Comedy Of Errors

"Heyyy Basil ,What's Happenin Captain...What are you doin down this way?" came the voice of my old friend and former rival Chris Thompson.....He was with his partner and running buddy, Chess...Me? I was having a cup of coffee in an old bust out joint a long few blocks from my home and my church.

My name is Basil....Basil Robinson...I'm a Deacon at the church.......My friend, Chris Thompson is now in the real estate business...Once upon a time we both were very successful drug dealers... Chris had most of West Philadelphia...I had the area from the train station up through North....What made us successful if you want to call anyone who sells poison successful is that we both did it quietly....We weren't on the street, neither of us had or have any type of police record...Neither of us was violent or flashy..We just went about our business, made a lot of money in a short period of time and both apparently had a change of mind and heart....

I don't know what made Chris give it all up and go straight, but I suspect it was God and the law of averages that made me give all of that up...In Chris's case...it could have been the influence of his friend ,Chess, a neighborhood guy who I don't think ever got involved in that business and who persuaded Chris to get out while he still could...before the cops discovered who he was and do something different with his life...Whatever it was, We both left that life a long time ago.....

Me?...I come back down here and try to rescue others like me from this life, before it's too late.

"I could ask you the same thing?" I jokingly laughed as I sipped on a tumbler of hot steaming coffee...

"What's good Basil?" laughed Chess.

"Everything and Nothin...you know how it goes Chess." I said.

''I hear ya man." he said as he ordered him and Chris two tumblers of coffee and a bearclaw.

''We down here on business Basil...We just bought the Aloqquin Hotel." beamed Chess.

''That bust out joint...it's halfway across town." I said,

"Yeah, but Russell "Pooh" Richards, it's former owner lives down here." said Chess.

''Anyway, we gonna gut it and turn it into a loft or affordable condos....We got a contractor coming to look at it." said Chris.

"Man, Rollo Jones is going to be upset...He and Big Chicken's prostitutes used to work out of there." I said.

"Used to is the operative phrase...They gon have to go somewhere else now...We runnin a respectable joint." said Chris Thompson, with just a trace of that street swagger that I remembered.

"I'm curious...What made Pooh Richards sell it? He was doing his thing in there too...Selling the best dope and coke in the area...." I asked.. Even though I was out of the life ...I kept abreast of who was doing what.

"Well, I guess you heard....Pooh Richards was workin for Eldorado Mack....When Mack went to jail, He was workin for Cakeman Raven....Over the summer that New York boy, Johnny Porter took over territory belonging to Beautiful Bobby, Fly Tyrone Wallace, Big Goat,Tone Capone Muhammad, Kornbread Earl Evans and Cakeman Raven....He killed em all, made em disapear...Well Johnny had the entire area for a minute and then him, Cheesesteak, Mellow Man, and Monk all got knocked...That whole crew is gone...Our area is so quiet, it's not funny." explained Chess.

"So I take it...Pooh Richards is now the man huh?" I laughed....I remembered when he was working for me, as a tout or lookout...many years ago...He had come a long longgggg way...He was about to be a big man now...at least in that world.

"Pooh thinks he's a big man...He's got a few corners...Nothin big....but here's the rub..." said Chris.... People in New York are pretty hot about Johnny's whole operation going south..They lost two major suppliers in those busts...One in Atlanta, the cat you and I used to use Basil and another cat in the Bahamas..It has crippled several organizations in New York...Heads been rollin...Everybody associated with Johnny Porter, Everybody who vouched for him and put him on have been gettin whacked big time...I hear they got a guy down here now trying to find out who snitched...They think somebody still on the street, who didn't get knocked is the one who snitched....Guess who they lookin at? " continued Chris.

"Pooh Richards, no doubt." I said.

"Yup... He sold us that hotel and he's trying to wholesale his product  and grab as much  cash as possible...I think he's going to be leaving the city soon." said Chess.

"Pooh Richards didn't snitch on nobody......He wasn't that close to Johnny Porter or Eldorado Mack...He only worked for them." I said.

"You better hope the New York Boys think so." said Chris.

"It is funny that Eldorado Mack and Johnny Porter and so many others are in jail or dead and Pooh managed to escape both dragnets...He's the last man standin.." I laughed.

"Yeah...that is funny." said Chris..

"You got an address on him?" I asked.

"Yeah....but he aint gonna be there long...You know what I'm sayin?" said Chris.  He wrote an address down on a piece of paper and passed it to me..

"What you want with Pooh Richards...?" asked Chess.

"He worked for me a long time ago, When I was in the life..I wanna go holler at him....I feel like I kind of got him in this." I said.

