Chapter 4, The Doggfather

Snoop Dogg, of course. How did I not recognise his godly smooth voice? I looked at him again: he was relaxed in every way possible, the master of understated cool. His mere presence here managed to block out the noise of the downtown rush hour.
"Do you speak English?" He asked me. Snoop Dogg was asking me a question: and I was terrified.
"Yeah" I managed to mumble.
"Oh good" he replied, "Now let's try this again… What in fuck's name is going on here?" I hesitated to see if Cappie would answer for me, but he didn't. I almost felt the tumbleweed brush me in the silence.
"I was selling some coke to these guys, but they decided to try and steal it instead" I said, trying to be as blunt as possible. Snoop laughed again.

"Well looks like they did a pretty bad job, doesn't it?" he smiled. I smiled as well, but didn't relax.
"Yeah," I nodded. Then Snoop's face was cold again.
"But we're gonna make amends for that. We can't have you busting yo' shit round here." The silence was filled with all of the gang members cocking their weapons. So this was it, my execution. I'd hoped that it wouldn't be in a back alley, but life just throws this shit at you. You gotta deal with it. I readied myself, standing on the balls of my feet and readying my wings. I'd already made thin 'wing slits' in my clothes, in case of something like this. I figured that if I made a sudden movement by flying straight up then half of them would just shoot me. My plan was to snap out the wings, and while they were gasping at them, I'd fly off. Of course they might just shoot me then too.

"If you got any last requests then I don't give a fuck." Said Snoop Dogg. His comrades laughed and aimed their guns. I had to do it now. Bracing my shoulders, I snapped out my wings, unfurling them as quickly as I could without injuring myself. Their mouths fell open, unclear whether or not it was a trick or that they had just cornered a drug-dealing angel. In fright, one of them reacted, their fingered tugging at the trigger. Another explosion shook the alley as the bullet ricocheted off of the walls. His trembling hand had meant the bullet went way off target, but still sliced off the ends of a few of my feathers. I could feel the bullet slice through the air as is singed my wings. This was my cue for evasive action: before the others could regain the sense to shoot. That all happened within the space of a second.

I bent my knees ready to spring up, but all of a sudden Snoop Dogg ran into the middle of the circle, flapping his arms wildly.
"Don't shoot. Stop. Mother fucker lower the gun," he was yelling at them all, for some reason coming to my aid. Snoop Dogg stood in front of me glaring at his fellows, daring them to defy him. They all reluctantly lowered their guns.
"Boss, who the fuck is this guy?" Said the giant in the suit. Snoop Dogg turned to look at me, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.
"I'm about to find out," he murmured, before speaking to me, "I want to talk to you inside. Don't try nothin man, or I'll have my man Marcus here put a bullet in yow." He pointed to cappie, who smiled again. Snoop indicated to a door to a nightclub. Beyond the doorway I could hear a heavy drum 'n' bass beat pounding from inside. Without a word, I was ushered into the darkness.

"Ok, so now you got yow drink. Now I'm gonna spill the lizzle, dog." Snoop's speech amused me. Me, Snoop and the giant were sat at a table in the back of the Sticky Icky nightclub, which Snoop owned. There were two bars on either side of the room, which was about 50 square feet. It would've been pitch black were it not for the strobe lighting that gave the club a purple hue. There was a mounted stage were four girls were dancing, in short shorts and bikini tops. Several of Snoop's gang, the Crips, were looking up at the girls shouting suggestions. There were rooms at the back too, which the gang moved in and out of rapidly. There were dozens of people coming into the club before leaving minutes late: girls, guys, old people, even a guy with a suit and briefcase. I'd asked for a vodka and orange juice, and then sat down with Snoop.

"A couple years ago, my lil cousin Timbo started goin off about some shit about these flyin' kids. I was like 'that's bullshit y'all'. But then I saw these kids on the news, goin to Disneyland o some shit. That was you, huh?" Disneyland? Fuck that was a long time ago.
"Yeah that was us." I said taking a sip of my vodka.
"Oooo weee!" Snoop whooped, "Holy shit. Fo shizzle? So what happened, where the fuck you been? What about the other kids?"
"Well we were told we had to save the world, but nothing happened, so we kept our heads down. And the others are in Phoenix. I was with them until I left yesterday."
"Why d'yow leave?" Snoop asked. I was unsure whether or not to tell him the truth. But then again, he'd been ready to kill me.
"I killed a cop in Phoenix." Snoop whistled and the giant smiled.
"Whoa! Sweet momma's dizzle man. So you on the run, huh?" I nodded glumly.
"Hey don't worry 'bout nothin', people on the run all the time. Besides, ain't nobody gow'n find you here," His words were reassuring, and a great weight seemed to have been lifted from my shoulders.

"So how'd you get the wings man?" Snoop said after a pause. I downed the vodka and then told him the story of my childhood, how I'd been taken by the school and then had wings grafted onto me, and then grown up in cages. Snoop listened and didn't say a word.
"Holy fuck," he said after absorbing my life story, "Ain't good shit. You been through a fuck lot man."
"I know" I said truthfully. Snoop reached into his pocket and pulled out a blunt. I was a big fat cigar that stank of marijuana. He offered one to the giant, who thanked him and took it.
"You smoke?" he said to me, holding a blunt out to me. It looked very inviting.
"Yeah I do, thanks" I said, taking the blunt from Snoop's outstretched fingers.

"Sweet," grinned Snoop, picking out a blunt for himself before lighting up the three. I inhaled deeply…. And almosted died. This was strong shit, stronger than anything I'd had before.
"Whoa" I said, reeling from the first breath.
"You like it?" asked Snoop.
"It's…. strong" I wheezed.
"Yeah, fo sure, real potent" said the gaint. Snoop Dogg looked at me before shaking his head.
"No man, tilt yow head back some more. Yeah that's it. Now let the smoke rest in your mouth, and then let it go down. That way, the smoke gow'n settle better, and sift through more comfortable." Snoop was right, it went down a lot smoother like this. What a G.

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