A Hustler's Wife Read online

  "That's some nice jewelry. Did your boyfriend give them to you?" Yarni ignored the lady cop as she moved around the van trying to see out of the windows that were taped up. The male police said, "Yeah, her boyfriend gave it to her because you know he's a drug dealer." As he opened up the door to get out of the van leaning back in, shaking his head at Yarni, "But sweetie, you can kiss that big nice rock on your finger good bye because my wife's going to be wearing that soon and very soon," pointing directly at the cluster ring that Bengee had given Yarni just a few weeks before.

  "I kinda figured your boyfriend sold drugs just by your jewelry. How else would you be able to afford such extravagant pieces? I wish I had somebody to buy me some nice presents." The lady cop said in a sarcastic tone, but trying to make Yarni comfortable so she could loosen up.

  I betcha you do. Don't try to act as if we're really friends and I don't know what's going on here. Shit, you ain't no friend of mine and can best believe I'm not muttering a word.

  "Look, you need to talk to me. I can help you." Yarni rolled her eyes and laughed. Everything else the woman cop said Yarni continued to laugh at in a cynical manner, even when the male cop entered the van with a 9mm in his hand.

  "Laugh now, but cry later," the officer said. "Yarnise Pitman, you are under arrest for possession of an illegal firearm. Now, I bet you want to talk to us, huh?" Yarni continued with her sarcastic giggle. "Do you really think a ride downtown is going to scare me? Oh, I'm shaking in my boots! Yarni said as she continued laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside. She'd never been inside a police car before or been to a jail, other than to visit. She was fully aware of the notion that they were only taking her to jail out of spite.

  The police knew that gun wasn't hers, but since she didn't utter a word, they gave her the gun charge too.

  Before they took her in front the magistrate to get a bond, they made her sit in a cold empty room for about three hours before anybody came in. She couldn't fall asleep because the room temperature was so uncomfortable. Her nipples were hard, and chill bumps were all over her body. When the interrogation officer entered the room, the first thing he asked was,

  "Are you cold? Would you like me to adjust the temperature to make you more comfortable?" He banged on the door, "you guys ought to be ashamed of yourself. It's freezing. Cut the air down, and get me some hot coa-coa or coffee in here right now!" Yarni didn't budge neither was she impressed.

  "Ms. Pitman, this is how it works. One hand washes the other around here? See how I got you instant results with the heat, coffee, hot chocolate and all? That's how I work. Instant gratification. You give me some instant info and I will give you on the spot results. This little fiasco that you had earlier can all be erased." Yarni just stared at him with a timid expression on her face. He pulled up a chair beside Yarni, "do any of these people look familiar to you?" He started spreading pictures all across the table of the city's neighborhood drug boys from all over Richmond. Some she knew, or had seen around, and some she didn't. She studied the photos and what she found interesting was the fact that the photos were not mug shots. Most were taken at clubs, some at car lots, the mall, Summer League, shows, the block, just any where the ballers were subject to be found. Yarni didn't allow her astonishment to show as she stared at the photos of the players and pimps from all over the communities of Richmond, from the "358", the "233", the "643" and the "321". Still she maintained her silence. The interrogator observed her looking, so that's when he started laying more photos on the table, "who's car is this?" "What about this car?" Damn these people ain't joking. They taking pictures of cars and everything.

  "Yarnise, if you can give me some info about any of these people, I can make your little charge disappear as if I was David Copperfield. Poof, be gone. Just like that."

  "Just like that huh? That easy?" She finally broke her silence.

  The detective got happy as he grinned, "Just like that!" Yarni looked as serious as she could. The detective moved the photos around on the wood table. "See, I know that gun wasn't yours. I can persuade the right people of it. What do you say, Yarnise?" He asked as if he knew he was just about to hit the jackpot. He was certain she was about to spill her guts on everything she knew or heard of on every nickel and dime hustler to the big time dealers. Oh, Ms. Yarnise Pitman was going to be his Christmas bonus, his raise, and that promotion he'd been looking for.

