To Love And Die In Smackwater ,Part 1

It was the early spring of 1969....I was working in Smackwater. I ran numbers and I helped Jack run his floating crap game. It ran in the upstairs room over his bar, The Liberty Bell on the
corner of Karpis Avenue. I was making pretty good money , both for him and for myself. I had an aqua blue 1970 Cadillac seville. I was wearing a white linen suit, with a Panama Hat and white spats...I was sharp as a tack that spring.

I was downstairs in the bar this particular afternoon. I was sitting at the table with a pitcher of Ice Water, another Pitcher of lemonade and a bottle of Pineapple rum...Just minding my business, when she walked in...She was tan, had on a tight skirt and a body that filled that skirt up ,I tell you...Long pretty hair and a pair of legs to die for.. I watched her pull out a cigarette..and I immediately walked over to her and offered her a light.

"Wow...do you light all of the girl's cigarettes?" she laughed.

"Only the ones that look like you?" I said.

She laughed- "That was cute...best come on line I've heard in awhile....That was original."

"I'm an original." I said.

'What's your name?" she asked.

"William Jenkins." I answered.

"I'm Thelma Louise Stanton." she said.

"Please to make your acquaintance." I said.

She smiled very demurely. I offered her a seat and bought her a drink...A Martini..I sat there and just stared at her.

"Well? Aint you got nothin to say?" she asked.

"I got a lot to say, but I'm just mesmerized by your beauty..I just want to sit here and just stare at you for awhile ." I said.

She sucked her teeth....

"Men!...Where you from? You don't look or sound like a Texan." she said.

"I'm not..I'm from Monroe,Louisiana...I'm here workin wit Jack." I said.

"Oh the card game upstairs?" she said.

"You know about that?" I said.

"Yeah...I know a guy who plays in the game..and judgin from how you dressed..you don't buy
clothes like that tendin bar....I figured you was a playa." she said.

We sat there and drank and talked the rest of the evening and I told her my life story. I remember Jack tappin me on the shoulder and pulling me to the side.

"Hey Willie..a word of advice...I know you, I know what you're thinkin....don't even get your hopes up...She runs with a guy who plays in my game named Burt..Burt Curley....He right upstairs..You don't want his kind of trouble." he said.

"He married to her?" I asked.

"Nah, but he like her." said Jack.

"So, they aint married and they aint even a couple?" I asked

"Nah,but he been tryin to get at her..Been tryin hard." said Jack.

"Sheeeeet...He aint tried hard enough....get out of my way Jack." I said.

"Alright player, I'm just givin a word to the wise...but oh..I forgot who I was talkin to..."
said Jack as I returned to my table.

Within an hour...Thelma Louise and I had left the Liberty Bell, walking hand and hand and had
got in my car and driven to a motel, right outside of town.

I wasted no time getting her out of that dress... and throwing her up against the wall....She looked at my now massive erection and gasped...

"Oh my lawd willie, i'll bet that's some sweet dick..it sho is huge...did I do that?" She laughed..

"Yes indeed." I snickered.

I laid her on the bed and entered her and began stroking furiously...This was in the days before I mastered my "technique" you might say...We were at it for close to two hours....and I was still
going strong when she said...

"Oh Willie...you've got to get up off of mama...my coochie hurts..I can't beleive you haven't come
yet baby." she laughed...She guided me over to the sink and took a wash rag, ran some warm water on it and wiped my still hard and very erect penis down....Then she took me in her mouth
and moved up and down over every inch of me until I exploded with a passion , I had never felt
before in my life.....

"Oh Willie, you got a sweet dick...I knew you would have one..ohhhhhh Willie..I think I'm in love with you." she said...

The next day she must have told several women about her experience with me because when I enetered the bar, several women walked past me, smiled and said-

"ummmm, hmmmm, sweet dick willie huh?"

'Yesss lawd....Sweet Dick Jenkins..."

Even Jack got into the act-

"Ohhh Sweet Dick?" he laughed....

The nickname stuck...From then on, I was Willie "Sweet Dick" Jenkins...and I've carried the nickname ever since.

One guy who wasn't so pleased with me or my nickname was Burt Curley.. He too had heard that I had bedded Thelma Louise and he come lookin for me.

Well, not exactly...He waited until I walked out of the bar and he sucker punched me in the stomach...It hurt like hell and I fell to my knees..Then he kicked me in the face and damn near knocked me back through the door..

"Alright Louisiana...this is a warnin...stay away from Thelma Louise....ya hear?" he said.

I lay on the ground in pain....I was attempting to get up...I looked at him and said...

"You finished wit your speech hayseed? If so , can I hit you back?" I laughed...

