by Roy Glenn
With that settled, they began the drive to Shy’s mother’s house. Joann lived in a quiet neighborhood just outside of the city.
“The reunion always starts on Friday night with a fish fry. Which, by the way, I have never made it to. On Saturday we have lunch, which we’ve Missed. It’s kind of free style after lunch. Just about everybody hangs outside until dinner or goes shopping. Then after dinner all the men go to the den and do whatever you guys do when there are no women around. All the ladies gather in the kitchen, talk about everything and everybody, and ask me when I’m getting married. Which, by the way, is gonna be worse because of you. You know, typical family reunion stuff. Of course you know that you’ll be on display, don’t you?”
“I know, but I can handle it. By the way, does everybody know what you do for a living? I don’t wanna say the wrong thing.”
“Well, my brothers and my mother know, but that’s pretty much it as far as I know. I’m sure more of them know, but they don’t have the heart to step to me. I get a lecture from my mother and Harold, my self-appointed father. Watch out for him because he’ll try to question you,” Shy said, looking very nervous about the whole thing. Bringing Mike seemed like a good idea at first, but as she got closer and closer to the house, it just seemed to be a bad idea.
“Don’t look so nervous, Cassandra. Everything will be fine. Trust me,” Mike said confidently. What trouble could a little family reunion be?
“You know, I never liked the way my name sounded, but when you say it, it sends chills through me.” Right then they pulled up in front of the house. “Well, this is it. Are you ready?”
“Yeah. You go ahead. Do the hug and kisses thing. I’ll get the bags.”
Shy got out of the car and walked to the door. The door swung open. Screams of joy rang out as family members rushed out to welcome her. Shy went inside but returned shortly with her mother. They looked a lot alike. About the same height, her mother was a little heavier, but they had the same eyes.
“Mommy, this is Mike Black. This is my Mother, Joann Sims.”
Mike held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Sims,” he said.
Joann looked at Mike. Then she looked down at his hand. “We’re all family here. You got to come better than that.” She reached out and gave Mike a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. “And call me Joann.”
Joann and Shy went back inside; Mike grabbed the bags and followed behind them. The room was quiet. Everybody was waiting to see the man that Shy brought with her.
“Everybody this is Mike Black,” Shy said, introducing him to the crowd the easy way. “You all can introduce yourselves later. But I came here to eat.” Shy grabbed Mike by the hand and dragged him into the kitchen. Everyone knew of her fondness for food, so she got away with it without too many grumbles.
Shy fixed both of them a plate and they sat outside watching the kids play. While they ate, Shy told Mike about everyone. One by one just about everybody came up and introduced themselves to him. He was introduced to Nate, a friend of Randy, the youngest of her brothers. He didn’t say anything at first. Then he just laughed and walked away.
“Well, you’ve met just about everybody except my brothers. So come on,” Shy said as she stood up, holding out her hand. Mike stood up and accepted her hand. He kissed her on the cheek. “Showtime.” They walked around the yard, and Shy introduced Mike to each of her brothers. Each of her brothers shook his hand and smiled politely but didn’t have too much else to say to him.
The rest of the day went pretty much as Shy described it. After dinner was over, as promised, Mike was separated from Shy. Her brothers escorted him into the den for questioning. Once in the den, the television was turned to College Football on ESPN. Shortly thereafter a debate broke out. First about dinner, then the game they were watching and then the state of the black man in America.
Mike sat quietly, listening, agreeing when it was appropriate. He would be content to get through the evening watching the game. He was surprised that no one asked him any questions as Shy had warned. Then the conversation turned to merits of married life as opposed to single life. The debate raged on. Finally it began. George broke the ice.
“What about you, Mike? You ever been married?” he asked.
Suddenly all eyes were on Mike.
“No, I’ve never been married,” he answered quickly.
Gary provided the follow up. “So I guess you’re a bachelor for life?”
“If you’re asking me if I’ll ever get married,” Mike said qualifying his answer, “I never have given it any thought, until lately.”
“Why lately?” Randy asked.
Mike turned to Randy and looked him straight in the eyes. “I met your sister,” he said confidently. “I told my business partner that I had given it some thought, and he almost wrecked his car.” Everybody laughed except Harold.
“How did you and Shy meet, Mike?” Gary asked.
“I saw her for the first time at a club one night. Then she just happened to come to the club that one of my business partners operates. We actually met there a week later. But to tell you the truth, I’ve been in love with her since the first time I saw her. But don’t tell her that.”
Harold stood up and moved toward the bar. “My mother tells me that you own a supper club in the Bronx,” he asked as he passed Mike.
“Among other things. It’s called Cuisine.”
“Among other things? What else do you own?” Gary asked.
“My partners and I own a night club called Impressions. That’s where I met your sister. Some property, a few small stores. We also own a security company. That’s how we started out. Now we do mostly private security and a little personal bodyguard stuff,” Mike said, trying to sound respectable. He was getting a little annoyed. He didn’t like being questioned.
“Well it seems like you’ve been very successful in business, Mike,” Randy said taking a seat next to Mike.
“That’s good. You know Shy likes money,” George joked, joining his brother at the bar. Mike thought he was being surrounded for another attack. Then as quickly as it began the tone changed.
