Chapter 3 - It's all coming together
He climbed back into the crappy car he drove for this crappy job and figured he'd had it. The job was just a sham anyway. They had all gotten part time crappy jobs to lend an air of respectability to their house but they didn't need the money and it wasn't worth the aggravation. Driving this crappy car around and putting his life on the line to deliver pizzas. Fuck. If they needed more money then they could deliver pizzas. He was out. Now to go back to the pizza place, tell them he was robbed and quit.
He went to the pizza store and told them to find a new driver, no way was he ever doing that again after being held up at gunpoint. He had known better then to go down there at night. He only did it because he didn't know how to get out of it without quitting and at the time he hadn't wanted to quit. But damn it, he was the only one on his team above carrying heat of his own. If it had been any of the other guys they would have pulled out a gun of their own and kept their money. That done he headed back to the house in his own car. His baby. Nothing crappy about her. She was a big marvelous piece of Japanese engineering. He belonged driving her, not some crappy domestic shit box.
He headed back to his house, to tell the team he had no intention of working anywhere but the shop ever again. He walked in the house and found Dom, who was like the leader of their team. He told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn't doing it again and they could dream on if they thought different. He told Dom all about how he had been robbed at gunpoint because the damn kid manager had told him that he had to deliver to that crappy neighbourhood even when he refused to go. Dom wanted to know what the people who had done it looked like.
Pizza boy told him one had been about 6'2" and built, that was the guy who had the gun. The second one who took his money had been taller, not much, but taller, and build like an athlete. Lean and mean. Then the third guy, who hadn't done much of anything but look menacing had been 'bout 6' even and had much the same build as the second guy. Then pizza boy started to talk about the forth guy. He told Dom he couldn't shake the fact that the fourth one had been a girl. Dom laughed. Then he noticed that his friend was serious. Dom asked him how he came to the conclusion it was a female.
Pizza boy told him he just had a feeling, that even in those baggie boy's pants that ass had been too soft, and too round to belong to a man. And she had only been about 5' 8" or so and very slight of build. Plus the way the guys looked for her, to protect her. It was fairly obvious to Dom that his friend was sure it had been a girl. Well that should make it easy for Brian to have some of his police friends track them down. How many groups of 3 thugs and a white girl could there be in that area.
The three Clyde's and Bonnie met back at the house, all four were sure the guy hadn't followed them. They were out of breath but laughing about the caper they just pulled. It had gone better then Kat had even foreseen. It had been so easy, almost too easy. But they were sure the guy didn't follow and no one told stories in this neighbourhood.
Kat took the first piece of pizza and stuffed her face, then with her mouth full asked Kale,
"How much'd we get?" Kale was busy counting it.
"Not too shabby, we got about 200 bucks." Kale answered her.
"Well that'll turn the electricity back on for a few months and buy some food. That's awesome. But now we gotta figure how we're getting the money to get my car back on the road. You all know the only permanent way to get out of this situation is to get me racing again, my pit crew." She giggled. Everyone was in high sprits now that they had all stuffed themselves full of pizza. There was even one left over when they were all done. She put it in the fridge, even though it didn't work it would keep the bugs out of it so they could eat it the next day.
"We could pull this job again. It worked well enough." Stacy was a fan of easy money and if this had been any easier then it would have been laughable. "Did you see the look on the white boy's face? I think he shitted in his pants." Stacy doubled over laughing.
"Stacy as easy as this was, it didn't make enough to fix the car and we can't do it again and again cause they are going to pinpoint our location if we do it too much. Plus do you think very many pizza boys are going to come around here now that that one is going to go running his mouth about how 4 guys robbed him at gun point? I think now that we have some money one of us is gonna have to get cleaned up and get a job. I think that someone is me." She felt like she was the one who would find something the easiest. She could wait tables or clean motel rooms. It would all be easier if she had the car running. She would have to be able to walk or take the bus in a reasonable amount of time.
Sean spoke up. "I can make us some money quick, you know I can Kitten."
"Sean, not if it means going back to selling drugs you can't."
"Kitten, you can't have morals against selling drugs when you just robbed a guy at gunpoint."
"That's not the point Sean and you know it. If you start dealing again then there's a good chance you'll start using again and we don't need that, you don't need that. You almost died." Her voice dropped down low and her eyes teared, thinking of when Sean overdosed and they almost lost him.
