Mr. Perfect Ch. 10
Money, cars, and cocaine, ruled my life from the time I was 13 years old. I met
Natalie when I was 15 years old. It was the summer of 1991. She was getting ready to
start her first year of high school. And I was going to the 10th grade. I barely passed my
freshman year of high school because I had become entrenched in the street life. Selling
dope, stealing cars, and armed robbery. My mom gave me $75 to go to the county fair and
I used it to go buy me a pistol because I had been robbed the night before for all my
money and a pill bottle full of crack. A nigga that I thought was my friend had set me up.
Natalie knew I was in the streets and selling rocks but it was cool to be a thug and all the
good girls wanted them a hot boy. 2 weeks into my 10th grade year I was expelled for
fighting. I knew education was important to my future and I knew that my life was going
to change for the worst after I got expelled. I began to spend more time in the streets and
committing any crime that I thought would put some money in my pocket. I gave my
mother what ever I could to help with the bills and take care of my two little brothers.
When I wasn’t selling dope or stealing cars, I was at Natalies house. We lived in the same
apartment complex and both of our mothers worked the night shift. She had one little
brother we called Nuky and an older brother named Deon. He was a few years older than
me and he was doing the same thing in the streets as every other young nigga our age
was doing. Robbing and selling dope. We were the results of the crack cocaine epidemic
that exploded in the early 80’s. He was in a juvenile prison when I met his little sister and
was there for 2 years. A few days before Christmas , Deon and 2 of his friends went to
rob a dude named Stacy that was selling dope out of his grandmothers home. Stacy lived
there and took care of his grandmother. Deon saw a diamond ring in the mall that he wanted to buy his mother for Christmas which was 4 days away. They went in like they
wanted to buy a few ounces of crack. While they were in the back room making the
transaction Deon pulled out a 9mm and told the Stacy to give him all the money and
dope. His grandmother sat in the living room in a wheelchair with no idea what was going
on. “Nigga we can do this the easy way or the hard way” !!! “All we want is the money
and the dope, so don’t make this no murder”!!! Stacy gave them everything they asked for
and they began to walk through the house and out of the front door. Deon was the last one
to walk out , but they had left Stacy in the back room. While they were on the way out
Stacy grabbed his pistol that was hidden under his pillow. He opened fire and the flash of
the pistol lit up the dark hallway and made an explosive sound as he squeezed the trigger
6 times. All 6 bullets ripped through Deon’s back and burst through his chest penetrating
his lungs and heart and exiting through his chest. His grandmother sat silently in the
wheel chair. She still didn’t know what was happening right next to her because she was
def and blind due to her old age. Deon fell in the threshold of the door and the blood
came pouring out of his chest from the bullet holes. He had the crack still clutched in his
hand when he fell face first. The big, round, cookie shaped circles of crack cocaine were
covered in dark red blood when the paramedics turned his lifeless body over. He was
dead , and even though Stacy was selling dope and had a gun, the police refused to charge
him with anything. They never even placed him in handcuffs. Natalie called me around 2
a.m. crying and telling me what happened. I jumped out of my bed and got dressed to go
around to her apartment to comfort her. Her mother was understandably hysterical along
with Natalie. I held her in my arms until the sun came up. We had only been together for
6 months, but after that night, we were bonded for life. Stacy was shook so bad that he
stopped selling dope and nearly lost his mind. It’s been over 20 years since this happened
and when I see Stacy, I can tell that he is still haunted by what took place. Natalie used
the death of her brother to encourage herself to excel in school. We stayed together and I
made her my main lady. I stayed in the streets selling dope and she stayed in the books
getting her education. But with our mothers both working at night, it gave us too much
time and opportunity to be alone. She was a virgin , but all that changed when we fell in
love with one another. We had been together for 4 years when I got into the terrible car
accident with the semi truck coming from St. Petersburg. I got home late that night and
she was at my mothers house waiting for me to get home from the hospital. I was hurt and
cut up bad from the glass. But when I walked into the house she ran up to me crying
