BROOKLYN BEATDOWN (FIGHT CARD)

by Jack Tunney

  ROUND FIFTEEN

  Dorothea opened the door of Nappy’s gym timidly. While she had walked up the stairs she could hear the sound of Levi punching the heavy bag like he meant to knock it off the chain. If what Nappy had told her about the mood Levi had been in the past three days was true, he probably was in a fury.

  She looked inside the gym. It was empty, most of the lights cut off. Levi circled the heavy bag with the uncanny lightness of foot that had given his nickname. His feet were bare, but he had training gloves on his hands.

  As he danced around the bag, Dorothea came into his line of sight. He stopped, reached out both hands to steady the bag. He just stood there for about a minute, catching his breath, enjoying the familiar pain in his arms and legs. Finally he said, “Hey.”

  Dorothea managed a small smile. “Hey, yourself. I saw Nappy. He told me you were here.”

  Levi nodded. “Yeah. Wasn’t any point in going back to my place. Nothing left for me there. Nappy’s letting me stay here until I win the fight and get my money back.”

  “Here? In the gym?”

  “No. Downstairs in the boiler room. There’s a couple of storage rooms down there. I got a cot, a hotplate.” Levi laughed and shook his head. “Y’know, I always swore to myself I wasn’t going to end up like Cholly. Living in a basement with nothing but the wheezing of a boiler for company, but that’s exactly where I am now.”

  “I hadn’t heard from you for three days. Not since you came to my apartment that night. Now everybody on the street is talking about the fight between you and Deathblow, so I knew you must have gotten out of Duke’s liquor store alive.” Dorothea took a deep breath before asking the next question. She had no idea how Levi was going to react to it, but she had to ask. “Levi, did you see Teddy there?”

  Levi waved her to come on over and have a seat on a bench while he took off his gloves. “Nah. Teddy wasn’t there. I haven’t seen him at all. He never came home?”

  “No. And I’m worried near to death. He hasn’t called, hasn’t come by the house, and his so-called friends won’t even talk to me. They see me coming, they cross the street or turn around and head in the opposite direction. It’s as if I had the pox or something.” Dorothea sat down on the bench and watched as Levi flexed his aching fingers. “I just want to know if he’s okay. Isn’t there somebody you could ask? Maybe Nappy knows somebody?”

  “Look, Dorothea, nobody in Duke’s camp is going to talk to me or Nappy right now. And I don’t want to get anybody mixed up in my mess. Duke’s got Teddy. You got to understand that. Believe me, if Teddy were hurt, you’d have heard about it. Bad news travels the fastest. In a situation like this, no news is good news, believe me.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Teddy’s somewhere with one arm wrapped around some chick and the other arm wrapped around a bottle. He’s partying or playing cards and not thinking ‘bout you. That’s hard to hear, I know. But it’s the truth. Teddy’s where he wants to be.”

  “You don’t understand, Levi. I’m responsible for him. What am I supposed to tell my mother when she calls up here asking how her son is?”

  Levi shrugged. “Tell her the truth. From what you told me ‘bout the way he was acting before he come up here, I don’t think she’ll be all that surprised.”

  Dorothea dropped her head and Levi couldn’t tell if she were hiding her anger or her sorrow. She abruptly reached for the thick gold tone clasp of her shiny black vinyl purse and snapped it open. She removed a white envelope from the purse and placed on the bench in the space between her and Levi.

  “What’s in there?” Levi wanted to know.

  “Two thousand dollars. That’s all the money in the world I have. I want you to have it.”

  Slowly, Levi reached for the envelope and picked it up. He hefted it in his hand. “Why you want to give me your money, Dorothea? You must have ate a lot of bag lunches to save this up. You ain’t making no fortune working at Woolworth’s.”

  “I want you to take it. I feel responsible for your money being stolen. If I hadn’t opened up my big mouth to Teddy, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  Levi hefted the envelope again. “Or maybe you just don’t want me to hurt Teddy if I run up on him.”

  “You want to hurt somebody, hurt me. I’m the one who opened my big mouth.”

