The Poe Consequence

by Keith Steinbaum

  “Wow,” Seth whispered. “That sounds cool. Anybody else ever seen it?”

  “Don’t know. Ain’t never seen nobody there.”

  “How ‘bout your friends? Or Veronica? Do they know?”

  Face shook his head. “Nobody knows.” He stared at Seth and leaned closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. “’Cept you, now.” He stroked his finger across his closed mouth, signaling for him to keep quiet. “Promise me, Seth. Swear to me. You’ll keep my place secret. Don’t tell nobody.”

  Holding Face’s stare, Seth nodded his head, his expression matching the seriousness of the occasion. “For sure, Alex,” he replied in a quiet voice. “I’ll never tell anybody. I swear.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Kevin and Veronica prepared dinner in silence, immersed in their own world of disbelief. Kevin had called his mother several minutes before, inquiring about the remote chance that his father’s work had, indeed, been published somewhere, but her answer confirmed what he’d already suspected—his father never submitted anything for publication. When Kevin hung up the phone and looked at Veronica, their eyes relayed the same message: Alex had never seen that poem in his life.

  Veronica alternated between feelings of confusion and disillusionment. Alex hadn’t done anything wrong, but her bewilderment over something as unexplainable as his amazing feat left her with the awkward feeling of alienation. Their difficult years growing up together had created an inseparable bond between them. So who was that Alex look-alike reciting profound, personal phrases he’d never seen? In a type of language she had never heard him use?

  Veronica motioned for Alex to follow her into Kevin’s office after dinner.

  “First thing I want to tell you is that Kevin’s arranged to get your car window replaced. They’ll also try to repair your fender.”

  “Where?”

  “A place called Marco’s Autobody. Kevin knows the guy. He sent Marco to my place so he could look at your car. If we bring it in tomorrow, Marco thinks he can have it ready by Monday afternoon.”

  “How much will it cost me?”

  “Marco’s returning a favor, so we’ll see. Kevin mentioned him in an article he once wrote and it helped him get more customers.”

  “I appreciate what he did,” Alex replied.

  “Just thank him sometime, alright? And make sure you call Mama. I talked to her today and she told me she hasn’t heard from you. She wants to know when you’re coming back.”

  “You heard the doc today. He figures what? Tuesday or Wednesday?”

  “I’ll be glad when you’re home again, Alex. I don’t like Mama being alone in that house for too long.”

  “Don’t worry,” he told her. “I called somebody. Ma’s protected.”

  “You didn’t give out this address to anyone, did you?”

  “Hell no,” he exclaimed. “I ain’t gonna fuck up your little fiesta.”

  Veronica stared into her brother’s eyes, needing to understand. “Alex, how did you know that poem?”

  Several uncomfortable moments passed, but he returned Veronica’s gaze, holding his eyes on hers as he spoke. “I ain’t never kept no secrets from you, Veronica. “Cept one. Since I was a kid.”

  Remaining quiet, she waited for Alex to continue.

  “I see things sometimes. Things that are gonna happen. I see the shit before it goes down.”

  “You mean…like visions?”

  Alex nodded. “And I hear shit, too.”

  “Since you were a kid?”

  “Nine years old,” he replied in a quiet voice.

  “What kind of things do you see?”

  Alex offered a tiny smile. “Remember when you’d always tell me how lucky I was for comin’ home after the old man had already passed out? That he was lookin’ for me earlier, ready to kick my ass?”

  “I remember,” she answered.

  “I saw ‘em comin’,” he said. “So I stayed away.”

  “You saw Papa hitting you?” she asked, wide-eyed. “Before it happened?”

  “Yeah. I knew all about the shit before the shit went down. But the thing is, I only see things when I’m in danger. First I get dizzy and then my eyes feel warm and the light flashes real fast. Then everything gets as clear as a fuckin’ TV. I woulda been dead if I hadn’t seen that drive-by comin’ to the house. I drove away just in time. I also saved my ass bangin’ on the streets.”

  “Do any of the Diablos know about this?”

