The Realest Ever - By Keith Thomas Walker Page 0,30

when the dope boys came to her house and threatened to kill her mom over an unpaid debt. And Donovan had the regular life Kyra dreamed about every night. Donovan’s father still lived with him, and his parents were married. There was food in the refrigerator at Donovan’s house, and he even had cable television.

But the thing that made Kyra love Donovan so much was that he genuinely cared for her, though he had absolutely no reason to do so. Donovan never judged her. He rarely had solutions to her problems, but his encouragement lifted young Kyra’s spirits.

“It won’t be like this forever,” he would tell her. “When you grow up, you’ll have a normal family. Until then, you can come visit me whenever you want to. I’ll help you anytime I can.”

He was only a child himself, but Donovan was serious about being there for Kyra. The first time he helped her out of a jam was when she was in the 7 grade. Donovan was in the 8. Kyra’s mother’s addiction was going strong, and she came up with a boneheaded idea to move a drug dealer into her home. In exchange for living there and selling dope out of the house, the dealer paid Deidra rent, which was never cash; always drugs.

The dealer was known as FourFive. He was 35 years old with long hair he kept in cornrows most of the time. He set up shop in Duke’s room because Kyra’s brother was locked up or running the streets most nights. FourFive was respectful of Kyra and her sister, but they feared for their safety the entire time he was there. FourFive had beef with several dealers in the city. There were more goons who wanted to take FourFive’s life because he supposedly killed one of their relatives. FourFive didn’t fear his enemies. His signature weapon, a .45 semi-automatic, was never out of reach.

Despite the obvious dangers, the main problem FourFive brought to Kyra’s home was traffic. FourFive’s new dope house was open twenty-four hours a day. Junkies knocked on the front door when the sun was up and went around back when it got dark outside. FourFive had two good friends who were always there. They played loud music and smoked weed into the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes they brought female crackheads inside for sex if the women couldn’t afford their high.

After a month, FourFive was comfortable and established in his new spot. Unfortunately his new spot was Kyra’s home, and she barely slept at night. Donovan listened to her complaints day after day. He walked Kyra home so he could see FourFive himself. Donovan knew the drug dealer was dangerous, and he was too young to tackle the problem on his own.

Without telling anyone, Donovan began making anonymous phone calls to the police regarding the drug activity on Bishop Drive. On his sixth call, Donovan was told that he had to give them his name and address if he wanted to file a formal complaint. Donovan was only 13 years old. He knew his information would be filed in a police report. He also knew that snitching was a capital offense on the streets of Overbrook Meadows.

But Donovan cared enough about Kyra to take the risk. Two days later a SWAT team invaded Kyra’s residence while she was at school. When Donovan walked her home that day, her house was in disarray. The door had been kicked in. Every room was ransacked. Kyra’s mother sat on the porch looking lost and depressed. Kyra’s eyes lit up when she heard that FourFive was in jail, and he was never coming back.

Donovan didn’t tell her that he was the one who summoned the police until the next day. Kyra hugged him so hard Donovan had to beg her to, “Let me go. I can’t breathe!” Donovan waited three months before he told his mother about the incident. Beverly was furious. She truly disliked Kyra from that point on, but Donovan never doubted that he did the right thing.

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The second time Donovan put himself in harm’s way on Kyra’s behalf was in 1997. He was in the 10 grade at Finley High. Kyra was a freshman, and they were as thick as thieves. Kyra was doing well in school. She was even a better math student than Donovan. Typically the best friends went to Donovan’s house after school to do their homework. Beverly wasn’t happy about that, but she was supportive because it kept Donovan