Grand Opening

by Carl Weber

  I shook my head. “It’s not that. We haven’t had sex yet. Chippy tells me how she feels and what is going on. I never have to guess or wonder if she’s playing games. And we just have this connection that makes me feel so much better when I’m with her,” I explained.

  “And Donna?” my mother questioned. Suddenly I felt guilty for making it seem like Donna wasn’t a good person.

  “She’s great. I care a lot about her, but Donna’s had everything handed to her, and she doesn’t always appreciate things, where Chippy and I have both been through hard times and could get through more if we needed to. It’s like we speak the same language. If Chippy had the opportunities that Donna did, she would never be doing what she’s doing.”

  Explaining things to my mother was definitely helping me put my thoughts in order. It was the first time I was really thinking deeply about the differences between the two women, and speaking them out loud made me realize just how much I cared about Chippy.

  “I don’t know,” I continued, “I guess I just feel like Chippy would be there for me no matter what, and with Donna I’d have to be a certain way and make choices I might not really want to make in order to keep her.”

  My mother thought for a long time before she responded, “LC, ever since you were little, you’ve always been the one to make the right choices and to do the right thing. That might mean something different in this case. The right choice here means following your heart. It will never steer you wrong.”

  “But what if that means breaking Donna’s heart?” I asked, admitting to myself for the first time who I truly wanted to be with.

  “Girls like Donna are always going to be okay. You don’t have to worry about her. Heck, I’m way more worried about you showing up here on your birthday.” She smiled at me and reached up to touch my face.

  “Momma, I’ve missed you so much,” I told her, and suddenly I was overwhelmed by the realization that even though she was trapped in here, she had always been a good mother to me. If Chippy had someone like her, she would be all right, and I wanted to be that person. My mother may not have been able to be with me, but the one thing I never doubted was her love for my brothers and me. Chippy deserved to have someone who she knew loved her no matter what.

  “LC, I want you to be happy.”

  I took a deep breath and relaxed, my mind finally made up. “I want that too.”

  Chippy

  39

  “Sam, this is so nice.” Crystal, the new girl, who I seriously doubted could be over eighteen, started rubbing on his arm like it was some goddamn genie in a bottle ready to grant her wish. Poor thing had learned the hard way to stay off my bad side after the ass-kicking I gave her. I did feel sorry for her, though. It wasn’t her fault she had been bamboozled by Sam. Just like I once had, she believed he walked on water and would one day sweep her off her feet into wedded bliss. I still couldn’t believe I’d just graduated from that place myself. She’d learn the truth soon enough, and then I’d have to console her, same as others had done for me.

  “I ain’t never been to these parts,” she kept on. Boy, did I want her to shut her mouth with that ’bama accent.

  “You do good today and I’ll take you to a whole lot of places,” Big Sam lied, not even bothering to change up his lines with me sitting in the back seat. She was up front, in the seat where I’d once been riding. From what Shirley explained, Sam always took the new girl on his mysterious road trips. It was probably because it was easier to turn them out that way, which made me wonder why he’d brought me along this time.

  “I just love the feel of the air on my face. I ain’t never been in a Cadillac before, except yours,” she kept gushing.

  “Nah, and neither had Chippy ’fore I rescued her neither,” he boasted like he had actually saved me from something instead of taking me out of the frying pan and into the fire, having me sell the pussy I used to barter for food and necessities. He certainly was in the best mood I’d ever seen him in, which made me grow slightly curious about our destination.

  I’d never say it out loud, but it did feel good to be out in the fresh air, even if I had to tie my headscarf down tighter so the wind didn’t wreck my curls. All Big Sam had told me was that I was requested and to look real nice. He even promised us a good meal and a shopping trip if we made him proud.

  “Wow!” Crystal swooned, which caused me to look up from my book and see that we had entered the main drag of Jacksonville. I shoved my head back in my book, desperately trying to finish the last couple of pages of the chapter before we got to wherever we were going. The car stopped, but I kept on reading, wanting to get to the end.

