by Zach Tate
“It’s time to get dressed boys,” came from sexually confused Marcy.
“Oh Girl, come on and let’s make these coins. We got that Vogue party I got to get ready for,” Elexus complained. I was grateful they wouldn’t be staying long.
“Johnny, look what Ms. Marcy got you?”
He laid the suit and shoes on the couch. It was a Brooks Brother’s suit and Lorenzo Banfi wingtips. I was impressed. A pair of eyewear, along with all of the suit’s accessories, was there also.
I picked up the outfit and said, “Thanks.” I turned to Yoda. “I’ll see you later.” I headed for my room.
“My goodness” Marcy hissed. “Somebody got a ‘tude,” he said as I made my way out the door.
I walked to the elevator hoping that the only relationship my mentor had with the two characters was indeed business.
5
Pocket Hunting
The quick money I made was burning a hole in my pocket. Impulsively, I was ready to go up to the Big Track gambling house in Harlem. Then I thought of Yoda’s schooling about Brave Dave hustling backwards to support his crack habit. Just like that, vices were over for me. I had to think like a hustler. Every move I made from that point on had to be a calculated one. Instead of going to my room, I left the hotel and went to see Proverb.
When I walked into the shop, he lit up and opened his arms as if we were long lost pals. “Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.”
“Now that’s real,” I said to Proverb while counting out $1,000. Proverb called over his family to witness the transaction.
“That’s two,” he said. “You doing good on the square already, huh? You a certified natural. Come back and see me tomorrow and I’ll know you down for your crown.” I just couldn’t get used to the Black voice coming out of the Asian mouth.
I chuckled to myself on the way out the store. Trying to avoid Black Justice, I cut the corner of 42nd Street and headed back to the Carter. On the way, I stopped by the Wendy’s fast food joint for a couple of chicken sandwiches, and then went straight to my room. I felt proud of myself. I doubled my worth in a couple of days. I was accepted by one of the best hustlers on the square, and I made my first piece of change in no time. A certified natural. If I studied hard, I was sure that I could eventually be king. I wanted to celebrate, but I was alone.
An hour later, the anchorwoman on the evening news watched me while I headed for the shower. Suddenly I heard a knock at the door. Thinking it was Yoda, I answered it in my underwear.
I opened the door and Suki was looking at my naked chest. Her eyes then dropped to the split in my boxers. Quickly, she peeked behind her to make sure no one saw her intrusion. Then she eased her small frame into my room.
“Money! You have my money? One hun-dred and fifty dolla?”
I did the quick calculation of how many days I was there. I then walked over to my pants’ pocket and removed two small for her. As I walked over with her cash, her chinky eyes gazed at the split in my crotch again. I responded with an erection. Her eyes locked onto my bulge. My eyes locked onto hers, and then passion took over.
Suki reached down and released my bulge from its confinement. She fondled me passionately. We were strangers to each other, but it didn’t matter. Her intensity made me feel like I was water and she was dehydrated.
Hurriedly, she slammed the door and turned off all the lights. While my eyes were fixated on her pert B-cups, she lovingly pushed me down on the bed.
Suki eased her hands up my legs until her head stopped at my waist. My hardness was just inches from her face when she smiled at me. Her hair overshadowed my waistline, as she began to feed her hunger. Her thin lips swallowed the tip of my love shaft. The pleasure was welcomed. The tension in her jaw showed she was an amateur in oral performance, but I was horny, so I took over.
I undressed her, throwing her clothes on the floor. The fresh and flowery scent that radiated from her body put caution to rest. She wasn’t a whore in the hotel, I convinced myself. I scooped her up vigorously. She wrapped her short legs around my waist while her thin arms rested around my neck. Impulsively, I slid my cock between her velvet creases. We kissed with uninhibited passion, speaking a language that needed no translation.
Suki’s small frame allowed me to twist her body to both of our satisfaction. Carrying her, I stroked her deeply with each step I took towards the shower. When the soothing stream of water raced down our bodies, we kissed, and rubbed each other frantically. Intense passion was alive.
