Someone Else's Puddin'

by Samuel L. Hair

Genres: African American; African American Urban

Synopsis

While hairstylist Melody Pullman has no problem keeping clients in her chair, she can't keep her bills paid once her crack-addicted husband Big Steve steps through a revolving door leading in and out of prison. She soon finds what seems to be a sexual and financial solution when she becomes involved with Larry, the husband of one of her longtime clients. Larry, weary of dealing with his disabled wife and her needs, sees Melody as a release, a guilty pleasure. But does Larry have what it takes to hold on to her when another suitor steps on the scene and challenges him? A little puddin' is always good after a meal . . . unless it belongs to someone else.

Release date: July 1, 2013

Publisher: Urban Renaissance

Print pages: 399

Sample

2002

It was 10:52 A.M. when Melody Pullman finally responded to the loud beeping of her alarm clock. Byron, her thirteen-year-old son, had attempted three times to awaken her, but like always, she rolled over and fell back asleep. Seconds later, realizing she had an appointment with a customer, she jumped out of bed and began rushing. Hurriedly, she took a forty-five second shower, threw on a pair of skin-tight jeans and a Lakers jersey, and swiftly thumbed through her appointment book. Her first appointment, which she was already late for, was at eleven o’clock. All of her appointments afterward fell into forty-five minute intervals. She was never on time to meet her customers for appointments she’d made weeks in advance. Being late was normal to her.

“Byron, get up and make you a bowl of cereal, boy,” Melody shouted while putting on her earrings and makeup. “And don’t waste that damn milk all over the table like you do every morning!”

“I already ate, Mom,” Byron shouted from his room where he was playing NBA Live. “Do you want to go with me to the shop, or do you want to stay at Bobby’s until I get off?” Melody yelled as she slipped on a pair of her son’s Jordan tennis shoes.

“It’s boring at the shop, Mom. I don’t like hanging around a bunch of women all day, so I’ll stay at Bobby’s.” Suddenly the phone rang. Whenever she was running late, she made it a point not to answer her telephone. Instead she looked at her caller I.D.

“Don’t answer that damn phone, boy! It isn’t nobody but those damn Japs from the salon or my eleven o’clock customer!” She was now scrambling herself a couple of eggs. Once the phone stopped ringing she walked over and shot a glance at the caller ID. Just as she figured, it was her eleven o’clock customer. It being eleven fifteen didn’t make her move any swifter. Seconds later her pager began beeping, and her cellular phone rang.

“Goddammit! I’m getting all these numbers changed Monday! Then I won’t have to worry about people trying to track me down!” She was yelling, ignoring the rings and beeps. Eating her egg sandwich, she shouted again to Byron, who was still in his bedroom. “Hurry up, boy, so I can drop you off at Bobby’s and get my butt to the shop!”

“Wait a minute, Mom. Michael Jordan is about to slam on Shaq.”

“I’m gonna slam your ass if you don’t hurry up, boy! Hell, I’m already twenty minutes late.”

“It’s not my fault, Mom. I tried to wake you up three times, and you—”

“Hush your mouth and hurry the hell up, boy.”

Melody was a five-foot-five, cute hunk of sexy chocolate in her mid thirties. She had an attractive pair of 38Ds, a thin waistline, and a firm, rounded butt that several preachers—and supposedly married men of God—lustfully enjoyed looking at. She was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in the city of Compton. Her mother, Stella Swift, was a retired nurse, and her late father, Anthony Swift, had been a contractor with his own business. Even though they were financially able to buy their children just about anything, they didn’t. Instead, they lived a conservative, traditional lifestyle.

When Mr. Swift passed, Mrs. Swift assumed control of the business and sold the company.

Although Melody’s parents tried to raise her right, she either lost or never gained the morals and respect her parents tried to instill in her. Melody got pregnant at the age of nineteen, but when she confronted Byron’s biological father, Kenneth, about her pregnancy, he didn’t believe the child was his.

“Yeah right,” Kenneth said. “Hell nah. Unh unh! I don’t think so! You’ve been with four different guys in the past four months and you think I’m falling for some bullshit like this? You’ve gotta be crazy!”

After Byron turned two, she decided to confront Kenneth again, telling him that she would pay for a blood test. Surprisingly, Kenneth agreed.

After taking the test, Kenneth discovered that he was Byron’s natural father. The fact that he originally denied his son, and wasn’t there for him in the beginning somewhat bothered him, but he had promised himself he’d make it up to Byron one way or another.

