Friday Morning...About a week later...I was at Bernadette's hair salon with my wife, Sepia...She was getting her hair done...
''And don't you sweat her perm out this time Kevin." joked Bernadette as all of the ladies, which included Robert's wife, Bonita, Mabel Jenkins, her sisters Corabeth and Anita, Nicole Butler ,Cherish ,Delores and Cherry Johnson were all getting their hair done.
"I didn't sweat nothin out ." I joked.
''Yeah right?" joked Bernadette. Sepia giggled, while some of the other women gave her the side eye.
On cue...Eric Coley arrived with two of his town watch members, with several steaming tumblers of hot coffee from the local diner for the women who were waiting to have their hair done...The whole thing was my idea ..I told him that this would make for good press for his town watch efforts...My magazine was doing a story on him and his community activism.
"Oh thank you..." cooed one woman..
''This was sooooo sweet" coooed another.
Being the press hound he is...He went for it hook line and sinker..
"Oh it was nothin...just servin the community...A little somethin for your pain...I heard about some of you's havin your car tires slashed." he said.
''Well at least one of em was caught." said another woman.
"And don't you ladies worry..Kevin and me will catch the other one...Sooner or later, he'll make a mistake...and when he does...We'll get him."said Eric who shot me a look.I just nodded and smiled.
Sean Jackson and some of his associates were on hand to film and photograph him and his crew delivering hot coffee to the young women in the hair dressers.
While he was there basking in the glory!!! a rather loud conversation broke out...
''Lawd Jesus...I'm tired as hell...didn't get no sleep last night..."
"Well you and Henry shoulda went to sleep and stop actin like yall 24..tee he hee.."said one of the hairdressers.
''Henry aint have nothin to do with this....That guy from the fish market had some gal over there and he was puttin it down..Woooh..Girl was just screamin and moanin like a cat.."
''Whatttttttttttt?"
"Oh girl hush.."
"Manny?"
"Girl was hollerin -"Oh Manny...put it to me...ohhhhhh baby...all night long...Bed was slammin up against the wall... just a squeakin ...I thought they was gonna break the legs off the bed."
"Damnnnn..I didn't know Manny had it in him..."
"That gal...I think it was Elaine..."
''Elaine from up the street?"
"Yeah...you know she sweet on him."
"Yeah girl...she didn't know Manny had that much in her!"
"Ouuuuuuuuuuuu, you know you wrong!"
I watched Eric's face during the entire conversation....He was beyond furious...He stomped his foot and went storming out.....I looked at the ladies and winked...They gave me the thumbs up! Worked like a charm!
II-
Saturday Morning, A Day later-
Next, Eric showed up at the barbershop to get a fresh cut......when this conversation was overheard-
"Damn, Did you see Manny's new ride?"said one of the guys getting his haircut.
"Yeah man, a Altima coupe...." said another.
"Not bad eh?" he said.
"He bought it pre-owned.."said one of the barbers.
"That still cost some dough."said the first man.
"I imagine it was worth it....Did you see the babe he got ridin in that jawn?" said yet another guy.
''Nah who?"asked the barber.
"You know he on Elaine...right?" said one guy... (Who said that men don't gossip?)
''Fine ass Elaine Mosely?"asked a man who was seated next to Eric.
"Yeah man..Manny told me that she in love..." said the guy getting his hair cut.
"In love with his car..."laughed another man.
"Well ahhh, not just his car, you know what I'm sayinn..."said the guy getting his haircut.
"You know right...?""joined in another seated man.
"Man, for her? I'd buy a new car too."said the barber.
"Damn straight... I'd steal a new car to get at that fine ass woman"said still another man.
Raucous laughter followed.... Eric got up and stormed out of the barbershop...... Clerow and Owen , who were in the barbershop called me immediately...
"How did it go?" I asked.
"Like a charm...He heard the guys talkin ...He was mad as hell." said Clerow.
"Good...Now let's hope Kool Kat and Sean got everything in place." I said.
"They do...Man Kev...this was pure underhanded genius....you gettin all these people to have this kind of conversation in front of him." said Owen.
"Yeah I know and half of em wasn't actin." I said. Owen cracked up laughing...