  “No,” he answered, smiling at her. “They just think I go through one of those seizures or somethin’. I’ve saved my homeboys from a world of hurt, but they never knew. I’d just persuade ‘em to change their plans a bit, you know? Like takin’ a different street or maybe waitin’ a little longer.”

  “Have you ever told anybody?”

  “Not until now,” he said. “But Ma knows about it. She told me before I had a fuckin’ clue.”

  Veronica felt like an outsider from her own family. “How did she know?”

  “Remember a long time ago, when some pissed off asshole blew away his old lady and her boyfriend at the market Ma used to go to?”

  In a daze, Veronica inched her head up and down.

  “We were there right before it happened. I saw everything. Saw ‘em get smoked. Heard the screamin’. I told Ma and we got our asses outta there.” Alex paused, his eyes half-closed as if in reflection. “When we got home, she explained it to me how every other generation in her family has a boy who gets the ability. That day in the market, she knew.”

  “Was that the first time you remember seeing visions?”

  “The first time was with that stupid kid who used to live next to us. I saw a car headin’ straight for him. If it wasn’t for me he woulda been dead.”

  For several moments, Veronica felt woozy. “You mean…Miguel?”

  “Yeah,” he answered. “Miguel.”

  Veronica sat back in the chair and closed her eyes, trying to absorb everything she’d been told and how she wished she possessed Alex’s power the night she was raped.

  “What you’ve told me still doesn’t explain about the poem,” she said. “How did you know the words? And what’s that got to do with danger? And seeing things?”

  “Feelin’ like I did, my eyes getting’ warm, the flashin’ lights…when that shit happens I see things. But nothin’ went down. That ain’t happened to me before.” Looking away for a moment, he said quietly, “’Cept one time.”

  “One other time?” she asked. “Did anything happen?”

  “Somebody got shot.”

  “And you were feeling that way again when Kevin was about to read the poem, right?”

  Face nodded. “Next thing I know, I had all these words comin’ outta me. I wasn’t even thinkin’ ‘bout it. They just happened.”

  “But you didn’t see anything,” she said. “And nothing bad happened.”

  Veronica displayed a tiny smile for her brother. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe this ability of yours lets you read minds, too. The words were in Kevin’s head and you picked up on them.”

  Alex shook his head. “No, that ain’t it. There’s somethin’ in that poem of his. A connection I can’t figure out.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Face relaxed in a chair, watching TV with Veronica and Kevin. Seth walked into the room and picked up the notepad lying on the table.

  “What’s this on the paper, Uncle Kevin?” he asked. “There’s a drawing of a heart with ‘four a.m.’ in the middle of it.”

  “What?” Face whispered, turning his attention from Seth to Kevin.

  “It’s nothing,” Kevin replied. “Just some doodling I was doing.”

  “You know what it reminds me of? The Tell-Tale Heart,” Seth told them. “There’s the part where the guy hides the heart under the floor and says, ‘it was four o’clock, still dark as midnight’. That’s one of the lines I remember.”

  “You’re that newspaper reporter, ain’t you?” Face a
sked.

  “I write for the L.A. Times, Alex.”

  “The one who wrote those stories, right? At Men’s County. Atkinson set you up. Got you some interviews.”

  “That’s enough, Alex,” Veronica said, glancing at Kevin.

  Face looked at Seth, still holding the notepad. “I’ll tell you what that drawing means,” he said, hostility in his voice. “A lot of my homeboys been cut down by heart attacks. All dyin’ at four a.m. You get it?” Nodding his head toward Kevin, he added, “Ask your uncle. He’ll tell you I’m talkin’ straight.”

  “We don’t like to talk about gangs in this house,” Kevin said.

  “I understand, man. But I lost a lot of brothers, you know? I just wanna make sure you ain’t hidin’ nothin’ from me.”

  Seth walked over to Face with his hands in his pockets and stopped a few feet from where he sat. Face studied the kid’s expression. He didn’t think he saw sadness or anger. Rather, a fierce type of seriousness.

  “Are you in a gang, Alex?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, Seth. We’re still friends though, ain’t we?”

  “I hate gangs,” he snapped. “They killed my dad!”