  Levi sighed and leaned over, thrusting the envelope back into her still open purse. “Maybe you did run off at the mouth, but it was still Teddy’s decision to act on what you said. I can’t hold you responsible.”

  “That’s pretty thin thinking, Levi.”

  “Maybe so. But I can’t be mad at you, Dorothea. I start thinking that way it’ll wind up with me never wanting to see you again, and I don’t want that.” Levi sighed again, leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, looking at nothing. “I still got a whole lotta mad and hurt, but I’m going to take it out on Deathblow. That’s better than taking it out on you or Teddy, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Can you beat him, Levi?” Dorothea slid closer to him, placed a small hand on his muscular shoulder.

  “I got no choice but to beat him, baby. Duke is going to tell him to kill me.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “Because if I beat Deathblow, Duke has got to hand me over another thirty-five thousand dollars to go along with the thirty-five he done already give me. And men like Duke, if there’s one thing they hate, it’s to give over money. Deathblow kills me in the fight, Duke gets all his money back.”

  “Levi, if you know that then you can’t get into the ring with Deathblow. It’s crazy!”

  “No, it’s not. It’s not like I don’t know what I’m doing, Dorothea. I wouldn’t have lasted this long in the backrooms if I didn’t.” Levi turned to look at her. “Look, the whole thing with the money, you were right. I shouldn’t have had it there in the first place. I could have put it in a bank a little at a time. Or spread it out over half a dozen banks. Plenty of ways I coulda done it. Truth to tell, I just liked having all that money where I could look at it anytime I wanted. I committed sins of pride, greed and avarice. Father Tim would say I got what I deserved, and he would be right.”

  Dorothea leaned over and kissed Levi lightly on the lips. “The more I hear about your Father Tim, the more I like him.”

  Levi kissed her back. “He would like you, too. When we put all this behind us I’ll take you to Chicago to meet him.”

  “You promise?”

  “Sure.” Levi kissed her again. Not so lightly this time.

  “No, I don’t mean going to Chicago. I mean putting this behind us. Is that actually going to happen?”

  Levi wrapped his arms around her shoulders and drew her closer, held her tightly and said nothing. Dorothea understood without a word being said and hugged him close, inhaling deeply of his scent, closing her eyes and enjoying the sensation of his hard, still sweaty muscles under her hands and then she lifted her head to accept his kiss, willing her misgivings away. She let herself feel nothing else except the roaring emotions flooding her senses. It was all there was now and all she cared about.

  ROUND SIXTEEN

  So publicized was the fight and so many people wanted to see it that there was no way it could be held in the usual backrooms. However, a suitable place had been found, a warehouse on Lorraine Avenue over in Red Hook. It was owned by some guys Duke knew who used it from time to time as a chop shop. Duke had even sprung to have a real regulation ring set up. And why not? The money he was going to make off this fight was going to be the biggest payday he’d seen in ten years.

  The warehouse filled up quick with men and women eager to see what promised to be one of the most savage and brutal fights ever. Men in suits and broad-brimmed fedoras escorting elegant women in evening gowns and fur wraps around their slim shoulders. Working men still wearing their factory clothes and busted boots held together with duct tape. Hustlers worked the crowd, taking bets. Dealers sold joints, pills and coke. Bootleggers with milk cr
ates containing pints and fifths of liquors. The echoes of their voices bouncing from the concrete walls of the warehouse. People sat wherever they could find a space wide enough to accommodate their behinds.

  Levi and Nappy stood maybe some twenty feet from the ring. Levi had removed his clothes and was holding out his hands for Nappy to tape.

  “How you feel, man?” Nappy asked.

  “Mad.”

  “Make that work for you. Stay mad, but stay in control.” Nappy’s wrinkled hands moved swiftly. They looked like the hands of an old man, but they moved with the surety of a much younger man. “Deathblow ain’t no fighter. He’s just one big slab of muscle, but he’s a dangerous slab of muscle. An’ you know Duke done told him to make sure you don’t walk outta that ring alive.” Nappy stopped and looked directly into his friend’s eyes. “Now you listen to me good, y’hear? You do whatever you gotta do. This is as real as it gets, Levi.”

  “Nappy ...”