Melody graduated from cosmetology school at the age of eighteen, but barely managed to earn a living. It took a while for her to discover that making it on a beautician’s salary limited her ability to do things like go on vacations, get medical and dental benefits, drive new vehicles, purchase expensive furniture, and wear the jewelry and clothing she desired. Her bills were always in final notice status. If her bill was two hundred dollars, she would only put twenty to twenty-five dollars on it, just enough for them not to shut off anything. Her older brother, Tony, and her younger sister, Antoinette, stopped by her home nearly every day after work and would see final notices scattered all over her dining room table.

“I’ve never seen any shit like this in my life,” Tony would say. “Why do you wait until your bills become final notices before you pay on them?”

“That’s my goddamn business!” Melody would respond heatedly. “If you’re not gonna help pay them, then shut the fuck up!”

“Girl, you have only three days before they turn off your lights, two days before your phone gets turned off, and five days before they turn off your gas,” Antoinette would say as she looked at the shut-off dates. “You still have a couple weeks before they turn off your water. Sis, you sure like living on the edge, and I don’t know how you do it.”

“I’ve been doing this since I was eighteen, and believe me, I know what the hell I’m doing. I’m used to it. Everyone has their own way of doing things, you know. And anyway, y’all quit discussing my damn bills unless you’re planning to help pay them. As a matter of fact, why don’t y’all go on home before the lights get shut off? Y’all just come over here to be nosey,” Melody would reply.

As Melody stepped into the shop that Saturday, she noticed that Linda, her eleven o’clock customer, was seated in the booth chair looking disappointed.

Melody had been employed at Special Touch Hair and Nail Company for a little over nine months. She bounced around like a bad check from salon to salon throughout her career, but due to her talent and modest prices, she managed to keep her regular customers. Her customers were always more than satisfied, which was the reason why they never asked about her relocating every six months to a year.

“I try call you five times!” Sue, the most aggressive one of the Japanese owners said to Melody as she marched up to her, pointing her index finger in Melody’s direction. “Your customer here ten thirty! You no answer! You no answer! Bad business! Bad business! No more chances for you! No more! You too many times late! Too many times!”

Melody didn’t like being reprimanded in a salon full of customers, but she managed to maintain her composure, ignored Sue, and made her way over to Linda.

I wish that tight-eyed bitch would mind her business. I’ll be glad when I get enough money to open up my own shop. Then I won’t have to worry about nobody telling me a goddamn thing. I feel like knocking the hell out of her, Melody thought.

After greeting Linda with a few pleasantries, Melody began explaining why she was late.

“I’m so sorry, girl. My son kept me up until three sump’n this morning showing me how to work that damn Internet,” she lied, while beginning the procedure on Linda’s hair.

The real reason she didn’t make it to bed until 3:45 A.M. was a pint of vodka, two twenty-four ounce bottles of Heineken, and three joints.

“Girl, that Internet is something else. Anything you want to buy, find out about, or do research on, you can do it on the Internet. Now that I’m learning how to use it, I’m gonna be searching for a new husband. You know what I’m saying, girlfriend?” Melody’s explanation had calmed Linda down a little.

“You’d better be careful messing around on the Internet, girlfriend,” Linda advised. “Just last week on Eyewitness News they were talking about a woman who met a man over the Internet and moved him into her house the following week. And a few days afterward girl, she married him. Now tell me, Melody, what kind of shit is that?” Linda was very emotional toward the matter.

Linda was a twenty-seven-year-old nurse who had a body like Toni Braxton and facial features and hair that resembled Halle Berry’s. She owned a new Porsche and was single with no kids. Also, she owned a two-story, four bedroom home, which had cost her a little over two hundred thousand dollars. Several doctors she dated assisted her on paying for it. A favor for a favor. Her motto was plain and simple: Use what you got to get what you want.

“And the stupid bitch put his name on her grant deed, made him co-owner of her Mercedes, and even put his name on her goddamn bank account,” Linda continued. “I figure she must be extremely ugly or fat, or just have a hard time getting a man.”

“Damn,” Melody responded.

