by Jack Tunney
“What is wrong with you, Teddy? Why are you so mad all the time?” Dorothea sat down next to him, placed a hand on his forearm. It was hot and trembling.
“I ain’t mad. I just want to get my own place is all. And I want to make some real money. That’s what I came to the city for! Not to go to school and sit around this house all night long. That’s why I left from down south. I coulda stayed down there and done this!”
“But you didn’t. You came up here and asked to stay with me. I agreed as long as you went to school and respected my house. Now, you’re not doing anything you promised. I know you haven’t been to school in the past two days.”
“Spyin’ on me, huh?” Teddy’s eyes narrowed as he shuffled his cards sullenly. “Well, I know a couple of things about you, too, Little Miss Prim-N-Proper who lives to pretend she’s all high siddity.”
Dorothea removed her hand. “What are you talking about?”
“You think I don’t know you went to see that punk Levi Kimbro fight? You think I don’t know you two been goin’ out? You think I’m stupid?” Teddy slammed the deck of cards down on the table. “You won’t let me work for Duke, but you spend your nights with that chump! He ain’t no better than Duke, lemme tell you!”
“Don’t talk about Levi like that, Teddy. You don’t know a thing about him.”
“Hell I don’t! I done heard all I need to know about your boyfriend. You ain’t nowhere near as smart as you think you are. And you ain’t got all the class you think you got, neither! You know what kind of people go to them fights, and you went anyway. Know why? ‘cause you wanted to see the same thing they do!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Teddy. You’re drunk. Levi’s a good man.”
“Good man? Stupid man is more like it! You know how much money he could be making fighting for Duke? But he won’t do it? He won’t fight for Duke! How stupid is that? Everybody knows they fight for Duke they can make a fortune.”
“Levi doesn’t need a fortune! He’s already got his own ...” Dorothea bit her lower lip so hard she tasted blood. She hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But Teddy had made her so mad …
With the unusual cunning only the intoxicated possess, Teddy pounced on the statement she had cut off. “Already got his own what? What Levi already got?”
“Nothing!” Dorothea shoved away from the table and stood up. “You just got me mad is all. You’re making me say things I shouldn’t be saying.”
Teddy’s eyes glittered shrewdly. “Naw. You know something. What Levi already got? He got money?”
“I’m going to bed,” Dorothea snapped and stomped out of the kitchen. She went to the bathroom to inspect the inside of her lip where she had bit herself. She needed time to get composed. She bitterly cursed herself for allowing Teddy to get her so mad she almost blurted Levi had all that money in his apartment.
She closed the door firmly and stood with her back leaning against it, her body shuddering as she took deep breaths to get herself under control. She went over to the sink, rinsed out her mouth and was pleased to see the cut wasn’t as bad as she had first thought. Still hurt, though.
She opened the door and went back to the kitchen, her intention being to try and talk to Teddy again. But he was gone. The pint of gin was still there. Drained dry. The cards were still on the table as well. Dorothea went over to the chair where she had thrown her coat and purse. The purse was open and it only took a few seconds to verify Teddy had taken the fifteen dollars she had in her wallet.
For a few seconds Dorothea wondered if she should call Levi. But what would she tell him? Even if Teddy thought Levi had money, there was no way he could get to it. And Teddy was drunk, and with the money he’d just stolen, he’d go out and get drunker. By morning he would have forgotten what he and Dorothea had been arguing about. No need to call Levi at this time of night and get him all excited over nothing. Teddy wouldn’t do anything stupid. He’d just been mad and drunk. Everything would be okay in the morning.
Of course it would.
ROUND ELEVEN
“Mr. Levi? Can I ask you something?”
“You can if you can help me put away these tools at the same time.” Levi smiled to show he was having some fun with Michael Allen. The boy grinned back with a set of amazingly strong looking teeth. He bent to help Levi replace tools neatly into a big toolbox. Levi had three of them and this one held the most tools. It was a split-top steel box, Michael could barely lift it as high as his knees with both hands. Levi picked it up with one hand and carried it as easily as if it were a loaf of Wonder Bread. “What you want to know?”
