by Sa'id Salaam
“Leroy?” Billy asked hotly. “Why you askin’ ‘bout him?”
“Where Byron at? I needs my shot!” Lady pleaded. She sounded so pitiful he didn’t waste any more time fixing up her fix. He’d been so busy pleasing Shonda’s mama that he’d left his own to wallow in sweat from the grips of withdrawals.
“That’s right, mama,” he replied softly to the satisfied smile spreading on her face. He waited until she went into a proper nod before he got up and left.
****
Billy’s first stop in Shonda’s mama car was to Stein Brother’s Clothing. The two old Jews supplied the colorful clothes favored by the flamboyant pimps. He definitely wanted some clown clothes of his own, but today he was looking for something a little more conservative.
The dark grey suit, tie, and shoes he purchased ate up all the money Byron had given him, but it didn’t matter. He may have been broke but he looked like a million dollars. He knew the address that he was headed to next like he knew the back of his own hand so he took the back streets to get there.
A scowl grew on Billy’s handsome face when he drove by Pastor Paul’s street on his way to his destination. It turned back into a smile as he looked at the upscale houses on the good side of town. He found his destination and pulled to a stop. The average person would have had to psyche themselves up to do what he was about to do, but not Dollar Bill. He wasn’t the average person, he was psycho.
“Yes?” A very pretty, very light skin black lady asked when she pulled her door open. She couldn’t help but to notice how handsome the caller was yet he was far too brown to be calling on her daughter.
“May I speak with AnJanay please?” Billy asked properly and politely, as he’d been taught to do in Junior Pastor Team.
“Why?” AnJanay’s mother demanded. They were born and bred to be yellow and she intended to keep it that way. A brown grandchild would be unacceptable amongst her group of high society, high yellow friends.
“Who’s there?” AnJanay asked when she heard her name. She looked around her mother to see the boy standing there.
“That’s what I would like to know,” her mother replied. “Are you selling something?”
“No, Ma’am. My name is Reverend Cash, William Cash and I’m with Pastor Paul at First Calvary Baptist Holiness Church of the Rock and…”
“Well, we attend First Presbyterian,” the elder lady said and then began to close the door. The white folks allowed them to worship in their annex so they had no desire to hoop and holler with the niggers.
“Ma’am, I also counseled at the reform school. I knew Carl…” Billy said as the door shut in his face.
“Wait, Mother!” AnJanay insisted and pushed the door back open. Her mother let out a deep sigh and let her by. “You knew Carl?!”
“Yes, Ma’am. I met him along with the other boys at the reform school. I really took a liking to Carl. He was very warm, tender, and tight on the inside,” Billy said contritely.
“Tight?” AnJanay’s mother frowned.
“Bright, he was very bright. A very smart young man,” Billy quickly corrected.
“He sure was! I can’t believe that he’s gone,” AnJanay moaned and broke down into sobs. Her mother shot the intruder a ‘look what you did now’ glance from the side. It had taken months to get her daughter to stop crying after Carl’s death and just that quickly it had started back up again. To be honest, she was quite relieved that Carl wouldn’t be coming back, after embarrassing them all.
“I… don’t have…” Billy said as he patted himself down for a handkerchief.
“I’ll get a tissue,” her mother sighed and turned to go get one. Billy wasted no time whipping out a pen and piece of paper.
“Give me your number, so I can call and counsel you,” he urged. She got caught up in his sense of urgency and quickly scribbled down her number. He put it in his pocket just in the nick of time.
“Here you are, dear” her mother said when she returned. She frowned suspiciously, feeling like she’d just missed something.
“Well, thank you for stopping by. I’m glad that Carl had nice people in his life in his last days,” AnJanay sniffled.
“It was a pleasure to be with him. I really got into Carl,” Billy said. He then offered a slight curtsey before turning to leave. Both women watched his butt as he walked away. They didn’t close the door until he reached his car.
Chapter 29
“You ready to get this money?” Byron asked when Billy got into his car. He already knew the answer so he didn’t bother waiting for a reply. “This shit is easy money!”