He kicked me in my chest and then punched me in my jaw....I grabbed his leg and flipped him
over into the street..When he got up ,I hit him hard in his jaw and spun him around..then I hit him in his stomach,just as hard as he had hit me...I hit him in his face two more times and then caught him flush on his chin...

Burt Curley hit the ground and did not get back up....I had stretched him out!

I was standing , but I was in pain....My face was bleeding.... A crowd had gathered outside...Jack
was shaking his head...

"I told you to leave that gal alone Willie...Now you done gone and beat ut Burt Curley...He aint
gon take this lyin down....and he got a brother that he run with...named Ernest Curley..He's half
crazy....When he find out you beat up his brother..he gon be lookin for you...No gal is worth all that Willie." said Jack.

"He hit me first." was all I could say.

That night...Thelma Louise tending to my wounds in that same motel room and I tended to that body of hers...

"Ohhhhhhh myyy gawdddd...ohhhhh my goodness gracious....I aint never had no man that could
last as long as you, was as long as you...and could make my toes curl like you do...I aint lettin you go sweet dick...you gotta marry me...." she said.

"You serious girl?" I laughed...

"Hell yeah I am." she laughed...

So just like that...We got in my car and drove halfway across the country to Las Vegas....yes we
did...Didn't say a word to Jack or nobody ,drove from Texas to Nevada and got married.. I know
it was crazy....but that was what we did...We didn't even know each other..We were just two young and horny Black kids...

These would be the best days of our lives....Unfortunately..Burt Curley wasn't through with either one of us yet!

(To Be Continued....)

Smackwater

I parked my car right outside the small Motel...I read the sign that said -"Smackwater, Texas, 25 miles." and sighed....It had been close to forty years since I'd set foot in this town. I had vowed never to return to it again. I don't know why I drove to it now. I was supposed to be on my way to Philadelphia PA. to see my daughters, Victoria, Mabel, Cora beth and Anita. They had all found their way there.. I was not only surprising them by coming to see them for the Christmas Holidays, but also to tell them that they had a new step-mother. I had finnally married Georgia Ray..It was my third wife...They say the third time is the charm...We would see.

Me? My name is William "Sweet Dick" Jenkins, outta Louisiana.. I didn't marry Victoria's mama..but I wanted to....I stayed with her until Victoria was two....then I moved on to another town, Monroe and married another woman... Mary... Mary and I had two daughters...Mabel and Corabeth.....I was too traumatized to be a good husband or father for that matter and so when Corabeth was four and Mabel was six...Mary and I seperated and ultimately divorced. I moved on to yet another town and met another gal, Louise....Louise and I had Anita...my baby girl. I didn't even know about Anita...I must have left Louise with a bun in the oven. Anyway, Anita found me and I introduced her to her Half sisters, Victoria, Mabel and Corrie....

They are all in Philly and from what I hear, they done started a business...Mabel always could cook and out of all my girls...she probably has the best head for business..She just like her daddy!
They all doin well.. Corrie is married ,to that fish eyed Clerow and they got a little girl...Mabel livin with some musician....Ah gotta talk to her about that when I get there and Victoria divorced that lecherous Pastor John Struthers and married the deacon....Somebody gonna have to explain to me how THAT happened!

Anyways...I come back here for a reason....Since I'm married again...and I want this one to work..I gotta come back here..back where my first wife and I met and where my heart got broken in one horrible moment of violence.

My new ,Georgia Ray was sleeping in the car silently..We had been married for two weeks. We had gone to Biloxi,Missisippi and had a high old time...Gambling, Hanging out on the beaches, drinking and eating and enjoying each other in the hotel room...

"Oh Willie...Willie...Why do they call you "Sweet Dick"? she said one night during our lovemaking. I didn't answer her. I couldn't, but while I was lying in bed that night ,sweating and exhausted afterwords...I knew that I had to come back here....Smackwater and exorcize some old demons.

"Georgia Ray....Georgia Ray...Wake up baby..we here." I said.

"Oh....uh....oh...Is this the place?" she said.

"It's a motel...We gon stay here for just a night, then we gon get on the plane in San-Antonio
and head to Philly." I said.

"Oh my God, this place is a dump." she said.

I couldn't argue with her there.

'Well, this here is a clean room, with a clean bed....Here's some money, there's a couple of stores
around here...get us a couple of Fried Chicken dinners and some Sweet Teas and go back to the room and wait for me...I'll be back shortly." I said.

"Sweet Dick honey...why we even here?" she asked.

"Because I got business to tend to." I said.

