Brothers and Keepers

by John Edgar Wideman

  III

  They are riding in the dark going over their plans. It’s fall. Days are shorter, nights longer and colder. The rental truck chugs and rattles over bad streets, roars so loud in the Liberty tunnels they give up trying to talk. When they arrive and drive past once, all the lights in the used-car lot are out. No lights in the office either. Just one hooded bulb burning in front of the garage.

  Robby’s thinking something’s funny. Thinking, This don’t make no sense. Why this cat sitting round in the dark? See, the wind’s bucking up, too. Mike parked the truck up the street at a restaurant so it’s just me and I’m walking cross the lot and the wind making them little flags pop and shaking the strings of lights and little pointy flags they got hanging out front where you come in off the street. Like it’s sure nuff night now. Good and dark now and the wind blowing got everything moving. Little noises you can’t see and things moving behind your back and them flags popping. Kind of spooky. Maybe the dude got tired of waiting. Maybe he’s gone home to bed.

  * * *

  Yeah. I remember what I was wearing. Lemme see now. Yeah. I remember exactly. Like I said, my Apple hat. And my new leather jacket. One with a fur collar and a zipper up the front. Sharp. Fitted me real nice. Come down about ass length. And jeans, quilted jeans like they be wearing then with sailor pockets. Black-and-green shoes. High heels. Patchwork too, like a quilt, you know, fancy toes with black and green patches. Sharp. Stone sharp. That was your brother. Gon stick somebody up but I was clean. Stayed sharp. Had my do tucked up under my cap. And my eyes wide open cause I didn’t like walking cross no dark lot. Couldn’t see nobody till I got to the office. There’s three of them inside. Two brothers, the Kramers, and Stavros sitting around in there with no lights on. Stavros was more like stretched out. Had a couch in the office and he’s like napping and the other two looking puffy-eyed like they been sleep too.

  Things ain’t getting no better fast. Like I said, I ain’t been feeling right since the get-go and now there’s three dudes stead of one to deal with and that sure ain’t gon make things no easier. I gets Stavros to come outside by his self. He ain’t too happy about it but I let him know I ain’t digging the fact that he got his boys hanging round neither.

  Who are those guys?

  Hey, man. It’s okay. They’re my partners. The Kramer brothers. They’re in on it. Help me out around here sometimes. They’ll gimme a hand loading the TVs.

  Yeah, but that ain’t part the deal. You didn’t say nothing about no two guys hanging round while we dealing.

  Keeps on his case, you dig, and whiles I’m talking I’m looking round real careful. Don’t want no more surprises. Far as he knows I’m checking out the place for cops. For a setup. I mean them guys in the office might be cops for all I know. I say this and Stavros kinda laughs. He laughs and says, Cops. They ain’t hardly cops. They’ll get a kick out of that. I’m gon tell them guys you thought they was cops. Yeah. He’s grinning and I grin back and kinda relaxes but I’m still scoping the layout. Getting it in my mind again. It been three days since I been there and I’m making sure it’s like I remembered. The office. The garage. Cars parked out front on Greys Pond and some more junky-looking ones back beside the garage. A open place where we could pull in the truck and back it up to the garage. I’m checking all this out but the same time running con on Stavros. Like we’re buddies now and I’m jiving the cat. You know. Where’d you go to high school and shit. And is the Steelers gon go all the way? Then we talk money. Get the deal straight again. He coming up short and poor-mouthing but it don’t matter. I don’t need to hear that shit. Say we better go back and call my buddy.

  We’s back inside a couple minutes. I go out again by myself to check the lot next door. There’s a light next door and I check it out. Then I go back in the office. Call Mike.

  Everything’s cool, man. Yeah, solid. My man here’s alright. Got two his boys to help with the loading. We’s ready, man.

  Them cats ain’t turned on no lights yet. They still looking drugged. Like they all been sleep. Then I figure maybe they been sitting waiting all day just like we been. They tired and probably had a hit of something or other.