“Good! Good! Good!” Suki cried out when I thrust deeply, forcing her back against the cold white tiles in the shower. “Eeee—eeeee,” she moaned as she stiffened and released an orgasm. Her heat and moans triggered my juices to flow. I pulled out and dripped into the drain, along with the water that washed away our indulgence.
Suki’s insatiable desire led our wet bodies to the soft, warm bed. Before I had a chance to be aggressive, she straddled me.
“You—big—mister. Suki like you. Suki like you-like you,” she moaned while bouncing on top of me.
She leaned her breast into my mouth while grinding her milky clitoris against my hard shaft. I watched my stiffness appear and disappear into her wet crevice. Again she had an orgasm, and again she whispered the illegible foreign words. When she caught her breath, she collapsed so that I was deep inside of her. She leaned back and crossed her feet at my chest. She put her small hands behind her, resting on my knees. She smiled like she was doing something she never did before. Suki and I fit snugly together. I loved the way she maneuvered. She rode my love muscle with an erotic rhythm. She didn’t stop until I was drained and conquered.
Suki rolled off of me smiling. She rushed to the bathroom and returned with her clothes back on. Before leaving the room she bent down to my pants, reaching for her $200.
Hustle with finesse, flowed through my head. “Nope,” I said to Suki. She froze like a doe in my Zeon headlights. “Leave that right there. My time is money, and my love ain’t for free.”
I didn’t think she understood what I said. Then a big smile cracked across her face. She dropped the bills on the floor, blew me a kiss, and then closed the door and locked it from the outside
“Boy is this one crazy place,” I said, closing my eyes.
$$$
“BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!”
The banging at the door quickly opened my eyes. When I checked Mickey, it read 7:00 a.m. I knew Yoda was up and ready to go with a speech about me oversleeping. I opened the window to let fresh air in, and then opened the door.
“Why didn’t you use the key?” I asked with sleep still in my voice.
“You maybe have friend,” she declared and pushed me to the side.
Suki wheeled her way in with a food cart filled with sterling silver coverings. The smell of food stampeding into my hungry nostrils.
“You. Back in bed,” she demanded. “Me serve—me serve. You need strong,” she said while flexing her biceps to signify that I needed my strength.
When I looked over to the tray, something was out of place. The Carter had no room service, kitchen, cooks, or employees besides Suki and two other people that looked like her. I was anxious to know what was under the silver lids. I watched her peel open a foiled envelope, pour a gold crystal substance into the glass, and then pour in scalding hot water. When I picked up the empty envelope, it was a ginger drink with Chinese letters all over it. Suki saw the hesitation on my face. As she sat on the side of the bed, she handed me the short glass.
“You drink. You like.”
Drinking tea from a glass was new to me, but I took a cautious sip. The drink was wonderful. I didn’t know what was in there, but I suddenly felt energized. That’s when she handed me a vial filled with a black liquid.
“You drink. You like.”
I held up the vial and examined the black substance. “What is this?”
“Gin-sing” she said. She reached for my limped love muscle. “Make har
d. All day long.”
She wasn’t going to get too much of a fight out of me after telling me that. I popped the top of the vial. I swallowed the small ounce of liquid. Heat poured down my throat like a wicked drink; I felt powerful.
Suki removed the silver lid and revealed a hearty breakfast of boiled eggs, low mien, mixed vegetables and what I thought was grape juice. I ate the food, and she went into the closet and removed my clothes. I had two new suits to my name, and the linen outfit I wore the day I went down to the square. She laid out the linen pants and shirt.
“Yoda. He wait for you.” She walked over to me and kissed me on my lips. “Last night you so-so-so good to Suki. Tonight you pay money for one day okay? You leave room for Suki. Suki clean room and give you new TV. I see you lay-ter.”
I ate my food with pride, got dressed with a song in my heart, and headed out the room without straightening up. I closed the door, and two ebony children appeared. Their hair and clothes were neglected. They looked out of place in the filthy hallway, but I didn’t think anything of it. The big one had to be about twelve years old, and the shorter twin had to be about six. When I entered the service elevator, the twelve-year-old wiped her hair out of her face seductively like a working woman would.
