Ledger of the Block

Intro

Ms. Odell kept a black marble book behind the counter glass

No interest, just pencil names and how the debt would pass

Verse

Loaf of bread for the Simms twins, penciled light, erased by June

Corner store bulb buzzing yellow like a dying moon

She'd say pay me Friday, mean it, never raised her voice

Said a debt ain't shameful long as you circle back by choice

I was ten, stacking crates, watching her check off the sheet

Watching who came through hungry, watching who paid it complete

Some names stayed crossed for years, ghost ink under the tape

Some got erased so soft you could still see the shape

When she passed nobody claimed the store, city boarded the door

I climbed through the back window, found the book on the floor

Cover warped from the flood, pages curling at the spine

Half the names still breathing, walking these streets of mine

Took it home in my hoodie, hid it under the bed

Didn't know yet I'd be the one adding up what's owed and said

Didn't know a paper trail could weigh more than the debt

Didn't know that keeping score meant I'd never forget

Chorus

Everybody's got a line in the ledger of the block

Some pay it back in dollars, some pay it back in time they got

I don't forget who showed when the whole street went cold and locked

Ledger of the block, only clock that I still trust

Verse

Dontae's name three pages deep, circled twice in red

Fifty for the bail bond back in ninety when his brother bled

I could knock his door tonight, remind him what the paper say

Watch him scramble bills together, watch the pride drain off his face

But I remember he's the one who drove me to the ward

When my mother's pressure dropped and nobody else could afford

Gas money, waiting room, four hours on a plastic chair

So I took the page out clean, folded debt into the air

Marcus different story though, he burned the trust in half

Took the tools I lent him, sold em, laughed it off like static laugh

His name stays inked in bold, I ain't erasing that for pride

Not out of spite, just balance, gotta keep the ledger tied

Block don't run on cash the way the corner store did

Runs on who shows up, who ghosts, who kept it hid

I'm the keeper now, the judge with pencil steady in my hand

Every mark I make or spare gotta help somebody stand

Chorus

Everybody's got a line in the ledger of the block

Some pay it back in dollars, some pay it back in time they got

I don't forget who showed when the whole street went cold and locked

Ledger of the block, only clock that I still trust

Bridge

Flipped to a blank page, wrote my own name at the top

Circled twice, no due date, cause debts like this don't stop

Ms. Odell fed me on credit when my pockets stayed thin

Never asked me once when, just told me come back again

I owe this block my walking, my breathing, my second chance

Every name I ever cr