Fran!
Y'all late.
You said you'd call me when Tyreeka went into labor.
It got hectic. What can I say?
What kind of contrary child fixes to get himself born...
on Thanksgiving Day.
How's Tyreeka?
Good. She did real good.
How's the baby?
7 pounds, 8 ounces.
DeAnte Tyreek McCullough.
Came out quiet, like he knows the whole damn story already.
Congratulations, Dad.
You got money for a soda?
- Which cab are you calling? - Royal. They said five minutes.
He seems to be taking it in his stride.
You should have seen him a couple of hours ago.
Maybe that'll get him to step up, be a father to his son.
It might happen.
What do you think?
Well, I think he's watching you.
Me?
Yeah, he's watching you, Fran, with one eye...
waiting to see if you'll stumble or not.
What's that got to do with him?
He needs to do what he needs to do, regardless.
You still taking classes at the Community College?
English and Algebra. Got to pass them before I could take anything else.
- How you doing with it? - English is fine.
But I don't truck with no Algebra.
All that x and y nonsense. What the hell you need that shit for?
And you're working over at Hunt Valley, at the cosmetics factory?
Two and a half hours on the bus...
to stand there and pack boxes all day long for minimum wage?
I could do better than that.
Got my cab. I'll catch you down a little later.
Okay, Grandma.
Lord!
- Hey, happy Thanksgiving. - Same to you, DeAndre.
Spiders. Buy one. You might get one for free.
Last call, y'all. Better get the last of the spiders.
- Grandma! - Don't even start.
Girl, you know you love it.
Ma, this mean I'm an uncle, right?
Good Lord. That don't even sound right. Uncle DeRodd.
- How's the girl doing? - Oh, my God. That little girl had to work!
And the baby? He's already acting out, just like Andre.
Yes, Lord.
So, DeAndre, you was right there when your son was born?
- Yeah, boy. I carried him. - Don't you go telling lies.
You was a scared little boy in that room. Did nothing but stand with his mouth open.
No joke. Reeka was all screaming, I didn't wanna have nothing to do with it.
I tell you, after seeing that, I have much respect for women.
Have a seat, Daddy, you and Grandma here.
Y'all missed the first round, but y'all in time for the second.
It all came out great, Fran, I mean every last dish.
Damn, we look good.
I mean, even Stevie dressed up.
The Boyd family got its problems, but we clean up real well.
Ma, if I'm an uncle, does that mean DeAnte is my cousin?
- Your nephew. - He'll still have to do what I tell him, right?
Boy, don't nobody in this family know how to do what they told, all right?
Look, someone do a second grace.
Okay.
Come on, y'all.
Dear Lord...
thank you for giving us this meal together, as a family...
and for getting us to this day, in spite of so many things.
- Amen. - Amen.
Let's eat, y'all.
Marvin ain't around?
He's probably still up at his mother's. She's cooking for the holidays, too.
- Ma. - What?
I'm just saying, we're doing good with this house and all.
Marvin, he's just bringing the family down.
You don't know that, Dre.
- I don't wanna go back to Fayette Street, Ma. - Neither do I.
Tonight, we was like a family. Nobody was acting stupid.
- It was great. - I know.
We should do it again for Christmas.
- I'm saying, it ain't no coke. - Stop your crying. It doesn't matter.
Baby powder, huh?
I'm selling the same shit they sell at the grocery store.
It's still a crime.
- Need any help? - Just waiting for the wagon.
- Coke or dope? - Baby powder.
Am I remembering right?
You got shot this summer behind selling burns.
Yo, Bob Brown! I ain't seen you around much.
- I got promoted. I'm downtown now. - You a detective?
Bob Brown, a knocker. Damn!
- You miss me already, do you? - Shit.
I was the devil you knew.
These young police coming on nowadays, ain't gonna be the same love out here.
He's out of his damn mind.
I just come out of the hospital.
The whole damn world turned upside down.
- Hey, brother. - What's up, man?
- Hey, man, I see they got Bryan. - Yeah, selling burn bag.
Curt, you seen Ronnie Boice?
All right.
This is harassment.
Shut the fuck up already. Get in there. I'm sick of your shit.
- I'll talk to my lawyer about this. - Get your ass down, and shut the fuck up.
- Take that to the Feds, pig. - Fucker.
