Livin' After Midnight

by Tom Nelson

  Tawana is moving to the sound of sweet Southern rock and pulling the front of her pants down a little, teasing Tom. Then, she steps out of her pants and kicks them away from the coffee table, which serves as her dance floor.

  Tom watches the beautiful African American princess sway to the music and shake her sexy ass to the rhythm of the guitars. Tawana has definitely given Tom a new perspective on the beautiful state of Alabama and the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit song!

  This is going to be an incredible night! Tom wonders if he will have enough strength left for the gym tomorrow. He and Biggie have plans to work out together. Huh. Who cares?! That’s then, and this sexy dance is happening right now!

  Rule 3 when it comes to hookers: no matter how high you are, or how sexy a bitch is, always wear a condom!

  ~~~

  Tom and Biggie are in a gym in South-Central. Tom is the only white person in the gym, but this is one of those places where that doesn’t matter. You leave all that kinda shit at the door! About half an hour into the workout, Tom is wishing he had gotten more sleep the previous night. But he smiles to himself, he had been in “Sweet Home Alabama” all night long.

  “Come on, Tom-Tom!” Biggie shouts as he stands over Tom, who is bench-pressing a 260-pound barbell. “You can do dis!”

  “Aaahhhh.” Tom groans as he pushes the heavy weight back to the top position of the exercise. “You’re killing me, Biggie!” Tom says as he sits up from the bench.

  “Bullshit!” Biggie says. “You doing pretty good. Really,” Biggie continues encouragingly. “King and Johnny can’t hang with me dis long!” He laughs.

  “Yeah, well,” Tom says to the other man, “you’re a strong motherfucker!” Biggie seems to appreciate the compliment.

  The two men sit and have protein drinks after their workout. It feels good, Tom reminisces, to workout at a gym that has the look and feel of the old prison yard iron pile. A lot of the weights being used here were obviously welded together in someone’s garage. Pig iron. Tom and Biggie talk about girls, of course, but their conversation this day gets a little more serious than usual.

  “What’s your connection to King?” Tom asks. “You sure do look out for that dude.”

  “I’ve known King a long time,” Biggie starts, “since we was little. When my mom passed, Auntie Dolores, King’s mom, took me in. We was raised like brothers.” Biggie is speaking as though he is in a trance, obviously recalling memories of his mother. “He was always picking on me when we was little,” Biggie smiles now, “but he stopped when we got to high school ’cause I was bigger than him by then, and he couldn’t push me around no more.” The big man pauses for a moment as he recalls the past.

  “Yeah?” Tom encourages his friend.

  “Well,” his voice becomes sad, “when King’s mom was dyin’, I promised her I’d look out for him. That I won’t let nothin’ happen to him.” Biggie shakes his head and looks at the ground for a moment. He has tears in his eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Tom asks.

  “I let him get shot in da ass!” Biggie says in a voice that expresses self-disappointment.

  “What?” Tom says and busts up laughing.

  “I let dem niggas shoot him in da ass!” Biggie says again. It takes a moment for the humor of his statement to finally hit Biggie, and he breaks into laughter as well. Tom and Biggie laugh together a lot. Tom is barely able to get another word out because he is laughing so hard, but manages to say, “You didn’t let that happen, Biggie,” Tom assures his friend. “Sometimes, shit just happens. It wasn’t your fault.” The two continue laughing.

  ~~~

  Tom arrives at Danny’s house to buy a pound of meth. He wonders what surprises might be in store for him today. At least the neighbors aren’t out front watching Danny do something stupid, Tom thinks in response to his own question, as he approaches the house. As he crosses the front porch, Tom looks to his right to ensure that two chaise longues are there, as opposed to only one. He laughs as he does so! There are two.

  Tom knocks on the front door. He has discovered from previous visits that Danny’s doorbell doesn’t work. He waits. After a moment, he knocks again. He can see a figure approaching the front door through the translucent stained glass in the front door. Tom has the money with him and has left the 9mm in its magnetized holster beneath his car. He doesn’t think he needs it here, so why carry it? Just in case the cops do roll up, the last thing he wants is to get caught with a fucking gun. It guarantees ten extra years on top of any sentence received in the state of California.