"I can deal and stay clean Kitten, I learned my lesson."
"I don't want some other friend to go through what we did Sean. Robbing the guy was one thing, I mean he's scared and he doesn't come down into south central anymore, big deal. Selling drugs to people is like stealing their lives. We may as well just shoot them and take their money. I mean, what if someone you sold drugs to died because of it. I couldn't live with myself knowing that we sold drugs to people to finance my car and then some mother got told her son was dead or somethin'."
"You're right Kitten, but damn, the money's good and we could have enough in two days to fix the car. I mean no one dies off weed. I could just sell weed right?"
"No drug trafficking. I'm gettin' a job where I make minimum and I'll skim off the top of the register if I can, ok? If you all wanna get some sort of legit jobs or even run interference for some of the guys around then that's fine, but no drugs. We in agreement?" She met three pairs of brown to the point of being black eyes with her own wide green gaze.
"No drugs," they all answered. Stacy and Kale knew a guy who always needed help collecting on his debts. He paid in cash, a percentage of how much you collected for him. He was very, how did they put this, mafia, but they had worked for him before with no trouble. They looked at each other and they knew what the other was thinking with that one glace. They knew they would do it and they knew they would not tell Kat. She'd worry.
Kat knew they were up to something but she didn't want to know what. She knew that they were big boys and had been doing this sort of thing long before they met her. They could take care of themselves but she still worried. They were all the family she had. She called them all her brothers and she didn't mean in that way that every black man was a brotha' either. She knew she was white but she guessed she was what would be derogatorily called a wigger. She was white but she felt black and she acted like she had been raised right along side these guys in the 'hood. She fit in enough that most people on their block didn't mess with her or bother her the way they would normally have done with a white girl living in this area. She wasn't the only one but there weren't a lot of them. Plus most of the block, and the whole area still feared the guys. They had been scary before the four of them went mostly legit.
"Well, I'll go get the juice turned back on in the morning guys, and then go looken' for job. You all can do the same, try to find somethin' to make some money. I mean we're not all getting to races in my car, once it's fixed, so we need some kinda car for the other two of you to ride in. Maybe a Civic at first then somethin' better." Kat went over to her mattress and lay down. The place was just one big room with a small kitchen and bathroom attached and they all slept in the one room on basically bare mattresses on the floor. Kale blew out the candles and they all went to sleep.
Kat woke up at 8:30 the next day and ate a piece of pizza for breakfast. Then she got ready to head downtown. She let the guys sleep. She knew without asking the kind of work they were gonna get wouldn't be in big demand till after lunch. Well Sean could work at a garage, if he could find a job in one. He was the only real mechanic among them, the rest just grew up knowing cars. She got dressed and brushed her teeth. She had to do something semi respectable with her hair.
She brushed it all out then put it in cornrows just across the top and sides of her head and then left it long in the back. It was off her face and looked semi tidy. If she just brushed it, it wasn't flat and fine it was kind of messy, like she crimped it but she never did. She could smooth it out if she felt like it but she liked it the way it was for now. She loved her hair but understood it wasn't a plus if she was looking for a job in the food service industry. She finished getting dressed in low rise flare jeans and a black tee shirt. She didn't plan on getting any interviews today, just hitting the government job listing.
She walked out of the bathroom and saw that Sean was awake. She waved at him as she headed to the door and he got up and walked to the door behind her. Sean and she were tighter then she was with the others. She had dated him for awhile but it hadn't worked out. They were too close, like siblings for a sexual relationship to work. Thank god they had figured that out before they had sex and messed up their friendship. For all the hardships they had been through she still felt she was one of the luckiest people around that she had three such great friends.
"Kitten, you be careful, and come strait home if anything seems strange to you. I don't want you taken a job at any business in this part of town either. You ride the bus to a nicer part of town to look for work." Sean knew that the influence that he and Kale and Stacy had would only take her so far and that she wouldn't be safe in a lot of the local businesses. There was too much prostitution and drug use and selling around here.
"I'll be fine Sean. I'm going to the electric company and then to the job bank. I'll come home for supper. One of you guys might want to try to get some food stamps if you get time. I hear if you give them a sad story about how the county is already paying the rent they'll give you enough for a month. Worth a shot. The more money we don't spend on food the more to put into the car."
"I'll do that. I got a lead on a mechanics position down the block. Bein' a local boy might help me out this time. Be careful Kitten."