  “Shut up. I’m talking. I got three sons and ain’t a one of them turned out to be even a quarter of the man you are. I care about you more than I ever did those ungrateful, lay-about, no-good rascals. I don’t want to have to bury you, son. You understand what I’m saying here?”

  Levi reached out a hand to cup the back of the older man’s head, drew it closer so their foreheads touched. “Yeah, I understand. I feel the same, Nappy.” Levi let go of Nappy’s head and stood up straight. “Now finish wrapping up my hands and let’s get this thing done.”

  The cheering and yelling from the far side of the warehouse signified Duke and Deathblow Ballantine had entered the warehouse.

  Time for the fight to begin.

  Nappy finished taping Levi’s hands and nodded. They walked to the ring through the mob that parted as if Levi were Moses. Hands slapping in on his back, his shoulders. He barely felt it. Levi was narrowing his focus, pushing everything else aside and concentrating on what he had to do. He climbed into the ring, lifted his hands above his head, and the crowd bellowed their approval.

  Deathblow climbed in the ring, wearing a sparkly purple robe. He loved to show off at a fight. Duke stood outside the ring, in Deathblow’s corner. He tipped his sky blue homburg in Levi’s direction, smiling like a benevolent uncle. Deathblow shadowboxed in his corner, his eyes never leaving Levi’s.

  His hands were already taped up, but that didn’t bother Levi. Bendigo Cribb was even now climbing into the ring to check them both out and make sure their hands had been taped up fair and square. No hidden flat pieces of metal lying flat along the knuckles. No razor blades. No substance rubbed on the knuckles that could cause the eyes to tear excessively or swell up. Bendigo knew all the tricks and none of them got by him.

  He finished over at Deathblow’s corner Satisfied there was no chicanery there, he came over to Levi’s corner. His hands probed and squeezed the tape on Levi’s hands and wrists and he nodded. He took out a small brown bottle from a pocket of his vest, tipped a couple of drops of the liquid contained within on the tape. He lifted Levi’s hands and sniffed them both loudly. Again he nodded in satisfaction.

  “Okay, come on to the center of the ring.”

  Levi followed him. Deathblow joined them and the two men stared at each other as Bendigo went over the rules. “We gonna fight this one Bennettsville style, which you both done agreed. The round ends when one of you is knocked down. You return to your corners if you’re able. If you’re not, I count you out and the fight is over. If you are able, you got one minute to recover before I ring the bell for the next round. You do what I say at all times. The first man don’t do what I say, first time’s a warning. Second time,” and here Bendigo Cribb produced his cosh and slapped the weighted end into a meaty palm. It sounded like a baseball bat hitting a side of beef. “Hattie here reminds you. Third time,” Bendigo put away the cosh and produced his gold plated .45 automatic. “Her sister Pearlie Mae stops the fight. No hitting below the belt, no eye gouging, and no biting. Outside a’that, whatever you do is whatever you do. We good?”

  Levi merely nodded. Deathblow growled.

  “Gowan back to your corners, now. Fight starts in one minnit.”

  Scattered applause and piercing whistles accompanied the fighters as they withdrew to their respective corners.

  Dorothea slipped into the warehouse. Bendigo’s men watching the door motioned for her to open up her purse and her coat. After the cursory examination, they let on her on. After some maneuvering, she found a spot where she could see the ring. She found a large, rusty, washtub and turned it over so she could stand on it. She was able to see the ring, but she was confident she was far enough away so Levi couldn’t spot her. She had promised him she wasn’t going to come to the fight, but there was no way she could stay away. And not just because she was worried for Levi. She was hoping since Duke was here, Teddy would be here as well.

  Levi rolled his shoulders as Nappy put the black mouth guard in. “Remember what I said! He ain’t no fighter, but he’s pure mean. And whatever you do, don’t get in there tryin’ to go toe to toe wit him!”

  The women in the crowd sent up a single lingering, “Ooh-ahhh,” offering to the God of Lust as Deathblow threw off his robe and stretched his arms wide. He turned in a full circle, letting the women see his magnificently muscled body, gleaming with oil. Deathblow Ballantine looked like some ancient ebony statue brought to life, every sharply defined muscle standing out in relief, throbbing with life and power.

