Cherry

ART: "Cherry" By Steff Green

I sat in the diner with my friend, Chris Thompson, at daybreak... We both liked to get up and go eat at the break of dawn.. We had been doing that since we were kids. We had grown up to be very different men....I was an honest entrepeneur, I suppose...and Chris..He was a reputed trafficer of recreational pharmecuticals (Drug Kingpin).. My name is Chess and this is another one of my stories.

We were sitting there reading the Daily News and enjoying some Blueberry Waffles and pork sausages, while drinking coffee and a tumbler of Orange Juice. From the looks of us, two Black men in sweat suits, checking our cell phones, no one would have known that we were both millionaires. Me from Real Estate and the ownership of two highly sucessful gyms and Chris , well from whatever it was he alledgedly did that everybody who was streetwise in West Philadelphia knew that he did!

"The Sixers won last night Chess" he said rather dryly.

"Yeah, I saw it at Josie's..." I said.

"Whattt? Gus invested in some Flat Screens? I can't beleive it...Thought he was old school." laughed Chris.

"I gave em to him...Three to be exact....He's done me a lot of favors." I said.

"That's your problem Chess...yo heart is too big..you can't just be givin people stuff all the time without gettin somethin back....and don't look at me like that..What I done for you is different, we family." said Chris.

"I aint lookin at you..I'm lookin at her." I said.

Chris smiled..."Somethin we agree on...she's fine as hell boy, but I can look at her and tell she trouble." said Chris.

She was about five foot ,eight, built like nobody's business and wearing a blood red dress that accentuated every curve. I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Why she gotta be trouble?" I asked.

"A woman that fine , alone...in a dump like this, this early in the mornin...she got troubles or she in trouble...now trust me." said Chris.

I plunked down the money to pay for our meal and I smiled at Chris...

"Well, I'm gonna find out about some of that trouble" I laughed.

I walked over to where she was sitting. Unlike Chris and me, who were in a booth, she was sitting at the counter. I sat next to her and said -"Hi" She looked at me and half smiled and said
"Hi" back. I made it a practice never to give a woman a line..I had always just been myself..mostly because I didn't feel like playing the games that go along with using a practiced line and because I felt that most people know when somebody is not being for real.

"People call me Chess...what do they call you?"

"Chess? That's an odd name.."she said.

"My father gave me that name, because I could play chess well." I said.

"Oh...that makes sense...I play a little myself." she said.

"Really...I don't meet many women who can play chess...I'd love to play you a game one day,once I learn your name." I said.

"It's Cherry" she said, not offering any more of an explanation than that.

"Cherry? Is that a nickname or is that your real name?" I asked.

"That's my real name...Cherry Johnson." she said.

"You don't sound like you're from around here." I said.

"I'm not...I just moved here from California." She said.

"People don't move to Philadelphia, they move away from here...usually to go to California." I laughed.

"Well, I got in a little trouble, I felt it was time for a change." she said.

Upon hearing her say that, Chris laughed and slapped his knee...I ignored him. I was still taken by Cherry.

"Look Cherry, I don't live too far from here...I'd love to talk to you again, play you a game of chess and maybe take you out...you know...dinner, a movie...what not." I said.

"Damn, you Philly guys move pretty fast, you don't waste anytime...yall just get right to it,don't
you?" she said.

"Why waste time? Life is too short." I said.

"I agree. you gotta cell phone?" she said. I pulled mine out and she pulled hers out and we exchanged phone numbers.

Chris's eyes grew as large as saucers....then he shook his head and just laughed and slapped his knee again.

"That's my boyyyyyyyyyy...always right on the ladies..." he howled to nobody in particular.

"I'm gonna call you Cherry....and perhaps we can set somethin up okay?" I said.

"Okay..I hope you're one of those guys that calls when he says he is going to call." she said.

"Don't worry I will and don't worry, I'm paying for your breakfast..." I said.

"I think I like you already." she said. I liked that she said that....I hadn't felt this way about any woman since my baby's mother left me...I watched her as she walked outside and hailed a cab...
As she pulled away, Chris walked up to me....

"She trouble man..I'm tellin ya." he said.

"Well, everytime you wake up and walk out into these streets, you run that risk." I said.

