by Tiana Laveen
“Nine hundred? For all of these coins? You may as well have offered nine hundred pesos. Your offer was just as insulting.” Hunter burst out laughing, closed the book and started to grab it off the table top.
“Fine, hold on now! How about twelve hundred? Now that’s a pretty damn generous offer.”
“You have a nice day.” Hunter picked up the book, tucked it under his arm, and turned to leave.
“Fourteen hundred! Ya got me over a barrel, man!”
Hunter kept walking.
“Two thousand! Shit! I can’t go a dime more!”
“You aren’t getting any of these dimes, either.” Hunter chortled as he headed back out to his rental car.
The guy rushed to the door, still speaking, but Hunter put his car in drive and took off out the small parking lot. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw the man waving his arms, yelling and bopping around, gesturing wildly in a ‘come back’ motion, but Hunter turned up his radio, tuning him out. As he merged back into the traffic, he pulled up the local listings of appraisers and coin shops on his phone. After narrowing a couple down, he made a few calls and travelled to one that was only ten minutes away. When he arrived and parked, he sent Olive a text message:
Olive, this is Hunter. I am taking care of something right now but will be back soon.
He slid the phone back in his pocket and felt it buzz soon after he hit SEND. Probably her, responding.
Not long after, he was introducing himself to a well-dressed middle-aged man with jet black hair. It was evident the man recognized quality when he saw it. As the guy studied the collection further, Hunter took in his surroundings. It was small, kinda fancy place. Classical music played softly, creating a mood. It was kind of strange to see such a place in that stretch of the city, but he surmised business was good or it would’ve closed down.
He also made a mental note of a police car that was parked nearby. Although he couldn’t see the cop right then, said officer had to be on the premises. The man sat down at a desk with some fancy gold spectacles on, poring over the collection with a discerning eye. It seemed to drag on and on.
“You have quite the collection here, Mr. Wolfe. May I please see your paperwork?”
“Paperwork?”
“Yes, something that states you are legally allowed to have this collection.”
Hunter remembered a text message exchange between him and Noah about some of the things he’d found in the shed. He took out his phone, noted a smiley face reply from Olive, and scrolled through his correspondence. After locating it, he handed the phone to the man, who read the exchange then got back to his feet.
“Do you mind if I contact this Noah Beemer you were speaking to?”
“Well, he may not answer. As you saw from our back and forth, he’s in the hospital and not in good health. He’s coherent and in his right mind though. I guess, uh, you can try.”
Moments later, much to Hunter’s surprise, Kylie answered Noah’s phone then handed it to her brother. He paced back and forth as the man asked Noah a series of questions. Seemingly satisfied, he handed the phone back, took another look at the collection and smiled, all the while shaking his head.
“Your friend had a very good eye for this sort of thing. This collection is one of the best I have seen in a long time – and it looks as if he preserved them very well. I want you to look at something.” The guy turned around and slapped a dogeared book in his hand. “In this book you’ll find just about every single coin you have here. It has the going rate range, depending on whether the currency is in poor, fair, good or mint condition. I can get quite a lot for these at an auction. However, that’s not free. I want you to have a seat, look through the book, and then hopefully we can come to a deal.”
“All right.”
“I have buyers; you want the money. So, after you’re satisfied, let’s talk.” Hunter took a seat in the comfortable yet expensive looking chair, and flipped through the old book. Some pages were marked with ink, others had slight tears. As he studied various pictures, he recognized several from the collection. The damn coins were worth even more than the pawnshop guy said to his friend on the phone… That was a no brainer. Noah had been sitting on a goldmine from just these alone. The hell with everything else in that shed.
When the man returned, he stood before him, a pleasant smile on his face as he clasped his hands.
“Most of the coins in that book are in what I’d consider good condition. Some are fair, two that struck my interest are mint, a few are poor but I believe your friend probably received them in that condition in the first place. I am prepared to write you a check.”
“I’d prefer cash.”