asking me if I was o.k. We went into my bedroom and made love until the next day. I
wasn’t hurt that bad !!! The whole city was talking about the accident because I had a
large amount of cocaine in the car and they had to close down Interstate 75 from Ocala to
Tampa and it was all over the news. The semi truck that we hit was hauling gas and it
spilled out when the truck rolled over. I lied and told her my cousin was driving the rental
when we crashed but a guy that went to school with her, and had a crush on her told
Natalie that I had another female driving me back when we crashed the rental car. He told
her that I had been going with Toshia for over a year behind her back. She ended up
breaking up with me because she was hurt. She wouldn’t answer my calls and avoided me
for 2 months. One day out of the blue she called me and told me I need to come over so
that we could talk. When I got there she was crying and I just figured that she really was
missing me and wanted to get back together. I sat down next to her on her mothers couch
and she looked at me and said, “Eric, are you ready to be a father”? I damn near fell out
on the floor. Turns out, after calculating the time of conception, that we had made a life
together on the exact same day that I nearly lost my own life in that car accident. I was so
happy and I thought about the promise that I made to myself years before I even met
Natalie. I had promised myself that whoever I had my children from was going to be the
woman I would marry and spend the rest of my life with. And now here she is. Now all I
had to do was convince her to come back to me. She was still hurt about the way I had
cheated on her and deceived her for so long. Eventually we got back together and stayed
together for 15 years. We got married and had 3 children together. D’asia was first born
Natalie was 9 months pregnant when she walked across the stage to get her high school
diploma. She graduated June 7th and gave birth to D’asia on June 13th. And I was right
there when she was born. It was the first, happiest day of my life. We named her D’asia
Alexus Harris. My world had changed and all of a sudden I didn’t want to sell dope
anymore. I knew that I had to be there for my child and give her all the things that I didn’t
have as a child. I sold my box chevy and my rims to buy Natalie a car. I even went and
got me a job in an attempt to leave the dope game. Natalie gave birth to our beautiful
daughter and went straight on to college without missing a step. She got an apartment and
we moved in together. A little over a year later she was pregnant again with my second
daughter Erionna Venisha Harris, a year later she was pregnant again with my son, Eric
Lamar Harris Jr. We had us a family and I was a proud father. I was still selling dope but I
kept it a secret from Natalie. We had more than the average couples our age and she
eventually figured out what I was doing. Maybe the half kilo of cocaine she found in my
shoe box gave it away. But by that time she was so spoiled and used to the money, it
didn’t matter to her as long as I didn’t get caught. But while she was giving birth to Eric
Jr. the feds came and arrested me at the hospital. We were devastated. Natalie had several
college degrees and I was headed to federal prison leaving her alone with 3 children. I
was charged with cocaine conspiracy and sentenced to 5 years. I had to do 3 years in
prison and 2 years on federal probation. I decided to use my time wisely and study
business while I was there. I learned about the Urban Market and found that it was a $7 billion dollar a year industry in 1999. They added up all the music sales, clothing,
Money, cars, and cocaine, ruled my life from the time I was 13 years old. I met
Natalie when I was 15 years old. It was the summer of 1991. She was getting ready to
start her first year of high school. And I was going to the 10th grade. I barely passed my
freshman year of high school because I had become entrenched in the street life. Selling
dope, stealing cars, and armed robbery. My mom gave me $75 to go to the county fair and
I used it to go buy me a pistol because I had been robbed the night before for all my
money and a pill bottle full of crack. A nigga that I thought was my friend had set me up.
Natalie knew I was in the streets and selling rocks but it was cool to be a thug and all the
good girls wanted them a hot boy. 2 weeks into my 10th grade year I was expelled for
fighting. I knew education was important to my future and I knew that my life was going
to change for the worst after I got expelled. I began to spend more time in the streets and
committing any crime that I thought would put some money in my pocket. I gave my
mother what ever I could to help with the bills and take care of my two little brothers.
