The Legend of Johnny Hustle: Crown Me King

by Zach Tate

  “Oh, hell no,” her Texas twang screeched. “I entered the wrong damn elevator,” she squawked and tried to walk through the moving elevator.

  “Red, listen. I need your help. He’s about to die on me,” I pleaded, looking for sympathy.

  She cuffed whatever stolen property she had in her hand. “I really need to be going down, and y’all have me going up. Please stop this elevator and let me out.”

  “Red,” I yelled. “Come on, you can’t let this guy die on me,” I pleaded.

  “He did that to himself. I—have—to—leave—this establishment, now!”

  The elevator stopped at the tenth floor. While calling out his name and holding onto his legs, I used Ivan’s body to push Red into the hallway. I had to think fast. I prayed that her crack habit didn’t destroy all of her honor.

  “Look, you and me made a deal. It’s time to pay up. You gonna have me charged with a homicide if you don’t help me with this guy. Look, he’s a White rock star.”

  “Rock star?” she asked, squinting her eyes until his face came into focus. “You mean like Ivan from Culture Shock? Ivan the rock star?” she asked with a new interest.

  I nodded. “Yeah, ‘we all go to jail for a very long time’ kind of rock star,” I said, struggling to keep Ivan up on his feet.

  Red started bouncing from one leg to the next. “Hurry, get a room open. Take his clothes off and put him in a tub,” she said as she ran to the ice machine and picked up an ice bucket. She had a new pep to her voice.

  I picked the first room I came to on the tenth floor, and thanked God it was open. The chauffeur and I placed Ivan’s naked body into the tub. As we looked up, ice rained down over our shoulders and into the tub. Ivan’s head started to move. Red raced out of the room to refill the ice bucket.

  “Where’s his works?” Red asked when she returned and placed the ice under Ivan’s testicles.

  “Works?” I asked totally naïve.

  “Yes, Johnny. His syringe. His needle. His stopper—the damn thing he used to put the heroin into his system?”

  “Oh,” I replied, searching through Ivan’s pockets for his syringe case.

  “I need salt!” Red yelled out, moving ice closer to Ivan’s body.

  “Salt?” I looked at Red wondering what the hell she was talking about.

  “Hurry and find it. If you continue to ask silly questions, this guy is gone.” She looked at the limo driver and gave her instructions.

  Kneeling to remove the syringe, I heard the limo driver banging on neighboring doors. Peter ran out of the room, leaving John on the bed nodding. With trembling hands, Red pulled out the small torch.

  “I got it,” the chauffeur announced, running back into the room carrying small packets of table salt.

  Red snatched the salt, got cold water from the tub, heated the salt and water in the spoon, and then sucked it into the syringe.

  “You—hold this, and do not let it burn out,” she instructed, handing me the torch with the tiny blue flame spilling from it.

  After finding a vein on Ivan’s arm, Red shot the salt into his body. Like a miracle, his eyes exploded open. Instantly, he jumped out of the tub. My heart slowed down when I heard him speaking. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Red sit on the floor and remove her grimy gym shoe. Her hands reappeared with a long glass tube. She filled the top of the tube with white Crack rocks and said, “Pass me that.”

  I hesitated to pass her the torch. With her hands shaking uncontrollably, she said, “Johnny, this is not the time to have a conscious. You should have done that hours ago with Ivan. Pass that torch, or someone is going to the hospital or jail tonight.”

  The torch left my hands. I thought of a way to tell Red what I saw in her the first time our eyes met. She was flawless then, walking like royalty at Money Russ’ party. As she pulled the smoke through the glass stem, I looked at her grime-covered sweat suit. Her hair was falling out, her once beautiful cherry red lips had darkened, her cheeks were caved in, and her high yellow face was permanently soiled by black rings around her eyes. She looked like a zombie.

  “Water, dude. Dude, I need some water,” came from Ivan, disturbing my thoughts.

  I handed him a glass of water. He helped himself to three more while focused on Red. She was in her own little zone. Ivan looked down at me as John escorted him to another room. He said, “Dude. Do not move from where you are, dude. You saved this bugger and my bloody goose was cooked. I’ll see you in the morning, and make sure she doesn’t leave your sight.”

