Read Online At the Crossroads by Travis Hunter - Free Book Online Page B

City Detention Center,” the automated voice said; then he heard his cousin’s voice say, “Nigel.” The automatic voice kicked in again. “Will you accept charges?”
    “Yes,” Franky said.
    “Do not use call forwarding or three-way calling or your call will be disconnected,” the recording said, then clicked and Nigel was on the line.
    “Yo,” Franky said, not really surprised by the call. Since they arrived in Atlanta, Nigel had been arrested two or three times for various infractions, and Rico had been caught up about five or six times.
    “Hey, Franky,” Nigel said. “How you doing?”
    “I’m good,” Franky said. “What happened to you?”
    “Some mix-up. I need for you to call that lawyer we used the last time and tell her to come holla at me,” he said.
    “Okay,” Franky said, wondering how they were going to come up with money for an attorney when they didn’t have any for food.
    “Do that as soon as you get off the phone with me, ya heard.”
    “I will.”
    “Have you seen Jason?”
    “Yeah, he’s right here. Mrs. Bertha’s not answering the door.”
    “She’s in the hospital. Stick broke into her house. When we got home from taking you to school, I saw the fool running out of the woman’s house. She was upset but she seemed a’ight, ya know. But I left to get her stuff back from Stick, and when I got outside, I saw them putting her into the ambulance. That’s when the cops jumped out at me. Fools wasn’t tryna hear nuttin’ I had to say.”
    “Stick? Why he do that?”
    “Because he’s Stick. But you can best believe I’ma handle that fool, ya heard? He got me caught up in his mess. I tried doing the right thing and went and got the stuff he stole from her, but the police rolled up on me. You know how those police do us, so it was on. They can’t wait to lock a brother up. Get that lawyer on the phone for me. I need to get up outta here, ya heard.”
    “Yeah, I feel ya,” Franky said. “That’s messed up.”
    “Fo sho,” Nigel said. “Where is Rico?”
    “Sleeping on the sofa,” Franky said, rolling his eyes.
    “Tell that fool I said get up and go get some money. Weneed to grind right now—no time for sleeping. I can’t do no time for this one, ya heard. Not for that fool. Yo,” Nigel said, as if he just had a thought. “You know what I need? I need for you to run down to Stick’s house and tell him I’m locked up because of him. Tell him he owes me and that I’m pissed. You tell that sorry lil piece of trash that I need bail money. But call the lawyer first.”
    “Okay,” Franky said.
    “And make Rico go with you so that fool don’t act stupid, ya heard.”
    “Got it,” Franky said, but he knew he wasn’t going to wake up his volatile cousin. He would let him sleep forever if it was up to him.
    “Okay, whoadie,” Nigel said. “Handle those things for me and I will call you back in a few hours if I can.”
    “Okay,” Franky said. “I’ll get on it right away. Talk to you later.”
    “Hey, yo,” Nigel called out right before Franky took the phone away from his ear.
    “Yeah.”
    “How was school?”
    “It was different,” Franky said, happy that his cousin asked. “But it was cool. I got in a fight, too.”
    “A fight?”
    “Yeah, this dude ran up on me talking about how some New Orleans guys killed his friend. It wasn’t really a fight. I punched him two times and knocked him out,” Franky said proudly.
    “Okay, Floyd Mayweather,” Nigel said with a chuckle. “But don’t be up there getting in no trouble. You ain’t no street dude, so stay clear of that mess. It’ll pull ya down, ya heard.”
    “Yeah. I met a cool girl, too.”
    “Ohh, Lord. We’ll talk about that one later. Handle that business for me, whoadie,” Nigel said.
    “I’m on it,” Franky said. “Peace.”
    Franky hung up the phone, opened the kitchen drawer, and searched around for the pad with the number for attorney Sharon Capers. He found it, called the