The durham mob, p.25
The Durham Mob, page 25
“I don’t think so. I’m ordering the same thing.” William ordered a chicken dish for both of them. He ordered a glass of wine for her and for himself. She had never had wine before. They enjoyed the meal and waited for the show to begin. Finally, Johnny Mathis came out and gave a great show. Iliana felt like Cinderella. It all seemed like fantasy to her.
After the show, he took out the ring and said, “Happy birthday!” She just stared at the ring. She held out her finger and he slid it on. She had never received such an expensive gift. “Thank you. This is the best birthday and the best birthday present I have ever received.” It had been a perfect evening. After the show, she was a little tipsy because she was not accustomed to drinking. Although she only had a glass of wine, that was enough to give her a little buzz. To top off the celebrating, he drove to his apartment. She was so happy that she began taking off the beautiful dress as soon as they entered the apartment. Like in the movies, there was a trail of garments leading to the bed room. He disrobed as quickly as he could while all the time kissing her and touching her breasts with which ever hand that was free. He loved her young body. It was soft, smooth and firm. They fell on the bed as they continued kissing and touching each other. The birthday celebration was complete and fantastic for both.
CHAPTER 44
Coy was transferred to Wallkill Correctional Facility, where he had a room by himself. Wallkill was known as a facility for mostly white-collar criminals, Mafia types. In the waiting room, there was no separation between the prisoners and their visitors. They could sit beside each other or move chairs to face each other. The prisoners could touch their girlfriends or wives. It was like a college dorm waiting room. Sid would still remain at Sing Sing where he would serve his entire sentence. Coy had asked William to bring some pretty girls with him on his next visit, before he was relocated. They couldn’t come in, but he and some of his fellow inmates could look out of the window into the parking lot to see them. “When a man is confined and doesn’t see women, just the sight of one is invigorating,” said Coy, poetically. William rounded up Iliana, Chrystal and Nurys, a friend of Iliana’s from the Dominican Republic. He told them why he wanted them to go. They laughed at the idea and thought it was exciting, knowing that many horny prisoners would be looking out of their windows, excited to see them and probably jacking off. They loved the idea.
He drove them up and parked in the parking lot facing the windows and told them to remain in the car until he returned. He went inside to see his brother. He told Coy the whole story about his efforts to get money back from Julie. Coy was disappointed and frustrated. He believed that if he were out, he would be able to raise the money, even though he couldn’t or didn’t pay his rent before he came in. Coy had hoped William would get the restaurant so he would have a place, possibly to help manage and certainly keep the books and show William how to get the most profit out of it. Now, that dream was dead. William saved the good news for last. He told him that the girls were outside in the car. Coy knew Chrystal and had screwed her. He knew Iliana, of course, but he had never seen Nurys. William had only met her after Coy went to prison. William went out to the car and told the girls to get out and pretend to be stretching. He looked up and saw Coy and several other inmates looking out of the windows. The girls laughed. It was weird but fun. They enjoyed the idea of turning on a bunch of guys without even being touched. After about five minutes of “stretching,” they got back into the car and headed back to the city.
Larry had filed suit against Julie to recover William’s ten thousand. They were to go before a judge in two weeks. These kinds of cases hardly ever go to trial. They are settled. C. Red told William, “You got a Jewish lawyer, you’re suing a Jewish guy and you’re going before a Jewish judge. I don’t know?” William laughed. “I’m sure justice will be done,” he said sarcastically.
William met Larry outside the court room. “Don’t say a word, let me do all the talking. All three of us know the facts. The judge has already decided the case so we just have to wait and see what he decided.”
“What if he decided against me and I can’t get my money?”
“We always have recourse but I’m sure the judge will be fair.” The judge got right to the point without wasting any time. “Mr. Rosenfeld, You are to pay Mr. Smith ten thousand dollars within three months. You can work out a payment plan of installments if you wish and if Mr. Smith agrees. If you agree to this plan, you can sign this document and the charges against you will be dropped. If you agree, indicate by saying yes, if not, indicate by saying no.” Julie was not represented by a lawyer, so he said “Yes.”
“You are also to pay Mr. Smith’s legal fees which will be given to you by his attorney. Do you understand?” Julie looked pissed at this last detail but he answered, “Yes.”
“The case is concluded.” William looked at Larry and Larry said, “I’ll work out all the details and you won’t have to communicate with Mr. Rosenfeld again.”
William thanked him and left the court.
CHAPTER 45
The phone rang. It was from Ralph Jamerson, an elementary school buddy. Ralph had gotten his number from one of the homeboys. Ralph stammered like Sid. What’s what’s up, man, how, how you doing, man?”
“Who’s this?”
“It’s your homeboy, Ralph. I got out, out of the joint a few months, months ago and I, I heard you were still, still here, and your brother’s upstate.”
“That’s right. What have you been up to?”
“Let me come by and pick, pick you up and, and you can ride, ride with, with me. You busy?”
