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“Poppi, you’ve got to eat,” Eden huffed, as she stood slightly bent in front of the woman who’d molded her into who she was today.

Poppi Ellis, her once vibrant grandmother.

Her red nails, lipstick, and quick wit had everyone in Trae Way showing admiration for her.

She sold work, made plates, and took in whoever she needed to before passing the reins over to Mama.

Unfortunately, Mama wasn’t anything like Poppi.

She wasn’t caring, nor did she look out for her people the way Poppi did.

Even her name was insulting to Poppi’s legacy.

She was a great-value version of the woman Poppi was.

“I don’t want peas. I want those muthafuckas out of my house!” Poppi shouted, knocking the peas away from her. She wore a scowl as she looked around, paranoia making her eyes bounce around the room and through Eden.

Eden huffed, tired and on the verge of being overwhelmed.

Tonight was her first night at Midnight and the first night she was leaving Poppi in the hands of her almost-CNA cousin.

Aysha needed some extra money, and Eden needed someone other than Staysha to sit with Poppi.

Before the Alzheimer’s diagnosis fully set in, Poppi loved Staysha.

She loved the gossip and the dancing, and JoyChatting, she and Staysha did.

As the disease progressed, Staysha – who favored their mother – Poppi's oldest daughter, was the object of Poppi’s aggression.

Never once did Staysha hold that against her grandmother. She, like Eden, knew their mother was a piece of work and had done the unthinkable to Poppi, Eden, and Staysha. However, Eden still wouldn’t put Staysha in the line of fire or upset her grandmother.

Eden stumbled backward slightly to keep the peas from spilling over the carpet. “Who is in the house, Poppi?”

Poppi’s eyes were fixed on one of the tall vases in the corner of the room. “Look at them looking at me. Like, I won’t shoot them. They came in here to take my shit and your shit too!”

Eden sighed as she looked at one of Poppi’s beloved pieces. Standing to her full height of five feet five inches, Eden placed the bowl of chicken and peas on the coffee table and trekked over to the vase.

“Is this the only one, or is there more?” Eden questioned as she picked up the tall, heavy vase that she was banned from touching as a child.

Poppi’s eyes continued to dart around before grumbling, “You got them all.”

“Okay,” Eden hummed as she shimmied the vase down the hall and into a closet. When she returned, Poppi had grabbed her bowl of chicken and peas and started eating them with her fingers. “You didn’t want the spoon?”

“No, I’m going to use this in case they come back,” Poppi stated, scooping up the chicken and the peas she insisted on having.

“And what are you going to do with the spoon, Poppi?”

“Scoop their fucking eyes out like I did that nigga who tried to break into my shit last night,” Poppi grumbled with a mouth full of food.

Eden knew that night. It wasn’t last night, more like years ago when Gary Strong started dipping into his supply and coming up short on his drops to Poppi.

He started making threats toward Poppi, Eden, and Staysha before breaking in.

Poppi may have had a big heart, but she ran the Trae Way Gangstas like any man would.

That type of position made you ruthless, and Poppi was never going to let anyone take, abuse, or threaten her or her girls.

Eden remembered peeping through the back door from her spot in the kitchen as Poppi dug his eyes out with a spoon.

“Alright, well, the only one coming in here tonight is Aysha, is that okay?” Eden asked.

“Did I tell you it was?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Eden answered.

“Okay then, have her come, but keep Anzel away from me. That bitch needs her ass beat for what she did,” Poppi huffed, as Eden watched Staysha slide through the back door and creep down the hall.

“I will. You want to watch TV?”

“Yeah, put on that show with the BBL bitches who be fighting over those washed-up rappers,” Poppi instructed, licking her fingers and handing Eden her empty bowl.

Retrieving the bowl, Eden turned the TV to the desired channel and draped a blanket over her. “Are you going to give Aysha an easy night?”

“Hell no! I'm going to give that bitch a run for her money like I should be doing her fat ass momma,” Poppi stated with a chuckle. Then she winked. That was the woman Eden knew. And had only been allowed glimpses of over the last years. “You paying her?”

“I am.”

“How?” Poppi asked, looking up at Eden, who was trying not to lie to her grandmother ever. But in the light of recent events, Eden’s back was against the wall. Thanks to Staysha.

Eden chewed her lip. “I uh...got another job.”

“Oh yeah?” Poppi questioned as she snuggled into her blanket. Her meds were kicking in, but she wouldn’t be fully relaxed until Eden answered her question in its entirety.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Where?”