He climbed back into the crappy car he drove for this crappy job and figured he'd had it. The job was just a sham anyway. They had all gotten part time crappy jobs to lend an air of respectability to their house but they didn't need the money and it wasn't worth the aggravation. Driving this crappy car around and putting his life on the line to deliver pizzas. Fuck. If they needed more money then they could deliver pizzas. He was out. Now to go back to the pizza place, tell them he was robbed and quit.
He went to the pizza store and told them to find a new driver, no way was he ever doing that again after being held up at gunpoint. He had known better then to go down there at night. He only did it because he didn't know how to get out of it without quitting and at the time he hadn't wanted to quit. But damn it, he was the only one on his team above carrying heat of his own. If it had been any of the other guys they would have pulled out a gun of their own and kept their money. That done he headed back to the house in his own car. His baby. Nothing crappy about her. She was a big marvelous piece of Japanese engineering. He belonged driving her, not some crappy domestic shit box.
He headed back to his house, to tell the team he had no intention of working anywhere but the shop ever again. He walked in the house and found Dom, who was like the leader of their team. He told him in no uncertain terms that he wasn't doing it again and they could dream on if they thought different. He told Dom all about how he had been robbed at gunpoint because the damn kid manager had told him that he had to deliver to that crappy neighbourhood even when he refused to go. Dom wanted to know what the people who had done it looked like.
Pizza boy told him one had been about 6'2" and built, that was the guy who had the gun. The second one who took his money had been taller, not much, but taller, and build like an athlete. Lean and mean. Then the third guy, who hadn't done much of anything but look menacing had been 'bout 6' even and had much the same build as the second guy. Then pizza boy started to talk about the forth guy. He told Dom he couldn't shake the fact that the fourth one had been a girl. Dom laughed. Then he noticed that his friend was serious. Dom asked him how he came to the conclusion it was a female.
Pizza boy told him he just had a feeling, that even in those baggie boy's pants that ass had been too soft, and too round to belong to a man. And she had only been about 5' 8" or so and very slight of build. Plus the way the guys looked for her, to protect her. It was fairly obvious to Dom that his friend was sure it had been a girl. Well that should make it easy for Brian to have some of his police friends track them down. How many groups of 3 thugs and a white girl could there be in that area.
The three Clyde's and Bonnie met back at the house, all four were sure the guy hadn't followed them. They were out of breath but laughing about the caper they just pulled. It had gone better then Kat had even foreseen. It had been so easy, almost too easy. But they were sure the guy didn't follow and no one told stories in this neighbourhood.
Kat took the first piece of pizza and stuffed her face, then with her mouth full asked Kale,
"How much'd we get?" Kale was busy counting it.
"Not too shabby, we got about 200 bucks." Kale answered her.
"Well that'll turn the electricity back on for a few months and buy some food. That's awesome. But now we gotta figure how we're getting the money to get my car back on the road. You all know the only permanent way to get out of this situation is to get me racing again, my pit crew." She giggled. Everyone was in high sprits now that they had all stuffed themselves full of pizza. There was even one left over when they were all done. She put it in the fridge, even though it didn't work it would keep the bugs out of it so they could eat it the next day.
"We could pull this job again. It worked well enough." Stacy was a fan of easy money and if this had been any easier then it would have been laughable. "Did you see the look on the white boy's face? I think he shitted in his pants." Stacy doubled over laughing.
"Stacy as easy as this was, it didn't make enough to fix the car and we can't do it again and again cause they are going to pinpoint our location if we do it too much. Plus do you think very many pizza boys are going to come around here now that that one is going to go running his mouth about how 4 guys robbed him at gun point? I think now that we have some money one of us is gonna have to get cleaned up and get a job. I think that someone is me." She felt like she was the one who would find something the easiest. She could wait tables or clean motel rooms. It would all be easier if she had the car running. She would have to be able to walk or take the bus in a reasonable amount of time.
Sean spoke up. "I can make us some money quick, you know I can Kitten."
"Sean, not if it means going back to selling drugs you can't."
"Kitten, you can't have morals against selling drugs when you just robbed a guy at gunpoint."
"That's not the point Sean and you know it. If you start dealing again then there's a good chance you'll start using again and we don't need that, you don't need that. You almost died." Her voice dropped down low and her eyes teared, thinking of when Sean overdosed and they almost lost him.
