5
I pulled a bottle of Seagram’s from beside the wood 6
chest where we played cards. I took a drink from the bot-7
tle and then passed it to Ricky. We never used glasses un-8
less Leonard Butts or Timmy Lee came over to play with 9
us. Clarance, Ricky, and I had drunk from the same bot-10
tle since we were babies in the crib.
11
12
13
We were playing blackjack for pennies and I was up 14
$1.25. That meant I had $15.76 left to my name. One 15
more bottle of whiskey and I’d be flat out of money.
16
“Lemme see some cards,” Clarance hissed off the back 17
end of a deep draught of whiskey.
18
He threw down his three — a heart queen, a deuce, 19
and a trey. Ricky slapped his cards facedown and took the 20
bottle back. I showed two spades, a ten, and an ace.
21
“Shit,” said Clarance. “You got all the luck tonight.”
22
I raked in thirty-seven pennies, thinking about luck 23
and waiting for the bottle.
24
My aunt Peaches would lend me the money to cover 25
the monthly mortgage payment to the bank. I’d bor-26
rowed on the house and Peaches wouldn’t let the property S 27
slip out of family hands. But if I had to go to her, she’d R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
give me all kinds of grief about how I should get a job and 2
how disappointed my father would have been to see me 3
falling apart like I was.
4
I took another draught from the bottle. It felt nice.
5
Good whiskey smoothes out after the third sip. Clears the 6
fuzz from behind your eyeballs and relaxes the spine. I’ve 7
always liked to drink. So did Clarance and Ricky, who we 8
sometimes called Cat.
9
“Wilson Ryder needs a man to help on those new 10
houses he’s putting up,” Ricky said.
11
“Yeah?” I took another drink and realized that I was 12
hoarding the liquor, so I passed it on to Clarance.