Michael lowered his voice. Voices tended to echo and carry in the basement. They’d just finished a minor repair of the boiler’s feed water tank pump. Levi had taken the opportunity to give Michael some lessons in boiler maintenance. “Mr. Levi, do you know what happened to my daddy? Does anybody know? Really?”
Levi said nothing for a few minutes. Michael had been working in Nappy’s gym for two weeks, and Levi knew sooner or later the boy would get around to asking that question. Levi knew equally well he had no answer for him.
“Mikey … ’scuse me … Michael … you know your daddy was mixed up with some cats he had no business being with, right?”
“I guess so.”
“You know so. Look, you’re old enough to know the deal. Your daddy went out to rob and steal and he got caught. Them who get caught … well … they got to take what they got coming.”
“Cops didn’t do nothing about it.”
“Yeah.” They finished putting away the tools in silence and Levi latched up the big steel box. “What else you got to do today?”
“Empty out all the garbage cans, sweep and mop the staircase.”
Levi grunted, reached into his pocket for his wallet and removed a ten dollar bill from it. Held it out for Michael to take. “Go on and knock off early.”
Michael blinked as he looked at the crisp bill in Levi’s hand. “You don’t pay me until Friday. What’s this for?”
“Call it a bonus.”
“Nossir.” Michael shook his head in a firm negative. “You don’t have to do that, Mr. Levi. I didn’t mean no harm asking you about my daddy. I just thought maybe … what with me and you workin’ together and all …”
Levi sighed and took the money back and replaced it in his wallet. He knew what he should have done in the first place because he could hear Father Tim’s voice in his head just as clear as if he’d been standing right there telling him what to do.
“Sit down, Michael.”
The boy sat down on the floor cross-legged. Levi sat across from him, letting his big hands rest on his knees. “Michael, there’s no easy way to say this. But it’s the truth. Your daddy’s dead.”
“You really think so?”
“I think if he were still alive after all this time he’d have found a way to contact your momma. Or even if he didn’t, he’d have called or come by somebody’s house. You got family in Brooklyn, right?”
“Yeah. Plenty of ‘em over on Marcy Avenue and some on Tompkins.”
“I think you know that he’s dead. I think you just needed to hear somebody say it out loud. Am I wrong?”
“No, Mr. Levi. You ain’t wrong. I guess I do know he’s dead. Or if he ain’t, he took the opportunity to run off. Which amounts to the same thing, don’t it?”
“Look here, Michael. I grew up in an orphanage, so believe me when I say I understand what you’re thinking and feeling. But you got to put that aside and be a help to your momma. You got to be a man, if for no other reason than to be an example for your brothers.”
Michael’s face had a grimness no boy his age should have. “I understand what you’re saying, Mr. Levi. That why you give me this job?”
“I gave you this job because you needed it. You’ve been doing fine so far. I don’t think you’re cut out for the stick-up kid life. I think you just went along with your boys the night you tried to rob me. I think you lik
e to work. And I think you’re trying to make a decision.”
“What kind of decision?”
“You’re trying to decide if you want to be a better man than your father. I think he would want you to be.”
Michael nodded slowly and stood up. “I do appreciate the job and you talkin’ to me, Mr. Levi. I’d better go on back upstairs and finish up. You need any more help down here?”
“No. Go on with your business. We’ll talk more later.” Levi watched the boy go and it seemed as if he walked lighter, as if he had put down an unwanted burden he’d carried for far too long. The amazing thing was Levi felt lighter himself. Unburdening himself of the thoughts he’d been having had helped him as well.
He went back upstairs to the gym, nodding at acquaintances as they passed him on the staircase and inside the gym proper. The place was busier than usual. All three rings were being used and the air smelled musky with the fresh sweat of the day. It was perfume to Levi’s nose. He headed to Nappy’s office. The door was open and Nappy hung up the phone as Levi walked in.
“I think I’m going to have to put in some overtime on the feed water tank pump. It’s okay for now, but it’s going to need some more work.”
