Get Some

by Pam Ward

  Jimmy looked in each room, inching his way down the hall. When he turned the right corner he found what he came for. Trudy was leaning over this tiny, decrepit old woman. The old woman’s once-braided plaits were now two fat dreadlocks. Loose, coarse hair sprung over the top. She was wearing an old, stained pair of men’s pajamas. Another bony woman’s face lay near her toes.

  “Are you her kin?” the bony woman hoarsely said. Her voice sounded like someone shaking a big bag of rocks. “I knew someone would come. I been laying here praying.”

  Miss Dee tried her best to scoot up a bit but ended up slumped farther down. She seemed to be held by a string of IVs, like some old, worn-out, paper-thin puppet. A lunch tray with soup sat on a stand near her lap. And although a lone spoon slept on a napkin, her blotchy rheumatoid hands looked too gnarled to hold it.

  “Oh, Miss Dee!” Trudy said, eyeing Miss Dee’s wasted body. “Tony lied. He said you were dead!” When she leaned over to give Miss Dee’s face a kiss, the bony woman’s feet lying next to Miss Dee’s head gently grazed Trudy’s face. When Trudy felt those cold toes, she quickly pulled away. The toenails were ridged and completely curled in.

  Miss Dee couldn’t speak. A stroke had stolen her voice, but her twinkling eyes never looked more alive.

  “I’m Agnes,” the bony woman said. “She used to be down the hall but they put her with me month before last. Had a bad stroke and can’t talk no more.”

  Miss Dee’s face muscles rippled, trying to manage a smile. Her mouth was drawn and her skin was so deeply lined she looked like a plum left to rot in the sun. Her muscles were pulled so tight at the lip, it looked like a new baby’s fist.

  “My people don’t never come visit me neither. But I knew someone would come. I told her I could feel it,” Agnes said.

  Miss Dee smiled again and grasped Trudy’s hand. But as suddenly as the smile had appeared on her face, it immediately changed to pure fear. A tall man loomed behind Trudy’s shoulders, but that’s not what made Miss Dee yank the blanket over her face. Miss Dee hid when she saw the gun pointing at them from the door.

  “Hey, girl,” Lil Steve said low. Although it hurt when he talked, he managed a smirk. “Bet yo’ ass is surprised to see me.” Jimmy stood hidden in the rest home’s dark, gloomy hall. Lil Steve knew he was pointing a gun at his back, and a line of perspiration made its way along his jaw.

  Trudy jerked her head up and lurched toward the corner.

  “I must admit,” Lil Steve stepped closer, “you had us all going. I didn’t see none of this shit coming.” Lil Steve chuckled. He did his best to appear friendly. But he kept smoothing the hairs on his mustache and goatee. Sweat rolled down to his ear.

  Trudy inched farther back but there was no place to hide.

  “You pretty slick, homegirl. Your game was real tight.” Lil Steve clapped twice, miming applause. Now he was only a few inches from her face. “But quit trippin’. We don’t need to play Law & Order no more.” Lil Steve smiled inside Trudy’s growing wide eyes. “Just give me the stuff back and I’ll get it to Jimmy; then all this bullshit will be over.” Lil Steve tried to act cool, but his worried eyes were pleading. He hoped Trudy listened. She better have that stash. He knew it would be over for him too if she didn’t say where she hid the cocaine.

  Lil Steve inched closer. Trudy felt his breath. “It’s just you and me, baby. Ray Ray’s in jail and Vernita is dead. You don’t want to end up like them two.”

  Trudy looked at him in horror. This couldn’t be true. “You’re lyin’. I just saw Vernita, she’s fine!”

  “Well, I’m telling you, that nigga ain’t playin’ no more. Homeboy gunned her down. Executioner’s style. Shot her point-blank in the dome,” Lil Steve lied.

  Trudy looked confused. This couldn’t be true. “Well, then, how come he didn’t kill you?” Trudy asked.

  Even Jimmy had to smile when he heard Trudy say that. She was as sharp as a tree cutter’s ax.

  “I know you ain’t willing to die for some ends!” Lil Steve grew impatient with her now. He shoved Vernita’s purse into Trudy’s hands. “Look at that and tell me if I’m lying or not. Come on, Trudy! Just give the shit back!”

  Trudy examined the purse and looked back at Miss Dee, who had pulled the blanket up to her eyes. This was definitely Vernita’s purse. This was all of her stuff. Maybe Lil Steve was telling the truth. Trudy’s whole body began filling with dread.

