by Clara Nipper
“That is more than generous, Mr. Cleo. That will do nicely. I sure do appreciate it.”
“I know, Stub,” Cleo said as he gently removed the glasses and replaced them.
“I can get the money,” I said. I set my dusting tools on the counter and banged on the register. I was desperate to know what Stub was pawning.
In horror, I watched as Cleo flipped up the right sleeve of Stub’s shirt, unfastened his artificial arm and removed it, putting the limb somewhere in the back. I stood at the open register, my mouth gaping.
“Look at him!” Stub pointed at me with his shoulder stump. “You sure shocked the shit out of him!”
“I’m a woman,” I replied, grinning. Stub quit smiling and looked me up and down. “Sure shocked the shit out of you too, huh?”
Stub laughed. “Gimme my money. I gotta go shopping.”
“How you going to pay it back this time, Stub?” Drew asked. “You’re a genius for finding and stretching a penny.”
“Like I always do. Sell my blood for some of it. What’s it to you, old fart?” Stub shrugged the shrug of people so overloaded with big problems that every detail of life seemed miniscule and inconsequential.
“Here you go, Stub. You take good care now and we’ll see you soon,” Cleo said.
“Thank you, sir.” Stub raised a limp salute. “Bye, y’all!” he said with a toothy smile.
“Bye,” we responded.
Drew shook his head. “That’s sad. That is so sad. Vietnam, you know.”
Cleo dropped his eyes. “Yep. Served well and turned into a poverty-stricken, drug-addled, drunken swamp rat with more medical problems than all three of us together.” Cleo snorted. “The government.”
“My man,” Drew sang softly, mournfully.
“That’s some shit,” I said, watching Stub limp down the block.
“Well, we do what we can.” Cleo sighed, sitting again. “Smoke?” He held a hand-rolled cigarette to me and I accepted with relief. “Let’s play.” Cleo stirred the bones.
“I ain’t got no scratch left!” I exclaimed, having been skillfully distracted from Stub. “You took it all.”
“We’ll play for nothing. Just practice,” Cleo purred.
I laughed. “All right, you crafty old fart.”
Chapter Nine
The rain was falling in heavy sheets. The store was empty. Ellis was at the other shop with an appointment.
I sat at the table with Cleo and Drew, playing dominoes. I was fussy and bored. I never won this game and the rain made me restless.
“C’mon, what you got, N?” Drew nudged me out of my petulant reverie.
“Play ’em if you got ’em, my sister, but don’t show your panties all at once,” Cleo muttered.
“Sweet, why you talk that smack all the time? All these years I never know what you’re saying. Some voodoo?” Drew asked.
Cleo just smiled wide, his gold tooth glittering. I slapped a domino onto the end of the crooked black avenue they had already created.
“Oh, too slow, too slow.” Cleo grinned. “I bump.”
“My man! You won again!” Drew shook his head.
“Play without me this time,” I snapped.
“How you ever going to learn if you don’t play?” Cleo asked.
“I ain’t learning shit but how to lose my money to you, and I could have done that without these lousy dominoes,” I said.
Cleo laughed, air hissing out between his teeth. “You got that right.”
“Cleo been playing forever, ain’t you? Thirty years?” Drew asked.
“More than forty years. Tried poker but that ain’t for me. Bones is my game and she is a hard mama.”
I stretched, my spine popping. “I need a break!” I felt for my cigarettes and put one in my mouth. Good thing about Ellis, he permitted smoking in the shop. I got a wooden match and rested my thumbnail on it as I watched Cleo for the thousandth time roll his own. I never tired of seeing him take out his ancient leather tobacco pouch, remove papers, sprinkle some tobacco into the crease of a tissue-thin rolling paper, roll, and seal it quick and fluid like a magic trick.
I slammed my match and cigarette on the table as I stood. “Be right back,” I said.
“Hey, Nora, where you going in this hurricane weather?” Drew called as I left.
When I returned with a paper sack, I went to the back to remove my wet shoes and shirt and to dry my head. I walked back to the table barefoot, wearing my wife-beater and jeans. I placed a pouch of tobacco and a package of papers in front of Cleo.
“Teach me something I can use,” I said.
“My man!” Drew said.