“So, go ahead and work. What do you need to put in overtime for?”
“’Cause I don’t feel like doing it now,” Levi laughed, leaning easily against the door frame.
“Man, if this is what you’re gonna be like now you got a steady woman, do me a favor an’ get rid of her.”
“Weren’t you the one telling me a couple of weeks ago about how I needed a woman?”
“Yeah, but I meant just for the night, not for life. You and that Dorothea seem to be getting along real good, though.”
“Yeah. She’s a girl with brains and class, Nappy. And she gets me, y’know?”
“You ahead of me, then. I had three wives an’ ain’t a one’a them understood what made me tick.” Nappy reached for his ashtray and the unlit cigar resting in it. He stuck the cigar in his mouth as he continued talking. “They just didn’t have a head for the fight game and what it was all about. But as long as I paid the rent and there was food on the table they didn’t much care what I did. I ‘spect most women are like that. You lucked out.”
“Don’t I know it. I ..” Levi was interrupted by the ringing of Nappy’s phone.
Nappy picked up the receiver and said, “Johnson’s Gym, what can I ... oh, hey, Morgan. What’s up? What? This again? I just got off the phone with Dusty. You know him, he runs that bar over on Utica. He wanted to know was his backroom going to be used. What? Naw, man … I tell you same I told him. I ain’t heard nothing, I don’t know nothing. What? Aw, man, why would I lie? Yeah, yeah. If I hear anything I’ll give you a call. What? No, man … I don’t care what Billy says. I’m telling you I ain’t heard nothing. That don’t mean something ain’t happening, but … yeah, yeah … okay, man. Later.” Nappy banged down the receiver, shaking his head.
“What’s that all about?” Levi asked.
Nappy shook his head. “I been getting phone calls from folks asking about an upcoming fight. Supposedly there’s a big one coming up. At least that’s what people keep telling me. I dunno … I ain’t heard nothing. But folks wanted to know if it were you fighting.”
“Me? Why would they think it’s me?”
“Why not you? There’s only maybe two or three fighters in this part of Brooklyn who can fire up that much heat.” Nappy leaned forward on his desk, meaty arms folded. “Speakin’ of which, we oughta think about lining you up for another fight real soon.”
“What’s the rush?”
“The rush is because that girl is going to make you real soft, real soon. I gotta get a couple more paydays outta you before she ties you down for good.”
“Aw, man … it ain’t like that. Neither one of us is even thinking that way. I know I ain’t ready to get married, and she ain’t either. She knows I got a business I want to start up. I can’t juggle that and a wife at the same time.”
“That’s what you say. Take from me as gospel – whenever you got a woman who acts like she ain’t interested in getting married, that’s when you got to watch out. Trust me, women are thinking ‘bout getting married all the time.”
“You crazy, you know that?”
“Watch what I say now. See, that’s the plan … make you think she ain’t thinking about it and sooner or later that gets you to thinkin’ of why she ain’t thinking about it. Then one day you say to her, ‘Hey, honey, how come you haven’t never mentioned nothin’ about us getting’ married?’ That’s when she turns them big brown eyes on you all innocent like and wham! That’s your ass.”
“I’m going to leave you to your craziness, Nappy. I got to go downtown and pay some bills. Mikey’s taking care of the garbage and he’s going to sweep and mop the stairs before he leaves. I’ll come back later on tonight to finish up on that tank.”
“That reminds me … good call on that boy, Levi.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s a good worker. He’s been a real help around here since you brought him on.”
“I’ve been showing him some things about the boiler. Couple more weeks I’m going to buckle down and really start to show him the nuts and bolts. He wants to learn.” Levi frowned slightly. “Wish we had some more to do around here. Dorothea’s brother could use a job.”
“That T-Bird punk? He’s workin’ for Duke Williamson. Didn’t you know?”
“That’s the point, Nappy. Dorothea don’t want her brother running around with Duke and his crowd. She already asked me if I could find him a job somewhere. I done asked around a few places but nothing yet.”