"True dat, but I try to minimize mine baby boy." laughed Chris.

I walked back to my apartment complex and bid Chris goodbye that morning...All I could think about was Cherry.

(To Be Continued...)

Haven't Gotten Over U

ART: "Timeless" By Laurie Cooper

I'm really sorry I called you...
I thought we could talk
but I guess I forgot for the moment
that we are through...
what am I going to do?/

/Guess you'll always be my lifelong obsession
I should have walked...
I owed that much ,at least to you..
Instead I tried to talk..
I was a fool-
a fool who walked in the wrong direction./

I guess I haven't got over you./

I heard that you were seeing someone new now...
thought you might change your mind..
I'm still acting like a fool and how...
I've been ignoring the fact...
that in our entire relationship..you'd never
been so exact.../

/girl ,I guess you're destined
to be my lifelong obsession
and I find that after all this time
and everything you put me through.../

/I guess I haven't gotten over you..
I don't know what to do..
when ,I haven't gotten over you./

No Hard Feelings

"Which one of us are you plannin on shooting first Olivia?" I asked..

"Olivia? I told you that Olivia is gone...I'm Rachel" she said as she waived the gun.

" No...You're Olivia...you were wearing those same clothes the last time I saw you." I said.

"I'm not her...she's weak...she's never coming back...." she screamed..

"But you're strong right? You're strong and you didn't like the way Olivia was throwing money around on that creep Walter right?? Buying him a car, helping him make a downpayment on this
house , only to see him break up with her and get married to someone else after all she'd done
for him..right?? You weren't going to let that happen were you?" I said.

"You goddamned right I wasn't....I shot his ass..." she snarled...

"Who called him here...Olivia or you?" I asked..

" I called him here...I offered him sex..." she purred...

"There was no dinner party was there...He was in his boxer shorts because you two had just had
sex didn't you? He thought he was having sex with Olivia..but it was really you wasn't it Rachel?" I asked.

"That's right?" she said.

"You become Rachel, when you can't take it..don't you?? Your husband found out about you,one of the times he was cheating on you didn't he?? He knew that you needed help...He didn't want it
to get out that his wife had a split personality did he??" I asked...

"I don't have a split personality...I am Rachel.." she said.

"You're Olivia....come on back...come back..."

"Olivia's gone ...she's gone I tell you." she snapped... Cock Robbins, Conrad, Sepia and Clerow were stunned, when they realized just what I was doing and just what was happening...then I heard a voice ...a female voice behind us...

"That's right Olivia...come back...come back...put that gun down...you don't want to hurt anybody.." said Lt. Sissy Van Buren , who had her gun drawn and who had two Philadelphia Policemen with her. Standing behind them both was Rollie Rollerson, her husband...

"Oh my God.....Kevin, Cock...what are you doing here? What am I doing here?? and with a gun?? Oh my God..???"said a now contrite Olivia... Olivia was back...she handed the gun to Lt.
Van Buren. The two policemen hand cuffed her and slowly walked her to the police car.

"You knew all the time, didn't you Kevin?" said Sissy Van Buren.

"No, I did not...She wasn't even a suspect...I didn't know for sure until just now when she pulled
that gun on me." I said.

"Well I knew all along." said Sissy.

"And you covered it up?" I said, incredulous.

"Rollie and I are lovers..we have been for years...He told me that his wife was crazy, that she had
Disociative Identity Disorder...What you laymen call a split personality....Chances are Walter Branson never knew it, until it was too late." said Sissy.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

"She's going to go someplace where she can get some help...finnally...I uh, would consider it a big favor if you not write about this or say anything about this to anyone...I can't make you..but I'm
asking you for this favor....There has already been the needless loss of life...Is there any need for me to lose my job, for Mr. Rollerson to suffer anymore than he has already suffered?" she asked.

"Let me get this straight...You have an affair with a married man, you obstruct justice and cover up a murder, Rollerson tries to take my job and have me physically hurt and you want me to do
YOU a favor???" I said, incredulous....I laughed at how pitiful both Rollerson and Van Buren looked...then I gave them my answer.

