by Zach Tate
That night I wanted to see if Keiki was all right, but she was yelling through the door that she was tired wanted to kill her mother. I felt the same way towards her mother. After she refused to open the door for the fourth time, I gave her a little space, thinking how she was too young to be tired.
$$$
With money safely away for the kids, I put on some casual wear the following day. I was ready to kick back and take it easy. I walked back over to the Deuce to see what was going on, and ran into the last person I wanted to see.
“What up, John-knee Hustle? Yo-yo-yo. I was looking for you yesterday, what happened, baby? You forgot Phil got bills and he trying to make a mill right? I know you heard what happened, right?”
With annoyance I said, “I’m sure you gonna tell me.”
“Yo, gee, they can’t get enough. That little investment we made, that done tripled. Yo, your man? Your man? Your man, Money? Yo, baby, he gave me the hype package. I had to go see him three more times, and that dough is up to twenty gees already. Yo, baby, I was ready to call the Guinness Book of World Record for-real fo’real. I’m done with this small time bunco gig. Ten of that is yours, so what? You want me to give it to your Chinese man that be talking all that mystical shit?”
Just my luck, I made $10,000 from a man that didn’t know his ass from his elbow. While looking across the street at two familiar people that were heading my way, I turned to Phil and said, “Yeah-yeah sure. Just drop off my cut with Proverb from now on.”
He saw that I was distracted. While trying to follow my eyes he asked, “Yo, baby, what you looking at? You got static?”
When the two figures got closer, I asked, “Ain’t that Brave Dave and that chick they call Red?”
I couldn’t make the two out because they were dingy and dirty. The two of them were abusing something hard, and I could not believe that the woman who was so fine and flawless was the walking Zombie coming my way.
“Hustle-man, hustle-man, hustle-man. Boy am I glad to see you. Lend Brave Dave a C-note until I bust a vic later.”
I thought my ears were fooling me. I knew for sure that the man was worth over thirty grand when I first went down there a couple of month’s back. It was because of him that I was even standing in the spot where I stood.
When I looked to my right, I saw the ex-gorgeous mulatto queen in a grimy cheap cotton sweat suit that used to be white, with a pair of old gym shoes, two sizes too big. Watching her move from side to side kicking pebbles, I knew that Crack cocaine was the greatest hustler alive. My heart was broken. I couldn’t get the image of her first impression out of my head.
I looked Dave in his eyes and asked, “What happen, man?”
He tried to straighten his clothes. “I’m staying down at the Holland now. The pipe got me against the ropes man, but watch, I’m a catch the mark of all marks and be the king soon. You wait and see. They don’t call me Brave Dave for nothing.”
I knew the money was going up in smoke, but I borrowed $500 from Phil and handed Brave Dave a hundred dollars. He snatched the money and left in a slight jog. As Red walked away, I called her and held the rest of the money in my hands. She looked behind her and saw that Dave left her. In a trance, she stared at the bills as she walked back to me.
“If you’re suggesting that I do something crazy for that money, then you should solicit someone else.”
I was blown away. Her perfect grammar and perfect teeth didn’t fit the image I saw in front of me. My light bulb came on and she instantly became an agenda. I jumped into character.
“Then walk away because I do want you to do something crazy for it. I guess you can make a quick four hundred someplace else?”
Phil’s cigar filled my nostrils. His nosy ass was right over my shoulder while I spoke to Red.
“What do you have in mind?” she asked.
I gave her a once over and then looked at her crotch. Menstrual blood had leaked onto her sweatpants. “Something crazy,” I said.
Tears welled up in her eyes. “Do you know who I am?” she asked, her honor returning. “I’ve forgotten hustles you haven’t learned yet, Johnny Hustle.” She turned to leave, “Just forget it.”
She walked away. Phil and I stood there watching her walk down the street until she cut the corner.
In a sound of disbelief, he said, “Yo, baby, that was Red. She strung out on that base-rock sucking the devil's dick? Yo, baby, she the best flat footed quick-handed thief in mid. Man you should of seen her a year ago, walking around in full length Chinchilla furs with Cartier diamonds, looking too fine. Damn, baby! I heard she was the only hustler in history to walk into Harry Winston’s and rob them right in front of they eyes.”