“Man, that punk don’t wanna work. Waste of time trying to make a Joe Punchclock outta that cat. He don’t want no parts of a nine-to-five.”
“You know that. I know that. Try telling that to Dorothea.”
“I seen plenty of boys like T-Bird. Come up here from down south, green as a Christmas tree. Want to be big men, make big money and have women come runnin’ when they snap their finger. They see a guy like Duke. He’s got fine threads, nice ride, plenty of women and folks cross the street when they see him comin,’ an’ they think, ‘Yeah, that’s what I to be like.’ They don’t understand there’s some cats who can learn the streets and some who were born for ‘em. T-Bird ain’t neither one and Duke is both.” Nappy shook his head. “Sad. Sad. So, you outta here?”
“Yeah. Like I said, I’ll be back later on tonight.”
“What about another fight? I can set one up for Saturday.”
Levi nodded. “Sure, why not? Folks are talking about a fight already. Let’s go ahead and give them one.”
ROUND TWELVE
As soon as Levi turned the corner on his block he could tell something was wrong. His landlady, Mrs. Jenkins was leaning out of her window so far it was a miracle she didn’t fall out. Upon seeing him, she pulled back inside and shut the window. Obviously, she had been waiting for him to come on the block. Levi had no idea why. He’d already paid his rent for the month.
He unlocked the front door and stepped into the hallway. Mrs. Jenkins opened the door of her apartment. Mrs. Jenkins was the roundest woman Levi had ever met in his life. Her large, perfectly round head sat on top of an equally round body. She had no neck. Her arms were lumpy tubes of fat. Her legs stubby and lousy with varicose veins. Her feet so swollen she hadn’t been able to wear proper shoes for going on two years and she got around in floppy slippers all the time.
“I’ll be expecting you to move by the end of the month, Mr. Kimbro. I don’t put up with no vandalism in my house.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mrs. Jenkins. What seems to be the problem?”
“I didn’t say nothin’ when you changed the locks on your door and didn’t give me no key. I’m in my legal rights to have keys to all my tenants’ apartments in case of an emergency. I could have evicted you then.”
“Mrs. Jenkins
, I think we both know why I changed the lock and didn’t give you no key.”
“I got a right to inspect the apartments, make sure nobody isn’t having somebody live with them that don’t pay no rent. I got a legal right.”
“Mrs. Jenkins, just tell me what the problem is.”
“It ain’t my problem, Mr. Kimbro. It’s yours. Now, I know all about you fighting and hanging out with hoodlums and I never said nothing ‘cause that’s your bizness and you kept it out in the street where it belongs. But when you bring it in my house, then it’s my bizness. You got your friends tearing up your apartment ...” Mrs. Jenkins broke off with a small squeal as Levi took a step forward, his face having gone from aggravated puzzlement to pure rage in nothing flat.
“What friends? What are you talkin’ about?”
“Them friends of yours said they were going up to your place to get something. They asked me for a key and I told them you didn’t gimme one. Then one of them laughed and said it was okay, they didn’t need a key. And then all that noise.”
Mrs. Jenkins was left talking to herself. Levi bounded up the stairs as if he were weightless, his heart pounding hard against his ribs.
The door had been taken completely off the hinges. Inside it looked as if madmen had been having a party. His mattress had been cut to shreds. All the food in the refrigerator dumped on the floor. His books ripped apart. His clothes cut up with knives or straight razors. The strong smell of urine filled the apartment. Cabinets had been opened, holes knocked in the wall. Everything Levi owned had been savagely destroyed.
And the gaping empty hole in the floor where his money had been was the worst of all.
ROUND THIRTEEN
Dorothea’s first act as soon as she stepped in the foyer of her building was to kick off her shoes. They were brand new and wearing them to work hadn’t been the smartest idea. She worked the perfume counter at Woolworth’s and was on her feet for most of the day. But the shoes were so cute and such a pretty tan color she couldn’t resist. She walked on stocking feet up the stairs three flights to her apartment, fumbling inside her purse for her keys as she did so.