  “Trudy, we don’t have to go out like them,” Lil Steve pleaded.

  “Vernita?” Trudy asked. “Vernita’s been killed!” Trudy felt so bad, she fell against Miss Dee’s bed. But in the metal overhead light she saw something funny. A hand with a gun was right there in the hall. Lil Steve was setting her up.

  “So what do we do now?” Trudy asked, stalling for time. Her eyes scanned the small room for some kind of weapon. But the only thing she saw was a paper towel holder on the wall and some antiseptic spray next to the food tray.

  “Where’s the coke?” Lil Steve demanded. He was really getting mad. He didn’t like having that gun aimed at his spine. “Get the shit now and let’s go!”

  Trudy acted like she was about to go out the door. But instead she grabbed hold of Miss Dee’s metal lunch tray and smacked it into Lil Steve’s face.

  Lil Steve yelled out in pain as the soup splashed in his eyes. The blow’s impact killed his raw, throbbing jaw. Jimmy leaped, waving his gun, but Trudy held up the can. She sprayed the antiseptic right in his eyes.

  With his eyes burning, Jimmy could barely see straight. He shot wildly around the room. Shots hit the ceiling and walls. There was a horrible, animal-sounding, blood-curdling yelp, like a mutt being struck by a car. But the yelp wasn’t Trudy and it wasn’t Miss Dee. Poor Agnes’s head tilted down on her pillow. Blood oozed out of her nose. A bullet pierced through Agnes’s neck. Miss Dee lay in fear. She couldn’t do a thing. A lone tear rolled down the cracks of her face.

  Trudy backed away toward the room’s narrow corner. She was totally trapped. There was no place to hide. She felt like a roach underneath a huge shoe.

  Jimmy grasped and held Trudy’s quivering neck. “Where’s the shit?” he screamed loudly. He was sputtering with rage. “I’ll kill your whole fucking family if you don’t tell me something quick!”

  “I don’t have it!” she screamed back. Trudy was scared out of her mind. She knew if she told him he’d kill her and be done. There was nothing else to do but try to stall.

  “You a liar!” Jimmy spat. “Where’s the shit at?”

  Trudy tried to slither behind the IV and table but her foot got tangled inside the long see-through cord and the table crashed down to the floor. The IV ripped right out of Miss Dee’s papery arm. A trail of dark blood flowed from her wrist.

  During the blasting, Lil Steve dove to the floor. He inched toward the hallway, crawling on hands and knees. He figured it was best to get out if he could. He definitely didn’t want to get shot.

  When the table crashed down, Jimmy loosened his grip. Trudy grabbed the IV, dripping its clear liquid and rammed it inside his neck. Jimmy screamed in her face. He shot two more times, but they blasted the ceiling because he shot while snatching the needle from his skin, and the tall steel pole that was holding the IV came tumbling down on his back. At that point, Trudy scrambled and managed to get out of the room.

  There were only two attendants working the late shift that night and one of them was out on his break. When the other attendant heard those gunshots coming from down the hall, she stuck her wet mop inside the bucket and left. The attendant snuck in a patient’s room and ducked all the way down. She wasn’t about to get herself shot on the job. Not on the bullshit minimum wage they paid her.

  Trudy was almost at the front door. In a couple more steps she would be outside. It felt like it did when she’d shoplifted something, only a hundred and fifty times worse. Her heartbeat was pounding, her blood began to steam, and it was difficult to take a good breath. She put her hand on the handle, a
nd the night air rushed in. She was almost there now. Her arm cleared the threshold. But just when her feet reached the darkness outside, just when she’d gotten her whole body out, just when her lungs finally took in some air, Jimmy hooked his thick arm around Trudy’s waist and yanked her all the way back in. Trudy twisted and screamed but he had her this time. He slammed her so hard against the old stucco wall that the paint flecked down over the floor. The force was so strong she felt like she’d been whiplashed. Jimmy brought her down, clutching both her wrists, nailing her against the hard floor like Jesus.

  “Where’s my shit?” Jimmy yelled. His sweat dripped on her forehead. But Trudy’s lips didn’t move, though they trembled a lot. Her tongue stayed lodged in the roof of her mouth.

  “Oh, you ain’t talkin’?” Jimmy sneered at her face. He snatched a shank out from the back of his pants. He cut Trudy’s hoop earring straight from the lobe. A piece of pink meat was still attached to the gold back.