But I just kept playing with that thing...
I mean, a long time after getting high was fun.
Because I was scared.
I was scared of all the pain that was waiting for me in the straight life.
I don't know nothing about that kind of pain.
See, the pain of addiction...
I wasn't scared of that.
You know what I'm saying? I'm not scared of that.
Because when I was out there...
my thinking was telling me:
"Yeah, this is pain.
"But it's pain I understand."
It's a pain I knew, you see.
And that's what we gotta understand in these rooms.
Stop taking drugs? That's the easy part, y'all.
That's a piece of cake.
The hard part comes after that.
When we gotta go back and deal with the same life...
that we were running from in the first place. That's the deal.
Thanks y'all for letting me share.
- Hi, my name's Barbara, and I'm an addict. - Hi, Barbara.
Donna just gave y'all the word, people.
Y'all have done the easy part by getting clean.
But for every 10 of you here, only one is gonna stay clean.
Those are the odds. So don't even think of resting on no laurels.
Now, is there anybody here with six months clean?
There you go.
Fran, you've got six months. Go over and get your key chain.
- Three months clean? - Why not?
I got mine last week.
Next time, maybe.
For the most important person here tonight, is anybody here with one day clean?
Hey, there you go.
- Thank you. - Keep coming back, girl.
The bus from Poplar Grove was late, man.
- You working today? - Hell, yeah.
You ain't on the schedule. You was on for yesterday, man.
Nah, today.
You missed your shift yesterday.
- My day was Wednesday this week. - That was last week.
This week you were Tuesday and Thursday. We don't need you today.
We needed you yesterday.
So what are you saying?
Take the rest of the week off, DeAndre.
I need the money.
- That's bullshit! - Take it easy.
- You got a problem? - Evidently.
What you need to do is go home and chill, and think about things.
Yo, Andre, hold up.
Man, fuck her!
No, man, you can't say that.
- Nobody told me they changed days. - You're supposed to look at the schedule.
- So now it's my fault? - Even if it ain't, man...
Just tell her that you messed up.
Fuck that. I ain't kissing her ass for no minimum wage.
I had the same thing you got going on now, when I first started.
You got to carry things different. This ain't no corner.
What you saying?
I mean, out on the corner, you ain't apologizing for shit.
Man, it wasn't easy for me neither, know what I'm saying?
Edmondson and Brice, yo. Been there, done that.
What your boys think about you slinging burgers and fries?
Yeah, all right.
I'll be back in a few.
I'll see you later.
- Y'all didn't leave nothing behind, did you? - There's good money in brass.
But this came from a cemetery, man.
Cemetery.
You coming back, right?
Look at me. I could barely walk.
You think I'm gonna burn you, and run like I'm some damn track star?
What's up, Curt?
- You still looking for Ronnie? - Yeah, where she at?
She's down there on Vine. She's selling for Gee Money today.
Thanks, Curt.
- Fuck, no. - Not even one time?
Maybe once or twice. But I didn't get deep with that shit.
My pops got killed behind that ready rock.
They don't lock anybody up behind the shit?
The police saying that shit ain't even murder.
He up in Lincoln Park, with his jacket pulled over his head and shit, beat to hell.
What the fuck they think? He beat himself to death?
Yo, man. It's been quiet out there since them D.C. boys rolled out. What's up?
That's 'cause we fucked them up, niggers.
Motherfuckers probably still in the hospital and shit.
- Snatch pops! - Fuck, Deon.
- The three wise men, huh? - Ho, ho, ho, motherfucker.
- What's up? - Not much.
There comes Boo.
What's going on down at Wendy's?
- Ain't nothing. - Look at this shit.
Boy, you gonna change that shirt?
You wearing the same motherfucking shirt for three days now, Boo.
- You all working out? - Why you asking?
- Who got the package? - Me, Brooks and Deon.
- Can you give me 20? I'll help you sell. - I ain't giving you shit.
You fucked up the last shit we put you with.
- Give me 10. - Fuck you!
- You fucked up. - I'm cool.
You cool with that pipe, nigger. That's what you mean.
You're fucking dusty-ass, Boo.
- Give me five, then. - Get out of here, man.
- How long he been like that? - Like a month. You ain't noticed?
Damn, he tore up.
Shit.
All that hair.
Yeah, just like Andre with his dreads.