"Okay....I won't write anything about this case in either of my blogs or in my magazine..and I will
guaruntee the silence of everyone with me.. Your secret is safe with me, I give you my word, I'll
even drop the charges against Rollerson and his two goons, but Lieutenant...One day I'm going to
come asking for a favor...and when I do....I expect to get it...is that understood?" I said.

"But of course Kevin....and that goes without saying." she said, smiling. For the first time ,Rollerson was even smiling. I looked at him like he was dirt and walked down the stairs of the house where Clerow, Cock Robbins ,Conrad and Sepia were standing.

"This case is over folks..Let's go to Josie's and get some drinks...and some cheese-steaks..it's on me." I said as we got into our two cars and pulled off. As our cars pulled off, I saw Sissy Van Buren standing in the street, staring at us.

The next morning, I woke up...Sepia was gone...It was odd, her not being in the bed. Then I heard her voice from outside...

"Whooooooweeeeeee....Kevin, come outside ...come here quick?" she squealed...

I walked outside and sitting in front of my house was a 2009 BMW with an aqua bow wrapped around it and a white envelope. I opened the envelope and inside were the car keys and the title, in my name....There was an unsigned note that read-

'Sorry ,we got off on the wrong foot Kevin
This is a token of my appreciation for your continued silence
No Hard Feelings'

Rollerson, I thought as I laughed...That damn Rollerson.......

Sepia was jumping up and down with glee...like a child.....

"Ouu Kevin, let me test drive it please...it's beautiful" she cooed...and she was beautiful and it was a sunny Saturday morning...how could I say no to such a pretty woman and such a beautiful
car. I tossed her the keys, got in the passenger side and simply said to her-

"Let's go babe."

-For Soloman

The Low End Theory

Conrad and I drove up to the address I had in my pocket. I had gotten this address from the now missing Olivia Rockland...It was in East Oak Lane and just a few blocks from where Brett Jano had been murdered some months before. Sepia, Clerow and Cock Robbins were already there when I got there. This was the very house in which Walter Branson had supposedly shot himself to death. I was going to re-create the scene and decide for myself what could have possibly of happened.

The police tape was gone and the blood had been cleaned up and the bloody bed sheet removed.. All that remained in the little room was a mattress with two pillows that had no pillow covers on them. It was all very eerie. I couldn't locate any of the people who had been in the house on the night of the death..but from what Olivia told me had happened..I had enough people to recreate the death scene.

Olivia told me that Walter , herself and two guests had all been downstairs drinking ,smoking, talking and listening to the radio that night...Walter had decided to go upstairs to his room...a room in a house that he thought was his that he was about to lose. He was obviously upset she said and he had refused once again to be her man and give up Linda.

Olivia told us that while sitting downstairs, a single shot was heard! Everyone rushed upstairs and found Walter slumped over the bed, with a head wound...and a pistol in his left hand...bullet wound in his right temple, Rum spilled all over the floor and the window wide open.....

A window wide open in February...with below freezing temperatures??? Very strange...and Walter in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, like it was a night in June or something?? Even more bizzarre.

I had Sepia , Clerow and Conrad sit downstairs on the living room couch and I had the radio turned up....Then upstairs I had Cock Robbins sit on the bed...with a bottle of rum and a glass in his hands. I gave him an old Plastic squirt gun and told him to aim it at his right temple..

"Man this is kind of difficult with the bottle of rum and the glass in my hand and kind of uncomfortable too." said Cock.

"I know....and the powder residue from the bullet that should have been on the head wasn't there...It's as if he was shot from a distance." I reasoned..

"Yeah man....you right. Look, that Lt. Sissy Van what's her name- I don't know what her game is...but maybe you can run this by someone else there in the police department and they could look into this.." said Cock Robbins.

"You know Cock...you got a point man." I said.

"There won't be any need for that." came a voice. A familiar voice.

I saw Conrad, Sepia and Clerow walk in first with their hands in the air....then I
saw her, holding a large pistol on them and motioning for all of us to move to the side........it was Olivia Rockland.....only ,she had a strange far away look in her eyes...

"So it was you afterall Olivia , huh?" I smirked....