"I can deal and stay clean Kitten, I learned my lesson."
"I don't want some other friend to go through what we did Sean. Robbing the guy was one thing, I mean he's scared and he doesn't come down into south central anymore, big deal. Selling drugs to people is like stealing their lives. We may as well just shoot them and take their money. I mean, what if someone you sold drugs to died because of it. I couldn't live with myself knowing that we sold drugs to people to finance my car and then some mother got told her son was dead or somethin'."
"You're right Kitten, but damn, the money's good and we could have enough in two days to fix the car. I mean no one dies off weed. I could just sell weed right?"
"No drug trafficking. I'm gettin' a job where I make minimum and I'll skim off the top of the register if I can, ok? If you all wanna get some sort of legit jobs or even run interference for some of the guys around then that's fine, but no drugs. We in agreement?" She met three pairs of brown to the point of being black eyes with her own wide green gaze.
"No drugs," they all answered. Stacy and Kale knew a guy who always needed help collecting on his debts. He paid in cash, a percentage of how much you collected for him. He was very, how did they put this, mafia, but they had worked for him before with no trouble. They looked at each other and they knew what the other was thinking with that one glace. They knew they would do it and they knew they would not tell Kat. She'd worry.
Kat knew they were up to something but she didn't want to know what. She knew that they were big boys and had been doing this sort of thing long before they met her. They could take care of themselves but she still worried. They were all the family she had. She called them all her brothers and she didn't mean in that way that every black man was a brotha' either. She knew she was white but she guessed she was what would be derogatorily called a wigger. She was white but she felt black and she acted like she had been raised right along side these guys in the 'hood. She fit in enough that most people on their block didn't mess with her or bother her the way they would normally have done with a white girl living in this area. She wasn't the only one but there weren't a lot of them. Plus most of the block, and the whole area still feared the guys. They had been scary before the four of them went mostly legit.
"Well, I'll go get the juice turned back on in the morning guys, and then go looken' for job. You all can do the same, try to find somethin' to make some money. I mean we're not all getting to races in my car, once it's fixed, so we need some kinda car for the other two of you to ride in. Maybe a Civic at first then somethin' better." Kat went over to her mattress and lay down. The place was just one big room with a small kitchen and bathroom attached and they all slept in the one room on basically bare mattresses on the floor. Kale blew out the candles and they all went to sleep.
Kat woke up at 8:30 the next day and ate a piece of pizza for breakfast. Then she got ready to head downtown. She let the guys sleep. She knew without asking the kind of work they were gonna get wouldn't be in big demand till after lunch. Well Sean could work at a garage, if he could find a job in one. He was the only real mechanic among them, the rest just grew up knowing cars. She got dressed and brushed her teeth. She had to do something semi respectable with her hair.
She brushed it all out then put it in cornrows just across the top and sides of her head and then left it long in the back. It was off her face and looked semi tidy. If she just brushed it, it wasn't flat and fine it was kind of messy, like she crimped it but she never did. She could smooth it out if she felt like it but she liked it the way it was for now. She loved her hair but understood it wasn't a plus if she was looking for a job in the food service industry. She finished getting dressed in low rise flare jeans and a black tee shirt. She didn't plan on getting any interviews today, just hitting the government job listing.
She walked out of the bathroom and saw that Sean was awake. She waved at him as she headed to the door and he got up and walked to the door behind her. Sean and she were tighter then she was with the others. She had dated him for awhile but it hadn't worked out. They were too close, like siblings for a sexual relationship to work. Thank god they had figured that out before they had sex and messed up their friendship. For all the hardships they had been through she still felt she was one of the luckiest people around that she had three such great friends.
"Kitten, you be careful, and come strait home if anything seems strange to you. I don't want you taken a job at any business in this part of town either. You ride the bus to a nicer part of town to look for work." Sean knew that the influence that he and Kale and Stacy had would only take her so far and that she wouldn't be safe in a lot of the local businesses. There was too much prostitution and drug use and selling around here.
"I'll be fine Sean. I'm going to the electric company and then to the job bank. I'll come home for supper. One of you guys might want to try to get some food stamps if you get time. I hear if you give them a sad story about how the county is already paying the rent they'll give you enough for a month. Worth a shot. The more money we don't spend on food the more to put into the car."
"I'll do that. I got a lead on a mechanics position down the block. Bein' a local boy might help me out this time. Be careful Kitten."