Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Volume 3

by Paul O'Brien

  Joe took a gun from his pocket, and threw it in the river. “You’re right: I can’t kill you, Lenny. That was never my style, unless nothing else would do. Now, I’m done talking to you. Here’s what’s going to happen: you’re going to announce a unification match with your champion against the other titleholder, Emmet Cash, from the Carolinas. We’re going to do it ten days from now, which will fill your booking at the Garden. No more waiting, and no more risks for me. We will do this quickly, so no one has a chance to pull any fast ones. You’re going to drop the belt there, take ten-fucking-percent of the door, and leave the business to me.”

  “Ten percent?” Lenny laughed. He had no idea what was making him so brave.

  “You’re lucky that I’m giving you anything, you ungrateful little prick. You own a shell—a thin approximation of what a territory should be. No one knows who your champion is, and you bring nothing to the gate. You have nothing to leverage your position—you earn no money. You are a nobody, and you’ll be paid like a nobody. And fuck you for talking to me! Now you’re getting two percent of the gate. You add no value to this match—zero. Do you want zero percent of the gate?” Joe spat in Lenny’s face. “I didn’t play patience up here so you could come along at the last second, and fuck it up for me. Ten nights, and all of this ends, and I get what I’ve earned.”

  Donta hit Lenny in the gut, which folded Lenny over. He dropped to his knees, and fell face-first at Donta’s feet. Lenny saw the opportunity.

  “Don’t ever touch my son!” Lenny found enough flesh to bite into on Donta’s calf, while he was down there.

  Joe laid in some kicks, and Donta laid in some stomps. Lenny was soon unconscious on the floor.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  New York.

  1984.

  Five days after Lenny got out.

  Lenny’s wounds were all fresh and opened again, thanks to the chat from the night before. He couldn’t move his neck, and he had a couple more loose teeth at the back of his mouth.

  He was alive, though, and back at his father’s place. All he could think of was sleeping; Lenny was nearly out on his feet from exhaustion.

  Before he could open the door, though, Edgar charged him, and drove him backward, toward the side of his house.

  “How is Jimmy?” Lenny asked.

  He knew the look—he remembered it from childhood. Edgar Long lifted his fist, and punched his son in the face with it. There were no sounds, and no words. Edgar threw it, and Lenny took it. Both men let the moment sit for a minute.

  “I want you out of here,” Edgar said. “You can lie to that parole officer, but I don’t want you actually staying here, and bringing all of this shit to my door.”

  With those words, Edgar left Lenny on his own. Lenny understood. What could he say? His father was right.

  Edgar reappeared around the side of the house, and hugged his son. “I’m very sorry for hitting you, Lenard. But I can’t go through something else bad, again. I’ve had my fill.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  Lenny could see that his father’s eyes were full when he let go of him, and turned away.

  Lenny was tired, hurting, and without a plan. He was all but drifting. This wasn’t the way that it was supposed to go when he got out. He had no idea what was happening in the bigger picture, but he figured it might just be time to find out.

  “You could always come home and stay with me and Mom,” Jimmy said through the gate at the back of the house.

  Lenny smiled. It was great to see his boy, again. “Not yet, son.”

  Jimmy scaled the gate, and half fell over it on Lenny’s side. “Where are you going to go?”

  “I’ve got a place.”

  “Can I come?” Jimmy asked.

  Lenny put out his hand for Jimmy to slap; Jimmy obliged.

  “I’ve got some business to do. It’ll just take me a couple of days, and then I’ll come back here for you, and we’ll do something together. What do you think?”

  Jimmy nodded. “Was that man going to kill you last night?”

  Lenny knelt down in front of his son. “No one is going to kill me. Do you hear me?”

  Jimmy tried to smile, but he wasn’t convinced.

  “There are a few people out there who are trying to... bully me. They’re trying to get me to do something that I don’t want to do. And do you know what they can all do?”

  “Fuck off?” Jimmy answered innocently.

