Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Volume 3

by Paul O'Brien

  This was a place where the world heavyweight boxing champion and his manager could talk some business, and receive guests.

  Maw Maw and Jinky walked the black and white checkered floor toward their table, which was set for four. The champ took a quick look around to see if anyone had noticed him. Maw Maw snapped his wrist from his sleeve, and watched the minute hand move closer to their meeting time.

  Both men sat.

  “I used to do a lot of business here, when Terry Garland was the boss. You never had to worry about anything. He made good pay-offs—always on time. His son was supposedly good, too, until he got himself killed,” Maw Maw said.

  “Is the new boss like that?”

  Maw Maw wore a little smile, as he rubbed his hands together. Jinky could tell that something was off.

  “What is it?” Jinky asked.

  “Well... usually, we’d wait for another six months, or so, before considering this kind of offer.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because these guys are all over the place, right now.”

  “So why are we doing business with them?”

  “We’re not doing business with them.”

  The champ was confused, but Maw Maw didn’t like talking about any deals, until something was signed.

  “We’re doing business with someone we know.”

  “What make you think that these wrestling guys are going to do what your friend says?”

  “Because my friend is the only shot they have left. It’s perfect.” Jinky smiled; Maw Maw nodded in return. “They’re desperate, and there’s no better time to do business with someone,” Maw Maw said.

  “Exactly,” Ade said, as she put her hand on his shoulder.

  Maw Maw stood up, and hugged her. “You look beautiful.”

  Jinky stood, too. “I didn’t know you were coming, today.”

  Maw Maw smiled. “This is our friend on the inside.”

  “Your wife?” Jinky asked.

  “Thank you,” she said, as she sat. “And you’re right: during desperation is the best time to do business.”

  Maw Maw and Jinky sat, too. They could see from the smile on Ade’s face that she had taken no offense, at all. As a matter of fact, she looked like she was glowing by the fact that the wrestling business was in such bad shape in New York.

  “Lenny Long will be joining us, soon,” Ade said. “Just let him... you know, think that he knows what he’s talking about. Then later, we’ll do the actual deal.”

  Maw Maw kissed his wife on the cheek. He was so proud of her that he could hardly compose himself.

  Ginny managed the full outfit, this time. Head to toe, he was ready: he was shaven, and his hair was brushed. It was nearing the best time in the world for him.

  Every footstep that went past his door, and every car light that flashed past his window made him more excited. Ginny sat patiently, facing the door; he could hardly sit still.

  He didn’t really understand where the ice cream came from, but he didn’t really care. It was his time of the day to be younger, and to not be afraid. He could remember himself as a boy, along with the simple things that used to fascinate him.

  He didn’t care that the people who came into his room wanted him back in his leisurewear. He didn’t even answer them—he didn’t listen when they tried to talk to him.

  Ginny sat by the door and waited for days, but nothing came.

  So, he decided to wait some more.

  Lenny pulled in his seat. He was a little star-struck by the champ sitting across from him, but he knew that he’d have to hide that as best as he could, if he didn’t want to come across like a mark.

  He remembered Proctor King, an idol of Lenny’s, cutting him down for asking for an autograph when Lenny had first started in the wrestling business. He wouldn’t make that same mistake, again.

  “Looks like you’ve gone a few rounds yourself, champ,” Jinky said to Lenny.

  Lenny smiled. “Yeah, I fell down my stairs.”

  “I love to make people fall down stairs,” said the champ.

  “I know you do,” Lenny replied. “It’s a pleasure.”

  Lenny put out his hand, and Jinky shook it.

  “So, what have you got for us, Lenny?” Maw Maw asked.

  Lenny shook Maw Maw’s hand, too. “I want to do a piece of business with you guys. I want to put the wrestling champion of the world against the boxing champion of the world.”

  “Obviously this wrestling champion dies, whoever he is,” Jinky said, laughing.

  “You beat him, yes,” Lenny replied.

  “How badly, is the question,” Jinky said.

  “Barely,” Lenny said.

  Jinky was offended, but Maw Maw held him back by placing a soothing hand on the champ’s forearm.

  “What Lenny means is that it has to be competitive to a point. That way we both get something from it,” Ade said.

  Lenny agreed. “Our guy looks good in defeat—that’s what I want. I want people to remember the heroics of our champ. I want him to be talked about, and remembered. I don’t care if he wins or loses.”

  “How do we do this?” Maw Maw asked.

  Lenny loved holding council. He had a well thought out plan that he couldn’t wait to pull the trigger on.

  “Here’s the way I see it,” Lenny said. “Each side puts in one hundred thousand each. That way, if anyone fucks around, goes into business for themselves, or pulls out the other side, we will at least get paid. We’ll bill it as the ‘World’s First Superfight’ or ‘champion versus champion for pride and legacy.’ ‘Which is the better sport?’”

  “Sport?” Jinky said, laughing, “You guys are calling yourselves a sport?”

  Jinky’s attitude was kinda annoying Lenny, in general. Maw Maw, on the other hand, smelled money—lots of money, with a planned finish. He could get his champ in and out with guaranteed money, and no injuries or defeat.