  One them turns on a little desk lamp so Mike can see where we at. Nobody got nothing to say. Nothing to do but wait now till Mike gets here with the truck. Seems like hours but it don’t really take no time at all and Mike’s pulled up at the entrance. The brothers go out and get him backed up to the garage. Me and Stavros wait till the truck stops then we leave the office and walk over to the driver’s side. Mike ain’t hardly climbed down out the truck good before he’s in Stavros’s face. Mike don’t play. Got that hard look in his eyes. He’s all business. Ain’t going for no bullshit.

  Do you have the money?

  Yeah.

  Lemme see it.

  Lemme see the TVs.

  Lemme see the money.

  They go back and forth like that a couple rounds but Mike ain’t budgin. Mike’s tall, you know. A basketball player. Woulda been the next Doctor J and shit if things had worked out different. To hear Mike tell it he was badder than the Doc. You done heard all that mess before. You know how it goes. Anyway Mike got this way of staring down at people. Intimidation is what it’s about. Don’t matter how tall a dude be, Mike can stare down at him. Get that hard look in his eyes and stand still as a statue. Nothing moving like he’s froze or something. Just staring down at you and letting you know he owns you. Letting you know he could step on you and squash you like a bug and ain’t nothing you could do about it. So they hit it back and forth a couple times like it’s Ping-Pong. Money—TVs— Money—TVs. Then Stavros sees Mike ain’t up for no game. He’s dealing with one them hardhead, hard-leg niggers and ain’t no win.

  Money’s in the office. I’ll go get it.

  Something tells me watch this dude. Watch him real close, Robby. Why he need to go back to the office by his ownself? Why ain’t he brought the money with him to the truck where we dealing? Why it got to be dark in the office? I’m thinking a mile a minute. I’m watching him close as I can but I got to keep my eye on them other dudes too. Them brothers who ain’t spozed to be here in the first place. When we was all in the office I’m remembering Stavros got up once and went to fumbling in his desk drawer. Had his back to me so I couldn’t see what he was doing but I do know he ain’t no child. A soft-talking dude, but he’s halfway slick too. He got a piece somewhere. And it ain’t gon be too far out of reach. Kinda jacket he’s wearing you couldn’t tell what he might have stuck down the front his pants. I’m hawking the dude but I ain’t got a real clear view. One little light on in the office. All’s I know is he’s back at that desk drawer again. Like I can see his silhouette through the office window but I can’t tell what he’s doing down there in that drawer.

  Mike got a better view. He’s off to one side so he can watch everything. Like a statue standing back there in the shadows. He’s taller than everybody. The way he was standing still in the dark not moving, not saying a word made you think he was ten feet tall. A big black statue is what I thought. And I know Mike wasn’t missing a thing. Like he was all tense and coiled up. Ready to leap. Like he told me later. Rob, I was sure the dude had a gun. Just the way he come walking back from that office. If he ain’t had one before, he got one now. Just knew it.

  Which means Mike was thinking what I was thinking at the time. I ain’t seen nothing but the dude’s silhouette in the window before I went over to the other side of the truck where the Kramer brothers was standing, but Mike said he seen Stavros pull something out that desk and wasn’t about to wait till he woke up in heaven or hell to find out what it was.

  First thing I notice is Stavros got his jacket closed when he come back. I’m worried worse now. But in a funny way I ain’t worried at all. See, it’s happening now and I’m scared and nervous but it’s happening now. The deal’s going down. It’s coming down hard and you got to go wit it. You got your mind on a million things at once and you can’t let nothing bot
her you. You got to be ready. Ain’t no time to be hemming and hawing. You out there and you got to go.

  I done thought about the stickup so many times. Everything that happened that night. I been over it and over it in my mind and talked to Mike and Cecil so I know exactly what happened. The facts. What we said and what we did. And what them white boys did too. I got it all in my head but it ain’t easy to say to you. It’s hard like it’s the first time every time I try to tell it.

  Stavros’s jacket’s closed. We’s all behind the truck now, under the garage light. Except Mike. Mike still ain’t moved. He’s off to one side in the shadows. So I ask the dude.

  You got the money?