"Olivia?? That bitch is gone...my name is Rachel and yeah I killed that son of a bitch...Olivia was too weak to kill him...she just sat back and played the victim, but I wasn't going for it...I did what she couldn't do." said Olivia.

She looked like Olivia and she was wearing the same clothing Olivia had on two days ago when I last saw her...yet her personality was so different...Olivia had never told me about having a twin sister.

"So what, you're going to kill all of us?" I asked.

"Oh yeah..and then burn this house down with your bodies in it. By the time
they figure it out...Olivia and I will be longgg gone.." she laughed maniacally."

Seemed like I just had a knack for getting myself in these types of situations.

(Conclusion Next.....)

Turning the Heat Up

I had lost my job....and my life had been threatened....I did a number of things..I called my Lawyer ,Conrad first of all and laid the entire story out to him...He told me that I had to have proof that Rollerson had threatened me. I played him a tape recording of Rollerson's visit and several people at the office gave statements to Conrad supporting the events of the previous day. Conrad took this to the board of directors and not wanting to be subject to a law suit that win or lose could make them look bad voted to re-instate me back at the magazine immediately.

The Second thing we did was take the incriminating tape to the Police. Lt. Sissy Van Buren immediately came running over and tried to smooth things over.

"Look Mr. Morris...I'm sorry this had to happen and we plan to prosecute the two
thugs who accosted you to the fullest extent..but you really have no proof that Mr.
Rollerson had anything to do with your attack..and tying them up and throwing them
on his lawn probably angered him and-"

"Hold up...How do you know they were tied up and thrown on his lawn..that wasn't
in the papers?" I asked. I knew that Rollerson wasn't about to report that to the police..he would have had to answer too many questions..

"Look Mr. Morris..that's...that's ..that's besides the point...If you would just agree not to harass
Mr. Rollerson-" she said.

"I never had a conversation with him until he came to my office threatening my job and then trying to have me beaten up,possibly killed by those two thugs." I said.

The Police Captain said to me- "Mr. Morris, do you wish to press charges?"

"I most certainly do." I said

"Okay guys..Pick him up" said the Captain...

"Now wait a minute" said Sissy Van Buren.

"Lt.Van Buren...this is not a homicide and not under your jurisdiction.....My order stands...boys..
pick him up."said the Captain. Sissy Van Buren looked at me as though she wanted to kill me...
I laughed my head off and left.

My cell phone went off at just that moment...It was Sepia.

"Kevin...what are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm at the police station, why?" I said.

"Clerow and I are at that address you gave us...You and Conrad need to meet us there."
she said.

'Okay babe..I'll be there in a few." I said.

I wanted to be at Central Booking when they brought the little man in. Conrad and I stood outside as they dragged Rollie Rollerson out of the car kicking and screaming... He looked at me with contempt....(I forgot to note that he was asked to vacate his seat on the Board of Directors until after this affair was settled.)

"Nigger,you couldn't leave well enough alone could you? You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you?" he snarled.

"I think I've helped take a cold blooded killer off the street, that's what I think?" I said.

"Ah didn't kill him....why would I care about him??? I was doin my thing...she was doin hers...
as long as he was around...nobody was lookin at me...Ahh didn't kill him ,you fool." he snarled.

For some reason...some strange reason...I believed him.

"Oh he's full of it Kevin, He killed him....and we'll prove it." said Conrad.

"Conrad...I don't think he did...but let's meet Sepia and Clerow at the address...Call Cock too!"
I said.

"Okay Kevin." said Conrad.

(To be continued......)

The Big Dawg!

A few days later ,I was in my office on the computer finishing up my two blog posts and looking at some photos Sean had brought by that were going to be scanned into an article I recently wrote for the magazine when my intercom buzzed.

"What up?" I said.

"Kevin, Mr. Rollie Rollerson is here to see you." came the voice of the receptionist.

"Rollie Rollerson?? The Rollie Rollerson??" I asked.

"That would be he." said the voice.

"Okay...send him in.." I said.

"Oh wow...the big dawg is here to see you personally" laughed Sean.

"Yeah..how about that?" I laughed as Sean walked down the hall.