“No, come on by. Are you coming right now?”
“Right now.” William gave him the address.
“Okay, I’ll be standing outside.” William went downstairs and outside and waited. Ralph arrived in ten minutes in a gold Cadillac. “You got here fast. Where did you come from?”
“I was on, on 145th Street. What’s, what’s up, home boy? It’s been a long, long, time.” Ralph gave him a strong hand shake that he held for almost thirty seconds.
“I’m surviving,” replied William.
“I heard you’re, you’re doing better than surviving. They say, they say you got all the bread the cops didn’t get.”
“Not true. Those fools blew all that money. My brother went to jail broke. I wish I had that money. I’m just surviving. I see you driving a hog. You must be doing alright.”
“Man, let, let me tell you. I got busted and did, did eighteen months. Before I got, got out, I heard the, the governor signed a new, new law about drug dealers. I couldn’t wait, wait to get out and make some, some money before the law goes into effect. I been out, out for three months and running, running fast. I got my, my business back and I’m making good, good money. If you need anything, let, let me know.” If only Ralph had come along a little sooner. William thought. He could have hit him up for the ten thousand for the restaurant.
William didn’t want to put the squeeze on him right away but he could use some money. He hadn’t gotten his money back from Julie, yet. He decided to wait. “I won’t forget that. Where we going?”
Ralph was driving towards Harlem, back to 145th Street. He pulled over and parked in front of a small bar. William didn’t know this bar. “Let’s, let’s go inside. This is my, my hang out, my, my office.” They got out and went into the bar.
“What’s up Ralph?” the bar tender yelled out.
“You got it. Give my home, home boy whatever’s his poison,” said Ralph.
“It’s too early for me to be drinking, so just give me a Pepsi.”
“Hey Joe, my home, home boy and me go back to, to elementary school. He gave me my first and last fight. All the guys pushed, pushed us into a fight he didn’t want and I, I didn’t want, but we did it, remember?” Ralph laughed out loud remembering. William laughed. “I remember. We were rolling all over the ground. I think I won that fight. Remember? I think I had you around the neck and you said, “I give.”
“Back then, all you had to say was, I give. Not like today when you have to kill or almost kill to win a fight. Those were great days”
“Him, him and his brother, brother were the smartest guys, guys in the school and, and the girls liked them. That used to piss, piss me off. I feel this guy is like, like a brother to me.”
They talked and reminisced for almost an hour when William said, “I have to go. I have to get my stuff together.” William said this because he could only enjoy that life-style for a short period although he really enjoyed reminiscing with his home boy. “Okay, I’ll take you home now.” They left the bar and Ralph was driving William home when he pulled out a roll of aluminum foil with coke in it. “Have, have a blow.”
“Man, I don’t do blow in the middle of the day, but thanks anyway.”
“If you want, want some later, just, just let me know, anything for, for you.”
“Gotcha!”
Ralph dropped him off in front of his building. “I want want to stop, stop by tomorrow to give, give you something.” William was puzzled but he said, “Okay, but call me when you want to drop by.”
With all of the planning and spending time with his homeboy, he realized he hadn’t called Iliana. He always had to stay in touch with her.
“When am I going to see you? I miss you.”
“I miss you too and I will call you as soon as I take care of some business and we will spend some time together. How’s school?”
“Everything’s fine.” That’s as much as she would say. For some reason, she never talked about school. Everything was always great. He didn’t even know her major or the kind of grades she was receiving. She, also never questioned him about what he was doing and why. She trusted and accepted whatever he told her without a doubt.
“See you soon!”
“Don’t be gone too long.”
Ralph called to tell him what time he wanted to drop by and said “Is eleven thirty, thirty okay?”
“That’s fine. See you then.” William was still wondering what Ralph wanted to give to him. He though it would be some coke. At exactly eleven thirty, the doorbell rang. William opened the door and Ralph walked in and immediately reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a big wad of money held with rubber bands. He threw it to William and said, “Have, have some fun on me.”
“Thanks, man. I will.” It was $2500. He gave William a big manly hug and said with a quivering voice, “It, it was great, great seeing you again.” It was very touching. Seeing William brought Ralph back to the world in which he grew up, the world that made him the decent human being that he was, in spite of the fact that he was a drug dealer. He let go quickly and walked out. He never heard from Ralph again.
Several years later, William found out that Ralph had been rearrested, and served a few more years in prison. After he got out, he returned to North Carolina as broke as when he first arrived in New York City.
He called Iliana and picked her up. They spent several hours together making up for the long separation. She was so innocent and different from most of the other women he dated. Had he been the marrying kind, she would have been the one. All of the home-boys stared at her with lust in their eyes. They hadn’t been with her kind since school.