  The figure on the other side has reached the door and is unlocking a chain that he apparently hopes will add extra security. It probably will if you are hiding from Bambi. The door opens and, once again, Tom can’t believe his eyes!

  Danny is standing in front of him in the open doorway with absolutely nothing on! He is completely naked!

  “What the fuck, Danny?!” Tom asks. “Where the fuck are your clothes?”

  “Hi, Tom,” Danny says. The man looks down as though he is unaware of his nudity. Danny looks a little different tonight, besides being naked, and Tom wonders if he is using meth. And, if he is, is he doing it along with the sherm or in place of it? Jesus!

  “Uh,” Tom begins, amazed Danny doesn’t seem to catch on that standing at the door greeting a guest in his birthday suit isn’t quite normal, “you okay, man?” Tom squints a little as though that might help him get a better look at the spectacle before him.

  “Yeah, Tom, I’m fine,” comes Danny’s response. “I was just watching some porn,” he is explaining his state of nudity in a very casual manner. “Come on in.”

  Danny takes half a step back and turns toward the den where his fish/snake tank is located and Tom is facing his second surprise of the last sixty seconds. Danny has a plastic dildo the size of an elephant’s dick sticking out of his ass! It wasn’t visible from the front view, but here it is now!

  “Holy shit, Danny!” Tom isn’t easily surprised, but this is undoubtedly a story for the ages. “What the fuck are you doin’?!”

  “I told you, I was watching porn,” Danny says, “then you knocked on the door.” He is saying this very nonchalantly over his shoulder as he wanders into the den, as though it is perfectly normal to answer your front door naked with a huge sex toy up your butt.

  “Put some fucking clothes on!” Tom yells from just inside the front door. He’s absolutely terrified of touching anything! “And take that plastic dick out of your ass! Goddamn,” he mutters to himself. That’s why people in the joint call crystal meth “queer juice.” The shit turns people into super freaks!

  “Okay,” Tom hears Danny say. A minute later, Danny is back, wearing a robe and holding a large manila envelope. Tom accepts the envelope from Danny gingerly, then hands Danny the envelope of cash that he has for him. Whether Danny has removed the enormous dildo from his ass or not, Tom can’t tell. Thank god, the robe he put on covers all of that business!

  The deal is done. Tom wonders what happened to Danny’s snakes as he walks back to his car. The fish/snake tank that once dominated the space in Danny’s den is gone. A couple of flowerpots with very dead flowers are in its place. Tom doesn’t bother asking. He just laughs and shakes his head as he gets back into his car.

  This isn’t the first time someone has answered the front door naked for Tom. He is selling Danny’s queer juice to gay boys in West Hollywood, after all. But the giant dildo is a first! That one will be hard to top! Or will it?

  ~~~

  Tom is on his way home from Danny’s with the pound of meth he just purchased. He is just getting over the shock of the condition in which Danny answered the door, when one of the craziest things he has ever seen happens.

  Tom is sitting in traffic. He is heading south on La Cienega Boulevard and is at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard. A woman appears at the northwest corner of the intersection and pushes the button for the signal, which will allow her to cross. The way she is acting seems a bi
t odd, but Tom is accustomed to odd in the city in which he lives. In fact, he has grown to truly love the diversity of the city of Los Angeles. It never fails to deliver!

  Suddenly, the woman tosses her hair back and extends her arms out to her side in a sort of Jesus pose with her palms turned forward. The willowy dress that she is wearing drops to the sidewalk around her ankles, exposing her entire naked body all the way down to her black high-heeled shoes. Once the signal changes in her favor, she gives another shake of her hair and walks like a supermodel across La Cienega to the northeast corner of the intersection. Upon arriving at the opposite corner from her clothing, she turns on her heel and supermodel walks all the way back across the wide boulevard.

  She bends down to retrieve her dress, exposing her full moon to the commuters in traffic, who are in complete shock by now. She stands and steps into her dress then supermodel walks back up La Cienega Boulevard in the direction from which she had come.

  Traffic takes a moment to get back to normal after this spectacle. It isn’t completely unheard of to see naked people in LA, as Tom well knows, and he thinks about Swann for a second. But this broad has to be at least seventy-five years old! Yes, it is a shock to everyone in that intersection to see her supermodel walk naked across La Cienega in broad daylight. Tom laughs as he mechanically follows the car in front of him through the intersection, then makes his way home. What a fucking day!