  “I know, man. I’m really sorry. That never shoulda happened.”

  “Well, it did happen!” Seth shouted. “My dad was trying to save me from a gang and another gang shot ‘em!”

  He approached Face until he stood over him. “I thought we were friends, Alex,” he said, his voice rising. “I thought you were different. Not like…them!” Balling his fists, he shouted, “I never want to see you again!” Seth rushed to his bedroom and slammed the door.

  Face looked up from his chair, staring into the empty space that held his young friend a few moments before.

  “I didn’t know,” he said quietly. “How was I supposed to know?”

  “Didn’t I tell you not to say anything?” Veronica said angrily. “Of course you should have known he’d react like that!”

  “That’s not what I’m talkin’ ‘bout,” he replied, continuing to stare ahead. “I didn’t know Seth was that kid. Or about his father.”

  “What about his father?” Kevin asked. “What do you mean?”

  “It was the anniversary of Apache’s murder. We was just lookin’ for some payback?”

  “Who the hell’s Apache?” Kevin hissed. “What does he have to do with my brother?”

  “I’m wonderin’ now if somethin’ was up. Why that feelin’ came over me like I was in danger or somethin’.”

  Kevin looked at Veronica. “Is he making any sense to you?”

  “Alex,” she said, “do you know who killed Kevin’s brother?”

  “Everything was gonna be cool,” he said, his voice as soft as a church confessional. “But it all fucked up. Lobos started runnin’ everywhere. But I didn’t see nothin’. I didn’t understand, man. I always saw somethin’ before. But I heard a loud voice. Real quick, like a scream. Then a gunshot. But nobody got smoked yet. Swat hadn’t pulled the trigger. Then the feelin’ left me. I saw a Lobo draggin’ a kid away. Usin’ him for protection. When he got under a light, I saw the kid was white. I don’t want no kid getting’ hurt, but if he’s a huero that’s real trouble, man. Cops don’t go for that shit.”

  “Are you telling me you were there when my brother was murdered?”

  Face glanced at Kevin before turning his eyes toward the floor. “Swat was scopin’ that Lobo with his rifle. I didn’t know what the fuck he was gonna do. I yelled at him, ‘Not the kid!’ I didn’t think he was gonna listen to me. We was losin’ time, we had to get outta there. Somebody was runnin’ at the Lobo and the kid. It was dark, but when he got near the light, Swat…” Alex looked up at Kevin. “Yeah, man. I was there. We was wrong. Wasn’t no Lobo. That was your brother. He was runnin’ for Seth.”

  Face looked at Veronica. “Seth. Now I know. That’s what that loud voice was sayin’ in my head before the gun went off.” He got to his feet. Wiping his hand across his face he turned his attention back to Kevin. “There’s somethin’ else you should know, man. Swat went down with a heart attack that same night. Four a.m. Diablos and Lobos have been dyin’ like that ever since. That’s what Atkinson told us. Your brother’s death started somethin’. I don’t know what, but we’re still payin’ for it.”

  Kevin leaped off the couch, watery eyes full of anger. “You thought you killed a Lobo that night, but that doesn’t excuse a fucking thing! Nothing! Murder’s still murder, damn it! You can’t just go around killing people! Are you telling me Seth lost his father because of some fucking anniversary? I…I lost my brother because your stupid gangbanger friend made a God awful mistake? What gives you the right to take someone’s life that way? What kind of mind thinks like that?”

  Face looked at Veronica before answering Kevin. “Veronica escaped that shit, but she knows. Maybe she can explain it to you. The laws of the street ain’t like yours, man. Where I come from we got our own rules. You ain’t never been there, Kevin. How can you tell us what’s right and wrong? You don’t understand how we operate. You don’t know how we think. Killin’ someone is a necessary thing sometimes.”

  “A necessary thing? Are you kidding me”? Kevin closed his eyes for several seconds. When he reopened them Alex looked at two red watery rims staring right back at him. “Here’s something I do understand, Alex, and the sooner you and your gangbanger friends understand it, the better. Lieutenant Atkinson told me there hasn’t been anyone murdered in either gang for a month and a half. Not one. And you know what? No heart attacks. None! If I was a betting man, I’d say there’s a relationship there, wouldn’t you?”