Rollie Rollerson wasn't a big man in stature. He stood about five foot, nine...weighed little more than say 160-170 pounds.. But the way he carried himself made him look larger than life. He was
well coifed...Fingernails neatly manicured....Wedding band on one hand.. Pinky ring on the other,
Platinum bracelet on both arms...Huge Diamond stud in his left ear.. Dark as Cocoa with a shiny
bald head and a small goateed chin.. He was the big dawg alright. I looked at him and I thought about his now missing wife, Olivia...She had supermodel good looks....The only way a guy like him could have gotten the time of day from a girl like her was by having a big wallet and by being- The Big Dawg!!!

He walked in my office as though he owned it.. I stuck my hand out to shake and he looked at me as if I was dirt and then sat down. He didn't smile and he didn't make any pretension of civility.
He got right to it.

"Kevin...You and that washed up football player friend of yours have been making inquiries into
the recent suicide of yet another washed up football player and I need all of this to cease and desist. Besides....I occassionally read your blogs and your articles in Hype Magazine...a magazine I happen to be on the board of directors of...might I add...and you write very good stuff, stuff a lot more interesting than some old washed up jock's suicide." he said.

"Mr. Rollerson...I mean you no disrespect sir, but why do you care about what I choose to write
about?" I asked..Then his tone got nasty...

"Look nigger, I'm not asking you...I'm telling you..Lay off of this story...you hear?? I better not see a word of this written in your blog or in that magazine ,of which I AM ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS or did I mention that? or-"

"Or you'll what? You can't fire me....you're just on the board of directors...you don't tell anyone
here at this magazine what to write and my blogs have nothing to do with this magazine...I'll write whatever I please..Now do me a favor ,get the hell out of my office...oh and give Olivia my
regards when you see her."

"Nigger, you gon be sorry you crossed me....now I'm telling you ...Leave it alone...it's got nothing to do with you." he bellowed....

I grabbed him in his collar and lifted the little man up off of the floor-

"You know...calling me that name doesn't make you any less of one....it's about time we as Black people evolved..you feel me?" I said.

"Ohhhh, you gonna evolve alright...you'll see..." he said as he pulled away and stormed out of my
office. Everybody saw him storm out and I'm sure they heard him yelling and screaming...I worried about my job....but at the same time..I knew that he was afraid...Afraid of something...and a scared man usually had something to hide..

A few hours later....I was in the parking lot walking towards my car, when I noticed a tall, well
muscled thug like individual standing between me and my car. When I tried to walk around him
he blocked my path. I knew what this was... Before I could do anything ,he slugged me in my stomach...all of the wind went out of me and I felt a pain like I'd never felt before...Then he slugged me in my jaw...I fell up against the car and another man, armed with a baseball bat swung at my head...I ducked just in time...The bat missed my head.....I kicked him hard in the groin.. and he let out a moan and dropped the bat...I spun around and hit the first guy in his jaw, then grabbed him around the collar and slammed his head three hard times into the trunk of my
car, knocking him unconscious....The guy with the baseball bat was headed at me again when he
got punched in the jaw and hit from behind with a peice of plywood..He went down for the count.

Clerow and Cock Robbins had come to my rescue and not a minute too soon!!!

"Sean, called me, told me that you and Rollerson had had it out...I figure he might make some trouble for you...so I called Clerow and got over here as soon as possible." said Cock.

"Thanks guys....Clerow...you got any rope in the trunk of your car.?" I asked...

Clerow smiled- "Whut you up to boy?" I winked.

Sometime that night, I made an anonymous phone call to Rollie Rollerson and in a whisper I told
him...that he should come outside his house... The little man walked outside on his lawn and saw
his two would be muscle guys, bound and gagged and a little note tied next to them that read-

"Come again....I don't get down like that!"

I can imagine him throwing a hissy fit in his front yard, as Clerow ,Cock and I drove off.

The next day, I was called into the Senior Editor's Office and informed that they would no longer
need my services at the Magazine....I wasn't given an explanation..just my severence and told that I had to turn in my keys and that someone would be coming by my house to get my modem
in a few days.

It was Rollerson.....If I hadn't cared about who killed Walt Branson or Olivia's disapearence..I cared now...and I was going to make so much noise...Rollerson and all of Philadelphia was going to hear about it!!

(To Be Continued.........)