TC’s True © Hollywood Stories Vol III: The Showdown
I was 16 years old, and I was ready to take on the
WORLD. I not only had my driver’s
license, but I had access to a FEW cars anytime I needed them. I felt like I was growing up, and all I
needed now was a pretty young lady to spend some time with. I met a few here and there, but one day I hit
the jackpot: I booked a honey named “Tootie” at Addison Road Metro station, and
she was BAD. I called her and we chit
chatted all night long, just getting to know one another. I asked her when I could take her out and she
told me that she wanted to go to the Carnival at Forestville Mall for the
weekend. I was down: I went to the mall
to get fresh for the carnival, got a fade, washed the car and it was ON!! I picked her up at 8 o'clock and the night
began…
She lived in Doral Terrace in Forestville, which means I had
to mentally squad up before I went to pick her up. I was mean mugged and gritted on approximately 20 times as I walked to and from her apartment. We got to the Carnival,
and everything was going well: I won her a stuffed animal, we had funnel cakes,
and went on little stupid rides together.
She was having a great time; I could see it in her face. In the middle of us having fun, I saw one of
my best buddies in the corner of my eye.
I went over to say “wassup” to him and show off my new boo.
I called his name but he didn’t turn around, so I ran up on
him and slapped him in the back of the head (we always did that to each other,
just playing around). As I did that, I looked
around at the folks that were around him…I didn’t know ANY of them. I thought to myself, “Who are these dudes,
and why haven’t I met any of them before?”
To my horror, he turned around and IT WAS NOT MY BEST FRIEND. Same height, same build, same haircut,
everything…but it wasn’t him. I stood
there STUCK. I wanted to say, “My bad
dude, I thought you were someone else,” but it didn’t quite come out. I just stood there and said nothing, waiting
for him to react to me slapping the shit out of the back of his head. He looked at me, stepped back, smiled, and
ran around the corner. I let out a sigh
of relief. I just knew I would have to
fight this guy, which would undoubtedly ruin my date with my new little
boo. Lucky for me, everything worked out
in my favor, or so I thought.
The Forestville Carnival was a big circle of rides, games,
arcades and stands. We went around the
circle about 10 times, each time trying out something new. Finally we decided we’d go around a few more
times and then we would leave. As we
were going around the last circle, I looked ahead and my stomach immediately
knotted up; I saw the guy I slapped in the head earlier with 8 of his boys
walking towards me. He was pointing at
me, and they were almost running over to where we were standing. Tootie saw them rushing over towards us and
my facial expressions and asked me was everything ok. I quickly gave her the rundown, and then gave
her my keys and told her to run to the car as soon as they got close to
me. I decided that if I was gonna go
out, I wasn’t gonna run, I’d just take this ass whuppin like a man. They finally got right up on me, and the guy
stepped up to me. “So you like slapping
people in the back of the head, huh?” I
stepped back and tried to decide which two dudes I was
gonna try to punch first before the rest of them destroyed me. Just as it was about to go down, Tootie
jumped in the middle of us and said, “Jamal, WAIT!”
First of all, I was like “Who in the shit is Jamal?” And why is Tootie risking her neck to save me
in the middle of this dusty ass thugged out mob? It turned out that Jamal was her cousin, and
just happened to be the biggest dustiest dude out of the crew. He told his crew to hold up, and she told them everything. The dude who’s head I slapped turned to me
and said “Man why didn’t you tell me what happened? You should have just apologized…we were about
to CRUSH you!” I finally spoke, and I
spilled my guts to them. Surprisingly,
they all squashed the beef, and we ended up all walking around the Carnival a
little while longer, and even went to Jamal’s van and indulged in some
Bob Marley. I eventually took Tootie
home and actually went out with her several times before hitting and quitting
it. I still hang out and party with the
guy whose head I slapped, and was even in his wedding as a groomsman. After that experience, I have NEVER gone over
to greet anyone with a slap to the head again, because that situation could
have gotten really UGLY. Until the next
time….