“All we gotta do is pick up sacks of money? We ain’t gotta count it or nothing?” Billy asked again trying to make sense of it. He saw Leroy pocket the envelopes with never anything more than a squeeze. ‘If no one counted it how would they know if any was missing?’ he pondered.
“Nah, we don’t even open it. Just take it from here to there,” Byron shrugged. They rode in silence except for James Brown telling the world he felt good.
The first stop was Dynamite’s Fried Chicken, a well-known greasy spoon that served up bomb fried chicken and fat nickel sacks of heroin. Billy hopped out and followed Byron inside. He chuckled inwardly at himself now being the follower. It’s hard for a leader to be a follower. Sometimes it’s impossible.
“Hey Theo, this here’s Dollar Bill!” Byron introduced enthusiastically when they entered the back office.
“Mm hm,” Theo replied as he handed over Leroy’s money. He looked Billy up and down to take a mental picture of him for future reference.
“Hey Theo,” Billy greeted and got yet another grunt in exchange. He shrugged his shoulders and followed the new leader back out the door.
The two old friends chatted, laughed, and smoked just like old times as they rode around Memphis. High or not high Billy memorized every stop along with the names and faces along the route. An unofficial moment of silence was declared when they passed by First Calvary Baptist Holiness Church of the Rock. Billy tried not to look, but his head, as if of its own accord, still turned in that direction.
“Say, Dollar Bill…” his friend called getting his attention. “You ain’t really steal from the preacher’s house did you?”
“Hell naw! I fucked his wife though. That’s why he lied on me,” Billy said in his classic half-truth style — just like the devil does, tells one truth and adds hundreds of lies.
“Sho’ nuff, you fucked the preacher’s wife?” Byron laughed.
“Shol’ did! And I’ma fuck her again, if I get the chance!”
****
It only took a week or so before Billy realized that his friend was using too. He wasn’t just holding boy for his whores or to take to Lady. No, he was putting that shit up his nose too. He wasn’t mad about his friend’s drug use, instead Billy saw it as his way to take the lead.
“May as well let me run inside and make the pick-up. Save us some time,” Billy offered as they neared the first stop on the route. He saw that his friend’s nose was running and that he was getting antsy. Those were the same signs Lady exhibited when she was ready for a fix.
“It would, wouldn’t it?” Byron agreed. Billy had assumed correctly because he was trying to figure out a way to get a bump without his partner seeing him.
“Hell yeah. Just pull up and I’ll run in,” Billy assured him.
“Where’s Byron?” Theo asked when Billy came in alone. Not that it really mattered, since Leroy had already confirmed the boy’s position. He was just nosey.
“He in the car,” Billy frowned hoping he didn’t fuck up.
“Oh, okay,” Theo shrugged and passed him the cash. Billy nodded and turned to leave. He took quick steps to make up for the quick detour he’d planned.
He looked both ways, as if he was crossing the street, then crossed the line instead. Byron was too busy tending to his addiction to see Billy slip into the bathroom. Once inside he broke rule number one by opening the package. He then broke rule numb
er two by pinching off a few bills. Remembering that he’d never seen anyone count the money he pinched off a couple more.
Billy took a few dollars from every stop on the route. He then gave the envelopes to Byron once he got back in the car so that it would be him that presented them to Leroy at the end of the night.
“Dollar Bill and Bye-Bye Byron,” the pimp greeted cheerfully when they arrived back at the pool hall. He was chatting it up as Byron handed over the money. He was too busy looking at some young girls at the pool table to notice Leroy’s reaction to his squeeze. “Yeah I…”
“Huh?” Byron asked finally turning to face the pimp.
“Nothin’” Leroy said as he began to think. He’d sold the same amount of dope for the same amount of money so the envelope should have the same amount of squeeze, but it didn’t. “Err’ thang went okay?”
“Yeah,” Billy replied as his buddy winked and waved at the girls. Even he had to admit that he looked guilty, even though he knew that he wasn’t.