“The police and the FBI are looking for the man now. Girl, he cleaned out her bank account, took her Mercedes, and even got a loan off her house. Melody, if you know like I know, you’d get yourself a couple of married men who make six figures or better, then you’ll be set for life. You know what I’m talking about, girlfriend? That way, there’s no strings attached. And the best thing about it is that he’s gotta pay to lay. Give him what he wants, you get what you want, then send him back home to his wife. Hell, you might have a bill or house note that needs paying. Or you might want a credit card in your name. Take my advice, Melody, that’s what you need to be doing rather than searching for a man on the damn Internet.”

All the married women who’d overheard the conversation looked at Linda with hatred and envy. None of them were surprised at what they were hearing. They all had the same thought: I wish I would catch that bitch with my husband. I’d blow both their fucking brains out!

The single women who were listening to Linda actually wanted to hear more. Linda could sense that, so she continued.

“And just think about it, girlfriend. What if you had three or four of them? Humph. It’s all good. Yep. It’s all good,” Linda said, smiling and revealing even, white teeth.

“Is that how you manage to drive a Porsche, live in a quarter-million dollar home, and dress like a million bucks every day?” Melody asked as she put the last roller in Linda’s hair.

“Humph. What can I say? Hell, I sure couldn’t manage those type of luxuries on a nurse’s salary,” Linda replied seriously, then added, “We all have choices in life, girlfriend. We could choose to be poor and live in ghettos where there’s nothing but a bunch of broke niggas who wanna fuck all day, or we can live in fancy homes, drive expensive cars, and, as you put it, dress like a million bucks every day of the week. It’s plain and simple, girlfriend. Use what you got to get what you want.” Linda was very enthusiastic during her speech.

“Otis, I saw you lookin’ at that woman,” an elderly woman named Ruth, who’d been waiting to get a manicure and a pedicure, said to her husband. Ruth was referring to a fine, classy-looking woman who had just walked into the salon, sporting a pair of tight jeans and a blouse that revealed her cleavage.

“I wasn’t lookin’ at that woman, Ruth,” Otis replied, smirking. “I was jus’ admirin’ how good those jeans fit her.”

“I’ll tell you what, man, if you look at her again, my fist is gonna fit inside your goddamn mouth. And I ain’t playin’ either, Otis.” Ruth gave him a mean look.

The dime piece Otis was ogling was named Pat. Linda’s beauty or class didn’t compare to Pat’s in any shape, form, or fashion. Pat had a complexion that was as smooth as peanut butter and easily defied her forty years. She was blessed with a body that was totally unbelievable—a brick house without a doubt. Her attractive, slanted eyes combined perfectly with her million-dollar smile. The tight jeans she wore revealed her widespread hips and soft, rounded butt, while her blouse revealed her delicate, delicious-looking breasts. Women envied her everywhere she went—hoping, wishing, and even praying for a figure like hers.

As Pat entered the salon, she bypassed the waiting area and the manicure and pedicure section and made her way to Melody’s booth. A high-yellow complexioned man, who stood about six-one, walked in with Pat, but seated himself in the waiting area. His hair was styled in a short natural, and he was wearing a pair of well-fitting jeans that revealed the length and width of his penis. That instantly attracted Melody’s attention.

Humph. He’s packing meat. Damn, would I like to feel his big, fat dick inside me, Melody thought.

“Hey, girlfriend,” Pat said, smiling. “Did you actually get here on time this morning?”

“Not quite, girl,” Melody replied. “Byron’s been showing me how to use the Internet lately, and girl, I swear, that computer stuff confuses the hell out of me. You’re kind of early, aren’t you?”

Melody was always glad to see and converse with one of her regular customers. They were the ones who kept money in her purse.

“Yeah, girl, I’ve been up since five this morning and figured I’d get an early start on my things to do. And besides, today is my day and my husband has to treat me all day long to anything and everything I desire,” Pat stated.

Pat continued making small talk with Melody as Melody put the final touch on Linda’s hair.

“Yeah, girlfriend, today is my day. After I get my hair, nails, and feet done, he’s taking me to the mall shopping, then out to dinner, then to see a movie, and if it’s not too late, I’m going to have him take me to test drive a Lexus. Humph. I’m getting all I can get out of my husband today. But hell, actually, I get what I want from him everyday,” Pat boasted, but Melody’s mind and eyes were elsewhere, checking out her husband. Melody’s curiosity got the best of her.

“Who’s that you brought with you, girl?”

“That’s my husband, Larry. Haven’t I introduced you to him before?”

“Nope, I don’t think so. I guess you’ve been hiding him or something.”

