Fort Green Trapp or Die
by
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CHAPTER 1 - Game Time
The song, “Can’t Nobody Love Me Better” by Chaka Khan was playing.
Hi! My name is Mercedes Benz. I helped start and ran Fort Green. And I was the first young, bold girl to step out in the trap and get paid in full. This is my fairy tale of a true hood story. You see, I always felt like I was going to be the next black ghetto, Mrs. George Jefferson in the hood. Who knows what fate can bring to you one day if you live long enough and endure your storms.
Mama always said, “Life is like a deck of cards and you never know what hand you will be dealt.” She was right, because I got the craziest hand of all and life can “really” be a bitch.
I came from a well-respected family that was educated and could get downright ghetto if we had to. My mother raised my two brothers, my sister and I in the church. We sang in the church choir. You name it we did it in the church, until we moved out of her house. My mother always said, “Go off to college and reach for the stars”.
I always wanted to be a Psychiatrist and study why people behave the way they do. I was in everything you could name in school. And, I was even an honor student in school. I always wanted to drive a Mercedes Benz one day… my cousin Fame and I. We had these dreams, since we were little. I got my alias name Mercedes Benz, my first year out of high school, which was in 1984. I got the name put on the back of all my tee shirts and wore them around and that has been my name ever since.
Right after I got out of high school, I started shacking up because I was pregnant and in love. Eventually, I got married and had four more children, quickly. And times started getting very hard. Selling drugs in the hood became a way of life for me. In my hood, we all were guilty of this in one way or another. Some folks even turned their heads and pretended they didn’t see anything. But, they never called the cops or did anything to stop the action in the hood.
Many people pretended they were against the hood and all in the church. I saw church piano-players, ushers, choir members, deacons and even fake preachers come to Fort Green to buy our products. I saw prominent men like lawyers, doctors and even a judge come into the hood late at night to buy crack for their whores and may be for themselves to who knows or cares as long as they spend the dollar their business is theirs. I feel half of the world is a product of Fort Green in one way or another, regardless of who grew up and changed their lives for the better. You see, the drugs have a cause and an effect. I had a cause to survive; and really, my entire family, community and race were affected by this shit. The game was what it was and we all had to survive some kind of way especially if money didn’t fall out of the sky for us or for our family.
You never knew whom to trust around this camp. You had to watch your back for the snitches, player-haters, and dirty, crooked cops and sometimes, your old lady could be your worst enemy. And they will have your ass locked up for years. I
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About the Book
“Fort Green Trapp or Die” is a compelling story following the lives of Mercedes, her husband Fresh, and their group of friends exposing the vicious cycle of poverty stricken communities, and the adventurous stories that come from trying to break free. The fiction novel is inspired by and based on some true events. This crushing tale for 2009, talks about seven male friends and one female that have been “down” with each other it seems forever. These friends were born and reared in the “dirty” south. They gave each other the respect and power to do bigger and better things in life. To these friends it is all about survival of the fittest.
Through their laughter and tears these friends learned the hard way that life is not a game, but its what we make of it, which determine our final destination or how we survive or what our outcome will be. They believe you can reach for the stars, but you should never alter your dreams, you go and get them by using any means necessary or “get it how it comes”. In vivid detail, the author transports the reader into an environment that many do not encounter-the abject poverty and hopelessness of life in an Atlanta housing project. Although Mercedes deals drugs in order to survive, she knows that this is not a long term survival method and is determined to re-enroll in college to ultimately become a Psychiatrist.
About the Author
Harriett Moore was born in South Georgia. Harriett and her children are currently residing in Georgia. Harriett graduated from Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee Florida in May of 1996 with an Associates of Arts in Liberal Arts in Management and from Thomas University with a bachelor’s in Clinical Psychology in May of 1998. Harriett graduated 2007 from Albany State University with a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Administration and Policy and in Human Resources Management. Harriett is a certification step away from receiving a Master's in School Counseling from Albany State University. Harriett has attended a doctoral program and still pursuing her education at Clark Atlanta University.
Harriett’s past life and work related experiences have led and inspired her to write this novel. Harriet is a full-time author-writer of African America fiction novels and plans to work on diverse novels in the future.
“Fort Green Trapp or Die” is Harriett’s first novel. And there will be a sequence to this novel and the second novel will be released Spring of 2011.