We went into the mountain and Daisy was standing inside. Lola is her daughter; she was trying to escape the discussion. Daisy sighed as she saw her daughter. "You feel ok?"
Lola lifted her shoulders and released a breath, "I'm fine." she said with a smile. "I'm not." said Daisy. "I broke off my horns again."
My eyes looked to the floor and saw two broken pieces feet away from her. "Come on, up we go." Lola followed behind her mother and I tagged along.
The cave was something special to me. As we walked in a little ways from the entrance, you saw statues of rappers. The first one was Biz Markie. I had to stand and look at him. "Is he alive?" I said to myself. Then thought I've never heard of one Biz Markie song.
Daisy and Lola were ahead of me. They both gave me a disgusted look. "You never heard of just a friend?" Daisy grimaced.
Probably not, I was in the pound.
Moving on, We went around a rock wall that had chains that touched the ground. They were labeled and I saw a chain that read 'Don Capone'. Wouldn't he be at the top?
"Are we taking the elevator?" asked Lola. "You used to like coming here before it became taboo." said Daisy. Lola looked to me while I was examining the chains. I was holding a chain with no name that broke short at the left rope. "Mokiri!" I turned my head. "You wanna walk?"
I thought that's what we were doing. "Yeah. Just for a while."
We moved up a floor taking a ramp from the first floor of the cave. It was more spacious of this level and there was a long red crooked carpet. At the end of the carpet, the statue of Kool Keith. "Let me say this now!" shouted Daisy walking pass the stone. "He has nothing to do with that nigga!" Daisy pointed strongly. She walked on. I'm just reading the tag at the feet. Is he dead too?"
I passed by a broken picture of a rapper that wasn't labeled. Across his face as he stood with a shotgun on the side of his leg. "Who was he?"
"Probably a young nigga that didn't make it." said Lola. "My dad used to make jokes about rappers. He sat in the livingroom and--"
"Complained about being broke instead of taking his sorry fuckin' ass to the house of God. Rotten ass, sorry bitch ass--His was little, had the whole cabinet in the bathroom with several dozen goddamn, fucking dick en-sizing motherfuckin' pills!"
I heard Lola hiss. She bent to my ear. "My brother wanted to rap…"
"Damn…" I feel like I just ate a hot pepper. "You had a brother?"
"I did… Tony Bruce but we called him Lil' Road."
"Road?"
"My granddaddy, before he died at the time. Told us this story of when he was racing back in the day. He got arrested for racing in the public."
I grinned, "For money?"
"He was a gambling and actually. That's how he met my grandma 'Vegas' Dela Elliott."
"Vegas?"
"She was a chef at her own restaurant that mama used to work at. She sold the Vegas dog that had…" she muses with her eyes to the ceiling of the mountain. "Lays chips, green bell peppers, tomatoes, corn, a dad of hot sauce; not too much, and chili beans over a link sausage on a toasted hot dog bun." Lola giggled. "I used to eat the shit out of it. Mama sits on the memory, I was like five and I ate my brother's when he went to the bathroom and I had a stomach ache all night."
"What about gas?" I'm happy… I like stories like this. "I did go. But when I couldn't my mama took me to the clinic and they gave me laxatives. I ended up going without the lax and my mama sent me back to the clinic."
"Why?"
"She thought I had bowl cancer or something. She had the toilet in my bathroom removed." Lola shakes her head. "I broke a pipe."
"Damn…"
"More like, it was bent. That's what the plumper said. She went to church and kept saying I had demons."
"It's not that serious."
"My mama's a hypochondriac. When I was little, my mama had diabetes, she was blind in one eye. My mama told me she lost her thumb when she was little. We had a car crash, so she lost another body part."
"Which one?"
"Her left leg."
"GIRLS!" calls Daisy. "Bring y'all asses!"
.
.
.
The second floor had this gate with rings on the bar. I played with a silver ring that had a purple gemstone in the middle. "Don't touch them." warned Daisy. "This is the Gate of Claim. Once upon of time, there was a gangsta that use to have these games. Anybody that fucked with him wrong, be it money, women, or drugs, he took they rings." said Lola.
"some of these niggas was married." added Daisy.
"What happened to chains?"
"Chains, bracelets, teeth…" she looked at me with wide eyes. "Fuck all of it."
"Lives." said Lola. "Eyes."
"It goes on… niggas is crazy in the hood." said Daisy.
"All these rings belonged to gangstas?" I asked. "Nope because my ring over here." Daisy gestured. I went to the far right side of the gate. "This one?"
"The one that has the flower engrave." she said.
I pulled the ring up and down. I couldn't take it off but there was room around it. A white ring with a flower design on the band. It had a pearl in the middle. "Mama, here's road's." I heard from Lola.
"Leave it alone. I couldn't take it if I tried…" she sighed deeply. "Imma pray over it…"
I wonder if my daddy had a ring.
The Gate was between a large wedge. All we had to do was go around and follow the lanterns that made a hall. There a painting of rappers in the clouds. I can make out 2Pac and Snoop Dog.
"You know Snoop Dog is Vinitharius, right?"
"He used to hang with Aleigha…"
"How did Snoop get to be a vampire?" I asked a stupid question. "He knew Aleigha!" they both exclaimed. What is wrong with me?
"You probably hungry. When we get back, we'll eat." said Lola. "And no crazy ass shit. We finna have Turkey, salted cauliflower and a honey biscuit."
"I like Miss Aaron's yams." said Lola. "I can't wait to go back and be a jew." said Daisy. "Mokiri is Muslim. I don't like fasting."
"I haven't fast before…"
"You probably don't remember, that's all."
I really lost myself. I don't have any memories of my past. I did steroids, I was on the football team--And just like that I broke away from sadness. Cait killed somebody at school.
I'm supposed to be at school but here I am. "Mokiri!" yelled Lola. "Come look at Kid Rock!"