“Mr. Wolfe, I could give you cash, but the offer I have in mind would make that not ideal. Please feel free to look at my company’s reviews online if it will make you more comfortable regarding our ethics here at Cohen Coin Appraisers and Buyers, but we don’t take any business transactions lightly, especially for a collection such as this. I don’t want all of the coins because some aren’t worth much, but I’m still willing to purchase them all for the right price. Now that you’ve had a moment to look at their value, and considering that I am the one who has to do the rest of the work to get these sold, do you believe that $27,500 is fair?”
“Uh, you said, $27,500?” he sputtered. If he had been drinking beer, he would have sprayed the guy like liquid ammo from a paintball gun.
“Yes. I understand that if you had the expertise, time and patience, you could get closer to $36,000, perhaps even upward of $40,000 for the entire collection, but again, there are fees involved, advertising, insurance, things of that nature. This is a process.”
Hunter nodded in understanding.
“What about $28,000?”
The man’s lips curled as he exposed large, white teeth – all of them undoubtedly capped. He then extended his hand.
“$28,000 it is. I’ll even throw in a free pen.” He chuckled. “I will need your I.D., Mr. Wolfe.”
Hunter jumped to his feet, pulled out his wallet, and began the process. Twenty minutes later, with check in hand and a fancy silver pen, he exited the place, driving back to Nita’s house. His adrenaline was soaring. He could barely contain himself.
I can get an apartment now, and if I pay six months in advance, I can probably find a place that won’t hold my lack of a job and background check against me. They’ll have the money upfront. I can get outta my brother’s place… I can buy a cheap car and fix the Firebird, too, get all the parts I need for it… I can give my brother a little bread for my nieces and nephews – they need a bigger place, too… Can give ’em the down payment for that.
“Yes! Shit! Hell yeah!” he yelled, slamming his fist on the steering wheel in excitement. He dialed up Noah, but the call went straight to voicemail.
“You son of a bitch!” He cackled as he left a message for the guy to hear later. “You knew that coin collection was worth a lotta fuckin’ money and you didn’t even tell me. Lucky for you I wasn’t so desperate that I just handed it off to the first taker. I wanted to shop it around for a good offer but I guess, uh, that’s what you meant by trusting me. You knew I wouldn’t be that stupid. Plus, I’d already looked up a couple of the coins online, so I knew to get a certain amount for those – but had no idea some of the other ones were worth that much. Thanks, Noah… hope you’re not still salty about me gettin’ in your ass about Olive, but I stand by what I said. I’m certain you made not only her day, but her entire life by talking to her. Anyway, thanks a lot for the coins, man. I can’t believe you gave ’em to me, but I appreciate it all the same. I took photos of them before I turned them over, you know, in case you wanted to still look at them from time to time. I got some nice change for them. It’ll buy me some time till I find a job. Something that hopefully pays a bit more than what I was willing to accept up to a couple hours ago. All right… I’ll talk to you later.”
He drew closer to Nita’s house and gave her a buzz. She an
swered on the third ring.
“Hey, it’s me, Hunter.”
“I know.” If he were a betting man, he’d think she was smiling.
“I’m about twenty minutes away. I sent Olive a text message.”
“I know.”
“Yeah… so I’m on my way back for that dessert.” He chuckled. “What’d you make?”
“Apple pie with some vanilla ice cream.”
“Did you know that’s my favorite? ’Cause it is.” And it was.
“I didn’t know that. Looks like you lucked out.”
“Yeah… so, uh, almost there. I’ll talk to Olive… Um, I’m going to stay in town for a few days, get a hotel I guess.” He waited for her to perhaps ask him to stay over, extend an invitation. Instead, he was met with silence. “Well, yeah… so I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.”
She was Chatty Cathy before. Now she isn’t sayin’ much.
“Just so you know, Nita, I’m not no lunatic or anything like that. I know I was in prison, but you don’t have to be concerned about me doing anything crazy around you or those kids. It wasn’t that type of party. I don’t get down like that.”