  Lenny laughed. “Yes, they sure can.”

  Jimmy hugged his father. “I know what it’s like when everyone is punching you, Dad.”

  It was only with his son’s words that Lenny realized he was right. “How about I make you a promise?”

  “Okay.”

  “I won’t let anyone hit me, anymore. How about that?”

  “Your face would sure appreciate it,” Jimmy said.

  “How about we both make the same promise?”

  Jimmy was a little nervous to commit; anything Jimmy shook on, he meant.

  “What do you say?” Lenny asked.

  The thought of not being a punching bag was quite exciting for the youngest Long. He had never really thought of not getting beat up, before. “Deal.”

  Father and son shook on it.

  Lenny’s smile grew until it hurt his face. “Listen to me, Jimmy, because I mean this. Nothing will give me greater pleasure than to come home with you someday soon. That’s what I’m working toward.”

  “You mean it?”

  “We’re going to have to get you a haircut, first, though,” Lenny said, as he walked away. “You’re scaring away all the pretty girls.”

  Babu’s wife opened the door with an air of suspicion. Lenny stood outside with Bree’s old, faded garden gnome under his arm.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Lenny said. “I must have the wrong place.”

  “Lenny?” Ava asked.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m Ava,” she said, as she opened her door wider for Lenny to come in. “Nice gnome.”

  He smiled, and walked in the door. The rooms again were alive with the smells of food and baking. Ava was doing her hair like someone who was in a hurry.

  “I don’t know where Chrissy is,” Ava said, using her husband’s real name. “But he said that you should hang out here for him.”

  Lenny stood silently and uncomfortably in the hallway. He really felt bad about going back to Babu’s place.

  Ava popped her head around the bedroom doorframe. “You’re welcome to anything in this house. Just help yourself.”

  She disappeared again.

  “Thank you very much. I really feel bad about... but it will only be for a couple of days.”

  “How are the boys?” Ava asked.

  Lenny wasn’t sure who she meant. In wrestling, ‘the boys’ were the wrestlers.

  “I hear Luke—or Kid—is the champion, now, right?” she continued.

  Lenny was surprised to hear a stranger talk about his boys. “Yes, so eh... Chrissy tells me. I haven’t really gotten that far with him myself, yet.”

  Ava rushed down the hallway, and took her jacket from the hanger by the door. “I’m really sorry to be running out like this, but they’re short staffed at work, and I...”

  Lenny stood aside and smiled. “Thank you.”

  Ava had a kind face. “Any time.” With that, she left.

  Lenny didn’t know what to do, really. Maybe he would have a little nap on the couch. As he light-footed it into the sitting room, the house phone began to ring.

  He thought about answering it, because maybe it was Babu checking in. On the other hand, it might be Ava’s mom, or something, and Lenny didn’t want to have to explain his situation.

  Lenny let it ring. He was too tired to feel hungry, so he lay on the couch, making sure to not put his feet up. The phone stopped ringing, but then it started again.

  Lenny tried hard to go to sleep. His night with Joe hadn’t been the most pleasant, and sleeping alone didn’t come as
easily as one might think.

  The phone stopped, but just for ten seconds, before it started up again.

  “What the fuck?”

  Lenny covered his ears, and crunched his eyelids closed. The phone kept ringing, and it was a bell phone, which made it all the more piercing after a time.

  Lenny sat in the house for four hours, and the phone rang the whole time.

  Babu’s wife, Ava, ordered her coffee to go. She was late, and looking forward to her break. She took it every day in a dreary alleyway full of boxes and rubbish, but she didn’t care. Come break time, she loved her coffee, cigarette, and the ten minutes she had to herself—ten minutes away from the madness.

  She thought about her husband, and how she would love one more summer in Hawaii; one more great vacation together. She was sure that a month away from the city would rejuvenate her giant husband, but she also knew that she might be asking for too much.

  She flicked the butt of her cigarette onto the street, and rolled the coffee around in her hand to see how much she had left. A car pulled up a few feet from her, and its front wheel perfectly extinguished her discarded cigarette.