When I wasn’t selling dope or stealing cars, I was at Natalies house. We lived in the same
apartment complex and both of our mothers worked the night shift. She had one little
brother we called Nuky and an older brother named Deon. He was a few years older than
me and he was doing the same thing in the streets as every other young nigga our age
was doing. Robbing and selling dope. We were the results of the crack cocaine epidemic
that exploded in the early 80’s. He was in a juvenile prison when I met his little sister and
was there for 2 years. A few days before Christmas , Deon and 2 of his friends went to
rob a dude named Stacy that was selling dope out of his grandmothers home. Stacy lived
there and took care of his grandmother. Deon saw a diamond ring in the mall that he wanted to buy his mother for Christmas which was 4 days away. They went in like they
wanted to buy a few ounces of crack. While they were in the back room making the
transaction Deon pulled out a 9mm and told the Stacy to give him all the money and
dope. His grandmother sat in the living room in a wheelchair with no idea what was going
on. “Nigga we can do this the easy way or the hard way” !!! “All we want is the money
and the dope, so don’t make this no murder”!!! Stacy gave them everything they asked for
and they began to walk through the house and out of the front door. Deon was the last one
to walk out , but they had left Stacy in the back room. While they were on the way out
Stacy grabbed his pistol that was hidden under his pillow. He opened fire and the flash of
the pistol lit up the dark hallway and made an explosive sound as he squeezed the trigger
6 times. All 6 bullets ripped through Deon’s back and burst through his chest penetrating
his lungs and heart and exiting through his chest. His grandmother sat silently in the
wheel chair. She still didn’t know what was happening right next to her because she was
def and blind due to her old age. Deon fell in the threshold of the door and the blood
came pouring out of his chest from the bullet holes. He had the crack still clutched in his
hand when he fell face first. The big, round, cookie shaped circles of crack cocaine were
covered in dark red blood when the paramedics turned his lifeless body over. He was
dead , and even though Stacy was selling dope and had a gun, the police refused to charge
him with anything. They never even placed him in handcuffs. Natalie called me around 2
a.m. crying and telling me what happened. I jumped out of my bed and got dressed to go
around to her apartment to comfort her. Her mother was understandably hysterical along
with Natalie. I held her in my arms until the sun came up. We had only been together for
6 months, but after that night, we were bonded for life. Stacy was shook so bad that he
stopped selling dope and nearly lost his mind. It’s been over 20 years since this happened
and when I see Stacy, I can tell that he is still haunted by what took place. Natalie used
the death of her brother to encourage herself to excel in school. We stayed together and I
made her my main lady. I stayed in the streets selling dope and she stayed in the books
getting her education. But with our mothers both working at night, it gave us too much
time and opportunity to be alone. She was a virgin , but all that changed when we fell in
love with one another. We had been together for 4 years when I got into the terrible car
accident with the semi truck coming from St. Petersburg. I got home late that night and
she was at my mothers house waiting for me to get home from the hospital. I was hurt and
cut up bad from the glass. But when I walked into the house she ran up to me crying
asking me if I was o.k. We went into my bedroom and made love until the next day. I
wasn’t hurt that bad !!! The whole city was talking about the accident because I had a
large amount of cocaine in the car and they had to close down Interstate 75 from Ocala to
Tampa and it was all over the news. The semi truck that we hit was hauling gas and it
spilled out when the truck rolled over. I lied and told her my cousin was driving the rental
when we crashed but a guy that went to school with her, and had a crush on her told
Natalie that I had another female driving me back when we crashed the rental car. He told
her that I had been going with Toshia for over a year behind her back. She ended up
breaking up with me because she was hurt. She wouldn’t answer my calls and avoided me
for 2 months. One day out of the blue she called me and told me I need to come over so
that we could talk. When I got there she was crying and I just figured that she really was
missing me and wanted to get back together. I sat down next to her on her mothers couch
and she looked at me and said, “Eric, are you ready to be a father”? I damn near fell out
on the floor. Turns out, after calculating the time of conception, that we had made a life
together on the exact same day that I nearly lost my own life in that car accident. I was so
happy and I thought about the promise that I made to myself years before I even met
Natalie. I had promised myself that whoever I had my children from was going to be the
woman I would marry and spend the rest of my life with. And now here she is. Now all I
had to do was convince her to come back to me. She was still hurt about the way I had
cheated on her and deceived her for so long. Eventually we got back together and stayed
together for 15 years. We got married and had 3 children together. D’asia was first born
