Blood Red Turns Dollar Green, no. 1

by Paul O'Brien

  “I see. He won't talk to me about the business ‘cause I'm not in the secret club, yet.”

  Ricky looked at the rest of the sheet. He could see that all this formality was bouncing off Ade's head and going out the window.

  “Listen, Mrs. Schiller,” he said as he stood. “There's a few things you have to know if you're going to be in this business. One – you’re always, always going to have to protect it. Be careful of who you trust with the mechanics of what we do. And two – this whole set up we have begins and ends at making money. No friendships overrule that, no relationships, no circumstances. If one territory isn't pulling with the others, we all go down. And no one is going to let that happen, no matter the cost.”

  “Did Proctor King have anything to do with it?”

  “With what?”

  “My husband.”

  “I thought he was mugged in Memphis?”

  “Mr. Plick, my husband was a fuck face. I was a couple of weeks away from beating him to death myself. However, he loved this business. That's why he stayed in it long after he made his money. I am not like my husband. I have no love for this. Unfortunately for me, my husband also had a phobia of banks, telling the truth, and informing me where he squirreled away all of our money.”

  “So, we're clear?” Ricky held out his hand for Ade to shake.

  She obliged. “I need to get people's attention quickly, don't I?”

  “Transition in a territory is always hard. It's advisable to give the audience everything you have tonight.”

  Ade put a locket around her neck and kissed it as she grabbed her purse. “I will.”

  February 1st 1969. San Francisco.

  Sal Pellington had matinee-idol good looks. Shiny hair, a square jaw, big-chested, and a small waist. He was like Superman. Was.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, after forty-four seconds, we have a new NWC World Heavyweight Champion. The African Savage, Babu,” shouted the appropriately mustachioed announcer through the house mic.

  “It's the other way around, you fucking idiot. Babu, the African Savage,” Danno shouted from the back.

  Babu shoved the announcer through the ropes and dropped another elbow on the defenseless ex-champ.

  He may have won, but he wasn't finished yet. Not with the camera from KTXL in the arena.

  The Cow Palace was rowdy about the decision, but they were livid about Babu's lack of class in victory. Their former champion was a stand up guy who shook hands with the kids and posed for pictures after his match.

  Babu dragged him to the corner and sat him up against the bottom turnbuckle. He turned his huge frame around, looked to the crowd, and backed his ass into Sal's face.

  Some irate bodies started to flow over the barricades and toward the ring. The local cops weren't about to try too hard to protect the big guy stranger from New York from the punters who they had to see every week. Besides, most of them thought that was a piece of shit move, too.

  “Okay, let's get him out of there,” Danno ordered from the curtain. “Heels only.”

  Ricky Plick was the first down the aisle. He was dressed in hooded street gear which made it easier for him to sucker punch members of the audience as he passed.

  Lenny sat in the crowd. Most of the other ring guys were doubling as referees, but he hadn't even graduated to that stage yet. So there he was, cheering and screaming like everyone else. Waiting for his chance to get in that cherished eighteen foot by eighteen foot ring.

  Ade Schiller stood with Danno at the curtain in the back of the arena. It was her time. She knew she didn't have any power to keep the belt with her husband gone, but she could try and keep her territory strong.

  “Thanks, Danno,” she said as she walked through the curtain. All the wrestlers in the back jockeyed for position to see what she was going to do on her first night as boss.

  Danno knew the angle and he didn't want his promotion to have anything to do with what was about to happen.

  Promoters would do anything to keep their business strong. But women were different.

  Ade jumped on Sal in the ring to protect him from any further attacks from Babu. She stood and slapped the giant right across his face. The crowd stopped instantly and focused on the ring.

  Ade grabbed the mic. “Get out of here, you giant piece of shit.” The crowd roared their approval. “Cause if you don't, I'm going to show these good people what a woman whooping a giant looks like in real life.”

  Fourth row center. Lenny was enthralled.