Cleo laughed and nodded. “All right, all right, all right.” His voice was always soft and gravelly as if he were casting spells or suspended between worlds and half his voice addressed the living and half the dead. “Sit down, girl, I’ll get you going. First, that is wrong.” He pointed to the tobacco. “But it’ll do.”
Cleo told me to watch him and he showed me over and over and I tried until we had a pile of cigarettes, his perfect, mine wilted, leaky, and lumpy. Drew witnessed all this with an amused smile.
We practiced rolling for over an hour.
“Now you’re getting it,” Cleo rasped. It was a companionable silence, occasionally one or the other of them murmuring whatever occurred. The rain drummed for entry. All was quiet and sleepy.
“Here comes trouble,” Drew said suddenly, his voice loud with tension and disturbing the peace.
Cleo and I followed Drew’s gaze. Cleo groaned.
“Who else would come out on a day like today except that fool?” he said.
I looked at the approaching man. Tall, pale, reed-thin, with lots of dark curly hair water-matted to his skull.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked.
“Nothing, nothing.” Drew laughed, shaking his head and waving his hand in dismissal.
The door opened and the overhead bells rang.
“’Sup?” the man said, shaking his slicker like a dog.
“Aw, man!” Drew said, shielding his face. “Take that shit somewhere else.”
“Where’s Mr. El? I got something to talk over with him.”
“Out,” I answered. “Can I help you?”
“Who the fuck is she?” The man jerked his thumb at me.
Drew covered his eyes. Cleo shook his head. “Now, Johnny, don’t do this.”
I stood slowly, once again relishing my full six-foot height. “Who. The. Hell. Are. You?”
“Say, say, say, I didn’t mean nothing. I’m Jonathan Fallana, but you can call me Johnny. I just need to see El real bad and I wondered where he was, that’s all. He has something I need in the back, if you know what I mean.”
“He’s out.” I looked down from my Amazon height into Johnny’s melty green eyes. “If you got something to sell, I can help you.”
“No, no, not today. Say, why don’t we just chill and play some bones?”
“Sounds good to me,” Cleo said, setting aside the rolled cigarettes and stirring the dominoes. “You in trouble again, Johnny?”
“Fine,” I said, “you’ll have to find your own chair.”
“Sure, I get you. I’ll just pull up this”—Johnny grunted and slid over a large black box—“speaker and sit on it. Cleo, man, you know they got me hooked on a murder? And I got the proof. I mean, Ellis has the proof, but I got to get it from him before they arrest me. But I’ll catch him later. Let’s have some action. What are we betting?”
“Nothing,” I answered sharply.
“Just a gentleman’s game,” Cleo said, smiling. He winked at me.
“Skip me, I got to book,” Drew said, checking his watch. The rain had not abated. The shop’s windows were beginning to fog. “I got to do a little something, something.”
“Don’t go, Drew.” I pleaded with my eyes.
“Well.” Drew checked his pager. “Let me make a call.” He stepped into the back.
“Say, man, sure. W
e’ll be here,” Johnny said.
“Why don’t we play for lunch?” I said.
“I’d love a free lunch.” Cleo grinned.
“I’m all about that,” Johnny answered.
Drew sat down. “What did I miss?”
“Johnny is buying us lunch. Either him or Nora,” Cleo said.
“Got her taken care of?” I asked Drew.
“You know it,” Drew stretched out his palm to me and I slid my hand across his.
“I never understand how an old man like you gets all those PYTs. What are you, double Cleo’s age?” Johnny said.
“I am old enough to know what women want,” Drew answered pointedly.
“Drew got to keep the females happy,” Cleo said.
“Ladies?” Johnny wolf-whistled. “They better keep me happy is all I got to say.”
“That right?” Cleo said, watching the dominoes reveal themselves. “Mild and careful, that’s what she says.”
“Hell, yeah, I’m the one with the dinero.” He rubbed his fingers together.
“Quit woolgathering, your turn,” Cleo snapped.
The dominoes’ clicking voices were the only sound for a while. I knocked. Then to Johnny, “You have money?” I was incredulous.
“I got a little income.” Johnny smiled.
“Nickel for Drew, two dimes for Cleo,” Cleo said, recording the points in the curious hieroglyphics of dominoes.