“So, what y’all boys getting into tonight?” Leroy asked them. It too was a test and Byron failed it too.
“Finna spend a lil’ bread on that one right there!” he said as the giggling teen waved back.
“I gotta see ‘bout my mama,” Billy sighed. It was yet another half-truth since he had plans on fucking Shonda’s mama and then talking to AnJanay on the phone. The pretty girl would call late at night after her parents were sleep.
Billy was taking things slow and easy with her. They’d made plans for an ice-cream date in a couple of days. She would be spending a night with friends and they planned to steal an hour to talk face to face.
“Okay, y’all boys have a good night,” Leroy said dismissing them both. They both stood to leave until he called Billy back. “Let me get a quick word with you Dollar Bill.”
“Sup?” Billy asked watching his buddy rush towards the smiling child. He whispered something in her ear and palmed her ass making the young girl giggle even more.
“Y’all made any stops? Did anything different?” Leroy asked and cocked his head to help him hear.
“No, we came straight… wait, we had to stop by Byron’s mama’s house, but just for a second. He said he had to drop something off.”
“Sho’ nuff?” Leroy nodded and squinted at Byron across the room. “Sho’ nuff.”
****
“Billy! Billy!” Lady called out. “Somebody at the door!”
“Huh?” he frowned and looked at his cheap watch. It was just after three in the morning when he’d gotten in and got in his bed. The steady knocking on the door meant that whoever it was wasn’t going away.
“Put some clothes on and come on!” Leroy demanded in a tone that sobered Billy up in an instant when he finally answered the door. Instead of asking questions he rushed to his room and got dressed in the same clothes he’d only recently discarded.
“Ready! Where we headed?” he finally asked once they were in the car.
“To a funeral,” the pimp replied. Leroy clenched his jaws so tightly that Billy abandoned the rest of his questions. It didn’t matter anyway since Leroy had a few of his own. “Byron made all the pick-ups today, right?”
“Uh… yeah. Same as always. ‘Cept he told me to wait outside a couple times. Oh and when he stopped by his mama’s house,” Billy lied again. Leroy knew it was a lie too since he’d already checked his traps. Billy fought the smug smirk that threatened to show up from his friend getting into trouble. Now that Byron had fallen out of favor he’d be the man again.
“Wait here!” Leroy demanded as he pulled to a stop in front of Byron’s house. He pet his old Cadillac as he passed it in the driveway. He then began to bang on the front door.
“Who? Huh? Leroy?” Byron stammered when he snatched the door open. He had been ready to kill whoever had been banging on his door until he saw who it was. “Oh hey. What’s up?”
“Get dressed and come on!” Leroy growled.
“But I got that lil…”
“Nigga, I said get dressed and brang yo’ ass on!” the pimp repeated and then spun on his heels and headed back to his car. Billy giggled with glee at seeing how mad Leroy was.
A minute later Byron came rushing out of the front door. He was half dressed and hopping around on one foot while trying to put his shoes on. He went around to the passenger’s side and noticed that it was already occupied so he jumped into the back seat instead.
“Where we going, Leroy?” he asked when the pimp snatched the gear shift down to pull off. Leroy clenched his jaw in reply so Byron turned to his best-friend in the other front seat. “Where we goin’, mane? I got lil mama from the pool hole in there giving her the business.”
“To a funeral,” Billy shrugged since that’s all he knew.
“Who died? When?” Byron asked looking back and forth between the two men in the front. Neither had an answer for him so he went on to tell them about the young girl in his bed.
Leroy drove aggressively all the way to the graveyard. Once there he slammed on his brakes causing the car to skid in the loose gravel. Billy and Byron were looking at one another for direction when Leroy jumped out and began marching away. Billy shrugged and got out to follow him causing Byron to do the same. They had to sprint to catch up with him and then jog to keep up with his long angry stride.
“Look!” Leroy demanded when he stopped suddenly at the edge of a freshly dug grave. The boys both inched forward to peer into the empty hole.