  I wanted to protest, but my brain was overloaded from the near death experience. When I looked around the room, it was empty with the exception of Red who was coming down off her high.

  “I’m all done. We even, and I have to go,” Red said, her eyelids expanding.

  I raced to the door and slammed it shut. “We can’t leave. Ivan has to take care of something in the morning. So we have to stay, and we ain’t even.”

  “Listen, Ivan was your vic. You were doing some kind of sting that had nothing to do with me. I saved him, so you’re welcome. But I have things to do, so we’re even.”

  I thought fast. Although the original plan I had for her hadn’t turned out the way I wanted it to, I had to use my ace in the hole.

  “A deal is a deal. I told you I was gonna give you two grand for three days work. The four small was just a down payment for the rest of the contract. You gave your word, so stick to the deal. The contract starts now.”

  Red reached into her waist, dug into her soiled panties, and withdrew a small ball of yellow wax paper from a McDonald’s cheeseburger. “Here. You keep this. Let me go, and we’re even.”

  She handed me the paper. The vulgar stench made it clear that she had it up in her crevices. When I opened the small knot, I found two diamond tennis bracelets rolled into a dazzling ball.

  “You can keep them. We’re even, so let me out,” she said, impatiently tapping her foot on the floor.

  I put the bracelets in my pocket. “We here for the night. We had a deal, so you might as well order room service. Let’s just get comfortable, because I’m not letting you leave this room.”

  Panic filled her eyes. She breathed heavy. “Look, alright. Let me go over to the Deuce and see those boys from uptown so that I can cop a few bottles to hold me over until tomorrow. All I need is one of those bracelets and I’ll be back. You can even come with me. But don’t ask me not to get high all damn night. I been up for two days, I need a hit.”

  My heart sunk. My body heated with emotion. I couldn’t understand what would posses the once gorgeous specimen in front of me to need abusive drugs. I knew by her proper mannerisms that she was well reared. Even though she was strung out, she still did everything with class. Her intellectual manner of speaking demonstrated she came from a great background. I decided to try a different approach.

  “Red, you ain’t going a damn place. You can try to crawl all these walls down, or go through them, but your ass ain’t leaving. What you need to do is get in a tub and wash your stinking ass, ‘cause you smell like old shit. You cracked out, and you look like garbage. You were a queen just months ago, now you city scum. Do something with yourself.”

  The tears streamed down her cheeks. She could have cried me a river and I wouldn’t have let her go. I learned from Crissy that a lot of women used tears as weapons to make a man’s heart melt. I was ready, willing, and able to keep Red in that room until morning.

  “You have no right. No right at all to judge me. Just please—please, let me go,” she begged, stomping her feet and crying.

  “Listen, save the hype. You gonna be here, and you smelling up the room. Go take a shower or bath and wash your ass. Do something.”

  Red walked past me, went into the bathroom, and attempted to slam the door. Immediately, I jumped up and stopped the door with my foot. I wanted to make sure there weren’t any windows in the bathroom. Even though we were on the tenth floor, I had heard stories of Crack addicts doing worse t
han jumping out of a window to get high.

  When I heard the shower running, I cut the Simpson’s cartoon on the television. When I heard the water stop, I hit the mute button to see if Red was cleaning herself, or up to no good. Through the door I heard a scraping sound. It sounded like someone was filing metal so I raced to the bathroom door. After banging on it, Red yelled, “Go away.”

  I kicked the door open without breaking the frame. When I looked in the tub, Red’s naked body was covered with bubbles. She had the glass pipe in her hand, scraping the insides with a steel finger nail file. She snatched Ivan’s miniature torch from off of the toilet seat next to the tub and put it to the burnt tip of the pipe. I snatched the glowering hot pipe from her lips. The heat burned my hands. When I dropped it on the floor, it broke into small pieces. Red yelled out, “Noooo. I had a few hundred invested in that stem” and started crying.

