Sometimes The Bear Gets You!

Clerow and Kool Kat always told me about going solo....But today, I couldn't find Kool Kat and Clerow had to take Cora-beth to the hospital for a check up...Sean Jackson and Robert Foxworth weren't street guys ,so I didn't bother to call them at all...I did a little digging myself. I went to the Mermaid club and questioned a few guys who knew Raif Collins and asked them where he worked and where he might be found. He worked at a Beer Distributor. I went there and they said that he hadn't been seen in days..

I staked out his house and there was no sign of him there either..and then I stopped by the Beauty Parlor to pick up my wife , Sepia who had a hair appointment and found out something interesting. The woman who Ralph had been with the night before was in the parlor getting her hair done.

"Hey Portia right?, Portia Hawkins!!! You were with Ralph the other night....It's important that I get in touch with him." I said.

"I'm not Portia...That's my sister." said the woman who looked so much like her it was a shame.

"That's Porsche Hawkins Kevin...I told you Portia has a twin sister." said Sepia.

"You saw Ralph with my sister?" she asked.

"Yeah...the night that that guy got murdered in the parking lot at Bottom of the C. We saw Ralph and Portia at Josies a few hours before."

"Oh Really? That's funny because I drove by Bottom of the C earlier that night and Ralph's car was in the lot." she said.

"It's a long story...Ralph and the dead guy were friends...they switched cars...Ralph wanted to impress your sister, so he took that guys Escalade and that guy took his car...The two losers who shot that poor guy thought they were shooting Ralph probably...At least that's my theory." I said.

''I heard the cops caught one of them." she said.

"Yeah, with my help. Do you know where Ralph might be?" I asked.

"Not my turn to watch him." she replied.

"Oh well..I'll find him."I said.

Sepia and I joked around with Bernadette and we left. We stopped at a cafe to grab a

bite to eat....

"Let me put some money in the meter..Wait for me inside." I said.

"Okay babe." said Sepia.

No sooner did she walk inside, but a car pulled up in front of the cafe....A car I'd seen before!

A Black Grand Torino....with a bullet hole dent in the side....Out of the car popped someone I knew, Buster Williams...he was smiling and had a .45 drawn on me....Getting out on the passenger side was the man of the hour...The one I'd been looking for, Raif Collins!!

"Well, Well, Well...Looky here....Didn't think you'd see me this soon did ya Kevin?" said Buster Williams.

"When did they let you out?" I asked.

"Soon as my cousin posted bail." he said.

"This the nigga that been all up in my business?" said the other man.

"That be him Raif.." laughed Buster.

He wasted no time....He punched me in my gut and I felt it ....and then he cracked me in my jaw so hard that I don't remember much else! When I woke up ....I was tied up and it was dark......I assumed I was in a trunk...The trunk of a car....I couldn't hear the talk going on...but I was in deep trouble....My stomach and my ribs hurt and my jaw felt like mush....It felt like we had been driving forever....I sure wished Kool Kat or Clerow had been with me...I wished I had the pocket knife I had used to free myself the last time I was in a jam like this...I wished I had a chance to even things up with Raif and Buster...

The car stopped...I looked down...We were at the Strawberry Mansion Bridge , facing the Schuylkill River!!! They had my hands tied behind my back and my legs tied at my ankles...and a couple of free weights on me. Raif dragged me out of the car...

"End of the line hero...I've heard about you....You fashion yourself as some kind of super snoop huh...always gettin in people's business, always askin questions, eh? Well, you stuck your nose in the wrong person's business this time buddy...Goin to my job...drivin by my house...You won't be snoopin no more." he said.

"Raif...you and Buster killed the wrong guy, you killed an innocent man." I said.

"Yeah, I know...that was unfortunate...but Scallion will get his.....I'm gone lay low and when he least expects it...I'm gone pop him." he said.

"I'll try an remember that." I said.

"What you gonna remember that for? You gone be dead soon....." laughed Buster Williams.

"Well you guys better hope so....because if not...I'll see you fellas again and it won't be pretty."I said.

''Ahhhhh shut up snoop" said Raif...With that, they lifted me up and tossed me over the side of the Schuylkill Bridge.... I dropped downward and the cool December afternoon wind hit my face...For some reason, I didn't feel afraid....If I was going to die...that was cool...then I'd be free...none of this would matter any more....Soon it would all be over...

Contrary to what they tell you, I didn't see my life flashing before me...I just felt wind and then the cold water of the river hitting me as I went down......down...down...down......It felt cool, refreshing... I hated to die though....I wanted to wrap this case up...make those guys pay...It was cool though...Kool Kat would find them...Kill them both!!!!Then I'd kick their asses in the afterlife! Funny how I could think of doing something like that on the verge of sudden death!

Just as everything was becoming a blur.....I saw what looked like.....a woman???? I didn't believe in mermaids..... It wasn't.....It was a beautiful Black woman in bikini panties and a bra...with some kind of blow torch swimming toward me...As she got closer...I looked into her face and I saw....It was my wife!!!!! Sepia....She had a blowtorch...the kind that works underwater!!! I had purchased this just weeks before...She had asked me why I bought it and I had told her that I had a hunch I'd need it one day..She laughed....It was in the back of my car..

She used it to cut through my bonds and to disentegrate the weights and then she pulled me and swam with me to the surface....We lay on the side of river bank for what was a long while..She gave me mouth to mouth ,Her warm full lips felt good on mine as they usually did...and basically revived me...

"Ohhhhhhh..arrrrrrgggggh....cough,cough...Sepia...you saved my life..." I said...

My Car was parked up on the bridge...Her skirt, her blouse and pantyhose and heels lay on the side of the river bank....

"If I'd had on less clothing, I would have gotten to you sooner.." she said.

"You mean you took the time to undress? I could have drowned." I said.

"That suit cost me a mint...I wasn't gonna ruin it." she joked.

"I didn't know you were such a good swimmer." I said.

"Yeah...I was on the swim team that won the New Jersey State Swim competition...You used to read my blog...You saw the photos of me in that white String Bikini when I won..." she laughed.

"Yes lawd..I did.....I remember now..." I said.

"Oh shut up silly..Is that when you started commenting on my posts all the time and then e-mailing me?" she asked.

"It coulda been...I know I was an avid reader from that post up until I finally met you." I said with a laugh. Sepia laughed too!


"I saw those guys when they abducted you ..I was coming back to tell you what the special was.. and I saw them putting you in the trunk. I followed them....I had your other gun and that blow torch...Finally found a use for it." she laughed.

"Yeah and you didn't know why I bought it...I knew it would come in handy one day. You're out of breath babe..Come on...let's get out of here....I'm loving you so much right now." I said.

"Ummmm,I'm loving you too....glad that you're still amongst the living..."she said.

"Me too." I said.

We kissed for a long time......Finally we got up, She dressed and we drove home....

The next day, I was sitting in Josie's with Clerow, Kool Kat and Gus discussing the events of the last day...

"See man, I told you about goin solo...Why didn't you call me?" said Clerow.

"You were with your wife." I said.

"Well man, if I wasn't around...you coulda sent a text message and just of sat tight." said Kool Kat.

"Yeah well, Iwasn't exactly alone....I was with Sepia." I laughed as my wife walked in, put her arms around me and hugged me... Gus, Clerow and even street hard Kool Kat laughed and smiled.

(To Be Continued....)