Natalie was 9 months pregnant when she walked across the stage to get her high school
diploma. She graduated June 7th and gave birth to D’asia on June 13th. And I was right
there when she was born. It was the first, happiest day of my life. We named her D’asia
Alexus Harris. My world had changed and all of a sudden I didn’t want to sell dope
anymore. I knew that I had to be there for my child and give her all the things that I didn’t
have as a child. I sold my box chevy and my rims to buy Natalie a car. I even went and
got me a job in an attempt to leave the dope game. Natalie gave birth to our beautiful
daughter and went straight on to college without missing a step. She got an apartment and
we moved in together. A little over a year later she was pregnant again with my second
daughter Erionna Venisha Harris, a year later she was pregnant again with my son, Eric
Lamar Harris Jr. We had us a family and I was a proud father. I was still selling dope but I
kept it a secret from Natalie. We had more than the average couples our age and she
eventually figured out what I was doing. Maybe the half kilo of cocaine she found in my
shoe box gave it away. But by that time she was so spoiled and used to the money, it
didn’t matter to her as long as I didn’t get caught. But while she was giving birth to Eric
Jr. the feds came and arrested me at the hospital. We were devastated. Natalie had several
college degrees and I was headed to federal prison leaving her alone with 3 children. I
was charged with cocaine conspiracy and sentenced to 5 years. I had to do 3 years in
prison and 2 years on federal probation. I decided to use my time wisely and study
business while I was there. I learned about the Urban Market and found that it was a $7 billion dollar a year industry in 1999. They added up all the music sales, clothing,
automobile sales, movies, and every dollar that the Urban / Hip Hop market generated,
and it was an absolutely astonishing number. I figured that was the market I needed to be
in. So I began to write a business plan that would allow me to monopolize the Urban
Market in 10 years. I called it Urban Biz Directory. Urban Biz Directory is a business
directory of Black business owners and entrepreneurs who believe in the value of sharing
information and resources. Our goal is to become a leader in identifying and connecting
black business owners and professionals. My idea is to advertise for these companies free
of charge and advertise for major corporations for a fee. My dream is to bridge the gap
between the ghettos of America and Corporate America. For too long, Corporate America
has taken the styles and culture of the street life and turned it into a multi-million dollar
business. From apparel (loose fit Levi's), to automobile designs(Chrysler), to
entertainment(Vanilla Ice), wall street continues to generate billions of dollars in revenue
off of the blood, sweat, and tears of those who created these ideas. They take our culture
from us and then sell it back to us at a price that the average person can not afford. That is
the driving force behind crime and oppression in the projects and run down ghettos that
we live in today. The mission of my corporation is to create our own Wall Street. I call it
Urban Wall Street! We aim to create a new way of life for oppressed individuals through
spiritual growth, education, business, and the adversities we face in our everyday lives.
By monopolizing the Urban Market, the sky is the limit when it comes to success. Urban
Biz Directory is not only a directory for African American owned businesses, but also a
tool to teach young black men and women how to start a business. A social economic
network of minority owned companies will allow information on goods and services to be
readily available for those who seek it. This will not only create jobs, but also change the
lives of millions who live in despair. The directory is meant to be interactive. A major
network of those who have overcome the odds and those seeking assitance with
overcoming those same odds. All we ask is that the businesses that sign up help troubled
youth and convicted felons learn how to start their own business. I studied hard for those
3 years and wrote me a business plan. But I was broke when I got out. My son didn’t
know me and started crying when I walked through the door and tried to pick him up. He
was 3 years old and afraid of me.
After I played catch up with Natalie and my kids, it was time for me to get on my grind. I
found a job at a local seafood factory. Those checks were no where near enough to
support my wife and 3 kids. Let alone start a business. So I went back to what I knew
best. Selling dope. And with that, I took off like a rocket. In less than a year, I was
making so much cash that we bought a house in my hometown of Crystal River, Fl. I
opened up a clothing store, which was the first stage of my business plan, and I bought a
brand new 4 door Dodge Ram truck. I was back on top and everything was beautiful. I
was happy but I couldn’t say the same for Natalie. I was deeply in love with the mother of
my children. She was also my wife but I couldn’t understand what was going on with her.
We both were in our early 20’s.We had a mortgage, several vehicles, no outside kids and
a successful business. I had 20 to 50 pounds of high grade weed coming in weekly from a
connect I met in the feds from El Paso, Texas which was on the Mexican border. Natalie
was smoking a lot of weed because I kept garbage bags of it in the closet of our bedroom.