“Well, you just may be the kind of guy our sister needs to straighten her out,” Harold said, nodding his head and looking around as if he was seeking a consensus.
All of a sudden, Randy’s friend Nate started laughing uncontrollably as he walked toward Harold. Nate, like almost everyone else, had been drinking most of the day. So no one really made much of the fact that he had laughed at just about every word Mike said.
“This guy, Harold? This guy? Straighten your sister? Harold, this guy makes your sister look like a j-walker.” Nate said still laughing.
“What do you mean, Nate?” Harold asked.
“You don’t know who Mike Black is? And y’all say you’re from the Bronx?” Nate said as everybody in the room had stopped what they were doing. Now their attention was focused on Nate and Mike.
“Why you think you know so much about me?” Mike asked, trying to remember who he was and where he knew him from. Since this was supposed to be a quiet little family reunion, he left his guns in the car. A decision he hoped he wouldn’t come to regret.
“Because I know you, Black. And I’ve known you for years,” Nate said as he started walking away from him. He turned and pointed at Black. Just then, Shy came into the room. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything?”
“This gentleman is Vicious Black.”
Shy dropped her head. “Oh shit.”
Harold looked at Mike. “You’re Vicious Black?”
Mike didn’t answer Harold. He walked up to Nate. “So you do know me. Question is, how do you know me?”
“You really don’t remember me, Black. I’m hurt. But I’ll try to refresh your memory. By the way how’s Bobby and Freeze?”
“They’re fine.”
“Heard from Nick lately? He still in the army?”
“He’s out now. Calling himself a private investigator.”
“Who was the other brother y’all used to run with? What was his name?” Nate asked.
“What’s going on baby?” Shy asked, but Mike ignored her.
“Jamaica,” Mike answered, without taking his eyes off Nate.
“Yeah, right, Jamaica,” Nate said as he approached Mike. “You ain’t seen Jamaica in years, have you, Black? Look at me close, Black. Think about Jamaica and look at me.”
Mike looked very closely at the man standing before him. Then he smiled and began to laugh. “Nathaniel?”
“I knew you’d remember,” Nate said as the two men embraced. “When Randy told me that Mike Black was going to be here, I had to come. Have I changed that much?”
“Yes, you have, Na’na. How’ve you been?”
“Na’na? Damn, nobody’s called me that in a long time.”
Shy looked at the two men. “I guess y’all know each other?”
“Since the day he was born. I remember it was me, Bobby, Nick, Wanda, Perry and his brother Jamaica walking to the hospital in the rain that day.”
Mike, Nate, and Shy left the den and went outside, leaving a room full of confusion, fear, and unanswered questions in their wake. Seeing Nathaniel brought a rush of memories about Jamaica along with a few unanswered questions of his own. As they walked out the back door to the yard Shy thought to herself, Damn this really is a small world.
“Have you heard from Jamaica?” Mike asked, not able to hold the question any longer.
“This morning.”
Mike looked at Nate in shock. It had been nine years since anyone had seen Jamaica. Or so he thought. “Where is he?”
“He’s got a little room he rents in DC.”
“How is he? Is he okay?”
“He’s not good, Black. He’s still on that heroin bad. Every once in a while he’ll say. Something went wrong.”
“What went wrong?”
“I don’t know. That’s all he says, something went wrong. That’s the main reason I came here. To find out what he’s talking about. I figured it had to have something to do with you. It had to be something big if he won’t go back to New York.”
“Can I see him?”
“Sure, I have to take you there. He won’t buzz anybody in except me. I have to go to work tonight so I’ll take you there. It’s on the way. But we gotta leave now.”
“Where do you work?” Mike asked. Nate reached into his pocket and handed Mike a business card. “Doctor? I thought you joined the Army.”
“I was a medic in the Army. When I got out, I went to med school. I’m doing my residency.”
“I’ll be back, Cassandra.”
“Have you lost your mind? I’m not going back in there, not tonight.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Baby, be for real. Nate tells everyone that you’re Vicious Black. You know there’ll be questions.”
“I’m sorry, Shy. I don’t know what happened back then. I didn’t know if Black would shoot me on sight or what. I had to protect myself. Besides, I didn’t know it was a secret,” Nate replied heading for the car.
“Oh yeah. I said ‘hey, Ma, I’m bringing a killer to the reunion with me’. Right.”
Nate got into his car and started out. Mike and Shy followed behind him. They made the drive to Washington, DC. Mike was very quiet as Shy drove. He didn’t seem to be excited about seeing an old friend that he hadn’t seen in years. Shy got tired of waiting for him to say something.
“I could kill Nate. Busting out with that. What was he thinking?”
“He didn’t know.”
“So, you and his brother use to run together?”
“Yeah.”
“What was he talking about, something went wrong?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m startin’ to know you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are a talker. Got a story to tell kinda guy most of the time. But when you don’t want to talk about something, I get these short answers. But I understand.”
“You know me too well.”
“So, what’s up?”
Mike looked at Shy. He turned away and looked out the window and then back at Shy. He looked away again.