"Don't blame yourself Deacon....He made a choice just like you and me did...and he coulda walked away easier than me and you did...He's in this game cause he like it.." said Chris.

I smiled and I nodded...I wish I could have his certainty....but I owed it to myself to at least try to reach Pooh Richards and talk some sense in his head.

I tossed a couple of dollars on the table....

"Your coffee is on me gentlemen." I said as I got up to go...

''Gee Thanks Deac." said Chess..

''Hey Basil.  I know what you plannin to do.... Just be careful...and don't stay around these parts too long...The Game done got vicious babe...It's a whole different animal than when me and you was doin our thing." said Chris...

"I know...and thanks Chris." I said.

''Be Easy Basil." he said.

''Always babe." I said and I walked out.

II-

It didn't take me long to find Pooh Richards....He was just a few blocks away on the corner leaning up against his Black 2011 BMW...He had put on a little weight, but other than that, Pooh looked the same...He was talking to another playa named "Conception"...Conception was not the nicest of guys and from what I knew , even his own people hated him...Yet they were afraid of him...It was said that he had killed at least three people....One was on contract from the New York Boys...

"Man, I heard that you was puttin the word out there that I had somethin to do with Johnny and his crew gettin knocked...You got New York looking at me...Why would you say that Ception?" said Pooh.

"It's mighty funny that Eldorado Mack and his crew go to jail...you wind up workin for Cakeman, he vanishes and you wind up workin for Johnny P. and him and his whole crew in jail and here is YOU , Still around...I think you gave all those boys up." said Conception.

"Man, you crazy.....I wasn't that close to Mack or Johnny....I just bought they product and had my crew sell it...I didn't know the in's and outs of his organization and I certainly didn't know about his connects...Anyway...''Lights Out" turned states evidence..." said Pooh.

"Yeah and they got a contract out on him too...in the jail....but you gave up some evidence too...you the only one not in jail.You never went to jail." said Conception.

"You're not in jail either." I butted in...

Pooh turned around...He smiled....

"Oh My God...Basil!!! Basil  Robinson....Awww snap...This is the man that put me on...My ole head." he laughed..

Conception didn't find any of it funny or touching...

"Hey man, it aint good to get in grown folks bizness, you feel me?" he said.

''Well if I see a grown person, I'll take your advice." I said.

Conception put his hand on my shoulder...

''I don't care WHO you used to be...you better act like you know." he said.

I smiled....

"Son...I put down my gun a long time ago and I picked up my Bible...but it hasn't been that long." I said.

I turned and faced him...I grabbed his crotch and squeezed hard and then I put my hand around his neck....

'' ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH....let - let me go...let me goooo..." he tried to say, before I bounced his head off of the hood of Pooh's BMW...and then knocked him to the ground...

"Ugggggggggghhhh..." he moaned.... I stepped on his hand...His trigger hand...

"Now hear me well....Don't get me mixed up with somebody I aint....I'm inviting you to come to my church this Sunday and hear my Pastor speak.....I also got an outreach program if you're interested....But don't you ever put your hands on me again." I said and released my foot...

Conception was coughing and rubbing his hand and stumbling...There was tears in his eyes...Tears of rage...

"I aint listenin to nothin you got to say....You dead man...both of youse..Yall just don't know it...You aint seen the last of me.." he said and he stumbled off...


Pooh laughed.....

''Guess he don't know bout you huh Basil? If he had of listened ,I woulda told em that you used to run this area round here..."

"That's why I'm here Pooh....Man, I feel bad...I got you into this....I'm offering you a way out..I got out, Chris Thompson got out...You can get out of this too man....Aint you tired of always lookin over your shoulder?? Don't you want somethin better man?   Come to my church tomorrow....You aint gotta join, just come and listen to my youth minister speak...Then make up your own mind..." I pleaded.

''Man Basil...I respect you man, you know I do...You and Chris both, yall walked away from this game and lived to talk about it...but man, I aint even finish high scholl..What a brotha like me gon do to make this kind of money huh?   I think it's too late for me man....I'm just destined to be a gangster I suppose.  Besides..I done rose up in this game...I'm bout to be the man.." he boasted...

"A lot of guys was the "Man"... Eldorado Mack, Bobby, Fly Ty, Cakeman, Johnny Porter...Where they at now man???...In Jail or the graveyard...The way I hear it...Some of em is just ashes." I said.

''Yeah...but they got to be the man..at least for a minute." said Pooh.

''Okay Pooh, but I'm gone pray for you and I'm not gonna give up on you...I'll be back....And watch your back man..That Conception fella is kind of crazy." I said.

