“Shirley, I apologize. I don’t know anything about Ruth Ann. She ain’t a hoe—she just loves sucking dicks.”
He quickly stepped out onto the porch, slamming the door behind him… but it didn’t slam, didn’t go Blam!
He hurried down the steps, looking over his shoulder, thinking she wouldn’t come after him… Wrong!… She was right behind him… He yelped and cranked up to run… Too late!… A forearm wrapped under his chin and he was pulled up the steps.
She’s outside naked!
He couldn’t believe it.
He hooked his right foot into the balustrade. Now his body was suspended. “Cut it out, woman!” he said through clenched teeth. “Stop it, Shirley, fo’ the neighbors see us! Cut it out!” She pulled harder and his foot fell free. She almost had him inside the house when he grabbed either side of the doorframe.
“Stop it, Shirley! The neighbors watchin’! You hurtin’ my neck!” Hurt hell, if she kept pulling she’d break it.
Darlene appeared at the foot of the steps. “Shirley, is something wrong?”
“No shit!” Eric grunted.
“Help me… get him… inside,” Shirley said, panting. “Pry… his… fingers loose.”
If you do, Eric thought, I’ll burn your damned house down. Then, save his soul, he felt his legs being pulled in the opposite direction.
“Let him go!” Shirley demanded.
“No, Momma!” A child’s voice. Paul, his beloved son, here to rescue his father. Pull, boy, pull!
Shirley said, “Oh my God!” and let him go. He fell flat on his back with Paul still holding his legs.
“Let me go, boy!” Eric shouted, thinking he wasn’t out of danger just yet. Paul released his legs and he felt a jolt when his heels hit the porch.
“Daddy,” Paul said, “why you and Momma fighting?”
Eric looked over his shoulder. Shirley was nowhere in sight, the door closed.
“Why you fighting Momma, Daddy?”
He got to his feet. “Stop asking stupid questions, boy. Your momma wigged out again. I didn’t want to hurt her.”
“Hmmph!” Darlene snorted. “Looked to me you were about to get your ass whooped.”
“Go home, Darlene!” Eric said. “This family business. You can get hurt sticking your nose in family business.”
Darlene snorted again and walked up the steps. Shirley’s loud sobs drifted out when she opened the door.
“You hurt Momma!” Paul said.
“No, I didn’t. You saw her choking the shit outta me.” Paul poked out his mouth and balled up his fist. “You want some of me too, boy? Huh, do you?”
Paul moved around him, keeping close to the green aluminum siding to avoid coming within a few feet of his father, and then ran inside the house and slammed the door.
Eric walked down the sidewalk. Mr. Joyner, shirtless, sagging chest covered with gray hairs, was sitting on his porch. Eric waved at him. Mr. Joyner shook his head, didn’t wave back.
Thirty minutes later, Eric made his third pass in front of Ruth Ann’s house.
Two choices: either work up the courage to signal Ruth Ann or go home and deal with Shirley and that wayward boy. He walked to the end of the block, then turned and walked back.
Fuck this, before someone gets suspicious and calls the police.
But he had to see Ruth Ann, just had to.
Knock on the door and ask Hot Lips to go get Ruth Ann.
Lester wouldn’t think much of him visiting Ruth Ann, would he? Maybe, maybe not.
If Lester took offense, he might want to fight. Could he take Lester? Lester was taller and more muscular than he, yet Eric doubted Lester was quicker with his jabs.
What if he was bumping Lester’s head and Ruth Ann stepped in and helped her husband. Then what? And what if their psychotic son, Shane, decided to throw in a couple licks?
On his fourth pass in front of the house, the front door opened and Lester stepped out and sat on the porch swing. Eric lowered his head and picked up his pace. At the end of the block he wasn’t quite sure what to do.
Wait! Rewind the tape!
If Lester was outside trying to get a sunburn to match the skin around his lips, then Ruth Ann was inside, alone. All he had to do was sneak round back and signal her. Bold, but doable. He turned the corner.
He’d expected an asphalt alley; instead discovered a rancid creek streaming parallel to fenced and unfenced back yards. A large polka-dotted dog, untethered in an open yard, barked at him. He hoped it wouldn’t give chase.
A white woman came out and yelled at the dog to shut up, and her presence incited the dog to react more viciously. The woman gave him a wary look. He waved at her and kept walking. Will she call the police? He hoped not. At the back of Ruth Ann’s house he casually walked up the steps to the deck and tapped on the patio door.
“Ruth Ann?” attempting to whisper loudly. “Ruth Ann?” Something stank. Did they have a dog? “Ruth Ann?” He raised his right leg and inspected the bottom of his sandal. Nothing. He then noticed bones scattered on the deck. Neck bones! Why would they throw them here? Why not in the yard? A box lay near the neck bones. He picked it up. Juggernaut Gopher Bait.
What’s wrong with this picture?
“Freeze!” a man shouted.
Eric raised both hands and froze.
“Eric?”
The voice was familiar, though it wasn’t Lester’s. He turned and focused on the .357 Magnum the man beamed at his head.
Chapter 14
Reverend Rob Dollar preached on the television. Dressed in an Italian suit, gold cuff links, a Rolex on his wrist, diamond studded earrings in both lobes, he was holding a revival somewhere in Africa.
Each time he paused in his sermon titled Jesus is Lord Over Your Finances, the crowd of Africans, most wearing rags too big for their thin, emaciated bodies, took to their feet and cheered raucously.
Someone’s holding up a cue card off camera, Leonard thought, signaling them to applaud. I’d bet not a one speaks English.
“I’m sorry,” Victor said. “I can’t go. Honestly, Leonard, you shouldn’t go, either.”
“You can just wait in the car.”
Victor, naked, extracted himself from Leonard’s embrace and moved to the window.
“Someone will see you,” Leonard said, “and we’ll get kicked out of this motel. This isn’t Chicago. You need to remember that.”
“You mean I’ll get kicked out, don’t you? I’ve been here alone all night. I don’t know where you’ve been.”
“You know I’ve been with my family.”
Victor drew the curtains open wider. Sunlight flooded the room. Leonard covered himself with a sheet.
“Victor, would you please close the curtain? Come back to bed. Please! If someone sees you, you might get arrested.”
“If only I’d be so lucky.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Guess! You asked—no, you begged me to come here and meet your family. Now I’m here you keep me hidden in this room while you’re off doing… whatever it is you’re doing.”
“Don’t be silly. If you’re insinuating I’m cheating, you’re wrong, dead wrong. There’s been a tragedy in my family. My mother needs me right now.”
“I need you, too.”
Victor could be such a… a bitch at times. “Right now my mother really needs me. It’s not fair you ask me to choose between you and my family during a crisis.”
“It’s fair you ask me to go track a psycho in the jungle?”