Lord. I hope he ain't like Andre.
He said he wanted us to get a place together.
I told him we can't do that right away.
That he got to get himself a good job, and put some money together first.
He claims he wants us to be a family and all.
Reeka, now I told you months back...
that if you were having this child, you were doing it because you wanted to.
- It is what I want. - Andre won't stay just 'cause of this baby.
'Cause my son...
I know him.
He's gonna play at being a father, then be right back on them corners.
- He says he's tired of it. - He says that.
But he ain't doing nothing to stay away from it. He ain't going to school.
- He ain't get no more hours at Wendy's. - He's looking for another job.
He's trying, Miss Fran.
He don't wanna go back out there.
- Hey, brother. - I got some boys for you.
Give me one.
That worked out real good, didn't it?
- I feel like somebody gonna roll up on us. - Ain't nobody gonna do shit.
I've seen people get hurt behind this game.
- Bryan Mathis got shot this past summer. - Bryan Mathis?
He didn't do it like we're doing.
When you sell burns, you sell out...
then you move your ass off the corner. You don't stand there waiting...
- or your ass will catch a bullet. - I was out there for a while, all right?
- They'll come back on me. - But they didn't, did they?
They didn't.
Okay, and now we got $40 right here to share between the two of us.
Now bring your ass on.
Y'all hiring? No.
Cool.
Least you could do is keep the shit out of my room.
- You got to get some help. - Yeah, I will.
You either get back down to BRC, or you got to go, Marvin.
- I'm gonna call. - You call, or you gather up your shit and go.
I said, I'd call.
- What you thinking about? - Nothing.
How can you sit there and not think about anything?
I did it all the time in school.
You think he knows I'm his father?
Ain't no other man in this room every night, is there?
- I don't think your aunt likes me up here. - She's cool with it.
Besides, this is my room, and you're DeAnte's father...
so I'm not trying to hear it.
I don't feel like a father.
I can't pay for shit.
I'm just another broke-ass nigger that can't do nothing for his child.
You're doing what you can. You're looking for work, right?
Ain't nobody gonna hire me.
They take one look at me and know what I'm about.
DeAndre, you're smart. You can do anything you put your mind to.
No, I'm a corner boy. Except, I ain't even that.
My cousin Dinky's been carrying me, letting me stay in the background.
But you know how that is.
You ain't on the corner with your package, you lose most of what you make.
People fucking up or ripping you off. I ain't been about shit for months.
You gonna go back?
Reeka, I can't do anything for him without money in my pocket.
I don't have enough to buy him shoes, clothes, or anything else.
He's got shoes. He got all those things behind my check money.
Yeah, off-brand shoes.
- I've seen babies in little Nikes. - What do babies know about Nikes?
He don't know. He don't even care.
What he do need is a father.
How do you do that, if you're on the corner getting locked up or killed?
You didn't talk all that shit last summer.
Back then, whatever I made on the corner, I spent on you.
The money's not important.
You're trying to find an excuse to go back down McHenry Street.
- DeAndre. - I'll be back.
You know what? It just slammed!
Let the boys be boys, slam!
But wait, it gets worse I'm not watered down, so I'm dying of thirst
Comin' through with the scam The fool-proof plan
The B-boys make some noise You know it, and just slam!
- Just slam. - Over here.
We need some heavy lifters.
Thank you, baby. Be careful of that glass.
What's up, Miss Ella?
We're making this garden, and we can't dig in the middle here...
until we get these large stones free.
- So you're looking for a man? - She got you instead.
- Fuck you, Dre. - Hey, boys.
- Sorry, Miss Ella. - Why're you making a garden here, anyway?
You're right here on the corner. They're gonna be slinging drugs here 24l7.
When they see what we're doing, maybe they'll move somewhere else.
'Cause this is gonna be a memorial garden.
- Memorial for who? - Mr. Powell.
The gentleman killed in the supermarket robbery...
- on Baltimore Street last year. - I remember that.
Some stickup kids rolled up, ran inside and lit his ass up.
- Yeah, Melvin Powell. - Oh, you remember him, then?
Yeah, he was my uncle.
Oh, Tae, I didn't know that.
Come on, you guys. Roll up your sleeves. Help out.
- C'mon, y'all. - What about the other thing, man?
That thing we was gonna do, man.