"I know right?" he said.
It was time for the final act in this drama...!
III-
Sometime around 3:30 am in the morning , all four of the tires of Manny's 2011 Altima Coupe went flat...and to top it off, the windsheild was busted out!!!!
Around 4:30...Someone opened the gas tank of Elaine Mosely's 2009 Ford Focus and poured a pound of sugar in the gas tank.....then they flattened all four of the tires and busted the windshield...The young man had on a black hoodie...
I walked up behind him and pulled the hoodie down....revealing..and not to my surprise...ERIC COLEY!!!!!
"Why did you do it? Why Eric???" I said.
"KEVIN????? You knew???" he exclaimed....
"Not at first...but I figured it out....You were good....You struck early in the morning, when working people were asleep...Then you had the town watch guys out patrolling the neighborhoods... I watched them..I had people filming them...You were the only one not there at key hours of the morning...Like when cars in a neighborhood they weren't in were being hit....And that was a nice touch, disabling the cameras in the lots of Josies and the Shopping Center and the apartment complexes.. just long enough for you to do your thing and then restart them just in time so that it looked like no one was ever there....Brilliant....and an even nicer touch, stabbing your own car's tires, making yourself look like a victim..Nicely done..Am I leaving anything out?" I said.
"Yeah Kev...Proof...You can't prove a thing..." he said.
"Not about the other tire slashings...but I got you on film slashing Manny's tires...and smashing the windshield....Oh and by the way...That wasn't his car...That was a decoy... you owe the City of Philadelphia for the damages,and I got you on film putting sugar in this girl's car tank and smashing her windshield and cutting her tires... I know that you used to work for a place that manufactured video survielience cameras and that you know how to take em apart and put em back together again. "
''Wow ,you really did your research on me didn't you? What else do you know?" he said with a bit of a sneer.
"I'll bet that fish scaling knife that you used to use when you worked in seafood prep and produce matches the type of cuts on all of the other cars with your grubby finger prints on it...When you take all of that into account...I'd say that I have you...Oh and I've got three people who will swear under oath that they bought weed off of you....I'd say that that's enough to have you charged..." I said.
"Wow...I guess you've got me, huh?" he said.
He hung his head.... The Police arrived and handcuffed him and took him in...Sean Jackson, Clerow, Kool Kat and Owen Todd all stood with me and several people from the neighborhood as Eric Coley was arrested and charged with the tire slashings and recent vandalism...
"Wow...who woulda thought that he was behind this? The town watch guy." said Kool Kat.
"Damn man..if you can't trust town watch, who can you trust?"said Owen Todd.
"Well Boss...You cracked another one." said Clerow...
"Yeah...but I sure as hell wished it wasn't him...." I said as we all walked to our cars and went home.
EPILOUGE:
Eric Coley was convicted of slashing the tires and of vandalism as well as drug charges... In all, he got five years in State Prison... Because he has no prior convictions...He could be out in two years...but his problems don't end there..A number of neighborhood people are suing him....His poor mother was harrassed so much that she had to put her house up for sale and move..He is presently under psychiatric observation.
Elaine Mosely was re-imbursed for her loss by the City of Philadelphia , who purchased her a new car...She and Manny from the Supermarket are still presently dating...
A bright sunny spring morning...I'm washing my car and Sepia's car... People are driving up and down the street...
I playfully toss some soap on Sepia....
"Stop it Silly...I just got my hair done yesterday." she says playfully....
"Aww you know I'm gonna make you sweat that perm out don't you?" I joke...
''Nah...Not until after church...I'm serious." she said.
"Yeah alright." I joked...
Just then, Cock Robbins walked down the street...He looked mad...
"Hey man..what's up?" I asked.
"I come out this morning and there was a boot on my car." he scoffed....
''A boot?" I asked.
"Yeah..I got a couple of unpaid parking tickets." he said.
"Just a couple?" I asked.
"Okay...ten...ten...but I was gonna pay em." he said.
Sepia , walked into the house...I looked at him and just shook my head....and followed my wife inside ,leaving him outside scoffing...
(For the parents of Trayvon Martin.)
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