“Humph. Nah, girl, not at all. It’s not that I be hiding him, it’s just that I keep him at work where he’s supposed to be, you know what I mean?”

“I heard that, girl.” Melody envied the hell out of Pat.

“Now she’s a woman who knows what’s happening,” Linda interjected. “There’s no way in hell that we, as women, can drive fancy cars and dress like movies stars with an unemployed man.”

“I’ve got my husband trained, girl,” Pat boasted. “Why do you think he’s waiting for me like he is?”

“I heard that. You’ve got it going on, girlfriend. I’m trying to hip Melody to a little game, you know, but for some reason she thinks she’ll find Mr. Right on the Internet,” Linda said sarcastically.

Melody shot repeated glances and smiles at Larry. He responded with eyewinks and tongue gestures.

After Melody finished with Linda’s hair, Linda stood up and examined herself in the mirror.

“Perfect. I love it, I love it, I love it,” Linda said, satisfied. She then handed Melody a fifty-dollar bill, made another appointment for two weeks later, and said, “Don’t forget what I told you, girlfriend. The sky is the limit.”

As Linda exited the salon, Otis’s lustful eyes slowly followed her. Using his imagination, he undressed her, wishing for younger days. The fact that his wife was getting a pedicure didn’t stop her from observing her husband. After reading the look on Ruth’s face, Otis quickly picked up a magazine and began looking at pictures of boats and horses, anything other than looking at Ruth.

As Melody began doing Pat’s hair, she shot a quick, fleeting look at Larry. It amazed her that each time she looked at him he was looking at her. He had even winked and smiled while making those circular movements with his tongue.

So, Melody thought, he’s the Superman she’s been bragging about. Humph. She must not be giving it to him right, because he sure keeps checking me out. Knowing Pat, with her selfish ways, she probably doesn’t give him any head. But I’ll bet she makes him eat her out. She thinks she’s all that and a bag of chips with dip. On the other hand, why would a man who has a wife as fine as she is be checking out a small-time, broke beautician like me? The only thing I can do for him is give him a whole lot of pleasure. And I mean, a whole lot.

As Larry pretended to read an Ebony magazine, he checked out Melody.

Damn, he thought. Not bad. Not bad at all. And she’s checking me out, too. I wouldn’t mind having a piece of her. I wonder will she give me some play, or is she just playing with me? I know damn well it’s not just my imagination. Why would a woman as fine as she is be checking out an old scrap man like me? They say that the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice, and believe me, I damn sure wouldn’t mind a sip of her blackberry brandy. Umph.

After Melody led Pat to the dryer she decided to play a little cat-chase-the-mouse game to find out whether or not her instincts were right. Quickly she scribbled her home, cell, and pager number on the front of an Ebony magazine, then using her sexiest walk she nonchalantly strolled toward Larry. As she passed Otis, he smiled. His eyes were following her butt, but Melody’s focus was on Larry.

“Would you like to check out this special edition of Ebony?” Melody asked Larry as she deviously handed him the magazine.

She placed her finger inches away from her contact numbers. Her presence caused Otis to grin and flash the few teeth he still had. Ruth spotted him from afar and stared him down with a killer look, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Melody’s butt.

“Otis!” Ruth, yelled, “don’t have me come over there and knock that goddamn grin off your face!”

Both Melody and Larry smirked at the jealous old lady, but quickly diverted their attention back to each other.

“I’d better get back to my booth before your wife looks up and tells you what that old lady just told her husband,” Melody said as she realized that she was being observed by another hairstylist. “I wouldn’t want to get you in any trouble.”

“Yeah, right. I’m the one who wears the pants in my house, not my wife.”

“Humph. That’s not what she said a few minutes ago. Anyway, make sure you check the front page thoroughly, especially the small print. There might be something there for you,” Melody said enticingly.

“Good. I’m really into special editions, if you know what I mean,” Larry said, smiling.

“Time will tell.” Melody purposely dropped a pencil in front of him and bent down slowly to pick it up.

Larry enjoyed her gesture, but when Ruth spotted Otis’s eyes and mouth wide open, and his hand on his crotch, she wasn’t too happy.

“I’ll blow your goddamn brains out, man! I’ve jus’ about had it with you! Get your ugly, no-good ass outta here and go wait inside the car!” she yelled.