“Mister, if you give me ten dollars I’ll suck your dick,” she announced with enthusiasm.
“Whoa,” I howled while trying to register what I just heard. “What? What did you just say?” I asked the woman-child. “Where—where did you learn to talk like that? What’s your name?” I demanded. I stepped out of the elevator holding my chest where the heart that was still warm rested.
“Keiki,” she answered. She pointed to the smaller clone of herself. “That’s my sister, Mimi. You want me to suck your dick for ten dollars or not? We can go back to your room.”
“Oh, hell no,” I muttered, still trying to comprehend what I heard. “Where’s your mother at?” I asked with obvious anger on my face.
Keiki opened the door to her neglected hotel room. “She right there.”
The dark filthy room pulled me closer with its rank odor. A peek inside revealed a famine Black woman, with long disheveled hair, lying on a dirty mattress. She was wearing a soiled bra and panties. From the angle her body lay, she exposed her big lips, and unblemished face. At one time she was beautiful. On the grimy nightstand next to her bed laid a syringe, a metal spoon, balls of used cotton, a worn leather belt, and a melted unlit candle. Garbage decorated the carpet. The small, abused television was on a cartoon channel in the corner. On the floor, next to empty paper bags, were two makeshift beds. The prints in the two filthy pillows showed where the little girls slept. It was clear that disinfectant hadn’t visited the room in at least a year.
“Why you want my mommy?” Keiki wanted to know. “You want her to suck your dick? Give me the money. She don’t need it.”
Fighting to keep my emotions intact, I bent at the waist. I held the beautiful little Black girl by the side of her arms. I looked at her brown skin, her nappy hair, dirty thick nose, and the large lips that some man would find appealing in a few years.
“Look shorty, I’m grown. Stop asking me if I want you to suck on me. Why you want to do that anyway?”
Her eyes got teary, like she didn’t want to solicit me in the first place. Then she looked away when she answered. “We ain’t eat in two days. Mimi needs some food.”
My temperature boiled and my eyes watered when I heard her plea for help. I couldn’t understand how a woman allowed her children to suffer. I then looked over at the deadly syringe and thought of how my bank-robbing father, turned drug dealer, eventually overdosed in a Federal Penitentiary thanks to Nikki Barns. I froze while looking down at the sleeping beast and thought of my own, half-black half-Iroquois Indian, mother. I rationalized that although she sold her body, she was there to make sure I had an education. She was there to show me love and raise me the best way she knew how after my father left. I saw vivid memories of when she quit whoring, joined the Nation of Islam, took her Shahadda, and changed things for the better. That was before her old life came for pay back, kidnapping her spirit with pneumonia on the day of my high school graduation. Instead of being rewarded for graduating two years early, I was burying my hero. Instantly I snapped out of my trance.
“Come on,” I said to the minor that wanted to be a prostitute.
I grabbed both of the little girls and walked out of the hotel leading them to the diner down the street. I placed $20.00 on the counter.
“Give them whatever they want, with additional meals to go,” I told the older Blond waitress Yoda flirted with. Then I made a pact with the children.
“Keiki, my name is Johnny Hustle. As long as I’m around, you don’t have to suck nobody for food. I want you to go back to the hotel and wait for me tonight, okay? Do what the little Chinese lady at the hotel tells you to do until I get back. You cool wit’ that?”
“You my daddy?” Little Mimi interrupted.
Keiki and I said, “No,” together. Then I said, “Mimi, listen to your sister until I get back.”
The littlest of the two looked into my eyes. Her cotton candy voice said, “Okay, Daddy.”
I was hurting when I walked out of the diner. When I reached the hotel, I boarded the service elevator to see Yoda and Suki walking by.
“Suki,” I called out. She looked at me, then quickly looked over at the man working the check-in counter before putting her head down. She turned her back so her hands were out of the man’s view. Then she signaled with them that I should go up and wait. I was in no mood for secret lover drama, so I left.
