It’s the ones close to you.

I always said I had a Part II, if we all decided to do a movie again. This episode actually took place prior to the 2006 events the original documentary is based on. This one took place in Washington, D.C., late one evening, when I got left and stranded in an unfamiliar part of the city. I stressed out about how I was going to get home. My mom wasn’t coming to get me and it was getting past dark. Actually, I did recognize where I was. Our family church was in that area, but it was on Sundays during the day, and they were closed at that moment! So, I was lost. I was heavy into the church thing then. I had moved home to help raise my baby girl by then. In fact, it was her mother who had left me in that predicament. It was the beginning of the end for us.

This was around May ‘97, so it brought my U.D.C. tenure to an end, as well. I ended up arrested and held for observation in St. Elizabeth, where I met someone in there and another fella, who I saw free out on the streets all these years later, whilst my street life was coming to a conclusion.

I got arrested after retreating to a McDonald’s bathroom, I believe it was, in an attempt to pray my way out of my situation. Low and behold there was a car out front, once I exited due to them preparing to close. In a stunned, astonishing attempt, I opened the unlocked car door, only to find no keys, but the owner returned, calling the police on me for being in her driver’s seat. There were about nine marshalls as I recall, and we were thumping! It took that many until finally, one got the best of me with the Cobra Clutch move overextending my back flexibility. To this day, I still have that pain, which is why I think that massages as physical therapy and a marijuana stipend should both be covered and paid for as medical benefits!

Fast forward through 2006, after I’d been approved for my medical benefits, and enter a middle school buddy and basically a family friend, Yusef, whose uncle married one of my cousins. So, we were right-hanging buddies, and I ended up traveling back to Hampton with him, seeking a change of pace and scene, even though it happened to be a graveyard – an omen, I guess, as this was the beginning of my documentary’s story. I found a place in town that offered both massage sessions and hair appointments, too. I still had my braids then! It was the first place and time I ever had a massage. I felt like it was calling me once I discovered the beauty shop up on Melon offered affordable massages. I went and checked them out after getting my hair done there and becoming somewhat familiar with them. It sort of sparked a debate as to whether to leave on your draws or not. I was a rookie! I knew no better, maybe was even still a lil’ bashful. I didn’t know what to expect, but I enjoyed the experience. I had even tried to get it covered as a medical expense, but it wasn’t cleared…


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