She didn't argue...she knew that at this point it was pointless. She took the money I gave her and got the key to our room and took the bags in. I got in the car and drove further into town.
It was there that I found an old rooming house. Couldn't beleive that after forty years ,not only was it still standing...but it didn't look like a bit of work had been done on it.

I walked over to the all but familiar door...I heard the sound of men cursing and laughing .....I could smell beer and whiskey as well as barbecue chicken, ribs and fried fish...I knocked on the door.

It took a few minutes..but he came to the door...Laughing Jack. Laughing Jack had owned a bar
and grill here at one time....and had run an illegal card game that brought in tons of money. He was a big time baller back then. I heard he had been busted, had did some time in prison and had lost his bar. He still kept the card games going as I could see. He came to the door, took one look at me and smirked...

"I can't beleive it....Didn't think I'd ever see the likes of you again.." he said.

"I had to come back...you know why." I said.

"Heard you done had a mess of kids..all over Louisiana...Apparently ,you didn't learn nothin did you Sweet Dick?"he said.

"I know all of my kids and they all doing fine. In fact ,I'm headed up north to see em ,introduce em to they new step mother." I said proudly.

Jack smiled, then he frowned.

"You mean you got married again...after what happened here...You said you wasn't never gonna
marry again." he said.

"Hey Jack come on...it's your hand." came a voice from the room.

"It's been forty years Jack....I'm not the same....I've moved on." I said.

"Yeah, then why you back here? Why you come back here Sweet Dick?" he said.

"Because I have to see her one last time......you have to take me to her grave.....then ,I can move on." I said.

"You know Burt is still alive....He aint forgot..." said Jack.

"I aint worried about Burt...He ought not to have forgotten." I said.

Burt Curly had been responsible for my pain and anguish...He had killed my wife and I had nearly killed him... I didn't care to see him, but I wasn't afraid to see him either. See,I come packin..just like I did back in the day....

"Okay, look Sweet Dick....where you stayin? " he asked.

I wrote my address down on a peice of paper and gave it to him.

"Okay man, let me finish this hand and I'll stop by, meet your new wife and I'll take you to her
grave site....Then will you promise me that you'll leave Smackwater and never return?" said Jack.

"Sho Jack...anything you say." I laughed.


(To Be Continued.....)

Mirror

I

have to look in the mirror

and ask myself honestly

if when I look in the mirror

do I really like the person I see?

And after all of this time am I really

the human being I started out to be..

I have to look in the mirror./

I

watch you sleeping next to me

I watch you sleeping so peacefully

and as the sunrise hearlds a brand new day

I look in the mirror,waiting for it to say

who am I...Who am I today?/

But the mirror can't tell me

it can only show me

the man I've come to be-

the mirror can't change me,

nor re-arrange my destiny...

no, it can't answer questions for me./

Yet

I watch you sleeping next to me

sleeping so peacefully

and as the sunrise heralds a brand new day

I look for that mirror hoping it will say

this is who you are...

This is where you are today./

I look for that face in the mirror

and whether I accept it or not..

Life is a question of whether I

I'll continue to grow or not...

and long story short...

that face in the mirror is all I've got.../

The mirror can't tell me

it can only show me

the man that I've come to be..

it can't show me my future

or replay my history...

it can only show me , me..../

How Many Times

How Many Times are you gonna let

opportunity slip away?

Oh Girl, you should know by now..

how many excuses are you going to make?

And how much longer will I have to wait?/

I've waited for your call

but you don't call at all..

I've called you on the phone

but your room mate said that you weren't home.

or you've told me

you just feel like being alone./

You'd think I'd take a hint..

after all, there is gold in another mint

but the longing in your eyes

shows me the hurt and pain you don't realize..

the procrastination that paralyzes./

How many times

How many times are you gonna break my heart?

when girl you should know by now..

how many times are we gonna stop before we start?

you've got me in a daze..

how many times and how many ways?/

You say that although I treat you right

ThatI'm just not your type

But who is your "type"

The kind that leaves you wanting more,

after a night?/

How many times are you gonna do this to me

baby?

when you oughta know better by now?/

Trust Me (This is Love)

My attention span starts to wander
daydreaming about you
and at times I find my adrenalin over loading..
now what am I to do?/

I've had this feeling before
so many knocks on the wrong door
So I asked my heart to be my guide
and my heart pulled me to the side../

My Heart said
"trust me, this is love"
This time it's love
This is the woman you've been dreaming of..
This time it's real...
and although you've been down a wrong path
a time or two..
Trust me when I tell you that she's the one for you...
This time she's real../

You seem grounded in reality
I don't blame you for being a little wary of a guy
like me..
I know that you've been around the block
maybe a time or two..
Not easily fooled by everything a guy says to you../

There is a look in your eye that asks what's the deal?
you want to know if I'm just playin
or if I'm in fact for real..
Consult your heart and I hope it helps you to see
that this time the right man for you....
is the one in front of you ,for you to see.../

I hope your heart says
"trust me this is love
this guy is for real...
this is the guy you've been dreaming of...
trust how you feel...
and although you've made a few missteps down love's
road before...
try this one this time...try this once more...
Trust me....This is love..../

My heart is telling me...

