"Some Woman Out There..."

I was lying in bed with Rell and our son had just drifted off to sleep when my doorbell rang. I looked out my window and to my surprise , it was Vernon and Taylor Collins. I couldn't believe that they had come to my house..I was furious...I put on my robe and grabbed my nickel plated forty five...

''Chess, what's up?" said Rell.

"Get the baby and go in the back room....lock the door behind you and stay there until I come for you..call Chris..tell him to get over here." I said.

"What's going on?"she said.

"I don't have time to explain it..just do it." I said.

"Chess, you and Chris in trouble?" she asked.

"No..we aint...but the people at this door are." I said. "No go...do like I said.

I grabbed my pants, slid into them and slid a small twenty two down the back of my pants for back up.. I went to the door and said-

"Vernon, you and your dog should have never come to my house...you just made a big mistake." I said.

"No, you made a mistake Chess...but I'm a let that slide...I'm just here to ask a few questions, is all." he said.

"Get away from my door Vernon and don't you or your boy ever come back here, you hear?" I said.

"Okay Chess....you win! For now...Come on Taylor...." he said as he walked towards his car.

"Hey Chess..I aint forgot about you man..I'll be in touch" said Taylor...Was that a threat? I didn't know...but his days of threatening me were about to come to an end.

I got on the phone and made a call....I hadn't talked to him in about a year....but he was the best person to call to handle something like this...Though a part of me would have rather not have to have ever seen him again...Still, he was family.

Chris arrived with a shotgun a few minutes after Vernon and Taylor left...

"You just missed em Chris." I said.

"Damn man...They came to your house huh? Get Rell and your son out of there...For just a few days....And you go stay cross town in one of your apartments..." said Chris.

"Hey man..I made the call." I said.

"Yeah? You called HIM up? Hahahahahahaha, my man....Now this mess is about to get interesting..." laughed Chris.. I'm glad he found it humorous. I didn't.

Later on that day, Fathead ,Chris,Ralph Mole ,Roscoe ,Donald Smooth and I were with Gus as he re-opened Josies....

"You really think you oughta do this and so soon Gus?" I said.

"I'm not scared of Vernon....My lawyer told him and his lawyer to go to hell..He has no legal claim on this place...That peice of paper his father scribbled on is not a legal document. I bought his father out before he died...I don't know when his father wrote that or IF he wrote it. I got people to pay and money to make." said Gus.

That night we had a nice crowd in the bar...As if on cue...Vernon, Taylor Collins and three of his goons walked into Josies...Vernon was smiling as usual.

"Well Hello dead men.....How are you doing?" he smirked.

Chris ,Donald and I turned and he showed us the palms of his hands....

"Relax....You got nothing to worry about tonight......How are your friends doing in the hospital? heheheheheheheh...Those lightweights were nothing for my man Taylor here." he laughed.

"Why don't you get your head out of his butt?" I smirked.

"Now you see Chess, that right there..that smart mouth of yours is gonna make your pretty wife a widow.." said Vernon.

"My trigger finger might make your mama ,sonless..cause that's the only woman in your life." I retorted...Chris grinned and slapped his leg at that remark.

"You gotta lot of mouth for a dead man" snapped Taylor Collins.

"So do you...You can die just like anybody else...I don't care about your rep....If my pistol gets to clappin...all you gonna be is a dead guy with a rep." I said ,not showing the notorious hitman a bit of respect.

"Chess...I'm gon enjoy watchin Taylor bust a cap in yo ass." said Vernon.

"How you gon see it? In hell?" I asked Vernon... Chris rose from his seat slowly.

"You drinkin Junior,cause if you aint...I want you out or I'm callin the police." said Gus.

"I'm leavin..but I have to tell you guys...Yall was pretty good...yall found my man and had him duckin bullets at all three of his spots.....Too bad you had more light weights tryin to get at him..They didn't fare too well..Now was that yall or was that a Fathead job? I better not find out that that Fat bastard had anyting to do with this or I'll have the cops chalkin him.....You know Chess, that wife of yours is pretty sporty lookin....After you're gone..I might just want to park my shoes under her bed..heheheheheheheheheh." laughed Vernon.

He then stopped laughing...Everybody,even Gus paused...He knew he had gone too far with that.

At this point, I had had enough, I grabbed Vernon and gripped him up in his collar and slammed him against the wall....Taylor went to go for his gun and Chris upended him...hit him in his gut and then smashed him hard in the mouth..hard enough to draw blood...Chris then grabbed him and slammed his head hard on the table three times...Before his other goons could get into anything...Gus had them covered with his shotgun..