“How?” I asked while the two of us looked where Red turned the corner.
“She walked into the spot dressed better than Princes Di, and some rich snobby broad thought she was the help and asked to see some jew-wells. So Red go behind the counter aw’ight? During that busy Christmas season. Since the manager out to lunch, everybody else figured she work there aw’ight? Thought she was the new girl. So bust it baby, she knew the whole layout of the spot. Where the keys was at and everything. So she helped the snotty hoe and made the sale. She rang up the bill, gave the lady her change and the whole nine. In an hour Red was making sales left and right. For some reason, baby, nobody asked her what she was doing there aw’ight? What they missed was the fifty-gee rock she put in her mouth. By the time the manager was back, she was gone. Now that’s class, baby. Chick pulled off a salesgirl hustle, and there was like a few million in jew-wells in there.”
He banged on his chest when he said, “But did she get greedy doe? Nah Gee, she took one days work and left. Dem fools at the store fired the crew ‘cause reporting the rock stolen was too embarrassing. Word on the street says the manager was in the Essex House with one of Red’s flunky hoes she be sleeping with. I bet you think that was some comic book shit? But this is mid, and the impossible is possible like that dope we got.”
I had turned around, trying to figure out a way to ditch Phil, when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. When I turned around it was Red.
“Can I speak to you for a moment?” Her Western twang turned me on, but her musty body odor turned me off. I pulled her to the side. “We can have sex for those four bills, but nothing oral, and nothing anal.”
I was about to take a step forward, but Phil pulled me over and whispered, “Yo, baby, I know you thirsty, but if you need a girl for the night, I can find you one.” Phill held his nose with his fingers. “You smell that chick? For real fo’real?”
While shaking my head and taking Red by the hand, I looked behind me at Phil and said, “I got this.”
$$$
Red and I walked up Seventh Avenue towards 43rd Street. I thought of a way to get her under my control. If the rumors were true, I could count on her to be my partner for anything that came up in the future. Since her drug abuse killed her ability to pull off real scams, I wanted to get in with her while her fee was cheap.
I pulled her to the side. “Look, I want to make a deal.” I passed her the $400. “You take this, and I got two grand for you for three days work. The mark is in-doors, all you have to do is two overnighters and the cash is yours.”
“When? And what’s the cut for you?”
She still had some of her hustling sense. “If you take the four hundred, you’re on contract. Whenever I need you to pull off the vic, you show up. That’s the deal.”
When we reached the corner of 43rd Street I saw an ambulance parked in front of the Carter. Red looked up at me, snatched the money. “Deal. When you’re ready, that two grand is mine.”
After watching Red blend through pedestrians, something told me to go to the Carter.
By the time I put my foot on the first step, Suki was crying. Two paramedics, two police officers, and a small body with a sheet covering it were being wheeled out of the hotel. When the wheels hit the pavement, the stretcher banged against the sidewalk
. The sheet moved and I recognized Keiki’s braids.
“Kee-key—Kee-key,” Suki cried while pointing to the lifeless body of the twelve-year-old who was being carried to the morgue.
I turned when Suki pointed, but for a split second things weren’t registering. When it finally hit me that she was talking about my Keiki, my eyes blossomed and I yelled, “Mimi.”
There was no time to wait for the elevator so I bumped past the officers and raced up the three flights of stairs. When I reached the third floor landing, Kimmy was talking to the police while trying to hide the fact that she got high. A woman from the Department of Social Services and Child Welfare was taking notes, and Mimi looked up at me.
“Daddy…daddie!” She ran into my arms.
“Is this your daughter, sir?” The chubby, Janet Jackson look-a-like asked while Mimi held her little body next to mine.
“What happened? What happened to Keiki?” I asked the lady.
“I need to know if Keiki and Mimi Mitchell are your children, or if you are the legal guardian, sir?” The lady persisted.