  ~~~

  Tom is knocking on the door of Sophia’s condo. A man answers the door. Tom has gotten used to Sophia’s tricks opening the door by now, so it doesn’t come as a surprise. What’s that about, Tom wonders.

  “Hi,” the man answering the door says and put his hand out for Tom to shake, “I’m Bob.” He has short black hair and a thin mustache and a beard that have been heavily trimmed and cared for. Looks like a lot of effort to Tom.

  “Tom,” he says as he shakes the other man’s hand. Once again, he recognizes the person. A relatively famous actor who has been on TV and in movies.

  The other man steps back and lets Tom into the apartment. Sophia is sitting on the sofa and sipping what looks like a martini. She is giving Tom a wide-eyed look as if to ask, “Do you know who that is?” Tom simply looks at her and gives an almost imperceptible nod of his head in response. Bob isn’t the name Tom knows the other man by, of course, but one of Tom’s job requirements is an ability to keep secrets.

  “So,” Bob begins, “Sophia tells me you’re the man to see for party favors.” He looks from Tom to Sophia and back to Tom. “What ya got?”

  “Coke, meth, X,” Tom replies as he pulls a small paper bag containing drugs from his jacket pocket. “What ya in the mood for?”

  “Hmmm,” Bob responds and looks at Sophia as though seeking help from her, “a little bit of everything, I guess,” then adds, “but a whole lot of coke.”

  “Okay,” Tom says, “sounds good.” He opens the paper bag and removes baggies containing the three drugs. He takes out four hits of X and an eight ball of meth, then sets those on the table. Then, he lays out a half-ounce of coke and Bob’s eyes go wide. “The X is twenty-five dollars each, crystal is three hundred dollars an eighth,” Tom says, “and the coke is one thousand dollars for the half-ounce.”

  “That’s fourteen hundred dollars,” Bob says instantly. Obviously, he isn’t too high to count.

  “Yeah,” Tom says.

  “Okay,” comes Bob’s reply, and he pulls a thick stack of bills from his pocket and counts off fourteen one-hundred dollar bills. Tom likes the high-dollar boys that Sophia ropes in because they never haggle and always have plenty of dinero. These are easy deals compared to South-Central or Downtown LA. “Got more coke?”

  “Yeah,” Tom laughs and pulls another half-ounce baggie of cocaine from the paper bag he is holding. “Here ya go.” He puts the baggie on the table beside the other drugs. Bob counts off another thousand dollars and hands it over to Tom. He also hands Tom a card with his name and contact info on it.

  “I may need you again in the future,” Bob says as he hands Tom the card.

  “Cool,” Tom replies. He knows damn good and well “Bob” will need his services in the future. They always do!

  1989

  Tom, Johnny, and King are sitting at the kitchen table in King’s crack house. They are discussing how to help Biggie again. He is going to need a decent attorney to keep him from doing life for the drive-by. Tom takes a hit off a joint and passes it to Johnny.

  Joe is all patched up and singing like a canary. It is common practice among cops and district attorneys to offer one person in a group a deal for his testimony against everyone else in the group. How that testimony isn’t considered biased and suspect, Tom can never quite figure out.

  “I knew dat nigga was gonna give Biggie up!” King says angrily.

  “Yeah,” Tom agrees, “I had a strange feeling about him myself, but,” he sighs, “I didn’t know him well enough to know for sure.”

  “Shit, man” Johnny pipes in, “we gotta figure out who to get to represent Biggie. He gonna need some help!”

  “I know a good drug lawyer,” Tom says, “who I can have take a look into Biggie’s case. He’ll be able to tell us what kinda time Biggie’s lookin’ at.” Tom looks from one man to the other, then says, “The fuckin’ guns are gonna be the hardest part to beat! California passed that new gun law that adds ten years to your sentence if you’re convicted.”

  “Yeah, I know,” King says. He seems troubled. “Okay, Tom-Tom, see what the lawyer says and let us know what you need. We’ll do our best to take care of the bills.”