"Come on Fellas, make another move...I'll make beef stew outta ya..come on, please come on..." said Gus as he cocked his gun and gave them a baleful stare that shocked everyone. Fathead, Roscoe, Donald Smooth and even Ralph Mole had guns trained on them. Taylor slowly got up off the floor...His head a bloody mess.. None of them were stupid...They knew at this moment it was better to walk away...alive!

"Get out ..I aint askin ya again, I'm tellin ya...get out." snapped Gus.

"Vernon...you came by my house.....I aint Pooh Bear....if I see you anywhere near my house, you're a dead man!" I said. Vernon shoved me away with a force I didn't know he had.

"This aint over Chess...I just wanted to holler at you before I kill you..you're both dead men"shouted Vernon...

Taylor looked at me and Chris like he wanted to kill us now. Chris smiled at Taylor... Taylor wiped the blood off of his face and spit some blood on the floor..He stared daggers at Chris and made a pistol with his right hand and pointed at Chris.

"Hope you shoot better than you fight" said Chris.

"Laugh all you want Chris....You and your boy aint gon be laughing by the end of the week." he said as they walked out of the bar.

"For sure." said Vernon.

Fathead, Ralph Mole, Roscoe and Donald Smooth came running up after they left....

"We gotta go after them.." said Roscoe.

"Aint no need for that....At least one of them won't be coming back here, ever." I said.

Chris laughed...."That's for damn sure."

"Man, you beat the hell out of Taylor ,Chris...he aint gonna take that lyin down." said Donald Smooth.

"He'll be lying down soon enough." I said as Chris made a shush sound to me between laughs.

We heard a sucession of shots... It sounded like a small war in the streets , then we heard someone scream like a woman and then we heard more shots. We heard more screaming...then more shots...

"Is some woman out there?" asked Gus.

"It sure sounded like a woman" said Fathead..

We heard more shots and then nothing, silence!!!!

Chris looked at me, I looked at him and then we both smiled.. Gus looked perplexed....A lot of people ran outside....Police sirens were wailing...There was pandamonium....Through it all, we sat quietly and drank... Gus walked out the

door. Gus came running in the bar...

"Man, somebody shot and killed all them guys....except Vernon....He's talking to the police...What did yall do?" he said.

"We aint do nothin...but you aint gotta worry about Vernon." I laughed patting Gus on the back. "It's as good as over." I added.

"Will somebody tell me what happened?" said Fathead.

"Nahhh, the less you know, the better...You covered baby.'' laughed Chris, patting Fathead on the back.

Later on that night, Chris and I sat alone in the gym. Sure enough,like clockwork...the door opened and he walked in....He had that same toothy grin.....my murderous cousin!

"Chris...Chess baby....it's been a long time huh?"

"It sure has Everette." I said.

"Man, when you told me that sucker came to your house with that crap,I got mad...I knew who he was...Man, Chris..you shoulda called me as soon as they started Flexin wit Gus...I'd of been up here." said Everette "Little Pistol" Nelson, my lethal cousin...who started and ended a gangwar in South Philly the last time he was here in Philly.

"Always a pleasure to see you LP." said Chris.

"Same here Chris baby.." said Little Pistol.

"I got your airline tickets and heres some money for your troubles." I said.

''Aww Chess man, keep your dough..You family...and if someone gives you a hard time...you know I got your back..." said Little Pistol...

"We can't thank you enough" said Chris...

"Think nothin of it...Them three dudes tried to flex....They went down first.. I dropped em with my .44..You know, the Clint Eastwood gun..I call it the Enforcer. Then Taylor tried to draw on me...He done got old..He was a little slow on the draw...I dropped him with my sig sauer. I call that gun.."Sally" but That other dude..man, Who was he? He screamed like a little girl.".ahhhhhh,don't kill me, don't kill me.." He sounded like a little bitch....oh he disgusted me." said Little Pistol. "I was so disgusted,I couldn't even finish him off..I think he peed his pants." said Little Pistol.

Chris and I laughed our heads off with that...Once word of that hit the streets,Vernon's rep was going to be ripped to shreds...For all we know, it might

already be out on the streets.

Chris and I laughed....It was good to see my cousin and our friend "Little Pistol..."but Vernon had more muscle than Taylor...and after what we did to him...my bet was that he was going to regroup and come with a thunder...Only we were going to find him and stop him before that happened.

(Conclusion Next..)