  “Obviously, the hundred grand each is nothing. We plan on putting this on Closed Circuit, selling the rights across the country. Ticket sales, alone, would be huge,” Ade said.

  Maw Maw liked the idea, but felt that he had to lay down the golden rule before anything more was discussed. “I’m just saying this to you now, Lenny: if you or any of your crew tries to go off-script in the match, he will kill your boy. I mean it. Don’t try to make yourself off the back of our champ.”

  “You have my permission to destroy anyone, including my champion—if you can—if the match goes pear-shaped,” Lenny replied.

  “If I can?” Jinky asked.

  Lenny nodded. “Yes, if you can.”

  “Gentlemen, are we here to talk business, or not?” Ade asked.

  “A good wrestler will always destroy a great boxer,” Lenny said directly to Jinky’s face.

  Jinky slammed his fist on the table, and stood up to strike. “Are you trying something, boy?”

  “No,” replied Lenny.

  “You think that the few bangs and scrapes you’ve got on your face make you a fighter?” Jinky asked.

  Maw Maw stood in between both men; he could see the money being washed down the drain. He walked Jinky back a little, and Ade took the distance between both camps as an opportunity to talk to Lenny.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Ade asked.

  “They’re going to sign.”

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  Lenny knew what he was doing; he just couldn’t tell Ade that. “We need to announce this on our TV next week. Nobody inside the business can know, only us. We’ll call the boxing press and the wrestling magazines that morning. Our TV will film it.”

  “Why are you trying to annoy these guys?” Ade asked.

  “They’re going to sign,” Lenny repeated.

  “You need to go. I’ll finish this off.”

  Lenny looked over Ade’s shoulder, and he could see that the meeting was over for him.

  “Okay,” Lenny said. “Okay.”

  Lenny
turned and walked away. From the back, he looked disappointed and shunned, but from the front, he looked like a man who couldn’t tell anyone that he’d just won the lottery.

  “What the fuck was that?” Maw Maw asked Ade.

  “Sit,” she said. She was aware that everyone was watching.

  “I’m going to follow that jumped-up little prick, and beat his ass,” Jinky said.

  “Listen to me, both of you,” Ade said. “This is the measure of where they’re at. They’re there for the taking. Do you hear me?” Ade tried to get both men to focus.

  “I don’t know...” Maw Maw said.

  “His champion is his own son. He has no experience—he’s no problem to us. We can have New York. Do you hear me?”

  Maw Maw nodded.

  “I don’t give two fucks about New York,” Jinky said. “There’s too much to lose, here. We get in bed with these guys, and we look like bums—amateurs.”

  “Jinky,” Ade said. “I found you. I brought you into our deal here, and you became the heavyweight champion of the world. That was for you. This—New York—is for me.”

  Maw Maw slid his hand over to his wife. “You’re right; I’m sorry. Let’s show these carnival fucks how to play the three-cup game.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  New York.

  Thirteen days after Lenny got out.

  1984.

  Lenny was rolling the dice; he knew he was. He had no real choice, because Ricky wasn’t there, the NWC had frozen every wrestler in the country, and his TV station was threatening to drop them if they couldn’t fill the slot.

  He was rolling the dice, and he was using his son to do it.

  “What are we going for, here?” Lenny asked.

  Both he and Kid were standing against the white brick walls, backstage at Madison Square Garden; Lenny was wearing the only suit he owned. The tension was thick and very present.

  “What do you say last?” Lenny asked.

  “‘He talks too much’,” Kid replied.

  “And then what do you do?” Lenny asked.

  “I’ve got this.”

  “What do you do after you say, ‘he talks too much’?” Lenny spun Kid around.

  “I walk off calm, like a killer.”

  Lenny nodded. “Perfect.”

  He looked at his son, and he could tell that he was ready to step up and be champion—ready to make some money. Lenny also saw Tad, the parole officer, looking for him.

  “If this is too much, or too soon, then you let me know,” Lenny said.

  “What other options do we have?” Kid asked.

  Lenny couldn’t answer that.

  “I know that I’ve been in this business for no length, but I’ve spent my life around it, one way or another. I know what the play is, here. I know why we’re doing it, and I know how important it is to this company.”

  “That’s—”

  “I also know what it means to the family.”

  Kid left for the curtain.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here for this truly momentous occasion,” Ade said to the sea of reports, journalists, and TV cameras.

  “It is my pleasure, along with Vosbury Promotions, and the New York Booking Agency, to present to you today the world’s first superfight: boxing versus wrestling, champion versus champion.”

  Ade’s words set off a bank of flashing lights, and a controlled level of consultation amongst the reporters. Several of the more serious boxing writers loudly left their seats in disgust. Everyone else seemed at least willing to find out more.

  “Let me bring out now, at this time, Maw Maw Vosbury, the manager of the boxing heavyweight champion of the world.”

  Ade stepped down from the podium in the middle, and took a seat to the left. Maw Maw got a polite round of applause when he took her place.