“What I’m about to tell you, only me, Bobby, Freeze, Nick and Jamaica know.”
“See, I knew you had a story,” Shy joked.
“I was pissed with André after I found out how he suckered me about Chicago. I thought that he was weak for not handling his own business. After that, a lot of things happened to confirm it. Then one day he took me Bobby, Nick and Jamaica with him to a meeting on City Island with Frankie the Favorite.”
“Why’d they call him that?” Shy asked.
“I have no idea. Anyway, he had us wait outside. Whatever happened in there happened, and Frankie’s boys came out shooting. Now, Bobby has a sixth sense for things like that and he sees them coming. He shot the first two, and me, Nick, and Jamaica picked the rest of them off one by one as they came out the door. We go inside and there’s André, on his knees, gun to his head, begging for his life. So, I shot Frankie.”
“You killed a made man. You were supposed to die for that. How’d you get so lucky?”
“A couple of days after that, Angelo comes to my office. Says ‘come ride with me, Mikey’.”
“Oh shit.”
“I wasn’t worried. Me and Angee go too far back. And besides, if he was gonna whack me he wouldn’t have come alone. So, while we’re ridin’ he starts talking about the old days. As we pull up in front of Carmine’s, Angee says, ‘I always liked you, Mike. That’s why I saved your life.’ We go in to see Carmine. Angee says ‘tell Carmine what happened that day.’ I tell my story. Then Carmine asks me why I shot Frankie. I said, ‘with all due respect, do you remember when you were a soldier? If you were in my place, what would you have done?’ He thanks me for coming, and Angee shows me out.”
“I don’t get it,” Shy said looking puzzled as she drove on.
“When we get outside, Angee tells me that André told a different story. He told Carmine that when I got inside, he had taken the gun from Frankie. And that Frankie was on his knees and unarmed when I shot him.”
“Why’d he do that?”
“To save his own ass. But the way I saw it, he was trying to kill me.”
“Interesting story, but what does it have to do with something going wrong?”
“I was a different kind of guy back then. I was wild. Let my nine do the thinking those days. I’ve asked myself over and over, why?”
“Why what?”
“Maybe it was just because he was weak. Maybe it was the power. I can’t really say why.”
“Why what?”
“Why I killed him.”
“You killed André?” Shy asked in surprise.
“And everybody else I thought might come after us.”
“I never knew that.”
“That was the way I planned it. Nobody knows for sure that I killed him. I didn’t need anybody to know I was behind it. I already had a rep. Nobody ever suspected us. Not the cops. Nobody. Not even Carmine and them.”
“How? I’m dying to hear this one. How did you arrange it so that you weren’t the main suspect?”
“I waited. For more than a year after the thing with Frankie. I waited. Watched him. I planned it. I knew that there were enough people who hated André to go around. Cops wouldn’t care, and as long as business didn’t suffer no one else would either.”
“Everybody got to get paid,” Shy added.
“We had to kill Ricky. Him and André started out together. He would try to take over. Benny and Dupree were loyal to André and that was it. Those would be the only three people who would try to find the assassins. I knew that if André was dead Cazzie would try to move on us. So, he had to die too. Killing him would be harder, but not impossible. My plan was based on the fact that for every action there is a reaction. If certain things happened, I could get people right where I needed them to be.�
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“Go on,” Shy said, listening like a student to a professor giving a lecture.
“Benny and Dupree were the key to it all. They would make the rounds every night to collect the money from all the houses. Some nights there would be more than a quarter of a million dollars. They would start at one o’clock. By three thirty, they would be coming out of the last house. That was where we hit them. Freeze and Nick hid behind their car and waited. Just when they got to the car, Freeze and Nick raised up and blasted them. They never even got off a shot. After they were dead, Nick covered while Freeze got the money.”
“Clean and easy.”
“Now, whenever there are any problems at all, the first person to call is Ricky. Someone in the house called him to tell him about the robbery. Ricky used to operate an afterhours spot. He would sit in his office all night. He wouldn’t come out of that office for shit. But as soon as he got the call about the robbery, he was supposed to call André and they would meet at Andrés office. So when Ricky came out of the office and started to make his way through the crowd, Bobby was waiting for him. Bobby walked up behind him, covered his mouth, stuck a knife in his back and turned it. Then Bobby walked away. People told me that Ricky must have fallen into a chair and nobody noticed he was dead until the spot closed at eight the next morning.”
“That’s messed up,” Shy said. “What about that other guy, Cazzie? How does he fit into the action reaction theory?”
“He was the wildcard in all of this. He was always trying to bite off parts of Andrés territory. I knew that he would try to roll on us, and I was in no mood for a war. Problem was there was no way to control his movements the way I did everybody else. I wanted to send Bobby after him, but Jamaica had been to his apartment and had a better idea of how to hit him. So, I left the whole thing to Jamaica.”
“What went wrong?”
“I don’t know. Police found Cazzie dead in the hallway the next morning. As far as I knew everything was cool.”
“What about your boy André?”
“When he got to his office, I was waiting for him.”
“How did you know that everything went the way you planned?”
“I knew everything went smooth because Freeze, Bobby and even Jamaica beeped me when they were done.”