She was drinking a little, but 1 beer or a half of a blunt would make her pass out like she
drunk a gallon of gin. Her attitude was changing and she was being extremely abusive
towards me and even towards the children. The slightest thing would make her snap. It
got so bad that I ended up separating from her and moving back to Gainesville. I got an
apartment there and began to start over. I ended up keeping my store open and also
opened a second location in Starke, Fl. The kids started calling me on a regular basis
telling me that their mother was acting strange. She was leaving them home alone and
coming home late so drunk that she passed out in the door way. I was worried and
concerned about her and my children. The last straw was when D’asia called me and said
that her mother’s cousin came and took all of their brand new school clothes and sold
them for drugs. She said, “daddy my mom just let her do it”. I was very confused and
upset. I talked to a few people and even some her own family members said that I needed
to take the children. There was another incident when the kids were in the back seat of a
car that her cousin had stolen from some guy that sold drugs. When the guy caught up to
her she put him on a high speed chase and crashed the car into a ditch. The guy jumped
out and ran up to the car and put a gun to her cousins head. He pulled the trigger but the
gun was jammed and wouldn’t shoot. Natalie was in the passenger seat and my kids were
in the back seat of the car. I was ready to kill somebody at that point but I knew that
wouldn’t make my kids safe. I didn’t know how to do it legally so I called the police in
Crystal River, and they contacted DCF. They went to the house and gave her a cup to get
a urine sample. Somehow, while the social worker wasn’t paying attention, Natalie had
my then 10 year old daughter D’asia to pee in the cup for the drug test because she knew
it would show positive for marijuana. When they tested the urine it came up clean. The
children told them that they were afraid to live there any longer but Natalie convinced the
social worker from DCF that I was just trying to ruin her life by lying on her. And of
course they took her side. They left the house and called me to tell me that they would
have me charged with filing a false report if I called them again. I was simply out done
with the whole situation. The next day my daughter called me crying. She said, “daddy,
mom threw me on the ground and kicked me in my stomach because I told you about her
making me pee in the cup for her”. I was furious and decided to just go and take the
children and bring them to live with me in Gainesville. I went to the house and packed
their things and took them to live with me. I have had enough. I enrolled them into school
and began to search for a home big enough for us. I knew it had been a tough time for
them with me going to prison and then the problems with their mother. I just wanted them
to be happy and comfortable and they expressed to me that they were. Their grades never
dropped and they even started to do better than before. They brought home many
academic awards and certificates for good behavior. They had been with me for about a
year when their grandmother called me early one morning weeping through the phone.
She said, “Eric, Natalie is in the hospital. She passed out last night while standing outside
talking to a friend. She fell and couldn’t get up and started screaming and calling for me
and asking what was wrong with herself. The ambulance came to take her to the hospital
in Crystal River where they ran a brain scan. They said that she had suffered a stroke and
they seen something on the cat scan that didn’t look good. So they had to put her on a
Life-Flight helicopter to a hospital in Tampa that specializes in brain conditions”. I sat
there for a second and didn’t even realize that tears had started running down my eyes.
This was the problem all along. I got into my car and drove to Tampa with the children. I
explained to them the best I could about what was going on. When we got to Tampa some
of her family was already there. I walked in to see her and she didn’t look well. I kissed
her on the forehead and told her that the kids where there. She opened her eyes and
looked at me and attempted a smile. It wasn’t looking good. The doctors called me into
another room and gave me the news. “Mr. Harris, your wife has a condition called AVM
and it is stage 5. We think she will maybe live another 6 moths to a year. My world
stopped spinning. I was still selling dope trying to do my best as a single father. What if
she dies and I go to back prison again ? What in the hell will happen to my kids? Wow, I
was crushed and confused. I didn’t want my kids to see me cry. So I walked out of the
hospital in Tampa with my kids, and we went to the State Fair. I didn’t know what else to
do. All I knew was I wanted to see my children smile even though I was in pain. I wanted
to see them smile because they had no idea , at that moment , how much pain that was
ahead. Their relatives at the hospital started urging me to tell my children that their
mother didn’t have long to live. But I said hell no, because you do not know my God, and
he does not wear a white jacket ! I couldn’t tell my kids something like that. What if she
didn’t die and my kids waking up everyday worried about if their mother was still alive. I
refused to do it and told them if any of them told my children they would regret it. Her
mother had already lost a son now her daughter has been diagnosed with a terminal
illness. I prayed and cried, and prayed and cried some more. We finally got back home to
Gainesville 3 days later. The kids had to go to school but their mother was still in the
hospital. It was around 1 p.m. when I put my key in the door a business card fell out to
my feet. I picked it up and read it. The back of it said ,”Mr. Harris, please give me a call
as soon as possible about an urgent matter”. I turned it over to see who it was from. It was
an agent from the DEA. Damn…………
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