"trust me, this is love"
This time it's love
This is the woman you've been dreaming of..
This time it's real...
and although you've been down a wrong path
a time or two..
Trust me when I tell you that she's the one for you...
This time she's real../

I'll Stand By You

"Ohhhhh,Look who it is...The married man!" laughed Chris Thompson as I walked into the diner.
He was sitting at the table with Donald Smooth and Fathead Newton...They both laughed and pounded me on the back as I joined them.

"Hey Chess, looks like our boy really enjoyed the sun and fun in Jamaica." laughed Fathead..

"Hey Chess, did you even make it to the beach?" Laughed Donald Smooth, who playfully punched me on the arm...

"Okay guys...let the man sit down.....breakfast is on me." said Chris as I sat down in my usual spot.

Rell and I were finnally husband and wife and after a month long honeymoon in Jamaica, we were finnally back in Philadelphia...I wouldn't admit it to the guys, but I didn't think about them or the streets not once while I had been away...I relaxed...enjoyed myself and my new bride.

"So...How's everything been since I left?" I asked.

"It's been quiet....Business has been good....Our little investment, Mable Jenkin's joint has been pullin in the dough and our other thing ....the card game has been making money hand over foot.
Victor Diaz hasn't gone to trial yet and we still up and running in one of his warehouses..Everything is good Chess." said Chris.

I noticed her out of the corner of my eye at first.....then soon ,I noticed her fully. She was a short
little thing...She had had an awesome body at one time and had been quite pretty...She still was somewhat of a looker...yet time ,bad men and drugs had robbed a lot of her beauty from her.

"Charlie? Charles Parker...Is that you?" she said. Nobody had called me by my given name since I'd been in school, grade school. Even my college professors called me "Chess" I knew this was someone from my past.

"Angie...Angelita Rose right? From Elementary school!!" I said.

"Oh my god....Chess, that is you...and is that Chris? Christopher Thompson?" she said. Chris cringed at hearing his government name...I supressed a smile just looking at him. He only nodded ,but he didn't speak. He knew who she was...

"I've been looking for you for awhile....I heard I could find you around here...." she said.

"Yeah...this is where I eat breakfast." I said.

"Heard you finished school, went to college and that now you married.....Wow, you really did well for yourself." she exclaimed.

"Wow, you've really been following me." I laughed, knowing that a pitch was going to be made for money at some point.

"So Angie, what have you been doin all these years?" I asked ,trying to avoid the inevitable.

She held her head down and then said...

"Me? I been having babies...I got four kids....Three of em are in foster homes....but this last one, this last one is special..I got her with me....That's what I come here for...I need a favor Chess...and you the only one from the old neighborhood who I could think of that might help me..
I know you got a good heart."

"How much you need Angie?" I said.

"Nah Chess..it aint like that...I don't need no money....well ah do..but that aint what I come here
for....I need you to do something for the Father of my youngest baby girl." she said.

"Huh, what? " I said.

"See,it's complicated...he dead and he needs to be put away proper ." she said.

"What are you talking about Angie?" said Chris uttering the first words from his mouth,since she had come in the diner.

"See,yall might know my baby daddy...he was one of yall...Ever hear of Sonny Templeton?" she
said.

Heads turned...Fathead,Donald Smooth, Chris and I all knew who he was. A high profile hitman at one time. An oldhead...who lost his edge and his skills behind drugs, booze and bad women...Who tried to redeem himself by going out on one last mission with that demon spawn,Malik Lockjohn. My boy Kevin Morris had ended his and Malik Lockjohn's careers several months ago.

"Sonny Templeton? That old bust out was old enough to be your father." I said.

"Old enough to be her grandfather." laughed Fathead.

"I know...I know....but I needed money and he needed a place to rest his head. It was my living room sofa at first and then it became my bed...and before long ,I was pregnant with his daughter. He was a bad man,I know....I know he killed a lot of people, but he was a human being too..he had feelings...He loved his daughter...She probably was the one person he loved above most." said Angie.

"How old is the girl?" I asked.

"She's three.....She loved her daddy....and beleive me ,he loved her. Long story short..He's laying up there in county....been laying in that morgue since August...I don't have money to bury him..It's December Chess...it's about to get cold...Man deserve a decent burial...He shouldn't be laying out in the cold." she said.