  Babu picked up his belt and held it up one last time for the crowd to boo. He backed through the ropes and blew kisses to Ade as he left, surrounded by other wrestlers protecting his back.

  That was what Ade was thanking Danno for. The new champ backed away and made her look strong. They didn't have to do that and she knew it. It was a mark of respect to get her on her way as new boss.

  In the ring, Ade helped a battered Sal Pellington to his feet and held his arm skyward as the crowd ate it up.

  “This is what a true champion looks like,” she shouted into the mic. “Merv would be so proud.”

  The crowd calmed down and respectfully clapped Ade's raw emotion. She and Sal triumphantly walked the four sides of the ring, pointing up to the sky.

  Sal then dropped Ade with a punch. “You think I need your help to be a champion, woman?”

  The crowd turned instantly riotous again.

  “Holy fuck,” Lenny shrieked with excitement.

  Sal quickly grabbed the house mic that his lifeless new boss dropped on her way to the dirty, bloodstained canvas. “If I had a crowbar, I'd crush your head in too, woman.”

  Sal spat on his new promoter and ran from the ring as the entire front block jumped the rails and gave chase.

  Ade lay on her stomach in the ring, covered and smiling to herself.

  It was the first angle that she had ever come up with, and it worked perfectly. Merv wouldn't mind her using his memory to make money. And fuck him if he did. Sal Pellington, who was out of steam as a baby face, had just been turned into the biggest heel in San Francisco.

  That was the cake – now it was time to drop the cherry.

  Ade took a piece of a broken razor blade from the locket Merv gave her when she found him sleeping with a whore a couple of years ago. Even though she had seen the Boys do it thousands of times over the years, she was still terrified.

  She positioned its sharp side and cut a small score in her hairline. Merv's voice rolled around in her head like he was talking it through with the rookies and greenhorns.

  “Plenty of aspirin to thin the blood before you go out, run a deep cut along your forehead and hold your breath till you feel the fucking money rolling down your face.”

  Ade could feel an unfamiliar warmth running past her eye and down her cheek until it dropped off and colored the ring in droplets.

  “Red is green,” Merv whispered from memory.

  A wall of wrestlers let Sal in through the backstage curtain and fought off the on-comers.

  Business was done.

  Ade stood up and fell around the ring to sell her attack. Her white blouse was soaked in red and members of the audience ran in horror to her aid. She found it hard to maintain her disorientation because inside, she was overjoyed.

  Lenny, still buzzing with pure excitement, jumped the railing and began tearing down the ring with his crew who had fought through the wave of bodies running toward them.

  The house would be full again for the next few months to eventually see Sal get his.

  Even without a belt, smart owners knew how to draw money.

  Backstage, Sal waited at the curtain for Ade to stumble through. They embraced and shook hands.

  “Thanks, Sal, for looking out for me,” Ade said as she tried to stop herself from bleeding on the floor.

  Danno wasn't comfortable. He'd never seen a woman do that before. Maybe he was uncomfortable with the fact that a first-time owner just hit the jackpot on her first time out. He hoped his b
ig angle would be as successful.

  Sal and Babu shook hands too. New York had come to San Francisco and won the belt. It was their turn to run with it. Sal knew that being classy now meant he might get a run in New York later.

  “Thanks, Champ,” Sal said before lifting Babu's arm into the air. “For Merv.”

  Ade led the applause as she was getting looked over and patched up.

  Outside, Lenny closed the back of the filled truck and took out a smoke. He looked at a picture of his wife and child. It was well worn from late night inspections.

  He was so happy to have met Bree. She was one of the great joys of his life, but he knew she was starting to hate his fucking guts.

  Maybe a bracelet or something would bring her around?

  Danno, Ricky and Babu walked calmly to an empty room backstage. Their giddiness was pumping through one another.

  Ricky closed the door and all three hugged and jumped around in a circle. Danno merrily reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a hastily rolled brown envelope. “Look,” he said, as he ripped it open.

  Several rolls of hundred dollar bills hit the floor.