  The front window rolled down, and Donta Veal sat in the driver’s seat. Ava didn’t know him, but she sensed that he wasn’t good news, so she turned to walk back into her work.

  “Do your husband a favor, and tell him to pick up his phone,” Donta said.

  Ava walked faster inside, and closed the door behind her.

  Lenny found the spare room, and closed the door. He dragged the covers over his head, and let the phone continue to ring. Eventually it stopped, and Lenny could get some solid afternoon sleep.

  “Lenny, do you think my ass looks big in this?”

  Lenny woke up, horrified that someone had gotten close to him without him knowing. That sort of thing would have never happened inside. Seeing Babu’s bare ass hanging out of a homemade toga made it all the more horrifying.

  “What the fuck?”

  Babu turned around, and began to wiggle his stomach and hips. “I think I’ve put on some weight—what do you think?”

  Lenny flopped back to his sleeping position. “What time is it?”

  “It’s time to tell the truth.”

  “What?”

  “Do you still find me attractive?” Babu asked as he launched himself into a big splash across the bed. His five hundred pounds, even in slow motion and jest, crushed Lenny, and collapsed the bed on all sides, until the mattress hit the floor.

  Babu howled with the laughter, as Lenny struggled for air. His panic only made the giant laugh more.

  “I can’t fucking breathe,” Lenny tried to shout.

  Babu lifted most of his girth off of Lenny so he could remain conscious, but just for a second.

  “How many times did this happen to you in prison?” Babu asked.

  Lenny farted, and silently laughed. The more he laughed, the more he farted.

  “Jesus Christ,” Babu said, as he tried to lift himself off Lenny. Lenny was gone: no sound, just silent laughter, until tears ran from his eyes.

  Babu couldn’t help, but laugh, himself. He gave up trying to get off the mattress, and he just lay there, side-by-side with Lenny, as they both turned from serious men into fart-producing children.

  Babu didn’t know that Lenny was in his house when he came home, but he was thrilled to see him in the spare room. That was one of his pieces back into the fold, and Ricky was next.

  “I owe you an apology,” Babu said.

  “Oh yeah?” Lenny asked.

  Babu was suddenly more earnest. “I should have told you about your boy.”

  Lenny hugged what he could get his arms around. “Thank you for watching over them, and making sure that they were looked after.”

  Babu patted Lenny’s arm. “I know you’ll do the same for me.”

  Lenny looked at Babu’s face: it was white and haggard. His eyes were shadowed: grey around the outside. He knew what his friend was saying, and Lenny could only nod.

  With Lenny’s acknowledgement, Babu became lighter, and more free. “Thank you,” said the failing giant.

  “I have a confession, too,” Lenny said.

  “What?”

  “Your phone rang on and off today for about four hours, and I didn’t answer it once,” Lenny said. “Sorry.”

  “That was Ricky,” Babu said hopefully. “He always calls like that.”

  Unfortunately, Babu couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Knocking came from the door. Lenny didn’t know what to do. Babu had just gone out for something fairly secretive, and his wife wasn’t yet home.

  Lenny tiptoed to the door. “Hello?”

  “Pop?”

  Lenny couldn’t believe the voice that he was hearing. “Jimmy?”

  Lenny opened the door, and looked up and down the alley. There were no signs of anyone, but his boy. “What are you doing here?”

  “I have an important message.”

  “You have what?” Lenny asked, as he put on his jacket.

  “What are you doing?”

  Lenny grabbed his son’s arm, and marched him up the road. “I’m taking you back. How did you even get here?”

  “I’ve been here a million times before.”

  “On your own?”

  “First time.”

  Lenny cursed his luck. He knew that his father would be worried. He handed Jimmy the phone number of Babu’s place. “Call, and let it ring twice, then stop. Then call, again. I’ll know it’s you. Okay?”