I'll meet y'all down the way.
All right, man. Whatever.
Sorry, Miss Ella, but we've gotta roll out.
Yeah, whatever.
Come on, Tae. This one is real heavy.
Take care.
- Mr. Blue! - Hey, Dink.
Red tops, man.
No, son, I ain't up no more. I'm going in a different direction.
I'm glad to hear that, man.
- You take care. - You, too. Later.
DeAndre, how's your mother doing?
- She's good. - Yeah?
How're you doing?
I'm cool.
I'll take four.
Yo, Black, we're selling out, man.
We'll have to vial up again while these red tops are ringing out.
What's up, man?
I thought you had that other thing with R.C. and Dinky.
What are you planting, anyway?
I mean, it's wintertime.
Irises, tulips and crocuses.
See, you plant the bulbs in the winter...
and the flowers come up in the spring.
What if they don't?
They will, DeAndre.
Anyway...
the community association got the deed to the property.
So if we don't stake our claim to it now...
there'll be all kinds of garbage, and everything else around here in springtime.
I need a job, Miss Ella.
What happened to Wendy's?
It didn't work out.
- I didn't get along with the manager. - And whose fault was that?
Hers.
You have to be patient with life, DeAndre.
You can't get everything you want when you want it.
Come on, help me with these. This one over here.
Looks good, huh?
Yo, Dre.
CMB.
- Mount, Fayette - Get your guns out
Yo, Tae, get your guns out Yo, Brooks, get your guns out
Yo, everybody, get your guns out
Fran, baby...
where am I gonna go?
- I don't give a shit. - I called.
I called down BRC.
- No. - Fran.
I called for a bed, and they got me on the waiting list.
You know I want that for myself.
I've been through detox. I've been clean with you.
I want to get back to clean.
Ain't but a few weeks till Christmas.
And you're gonna put me on the street?
Even after I called BRC for a bed?
You know that ain't right.
Let me stay the holidays.
By then I'll have that bed and be gone.
I swear.
You're 18?
Because I can't hire you to work these hours if you're not.
I'm guessing. You didn't bring your ID.
Let me talk to the other manager.
- Who are you? - Is Joe here?
Where the hell did he go?
- What're you... - Where's he? Or you're going with him.
He went out back.
Goddamn it! I'm tired of this Western district nickel-and-dime bullshit.
Outside.
- Yo, Cardy, tell them who you is. - This ain't him.
No, our kid's younger.
Y'all got a working man there.
That boy's got a job.
- What're you doing around here, anyway? - Visiting my mother.
Yeah? Where does she live at?
This is a designated drug-free zone. You loiter, you go.
The next time we roll past, you'd best not be around.
Walk on, or take a humble.
Fuck or fight, gentlemen. I'm serious.
Don't make no sense.
You there. Come here.
- Ma'am? - You want this?
- Thank you, ma'am. - Take it away from my house.
Yeah, you're gonna be stylin'.
- Thank you, ma'am. - Check out that lemon yellow.
Not bad.
Yeah, all right.
Real good.
We've got more than enough, cuz.
Just finish up what's on the mirror.
I'll grab some of them sandwich bags and we'll divide up.
Cool.
Where'd you get that jacket?
You like it, Officer?
Where the fuck my money at, man?
- You hear me? - Come on, man.
That's what the fuck I'm talking about.
Five-0.
7-A-14, I need an ambo at Roe and Fayette.
10-4, 7-Alpha-14, medic to Monroe and Fayette.
Y'all see what happened?
Hey, come here! Don't you walk away from me when I'm talking to you.
Motherfuck, I said single file!
- You ain't in line here. - You told me I could move up in front, man...
This motherfucker here don't get served.
- I don't... - Who the fuck is you talking to?
Get your ass out of the line...
or none of these other motherfuckers are gonna get served.
Y'all gonna start with a bomb.
Y'all remember where y'all caught this blast from.
Motherfuckers.
Y'all some ugly-ass, dope fiend bitches.
Shit.
You might have had enough respect for me to at least put the mirror back where it was.
- You just don't know. - Ma, come on...
DeAndre, I'm begging you, leave this shit alone.
Baby, you don't wanna know where it's gonna take you.
You're high right now.
Look at you. You're all dusty.
No, I just smoked some weed, that's all.
So are you snorting that shit now or smoking it?