  Yarni looked in his face and made direct eye contact with him, and fell into laughter. "Poof, be gone? Disappear like David Copperfield, right?" She asked as she held her stomach with rays of laughter roaring out. He shook his head and started laughing too, "Just like David Copperfield." Yarni seized her giggles and got serious as she paused and looked into his eyes. "David Copperfield works with illusions, and that bullshit you talking is nothing but a mirage, a fallacy, a hallucination! You understand? Now, get me a lawyer, and while you're doing that, realize that I walk with two legs. I don't lay on my belly and slither around on the ground. I'm no snake, rat, snitch, informant, mole, spy, understand that. Oh, and one last thing, never ever compare yourself to David Copperfield. One thing is fo sho, and two things for certain, you're not Whodini, or David so you can't make jack disappear." Both Yarni and Bengee posted bail that same night.

  A lot of sleepless nights followed. She had a lot on her plate.

  Every time she closed her eyes to sleep she thought about the pictures that laid on that table. What's her responsibility here?

  Does she warn the hustlers of the fact the police are asking questions and they better prepare themselves for what is about to come. She was fully aware of the fact that it doesn't take much to convince a weak individual of treason, especially when they are under the gun. The rules to the game change in their eyes. Is it fair to let innocent people fall victim? Granted they all breaking "the law" even though the law wasn't set up for my people to come in first place? And certain people possess these get out of jail free cards. I mean, these people in the photos, they shouldn't be sacrificed, to save somebody else, who simply got caught up. O.K. I wanna approach each and every face I remember in those pictures and just put them down with the conspiracy, but at the same time, where does that leave me? People will get suspect, think I got ulterior motives, and I'm the one trying to play fair.

  Yarni knew that Bengee already had 22 years suspended time over his head. Plus, he'd be violating his parole if he got that new conviction. After constant persuasion from Bengee, she ended up taking the charge. Bengee hired her a lawyer, Mr. Plucktime. The lawyer assured her that the state would dismiss the accusations or only knoll process the case, and the worst that could happen is that she'd get probation, and after six months of good behavior, they'd bring the case up and dismiss it.

  Bengee asked her not to tell anybody. She didn't tell a soul, especially her mother or Des. She knew it would break Gloria's heart. She also felt ashamed that she had let Bengee talk her into this. This was really putting her career on the line, her schooling, her life, her everything. She loved him and knew that he'd never steer her wrong. So, she just believed in him.

  While all this was going on, she still went back and forth to school maintaining a high grade point average. When she went to talk to the presentence officer, she said that she'd recommend to the courts no jail time, and assured her that everything would be fine.

  The court date came around fast. When she woke up, Bengee said that he was sick and he couldn't go to court to with her because he thought he had a stomach virus. She ended up driving herself to court. As soon as she pulled in the court parking deck she called Gloria. She told her she had to go to court and she didn't want to go by herself. Gloria had arrived right before they called Yarni's name. She knew that Yarni was in serious trouble due to the fact that she was not in General District Court, but Circuit Court. Gloria was furious because she knew Bengee was the masked man behind all of this madness and now he was nowhere in sight.

  Yarni was sentenced in Henpeck circuit court. Henpeck County
was very strict. The judge who presided over the case was a real redneck. The irony of it was, his name was Judge Redneck. He was old and should have retired fifteen years ago, when he was seventy or so. He made an example out of Yarni.

  He looked dead in Yarni's face and asked her, "Do you expect me to have some sympathy for you? You're in undergrad school.

  You should know better." He looked at the paperwork, page after page, with his ink pen in hand and asked the commonwealth attorney, "Did she cooperate with you in questioning and turning states evidence?"