Mimi cupped her hand over my ear. She whispered, “Daddy, Keiki took mommy’s medicine and it made her sick.”
I was about to fly off the handle. “Kimmy, what did you do?” I asked the poor excuse of a mother.
Kimmy looked at me, and then the police officers looked at me like I was holding them up from taking their donut break.
“Just give me one moment officer, please?” Kimmy asked the only people that would give her a break.
She walked over to me, tying a flimsy robe around her waist. I handed Mimi to Suki, and Kimmy pulled me away from the ears of the civil servants.
She tugged my sleeve and whispered, “Listen, I had copped some good shit in Hells Kitchen and I came back here and cooked it up. I put it in my spike and went to use the bathroom ‘cause I was sick and shit. When I come out the bathroom my shit is gone. I spent a half-hour looking for my shit. I thought I was tripping. Then Mimi come over here telling me Keiki don’t look too good. The little bitch done stole my shit, shot up and fucking overdosed and died. The silly bit…”
I tried to knock the life out of her. Her lips were split open before she was able to finish the sentence. She was in the corner in a deeper nod than any drug could take her.
Just like I expected, New York’s Finest left her, rushed to me, and after a short struggle they put the cuffs on me. I told Suki to take care of Mimi as I was led away. The officers were more than glad to leave Kimmy and I headed downtown to the Midtown South precinct.
While I was in a holding pen, I thought about how heroin always took away the people I loved. My father died due to his addiction. My mother passed away from the virus some addict trick gave her, and then Keiki. An angel that was filled with life and brilliant opportunities. Then the guilt hit me that I was the one who sent Phil to get the package that entered little Keiki’s veins. I helped put an end to her misery, and did the ultimate short con by taking her life.
After another hour, a light tap on the cell bars disturbed my rest. When I looked up, it was the woman from Department of Social Services.
“Hi, my name is Mrs. Walker. I could lose my job for being here, but you’re not going to believe this. My supervisor is going to let Mrs. Mitchell keep little Mimi. No one found a finding. He ruled that Keiki’s action was of no fault of the parent. The mayoral election is in a couple of weeks so the city doesn’t want anything to leak to the media. You didn’t hear it from me, but the stock holders of the Theater Group has plans to revitalize Times Square, so they don’t want any bad press either. So, based on politics and the drop in the stock market, the poor have to suffer again. The only reason I’m here is because when the police took you away, we had to drug Mimi to calm her down. I assumed you were the father, but everyone made statements that you were taking care of the girls. The mother say’s otherwise, but she has no credibility with me. I asked the officers to drop the assault charges with one condition.” She handed me her business card with her phone number. “Please take care of Mimi when she comes back to the hotel the day after tomorrow.”
What was I suppose to do, be another Black man in jail? Wanting Mimi to be my responsibility anyway, I agreed to her terms.
An hour later I left the precinct. I wanted to go to my bed so bad that I rushed back to the Carter. For the first time, Suki wasn’t around and I assumed she went home, wherever that was. When I reached the third floor, Kimmy’s door was cracked and I assumed the police had her in the precinct for questioning. Then I heard a sound from inside. Quietly I stepped closer, wondering if someone was stealing what little was left. When I opened the door, Kimmy was sitting in a chair with her chin on her chest while the TV watched her. A bloody needle was stuck in her arms.
Right there, while standing over Kimmy, I had the chance to end her life by creating an air bubble in the syringe, but I wasn’t a murderer. It wasn’t in me to kill someone, and killing Kimmy would only make Mimi’s life harsher than it was.
$$$
On the day Mimi came home, I had Suki transfer Kimmy’s room to something bigger, with two beds, on the first floor. Why the department of welfare didn’t think of that before, I don’t know. What I did know was that I wanted Mimi to be well, and after the whisper stream got the news of Keiki, everyone that was close to me showed their love.
Marcy and Elexus went out and picked up a whole winter wardrobe for Mimi. Luggage included. Roxy bought balloons, cards, a cake, and a big “Welcome Home” sign. Yoda arraigned for a FAO Shwartz teddy bear, with a bunch of Cabbage Patch dolls to be delivered. Proverb made a golden locket with a picture of me inside. Suki and me agreed that Mimi was going to be our responsibility as long as she was around.