  All three men watched the money and simultaneously cheered and jumped for joy.

  “We made more money here than we did in the last four months combined.” Danno said. He head-locked Ricky Plick into his chest, “This is the man who got us here,” Danno said as he kissed Ricky on the forehead. “You worked the crowds for fifteen years to get us here, Ricky. For my father before me, and me now. I won't forget that.”

  “Thanks, boss.”

  Ricky shook Danno's hand and they hugged warmly.

  “I wish The Sugarstick was here to see me now,” Babu said, as he sat down and laid his belt on the floor.

  “He'll hear. Everyone hears everything in this business,” Danno said.

  The significance of being champ was beginning to settle in on Babu's large shoulders. Many, many great wrestlers didn't get their hands on the title. Including his mentor, The Sugarstick, Shane Montrose.

  “You did a great job out there, and you're going to be a great champion,” Ricky said, patting Babu on the back.

  Ricky knew his own time had passed on getting the belt. Danno had told him about Proctor getting the strap next and Ricky’s body didn't feel much like holding out for another go around.

  “Now, where are we going to celebrate?” Ricky asked.

  “I'll send the car back for you when they're all gone,” Danno said to Babu as he opened the door.

  Babu was clearly emotional. “We did it, boss.”

  Ricky left the room and waited in the hallway. Danno stepped back into the room and closed the door. “You're going to be everywhere now. You're going to be rich and you're going to be hated. You're going to have to do things that might turn your stomach. But most of all, you're going to do business. ‘Cause that's all this is about.”

  Babu nodded.

  “You did great tonight,” Danno said as he left the room.

  Ricky stopped Danno in the hallway. “The old man would be proud of you, you know?”

  “Wait till you see what I have planned next.”

  “Well, whichever way this angle with Proctor goes – you have in that room a giant fucking bank that's going to be around for a very long time.”

  Ricky was wrong.

  February 1st 1969. San Francisco.

  “Hey, Mom. Did you see Bree tonight? She's not answering.”

  “Lenard. Oh, Lenard,” Lenny's mother sobbed. “Where have you been? She's in the hospital.”

  Danno covertly walked by and tapped the glass of the phone booth. “Get the truck out of here.”

  Ricky followed. They both slipped into the waiting car. The fans were milling around, looking for their cars.

  “What's wrong, Mom?” Lenny asked.

  “She's had your daughter.”

  “She's had the baby?” Lenny asked, trying to hear over the shouting hordes.

  “Yeah, three days ago. But... we didn't know where to get you. Oh, Lenard.”

  Danno's car horn sounded.

  “I... what's wrong with her? Is she going to be okay?”

  The car horn sounded again, more impatiently this time. Lenny tried to signal to the car, but he couldn't see if Ricky or Danno could see him.

  “I'm in San Francisco. Is she alright? Mom?”

  “The little thing is trying so hard. You need to come home, son.”

  Ricky, with his hood up, exited the car and pounded on the glass. “Do you know how much that reinforced ring costs? We need to move the gear before we get killed.”

  Lenny nodded and gave Ricky the thumbs up, but Ricky didn't move. “Now. The boss is waiting.”

  “She's... they don't know, son. We're watching little Luke for you, but you should really come home,” Lenny's Mom said.

  Ricky thumped on the glass. “Move it.” Some of the fans grew more curious about the commotion at the phone booth.

  “I'm going to ring you back, Mom.” Lenny hung up and tried to gather himself. A curbstone smacked off the glass at the foot of the booth.

  “New York!”

  Ricky hurried to the car and Lenny followed to the truck. A loud bang sounded a few feet away as Lenny put his foot down.

  Ricky swerved between charging bodies and found his way onto the open road.

  “Was that a gun?” Danno asked, lying down on the backseat.

  “I think so.”

  “What the fuck was he doing?”

  “I have no idea. He wasn't listening to me, that's for sure.”

  “Wave him in when you get a chance.”