  “We’re here!” Sam announced excitedly, but instead of jumping up and taking Crystal’s lead, I kept pushing to get to the end of the chapter. They were about to reveal the benefactor of the heroine, and I really hoped it was the man she loved and not the one that only saw her as a prize.

  “This is pretty!” Crystal’s voice rang out in the background as the car doors opened and closed, leaving me alone in the car.

  “Chippy!” I heard Big Sam bark impatiently, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the drama in my book even if I wanted to—which I didn’t.

  “I’m coming,” I lied, hoping to buy myself a few minutes. That’s when the door flew open. Next thing I knew, he had snatched the book out of my hand and held it out of my reach.

  “You might be getting a cut, but you still work for me. Now get your ass out the car.”

  “I said I was coming!” I snarled at him, more upset about him taking my reading material away than anything.

  Rrrrrrriiiiip! He tore my book in two then threw both parts onto the ground and gave me a look, daring me to pick them up. Ignoring his implied threat, I leapt out of the car, intent on rescuing my book, but his big hands stopped me.

  “You really wanna go there? You are here for one reason and one reason only, and that is to work. You lucky I let you read that book in the car, but don’t push your luck,” Sam hissed, checking his watch. “Now let’s go. That Spanish motherfucker hates when I’m late.”

  “We going to see Mr. Alejandro?” I asked excitedly.

  “Damn right, and whatever you did last time, I want you to do it again, because he requested you special. I ain’t never seen him do that before.”

  I straightened up and followed the two of them into the Marriott, trying to forget about my book. I guess if I had to go see a trick, Alejandro was the one to see. He’d given me a $300 tip last time, although I’d given it all to Sam. This time I wouldn’t be so stupid.

  “Alejandro, my main man,” Sam shouted when Alejandro answered the door to his suite.

  “Are these two for me?” Alejandro asked, motioning to me and Crystal, who was looking a little too damn happy. I guess when you’re forced to fuck poor men with dirt under their nails who haven’t had a proper bath in their lifetime, a man who cleans up this well is a real prize.

  “That’s right. I brought you some fresh new pussy, just the way you like it. You can have one or both,” Sam generously offered. He pushed Crystal out front and center, and Alejandro eyed her from head to toe.

  “I’ll take her,” Alejandro said in a firm voice. Crystal was already looking past him into the open bedroom when he pointed to me. I guess he knew exactly what he wanted. And why shouldn’t he want me? After all, I was good at my job. I hid a smirk.

  “The other one you can bring down to the other room so my men can fuck her. There are only about nine or ten of them. She should be fine.” Crystal quickly turned in Sam’s direction, looking confused and concerned. Before she could speak, Sam silenced her with a glare that warned, Don’t say a word, bitch.

  “Now while you and your men play, I’d like to pick up my shit, if you know what I mean.” Sam laughed, but I could hear the tinge of aggression in his voice that meant he was really serious.

  “Very well, Sam.” Alejandro tossed him a set of keys. “Take a look in the trunk of the Cadillac El Dorado
downstairs. I think you’ll find what you’re looking for. Oh, and Sam, this is the biggest order you’ve ever taken from us. My employers expect payment in five days promptly.”

  “Don’t worry, my man. I got you.” Sam gave Alejandro a big smile as he led Crystal out of the room.

  Instead of reaching for me like I was used to customers doing, Alejandro walked toward the bar and opened up a bottle of Cognac. He poured two glasses, locking his eyes on mine as he approached and handed me a glass. He held out his glass to make a toast. I liked that. I took a nice, long sip of the expensive liquor. It went down smooth, not like that corn liquor Sam sold.

  “Thank you,” I told him as I set down the glass and began to undress. To my surprise, he stopped me.

  He patted the seat next to him. “Come sit. There is plenty of time for that. First we must decide what we should have for lunch. I’m thinking maybe lobster, or perhaps surf and turf.”

  I settled in next to him and smiled. “Surf and turf would be nice.”

