Brandon Carter THE SET

The Set was a gang. They were four unruly kids from the mean streets of Philadelphia. They were from a section of Philly called Up Town. As they would say, that’s were it go down at. The gang members were Ice Pick, Ray-Ray, Screw Driver, and Waffle. Waffle was the leader.
Whatever Waffle wanted the Set to do, they did it. They were notorious for selling all types of narcotics. They were like Rite Aid or CVS. They had any prescription drug a person wanted. They even had glaucoma medicine, if you know what I mean. They had the same routine everyday. They would go outside, bust traps for a few hours, and then go back in the house. All of them graduated high school except Screw Driver. He dropped out. He thought that he could not make money in school.
One day, while they were chilling on the stoop, Waffle said angrily, “Yo, this shit is borin. All we do is sit on the same stoop, bustin traps, and smoking weed. We have to make things interesting.” Then Ray-Ray asked, “What are we gonna do?” Ice Pick said, “I know, let’s rob somebody. No better yet, let’s rob a store.” Waffle said, “Aight, bet. I’m gon get the burners, Screw, you get the masks and gloves. We all gon wear black one-piece Dickies and black skullys. It’s goin down Friday. That sounds good?” The rest said yes. Screw Driver wasn’t really down with the plan, but he just went along with the crowd.
Friday night, it was on. They all met at Ice Pick’s crib, because his mom was out playing bingo. They all got ready and made a plan. Screw Driver finally said, “Yo, I’m not ready for this. I can’t do it.” Waffle said, “You gon do it and if you don’t, you’re out the squad, and we gon trash you all the time.” Screw Driver thought care fully and said he was in. Once they got the plan, they all jumped in the car and headed to MAMA LEE’S FOOD MARKET. They parked a block away from the store. They came around the corner swiftly. They were watching out for the cops (rollers as they called them). As soon as they saw the coast was clear, they put their masks on and did what they went there for.
Mama Lee didn’t know what to do. She had her store in that neighborhood for twenty years and was never robbed until that night. They didn’t just take the cash, they took the whole register. When they were on their way out the store, some guy tried to knock the register out of Ice Pick’s hands. That was a bad idea, because Waffle already was thinking that he would shoot anyone who would get in his way. Waffle shot the guy. The guy died.
The next day, the cops were investigating the crime scene. Witnesses said that it was four black males, all around the same height. The cops started to look for the perpetrators. The more the boys saw cops, the more scared they were. One day Ray-Ray and Waffle started arguing. Ray-Ray said, “Why did you shoot him in the head?” “Because, he was trying to take the register!”, Waffle yelled back. “But you didn’t have to kill him. You could’ve popped him in the leg, nigga.”, Ice Pick said. Ray-Ray and Screw Driver agreed. Waffle became angry. “Oh it’s like that? All ya niggas is against me? Now that the cops is lookin for us, ya not ridin? Forget ya then. I’m telling ya like this, if the cops start questioning us, I’m gon tell on ya before ya tell on me.”
Some local snitches and old ladies from around the Set’s way pointed the cops in the Set’s direction. One by one, the cops kicked in their doors to get the gang members. They were all in different questioning rooms. They all were getting threats from cops, that they would never see their families again if they didn’t tell who did it. They said they had witnesses. They said they had them on video. They said they had a lot of stuff they didn’t have. All they had was witnesses who were shopping at the time of the robbery. Then Ice Pick, Ray-Ray, and Screw Driver thought of what Waffle said.

All the boys told on Waffle. Waffle said that Ice Pick did it. The boys were taken to court. All the boys gave their testimony. The witnesses did too. With the testimony of all involved, including the witnesses, Waffle was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The other boys were sentenced to prison for twenty years each for armed robbery. Ray-Ray and Screw Driver came home after doing five years, for good behavior. Ice Pick did all his time and became apart of the Scared Straight program. Waffle was murdered in a prison yard fight. He took a guy named Bubba’s commissary. Bubba stabbed Waffle with a sharpened toothbrush.




THE END