“Oh, I know. You’ve got the right one, baby, because you’d be out of your damn mind if you believed for one second that I’d let you up in here with my girls without checking out your record first. Fresh outta prison?! Wasn’t no way you’d be stepping foot back in here before I did my due diligence. Boy, please!” He snickered. He should have known.
“Once Olive told me she wanted to speak to you, I spent the $19.99 to do a background check on your ass pronto. You’ve got all kinds of charges, Hunter, shit that I was definitely concerned about, but it seemed those issues revolved around car theft and the violent crimes were directed at specific people. Nevertheless, I read the whole report—it was a big one, too—and I didn’t see any domestic violence, rapes, assaults against women, things like that. I also keep a knife on me and pack a pistol and trust me, I know how to use it, so please don’t let the smile, the friendliness for the sake of Olive, and the lasagna that you claimed to not like but ate up fool you.”
At this, he burst out laughing. The woman was hilarious, and she also impressed him.
“First of all, you don’t need to holler in the phone. I can hear you. Second, I don’t hurt women, Nita. I grew up seeing my mother getting ’er ass beat, so I vowed I’d never do it, no matter how much a girlfriend or whoever of mine tried my patience. I know my own strength. I can fight. My hands are deadly weapons as far as I’m concerned so they’re not fit to use on no woman. Also, I know you have a gun.”
“How’d you know?”
“I saw it sticking out the side of your pants. With where you live, I would have advised you to get one anyway if you didn’t have one already. It’s not safe over there where you’re at, ’specially with people thinkin’ they can take advantage of a house full of women. Bunch of drug addicts roaming over there, too. Not saying you’re weak. I just know how people think. They’ll go for what they think is an easy target. As far as that $19.99, I’ll pay you back. It was money well spent. I’m glad you’re a mom on top of her shit. I can’t fault you for that. Better to be safe than sorry.”
He lit a cigarette, rolled down the window, and blew out the smolder.
“I wouldn’t feel right taking your money, Hunter. You just got released and you said it yourself, you’re struggling financially right now.”
“I just got over twenty grand for some coins from Noah. And yes, it was a legal transaction.”
“What?! Well, in that case, I will take my $19.99 back, including two hundred percent interest!”
“You’re a land shark,” he said with a guffaw. “All right, now for a serious question. What about that date? You gonna let me take you out?”
“I’m good.”
“I can take you somewhere nice now, too. Better than Olive Garden or Red Lobster… go somewhere fancy and shit, where you have to wear a suit jacket and a pretty dress.” He was met with silence. She was breathing hard on the other end, huffing, as if she were annoyed. “I know you’re still on the line, baby. I can hear you.”
“You know I can’t go out with you, Hunter.”
“No I don’t, or I wouldn’t have asked.”
“Well, the answer is no. Anyway, come on by. I will warm up the dessert and you and Olive can have a nice chat before you head off to your hotel.” It was evident she was trying to rush him off the phone and not deal with this one second longer. But she was going to deal with him because now, he had his eye on her and no one he had his eye on got to just walk away unless he felt the desire to let them do so.
“I’m going to keep working on you. You’ll go out with me. Eventually.”
“That’s not going to happen. I’m in a relationship.”
“The lies you tell!” He shook his head. “You don’t have a man, Janet. I can always tell. You’ve got that single look in your eye… you’re hungry. I can feed ya, baby…” His voice trailed as he thought about how damn pretty she was, and how badly he wanted to kiss her. Fuck her. “Give me a try. What? You don’t fuck with White guys? If you don’t, you should. Taste the damn rainbow. I know I’m rough around the edges but I bet you can handle it.”
“I’m not in a relationship. I lied like you said, but we’re still not going out and it has nothing to do with you being White. Let this go. See you in a little bit.”