  Don’t know what I woulda done if he reached inside his jacket but that ain’t what happened. He pulled the money out his back pocket. It’s kinda wadded up in a ball.

  Okay. Here’s the money. Where’s the TVs?

  Cecil been inside the truck taking everything in. He got a sawed-off shotgun in there with him and when I open the gate the gun’s the first thing you see. Sawed-off shotgun’s a nasty, dangerous-looking piece. You better believe it. Make you pee just looking at it.

  Everybody freeze.

  Them white boys froze, and me and Mike drew our pieces.

  Throw down your money on the ground.

  Stavros says, Aw, fuck . . . shit, and drops the money. I bend down to pick it up. Wind’s blowing and ain’t no time to do nothing but chase the money. It’s scooting and I’m down trying to scoop it up and I hear Mike yell, Robby, he’s running. The money’s blowing and I’m crawling after it and I don’t know what the fuck is going on behind my back. Just hear Mike call my name and say, He’s running.

  Get em. That’s what I yell cause my mind’s on them bills and all the trouble it’s taken and they about to fly away across the lot.

  Then the shot. Boom. Like a cannon. Got to be Mike’s .44 magnum. A warning shot in the air but I don’t know that yet. I yell Get em and then the shot and I run up alongside the truck to cut off anybody trying to get away. Sounds like somebody’s down. A loud, stumbling noise on the other side of the truck so I peel back to see what’s happening. If anybody’s shot or what. But I ain’t made it to the back end of the truck before there’s another shot. Boom. It’s all happening fast Three, four seconds all it took. Happening faster than I can tell it. I yell, then a shot. Start for the front of the truck, hear a noise and turn around. Then boom again and I go running to the front again.

  What happened is Stavros fell down when Mike shot the first time. He stumbled or just plain scared shitless and his feet gave out under him. That’s what I heard on the other side of the truck. Bram. Him hitting the pavement and scuffling to get up again. Funny thing is I can see him. How hard he hit. How he crumpled down the first time and looked like he was digging in his clothes for something. Didn’t see none of this but it’s strong in my imagination just as if I did see it. That’s when Mike shot again. He was sure Stavros was going for a gun. Sure enough to pull the trigger. I’m not gonna wait till I wake up in heaven or hell to find out for sure if he had a gun. That’s what Mike said. Stavros slipped down and he was reaching inside his clothes. I can see him down just like I was there. It’s that clear in my mind.

  When I hear the second shot I run all the way to the front of the truck. The dude’s bounced up off the ground and steady hauling ass out toward Greys Pond Road. He’s kind of running low to the ground, bent over like and holding his shoulder. I didn’t even realize he was hit or nothing like that. Didn’t think nothing really except he was running and things was fucked up. Had a clear shot but didn’t take it. By then Mike is round the front of the truck too and he’s got his pistol pointing at the dude’s back and coulda blowed him away easy just like me but we let him go.

  One thing certain. The shit had hit the fan. Wasn’t nothing going down like it spozed to. Shooting. A dude running. We was in a mess and Cecil still holding them Kramer brothers lined up behind the truck. After we got the money the plan was to put Stavros in back the truck and drive it somewhere in Schenley Park and just leave him back there till somebody found him in the morning. That’s the way we done it before. Give us time to get away. Give the cat time to cool his heels and think a little while fore he called the cops or did something else foolish. Well, them brothers still standing there staring down the barrels of the sawed-off shotgun. I’m scared but they scareder than me. And mad. Don’t say shit but they mad. Put the shotgun in they hands it be three dead niggers sprayed all over the car lot. You could see it in their eyes. They don’t know if Stavros is wasted or what. They don’t know what we gon do with them. They mad and scared but that shotgun is keeping them in line.

  We got to get out of here, man. What we gon do with these dudes? They be running just like the other one we turn them loose.

  Put the motherfuckers in the back.

  Up they go. I’m shoving and pushing and the tailgate bonks one the dudes in the head. Got them in the back where Stavros spozed to be if everything wasn’t fucked up. But it’s fucked up good now. One dude shot and running for the cops. Two stashed in the back of the truck. And the money ain’t half what it ought to be. Ain’t had time to count but when I was picking it up I could tell it wasn’t what it supposed to be. Not half. Not even half of half, it turned out.

