What Do You Want Me To Do?

Another Friday night in Josies...Sepia and I were listening to trombonist Bone Hampton's new band...which was being fronted by Etta...His girlfriend and a fine singer as well...

Sepia and I were sitting with Trumpet Player, Reed Nelson, his wife, Debbie, Fellow trumpet player, "Downtown "Rob Brown and his girlfriend, Delores,Producer Meek Rollins and Organist and Singer, Bernard "B-Flat" Brown...

''Mannn Kev, That girl can sing." said "Downtown" Rob Brown....Coming from him that was rare praise indeed....he wasn't known to praise too many people's performances outside of his own...

Reed Nelson nudged me and whispered in my ear...

"Hey Kev...According to Bone, She is quite talented in other things besides just singing." he said.

"I'll just bet she is." I laughed and Reed and I shared a private laugh together...

"What are you two laughing about?" asked my wife ,Sepia.

"Nothin dollface...just man talk." I said.

Reed let out a loud guffaw...

Debbie looked at Sepia...

"Girl, they aint gonna tell you....It's probably somethin nasty anyway..." she said with a grin...

"That's right...it was somethin nasty." laughed Reed...nudging me...

Meek Rollins grinned -"And yall aint let me in on it?"

We all laughed....

B-Flat brown signaled me that he wanted to talk to me in private...I excused myself and I got up and sat on the side of him a few booths away.

II-

"What's goin on B?  Glad to see you home and free man...." I said.

"Glad to be free Kev...No thanks to that joker over there." he said pointing to a very dapper, well dressed black man with a freshly tapered haircut, an ear ring in his left ear and shiny ,expensive shoes...The way he was dressed ..He looked like a banking executive...But I was certain that he wasn't...

"Who's he?" I asked.

"His name is Diamond....James "Jack" Diamond....He's a playa....He deals drugs man,Used to deal drugs to all of the musicians and singers...Especially when we were on the road...Heroin, Coke...you name it...There was this detective...He was from Scotland yard...Was on his trail....Couldn't nail him in England...Then..When I was playin a gig in Spain..I bought some coke off of him...I admit it...But I had already snorted my stash...He got caught and he told them that I was his connect...The Spanish
coppers FOUND enough blow on me to juice up half of Western Europe Kev...." he said.

"Awww man B.  I heard that you got busted...I never believed you were a dealer..Nobody did...Gus told me that you more than likely got set up." I said.

"Thing about it Kev...I was so high when they caught me...I couldn't even defend myself..."Said B-Flat...The Scotland yard Copper who was trialing him told the Spanish Authorities that I was just a patsy and that this slippery worm planted the drugs on me....but they still took me in...I got a speedy trial, an even speedier conviction and they tossed me in jail man....But that Scotland Yard guy kept right after him and went to bat for me...Three years later they overturned my conviction and sentence and set me free..." he said.

''Good for you man ,I'm glad they straightened it out." I said.

"I kicked all of my habits in that jail Kev...No Coke, No Heroin, No Cigarettes...I don't even drink no more." he said... I noticed that a glass of water was all he drank all night long...and an occassional Ginger Ale...

"You called me over here for a reason though B-Flat...What is it?" I asked.

"I want to hire you... I've got money now...Been playin gigs and Chris and Chess hooked me up with a nice spot..." he said.

"Hire me for what B.?What Do you want me to do?  " I asked.

"I talked to Brooke Taylor, the guitarist and she told me about how you cleared her name and put Greasy behind bars." he said.

"But that was different B.  Your name has been cleared.....I'm not in the revenge business." I said.

"Well then perhaps you can help us out...We aren't in the revenge business either." came the unmistakable voice of Chris Thompson....

I looked up and he and his partner, Chess had come and sat down with us....

"Kev...I perfectly understand what you're tellin B-Flat, but this guy Diamond...He's bad news...He's selling dope around our condos and in our shopping center...and we can't have that.....I met with him and tried to talk reason to him, but he wouldn't listen...To say he was totally un agreeable would be an understatement." said Chess.

"I'm listening...Seems you both have a beef with this guy...Again I ask..What do you want me to do?" I said.

"Kev...I'll double whatever B. was gonna pay you....Do what you do...Get some information on him...Feed it to the cops...Get him and his people out of our lives..."said Chris...who then patted his gun...a .45 glock  -"Because I would rather not revert back to what I used to be and handle him the old way."he said.

I looked at Chess, then I looked at Chris...

"I would rather you not either...." I said.

"We'll break you off proper Kev and if you need manpower, Donald Smooth can supply it." said Chess...

"Okay...I'll look into him...Will that satisfy you B-Flat?" I asked.

"Mannn, anything you can do to bring some hurt to that charactor, won't be enough, but I'll take it." said B-Flat....

"Okay...you three are now my clients....I'll see what I can rustle up on him..." I said.

"Thanks Kev..I knew we could count on you." said Chess who shook my hand...

Chris smiled and also shook my hand..

"Thanks man..I owe you...Anything you need, you just ask." he said.

"Well, I might start with...Where does he lay his head? , Who does he run with?" I asked.

"Well, he stays with several different women....and he doesn't stay with any one more than two nights...He holds court in that Barbershop..Sevilles.....The new one a few blocks away...I think Marvin Seville owns that joint...He's there everyday....Nobody is gettin their hair cut that much." laughed Chris Thompson..

"He runs with a real nasty cat named Charlie Roach...That tall cool cat standing over there in the corner." said Chess.