  The sight of her own blood immediately made her feel nauseous. But Trudy’s mind was set. She clenched her back teeth. She turned her whole brain into a strong steel vise. Vernita was dead. Ray Ray was gone; she’d be damned if she talked to him now. And even though her concrete eyes were desperate to cry, she willed the hot tears from escaping down her cheeks. Jimmy read the determined look in Trudy’s hard eyes. He put the knife back and pulled out his Glock. Jimmy was a pro at breaking folks down. He lived for this kind of challenge. He slammed the cold gun upside Trudy’s face. Explosions of pain flared all over her skull. He hit her again and blood drained from her lips, then he jammed the gun under her teeth.

  “Gimme my shit or I’ll mess you up for life. No man’ll ever look at you twice!”

  The pain was intense. Trudy struggled to think. But her mind said she’d die before giving him what he wanted. She was alive only because he needed her to talk. Her whole body became a tight steel pipe.

  Jimmy’s face scowled crazily. He breathed heavy and deep. Trudy felt his foul breath warming over her forehead. But then something crossed over his hard, ruthless mind. Something made his cruel lips almost curl to a smile. He dragged Trudy down, pulling her along the long hall. He yanked her back into Miss Dee’s narrow room. The white sheet under Miss Dee had turned a deep crimson. Agnes’s blood was all over the bed.

  “I’ma give you something to make your quiet ass talk.”

  Jimmy aimed the gun over Miss Dee’s shrunken frame.

  “Wait!” Trudy screamed, but it was too late for that. Jimmy fired the gun straight into Miss Dee’s spindly thigh. A raspy growl erupted from Miss Dee’s parched throat and ricocheted down the hall.

  “Oh God!” Trudy screamed. “I’ll tell you, please stop!”

  Jimmy held the gun over Miss Dee’s concave chest. Miss Dee’s face was knotted. It rippled in pain. Her pleading eyes focused on Trudy.

  “The car!” Trudy screamed. “It’s all in the car!”

  “I been in the car and didn’t see jack.” Jimmy’s finger tugged the trigger and almost fired again.

  “It’s there, Jimmy, I swear. Check the right side. I hid it inside the door panel.”

  Jimmy smiled when he heard Trudy say this last part. So that’s where it was. This was one clever heifer. It was too bad she tripped out and stuck him like this. He and a cold bitch like her could have worked something out. Jimmy jammed his Glock up against Trudy’s rib cage. He hustled her down the hall toward the door. A bucket and mop sat next to the wall.

  Trudy kicked over the bucket. Water splashed across the floor. Jimmy’s Stacy Adam boots slipped in the murky, soapy water and Trudy managed to pull away. Jimmy shot wildly at her big legs but missed. He put a hole in the wall and another in the counter. When a bullet hit the sharp spokes of a wheelchair in the hall, the wrinkled-up man in it smiled. He patted the lumpy pacemaker under his shirt. This was the best shit he’d seen in years.

  Trudy was free. She leaped to the door. But suddenly her whole head and neck were snapped back. Jimmy had a fist full of her braids in his hand. Trudy heard the cold first click of the safety go off as Jimmy pulled back the trigger. Trudy couldn’t even struggle. She was caught and held tight. With his fist at her head, Jimmy dragged her outside. Trudy saw the broken glass outside the VW’s door. Jimmy reached in and yanked open the driver’s door handle. He snatched the inside door paneling off. The money and cocaine were lodged down in the metal.

  Jimmy let the tip of his finger trace the edge of her face. He actually felt bad. He hated to have to kill her. For a second his hard face revealed tenderness inside. He had liked Trudy. She was all right. But then Jimmy’s face changed. The gentleness quickly turned sullen. He examined the coke and thumbed through the money. He stared back at Trudy with felonious eyes. The savage eyes of the betrayed. She didn’t want him. All she wanted was his money. His index finger hooked the slim trigger of his gun. He pulled the gun’s trigger back.

  Trudy closed both her eyes and held in her breath. The blast was so intense the Bug’s window blew out. Trudy stood frozen, unable to breathe. When she finally decided to open her eyes, Jimmy’s large body was slumped on the ground.

  Trudy panicked. It was getting harder to get air. She looked around but saw no one in sight. Her eyes drifted around the black desert night and the red sea of passing cars. Suddenly, Ray Ray’s smiling face walked toward the car door.