No, I just smoked some weed, and I shared a 40. That's all it is.
If I catch you with any of it, I swear to God I'll put your ass on the street.
Ain't nobody getting high.
Are we ready?
Give it a tug.
For your daughter too, Ella. We kept it a surprise.
Thank you.
Thank you all very much.
Why are you running, Pooh?
- Hey, Moselle. - Hey, Blue.
- Where's Ella? - She's over there.
DeAndre, why're you chasing my baby?
Did you do that?
Now you know better than that. Tell him you're sorry.
Sorry.
Now go home and wash your face.
That was hard for you?
Out there. The memorial.
I wasn't expecting to see Pooh's name. But I'm glad they did it.
I am glad they remembered.
Everyone remembers, Ella.
- One shot, back of the head. - Yeah, check for rape, too.
- Someone called the M.E., right? - Yeah.
- My baby. - I'm sorry, ma'am. We need you downtown.
You know, she was gone a year before I came down here and started volunteering.
And a year after that, I was the one running the place.
And now it's been five years.
- And you know my youngest boy, Keatie? - Sure.
He'll be graduating from Francis M. Woods...
and he asks me all the time if we could just leave here.
And I understand it.
But I just can't.
I can't leave.
I feel like my baby's soul is out there...
somewhere, trying to get back to me.
She's out there.
And if I leave my house, or my street...
how will she ever find me?
West Side dope ain't shit, man!
I know, 'cause I'm from the East Side.
The best dope is the East Side dope, you know what I'm saying?
I just got one thing. What the fuck are you still doing here?
- Look at you. - How're you doing? Is Rita here?
- It's been a while. - Yeah, it has.
- How you been? - Better than I was.
I hear that.
Where's Curt at?
Upstairs.
Curt, man, come on down.
Who yelling?
It's Blue.
You do look good, Blue.
You look real good.
Yeah, well, you know how that goes.
You know, girl, you need to get some attention for yourself.
- You can see that. - That's okay, I can use some antibiotics.
You need a doctor, Rita.
- How've you been? - Same old, same old. Look at you.
That's what I'm here about.
I know it'll sound strange coming from me, 'cause I started this craziness...
but I feel like I gotta be the one to put an end to it.
I mean, I ain't judging nobody.
You know that.
And I'm not saying anything to hurt anyone.
But, man, this has got to stop.
I mean, at least here, in this house.
We're gonna be somewhere, Blue.
Yeah, Scalio, but not here, man.
Come on, man, please. This used to be my mother's house.
You look good, Blue.
Real good.
If any of y'all need help, I'm there for you.
You know that.
- I spoke with Daddy today. - Where did you see him?
Where else? Under that same liquor store.
I don't know why you bother to talk with Daddy.
I don't know.
You the one always saying he never liked you, or your children neither.
You're the one he used to beat up.
But you're always the one to go to Baltimore Street, see if he's still around.
Ain't got but one father.
Sometimes that's one father too many.
How's DeAndre doing?
I swear, if I didn't know any better, I think the boy getting high.
And that man Marvin I met at them meetings, Marvin Parker...
girl, he back to the same old shit.
Things started to disappear around the house, my toaster...
DeRodd's Sega Genesis games.
So, you want to do one?
I'm going home.
He's saying he'll pay $20 for six.
Fuck that! This ain't K-Mart.
$5 apiece, no discount.
I'm tired of negotiating with y'all motherfuckers.
How're you doing, Miss Davis?
Boy, where you going?
- Good pulse, he may have popped a lung. - Can we tube him?
No, let's go. We'll get a line in on the way.
Let's get him on the board.
Trauma's on fly-by. He goes to University.
Y'all need to step back.
Step back to the curb right now.
Who's that?
Got my man, Boo.
Who shot Boo?
One of them Vincent Street niggers, I think.
- No, it was one of them Terrace niggers. - Which one?
I don't know, man. That's what I heard, anyway.
They lit Boo's ass up.
That nigger looks dead.
Man, fuck it. He done burned too many people chasing that coke.
Most definitely.
- What the fuck happened? - Boo got popped.
- Ambo took him. - Who did it?
Probably a nigger with a gun.
- It's not funny, motherfucker. - What are you doing?
- Come on, Dink. - Let go, man.
Boo gonna be all right.
