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feet hurt from walking in these cheap shoes,” I explained as I allowed my fingertips to massage my scalp, which had suddenly started itching. It was a telltale sign that I needed to wash my hair and oil my scalp.

      “Do you want me to braid your hair for you?” Toya asked.

      “No, I need to wash it before I do anything with it.”

      “So, how did registration go?” Toya asked.

      “It went okay. It went quickly. I have to figure out how I’m going to get my school supplies because my mother—well, you know that I can’t depend on her.” A mischievous expression formed on Toya’s face at that moment.

      “You’re right, Keysha. We can’t depend on our parents because they aren’t cut out for the job. What we need to do is look out for each other. Don’t you agree?”

      “Yeah, I can agree with that,” I said as I scratched the dry skin on my left leg.

      “Listen, I’ve been thinking of a way that we can help each other.” Toya stopped shuffling her cards and focused all of her attention on me.

      “Why are you looking at me like that, Toya?” I asked, sensing she was calculating something in her mind.

      “I’ve got a plan. Junior needs some new clothes and so do you and I. My baby would look so cute in some baby Nikes and some new gear from Sean John. I want some stuff from Phat Farm, and I know that you do, as well. So here is what I say we should do. Let’s go down to the mall and get what we need.”

      “You must have come into some money,” I said, joking. She didn’t say a word; she just looked at me and forced me to read her thoughts. Toya had a very serious expression on her face.

      “You want to go out boosting again, don’t you?” I knew that’s what she wanted to do, but I wanted to confirm it.

      “Yeah I do.” She paused in thought for a moment. “I have got the perfect plan that includes you, me and Junior.”

      “Toya, you know you’re my girl, and I’m all for heading out to the mall for a five-finger discount deal, but why do we have to drag Junior into this? Last time we went out you and I both almost got busted.”

      “That’s exactly why we’re bringing Junior with us. He’ll act as our decoy,” Toya explained, completely convinced that bringing Junior along would work.

      “I don’t know, Toya.” I had a very uneasy feeling about dragging her son along with us. Boosting is not as easy as it sounds. Whenever I go, I’m always on edge because I don’t want to get caught.

      “Keysha, you know we both need stuff. You need clothes just like I do, and you know that we can make money selling the stuff that we can’t fit to the kids at school. You’ve done this before. Why are you acting as if it’s a problem now?”

      “I don’t know,” I answered her as I searched my mind for a reason as to why I was feeling the way I was.

      “Listen, we’ll put all of the stuff that we get in the bottom of Junior’s stroller. If someone tries to stop us, I have a purse full of old receipts that we can use, okay? Trust me, it’s going to work. This plan is foolproof.”

      “How in the world did you come up with that one?” I asked because Toya’s mind was always working a mile a minute.

      “I saw someone else do it like that,” Toya said, going into more detail. “I went to the grocery store over the weekend for my grandmother. As I was walking past one of the aisles, I saw this woman tearing open a package and stuffing its contents into her baby’s diaper bag. Once she was done, I watched her stroll right on out of the store without paying a damn dime. So I thought, Damn, that’s slick, because no one would ever suspect a woman with a baby in a stroller to be out shoplifting. The security people aren’t paying attention to people like her. She was dressed like someone’s mother who was just out shopping. The security people are harassing the person who walks in the door looking like a thug. Do you see where I’m going?”

      “Yeah,” I answered as I began to understand her thinking a little better.

      “So all I’m doing is improving on what I’ve seen. I’ll take Junior with me and stuff merchandise into several diaper bags and the compartment at the bottom of the stroller. While I’m doing that, your job will be to distract the sales clerk. Of course, we’re going to have to make a few trips to get everything we need, but hey, I think it’s worth the effort. Don’t you?”

      “Yeah, it’s worth it,” I said even though I still wasn’t comfortable with Toya involving Junior in all of this.

      four

      We decided to go to Evergreen Plaza, which was on the corner of 95th Street and Western Street. Toya wanted to hit a mall where she was least likely to run into someone she knew. We had to catch two buses and the El train to get there. We had to hop on the Laramie bus and take it to the Lake Street El. Then we took the El to 95th Street. Then we took the 95th Street bus all the way down to Western Avenue. The journey was long and boring until we got on the bus at 95th Street. The bus was very crowded, which meant that some of the passengers had to stand in the aisle. Just as Toya, Junior and I got situated some younger boy dressed like a thug reject tried to step to me. He wasn’t cute at all. He had tight nappy hair that needed to be cut, and his breath was so funky I could see the words coming out of his mouth. He had on a dingy white shirt and some baggy shorts that were pulled down so that they could hang low.

      “What’s up, girl?” He tried to add some bass to his voice but it cracked on him, and Toya and I busted up laughing.

      “What’s up, boo?” Toya answered as she continued to laugh in his face and bounce Junior up and down on her lap to keep him amused.

      “I wasn’t talking you. I was talking to your girl, here,” he said with a tone of arrogance.

      “Oh, well I guess I’ll keep my mouth shut, hint, hint...” Toya continued her snickering as she covered her nose with one hand.

      “So what’s up, girl? Why don’t you roll with a baller like me?”

      “Maybe if a baller had a breath mint, a hair cut and looked better than you.” I laughed.

      “Oh, snap!” Toya blurted out. “I think that’s your cue to leave, boo.”

      “I’ve got a car. It’s in the shop right now,” he explained, but I didn’t want to encourage him.

      “Yeah, whatever. You don’t even look old enough to drive,” I said, thinking that my comment would make him shut up and move on.

      “Girl, I just look young. I’m seventeen,” he continued.

      “Well, you look like you’re twelve,” I shot back.

      “Oh, damn,” Toya blurted out once again. “You need to work on your macking skills.”

      “You know, somebody needs to put that attitude of yours in check,” he said as if he were the person who could do it.

      “Well, until that person comes along, I would suggest that you leave.”

      He made a hissing sound and then moved toward the rear of the bus and away from us. “Your ass is ugly, anyway,” I heard him mutter. I wanted to say something mean about his mother but decided to let it go. The last thing I wanted was to get into a battle of wits with him. I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

      “Damn, girl, he was kind of cute,” Toya leaned into me and whispered.

      “No, he wasn’t. That boy looked whack and had breath that smelled like the Crypt Keeper from that show Tales From the Crypt. Hell, all he needed was a coffin to complete the look.”

      “Why are you so mean?” Toya asked as she repositioned Junior on her lap yet again.

      “He was on my nerves,” I answered as I

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