⁶ Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. (KJV)

⁶ The Cutlass Supreme slowly turned the corner and came to a creeping crawl – the pounding bass of the music now fading. The window slyly rolled down, and OG Jay poked his head out, “Ey youngblood! You Jamaal, right?”

Jamaal stopped, turned around. The car came to a halt.

“You deaf, boy?” You Jamaal, right?” OG Jay asked again.

Jamaal looked deep into his OG Jay’s eyes. Never had he been this close to him. He had heard stories, had even seen him down the block, always hanging on the corner by Mr. Kim’s liquor store, but he had never been this close – face to face. He tried to speak, nothing came out, and once enough courage could be mustered, stuttered, “Y-yea.”

“Yeah, I thought so. I seen you grown on up, boy. I knew your older brother Mike. He was my homeboy, a real soldier, y’know. Rest in peace. Anyways, you know who I am, boy?”

In the same flustered response, “Y-yea.”

OG Jay laughed, “Aha, one of dem quiet mothafuckas. They the deadliest. I like you, Jamaal. Therefore you’re gonna stick with me, by my side, be my right-hand man. And most of all, you will fear me, you will respect me, and I’ll take you places.”

Jamaal entered the rear door, and the windows rolled up. With that, the last fleeting moments of innocence were lost from his eyes as the tinted windows concealed them. (BBI)