I rode the elevator up to the top floor, but the door wouldn’t open. When I yanked at it, an alarm came on and then quickly shut off. The creaking door finally opened and Yoda stood there in cranberry silk pajamas, a matching silk robe, and a pair of white, furry rabbit slippers.
“Foolio, if they don’t call before you come up, you can’t get in. If I’m not expecting you, then you can’t get on this floor. Only me and the employees got the keys.” He then looked at the hurt on my face. “What’s the problem, cuz? You looking like a frog done crawled up your ass and died.”
We walked into the suite and he sat me down in the living room.
“A twelve year-old just offered me a blow job, with her little six year-old sister, and her mother is all doped out on heroin.”
“Oh, Keiki and Mimi?” Yoda said without emotion. “They mama Kimmy, stay high all day and be trying to sell her kids down there. Sometimes I use Keiki to drain a stubborn mark.”
I thought about the first time that I met Yoda and the way that he was advertising sex with kids.
“You use her to hustle? You mean you know them and you didn’t do anything about it?”
Yoda frowned. “Cuz, I do what I can when I can. This ain’t the department of social services. I ain’t dropping a dime so they can throw them two girls in a kiddy jail or some foster prison. And I ain’t running no damn charity. This is Midtown. These kids come up hard. This ain’t Disney Land.”
“You mean a foster home couldn’t take them?”
“A foster home?” Yoda looked at me with sudden rage. “Where them state paid mothers is too close to call strangers, but too cold to call family? Negro is you crazy?”
It was turning into an argument. “So how you hustle Keiki then?” I asked at the top of my lungs.
One of Yoda’s eyebrows went up. “I know you don’t think I’m peddling minors after I had that last talk with you?” He cracked a smile to calm himself. “Listen, I’m a run this hustle down to you real fast. When you ready, I’m gone show you. A lot of marks, or better yet, freaks, be looking to spend top dollar to sleep with kids. Times Square is sex city. You got chicken hawks, weirdo’s that steal young girls and sell them off. And then there’s the ones who tie them up, rape ‘em till’ the kids get pregnant, then sell her off on a two for one deal.” He started tapping his chest with pride. “Me? I beat them freaks blind for they c
ash and dish out my own justice when necessary. The real kiddy sex business goes down on Eighth and in the Village, but on this side of town, I set the marks up.”
“So how does that little girl fit into all of this?” I still wanted to know.
Yoda shook his head at me like he was growing tired of my ignorance. “Sometimes things get hectic and a vic may want to call the cops, and that’s when Keiki goes into her bag about telling the police that the vic wanted to have sex with her. When the vic hears that, he’s gone with the wind. Broke, afraid, and never to return. The problem is, Kimmy takes all of Keiki’s money to get high. But like I said, and I’m gone say for the last time, I do what I can for them, when I can.”
I was a sitting jackass. I had just accused my mentor of being a kiddy freak. Thankfully, Yoda handled it like a gentleman.
“I’m sorry man,” I mumbled.
“Never be sorry. Sorry lames is sorry shames. Don’t be a shame. Next time be careful. When you got to apologize, say simply that. A man can accept an apology without throwing it in your face. It’s okay, you got a kind heart; Times Square may change that.”
We were interrupted by a shallow knock at the door. Yoda reached for a baseball bat. He wasn’t expecting company, but I raised my hand for him to calm down. He looked even more upset that I would invite a stranger to his residence. When I opened the door and Suki was standing there, Yoda relaxed and exhaled in relief. I signaled for him to wait and I stepped out the door.
Before I could get a word out she got on the tips of her toes to kiss me. There was no time for that.
“Suki, the two little girls that live on my floor?” She nodded with a look of warning in her eyes. “Here,” I said before handing her $100. “Give them the room next door to their mothers, and make sure the place stays clean.”
“Dey no pay! They use drug, modder nasty,” she told me in a loud burst.
I pulled her closer to me and kissed her while rubbing her crotch. “I’ll pay you baby, take care of that.”
