Note On The Alley...

Our alley was funny because it was so lurid, and you never knew what you'd see.
One time when we tried to pull into our parking spot, we found a buncha homicide detectives
hovering around us and in our spot. Yellow tape, the works. Someone had died RIGHT THERE.
If you went driving up the alley a little further, guys would approach you from both sides
of your car, and ask " Yo Whatchoo want?" And what they were asking was " Weed or crack?"
And it was funny because it happened to us every single time we would try to leave that way.

There were unfunny aspects of the neighborhood, as you already know.
The saddest thing I've ever witnessed happened when
we were coming home from a party, late one night. One the corner of the boulevard where we'd
turn into the alley, there was a tiny boy. I don't really want to remember this...

There was a tiny boy, 2 or 3. That small. And he had a little tiny suitcase or lunchbox with him
that he was holding onto. he was just standing there, and looked extra tiny being on the
boulevard like that, in the middle of the night.
Detectives were swarming all around him.
As we pulled into our spot, my eyes were full of tears. I was trying not to cry, but that was
heartbreaking. I began crying.
S said gently, " You know he's better off now, right? Then with whoever just dropped him off like that.
He'll go into a foster home, he's small enough that maybe someone will adopt him."
He was right, and I knew that. But it was still sad, and probably the saddest thing that I have
ever seen.
Yep, stories from the Hood.