"Angie...I barely knew the guy and he wasn't my friend, beleive that....Don't he have any people?" I asked.

"He has a cousin from Georgia named John Templeton. I called him, told him that Sonny had been killed and he came up here on the train the next week. He stayed at my place, ate my food,
helped himself to me a couple of times and then went over to the morgue...When they told him how much a funeral would cost he said that he and Sonny weren't that close and he left..went on back to Georgia." She said.

Chris ,Donald and Fathead were laughing silently at her story...I could tell that none of them was about to help her...Still, she was a friend of mine from the old neighborhood and from as far back as elementary school...and this meant something to her and her daughter. I took her to the side.

"I got an office over at that Gym and Juice Bar a few blocks from here...Stop by at four thirty...
I'll see what I can do." I said. She hugged me....She smelled like cigarettes and stale beer...

"Thanks Chess...I knew I could count on you." she said.

After she left...Chris looked at me , then asked me-

"You gonna lend her money to bury that bust out?"

"It aint for Sonny...I could care less about him....it's for Angie and her daughter.....somehow I feel
like they both need something good, just one thing good to happen for them." I said.

"You're a good man Chess, you got a good heart." said Chris.

I met Angelita Rose and her adorable little three year old daughter, Chloe at My Gym and juice bar...We got in my car and drove over to the morgue...They sat in the car. I had called a funeral
director and was waiting for him to get there with a hearse....There to my horror was the nearly
mummified body of one Charles "Sonny" Templeton...Contract Killer...His head was a mangled
mess and his skin was now blue...I didn't recognize him.....It was a horrible sight. When the Funeral director, a white man named ironically, Sonny Stein got there and saw the body, even he jumped...

"Oh my God..." he said and ran ,grabbed a trash recepticle and vomited.....I shook my head ,wondering if I had made a mistake in contacting him.

"Don't worry Chess.....I-I-I can-can-can -handle-handle-handle this." he said.

A stuttering Funeral Director , who vomits at the sight of a dead body.....I couldn't beleive it!

A week later, Angelita ,Chloe and I stood in the cemetary with the casket bearing Sonny Templeton's remains... There was no way there could be an open casket funeral. Once it was discovered just who Sonny Templeton was...Every church in Philadelphia turned me down for having his funeral there. We were forced to have his "memorial service" in the cemetary.

Pastor John Struthers reluctantly agreed to say a few words over the casket before it was lowered into the ground.

"My brother and my sister..uh...er....Oh look,let's cut the crap...This man didn't come to church
a day in his life and was probably responsible for more funerals than a little bit and is very likely in hell right now, having a cup of coffee with the devil..." he said.

"PASTOR!!!!!!" yelled Deacon Larry Weatherford.

"Oh...oh..oh..yes...,er,uh..well....what I mean to say is that ,every man must meet his maker or someone on that day of reckoning...are you ready to meet yours? The doors of the church are now opened..."

"Pastor ,we aint in the church....we in the rain...it's starting to rain...." said the Deacon.

"Yes...it is.....May the grace of our lord and savior be with you, cause they sho wasn't with this fella..Come on Deacon,let's get the hell out of here." he said.

Deacon Weatherford shrugged his shoulders....I held my head down....in both shame and embarrassment. This was the best I could do.....Angelita Rose hugged me. She had cleaned up well...She had on a nice form fitting Black dress that hugged her curves. She had her hair done and some make up and she came close to resembling the looker she had once been. Little Chloe
was dressed exactly like her mother and held on to her mothers hand as I led them to my car.

"Thank You Chess....Thanks for everything." she said.

"Angelita,I wish I could have done.....well better." I said.

She put her hand to my cheek-

'It's okay...he wasn't the best man...but he was a good father to this little girl..He did love one human being in this life and I guess for that,he deserved to have just a little dignity...I didn't want to see him buried in a potters field or carved up by medical students." she said.

I said nothing....

"You still play chess?" she asked.

"Yes, I do." I said.

"I remember when we were kids how proud your dad was of you and how he dragged you to all of those tournaments..." she said.

She had a good memory.

"I play too." she said.

"For real?"

"Yeah....I learned from my second baby's daddy...and he learned when he was in the joint."she said.

"Oh." I said.

"Maybe we'll play sometime" she said....

"Yeah,maybe" I said as we got in my car and I drove out of the cemetary... I hadn't noticed that
it was raining....hadn't noticed that it was unseasonably warm for a December day either.
I did however notice the rainbow and the beautiful mid day sky as I drove out though.


(For Little Willie)