Not That Good A Friend

A beautiful summer night in Philly!  Sepia and I are at Mulberry Street, the rooftop bar and grill...having drinks.  It's just the two of us tonight...I imagine most of our friends are at Josies tonight listening to Bone Hampton and his All Star band performing..We caught him the night before...Tonight, we just wanted to be alone...The two of us..

"Oh come on Kevin....Try it.." said my wife....

"Nah, I don't want to mix too many different drinks together...besides...I'm driving." I laughed.

"Oh...I can drive." she laughed...

"You? Not as much as you've drank tonight...You'll get us both arrested..."I laughed.

"So? You got much pull with the po-po." she laughed.

"I won't after tonight if we both are drunk and get busted." I laughed...We both laughed at that!

"So you gonna try it?" she asked.

"Ohhhh, okay....Barmaid...Can I have a Lime Margarita..." I found myself saying...

"Seeee..now was that hard?" laughed Sepia...

"Nahh, not at all." I laughed..

Life had been good the past few weeks...Sepia and Bonita had sold two houses...Sean and I had covered some major music stories for the magazine and for the most part, the streets had been quiet...I had went to work practically everyday the past week...Something I hadn't had to do in years....I had decided to take a few days off and enjoy them with my wife , who incidentally had also decided to do the same thing...

We stayed until closing time, which was about three in the morning...Then we decided to drive over to Punchey's and get two chicken salad hoagies and a couple of cokes.  All of that drinking made us both a little hungry... We were sitting at an outdoor table when I saw a man at a distance talking to another man inside a Jaguar...The voice sounded familiar, very familiar, but it was coming from behind me on the street....

"Sooo Larry....After all these years...I finally find you...It's bad enough you stole my girl...but you made off with my money too you chisler....Three years I been lookin over my shoulder...Had a contract out on me because of YOU...Well that's changed now.." came the familliar voice...

"Can't steal what was never yours Johnny...Felicia was always my girl...Problem with you...you just refused to believe that." laughed the guy inside the car.

"Don't matter...You can have her...but you damn sure better have every penny of that money....I got a light shinin on you pal." came the familliar voice.

"You know...I shoulda aced you back when I had the chance, but Felicia wouldn't let me ...She aint here now!"

"You know Larry, I figured you two was smarter than to stay here in Philly...Thought you were longgg gone..Then I saw her the other day...I asked around and I followed her, which led me to both of you...I know where you two live....I know what kind of car you drive...Make it easy on yourself..Hand over that dough, and go on your merry way."said the familiar voice.

"Johnny Boy....I've had enough of you....I aint handin over nothin..Have a good after life...." came the voice of the man in the car...

"A good after life?" said the man on the street!

"Yeah,cause I'm punchin your ticket right now...say hello to my little friend...the .38 smokeless baby!"said the guy in the car.

"OHHHH, so it's like that huh???...I don't have a .38, but my .22 will do." came the voice of the man on the street."

Johnny pulled out a .22...but the man in the car fired first....I heard two shots and I saw the man fall into the street...

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhh, you rat bastard.....I don't believe it.....I've been shot!" said the man on the street as he fell to the ground.

Sepia and I jumped up....A woman across the street who saw the whole thing screamed!  The few people moseying around ducked for cover and the Jaguar screeched and pulled off at top speed...before I could get a license plate number.

Sepia and I and two men ran out into the street....I looked down at the gunshot victim...Turns out...I knew him!  The voice was indeed familiar...It was Johnny Dooley..We called him Johnny Boy....He and I were room-mates in an apartment years ago...He ducked out and left me holding the ball for the last month of rent...

I leaned down and looked at him...He had been gut shot...he was bleeding profusely....

"Johnny Boy????..." I said.

"Kevin, you know him?" asked Sepia.

"Yeah, unfortunately...I do..." I said.

"Anybody in Philly that you don't know?" asked Sepia with a slight smile and  a look of unbelief.

"Sometimes ,even I wonder that ." I said as I knelt down and stared at my former friend.

"K-Kev-Kevin.....that you man?" he said as if we had just talked last week and not seven or eight years before.

"Yeah man...it's me...My wife is calling 911." I said.

"Kevin...I'm shot badd baby...Listen...you gotta help me...I did somethin bad man..." he moaned...

"What else is new? I figured you didn't get shot because you did something good." I said.

"No...this is bad man....I think a lot of people are gonna get killed...." he mumbled..

"What?" I said...

"Kev...I need your help....I'll explain...ugghhhhhhhhhhhh..."he moaned...

Just then the Ambulance drove up as well as a police car.....As they loaded him on the stretcher he looked at me...

"Kevin please...help me." he said as they rushed him to the hospital...

Sepia shrugged-

''Well, there goes our perfect night." she shrugged..

"Why you say that?" I asked as we walked to the car..

"Well I know you're going to the hospital to see him...." she said.

"Tomorrow I am...Not tonight..." I said.

"Really?" she asked...Her eyes as wide as saucers..

"He's not THAT good a friend." I said with a half smile.

II-

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."


"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuu,girl, you feel so good....."


"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, you hittin my spot Kevin...."


"Ummmmphhhhhhhhhh....ohhhhhhhh...."

"ohhh babyyyyy..." 

"ouuuuuuuuuuu....."

Of course I was going to go to the hospital and check Johnny Boy out...Tomorrow!!....Tonight however belonged to me and my wife....Like I said...He wasn't that good a friend.

(To Be Continued....)