  Ricky wasn't sure that was a good idea, but faithfully followed his boss’ request.

  Lenny's truck pulled in behind them. Danno angrily open the car’s back door and marched toward Lenny.

  “Is there something wrong with you?” Danno shouted.

  Lenny dropped out of the cab and stood in front of Danno.

  “I said, is there something wrong with you?”

  Lenny thought about how to even begin to answer. He wasn't even sure that he could. “Trouble at home, sir.”

  “Bring her home some fucking perfume or something. The next time you put us all in danger like that, we're going to leave you there. You hear me?”

  Lenny could feel his chin begin to twitch. “My new kid isn't doing well.” He tried to hide his tears of worry. “She's... I don't know. Doesn't sound good.”

  “What?”

  “My little girl is...” Lenny bowed his head. Danno immediately felt like the world’s biggest asshole.

  “I don’t know what to do,” Lenny continued.

  “She's going to be fine. You hear me, Lenny?”

  Lenny nodded his head.

  Danno checked his watch. “Now, we're going to go to the airport and get you on a plane.”

  “What?”

  “We're going home.”

  Ricky approached and whispered, “What about Babu?” into Danno's ear.

  Danno pulled out a stack of cash and peeled it in half. Ricky nodded. “We need to talk when we get settled back in New York, boss,” Ricky said.

  Danno put out his hand and Ricky shook it. “I'll see you back there.”

  Danno opened the driver’s door. “You want to drive? Take your mind off it?”

  Lenny ran around the other side and took the wheel.

  “Let's go home and meet your little girl,” Danno said before he pulled them back into the flow of traffic.

  Lenny Long wasn't born to, or made for, the wrestling business. He was born in Long Island in the forties and grew up without fanfare or incident in a cul-de-sac neighborhood.

  All his life he wanted to be in the wrestling business. He had abnormally small hands for a man – his father used to call him Diane – so he never tried out for anything athletic.

  Magazines, clippings and programs; he collected a mountain of wrestling memorabilia before he eventually moved from his parents’ home and trie
d to make it in the city. His never dying dream was to stand in a ring and be booed by thousands.

  Two weeks later, when he moved home, Lenny met Bree Hominick outside his father's shop. She was small and cute and she was a session singer for Velvet Records. She was the best thing that Lenny had ever seen anywhere.

  She was also Catholic, so Lenny did his best to get her pregnant as soon as possible. A pregnant Catholic girl signed a contract for life, and a woman this good looking was bound to get better offers when she eventually went into the city.

  Well, one child and one ring later, and Lenny was safe in the knowledge that the devil rode the subway with Bree every time she went into the city without him.

  Amen.

  She wanted to move her small family back to California when the singing jobs dried up. She was a West Coast girl and missed her folks, but Lenny wanted to remain in the heartland of wrestling country – New York.

  At least it used to be, when he was growing up.

  He didn't want to be a wrestler – and he certainly didn't have the body or athleticism for it – but Lenny wanted the chance to work a crowd. Just once. He wanted to be good enough to make them believe that what was happening to him was actually real, just like it was for him when he saw The Sugarstick get slammed on the concrete floor in Madison Square Garden when he was a kid.

  There was a gasp of horror when he hit the floor that Lenny would never forget. For days, Lenny begged his parents to bring him to the hospital to see if Sugarstick was okay.

  That's when it all began for him.

  He started out working for free as a program seller in Sunnyside Gardens. He would do two nights on the weekends and they would let him in, free of charge, for the wrestling shows. Lenny had been selling there for a couple of years before one night, some of the ring crew had been jailed in New Jersey. Ricky Plick offered Lenny some extra cash to work the get-in and the tear-down. When he was done, he was told to follow them to White Plains and then to Trenton.

  The work just kept on coming and Lenny kept showing up.

  Danno made things busy for him on the road and things began to slip at home. It's not right to be calling the house at three in the morning when the kids are asleep. When Lenny did call, Bree wanted to know things that he couldn't tell her.