“Around the way,” Eden shared, earning a grunt from Poppi.

“Make sure you go see Dub at the corner store. Tell him I sent you, and he’ll make sure you’re good.”

Wearily, Eden said, “Okay.”

Dub had been dead for the last seven years, gunned down in the street in front of his one stop shop over gang shit. Poppi went crazy over that, had the streets laid out with bodies until the gang brought the attacker forward. The gunman was found within a week.

“Aight, whatever you do, don’t go talk to that bitch, Mama,” Poppi scoffed. “Some ‘mama’, she can’t do shit I do. Tomorrow, take me down there so I can get my shit back.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Eden shared, moving from the small living area to the front door to let Aysha in. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing, anything I need to know?” Aysha questioned.

“No. Nothing outside of don’t let her sleep on the couch all night, put her in her bed, and put her oxygen on her. Just turn the key to the right and put the tube in her nose, then around her ears.”

“I can handle that. Call you if I need you.”

Eden nodded. “I’ll answer you when I can.”

Aysha nodded and sat by Poppi, leaving Eden to slip down the hall to prepare herself for her night.

“Where are you going?” Staysha asked her as she packed a duffle bag.

Staysha was sitting at the end of Eden’s bed, dangling her legs with her feet barely brushing over the worn carpet. Eden offered her a loaded look from her face down to her ankle, where the monitor was.

“Goin’ to work since you got caught. And whatever I make that’s extra pays Aysha for sitting with Poppi and your new hardware.”

Staysha smacked her lips and rolled her eyes. “Two things, you’re paying her to sleep? And how was I supposed to know the mark was a detective?”

“By knowing. I told you the signs. Nigga claiming hustler, no tattoos, no scars, nothing. Just straight up bullshit. Cops, detectives, whatever, off limits. Those are the type of marks that’ll nail you to the cross and not think twice.

The only reason you got off with house arrest was because he was undercover, and you were going to blow up his spot. ”

“Again, how was I supposed to know?” Staysha mused, before flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“One of these days, I'm going to need you to grow the fuck up and be responsible,” Eden grumbled.

Staysha rolled her eyes and asked, “Where are you going?”

Eden didn’t want to tell her sister that fucking up the way she did had cost her more than the lick was actually worth.

She couldn’t tell Poppi; honestly, there wasn’t a thing Poppi could do.

As far as Eden knew, all her street money had dried up.

Whatever kickback she had been getting from the gang had slowed to a stop.

The only one left to call was the woman who held the purse strings.

Mama put up the money to bail Staysha out and pay the rent up and cover whatever other expenses had accrued since Poppi’s decline. Now, Eden was stuck at Midnight until the debt was paid. She only hoped she wouldn’t be stuck there, losing her soul like all the other women had within those walls.

“Midnight.”

“What?!” Staysha shrieked. “Why the fuck are you going there?”

Eden hurried to close her door. “Would you be so kind as to shut the hell up? Poppi is almost sleep.”

Staysha repeated herself as if Eden didn’t hear her the first time. “Why the fuck are you going there?”

“Because your ass got arrested . For soliciting, prostitution, and entrapment of a public servant. Who was I supposed to call? Huh?” Eden flailed her arms in the air, the scowl creasing her face.

“Girl, I didn’t know you were calling her for bail!”

Eden offered her another look. “Again, who the hell was I supposed to call?”

“I don’t know, Mom? Not her sister! Does Aysha know?”

“Oh, you wanted me to call Mom? Hey, Mom, I know you left us here to go and live your life in the city. I need you and all your money to bail Stay out of jail because we were hitting licks and her dumbass got caught.” Eden scoffed. “Yeah, fucking right.”

“Uh, yes. It’s the least she could do. I mean, what mother goes from an escort to a CEO?” Staysha questioned.

“One that was fuckin’ the CEO and blackmailed him.

Now she’s Waynesville’s businesswoman of the year,” Eden hissed bitterly, thinking about how their mother had said fuck them and left them in Trae Way to fend for themselves at such young ages.

It was Poppi who saved them. “Anyway, this is what I’m doing until I pay off your debt.

Make sure you’re up at six and ready to get to your shift.

I do not feel like your PO showing up here and asking me all those questions.

And don’t have no niggas in here. Poppi knows you’ve been having people in and out of here.

She ain’t that far gone, everything with her is just clouded. ”

Staysha scoffed. “I was only going to call Qwan over.”

“Don’t have Qwan’s thieving ass in here. Not like we got shit to steal but still. Don’t.”