“Hell, you should’nt’ve ever told me to come with you. Think I s’pose to jus’ keep my eyes closed. You’ve gotta be crazy,” Otis mumbled as he stood up and walked toward the door.

As Melody made her way back to her station, she decided that she could use someone like Larry in her life. If he did half the things for her that Pat bragged about him doing, she would be a much happier woman. Melody’s husband and Byron’s stepfather, Big Steve, could never seem to stay out of jail for more than two months at a time. As soon as they were on a good, stable, grooving pattern of everyday lovemaking, he’d go back to jail for one reason or the other. He spent more time in jail than on the streets. But through all of the ups and downs, Melody managed to always make ends meet by improvising. She was good at that.

The thought had crossed Melody’s mind on a few occasions that she needed a side hustle to keep some extra cash on hand.

Her son was a growing teenager who had very expensive taste. She tried hard, because he was her only child, to give him the things he desired. Many times, she sacrificed paying a bill to buy him tennis shoes or designer clothing. She thought seriously about going back to school to get a degree to increase her knowledge and education, but she always dismissed the thought.

How in the hell can I go to school when my house payment is $850 a month, my bills total damn-near $200 a month, and that doesn’t include paying my gardener or giving Byron lunch money every day? I do need to go back to school, but who’s going to take care of these damn bills? she would wonder.

1999

At the age of twenty-nine, Melody met a small-time street hustler from the hood who went by the name of Big Steve Pullman. The name definitely fit him. He wore his hair in a short, neat fade, and his vocabulary consisted of nothing but street slang. He weighed a little over four hundred pounds, stood six foot three and a half inches, and had a light brown complexion and a head that seemed too small for his huge body.

Big Steve was an only child and had been spoiled rotten his entire life. While he was growing up, his parents had provided him with the best that money could buy. Other kids envied him because of the things he had, but they would still come over to play with his toys, which their parents couldn’t afford. For instance, the average kid had Hot Wheels sets, but little Stevie had Hot Wheels sets, electric train sets, remote control cars and airplanes, and huge, 4x4 remote controlled trucks. When the other kids in the neighborhood rode regular bikes, little Stevie had dirt bikes, ten-speeds, and mountain bikes, and once he was old enough, his father purchased him a go-cart and a minibike.

Stevie’s shoes were purchased at malls—Foot Locker and other expensive shoe outlets—while the other kids in the neighborhood wore shoes bought at Payless, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and swap meets. His parents felt that since he was their only child, they would provide him with all the things they didn’t have as children.

The convertible Mustang Steve owned had been purchased for him as a high school graduation present when he made it to the tenth grade, although Steve never actually completed high school. Even though his parents had said to him several times, “You’re not driving that car until you graduate, and don’t ask us about it anymore,” all it ever took was for Steve to throw an outrageous tantrum, a few pouts and cries, or a sad face, and he would get what he wanted.

One day Big Steve and a few of his homeboys set forth to do a big lick (criminal act), with intentions of having a big payday. They’d gone over their plan several times before actually deciding to go through with it. The plan was to break in to a computer warehouse.

Big Steve and his boys pulled off the robbery without a hitch. Big Steve’s cut out of the deal was forty-two hundred dollars. He told himself he was going to invest his money in a legit business, but actually there was only one type of business investment he was familiar with—the dope business.

The following day after the robbery, Big Steve picked up Melody to take her out.

“Let’s go to Las Vegas, baby,” Steve suggested. “Let’s go and do the damn thang, you know what I’m sayin’, baby doll? Yeah, it’s all good, you know what I’m sayin’. It’s all to the good.”

During that time, Melody and Byron were living with her parents while she was between apartments. She asked her sister, Antoinette, to watch Byron for her and told her parents she was going to Vegas for the weekend. She didn’t dare tell them she was going with Steve, but Tony, her older brother did. Mr. Swift was furious.

“Is that girl crazy or sump’n? She must be on drugs! It seems like the more I teach her, the dumber she gets! If I would’ve known she was going with that no-good street nigga, I would’ve told her to take her son with her! I don’t know what she sees in that fat, funny looking muthafucka! Every time I see him his pants are hanging off his ass! I never saw him wearing anything but those goddamn khakis and that funky-ass T-shirt! What kind of man is that? He’s good for nothing! All he’s doing is taking up space on earth!”

