Sample Monday – Shine: An Enigma Origin Story
1981
A thin stream of smoke slid through the crack in my bedroom door, followed by the familiar scent of Mamaβs Newport cigarettes, a scent I hated, even if I was used to it. I groaned, shifting on the twin-sized mattress that creaked beneath me. The daffodil-printed sheet clung to me as I swung my legs over the edge, the floor cold beneath my feet. Two more steps my hand was pressed against the flimsy door but stopped short of closing it when I heard their voices.
βBut what about his daddy. You ever gonna tell him he got a son?β Ms. Colleen’s voice floated through the thin walls.
βShhhhh. You know that boy donβt miss nothing. And no, Iβm not telling that nigga shit. What he gonna doβhelp me out around here?β
There was silence for a moment, and I wondered if Ms. Colleen actually listened to Mama and shut her trap. I hoped she didnβt. I wanted to hear more. Maybe it would help explain why I didnβt have a father. Why I had to grow up here.
I glanced around my roomβif you could even call it that. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, just a cot for a bed, a dresser, and barely enough space to breathe. But I made it mine, despite the cramped quarters. My sneakers lined up in neat rows by the window, all new. A box under my bed held my chains and a black book filled with numbers for pussy and connections. So right now, I wouldnβt complain about shit because complaining never changed a damn thing. Only action did that. Even still, I knew that it was a far cry from a good place to live even with the shit I was working on building. No one in the Eisenhower projects had a good place to live. Maybe the rats and roaches, but not the people.
I looked down to the floorboard that held a nest egg I was growing. Mama would never know about that shit. Helllll no. But I made sure to drop her cash every week because sheβs my mama and that was enough. Was she the best mama? I doubted it, matter of fact, nah. Her mouth was filthy, she ran with the wrong company half the time and she never cared that I stopped going to school in the tenth grade. But she carried me and brought me into the world.
βMaybe, Deena. You never know.β
βThat nigga would never leave his wife. Trust me, I tried to get him to. I put this fat cat on him, you hear me? Fat and wet. Tight too. Didnβt budge.β Mamaβs words came with that twisted pride like she was proud of being second-best.
βYou know what they say?β
βWhat they say?β
βThey say they never leave their wives.β
βFuck all that. That bitch need to be left. She donβt know how to take care of that man. What does she have that I donβt?β
I looked around my room again and wondered if my nigga of a father was homeless, because surely that would be the only way my Mama was winning.
βYou right, girl.β Ms. Colleen pumping my mama up was hilarious because half the time they were going at it. I wouldnβt be surprised if Mama called Ms. Sharon after Colleen left to tell her what Colleen had the nerve to say. Women.
βI know Iβm right.β My mother started coughing, almost hacking away for a moment before it quieted for so long that I imagined they were away with their thoughts. Mama thinking about how she couldnβt have been right because she was all alone, and Ms. Colleen thinking about how no matter how perfect her hair, face, and body were, she ainβt have no man either.
About Shine
In the heart of 1980s Pittsburgh, as the crack cocaine epidemic ravages the streets, Michael “Shine” Ferrell is a rising player in the city’s cutthroat underworld. Hungry for more power, he sets his sights on expanding his empireβonly to clash with a ruthless rival who controls the city’s darkest corners. But itβs not just the streets that threaten to swallow him whole. A betrayal at home shakes the foundation of the little he holds dear, forcing Shine to navigate deadly alliances and personal ruin as the epidemic spreads like wildfire.
In the suspense-filled world of The Enigma Series characters, everyone has a past. These are their stories.