  Wasn’t worried about money, though. Was getting our asses away from there we was worried about.

  All three us up in the cab now. Me and Cec and Mike. The Kramers in the back of the U-Haul truck. Mike slams that raggedy sucker in gear and we’s rolling. Turned on Greys Pond and then turned again up a long windy street. One that goes all the way up the hill into Brownsville Road. Mike driving like a crazy man. Truth is we all’s shook. We in a panic. Looking for cops. Listening for sirens. See it’s lily white over in there. All white so we ain’t gon be real hard to find. And Mike revving the truck like it’s a bucking bronco. But nobody thinking straight. Just want to get away fast as we can.

  When we first come out the lot had to stop at the light on Greys Pond. Heard this loud bang and it’s them fools in the back. We ain’t locked the door good and they’s out and running down the middle of the street. Pushed the truck doors open when we stopped at the light and I can see them in the mirror running back the way we came. Now we really fucked up. Three white boys running loose. They gon have all West Side on our ass. Why the fuck didn’t we lock those doors? Ain’t nothing going the way it spozed to be. Wasn’t spozed to be no shooting. All them big guns was to scare people. Scare the shit out them so we could take the money and run. But ain’t nothing working right. Stavros gone. The brothers gone. White people everywhere. Feels like the goddamn street’s trying to tear up the truck. I’m looking for a tire to blow or the damn truck to run outa gas. Sure now our ass is grass.

  We gotta get out here, man. They be looking for a truck, man. That’s the first thing they be looking for.

  Fuck this goddamn truck, man. Pull the motherfucker over and let’s get outa here.

  We at the top of the hill now. Maybe four, five minutes since I seen them brothers running away in the mirror. Couldna been no longer than that. On the main drag now. Stores and restaurants and do. Drive down a block or so and park the truck on a side street. Getting our shit together best we can now. Leave it on a side street so the cops have to look to find it. So they don’t trip over the big, burly motherfucker. Cause we need time. Don’t know what’s happening down the hill. Heard sirens but Cecil said them’s fire engines. Nothing but fire engines.

  Walk down the main drag a block or so and then duck in this store got kids standing around in front. A hangout joint, you know. Little soda fountain and some chairs and booths inside. Everybody look at us kinda funny. Don’t say shit but they stone looking. Ain’t no signs up or nothing saying, No Niggers Allowed. But we steady getting them You in the wrong place, ain’t you? looks. See, but we clean and we cool. Walk through them kids and through the door like we been coming to this store every day for years. O
ld lady at the cash register staring too. Ask her just as nice if she got a pay phone we could use to call a cab. You know. Smiling and good manners and shit. She see we ain’t no hoodlums. Ain’t come to rob her or rape her or nothing like that. We some them nice nigger boys. All we need is a cab and we be gone.

  I can call youns one but they take forever. Didn’t used to be that way around here but now they make you wait. Your best bet’s standing outside till one comes along.

  Yeah, well, maybe she’s right I mean about cabs and do but here we is deep in white folks’ territory and we ain’t hardly gon stand in the middle of no main street flagging down no taxis. But I smiles and nods anyway. What she’s saying is she prefers our black asses out her store.

  Thank you, ma’am. Maybe we’ll try hailing one outside. She smiles now. She’s happy now. We on our way and she ain’t had no trouble.

  Kids still hanging out outside. Teenagers. We need a ride, I tells em. Any youns got a car? From out of town and don’t know our way around the city. Need a ride back to where our car’s parked. Pay somebody they give us a lift. They all giving me them dumb looks. Way kids do when they ain’t paying no mind to what you saying. Like you speaking Watusi or some damned jibber-jabber talk they don’t speak. Looking dumb and moving back out the way so we can get through. What these niggers doing here anyway? Why don’t they go on and leave us alone? Dumb looks or I-don’t-give-a-fuck looks or just Go on, Sambo, go on back to the jungle where you belong.