What the fuck is up with y'all, man?
- Man, chill, come on. - No, cuz, fuck chill.
Boo is CMB. They have him in the back of a damn ambo.
He gets popped, we supposed to go deep.
- Yo, man, Boo fucked up. - He's still CMB, motherfucker.
What?
Fuck you too, nigger.
Bitch-ass! Y'all going to take this like some bitches?
Ain't about shit no more.
Man, where Brooks at?
Y'all be fucking up my count so bad, I gotta figure he'd been getting high.
- Where are we headed? - Poplar Grove.
We gonna sell baking soda up in the Grove. Crazy.
- It's all in the game. - You gonna get me killed.
Just trust me, all right. You gonna see.
People getting shot on Poplar Grove all the time, just for standing there.
- You have me up there burning people? - We'll do a couple, then we gonna roll out.
Mr. McCullough, over here.
- You Andre's girl, right? - Reeka.
- What you doing all the way over here? - This is where Fran and Andre live at.
You seen Andre?
I'm visiting with the baby, and he ain't been around.
Is that the baby?
You wanna hold him?
Yeah, hold on.
There you go.
Look at that baby.
Yo, man, he's got Andre's mouth and his cheeks.
His eyes, too, I think.
He got a lot of Andre in him.
Hey, you, hey, boy.
Not that I want him to be too much like DeAndre.
No offense, but I was hoping he'd take after my side of the family...
in some things.
DeAndre is a little rough, all right, you know.
Was you looking for Miss Fran's house?
No, we just strolling.
But I'm glad you seen me, so I could take a look at the little one right here.
I'm staying over on Reeves with my aunt.
Anytime you want to come past, you're welcome.
You is his grandfather and all.
I'll be right back, okay?
You know who I am?
Do you?
Yeah, you do. I'm your grandpa.
You know what I am?
Do you?
Look here, I got to roll now.
Mr. Gary, you take care.
You, too, darling.
Take care of the little one.
He's beautiful.
I'm a drug addict.
That's what I am.
Stop talking bullshit.
Growing up, thinking about what you might be...
you never ever think to yourself that I'll be addicted to drugs.
We just gonna do this shit, then we gonna slip away.
Ma.
What?
The food is gone.
What?
Boy, what in the hell you talking about?
Where the food at?
I heard him come in last night.
He didn't come upstairs.
Damn!
I'll be damned. He even took the box of cereal.
How much you think a nigger gonna get for selling a box of Cheerios?
Did Mr. Marvin take our food?
Go get dressed.
Where are we going?
Get dressed.
Get your ass dressed right now!
- Ma, he's got to go. - Shut up, Andre.
I'm just saying, he's bringing us down.
He ain't the only one.
I can't take this shit anymore.
Shut up!
You take DeRodd to Scoogie's house and tell what happened. See DeRodd get fed.
- Where are you going at? - Out.
Come on, Ma, you been doing so good.
Shift changed over. They'll be rolling past soon.
Fuck them. We making money.
No, fuck them. I'll go get the stash.
Motherfucker!
Snatch pops.
Steal from me?
Please! Be cool, Dinky.
Snatch pops.
Fuck you, R.C.
No snatch backs.
Give me my shoe.
On that fucking pipe, ain't you?
Where the pink tops at?
That young boy that had them earlier, where he at?
He's gone.
Where?
It's 4:00 in the morning. He's gone.
What you got?
Spider bag and black tops.
Let me get a one-on-one.
- You were doing so good. - Don't talk shit. One-on-one, come on.
Go on home.
Goddamn, you gonna stand there like you forgot how to sell drugs?
Go home.
Please.
You scared me.
I thought you came up here to vial the bag.
Ain't nothing to vial.
Nothing to vial? I know we ain't gone through a half ounce already.
R.C.'s stealing again, man.
Motherfucker on the pipe and shit.
Come on, Tae.
He getting high for real.
That shit is fucked up.
Ball up!
That's the Impressions with the classic, People Get Ready.
I hope you're ready, because another cold day is on the way.
It'll be sunny today.
A high of 35, but clouds will roll in. You know how that goes.
Tonight, a low of 25 degrees.
The good news is, coming up, I've got more of your favorite classics.
All that shit for her birthday.
Yeah, she'll be 10. Last year, she made 10, too.
Count it up, maestro.