  Bendigo shouted, “Center of the ring!”

  Levi and Deathblow walked to the center of the ring. Deathblow’s face had twisted into a dark mask of pure rage. He was allowing his temper to run free, to fill every nerve, every atom of his being with nothing but a thirst for blood. Levi’s face had no emotion on it whatsoever. He might as well be sitting in a movie theater, watching something taking place on a screen.

  Bendigo looked at Deathblow. “Ready?”

  Deathblow growled deep in his throat. It didn’t sound human.

  Bendigo looked at Levi. “Ready?”

  Levi merely nodded.

  “God be with the both of you, then. Fight!”

  ROUND SEVENTEEN

  Levi stepped back out of the way of Deathblow’s looping right and came back in. Despite Nappy’s advice, he intended to get in fast and start banging Deathblow’s body. His arms pistoned in and out, hitting against a torso that felt like solid steel, so hard were the muscles. Deathblow snorted and shoved against Levi, making him stumble back.

  The crowd stamped their feet and screamed, believing they had seen a near knockdown. But Bendigo waved his arms above his head and yelled loud enough to be heard, “That wasn’t no knockdown! He slipped, he slipped!”

  Levi circled Deathblow, pounding a series of lefts into his rib cage on that side. Deathblow ignored the blows and returned a solid shot to Levi’s chest, which he barely managed to deflect. He continued dancing around in a circle while Deathblow came after him slowly, growling and grinning, as if he intended to enjoy this for as long as it lasted.

  Deathblow threw a left, just missing Levi’s head. However, Levi couldn’t completely block the right that caught him on the jaw. Deathblow didn’t stop there and, with a speed that took Levi completely by surprise, let Levi have an uppercut.

  Levi got some distance between them and then came back with a precise and accurate combination of right, left, right, left. If Levi was going to do any damage, he’d have to get in there, but as soon as he did he got another uppercut for it. Nothing that hurt, but like the first one it gave him something to think about.

  Unlike Levi, Deathblow had no interest in working the body. He threw a right hook at Levi’s head. It didn’t connect, but it didn’t miss by much. Levi could tell Deathblow tended to leave himself open a bit when he threw a right hook, but Levi’s gut was telling him not to fall for a possible ploy. There was something about the way Deathblow kept his left cocked when he threw the right hook that Levi didn’t like at all.

  Levi se
nt in another series of body blows. They were so fast and so hard that any other boxer would have at least showed some discomfort on his face. Deathblow seemed to barely notice.

  Deathblow tried to cut off the ring, maneuvering Levi back into a corner, but Levi nimbly danced out of the way. He’d seen Deathblow do the very same thing to other fighters. Deathblow simply got them in a corner and battered them into submission. He could take their shots, absorb their punishment, but they couldn’t take his.

  Levi gave him a four punch combination, giving it all he had. Deathblow broke off growling, grunted and threw an elbow at Levi’s head, connecting hard. Levi stumbled to the left, trying to keep his balance.

  And then Deathblow was there, throwing looping punches, connecting one after the other.

  The first one straightened Levi up. The second sent him stumbling to the right. The third stood him up again, and the fourth again sent him floundering to the left.

  Levi grabbed onto the top rope to regain his balance. The caterwauling of the crowd seemed to have gotten louder since he’d been hit. Probably had. Deathblow came back in and Levi arms went out to tie him up in a clinch.

  “Cut that out!” Duke yelled from Deathblow’s corner. “Let’s go! Let’s get to work!”

  Before Bendigo could come over and break them up, Levi shoved away, delivering three short, stunning jabs as he did so.

  “Keep your distance!” Nappy bawled. “And move your head! Move your head!”

  Deathblow gave Levi a good pop to the right side of his head. As his head snapped around, Levi could briefly see fistfuls of money changing hands as men bet on his blood.

  It reminded Levi what he was there for.

  Levi delivered three hard rights directly to Deathblow’s jaw, snapping his head back, the blows hard enough to draw blood that drooled from Deathblow’s lip and dripped from his chin. Levi danced back and forth, side to side and gave him another right, left and right combination. Deathblow took his punches as if he liked it.