  Frustrated, I grabbed every item out of the bathroom, and threw them into the small lounge area. I took every single item. Complimentary shampoos, toothpaste, brush, and perfume, and either poured it on her head, or dropped it into the tub. I then raced to take my shirt off. While the shampoo dripped down her face, Red sat in the tub protesting like a baby that didn’t want to take a bath.

  I saw a small scrub pad on the side of the tub. I snatched it and scrubbed her body. I started at her neglected feet, and used two small bars of soap by the time I reached her face. I felt like I was violating her; she didn’t protest, resist, or fight back. She just sat there and sobbed as I washed the filth away.

  I scrubbed her scalp so well that black suds covered her head. From neglecting her hygiene, a dark ring had formed around her neck. By the time I was done, I had to lift her out of the tub. The hot water must have gotten to her, and the two days sleep she missed set in. I threw all of her clothes in the trash. I was embarrassed for her when I saw her soiled panties. I took my time taking off my clothes and then got into bed with her.

  As her soft warm lump lay sound asleep next to me, I rested my hand on her frail body. I had to be sure that she wouldn’t escape in the middle of the night.

  $$$

  Morning came, and I was dressed before Red awakened. I sent a bellboy for sleeping pills and ordered an All-American breakfast, knowing full well that Culture Shock was going to be stuck with the bill.

  The food and the bellboy arrived at the same time. I broke apart four capsules of the sleeping pills and poured the contents into a glass of orange juice. Once the concoction was fully mixed, I shook Red awake. As she rose, displaying her naked breasts, I handed her the glass of orange juice. She swallowed down the whole glass, and flopped back to the pillow until I shook her again.

  “Eat it all,” I said, pointing to the food.

  Ordering Red around achieved a better response than asking. At first she ate a small amount of the food, but then ate it all when I put my foot down. She then pulled the blanket over her head and returned to dream land.

  Two hours later, there was a knock at my door.

  “Tally-Oh, Chap,” came from Ivan when I opened the door.

  He stepped into the room, saw Red sleeping, and lowered his voice while handing me a small box-shaped leather case. He put one finger to his lips and whispered, “You bloody well saved my life when I was down on me chowder. I bloody well appreciate the way you made sure we came here before the bloody coppers or the buggers with the cameras saw the condition I was in. I owe you my life gent, so leave your information so that the next time I’m in town, I can look you up.”

  He walked out of the door. As soon as I was about to close it, his hand stopped me. “By the way gent, that heroin was smashing. It took me for a dazzle and knocked me on me chowder. Do you think you have the time to take us to get some more?” My head shook from side-to-side, and the look in my eyes told him that he wasting his time. “Okay then. Just remember, I owe you, so be around when we head back this way in the spring.”

  As I closed the door, I felt the weight of the small makeup case. When I removed the latch and opened the case, I counted five stacks of hundred dollar bills. $10,000 a stack, fresh from the bank teller.

  I picked up the phone. I asked the clerk at the desk to have a cab ready for me by the elevator. I grabbed a bathrobe and the complimentary slippers and covered Red’s body. When I got her on her feet she was half-asleep. I slipped the mink over her shoulders and it swallowed her frail frame.

  With a lot of effort, I also held the case in my hand. I then carried Red to the elevator and down to the taxi. I learned that day that the taxi drivers in New York were a strange set. During the ride, the driver didn’t ask anything about what the unconscious woman wearing only a mink coat was doing in his cab.

  I guided the driver to the parking area of the Marquise. After paying, I contemplated how to get Red into the elevator and up to my room. I didn’t want the hotel guests seeing me go up in the transparent elevator. With no other recourse, I called the security guard over for a hand.

  When I stumbled into the suite, Roxy was standing there dressed for work. She was on the way out of the door. I handed her the case and she asked, “Baby, where the hell did you find Red and what happened to her?”

  “You know her?” I asked in a state of shock.

  “I know of her, and that Crack got her going. What happened?”

  “Long story. Just help me get her in the bed. Get me some sleeping pills, push the case under the bed, and then order some orange juice.”

