Free Street Soldier 2 by Silhouettes Page B

I saw some women straight holdin’ it down for their men, no matter what. The gal I was with moved the fuck on after two months. I haven’t heard from her since. I didn’t expect her to remain loyal to me, but after four years together, one simple letter would have suited me just fine. I got nothin’.”
    I couldn’t help but think about Romeo and all that he was going through. His and Nate’s situations sounded so similar. I was so sure that plenty of other brothas in prison could tell the same story. Wrong place, wrong friends, wrong time. “How ... how was it in prison, Nate? Is everything they say about it really true? I mean, I know it ain’t no picnic, but is it as bad as many people make it out to be?”
    Nate looked me straight in my eyes. “You don’t really know, unless you’ve been there. And trust me when I say it is no place that any man on this earth would want to be, especially young men. Everything that you hear is true; then there comes a side that many of us rather not tell. It’s horrible, Prince, and I wouldn’t wish prison life on my worst damn enemy. I’ll leave it there.”
    I guess that was the first time anyone had ever put it out there like that for me, and I understood why Romeo never wanted to discuss what was going on with him, nor the specifics. I put the thoughts to the back of my mind, and that was easy to do when I saw Poetry walking down the street with a freckle-faced dude next to her. He seemed much older than she was and had on some nerdy-ass glasses. His cap was pulled down on his head, almost covering his eyes. They both were eating ice cream and she looked giddy as ever as they talked. I had to go fuck with her, only because she’d been fucking with me.
    â€œI’ll be right back,” I said to Nate as I hurried down the steps to catch up with Poetry and her man. When I did, I crept up from behind and tapped her shoulder. “Ay,” I said, causing her to quickly turn around. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”
    She looked at the brotha next to her, then shrugged her shoulder. “No, I don’t think so. You don’t look familiar to me, so I think you may have the wrong person.”
    â€œI don’t think so, because there couldn’t be another chick on this planet as fine as you are. Your name is Poetry, right?”
    The dude she was with folded his arms and looked at Poetry, who seemed tongue-tied. “That’s my name, but I don’t know you, all right? Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to my walk.”
    â€œSure.” I smiled. “Go right ahead. I just happened to find your phone number you gave me the other day, and I had hoped to call you real soon. But if you’re kickin’ it with ol’ boy, then I don’t want to waste my time.”
    This time, the brotha she was with sighed. “Can we go now?” he said. “I want to find somewhere close to sit.”
    â€œYes, we must do so,” she said to the brotha, then looked at me and cut her eyes before walking off.
    I chuckled, thinking what a joke some women were. There she was pursuing the hell out of me when all along she had a man. I guess he wasn’t fulfilling her needs, and any man who put up with that mouth of hers was courageous.
    I went back to where Nate was and we talked to each other until the fireworks got started. The Arch grounds had gotten even more crowded and police were everywhere, trying to make sure everything stayed in order. They could only do so much, and as soon as the eardrum-busting fireworks were over, two fights broke out. One was a group of white boys who had gotten drunk and started calling each other names, and the other was a group of girls who were pulling each other’s hair out. As we moved with the crowd, that’s when we saw a group of black men starting to yell at each other. Too bad the man next to us referred to