Yeah, Tae.
What's up?
My last one, right here.
This shit's done.
So?
That shit's finished, right there.
Get down! Get on the ground!
- Move! - Get on the floor!
You, come here.
Put your hands up!
- Coke on the table. Raw shit. - Forty pieces at least.
This ought to jump you right up out of juvenile.
- Might get you to Eager Street this time. - That shit will hold you.
So, that's where I am now.
Looking to move into this group home over on Hanover Street.
Just take it light...
'cause that's what my sponsor tells me I need to do.
You see, there are times when I want to make my own plans...
do my own thing...
but that's what got me here in the first place.
All that nonsense.
Always telling myself I could do what I wanted when I wanted it.
Right? But, now, I got to listen to somebody else.
You know, and this is hard.
It's real hard.
But you know what? Ain't no job harder...
than being a drug addict.
Everyone here knows that nobody work harder than a dope fiend.
You wake up in the morning...
man, not a dime to your name.
No friends, no family, nobody that got your back.
But by the time you roll out of wherever you lay your head...
you know where you're gonna get $10.
And you get it.
Ain't no job harder in America.
That's why I got to keep reminding myself...
that compared to that...
this way of living got to be called easy.
You see?
Anyhow...
I talked too long. Thanks for listening.
Thank you.
Anyone else have a burning desire to share?
I just wanted to say that...
my name is Fran...
Hey, Fran.
...and I am a drug addict.
Welcome, keep coming back.
A year is an arbitrary measure of lives lived.
This story goes on. Decisions are made and unmade.
Only the corner is fixed and certain.
Despite occasional arrest...
DeAndre McCullough continued to sell drugs...
at McHenry and Gilmor.
And he continued to use both heroin and cocaine.
Today, at the age of 22, DeAndre lives in Baltimore...
struggling with the temptations of the corner.
His cousin, Dinky, was shot to death in 1995...
ambushed by a crew from the Lexington Terrace Projects.
As for the other Crenshaw Mafia Brothers...
R.C. is free after serving most of a year on drug and assault charges.
Tae also was recently released from jail after a shooting case was dismissed.
And Boo, who survived his initial wounding...
was shot and killed on McHenry Street a year later.
Tyreeka Freeman is now a part-time college student...
and full-time hospital employee.
Her son, DeAnte, attends the first grade.
Tyreeka and DeAndre have been apart since 1995.
Rita Hale died from the infected abscesses on her arms.
Scalio was badly beaten by dealers...
in a dispute over a light package.
He died a year later...
having never fully recovered from his injuries.
Fat Curt outlived them.
He collapsed for the last time in early 1997...
and was admitted to a West Baltimore nursing home with chronic liver disease.
He died there, six short blocks from his corner.
Veronica Boice lives in West Baltimore.
At the time of filming, she had 33 days clean.
In 1996, Ella Thompson moved to a middle-class neighborhood.
She did so reluctantly...
only after her Fayette Street home was burglarized.
Yet, she continued to work with the children of West Baltimore.
Two years ago, Ella died of a heart attack.
She was 47.
George "Blue" Epps remains clean...
and is working for a drug treatment program at Fayette and Monroe Streets.
Bunchie Boyd detoxed in 1995...
but died of lung cancer the following year.
Denise Francine Boyd now lives in Baltimore County...
where her younger son, DeRodd, attends high school.
Fran has been clean for more than four years...
and she is employed as a drug outreach worker.
In March of 1996, in his parents' basement...
Gary McCullough died of a heroin overdose.
After the funeral, Gary's son DeAndre said these words:
I know this sounds wrong...
but I'm almost glad for him.
I feel like he was never going to get out of it.
He was never going to be what he was.
I think he was sad from knowing that.
I feel like he's at peace now.
Hey, Fran.
Come here a minute.
- You the real Fran Boyd, right? - Yeah, that's me.
- Okay, ready to do this? - Yeah, let's do it.
All right.
There's what, DeAndre...
Tyreeka.
- That's the real Blue, right? - Yeah, that's Blue.
- How y'all doing? - How you doing?
- You're the real Blue. - Yes, I am.
- George Epps. - Yes, sir, how you doing?
All right, okay.
Now we are on this corner.
Let me ask you something, Fran.
Like any story, what would be a happy ending for this one?
Just to see...