  Face stood rigid, staring at Kevin. “Ain’t no relationship between us and the Lobos, man. Ain’t never gonna happen.”

  Kevin looked at Veronica. “There’s no use trying to talk sense to him,” he said. “I’ll call the auto shop first thing tomorrow to see if Marco can have Alex’s window ready in the morning. That way you can drop him off on your way to work and let him wait for it.” Kevin glared at Face. “It’s time he went home anyway. He’s been here long enough.”

  Face didn’t say a word as he turned to walk away.

  “And what the hell is this feeling you’re talking about?” Kevin yelled. “You think you see things, or hear things, before they happen? You expect me to believe that shit?”

  “I don’t fuckin’ care if you do or don’t man,” he replied in a calm tone. “But I know I been seein’ things since I was nine years old. Always showin’ me when trouble’s comin’. That feelin’ I had the night your brother was killed? Yeah, I didn’t see nothin’, but trouble still hit us big time, right? That blind kinda feelin’ never happened before or since until you was readin’ that poem. Next thing you know I’m tellin’ it to you. Do you believe that shit?”

  “How can you live with yourself?” Kevin screamed. “How could you go around this whole time hiding something like that from Veronica? And then befriending Seth and me as if nothing happened?”

  “We all gotta hide shit sometimes, don’t we, man?”

  “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Seth knows. He found something of yours.”

  “I’m not hiding a damn thing!”

  “You sure ‘bout that?”

  Face returned to his room and stood motionless with his hand on the knob. Nodding his head in silent confirmation, he realized his gut feeling had been proven right. He didn’t want Kevin to have the upper hand by agreeing with him to his face, but in reality, he saw things the same way. There was a relationship between a Diablo or Lobo being killed and the heart attacks. Atkinson had broken it down during the meeting and the effect on the two gangs spoke to the truth. Life in the streets had changed over the last several weeks. No one had been murdered. Not a single one-eighty-seven. In all his years since he checked in as a Diablo, he couldn’t remember so much time passing without a killing.

  Face called Hawk. The sound of loud music greeted him. “Who’s this?” Haw
k shouted.

  “Qué pasa, vato?” Face said.

  “Face? Is that you, man?” he asked. “Why the fuck ain’t you here, homeboy? When you comin’ back?”

  “Mañana, homie.”

  “Face’ll be back tomorrow!” Hawk yelled.

  A chorus of cheerful screams and cusses followed his remark.

  “Leticia’s here. Told me she misses you, vato. Ooh, she’s lookin’ so fine tonight. That’s a hot mamacita, man! You better get your ass over here pronto.”

  Face closed his eyes and smiled. “You find somethin’ out?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” Hawk replied. “Hold on a minute.”

  The music and voices faded away.

  “You still there, Face? Now I can talk.”

  “Tell me what you know.”

  “I bought some weed from Cervantes last night. He told me some interesting shit.”

  “I’m listenin’.”

  “That pinchi scar, man. Cervantes knew just who the motherfucker was. They call him King. Cervantes say he’s crazier than hell. Ugly as a fuckin’ zit on a rat’s dick, too.”

  “King can kiss my fuckin’ ass,” Face muttered in bitterness. “I’ll deal with that culero motherfucker when the time’s right.”

  “Cuidado, Face,” he warned. “The heart attacks, man. You know what I mean? The gang’s layin’ low.”

  Face heard the sound of Veronica crying as she approached the other side of the door. “Anything else, Hawk?”

  “Your mother’s safe, homeboy. Everything’s cool.”

  “Gracias, vato. You done good.”

  Veronica walked through the door and looked at him teary-eyed.

  “You were right, Alex,” she said, wiping the back of her hand across her cheek. “Kevin was hiding something from me.” She placed both hands on the door and slammed it closed. “Just like you were!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  When Alex returned to his room, Veronica rose to her feet and took Kevin by the arm. “Come on” she said, pulling him up. “Let’s go ask Seth what Alex was talking about.”