Previously: I was movin’ around with my carwash bucket, but really I was looking to see did they have crack in that area so I could get high. I started talkin’ to one guy who at first is thinkin’ I’m an informer. After a while, I start to trust him and tell him I’m tryin to get a good connect. “Dope, heroin, or crack cocaine; it doesn’t matter,” I told him. He say, “You got the man right here. I’m gonna call my man. He be here in 10 or 15 minutes.”
Now that I’m movin’ around and startin’ to meet people, they invitin’ me to their house and to cookouts. I got it goin’ on now. I’m minglin’.
So this addict I met told me about some dealer he know that can front me some work, giving me drugs to sell.
When I say work, I mean sellin’ drugs, not work like construction or nothin’ like that.
I asked him, “What they look to get back moneywise.”
He say, “60 for the man and 40 for you.”
I say, “Damn man, in New Orleans they go 70-30. It’s better up here than down there.”
When he say he can call him right now and the dude will come, I told him, “Man, I don’t want no slow money. I want fast money,” meaning that I want to sell heroin, not crack cocaine. I use crack cocaine—that’s my high, so it would be hard to sell. I’m a user, so I’d wanna use it.
After him callin’ the man and I meet him, he say, “What’s the most you think you can sell?”
I say, “I’m not new to this game, but I’m new to how they maneuver up here. I’ve been here for a minute.”
He say, “How about 20 bags, can you handle that?”
I say, “How much you lookin’ back for that?”
He say, “I want $120 back.”
I say, “Cool.”
So after I walk off, him and the other guy start talking. I was curious in my mind. With me bein’ high already, I wondered if they were talkin’ about me. And I wonder if the dope was real.
I met him through the grapevine so I couldn’t be too sure.
I purposely didn’t ask the dealer his name. I’m a street dude, so when people ask my name, I think they an informer.
The dealer told the dude who introduced us, that he respect me because I didn’t ask his name or nothin’.
After movin’ around in the projects, I sit on the porch and watch him sellin’ his bags.
He say, “Let me do the morning and I’m gonna let you do the evening. These jackrabbits, they crazy, especially in the morning, so I’ll deal with them.”
I went back and told my homeboys and homegirls that I got a lick. They say what you talkin’ about? I say I got a connect. I’m in the game with these dudes now.
One of my homegirls say, “I hope you don’t mess his money up. I don’t want you to get in trouble with these guys out here. They might kill you. Or come here and kill us!”
I tell her, “I got this. I’m true to the game, not new to the game. Only thing I needed was to find a way to breathe, like get a connect. Now, I know what to do. I got a coke connect and a heroin connect.”
So every day I go out and hustle, sell my drugs. I get my nickname—they call me Orleans.
To be continued . . .
My book, “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina” is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle form. I hope you will tell your friends about it. It also makes a great gift! If you like it, maybe you can write an Amazon review. Thank you!