She quickly ended the call before he could roll out a response. Reaching for the radio, he searched for something to his liking until he stumbled upon ‘Radioactive’ by Imagine Dragons. He bobbed his head to the music, eager to gobble down his hot, sweet apple pie…
CHAPTER SIX
Peace, Joy and Happiness
“Why Detroit though?” Justin asked, watching him toss his clothing in a couple duffle bags. Worry tinged his words. Hunter was grabbing his clothes from the trash bags he’d used as dresser drawers and folding the items neatly while sitting on the living room couch. The man inched closer, his brow furrowed.
“’Cause I don’t know what my next move is, Justin, and I’ve gotten bad job offers here. They want to work me to the bone and not pay shit. There seems to be more in Detroit right now. I even got some leads lined up.”
“What about housing though? It’s hard to find a decent place if your credit is all jacked up. Your credit score is probably 400.” He chuckled, like that shit was funny.
Hunter swallowed his annoyance and kept shoving his things in the bags.
“Just so happens I already got a place.” The smile on his brother’s face quickly faded. “Signed a lease. And my credit score, fucker, isn’t 400. It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst, either. I like the apartment I checked out, and the landlord said I could move in right away. He’s got a vacancy for a nice one bedroom with a balcony, too. I’ve already put in my deposit and a few months’ rent.” Justin blew smoke from the side of his mouth, clearly irritated by the twitchy body movements he displayed.
“But you just got out of prison, man. I mean, you’ve only been here for a couple months. I know you signed a lease ’nd all, but I wish you would’ve told me that you were leaving Saginaw.”
“Why?”
Justin’s mouth dropped open as if he couldn’t believe the words he was hearing.
“Why? Because you’re my fuckin’ brother and we are just now really gettin’ time with one another! I mean, shit, Detroit ain’t a million light years away, but it’s not exactly a few blocks away either. Hunter, I just don’t understand how your mind works sometimes. Jesus Christ!” He tossed his cigarette in an ashtray, anger swirling in his eyes. Hunter threw him a brief glance.
“Justin, I need to let your family get back to business as usual.”
“You are family…”
“You know what I mean. I’m takin’ up space. Besides, I won’t be that far. You can come by anytime.”
His brother sucked his teeth and frowned.
“We liked
havin’ you around here, Hunter. You’re good with the kids, too.”
Y’all are just mad that your live-in babysitter is leaving.
“I appreciate that and everything you’ve done for me, but a grown ass man shouldn’t be living on your couch month after month, Justin. It’s time to move out. It’s been time.” He stood up, grabbed another sack of clothes, then sat down on the edge of the couch to pull the zipper of one of the bags closed. He smiled as he heard one of his nieces laughing, running around and playing. “Before I go, I wanna give you something.”
“What?”
Hunter got to his feet and dug in his pocket. He pulled out a wad of money and didn’t miss how big his brother’s eyes grew.
“Where the hell you get all that from, man? Who the fuck did you shake down?”
Hunter licked his thumb and started to count off fifty-dollar bills, one at a time.
“I got it honest, that’s all you need to know.” He damn sure wasn’t going to tell Justin about the coin collection and all the other shit he found in the shed. Besides, the cash he’d pulled out right then was a small fraction of what he had. Justin was good as gold, but Hunter knew the bastard had a big ass mouth. He talked too much, and was a braggard to boot. Justin would undoubtedly be drunk or high-hamming it up, spilling all the beans. It wouldn’t be long before motherfuckers would be after him thanks to him telling everyone his big bro had hit a lick.
His old enemies would be ready to cut him to bits to get their hands on what he had. Besides, Hunter had pissed off his share of people, and although most often the sons of bitches had brought it on themselves, that didn’t change the fact their thirst for revenge could cost him dearly. The last thing he needed was to have to smash someone’s face, even in self-defense. He’d be blamed for it, no doubt.
Hunter’s mind ran the gamut of scenarios, deciding for certain that Justin was to know abso-fucking-lutely nothing. “Okay, this is for you.”