It was time to visit his brother. Wallkill was farther away than Sing Sing Prison, about a half hour longer drive. William went to a large room where other inmates were sitting in nice chairs talking to their girlfriends and wives and holding hands. He told Coy what had gone on in his life since he last saw him. Coy loved hearing it. It was the life he used to have and missed, so he enjoyed the stories. Coy told him about events that had taken place at Wallkill. “Some guy’s wife was giving him head and he was busted. Another guy got caught while his wife was jacking him off. We are all horny but when you get busted doing shit like that, they send you back to do hard time in the lock-up joints. Here, we have rooms alone. We have a farm and we eat fresh vegetables every day. We do have it made, except sex, and the doors are locked. Even with the doors locked, it is easy to escape and a few people have. When they send you here, you don’t have too much more time to do and they assume you won’t try to escape from a good place like this but a few do. They treat you like human beings here. Listen, they have Mafia guys here. This is easy time.”
“Did they catch the guys who escaped?”
“Yep, eventually, they always do. I have less than a year to go. This is easy for me.”
CHAPTER 46
Charlie Red came by. “What’s up, man?”
“I’m hanging in there. What’s up with you?”
“Listen. Lauren called. She wanted me to ask you if she can talk to you.”
“Why did she call you? She coulda called me. I have no problem with Lauren.”
“She wants to know if you two can be friends.”
“I really don’t understand. I have never had a fight or disagreement with Lauren.”
What William didn’t know was that Lauren had run out of guys to take care of her and couldn’t afford to pay her rent. Swazy, had paid her bail because he wanted to screw her and had paid her rent for a long time but now, he was with Susan, her sister. He certainly wouldn’t have minded having the two sisters together but the sisters weren’t having any part of that. Susan was number one in his stable. Lauren was tired of these kinds of relationships. She needed something more permanent and honest. William was the only homeboy left who hadn’t changed. He lived in the same apartment. The apartment she had lived in for four months with Coy up until the time Coy got the new place in Riverdale. William represented stability and honesty. She was like the girls who screwed around with so many guys, and had lost control and needed guidance and structure. Many found it in religion. The church is organized with lots of structure with lots of rules. One doesn’t have to think, just learn the rules and follow them. It is so difficult to find one’s way back when you have gone so far from the “norm.” Lauren was not religious. In fact, William had never heard her talk about church or religion. None of the girls or guys in their circles ever went to church. They did when they were young in North Carolina, but that was years ago and a world away. Red said Lauren wanted to come by to see if they could be friends. William was still puzzled at this process but he said, “Tell Lauren she is always welcomed here.”
“I’ll bring her by tomorrow night.”
“That’ll work.”
The next night, Red rang the bell and when William answered, he was standing there with Lauren. “Hey Lauren. Long time.”
“Yeah. Long time. How ya doing?”
“I’m living. Let’s sit at the table.” When there were visitors who were new to their circle, they sat in the living room, but friends always sat at the dining room table. Lauren knew the drill. The three of them sat down. “What’ve you been up to lately?”
“Not much, I’m looking for a job.”
“I’ve never known you to work on a job.”
“Things change. I have to survive.”
Red interrupted, “William, Lauren wants to know if you two can be friends.”
“Lauren is sitting right there. Why you speaking for her?’
“She thinks maybe you have something against her.”
“Lauren, you have never done anything against me. You know I’ve always liked you. If you want us to be active friends, I would like for you to say right here in front of Red that I never tried to have sex with you, since Coy accused me that time.” William was really referring to the time that Lauren supposedly told Coy that he had penned her against the wall after she got out of the shower. It just came out. He really didn’t know why he said that at that time. He really did want to be friends with Lauren. Coy, Swazy and Bob had said she was one of the best screws they had ever had. Lauren turned red in the face. She didn’t know that he was referring to that particular time. She was embarrassed in front of Red and insulted. No one had ever tried not to screw her. “You never did screw me, did you,” she said angrily?
“But I would like for you to admit in front of Red that I never tried,” he persisted. Red sat there dumbfounded. He had no idea what was going on. He just stared at both of them, looking from one to the other.
“Let’s go Red,” and she got up abruptly. Red paused, still looking puzzled, wondering what had happened. He thought this was going to be easy and simple. What had happened? William was startled. He didn’t realize what he had done. He didn’t know Lauren’s feelings. He knew a lot about what she did, but not about how she felt about anything. He knew the front she put up, but not the essence of the girl she was. Red got up and they walked to the door. William sat there wondering what he had done. He knew what he had said, and he thought it would be simple. Lauren would admit before Red that he had not tried. He was referring to a particular time. They did not communicate. The words got in the way. In just a flash, it was over. They were gone and Red and William were wondering what went wrong. William was stressed about it. He had as much pussy as he wanted, but not Lauren. After she left, that crossed his mind. He really did want to screw Lauren. He also wanted to be friends. She was very loyal, but not always faithful. She was very intelligent and fun to be around. He brushed it off, but much later, he regretted asking her that stupid question and wondered why he even asked it. He never saw her again.