  “Thank you, thank you,” he said, before raising his arms to quiet the room. “Now, I know what some of you are thinking, and I know what some of you have already written on your little pads. This is going to be the real deal, though. Two men at the top of their sports will be looking to find out just who is the best.”

  Lenny stood behind his boy at the curtain. He wanted to put his hand on his shoulder, just to let him know that he was there.

  “Are you doing okay?” Lenny whispered.

  Kid silently nodded, and Lenny knew not to press any further. Tad crossed the hallway. Lenny knew that he was getting closer. He also knew what was about to happen.

  “I’ll be...” Lenny whispered, as he left his son’s back.

  Lenny wanted to shake off Tad, so he could do his business without being humiliated.

  “If that child tries too hard to hurt or incapacitate the real world heavyweight champion on the night, then we’ll soon find out just how fake wrestling is. Cause let me tell you one thing, ladies and gentlemen, Jinky Keeves ain’t going to play games for no man. I hope these wrestling guys know that.”

  Lenny watched Ade clap after Maw Maw’s speech. She should have been outraged that a boxing guy had called wrestling fake in front of the world, but she wasn’t.

  Jinky entered from stage left. He was supposed to wait to be introduced, but was going off script. He leaned into Maw Maw’s mic.

  “I feel like I need to apologize. I needed to come out here and say something, before the headlines are written, and this thing is cast in stone. They came to us and asked for this. I know what record they have, and I know what you all think of what they do for a living. But if some guy—any guy—says that he’s willing to put down a large amount of money to beat the real world heavyweight champion, then I’m going to take him on.”

  “This is going to be one hell of a match,” Ade said from her seated position.

  New York and North Carolina.

  “Cut through—go around,” Joe shouted at his driver.

  He was on the car phone to Donta. Joe had only heard about the press conference early that morning, so he’d flown in from Memphis, and hired a car. Donta had told him that he saw radio guys there.

  Joe’s driver zoomed through the stations.

  “Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the announcement of this most unique event. Champion versus champion, boxing versus wrestling,” came the voice on the radio.

  “That’s it,” Joe said.

  The simplicity of the words sickened Joe’s stomach, but lit up the promoter’s side of his brain. He really had underestimated New York’s resolve, especially with Ricky out of the picture.

  In North Carolina, Tanner lay tubed-up, bruised, and bandaged, but listening intently. He might have been nearly finished, but only a fool would think that a man of his experience with playing the game didn’t have something left to sting with.

  In his small home in Long Island City, Edgar Long sat with his grandson, listening to the radio.

  “Do you think Kid is going to win?” Jimmy asked.

  “Shh...”

  “I’m going to be stronger than Kid when I’m his age. I’m going to be able to pick up an elephant, and smash it off a Ferris wheel.”

  “Shh...”

  Lenny was in the restroom, trying to figure out how to perform his piece of the press conference without Tad seeing him.

  Kid Devine made his entrance unannounced, too. Jinky was still running his mouth at the podium, and Kid needed to walk behind the boxing champion to get to the seat next to Ade.

  Kid stopped, expressionless, for photographs. This was the first time that the world had taken a look at him. He was handsome, and very young, but not any smaller than the boxing champ.

  “That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, here’s the so-called champion from their side. I’ve seen tougher.”

  Kid turned to walk to his seat, but quickly grabbed Jinky from the side in a head-and-arm choke. The boxer was tied up, and couldn’t box. Maw Maw immediately saw that there was trouble. Jinky was struggling, and trying to jerk the wrestler from him, but the boxer ultimately had no answer for the predicament that he
was in. Maw Maw grabbed Kid by the hair, and tried to yank him off of his meal ticket. Kid looked around for his father, who was supposed to have his back.

  When Jinky went limp, Kid released his prone body, which resulted in a sickening thud when the boxing champion’s head hit the podium.

  “He talks too much,” Kid said, before leaving the stage, again.

  Lenny followed right behind.

  “Where the fuck were you?” Kid asked.

  “I... I was... I had your back. You didn’t need me up there.”

  “Forget it,” Kid said, as he walked faster.

  New York and North Carolina.

  In the car, Joe listened with his mouth agape, as the news came in live.

  “There was an altercation on the stage. The world heavyweight champion of boxing, Jinky Keeves, has been immobilized by Kid Devine, the wrestling champion. The boxer was talking, and the wrestler had enough. This doesn’t look to us like a staged wrestling stunt. Mr. Keeves’ face turned blue, and when the wrestler released him, the champion boxer took a nasty spill on the podium. In all my years of covering sport, and particularly the grand sport of boxing, I have never seen anything like it.”

  Joe conceded; it was brilliant.

  Jimmy Long sat outside his grandfather’s house, and was just about fed up with being left out. He thought that it was time he showed his father just how useful he could be.

  Backstage at the Garden, Lenny and Kid were quickly planning on making their way out of there. They were both shaking, but neither looked or acted like it. Once through the curtain and out of sight, both men sprinted to a waiting car in the loading bay of the Garden.