  LC

  40

  I spent two days in West Virginia then headed back to Waycross, arriving at the shop just as John and Harold were closing. I sat there for a while in my new car with the top down, looking at my shop and realizing just how blessed I was. The crazy part was, I didn’t just see the shop. I saw the beginning of an empire.

  Tap, tap, tap

  I looked to my left, and there was John. “Any word on the part?” he asked.

  “The guy promised me I’d have it by the end of the week, so hopefully Friday afternoon.” I felt bad for John, although I think he was starting to like Waycross. The part I had ordered had come in almost a week ago, but unfortunately for John, they had sent me the wrong part and had to reship it, which meant another seven to ten days.

  “Look, LC, I like you, but that is totally unacceptable. I need to get New Jersey, and I needed to be there two fucking weeks ago,” he said angrily. It seemed like his reaction was getting more volatile each day. I understood that it was a long time for someone to have to wait around to get his car fixed, but he had been pretty over the top as of late. One minute he’d be fine, helping out around the place, and then it was like he’d remember that he was supposed to be somewhere else, and he’d started yelling and sweating, pacing around like a maniac. I swear, a few times I was worried that he was going to have a heart attack.

  “John, I’m sorry, man. If you need to get to New Jersey, I’ll drive you myself, and then Lou can bring your car to you on his next run to New York.”

  “No!” he yelled a little too forcefully. “When I leave Waycross, that car’s coming with me.”

  He must have seen how surprised I was by the strength of his reaction to my simple suggestion, because he tried to clean it up by explaining calmly, “It’s very sentimental to me.”

  Now, I was the first person to understand having an attachment to a car, but a piece of junk like his car didn’t seem like anything a person would feel so strongly about. Still, there was no doubt that he was frustrated, so I apologized once again. “I know, and I’m sorry, I’m doing the best I can.” I said then nearly lost it myself when I noticed a car parked over near the side of the building. “When’d that car get here?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Maybe half an hour ago. The guy’s in the back, talking to your brothers.”

  The car, a 300D Mercedes-Benz, belonged to Donna’s father. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Here we go again, I thought, certain Dr. Washington had come to put me in my place one more time. There wasn’t much more of this I could take. I wasn’t going to keep allowing him to treat me like some child he could order around or threaten to stay away from his daughter.

  I went around back to see if he was bothering Lou, which would not be smart.

  As I entered the title loan office, the first thing I saw was Donna’s father, but he wasn’t puffed up and blowing hot air around as he usually did. Actually, he reminded me of a balloon someone had deflated. Lou and Larry were sitting there with big smiles on their faces when I walked in.

  “Well, speak of the devil. LC, come on in here and join us. We’re having a little sit down with Dr. Washington. You two know each other, don’t you?” Lou said with a sly smile on his face.

  “Sure they do. LC here’s going to marry his daughter Donna. Ain’t that right, LC?” Larry’s tone was louder and even more sarcastic than normal.

  I turned to see Donna’s father’s response as I took a seat. That’s when I realized he didn’t look deflated. This man was distraught. I wondered if there was something wrong with his wife or Donna.

  “You all right, Dr. Washington?” I questioned, growing worried by this current situation. “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head and refused to meet my eyes. “Nothing,” he grumbled under his breath, glaring over at Lou. “Can we conclude our business? I have somewhere to be.”

  “Sure, sure.” Lou, ever the host, explained, “Donna’s father is our new customer. He just came in to get a title loan. Only we’re not comfortable loaning out the amount he’s looking for, so we’re buying his car.”

  My head spun around from Lou to Dr. Washington, who was still looking away from me.

  “That doesn’t make sense,” I insisted, until I caught Larry’s raised eyebrow, which told me everything I needed to know. He always accused me of giving people’s character more credit than they deserved. “They’re all capable of the same shit,” was his favorite comeback.

  Lou continued to needle Dr. Washington mercilessly. “Seems your future father-in-law has run into a little cash flow problem.” He smiled like the cat that ate the canary before delivering his next line. “I’ll look real good in that Benz. Fuck, I’m a fan of the Germans, making a car like that.”