  The commonwealth attorney laughed as he said, "Judge, she didn't utter a word and simply turned her back to me the whole time I was trying to question her." The judge shook his head in disgust and interrogated her,

  "I've looked over your letters from your professors, your grades as well as your presentence report, and how could you possibly have all this book sense and not an ounce of common sense to speak up and save your own butt? I'm looking around the courtroom, and the male whose gun it really was, isn't even here to show his support. You young girls better wake up and smell the coffee because it is definitely perking. I've never wanted to send someone to jail, until now. I really don't feel you deserve to be sentenced to jail time. However, I feel obligated to sentence you to one year in jail, simply for being a fool for love." In Virginia, one year was equal to ten months. Yarni would have to serve ten months in the Henpeck County Jail. With good behavior she'd be released in nine months and fifteen days. Yarni was devastated, and was outdone with the outcome. Gloria jumped up in court and yelled, "You prejudiced MOTHERFUCKER!!!!"

  The bailiff marched over to Gloria to lock her up for the pro-fane outburst, but the judge simply said, "I am going to let you get that one for free. After all, I am having a good day and I've been called worst behind my back, but never in my face." He added, "Remove this woman from my court room!" Yarni walked slowly out of the courtroom in disbelief. Her attorney approached her, smiling at her, "I think the outcome went very well, considering the guidelines for this type of case." Yarni exploded, "You never mentioned anything about any guidelines to me. You promised me no time, you sellout motherfucker!!!" She walked up to him, got face to face with him and spit. "You're fired and I am reporting you to the bar association." She called Bengee at the house since he was supposed to have been so sick. She didn't get an answer. She called his cell phone. He answered.

  "Oh, you've recovered huh?" Yarni said in a sharp tone.

  "No, I just had to go meet somebody real quick. I am on my way back to the house now," Bengee explained quickly.

  "You sold me out, Bengee. You got me that bullshit ass lawyer who you claimed was top of the line. He really was the bottom of the barrel!!! You better go get your money back. You knew that those white folks were going to give me some time, didn't you? That's why your stomach was hurting this morning, huh?" Bengee hung up in her ear.

  The judge did give her work release. She'd lied to him, telling him that she did bookkeeping at a daycare center. She neglected to mention that it was her aunt Andrea's daycare center. He gave her until the following Monday to turn herself in.

  She hired another lawyer to work on an appeal, sentence reduction and home incarceration.

  Yarni told Melanie what had happened and expressed to her friend that she was going to need to call her collect as a backup in case she couldn't reach Bengee or her mother. Melanie said that her phone was about to get cut off from dudes calling her house from the penitentiary. Yarni paid Melanie's phone bill, $536.00, so she'd be able to call her collect. She also told Melanie that she would get Bengee to give her the money to pay her phone bill for the months to come.

  Monday rolled around and Yarni turned herself in. She kept telling herself it wasn't going to be that bad because she got to leave during the day. All she had to do was sleep there. When she left for work during the day, at Aunt Andrea's daycare, she'd go check in, then leave and go to her classes at U of R. There was no way she going to let any of this stand in the way of her graduation. She had promised Des and her grandmother she was going to graduate and she meant it. She would go back to the daycare for the rest of the day when her classes were done. Two months into the work release it was running smooth and one day, the work release sheriff showed up at the daycare center looking for Yarni. They tried to cover for her and said that she was gone to the bank. Andrea ran to the back office and tried to call her on her cell phone, only, she had left her cell phone at the daycare center. She was up the creek with no paddle. When she returned to the jail that night they removed her from work release. She had to do the remainder of her six months straight jail time. This was the greatest difficulty she'd had faced yet.

  When they first put her in population, she cried everyday.

  Not because she was scared of being in jail, but simply because she wasn't used to jail life or the mentality. Having to eat what was chosen for her to consume, was hard enough and the food was disgusting so she wouldn't eat. She lost about twenty pounds in a four-month-time frame.

  When she went into the jail population some of the girls knew her from the streets. Or, if they didn't know her personally, they had heard of her by tying her to Des, Rallo or Bengee.

  Some gave her the utmost respect on the strength of Des or Bengee, but some of her fellow inmates were jealous of her.

