PRL Serials

“…please blame it on the Son of the Morning”

– Jay-Z

“Who that?” Lincoln asked.

The world seemed to move in slow motion, like the music that played loudly around him. A rap song played and the chorus repeated on what seemed like an endless loop. 

“What you talking about?” Snot asked. He sat next to Lincoln in the backyard of Lagos’s house. It was early morning and Snot knew the sun would be up soon. Brandon had left the party hours ago and was curled up asleep in the van, but Snot was afraid to leave Lincoln who was high for the first time in high life. The two had been friends their entire lives and they had only ever been drunk together at high school parties. In truth, both Lincoln and Snot were afraid to try any drugs at parties because of the negative examples of drug users they’d seen around their neighborhood growing up. 

“You don’t see this nigga right here?” Lincoln said slowly. He leaned on the arm of his chair closest to Snot and blinked his eyes like he was trying to shake away the lethargy. He lifted a hand slowly and pointed down at the grass between their chairs. 

“I don’t know what you talking about, but it’s time to go lay down somewhere,” Snot said. “Lets go sleep in the van.

“What you mean?” Lincoln said deliberately, his eyelids heavy. “It’s still a party.” He lifted his red cup. “I still got drank in my cup. It’s still people out here.”

Snot looked around at the party that was a much smaller group of people than there had been earlier mingling around the yard. Some slept off intoxication in lawn chairs or on the ground. There were a few people dancing and drinking. The two sat in a circle of people that Lagos presided over. He made jokes and laughed with everyone with a slow swagger that made him captivating. Snot wasn’t high, but watching Lagos was like watching a man warp time around himself. Sometimes, while he talked normally, his limbs moved at a snail’s pace, like when he reached for his drink for the entirety of a story he told about being caught having sex in a club. It all seemed perfectly timed, too; by the time he finished the story and everyone was laughing, the cup had reached his mouth.

“You realize how high you is?” Snot asked Lincoln.

“I didn’t at first,” Lincoln said. “But then this nigga showed up and now I know I’m tripping.”

Snot laughed despite his concern. Lincoln had the most sincere look on his face that he could manage under the weight of the lean. 

“This shit is cool, bruh. I get it ain’t for you, but I appreciate you sitting out here with me. Keep me from talking to invisible niggas and shit. But you should be having fun, too! You having fun?”

“Not really,” Snot said, “and I imagine everybody gone be leaving soon enough when the sun comes up.”

Lincoln squinted his already half-closed eyes at the skyline in the distance.

“I guess you right,” he said. “But I gotta talk to Lagos before we leave.”

“We ain’t leaving,” Snot said. “The van parked right over there. You can talk to him when you wake up.”

“What if he don’t wake up?” Lincoln asked and he turned his attention to Lagos in the circle. His eyes were low like Lincoln’s and he wore shades that sat on the tip of his nose despite the time of day. He had three gold chains around his neck and the rings on his hand were visible as he held his cup. Lagos had thin arms and his face was thin as well, but his belly was noticeable even while he sat, like he hid a balloon under his shirt that rested in his lap.

“What you mean?” Snot asked. “Why wouldn’t he wake up “

“That’s what they telling me,” Lincoln said with his eyes on Lagos. 

“Who telling you what?” Snot asked, but Lincoln didn’t respond.

“Yo, Gos!” Lincoln called over the conversation in the circle. It took a minute for everyone to quiet down and for Lagos to realize it was Lincoln calling him. He grinned underneath his shades.

“My nigga, Link On! Y’all having fun? These niggas visiting from North Carolina,” he said to his friends in the circle. “Y’all betta not miss the show tomorrow if y’all missed the one tonight. That pretty nigga right there gone be a star.”

“You think I’m pretty, Gos?” Lincoln asked jokingly. 

“Nigga if yo pussy was as bomb as yo flow, you would be my bottom bitch right now!” This made everyone laugh. “Where ya man, B, at?”

“Lightweight,” Lincoln said and waved a hand. “Me and Snot holding it down, though. Let me ask you, Gos, you know this nigga right here?” Lincoln pointed to the spot between his chair and Snot.

“Lincoln, stop it,” Snot protested, looking embarrassed at everyone staring at Lincoln strangely.

“Nigga you ever been on this drank before?” Lagos asked with a smile. 

“Never, and it’s making me see niggas and shit,” Lincoln said and everyone except Snot laughed this time. “Where you get this shit from? I need some of this every weekend.”

“You get it from me,” Lagos said, “I’ll hook you up whenever you in Houston. You just gotta get on a song with me, let me on with y’all, make me some beats. We can trade like that.”

Snot tried to interrupt to stop the deal, but Lincoln was too hype to hear it. 

“If this nigga show up the next time I drank some of this, then I’ll tell you what he talking about,” Lincoln said sincerely, even though everyone else laughed. Lincoln seemed blissfully high and everyone was entertained by his antics except for Snot. “But you my nigga now, Gos. We gone be niggas forever, I don’t care what this invisible nigga say.”

Everyone laughed like Lincoln was doing standup. Lagos cracked up and then stood from his chair to dap and hug Lincoln. 

“You crazy nigga,” Lagos laughed. “You go sleep that off and when we all wake up, we’ll eat, then get ready for the show before y’all head out to Atlanta.”

Lincoln hugged Lagos like they were best friends and then Snot led him across the yard to the van. Brandon was asleep on the long seat in the back and Snot and Lincoln climbed into the driver’s and passenger’s seats respectively. Lincoln seemed to fall asleep almost immediately but Snot woke him. 

“What the invisible man say about Lagos?” Snot asked. 

“What you talking about?” Lincoln grumbled and tried to find comfort in his seat.

“You was talking earlier. You said if you see the invisible man again, you would tell Lagos what he said about him.”

“Oh,” Lincoln said and he looked at Snot with his eyebrows high. “That nigga wasn’t invisible. I thought we was going to sleep?”

“Yeah, but I wanna know what you was talking about.”

“I’m high as fuck, remember?” Lincoln said. “You ever heard the name Pagan, or Payman? I can’t remember which.”

“Nah,” Snot said. 

“He wear a crown like that picture of Biggie. Said Lagos will serve them better after he dead, too many people praying for his soul now. Sound like he gone die soon. You ain’t got no pillow do you?”

“You that fucked up?” Snot laughed. “The pillows all the way in the back. I’m going to sleep, man.”

Lincoln made himself as comfortable as possible, then drifted off to sleep.