Saved by a crack head

Back in Detroit Michigan, I was young and restless and my life was all about hustling on the streets. One day, something happened that changed my life completely. On October 17th 1999, I was in my apartment getting ready to go to my supplier at a neighborhood few blocks away. I was planning on going with two of my friends/business associates, Bryan and Kelvin. We were supposed to go and get more crack from our supplier to sell.

As I was opening my door to leave, one of my customers, a known crack head named Bobba met me at my front door. Bobba was looking dirty and rugged as usual and his breathe was killing me. He begged me to sell him some crack but I told him I was going out to get some and that he should wait. Bobba got too desperate and said he couldn’t wait, that he needed it immediately. At my astonishment Bobba started crying and begging so hard for crack which was unlike him. I became angry and shoved him aside because I felt he was wasting my time.

As I was walking away from Bobba, I immediately remembered that I had one crack left in my room. I then changed my mind and decided to give him that one since he was one of my loyal customers. I went inside my apartment and brought out the crack for him and said, “Here, this one is on the house, I will see you later”. Immediately, my phone rang and it was my friend Kelvin. He said that they were waiting for me at the junction. I told them to start going and that I would be right behind them.

When I was about to leave after giving Bobba the last crack, he thanked me and said that there was something he wanted to tell me. I told him to wait until I return but he persisted in telling me right then. I became angry again and decided to ignore him, but all of a sudden he brought out a bundle of hundred dollar bills. I was marveled and I asked him where he got the money from. He said he wanted to confide in me because he liked and trusted me. He said he found the money “$10,000” under the bridge he was sleeping at. He told me to open my door so we could go inside my apartment and talk but I disagreed.

Bobba said he would give me $3000 on two conditions. He said he needed one hour of my time and secondly that I shouldn’t sell any crack for the rest of the day. I was surprised and confused, but it was a good deal so I accepted and collected the money from him. I called my friends and told them I couldn’t make it and that I would see them when they return. I unlocked my front door and then Bobba and I went inside my living room. I sat and watched Bobba smoke his crack and watched him go through his high trippings, but I was glad I had an easy $3000 on me.

An hour later when Bobba was about to leave, he turned to me and started preaching to me to stop selling crack. I was surprised to hear Bobba preach. He said that a long time ago, he prayed to God and promised that if he ever got some bulk money, that he would leave Detroit and change his life for the better. He also told me that he was actually leaving the city that very day and starting over somewhere else. At that time I was laughing, thinking that Bobba was just high and I thought to myself that if I get my supply, Bobba would spend the rest of his money on crack. As Bobba was leaving my apartment, he advised me to change my life and then he left while I was laughing at the whole thing.

Two hours later, I called my friends but their phones where switched off. I then decided to go to the supplier’s house to see if they were still there. As I was entering the neighborhood, I saw seven police cars and an ambulance in front of the supplier’s house. People from the neighborhood where standing around the scene. I asked one of them what was going on, and he said that three people in that house were shot and killed. Immediately my legs became norm and I felt like I was getting sick so I slowly walked back home. I later learnt that the three people that were killed were my two friends and the supplier. They were tied up and shot in the head. My life totally changed that day, and two days later I left Detroit. I stopped selling drugs and decided to go back to school. I tried to locate Bobba so I could thank him for saving my life, because I would have been one of those people that were killed that day. But unfortunately I couldn’t find him and he had already left Detroit. TO BOBBA, WHEREVER YOU ARE, MAY GOD BLESS YOU.