Mrs. Walker walked in with Mimi. When Mimi saw everyone in the lobby waiting on her, she ran to my arms shouting, “It’s my birthday—it’s my birthday, Daddie.”
We had a great time, and Kimmy made the effort to make herself presentable to impress Mrs. Walker for the homecoming. By nightfall Kimmy was high, and Mimi was in the room with me.
The following day was Keiki’s funeral. The only one present at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx was Roxy and me. The large acreage was well manicured lines of tombstones ran over the grounds like dividers in a large highway of death.
Since I made all the arrangements for the burial, I had to go. Kimmy was high and uninterested in the burial. Suki had to watch Mimi, because her mind was too young to understand what had happen to Keiki. At times, growing tired of asking for Keiki, Mimi would cry for her. School was starting for her in one week, so I hoped that would help keep her mind off of things.
While Keiki’s cold young body was being dropped into the ground, a shiny new black Lincoln Town Car pulled up by the plot. When I looked over at the exiting passengers, it was Yoda and Bev with flowers in their hands. He didn’t know how bad I needed him at that moment. While Bev went to talk to Roxy, he pulled me to the side.
“Hey, foolio,” he said filled with life. “Don’t start getting all mushy on me. I just came to show my support for a minute.”
In a saddened voice I said, “Man, I’ve been lost without you.”
“That’s not what I been hearing, cuz. I heard your hustle improved, and you laying low while stacking chips.”
I wondered how he could know so much. The faces of the two queers came into my mind and I had the answer.
“Look, I just came to tell you that that little girl caught a bad break. She stepped up and put destiny into her own hands and checked out. Not many of us can say we have the balls to do that. Don’t beat on yourself, because it’s the choice she made.”
He leaned against a tombstone across from me while the cemetery birds above sat perched.
“Them drugs is bad business, Johnny. You should of known better, but you ain’t put the spike in her arm. She was young, but she knew the difference between right and wrong. Maybe her death was all right with her? I hope God blesses her little soul. The
next thing I want you to know is that you gonna see more death, some more challenges, and the world is gonna feel like it’s on your shoulders. To rise to the top, you got to come from the bottom. Make up your mind if you gonna sink or swim?”
He hugged me and pointed to a tombstone. I looked at the gray marbled stone with weeds sprouting from the sides.
Yoda said, “You see there. On every headstone there’s a starting date and a date when it’s over, cuz. You ain’t got no choice when the date start and most ain’t got no choice on the finishing date. But that dash in between? That’s your life. It’s up to you to decide what that dash represents in the end. I’ll see you, cuz; don’t know when, and it may be never again. Oh yeah, you wanna be king? Know that Money Russ’ crew is going to watch you, block you, and clock your stacks. Be careful and never trust anybody.”
I watched my mentor amble away. While his back was to me, I wanted to call out for help. When I saw Bev kiss Roxy on the cheek, it was over. I stared at that dash between dates and wondered what I would be called when it was all over for me. I then looked over the dates and wondered what my headstone would read. When the cold wind passed and whispered in my ear, I received the answer. I stepped off towards the car and told myself that it would read Winner.
9
Beating the Heat
I had to get my head right after burying Keiki. I was cooped up in a state of depression. I had to get into some action to get my mind off of things. Nothing made me happier than doing for those two little girls and making money. I headed to the middle of the square, dressed in my suit, waiting for something to happen.
The weather was getting brisk and I wondered how some of the carefree hustles I did would work in the winter. In an effort to try them out, I was going to put myself back in basic training. I was ready to make as much money as I could, everyday, without Yoda looking over my shoulder.
I started my day with going to the strip-club. While I was there, I ignored Roxy dancing on stage. I set up three marks, and picked their wallets. I was out of the club twenty minutes later. I found credit cards in the wallets of the lusting White men and ran them over to the queers. Instead of ordering more clothes, I told them to bring me the cash.