  “All right, I’ll see what he says.” Tom, Johnny, and King were sharing a joint throughout their conversation and the room is full of sweet smoke and laughter as the trio change the conversation to something much lighter.

  ~~~

  Tom and Amy are in the apartment. You can only see the top of the girl’s head because her face is buried in Tom’s crotch. Tom is watching porn on TV while she does her business on him. He hears a light knock on the front door. He waits a minute. No second knock.

  The girl’s head is under the sheets now and Tom gets up and walks to the front door. He is hard as a brick, of course. He looks through the peephole and no one is there.

  Tom opens the door slightly to look out and see if anyone is hiding out, but he doesn’t see anyone. He is about to close the door when he notices a piece of paper that has been tucked inside the screen of his front door. He retrieves the note and closes the door. He opens it and laughs.

  Blow job? is all it says, and there is a phone number on it. Tom has been receiving notes like this since the fuck-me-in-the-ass-daddy incident a couple of weeks earlier. Every gay boy within a mile radius must have heard that!

  He has also been getting looks from the girls who live in the apartment building. Obviously, Geoffrey wasn’t the only person to overhear Tom and Amy’s wild sexcapades. He laughs again as he recalls the look on his upstairs neighbor’s face as he was telling Tom his windows were open. Oh, well. Tom turns and tosses the crumpled piece of paper into a small bowl on an entryway table of the apartment along with about a half-dozen others. Tom laughs to himself as he heads toward the bedroom.

  “Who was that, daddy?” Amy asks from the bed. She is sitting up on the pillows now, smiling as Tom comes back into the room.

  “Nobody,” he tells her. “Nobody.” Tom grins as he heads toward the wild woman on his bed. Amy crawls back under the sheets . . .

  ~~~

  Tom, Johnny, and King are at King’s crack house in South-Central. Tom just dropped off a kilo to King. Johnny just happens to be at King’s when Tom arrives. The three men are smoking a joint and talking shit, as they usually do. When they finish, Tom picks up the cash and puts it in a small paper bag. He has never felt totally secure here since Biggie’s arrest. Biggie always had him covered!

  Tom makes his way out of the house and back to his car. He is about to get in when the driver’s side mirror explodes. He
looks at it for a second. A couple of seconds later, there are two thumps as bullets blast through the windshield of the car. The sound of bullets being fired catches up a half-second later. There is no mistaking what’s happening now!

  Tom drops to the ground and reaches under his car and retrieves his 9mm. Once he has the gun, Tom duckwalks around the back of the car. No more bullets. Yet.

  Tom hears shots being fired from the direction of Johnny’s house. Johnny had gone out the back of King’s place at the first sound of shots, then came busting out the front door of his house with a .44 Magnum raised. His finger squeezed the trigger rapidly. The sound of Johnny’s weapon is like a cannon. He fires six shots in rapid succession and dumps the empty cylinders. He quickly refills them using an autoloader. Tom has never seen Johnny in action like this. It’s quite impressive.

  Bullets are striking cars with hard thumping sounds, the tearing of metal and shattering of glass is all around. Two men are running down the driveway of a house a couple of doors down and on the opposite side of the street from Johnny’s and King’s houses. They are headed for the backyard, which is surrounded by a small fence. The two men easily jump the fence and run through the yard and hop a taller fence separating one property from the other.

  Johnny is relentless. He is walking across the front yard of his house still firing at the would-be ambushers. He is firing at nothing now, though, as the two men disappear into the darkness of South-Central LA.

  “Fuckin’ niggas!” Johnny says angrily as he trots over to where Tom is crouched, watching him in action. Once his friend comes out blasting with his hand cannon, the robbers take off and Tom no longer has a shot at them, so he doesn’t randomly shoot into the neighborhood. “Goddamn sons-a-bitches!” Johnny shouts.

  “Is you okay, T?!” Tom’s friend asks as he reaches his location. Tom is standing now and tucking his gun into the rear waistband of his pants.

  “Yeah,” Tom replies, “I’m good. Just scared the shit out of me for a second. The mirror exploded when I was opening the door!” Johnny looks at the tore-up mirror and back to Tom.