal if someone stripped your clothes off and held you down. I’ll let Harlin know it ain’t no big deal.”
Tasha turned and, taking Alessa by the hand, left the boys standing there with uncertainty. After what she told them, none knew for certain if there would be a further price to pay for what they had done or if Tag’s death was revenge enough.
When they were far enough away from the boys, Alessa gave her friend a side-glance. “How do you know Tag is out of town? And what did you mean when you said that maybe they would go out of town, too?”
“Listen, everything is taken care of,” Tasha assured her. She added cryptically, “Harlin did what he needed to do, and Tag won’t be around to bother you no more. That’s all I meant.”
Alessa didn’t press the point, but she had seen enough in the last few days to suspect that Tag might be dead. She had mixed feelings about it. The thought that Harlin may have killed Tag nauseated her. At the same time, she was overwhelmed with relief. Guilt gnawed at her for not fretting over a life taken because of something that involved her. She was used to being exploited, not protected, and didn’t quite know how to process the incidents that had overtaken her so rapidly.
When they got back to Harlin’s house, Alessa went back into the spare bedroom. Tasha went to look for her brother and found him in the kitchen.
“Harlin,” she said, “we ran into Tag’s gang. I warned them to mind their own business.”
“Yeah, stupid asses should know by now where they stand, but now they’ve been officially warned. How’s she doing?”
“Alessa is okay. She ain’t used to this, but I think she’ll be fine.”
“I want to talk to you about her,” Harlin said, leading his sister into his bedroom and shutting the door.
“Why all the secrecy? What’s up?”
“I got her day hours at the Dollar Basement,” he informed her. “Starting tomorrow she won’t be working nights no more.”
Tasha smiled gratefully at her big brother.
“But I got to thinking,” he went on, “that’s a lame job and it doesn’t make no money.”
Tasha thought for a minute he would suggest that Alessa sell weed, too, but she knew her friend wouldn’t have the stomach for it.
“I was thinking she would be better off dancing at Doubles,” Harlin offered. “She’d make a lot more money, and you have to admit the girl can dance. She’s got the body for it, too. I got to see it the other night when I walked in on her in the bathroom after I heard her screaming.”
Tasha considered Harlin’s suggestion carefully. She didn’t think it was a bad idea. The girls at Doubles were exotic dancers and performed topless, but they weren’t allowed to dance completely in the nude. She knew girls who had danced there before, and they hadn’t been permitted to have sex with the clients either.
Harlin put a hand on Tasha’s shoulder. “I was thinking she could dance there and I could provide her protection. I’d make sure she got dropped off and picked up so she wouldn’t have to take public transportation. She could live here. And instead of paying old lady Lea three hundred a month, she could pay me fifty percent of what she earned at Doubles for rent and protection.”
Tasha smiled at her brother. “I guess you want me to convince her that this is the right thing to do?”
Harlin pulled her into his strong arms. “Of course, baby. If you say it’s okay, she’ll accept it.”
“Okay, I don’t think it’s a bad idea either,” Tasha admitted. “I’ll talk to her, but I’m gonna wait a couple of weeks until she recovers from this. She’s been through way too much and needs time to calm down. In the meantime, she can live here with you, so she feels safe. But we ain’t officially moving her out of old lady Lea’s until she agrees to it, okay?”
“Sure, Tasha. Whatever you think is right.”
