Birth of a Dark Nation Read Online Free

nodded. "Oh
lawd. We finna have the bootleg man all up and through here."
    I smiled. Steve buzzed the dude in and he
walked straightaway to the reception area.
    "What's up man?" I said.
    "Chillin'. You good?" he asked.
    "Yeah man, I'm good. I'm sorry I didn't
introduce myself last time. My name is Justin. Justin Kena."
    "Dante," he replied. I stretched my hand out
to his and he accepted my handshake.
    "This is my coworker, Steve. He's a case
manager." They shook hands.
    "What a case manager do?" Dante asked.
    Steve glanced at me.
    "A case manager is like a social worker that
helps people get the things they need or are entitled to. It's like
somebody who helps people that can't help themselves because they
don't have a network or support."
    "Oh, okay." Dante put his book bag on the
reception desk and unzipped it. "You a case manager, too?"
    "Nah, I do computers," I answered.
    "What kind of place is this?" Dante neatly
arranged his white envelopes of DVDs on the desk while he
listened.
    "Magdalene House basically provides housing
for women with HIV," I replied.
    "Oh, okay. That makes sense."
    "So what kinda flicks you got?" Steve
asked.
    "Well, your man here tried to play me earlier
this week, tommbout he ain't want no G-rated movies up in this
camp. So I got a whole bunch of that good shit fo' dat ass. I got
that Pinky, Jada Fire…some Cherokee…"
    "Damn man, you weren't playing!" Steve
exclaimed. He pawed at the disks, picking them up to look closer at
the titles.
    "That's cool," I said. "But do you have any
Brian Pumper?"
    "B. Pumper? Hell yeah!" Dante dug deeper into
his bag and pulled out two disks. "Phatty Rhymes & Dimes…and
Black Ass Master. Here you go man."
    He placed them in my hand. I raised my
eyebrow.
    "He's good," I told Steve.
    "Man, I knew not to come half-steppin' when
you said you wanted some flicks."
    "How much?" Steve said.
    "One for five. Buy two, get one free."
    "What's 'The Candy Shop' about?" I asked.
    "Oh, that's all girls," Dante said. I
wrinkled my nose.
    "I don't know if you could tell, but I like
dudes," I said, pushing 'Candy Shop' back toward him. "So anything
you get with Brian Pumper, Mr. Marcus, or Lex Steele-we good.
Anything, really. But it's gotta be some dicks involved."
    Steve laughed and Dante was unfazed.
    "I gotcha," he said. "Well take these two B.
Pumpers and this jont right here—Mr. Marcus is in that one. And I
will throw in an extra one for your boy."
    "That's a deal," I said, peeling a ten off my
slim wad of cash. "Whatchu want, Steve?"
    "Yeah… I'll go ahead and take that Candy
Shop."
    "Nasty bastard," I said with a smile. I gave
Dante my ten and he placed the DVDs in my hand. For a split second,
our fingers touched.
    "Enjoy the movies man," he said. Steve
immediately took his out of my hand and ran back to his desk.
    "Your man really likes his flicks, huh?"
Dante asked, zipping up his bag.
    "Yeah man, I guess we both do." As he slung
his bag on his back, our eyes met for a moment.
    "Aight man, I'm out," Dante said. He abruptly
turned around and headed toward the door. I followed him.
    "Thanks for coming by," I said. "You know, I
didn't really think I'd see you again."
    "Why you think that?" He placed his hand on
the handle of the front door.
    "I mean, you know… I never really saw you
around here before."
    His hand left the door handle.
    "I live on Thayer Street. A block from the
Masonic hall. I lived there for a while."
    "I didn't realize that."
    "Justin's the name, right?" I nodded. "Well,
Justin, let me give you some advice. If you take your head out of
the clouds and, you know, actually look around sometimes, at the
things right there in front of your face, the people, maybe you'll
notice a whole lot of things you been missin' out on."
    "I didn't mean to offend you, man."
    "I ain't offended," he said, opening the
doorway to the porch. The summer heat spilled into the foyer.
    "And I ain't mad that I been out there for a
few months and the first time you looked in my