“We did agree that the winner buys lunch, right?” I asked.
Cleo glanced up, his brows thunderous. “Hell no, we agreed that the woman buys lunch.”
“No, loser buys lunch.” Drew looked hard at Johnny, who was studying his hand.
“Oh, right.” I smiled.
“That ain’t me,” Johnny said, laying down a tile.
“Dime for Johnny,” Cleo said.
“So what gives you this income?” I couldn’t let it go. I slid a domino to one end.
“Hmm?” Johnny was observing the game.
“Zip for Nora, zip for Drew,” Cleo said.
“She wants to know how you get your lucre, man,” Drew said.
“My money makes money, that’s all,” Johnny answered.
“Oh! You’re a trust fund baby, then,” I said, full of contempt.
“Naw, I wouldn’t put it that way,” Johnny said.
“Meemaw and Peepaw still pay your bills, that’s cool,” Drew said with a nod.
“Are we gonna play or not?” Johnny was flushed, his eyes flashing.
“Play then, it’s your move,” Cleo said, perching a cigarette on his lip. Johnny clacked a domino onto the table and watched Cleo record no points earned. “Lotta money out there,” he whispered, “lotta money out there. Give me some of that, sweetheart.”
“Nope, can’t, old man, ’cause it’s all mine.” I grinned as I placed my domino on the edge of the angular path, closing the points.
Cleo whistled. Drew smacked the table. “My man!” he exclaimed.
“Say, that is rotten. That sure is rotten,” Johnny said, frowning at the game.
“Game is not over yet,” Cleo said. “Plenty more money on the other end. Let’s go.”
“I sure am getting hungry,” Drew said, licking his lips.
“Dime for Drew. Now, shut your legs, honey, hold on to that,” Cleo said.
The play progressed quietly until Drew knocked. Then Johnny. Then me.
“Hee, hee, hee, it’s down to me, I guess. Domino!” Cleo rasped.
“You sucker!” Johnny whined.
“My man!” Drew smiled.
“Let’s count the points,” I said.
Cleo obliged. “Uh-oh, Johnny, this is really gonna cost your folks.”
“That’s all right, that’s all right. Say, what’s everybody want?” Johnny stood and put on his rain slicker.
“Barbeque,” we three said in unison.
“From Tassie Pie’s,” Cleo said, his eyes resting on the joint directly across the street from the pawn. Too many times to count, hungry customers came in to pawn something small, like a watch or a tool; something that would bring them just enough money to go to Tassie’s and have a feast.
“Just what, ribs, baloney, pork?” Johnny asked.
“Some potato salad,” Drew said.
“And some coleslaw,” I added.
“And chips and pickles and peppers and bread,” Cleo said.
“And cold drinks,” Drew said.
“All right, let me go.” Johnny dashed into the pouring rain to cross the flooded street.
“I’ll say one thing, he’s a good sport,” Cleo said.
“You fixed it, didn’t you?” I asked.
Cleo laughed. “Now why would you think that?”
“Thought so.”
“My man!” Drew boomed.
While Johnny was gone, silence settled back into the room. I resumed rolling cigarettes, Drew stared at the rain, Cleo trimmed his nails with a knife.
“Sure is quiet,” Drew murmured.
“Don’t nobody need money on a stormy day,” Cleo answered.
“There! Look at that!” I held up a perfect cylinder.
“I’ll take that.” Cleo put it in his mouth. “See how she smokes. Now you just got to do it fast.”
“When will Ellis be back?” Drew asked.
I shrugged. “Miss him?”
Drew flushed. “No, just seem like he’s been gone too long.”
“Worried about him?” I asked.
“Shut up.”
I grinned at him. “I’m sorry, you’re old enough to be my daddy. I guess I should show more respect.”
Drew turned to Cleo. “Did I just get an apology and an insult?”
Cleo nodded, smiling. “Little brother is feeling fine today.”
The phone rang, startling all of us.
“Pawn,” I barked into the phone. I grimaced and held the receiver away from my ear. “But…yes, ma’am…I’ll tell him…right away.” I hung up.
“Who was that?” Drew asked.
“Cindy,” Cleo said without looking up from his hands, beneath which was a pile of curly nail parings.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Who is Cindy?” Drew said.