  “Why are you selling your car?” I asked, needing to hear some kind of answer that made sense.

  Dr. Washington’s head swiveled in my direction, and he looked me straight in the eye, his rage boiling over. “Look, you little punk, this is none of your fucking business!”

  Lou stood up. “Tsk, tsk, tsk.” He was staring down at Donna’s father.

  “Can I get my money now? I got a plane to catch.” He spoke to Lou in a shaky voice, devoid of the nasty tone he had just used with me.

  Lou looked ready to laugh when he answered. “You can’t get shit from me. Not until you apologize to my brother. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  “It’s fine, Lou!” I blurted out. It was obvious the man was having a hard time. His words didn’t matter to me right now.

  “The fuck it is. He came to us to borrow money; we didn’t come to him.” He glared over at Dr. Washington.

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I apologize for speaking to you in a less than respectful way, LC.” Dr. Washington rushed his words, his foot tapping the floor nervously.

  Lou motioned to Larry, who began to count out the money for him. Dr. Washington couldn’t get up and get it in his hands quick enough. He didn’t even bother to confirm the amount before he was out the door.

  I turned to Lou for answers. “What the hell was that about?”

  “Well, it seems the good doctor is about to go on the run. The feds raided his office and his house this morning and placed liens on all his property and accounts. Hell, the only thing they didn’t put liens on were his car, his wife’s car, and his daughter’s car—and now they belong to us.” Lou laughed hard.

  I was shocked and bewildered. I couldn’t imagine the uptight, seemingly perfect doctor breaking so much as a minor traffic law. “What did he do?”

  “Medicaid fraud,” Larry replied. “That son of a bitch has been bilking the government for years to the tune of almost a million bucks. I told you, just because somebody has a fancy degree don’t make them any less criminal.”

  “The feds plan on locking his ass up for a long time; that is, if they catch him,” Lou added.

  “Wait, so he’s broke? Like, totally broke?” I grilled him, still feeling like this was
some kind of bad dream and it couldn’t be real.

  “Broke as a joke, except for that money we just gave him.”

  “You need to go check on your girl. I’m sure she’s just about fucked up right now.” Larry motioned to the door, and as much as I wanted answers, I knew he was right. I had to go check on Donna.

  Lou

  41

  “Man, you try’na tell me you gonna loan me five hundred dollars but then I have to give you six fifty back?” Pookie Blake, a one-time Waycross High all-star basketball player, shouted as he threw his hands in the air for emphasis. “Man, that shit sounds insane.”

  Larry shot me a look to see if he should step in, but I gave him the slightest head motion, letting him know he could chill.

  I gave Pookie a cold, hard stare. “Yeah, this is a title loan business, just in case you don’t understand the shit.”

  “Yeah, but it’s like you stealing from me!” he announced, clutching the title to his four-year-old, bright blue Dodge Challenger.

  “Then don’t take the money. Matter of fact, you can go on into town and hit up Dr. Petrie, the bank manager, as long as you have some collateral—like a house or a job.” I emphasized the last word to remind him that his lazy ass didn’t seem to be in any rush to locate employment. I wouldn’t risk loaning unsecured money to a guy like him even if we were related.

  “C’mon, the bank wouldn’t be try’na fleece me like this, Lou.” He was whining like a little bitch, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he caved. Wasn’t like anybody with his spotty work record had options. A business like ours was the last house on the block for people like Pookie, and we both knew it.

  “Banks have plenty of insurance,” I explained, “but all I have is the word of my customers, and that’s a sure way to go broke.”

  “A’ight, what if you charge me fifty dollars and I promise to pay you back in a month?” he begged. He must have thought my ass was as stupid as he was, ’cause only a fool would take that offer from him.

  “Look, you could be out of here with a pocket full of cash in five minutes, but my terms are non-negotiable.” I wanted him to understand that I was serious about this business. I would never bend on my terms. This new hustle was a legit way for the Duncans to make some real money without the threat of the big house. A brother was starting to really appreciate the investment in this gas station. Smartest damn thing we’d ever done.