  They were especially envious of the way she lived out of jail as well as in confinement.

  Sometimes when a person goes to jail, they are forgotten about. People on the outside world think, out of sight, out of mind. So, they forget all about the inmate. What they don't realize is unless a person was sentenced to death or has consecutive life sentences, and even so, convictions are overturned everyday, which means they are not going to be confined forever. And one day, they'll meet again.

  This wasn't the total case for Yarni. First of all, she only told a selective few that she was in jail. The people she did inform showed her love. She got mail on a regular basis, and even though she didn't want any visits, Gloria visited every week.

  Whenever she made a phone call, the charges were always accepted. She could call as much and talk as long as she wanted. Her inmate account was always stacked. She continued to get yellow money receipt slips even though she already had hundreds of dollars in her inmate account.

  She also ran a store in her dayroom. In jail, inmates only get to go to the canteen once a week. At the end of the week, some of them may run out of certain products. So, an inmate would allow that person to get an item from them, providing when they go to the store, they give them two items back. It is called two for one. Yarni only provided one for one; whatever was gotten from her was just reversed with that item.

  Most of the girls in jail were there because of some crime they committed for drugs. The majority of them were conniving on the streets and shiesty in jail. They may have done so much low down dirty stuff that when they got to jail, nobody thought enough of them to send money or any expressions of love. So, naturally, when they saw somebody like Yarni, one of two reac-tions happened: They either tried to befriend her to get whatever they could from her, or they just envied and hated her, and tried to give her a hard time. They'd send trouble her way anyway they could.

  Yarni had never thought about breaking the law before in her life. The lifestyles of the men she dated caused her to know the hustles of the world, such as buying clothes hot from a booster, buying food stamps for half price, dudes getting robbed, people selling drugs, or whatever crime that's been committed. She was aware of all these offenses and personally knew people who did all of the above plus some but she never thought of ever committing a crime.

  Overall, Yarni was a good person. She would help anybody.

  Girls would come in going through withdrawals from heroine.

  That was a sad sight. They would shake, sweat, and vomit, just be sick desiring chocolate to ease their urge. She would give them a couple of chocolate candy bars and some Ivory soap to help clean up the vomit, not loo
king for anything in return. Her heart was compassionate. She looked out for anybody in need, but don't get it twisted, Yarni was no fool or no lame for anybody.

  The first two months were the hardest for Yarni to adjust to.

  She stayed in some type of trouble. She got into two fights back to back with girls wanting to try her. She knew if she didn't straighten the situation out, things would go from bad to worse.

  Yarni had picked up a lot of her jail survival skills from Des and unknowingly, her father. For instance, she told the deputy who processed her in, that she'd just gotten her ears pierced and was afraid if she'd removed her diamond studded earrings her ear may close or worse, get infected. The deputy allowed Yarni to keep her earrings, because the jail was awful when dealing with medical incidents. They hated the hassle and were short handed on medical staff.

  Yarni also removed the under wire out of her bras so she wouldn't have to wear the county issued underwear. She was allowed to have eight T-shirts, soft bras, socks, and panties. She instructed Gloria to bring her all colors of T-shirts with socks to match, not any white, because she could buy white T-shirts and socks from the jail canteen. Her mother also brought her a Guess watch. These things were nothing to Yarni. She was only trying to make the best out of a horrible situation. Having these belongings made Yarni stand out, so there was a lot of jealousy surrounding her.

  Although Yarni had a good heart, she wasn't going to let anybody take advantage of her by any means. This dirty, junkie girl, Key-Key, she knew from the street, was locked up too. She was light skinned, shoulder length curly hair and had a petite frame.

  Pretty she wasn't, but her complexion, clothing, and cute shape attracted the men.

  One day Key-Key walked over to Yarni when Yarni was leaving out of her cell to go play spades.

  "Can I get a honey bun and a baby Ruth from you? I'll pay you when we go to canteen on Tuesday. I'm supposed to get a money slip on Monday," Key-Key asked.