“And every time I see him he’s got a damn can of beer in his hand!” Mrs. Swift added. “He came over here last week, grinnin’ and carryin’ on when wasn’t a damn thing funny. He’d probably been smoking some of that shit or sump’n. He was sit-tin’ and laughin’ like a goddamn hyena, lookin’ like a god-damn Chinese person. I’ve told that girl I don’t want him over here anymore, but he keeps comin’ over here anyway. As far as I’m concerned, Melody can keep her ass in Vegas and never come back.”

While cruising down the Las Vegas strip in the Mustang, Big Steve made a suggestion to Melody.

“Let’s get married, baby. I love you, you know what I’m sayin’? And I think you’re my soul mate, you know what I’m sayin’? I know that God made you for me, you know what I’m sayin’? And that’s what I’m sayin’. And you know what else, sweetheart? I’ll make a good stepfather for Byron, that’s all I’m sayin’. You know what I’m sayin’? I can give a damn what people think about us bein’ together, but I’m tellin’ you how I feel from my heart, you know what I’m sayin’? I’m ready to settle down and do the damn thang and do it right, you know what I’m sayin’?”

While stopped at a traffic light, he looked her in the eyes and proposed.

“Melody, will you marry me?”

Without thinking or blinking she answered. “Yes, Teddy Bear, I’ll marry you. I love you, Steve. Yes, I’ll be your wife.”

Bypassing the casinos, Big Steve and Melody headed straight to the wedding chapel downtown and got married. During that time, the price of a Las Vegas wedding was only fifty dollars.

Afterward, he rented a room at the Circus Circle Hotel and Casino, had a brief sex session with his wife, and then they made their way to the gambling floor.

After nine hours of playing wheel of fortune, video poker, and slot machines, they’d won a little over eleven thousand dollars. Steve handed Melody all of their winnings.

“Thank you for being my wife, Mel. I’ll love you and cherish you ’til the day I die. And I promise never to cheat on you.” He then gave her a big, wet kiss.

As they cruised down Interstate 15 southbound, headed home, out of the blue Melody reached over, unzipped Big Steve’s pants, and leaned over, giving him a wedding present he’d never forget. While climaxing, he shut his eyes momentarily, which caused him to almost run into the back of a big rig.

“Damn, baby, that was good. Can I have this type of treatment every day of the week?”

“You’re my husband, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am, but you know how y’all women get sometimes. Y’all get in those sometimey moods, you know what I’m sayin’? Sometimes y’all act like bitches, and sometimes ya’ll act real sweet. Especially when y’all want sump’n.”

“As long as you honor your wedding vows, Teddy Bear, I’ll always respect you and treat you like a king, giving you everything you want and more than you can handle,” she replied, stroking his short erection.

A few hours later, still on Interstate 15, Big Steve came up with another suggestion.

“You know sump’n, baby? I think we need to do sump’n with this money, you know what I’m sayin’? It ain’t everyday that people run across a lump sum like this, you know what I’m sayin’? And I don’t want to have to go out and commit no crimes if we get broke, but you know I will if I have to, baby. But what I really think we need to do is buy us a house. That way we can raise Byron and do like the white folks do it, you know what I’m sayin’? Live happily ever after in harmony, you know what I’m sayin’?”

She lit a cigarette, inhaled, then exhaled.

“That sounds good, Teddy Bear, but how are we supposed to buy a house with fifteen thousand dollars? Keep in mind that I’m the only one working, and it’s not like I’m on salary or receive a check every week or month. No customers, no money, bottom line. And besides, we don’t have furniture, you don’t have a job, and we only have one car. We need to prepare ourselves for a big move like that.”

He wouldn’t accept no for an answer.

“Check it out, Mel. I’ll get a job and get my hustle on, you know what I’m sayin’? A few of my homeboys told me about a city in Riverside called Moreno Valley. They told me that a person could buy a house out there for little or nothing, you know what I’m sayin’? My homeboy Ant-Dog bought him a crib out there, and he only put three Gs down. And my homeboy, Crazy T bought him a pad out there with a swimmin’ pool and only put down two Gs. We can do the damn thang, Mel; I know we can. We deserve it, baby doll, and we owe it to ourselves. All we gotta do is make that first move and everything else will fall in place.”

“Of course we deserve it, Teddy Bear, but the question is, can we afford it?”

“I told you, baby, I’ll do what I gotta do to make ends meet, you know what I’m sayin’? We’re married now and we aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend no more, so we got to make shit happen. Don’t you see, Mel, this is our chance to show we capable of handl