  Jimmy got it. He loved this spy, secret code stuff. “Twice, and stop, then call again.”

  “Does Granddad know where you are?” Lenny asked.

  “No, I swore to not tell anyone, and I didn’t.”

  Jimmy handed Lenny his note. “Top secret. No one will ever know, I promise.”

  Lenny, confused, read the note. His confusion only grew with what he saw.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  New York.

  Six days after Lenny got out.

  1984.

  Everyone turned to watch the giant walk through the airport. He was Godzilla, or King Kong—something freakish. Babu hated people staring at him. He hated navigating crowds, turnstiles, and doorways.

  He just wanted a more normal life, but that was never on the cards for him. A man his size was always going to draw attention, and flare out just as quickly.

  A few deeper male voices booed him as he walked with his head bowed. He wanted to see for himself that Lenny hadn’t made a mistake.

  The date was right, and the time was right—Babu was meticulous about those things. Ricky had given in his notice, and wanted to come home. He knew that he had something simmering, with New York back in play.

  He just wanted to be home. When Pan Am 747SP aircraft, flight number 801 arrived into JFK without Ricky onboard, alarm bells began to ring.

  As much as Babu hated to be stared at, he still needed to check for himself. Ricky didn’t miss flights—not if he could help it.

  Maybe they had missed him somewhere along the way. When Babu saw that the gate was empty, and that everyone was long gone, he thought that Ricky might have been at the van waiting for him. Eventually Babu returned to find that he wasn’t. This was more than a no-show. Ricky’s lack of appearance was a sign to everyone else that New York was truly there to be taken, now. Babu couldn’t help but feel like it was all his fault, and he needed to know if stringing Joe along had gotten his friend hurt—or worse.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Let me smarten you up.”

  In wrestling, this phrase meant everything. A veteran saying those words was like a magician telling a rookie all of his tricks. It involved a lot of trust—a lot of faith that the person learning would take on the old traditions, the proper way of doing things.

  They would have to protect the secrets of the wrestling business.

  On this night, the rookie was a young, handsome wrestler named Kid Devine. The ‘magician’ was sitt
ing about twenty rows back, covered by darkness in The World’s Most Famous Arena.

  “Can we let the people in? They’re starting to go crazy out there,” the front-of-house manager shouted.

  “No,” the man in the stands said, “A few more minutes.”

  Madison Square Garden was lit for wrestling, which simply meant that, except for the twenty by twenty red, white, and blue ring, everything was dark.

  Kid tried to look beyond the lights. “Why don’t you come in here and show me something, old man? It’s been a while.”

  The man in the stands struck a match for his cigarette, and Kid caught a glimpse of his pained, pale face.

  “You okay?” Kid asked.

  The man took a pull from his cigarette, and began, “There are four basic parts to a wrestling match: the Shine, the Heat, the Comeback, and the Finish. The Shine is where our hero starts off well, and wins a couple of small, early victories to get the crowd excited. They paid good money, so give them what they want.”

  He took another pull.

  “To start with.”

  Kid ducked to get out of the ring.

  “You can stay where you are,” the man in the stands said.

  Kid stayed in the ring, but he had no idea why he couldn’t go see his mentor.

  “The second part of the match is the Heat, and this is where it begins to go wrong for our hero. The heel sees an opportunity to win, and he takes it. It’s the part of the match that the audience decides whether the baby-faced hero is worth supporting.”

  “Seriously, man. What are you doing up there? I can’t see you,” Kid asked.

  “This part of the match is when bad things happen to good people.”

  The silhouette stood, and walked very slowly and feebly toward the ring. Kid still couldn’t see his face.

  “What’s the matter with you?” Kid asked.

  “And, of course, the Comeback is when the baby-face decides that he’s not having any more. He finds a reserve of strength, tenacity, and passion to lift himself off the ground, and fucking fight like a man. This should drive the crowd wild. It should lift them to somewhere higher—to some kind of belief that we can all do that, if we’re pushed hard enough.”