I hope that this story can help some people...
in a positive way.
Hope that...
the message will get out there, as far as drug addicts are concerned...
that we are human beings.
Maybe...
get some people to open more treatment centers...
and just help people to get off drugs.
You've been clean now four years?
- No turning back? - No turning back.
After watching this...
After watching this and watching Khandi, who portrayed my character...
She really made me...
have the opportunity to see just how I used to live.
And just watching her has made me...
even stronger than what I was before the movie even started.
So, just looking at that...
I hope that there's no turning back.
- And you, Blue? - I'm clean six years.
- No turning back? - No turning back.
- Absolutely? - Absolutely.
- Positively? - Positively, without a shadow of a doubt.
- How you gonna do that? - One day at a time.
Doing the necessary things I have to do...
always making sure that I don't forget where I came from.
'Cause if I do, I could wind up back on Fayette and Monroe...
doing the same negative things.
I keep God in my life, 'cause he brought me through.
And Tyreeka, you've been the quiet one of the bunch for a long time.
What's your thoughts on all this?
My thoughts is, I think this movie is a good thing.
I hope that young girls my age...
At first I thought it would make me...
be thought of as, "Oh, my goodness, she's dumb. Why's she doing that?"
But now that I'm older, and I see a lot of young girls...
going through the same thing as me, I know it just wasn't me.
If I could, I wish I could help someone to know that...
let young girls know that life is real...
and some things you just gotta wake up on.
DeAndre...
a lot of this movie, of course, is focused on you.
What are some of things you're gonna do to be able to deal with your own struggle...
insofar as addiction and drugs, and thug life, and whatever?
There's really not a whole lot to that, you know what I mean?
It becomes a time where the corner just gets played out.
It's like, it's old now. You know what I mean?
The things that I used to do, when I go back to the old neighborhood...
they give me a headache now.
Everything has changed.
The game is so watered down now, it's ridiculous.
You couldn't buy a friend after '88. So you can't really trust nobody.
I'm staying at a halfway house by choice...
to put some structure and discipline in my life.
Learn how to be responsible, grow up, learn how to be a man...
be a better father to my kids.
Tyreeka, my baby's mother, the situation that we was in...
I got her pregnant when she was, I think, 13 or 14.
And through all that, she still finished school.
She's continuing going to college.
She just got promoted at her job. She has her own place.
If not for her, I don't know where my son would be.
With your son, DeAnte...
what's some of the ways you're gonna try to get him to avoid...
what could be the inevitable, the corner?
Just by being as strong as I can be.
If I'm not strong, I can't make him be strong.
Just by teaching him what he sees, letting him know what's wrong and right.
Just by being upbeat my own self.
I can't preach it to him, if I'm not doing it my own self.
Looking at this picture, the inevitable question for me...
is sort of remembrances of your father and your husband.
What has it done to those memories of Gary?
It's hard dealing with my father's situation...
because me and my father never had that father-son relationship...
that I see a lot of kids have with their fathers.
My father was there for me financially, except his addiction caught up with him.
After that, it was like hitting and missing.
Me and my father didn't have that relationship...
like when I needed to learn how to shave, my first girlfriend.
When I got into fights, he was there to discipline me and give me money.
He pacified me with $100 bills.
Let me ask Fran a question now.
What do you want from him now?
What I really want from Andre...
is for Andre...
to understand that, number one, he is not alone.
A lot of times, Andre thinks that nobody cares...
nobody's in his corner.
Sometimes I get to the point where I just have to let go...
not because I don't care, but because I know...
that I'm harming him more than helping him.
I'm just waiting for that day to come...
that Andre and I can sit down and have that mother-and-son talk.
I love him so much. Andre is the love of my life...
which is another reason why I know I have to stay strong.
All I can do is be an example.
I know that I hurt Andre in a lot of ways, but I can't change the past.
I want him to know that I'm here for him, and always will be.
But until he comes to the point...
where he wants the same type of life that I want...
I can't help him.
But I want you to know that I love you, and I'll always be here for you.
On that note, I think we can...
say goodnight to the corner, at least for tonight.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Thanks so much. - Okay, sweetheart.
All right, DeAndre. All right, homie.
All right, George Epps. The real Blue. All right, Tyreeka.
- Thank you. - You're welcome, sweetie.
And cut.