“I don’t see nothing?” Byron complained as he looked into the hole. At the same time Leroy pulled his pistol and stepped forward. He shot Byron in the back of his head causing him to fall face first into his grave.
Billy got sprayed with both blood and brain matter as his friend fell in slow motion. Leroy had already done an about face and began marching back to his car. Billy was stuck in a state of shock until Leroy called him.
“You may as well jump in there with him if you staying!” Leroy called over his shoulder.
He didn’t want to stay or jump in the hole so he ran to catch up. Leroy was putting the car in gear when he got there. He jumped in just as he began to pull off. Billy was boiling hot about the murder but he still didn’t accept responsibility.
“Something on ya mind?” Leroy taunted as they rode. He assumed he must be going through it over having gotten his friend killed for nothing. Byron was now on the other side of life wondering what had just happened.
“No,” Billy grunted. He frowned at the right hand turn that would lead them back to Byron’s house instead of his. He decided to wait and see what was going to happen next so he wouldn’t have to talk to him any further.
“Here,” Leroy said digging into his pocket. He came out with a spare key and handed it to Billy.
Billy was about to tell him that he didn’t want shit from him until he noticed the Cadillac emblem on the key. He looked at the key then turned to Leroy.
“He cain’t drive the bitch no mo’!” he laughed, like it was funnier than it was. “Oh, and brang me that lil young bitch up out of there.”
Chapter 30
“What’s wrong with you boy?” Lady asked seeing that something had her child distracted. It wasn’t so much out of compassion but due to him missing her vein as he shot her up.
“Nothing,” he replied since it was a lot easier to say than I just got my friend killed with my bullshit. Then I’m finna go on an ice-cream date with the boy I raped girlfriend. Instead he focused on the task at hand and injected his mother. She let out a loud fart to signal that he’d hit the mark.
“I gots me a good son,” Lady moaned and swayed to the rhythm of the heroin.
“And I gots me a good mama,” he replied as he wrapped up her works.
Billy used the money he’d stolen to hit up Stein Brothers for an outfit. They sold him a casual pair of slacks, a shirt, and a pair of loafers. His next stop was to get his thick hair cropped close to his scalp. The stop after that was to First Presbyterian.
<
br /> As planned, Billy went to scoop AnJanay up from bible class to take her for ice-cream. Afterwards he would drop her off at her friend’s house to spend the night. When he pulled up Billy noticed that all of her friends were clean, pretty, and wore bright smiles. He frowned curiously at the differences between them and the girls from his side of the tracks.
“There’s my ride,” AnJanay giggled and set off a fit of giggles from her girlfriends. In Billy’s twisted mind they were laughing at him, making fun of him because he was poor and his mother was an addict.
AnJanay skipped happily towards the car with Billy’s eyes locked on her bouncing breast. The tasteful dress gave up no cleavage or skin, but Billy still felt an erection growing in his pants.
“Hello there, William,” AnJanay sang as she slid into the passenger’s seat. She saw the scowl on his face and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine. Ain’t nothing wrong with me,” he said as he pulled away from the curb. AnJanay was so uncomfortable from his reaction that she wished that she’d gotten out. She now second guessed her decision to sneak off with him. “You asked me that cuz I’m poor, huh?”
“Excuse me? You know what, you can just take me back to the church,” she said.
Billy acted as if he hadn’t even heard her. In fact he started to drive even faster. He blew through stop signs to make sure she didn’t have an opportunity to jump out. AnJanay tried to do just that when he finally pulled into a park and came to an abrupt stop. It was the same park that he and Mrs. Paul had had sex in two years prior. Today like then would be the scene of rough sex. Only today it would not be consensual.
“Hel—” AnJanay screamed when Billy pounced on her. The call for help was cut short by one of his large hands covering her mouth.
His other large hand went under her dress and snatched her panties from her body. Next, Billy fumbled to free his raging erection as he held the girl in place. The girl let out a sorrowful moan when he took up position between her legs.