  Ray Ray rolled Jimmy over and took Jimmy’s gun. He held two fingers at his neck to check for a pulse before sliding his own gun back in his holster. He found the bag holding Vernita’s cut of the money. He found a metal container with two new cigars and put it inside his jacket. He grabbed Trudy’s hand, lifting her up.

  “Hey, girl. You okay?” He noticed the blood on her shoulder and her earlobe cut off. Ray Ray brought Trudy back into the rest home.

  Ray Ray rummaged through a drawer and found alcohol and gauze. He swabbed Trudy’s face and her badly cut ear. He covered the lobe with a bandage.

  Trudy went down the hall to examine Miss Dee. The bullet was lodged in the sheet.

  “Homegirl got lucky,” Ray Ray said, lighting up. The bullet had gone straight through her flesh. Ray Ray bandaged her too and then picked up the phone. He lit a cigarette and dialed 911.

  “Come on. We better leave before they all come.”

  “No! Ray Ray, wait.” Trudy held Ray Ray’s arm. “I have to see about Vernita.”

  “Don’t need to. I’ve already been there.” Ray Ray looked down. He sucked in the smoke slow. “When she saw me she wouldn’t talk. She just kept shaking her head. But Pearl showed up over there looking for you too. That’s how I knew you were here.”

  “Tell me, Ray Ray!” Trudy said, worried. “Is Vernita okay?”

  “Yeah, she’ll make it, but she’s hurt pretty bad. I stayed ’til the paramedics took her.” Ray Ray looked over at Trudy’s bandaged ear. “I hope all this bullshit was worth it.”

  Trudy looked at Ray Ray. His left eye was busted. He had bruise marks and welts all over his skin. A monstrous cut dissected his burn. Trudy held her head down. She’d never felt worse. She was responsible for everything that happened to her friends. All of them almost got killed. “If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened.”

  Miss Dee looked at her bloody dead friend. Miss Dee stroked Agnes’s head. Agnes had suffered. No one had been down to see her either. Loneliness had killed her a long time ago.

  Trudy kept her head down. “I’m so sorry, Miss Dee. This was all my fault.”

  Miss Dee narrowed her eyes in worry.

  Ray Ray smiled at Miss Dee while bandaging her leg. He whispered to Trudy, “We got to raise up, girl. Police’ll be here in a minute.”

  Trudy cupped Miss Dee’s face. “You gonna be all right?” She knew Ray Ray was right. They were fugitives now. She kissed Miss Dee’s cheek. “See you, Miss Dee.” She didn’t have the heart to tell her she wouldn’t be seeing her again.

  Ray Ray and Trudy walked out the glass door. He lit a cigarette as t
hey walked along the gravel road. The events of the last moments shook Trudy hard. A rush of tears streamed down her face.

  “Dang,” Trudy said, trying to stifle her crying, “you saved me, Ray Ray.”

  “Girl, you know I been had yo’ back. I been telling you that shit forever.” Ray Ray smiled and popped in a piece of Juicy Fruit gum. “I knew that stone fool would be coming after you. Vernita told me y’all was coming up here, so I figured I’d better come too.” He winked back at Trudy and she managed a weak smile.

  “We better raise up,” Ray Ray said calmly. “Am-ba-lance and po-po be all over this place.” They walked toward the Volkswagen. The highway was blazing. It raced with the hot, fast-paced traffic to Vegas.

  Ray Ray blew out his smoke toward the loud, violent highway. He felt free next to Trudy under the million-starred sky. He pulled her mouth over his lips. Trudy didn’t resist.

  Ray Ray wrapped one arm around both of her shoulders, the other arm circling Trudy’s waist. He felt a warm, luscious heat erupt from his stomach. He’d been waiting for this moment for a very long time. He squeezed Trudy real tight.

  Suddenly, the Volkswagen roared back to life. Ray Ray ran over and jerked open the door.

  Lil Steve looked at Trudy and then over at Ray Ray. A perplexed look passed over his face. But Lil Steve quickly masked any emotion he had. A grin eased its way across his fat, swollen jaw. “Zap-nin’, people?” he said, trying to sound casual. He rubbed the groomed hairs on his chin.

  Ray Ray was stunned. What was Lil Steve doing here? “Man, where you been? I’ve been waiting on you all night.” He was talking loud over the Volkswagen’s rattling engine while Lil Steve sat squeezing the wheel.