Maceo

I just finished my set at Josie's on Friday Night and I sat down at the bar with Kevin,Sean,Conrad, Robert Foxworth,Cock Robbins and "88" ..We were all talking gingerly when Gus came over to me...

"You know,I saw your girl in here the other night with some dude.."

"Who Debbie?" I said.

"Nah not her...the one you used to run with....who used to run with Fathead before you and Chess before him." said Gus.

I had to hand it Gus...didn't too much get by him...It was his bar...He knew most of the players as well as the played...

"You mean Cherry?" I said..knowing full well who he was talking about.

"Yeah, her." he said.

"Who was the guy?" I asked.

"His name is Maceo.....He runs with a rough crowd..I don't like him in here...He's beefing with Fathead...I think he come in here looking for Fathead." said Gus.

I could care less about who Fathead was beefing with, what I wanted to know was why was Cherry seeing a guy like that?

"There's Chess and Chris sitting over there...They might be able to tell you more about a guy like that than anybody at this bar ." said Gus.

As I got ready to walk towards Chess and Chris..Kevin grabbed my arm.

"Reed man....you're a musician...you got a nice girl...I seen her....why do you care? I mean, you can go over there and talk to Chess, and he'll probably tell you the same thing...I come up against this guy Maceo once...He's pretty nasty...He aint the type of guy you want to get yourself involved with..forget about her...She likes rough cats.." said Kevin.

"Thanks man...I just have an itch I gotta scratch." I said.

I walked over to the table where Chess and Chris Thompson were sitting and I sat down..

"Hey man...great set you just played....I really dug that last tune you played." said Chris.

"What's up Reed?" asked Chess.

"You guys know a guy named Maceo?" I said.

They looked at each other...then Chris spoke-

"Yeah..He recently tried to hold up one of the gentlemen who plays at my card game....and he

and his crew robbed Fathead's nephew, Chick Peter's joint. I got Donald "Smooth" hunting him

and I'm certain Fathead has his people looking for him....What about him?"

"Well Chris...it aint no gangsta stuff...I hear he's been runnin with Cherry." I said forgetting that

Chess used to go with her too.

Chris looked at Chess , who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Man,I don't care..I'm about to get married in a month...She's no thing to me." he said.

"Reed....you got a nice girl....That girl I seen you with in here a week ago.. I know you had a thing for Cherry..but she's kind of lost right now..and if she's runnin with a rough guy like Maceo,

all you're gonna do is get yourself hurt. Besides..he aint long for this world anyhow..I'm just bettin on who gets to him first..My man Donald "Smooth" or Fathead's boy Roscoe..." said Chris.

"Alright man...I'll take your advice." I said.

"88" and the boys returned to the podium and began playing a number I wrote out west..I grabbed my trumpet and began playing....

Just then Cherry walked in with....the guy we had been talking about...Maceo!! I might have thought that I had been hallucinating a few days ago.. but there she was in the flesh..Looking as stunningly beautiful as before. At least from a distance.

We ran through two more numbers and I watched as Maceo ordered drinks and brought them to the table..He pointed at Chris and Chess and openly laughed at them.. Neither of them movedbut I could tell by the way they looked at him that they wanted to kill him. Cherry looked right into my face as I played -"You are everything" by the Stylistics on my trumpet..It was then that I could see that her eye was swollen and that she was covering up by wearing a lot of make up.

We played our last number of the night and I walked off the podium as the light applause filled the room..Kevin,Sean, Conrad, Robert and Cock had left....I walked over to the bar and ordered a shot of Henny...Cherry looked right at me...

"What you starin at him for?" said Maceo.

"I wasn't staring...I-I know him." she said.

"Oh, so I'm a liar huh?" he said. He raised his hand to slap her and I ...well, I don't remember when I put my trumpet on the bar and ran towards their table. I don't remember grabbing his

arm....I do remember the pain I felt in my mid section when he hit me in my stomach....I remember my eyes watering and hearing him faintly say-

"Nigga , who you think you is...putting yo hands on me?"

The pain was blinding...I would have normally fallen to the ground any other time....it was like a dream... a slow motion dream...I hit him in his mid section...and then hit him in his jaw...not once but a couple of times...I hit him in his chest and then hit him two or three more times in his face..

I watched him fall to the ground..knocking over chairs and seeing drinks fall over and spill into his face...He rolled a bit and then quickly got to his feet...He was getting ready to pull a gun....of that I was certain..until I heard, what sounded like a terrific explosion....

He stopped in his tracks...He wasn't hit..he turned and stared at Gus...holding a sawed off shotgun.

"Get out of here Maceo..and don't ever come back." said Gus.

"You a crazy old man pullin a gun on me...I betta not see you on the street." he snarled.

"You think I'm scared of you...I've eaten punks like you for breakfast." said Gus....

"Okay..famous last words huh?" he laughed.. "Come on baby" he said to Cherry..but she pulledher arm away from him. "Get off of me...that's the last time you're ever touching me." she said.

"Oh ,it's like that huh? You gonna stay here with Trumpet man huh? " he said.. he lunged at me and I punched him again..laying him flat....

The crowd was cheering...but Gus was having none of it...Gus grabbed him by his Suit jacket and gave him the bum's rush out the door..

"And don't come back." he said.

Chris and Chess walked over to me, laughing.....

"Wow Reed..I didn't know you could fight like that."

"I'm from Patterson...we used to fight them Newark boys and them East Orange boys all the time." I said.

"Don't worry about Maceo...He won't bother you again." said Chris...I shot a text message to Roscoe.

'Roscoe?" said Chess.

"Yeah..he's more artistic about these matters." laughed Chris....

"You alright Cherry?" I said

"Yeah...sure am." she said.

"Reed, I need a place to stay for the night." she said in my ear.

"Sure baby...but just for tonight...We gotta talk..someplace other than here." I said.

The next morning the paper had a side story in it... one 29 year old Maceo Candles, a known stick up man and drug dealor was found hanging from a street lamp in Northern Liberties with a fish in his mouth... That was the guy in the bar....He had laughed at death and death had found him.. Fathead had had the last laugh after all...

(To be continued...)