CHAPTER XXV

09:30

Four luxury vehicles were parked near the large basketball court at the Polo Grounds. Four well dressed 'hood niggas stood in a square not too far away from their vehicles. Each of their crew was also a short glance away, and they had all come strapped... just in case. However, they all knew each other and this meeting was a sounding board for what was secretly on the mind of the youngest of the crew.

"I-ight, we all know each other, we got shit to do so I'ma get right to the point and throw it out there. It's been quite a few years and we done seem some dough, don't get me wrong. The money is good, the money we seeing is decent... but I think it's time we step it up. We been Captains for five years! We done held down the block, fought the battles that needed fighting and proved our readiness, in general, we do some heavy lifting around here. I don't know about y'all, but I'm ready to step it up. I think we all should." Bucky knew this was a gamble but it was worth a shot. He knew these older hustlers from having followed in their footsteps.

"When you talk about stepping it up, who you expect to step down?" Skar asked. Reggie and Brice merely looked on.

"Nobody," said Bucky with a shine in his eye. "Street niggas ain't never have no retirement fund - this, what I'm planning now, is our retirement fund, our 401k. When niggas become bosses, niggas can be mandated to a certain amount of years as a boss, right? Let's say, for example, seven years. After that, niggas retire."

"And, of course, you gotta put in work as a Captain for, let's say, seven years?" The gauntlet was thrown, the challenge being examined. What would Bucky do? Brice folded his arms and Reggie looked at his fingernails.

"Yeah," Bucky replied.

"So you, and me - us, we got two more years to go then?"

"It took them two more years to really become bosses. I figure our internship starts now and ends about two years from now." Even Skar was impressed, if a bit taken aback, by Bucky's rationale. "And niggas under us we see as good candidates to be good Captains, we start grooming them from early on to begin taking the reins when we start learning the ins and outs of being part of the top leadership of The Forum." It sounded feasible, and it was going better than exposed. Bucky's colleagues began calculating numbers and dates. After your time as a Captain, you become a boss. After your time as a boss, you retired.

"The point of retirement is to fall back and be gettin' a pension - so what our pension gon' look like during retirement?" Reggie asked. He was the oldest out of the Captains, had been hustling since he fourteen years old and was now in his upper thirties. This plan would benefit him more than anything or anyone else and everyone just realized it.

"I don't know too much about pension payouts, right? But what I do know is that when you go on retirement you don't receive the same amount as when you were working. Same shit here. Maybe your pension gives you half, two-thirds, a third - I don't know exactly, but that's for the future. We can figure all of that out by hiring a- what they call that again? A financial consultant. That's it - we hire a financial consultant. It's something we could all vote on. Plus, just like with real jobs, with every payout you get, a portion is taken out for the future, like social security, right? I been reading up on this so I can tell you, if applied here and everyone agrees to this model, it will work!"

"But even if I choose to or choose not to opt into this 'social security' shit, The Forum still gonna pay me a salary when I decide to fall back after my time as a boss, right?... When I 'retire,' right?" Bucky thought about Brice's first question. He understood their concerns but everything was foolproof as long as they worked together and there was transparency. Votes would be taken on every detail concerning this new structure. This was just the bare bones ideation - if this shit worked for society, it could work for the underworld also.

"Yes," Bucky responded firmly, convinced that any hitches could be sorted out amongst them.

"And you can step away from the whole shit at any point, right?" Brice asked again. The rest stared at him, at first uncomprehending. "I mean, if you get your own shit somewhere else, far from here, you could just up and leave, right?"

"You mean like, if you don't want a pension or any financial or other connection to the organization, shit like that?" Brice nodded. "In case the pigs or the feds come aknockin' later on, right?" Brice nodded again. "Ain't you free to go do what you want even now? Who gon' stop you? Of course you can leave at any time. Only thing in that scenario is to give niggas a heads up a week or two in advance. Y'know, professional courtesy and shit." Brice still looked skeptical. "Big homie, you know the street game - if you died today, somebody would try stepping into your shoes today! You probably thought I was gonna say 'tomorrow,' right? Nah, nigga, today! When you give young niggas, or more importantly, loyal niggas, room for growth and advancement, the organization you work for is always gonna run smooth."

"If, however, there's no room for advancement..." Skar began to say, then looked at Bucky, who shrugged, as if to say that question was beyond him. But they all knew the answer to that. Even though niggas were well taken care of, you couldn't expect a nigga to be a street hustler his entire life with no advancements. In a legitimate business model, that invited entropy. Next thing you knew, you were falling down like Michael Douglass. How much more devastating for the street game, with niggas that had access to fully automatic firearms?

"This is a dope idea," said Brice. "If everyone in The Forum sticks to the script."

"There can always be backup plan for those that don't stick to the script. Nobody's above The Forum. No one should ever be above the organization."