“Johnny’s girlfriend,” I answered. “Seems like he is in trouble.”
“Oh, she’s always like that,” Cleo said.
“What did she want?” Drew asked.
“For Johnny to come home and explain himself. He moved out again,” Cleo told them.
“What’s that mean? Again?” I said.
“Well, Johnny and Cindy have this on-again off-again thing, you know? And they’re all the time either perfect love birds or he is breaking her heart leaving. Cindy has settled on him, but he ain’t settled on her. And she is one determined white bitch. She means to keep that man if it harelips the South. But see, he comes in here and he is for real. He tells it that he doesn’t love her and she just takes him back, no questions asked, and lets him walk all over her, so of course he goes back whenever he’s bored between affairs. He is in love with his own self and he has no trouble getting cute things to line up and love him for his looks and his easy money that he ain’t earned. But Cindy is convinced that it’s true love and nothing he does will wise her up. So he hooks up with her, does what he wants, breaks up, does what he wants, gets with her again, and so forth.” Cleo finished talking, ground out his butt and brushed his clippings into the trash.
“He must come around when I ain’t here because I don’t know all this. And ain’t that some shit?” Drew said.
“Aw, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Jonathan Fallana is a piece of work.”
“Or maybe a piece of shit,” I said. They all laughed. The rain streaked down the windows in heavy rivulets. A dark form ran for the door and shoved it open. The bells tinkled.
“I’m a drowned rat!” Johnny shouted, holding sodden steaming bags of food. Cleo and Drew and I all exchanged glances and laughed again.
“Give me some
help!” Johnny said, dripping a puddle on the floor.
“Sure, man, sure thing.” Drew jumped up and took half of the water-spotted sacks. He held a greasy one up to his nose. “Mmm, this one’s mine.”
“Like hell,” Cleo said. I cleared the card table.
We sorted out the food and each settled into lunch and silence. It was blissfully quiet. When there was nothing but trash and bones, Cleo and I smoked our hand-rolled joints.
“Yeah, nothing like that first taste of smoke to cleanse the palate and settle the belly,” Cleo said.
“Now all I need is a cushy woman to nap on,” I said. Murmurs of assent. “By the way, Cindy wants you to call.”
Johnny shrugged. “Was she crying?”
“No, she was yelling.”
“I’ll wait until she’s crying.” Johnny smiled, his eyes gleaming.
“You are wicked,” Drew said, shaking his head.
“That woman is going to beat your ass one day,” Cleo said.
“That’s a lie. She’s too hung up on me to do anything. I got her right here.” Johnny wiggled his pinkie. “Anybody else call?”
“No. But why don’t you introduce me to Cindy? Sounds like she could use a friend,” I said casually.
Drew and Cleo watched in shock.
“What? You gonna be her friend? Sure.” Johnny leaned back on the speaker, a toothpick perched jauntily between his teeth.
“Cool, when?” I said, smooth as a shark.
“Wait, man, Johnny, don’t you know—” Drew began.
“Nora and Cindy will be friends, ain’t that sweet?” Cleo interrupted.
“Oh, my man. I got you. Sweet, yeah. Just don’t be sweet to my baby’s mama,” Drew said.
“I still can’t believe an old man your age made a baby with a twenty-year-old girl. You’re a fossil like me. Why don’t you marry her already?” Cleo asked Drew, who ignored him, instead focusing on Johnny and me, winking and grinning.
“Huh? What’s up? What you all talking about?” Johnny said.
“Nothing, nothing, just be cool. I’ll just do Cindy a favor, that’s all,” I answered.
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like wise her up,” I said.
Johnny laughed. “Better women than you have tried that. Look at me.” He stood. “Look at my face. Look at this cleft chin. Look at my profile. Look at my hair.” Johnny ruffled his damp black curls. “Look into my eyes.” Johnny stared at me with his big green soulful eyes. “Look at my hot bod.” Johnny raised his shirt to a chorus of groans from Cleo and Drew. “Feel my muscles.” Johnny flexed his bicep and thrust it in my face and I obligingly pinched it. “Look at this ass.” Johnny turned around and bent over. Cleo and Drew left the table in disgust. “And best of all, look at this.” Johnny fumbled in his pants.