"I'm gone be alright...Thanks for the prayers Basil....Be easy babe." he said and we embraced..

I headed back to the church that night and prayed and then I went home.

III-

A few days later, I got a rather peculiar phone call...It was from Pooh Richards...

"Hello" I said.

''Heyyy Basil, how you doin man?" he said.

"I'm good....How about you?" I asked.

''Man...I thought about what you said." He said.

''About coming to Church?" I asked.

''No...just about gettin out of this game man.. I aint really built for this....I sold my building to Chris and Chess and I done cut my crew loose and handed my corners over....I got some money squirrled away....You think you can help me get my G.E.D.  and maybe get me in Community college or somethin?" he said.

''I'll certainly do my best Pooh...That's workable...I'll even try and help you get work somewhere...It aint gonna be easy...but we'll work together.." I said.

''Alright Basil...you always been on the up...I aint gonna tell you where I am over the phone...but I got someone who will meet you at your church...They'll tell you where I am...If you could come and get me, I'd be real appreciative.....I-I need you to get me somewhere safe for a little while..Then , when this heat is off..I promise Basil..I'll do right..I promise.." said Pooh.

''Somebody's after you aren't they?" I said...I could detect the fear in his voice...

"You don't miss much Basil. I was almost killed last night...Some guy shot at me in this restaurant, blew the whole window out....I ran, He almost got me.." he said.

''Conception?" I asked.

"Nah...He aint got the guts...This was a New Yorker...I'm almost certain of it. But you can bet ,Conception was in his ear.  He wants to be the man..He figures if he help New York out, they'll hook him up." he said.

"Okay...sit tight...I'm on my way." I said.

Pooh's contact, a pretty young girl of 16 met me at my church and gave me the message from him... I was surprised at the apartment building he was staying in...I used to live there, Used to take the count there and pay all of my associates....I got there in no time....

The Apartments were loud and noisy like I remembered...The stench of urine and sweat were all in the stairwells....There was a small bucket of hot water in the hall way....I didn't know what it was doing there, and I didn't have time to care....There was a loud argument going on in one of the rooms..

"Noo..Don't put your pants on now...You up here bangin my lady...I'm gone shoot yo naked behind.."


''Lester..Nooooooooooooooo...put that gun away...It aint what it looks like.."


"It look like yall both naked up in here doin the funky chicken....Didn't expect me to come back so soon huh?Good thing the liquor store was closed."


''Nahhh man...she was sewin my pants...I ripped them"


"So why is yo drawers off too?"

I didn't have time to listen to anymore... I knocked on the door and Pooh Richards appeared with a small gym bag and a suitcase..

"Were you followed?" he asked.

''By who? Who would know I was coming here to get you?"  I said.

"Come on, let's go." he said and we began to walk down the hall and down a flight of stairs...

It all happened so fast, it's hard to believe.....The playa known as Conception appeared with another man down the hallway from us... He pointed  to us...

"That's them....Get em man...." he said laughing...

"The boys in New York will be real grateful for your help Conception....We won't forget you." said the man who was headed toward us with a gun.

He fired three shots at us..We ducked and started running...He ran after us...He stepped in the bucket of hot water.and got his foot stuck...He let out a yell...

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH...."   and began to fire wildly, trying to shake the bucket off of his foot.......One of his bullets hit Conception in between the eyes...He fell to the floor dead!!....Meanwhile the man in the room who had caught his woman with another man came rushing out...

''Who's shooting? You came to help him out?" he screamed pointing to the naked man who had left the room and was running the other way down the hall..

"Nigga ,I don't know what you're talking about ." said the hitman...

"Who you callin nigga, nigga?" said the man who shot the hitman five times ,killing him....The hitman got off one shot that hit the man in his forehead, killing him also...Both men dropped to the ground....Blood was everywhere! People were screaming who had seen it....It was total pandemonium. The bucket was still stuck to the hitman's foot...

Pooh and I looked at each other.........

"What just happened Basil?" he asked....

"I would try to explain it to you pooh, but you would never believe me." I said as people came out into the hallway and looked at the carnage..


EPILOUGE:

Pooh Richards did get his GED and is enrolled in Community College....Ralph Scallion got him a job with his catering outfit that he runs on the side for now and Chris and Chess are letting him live in one of their small apartments for the time being...

Guess what.??..He hasn't missed a Sunday in church or a Wednesday at Outreach since that night!! I never did explain to him that I have some kind of crazy contract with God.....He aint ready for that yet~!

For SLC!