Him, I knew....Charlie Roach had been a loan shark at one time...A particularly brutal loan shark who loved his work too much....After brutal beat downs that alledgedly took the lives of two customers... His boss apparently let him go.. He's lucky he didn't get hit...But then again, such was the fear and respect for him....His reputation was as fierce as that of Kool Kat's, which was pretty fierce...Charlie Roach was a sadist who I knew that one day I'd probably have to face....Here was that day! Charlie Roach was Jack Diamond's enforcer, I guessed.

III-

As the night wore on ,Honey Brown...B-Flat's ex wife was tending bar...Jack Diamond walked over to her...

"Honey baby...Honey is the right name for you....You lookin good girl." he said.

Honey Brown didn't suffer fools lightly..She looked at him like he was dirt....

Jack grabbed her arm...

"Hey Baby,I gave you a compliment...." he said.

"Take your hands off of me." she snapped.

''Awww come on now sugar...Let's not do that...It's a New Year and all." he laughed.

"So what do you want me to do?" she asked sarcastically..

"You could start with your cell phone number and your home address and we could uh, take it from there." he laughed.

''Or we just could not."she said.

He squeezed her arm tighter...

"If you don't let go of me." she said.

B-Flat walked over to them...and removed Jack's hands physically......Jack was mildly amused...

"Hey man, the lady said to take your hands off of her." he said.

"I got this B.  I don't need you to get involved." she said.

"That aint how it looks to me." he said.

Jack looked at B-Flat and smiled...

"B. Baby....So glad to see you..." he said.

"I wish I could say the same for you." said B-Flat.

"Awww come on... I'm sorry about that little misunderstanding in Spain...but if they had of caught me...I would have gotten a lot more than the three years they gave you...I knew they'd let you out..Nobody in their right mind thought that you was a drug dealer...I knew they'd have to let you go. Come on B. No hard feelings?...You a free man now and look at me!!...I'm Rockin and Rollin in Philly again...What's the problem?" he laughed..

"And you alive!" said Charlie Roach.

I saw that this was getting out of hand so I walked over....

"Honey, you alright?" I said.

"Yeah Kevin, I'm cool baby." she said.

"Come on B., Let's walk baby." I said.

"Yo...Who is you? You better mind your business." said Charlie Roach...

I looked at him and laughed.....

We turned to walk away....

"Relax Charlie....He's nobody." said Jack Diamond...

"Nah man...Nobody laughs at me and then turn they back on me." he snarled..

"Charlie, relax!" said Jack Diamond...

"Yeah Charlie...Relax." I said.

"What? Now you talkin smack??" Whattt??" he screamed!  Everybody spun around..

Charlie was enraged...He charged towards me....Big mistake...On his part!

He swung a huge haymaker....I ducked...He swung again...and missed...I hit him in his solar plexus with a good shot that took the wind out of him momentarily. .and then peppered his face with several lefts and rights as the astonished crowd looked on...and then caught him with a right cross that knocked him over a table ,sending drinks flying to the floor and people running....

Chris Thompson was laughing like a chesire cat and slapping his thigh the way he would do...He remembered back when both of us used to box at the neighborhood PAL club...when we were boys...He knew that I could handle myself....Just like I knew that he could handle himself..

Charlie Roach looked like he was going for a gun, only to see the business end of my .38 smokeless and Gus's riot pump shotgun aimed at his head...

"Ugh ...Ugh...Ugh..playa...It aint that kind of party tonight.....a .38 and a riot pump beats any hand you got to throw." I said, still laughing.... Gus smiled ,even though I know he didn't want to.

Jack Diamond smiled and got in between us...

"Gentlemen, Gentlemen...it's a New year....Now let's not have any violence...Come onnnn, We are all here havin a good time, huh? " he said.

"Alright....Then have a good time...but HIM....I want him outta here." said Gus pointing at Charlie Roach, who was getting up off the floor and dabbing a hankercheif at his bloody nose.

He glared at me with pure hatred....

"We'll meet again son.." he said.

"You can bet on it." I said.

"Charlie...Get out of here! Go to the car and don't move until I come out!" barked Jack Diamond...

Charlie brushed himself off and did as he was told...

"This aint over son..I'm gon find out who you is...Apparently you don't know who I am." he said.

"Ever occur to you that I don't care?" I said.

"Okay...smart guy...They gone write that in your obituary." he said.

"Can you spell that?" I asked.

He looked like he wanted to lunge again...but thought better of it...He had been embarrassed tonight....I knew that he wouldn't rest until we squared off again...In a public place no doubt...I'd cross that bridge when I got to it!

''Damn Kev...I'm sorry for gettin you mixed up in this." said B-Flat..

"Forget about it...I always wanted a reason to knock the hell out of that bully for years and you gave it to me." I said and laughed and patted B-Flat on the shoulder.

Jack Diamond walked over to me...He smiled..

"I vaguely remember you...from the neighborhood...Kevin right? Kevin Morris...Used to box at the PAL back in the day." he said.

"That would be me." I said.

"Aint too many guys can knock Charlie on his ass and live to talk about it...Consider yourself lucky and be warned...Next time...I might not be around to seperate you two.." he said with a smirk..

"Consider yourself warned...Aint gonna be too many next times." I said.

"Duly noted my friend." he said and laughed and continued to sip his drink.


Chris, Chess, B-Flat, Meek, Reed Nelson and Rob Brown all walked over to where I was standing... I helped Gus clean up the mess and I bought drinks for everyone at the table...

"Damn Kev, you sure picked a guy to lay out...He's crazy." said Meek Rollins..

"Don't worry Kev..I'm callin Donald Smooth...He'll have some guys watch your house..Any sign of Roach and he'll be a dead stomped roach." said Chris Thompson.

I just smiled...

Sepia walked over to me...She was surprisingly smiling....

"Damnnnnn lover...I can't take you nowhere." she said.

(To Be Continued...)