Jamdown

Chapter 10

Donavan Malt

There was a whole crew of bad actors here. Tallman, Joshua, Arden, and some other dudes I didn't know. 

There was also Renee, she was standing behind them yawning. She was very tall at six feet, five. Renee was a giant. Wearing a yellow floral shirt, her cut-off jeans fitted neatly around her thin toned legs. Her straight hair bounded around her round and beautiful face that stood out against the average attire and faces that surrounded her.

As far as I knew, Joshua and Renee were together and had been together since high school. 

Granted, even though Joshua was tall, she made him look like an ant. Both were in sports, Joshua used to run for St. Elizabeth High, while she played tennis and was playing on a scholarship with Utech. 

The men excluding Arden shouted a bunch of illiterate foolishness at the team.

I neared, Tallman paused and smiled.

“Hey, Donavan wha' gwan?!” Tallman shouted. If I hit him it would have been too soon. Besides, my eyes caught Miss Baker and Rian Baker. Rian was tall and very lanky. His eyes were sunken and beady, his hair was wildly curling all over the top of his head. With pockets of it popping out like the surface of a rock, he turned as if to go back into the house. His mother spoke to Rian like she was frustrated with him.

“Yo partner, let them, boy, here know seh we run down ye' suh,” Tallman asserted. I stepped up to them.

“Tallman, go somewhere else please,” I said to him firmly. He blinked his eyes and smirked for some odd reason.

“You build house here?” he asked.

“Tallman, I am not going to be in a discussion with you about who own what, we are practicing right now. You are not interested in our ting’ so just leave brother.”

“Bombout! Man a stunt pon me!” Tallman exclaimed as the others laughed. Arden was not laughing.

“Arden help me out here, talk to your friends?”

Arden's eyes widened as the other guys looked at him. I noticed Leon and Modric had stepped up. Their faces were devoid of any emotion, and their arm and leg tightened as if they were ready to go anytime.

I needed to diffuse this situation.

“Must we trouble them, I want to go to the plaza before nightfall,” Renee said calmly. I noted Rian walking briskly from his house. Joshua came up to Renee. “We a go reach man, just easy we a talk with a friend.”

“I ain’t your friend,” I replied.

“Hold your mouth, is not you mi talking rich boy!”

“I, am, not, rich,” I retorted. 

Leon stepped in front of me. “Joshua, cut dog, move from here suh with your foolishness, me and you no deal again. Take your hypocrite hail and park that somewhere else.”

“Oy Rian!” Tallman yelled. Leon and I turned to see Tallman watching Rian who had sped up his walking. Leon opened his mouth to say something, but Tallman was not done. “Hey, Rian give me a gyal nuh!?”

The others burst out laughing even Arden snickered lightly at that one, hell Arden added to it. 

“Rian can’t give you a gyal. He never once touch a girl in his life, much less saw one,” Arden quipped.

“No wait, you wrong him must see him, mother, already!” Tallman joked.

I stood there clutching my fist intensely. Leon stepped forward. Tallman saw and straightened with his arms flexed, veins appearing. We stared at each other.

“Wha?! You want to do something Leon?!” Tallman said.

Leon narrowed his eyes and almost kept going, but I grabbed his left shoulder. I laid my palm in Tallman’s face, while I whispered to Leon to chill. The force of a powerful tug drew me to the side.

I looked back, but Tallman ducked. A rock sailed over Tallman's head, but rolled along the grass next to me. Rian ran away. Tallman was about to chase Rian for throwing that stone.

I stepped in front of Tallman and pushed him. Tallman swung and I dipped under the quick attempt, while Arden grabbed Tallman from behind and drew him onto the ground.

“Easy dog! Easy!” Arden tried to chill him out.

“Let me go!” Tallman shouted. Arden held him down as he shouted. Renee made a loud noise and walked off. Joshua turned from watching Tallman and ran behind his girl.

“Yo babe…” Joshua cried off as the distance grew larger. 

The other two looked at us, we stared at them. They realized this was a battle that was not worth it in their opinion. Tallman finally shook off Arden and shouted, “Me must see you a road!”

I shouted back. “Brah, look around you, we da a road!”

Leon laughed at my witty remark. 

“You have all them youth da behind you and wha'? A street me born pon, onnu born in an air conditioner and a flex pon road!”

Born in an air conditioner? Where he made that up from? Ok, that was a weird way to look at us. I turned and noticed the whole team was behind me. Even Prix was peeking out at the guys. 

“Hey! Move from my shop gate!” It was Baker and she looked livid. I was sure she heard them gallivanting her and her son’s name out there. A good portion of people that walked that street craned their necks to watch Tallman and the others escape.

Tallman was still shouting, but anything else that came out of his mouth was pretty pointless and stupid. Best not to think about it, so I stepped up to Miss Baker, Rian's mother.

“Sorry about that,” I said.

Baker shook her head and replied, “Don’t worry about that. Them is always causing trouble because they have nothing better to do. Is Rian I am worried about right now—”

“He rarely leaves the house, where is he going?” I asked.

“He has to leave the house now, he is going to meet the therapist," she replied.

Mini-Glossary

Wha' gwan - means 'What is going on?'

Bombout - used alone or as a noun or verb in various phrases to express surprise, disbelief, or shock.

Cut - Leave, disappear from a place or your current position.

Gyal - An informal slang for girl, can be derogatory if meant as such by the speaker, in such a case it would be another form of the insult, bitch.

Dog - means 'friend', 'brother' (mostly used by males in reference to each other)