  Roxy went into action. She did what she was told as I struggled to get Red into the bed.

  I closed the room door behind me and sat in the lounge area while Roxy hung up my coat. She handed me the glass of orange juice and walked back into the bedroom. When she returned, she said, “Here.”

  I looked at the two stacks of money and saw that they were a thousand each. For the first time in my life I didn’t want to count any money. I was too busy preparing for an argument. After being out all night, I had walked through the door with a half naked woman in my arms. I was sure things were about to hit the ceiling, but it never happened. She was the same old Roxy, taking off my shoes and helping me out of my clothes.

  By the time she was washing my naked body, I couldn’t take it anymore. “You not the least bit concerned about me having another woman in the bed and not coming in last night?”

  Roxy had cut the water off and started drying me off, when she said, “It’s not my place to question you.”

  For any other man, those words would have ignited celebration, but I was still thinking like a lame. “And that’s it? You don’t care?”

  She sighed, took a deep breath, and exhaled again. “Baby, we hustle. We got a goal to get paid. My concern is taking care of you, so you can have my back, and we can have a better life after I make this money. Sheeiit, a man gonna be a man. Just because you my man don’t mean you stop being a man. And another thing I know is, Red gets down for hers and gets plenty of paper. If you and her is under the same roof, shoot, we might be millionaires over night. She just gotta beat that Crack, and that’s her business, not mine.”

  “So, you have no problem with her staying here?” I asked, not believing that a woman could be so nonchalant about it.

  “Not if you don’t. But the bed gonna be a little crowded, do you want me to go down and get a bigger suite?”

  I hadn’t thought about that. My mind started clicking. I threw my robe on and said, “Get Gloria up here.”

  Roxy dialed the number and within a few minutes Gloria walked into the room with a clipboard in hand. She looked at Roxy’s outfit of white stiletto heals, long white stockings with matching garter belt, a white tennis skirt, and the white top to a leotard. “Girl I wish I could make clothes look as good as you do. Ain’t you cold?”

  Roxy cut her eyes over to me. “My man keeps me hot.” They touched and laughed it off.

  Me on the other hand, I had a headache and couldn’t believe I had one woman asleep in my bed, another telling me her world
was mine, and another one flirting and ready to do anything I wanted her to do. It was real hard to keep that pimp soundtrack from playing.

  “Baby, can I leave?” Roxy asked, “I have to go to work.”

  Couldn’t she see that I needed help in sorting things out? Roxy was acting like she had a real job. It wasn’t my place to stop her motivation, so I told her she could go. After telling me that I had to make up in bed for the night I lost, she was out the door. Gloria didn’t hesitate to start in.

  She put her eyes down on the clipboard. “The maitre‘d needs five hundred ‘cause he has no product. The cook wants to know if he can borrow three hundred ‘til payday next week. The room service lady needs to know if you can get her immigration papers. It would be better to give one bellboy a hundred a week so he can be your personal errand boy.” She checked her list and then smiled. “Well, that’s it. Oh, and I need to get laid.”

  My head pounded. I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into. What I did know was that I had an agenda to reach, and sex was not on the list.

  “What I need is a bigger suite with two rooms. Bottles of vitamins B, C, Multi, E, Garlic, and sleeping pills. A lot of sleeping pills. I need healthy meals with nutrients and protein delivered three times a day. A bunch of feminine products for two women, security taken care of, and you can get laid tomorrow. I had a rough night.”

  She wrote all the things I needed on the pad. “Two large will cover that. I’ll pick up the money from the workers when they get paid, and believe me, I’ll be at your new Bed & Sitter suite bright and early in the morning.” She bent down for my dirty clothes. “I’m going to get your bellboy to come up with the vitamins. I’ll take all these to the laundry while I get the food.” She reached in my pockets to empty them and pulled out a piece of paper. “What’s this?”

  I looked up; the paper ball with the two tennis bracelets was in her hand.

  “Hand that over. It belongs to somebody.”

  “Sure wish somebody cared about me that much,” she said and the light bulb went off in my head.