“That all?”
“We surf a little. He can get me in the good clubs and the best tail. Man likes his comfort and fun. Dude! I wouldn’t lie to you!”
“You know more.” Moses kicks the car.
“He’s got something going down on Memorial Day on Monday. Don’t know where, don’t know what. C’mon, man! You’re hurtin’ me!”
Moses releases him and and starts to leave, but then changes his mind and takes the CD out of the stereo and breaks it in half, figuring it’s his good deed of the day, maybe the week.
It’s the next afternoon when he strikes gold.
It’s Memorial Day weekend and Mission Beach is hopping. There’s an estimated crowd of 800,000 people filling the beach, both local and tourist. Moses loves tourists. They always dress wrong for the beach and think just because it’s San Diego it doesn’t get cold. This May weekend is a somewhat cold one as San Diego’s sun takes its rare coffee-and-cigarette break before coming back with a vengeance in the later summer months. Moses likes the kayakers and wannabe surfers best who return to land like they just got back from storming 1944 Normandy; they have this great shell-shocked look on their faces and their eyes are wide and terrified. It’s like
So Moses hears the mugging before he sees it, and only because he catches the name
“Leave the lady alone, Vinnie.”
Vinnie McBride smirks and steps away from the girl and gets close to Moses. They’re about the same build, but Vinnie has size on Moses from steroids and being a gym rat.
“You gonna make me, nigger?”
Vinnie always did have a talent for making situations worse for himself.
“Guess I gotta, Vinnie.” And Moses kicks him in the nuts. It’s a good ball-shot that should have sent the guy clear across the 5 into El Cajon, but he’s a ’roid freak and gets back up and rushes Moses, who dodges just in time and kicks him in the shin. Catching Vinnie as he stumbles, Moses shoves him into the wall and tosses him into a dumpster, slamming the lid shut. Vinnie will be napping for a while.
The racial slur just makes the fight a happier experience for Moses and he likes the location. Alleys are narrow, lots of hard edges, and usually a dumpster to dispose your trash, and the day he can’t take on a street thug like Vinnie is the day he walks off Crystal Pier and drowns himself.
Moses walks over to the girl. She’s about 5'8” with long, messy black hair that looks unwashed and eyes the color of melting butterscotch. She has a heart-shaped mouth and her nose is slightly bent like it’s been broken once or twice in her life. She’s wearing a wrinkled, red summer dress and scuffed sneakers. Moses guesses she’s in her late twenties.
“My name is Moses Johnson. You okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. Not like I haven’t been roughed up before.” He doesn’t like her laugh, it’s too harsh, and he hears it on too many young girls these days. “Thank you though. My name is Hope. I don’t have any money …”
“Money’s not necessary, just doing what was right. Can I buy you an ice cream? I know a place on the boardwalk that makes a mean cheesecake on a stick.”
“I’d like that. Guys usually want to buy me a drink, get me drunk.” She smiles ruefully and smoothes out her dress.
“Doc told me if I kept drinking my liver would mutate into something out of a Godzilla movie that would stomp on the city.”
Hope laughs and it’s a better one with more life to it, and as she calms down he thinks he can hear Texas in her voice. It’s a short walk on the boardwalk from the south end where he lives by the bay, where most people own their condos. It’s more sedate than the north end where all the rentals and college kids live, but close enough that you can always hear the buzz of activity from the beach, Moses’s favorite thing in the whole world is taking Summer to Belmont Park and doing all the games and riding the Giant Dipper.
Moses and Hope arrive at Sweet Treats and he orders them two chocolate-covered cheesecakes on a stick and they sit on a bench along the boardwalk. She licks her cheesecake and her face lights up in pleasure. He wonders when the last time was that she had a hot meal.
“What was that all about?” Moses asks.
“Why should I tell you? How do I know you didn’t just beat up Vinnie so you can bring me back to Teddy yourself to get paid?”
“You don’t know that, it’s true. What I can tell you is that by the look of your dress and hair, you’ve been living in a car for at least a week and haven’t eaten well for a while. That won’t be the last Vinnie you encounter. Whatever you’re running away from, it’s bad. Pretty soon thugs won’t be paid to bring you back, they’ll just shoot you.” Leedom always said that sometimes the hard truth is better with a potential witness or informant.
He can tell she hadn’t considered that. She looks like she’s suffering from exhaustion and stress and can’t think straight. She starts to shake and he steadies her. “What’s so special about Teddy?” she whispers.
“I’ve been looking for Teddy. He owes me and my bosses some money.”
“Teddy owes a lot of people money. He likes to bet. Who do you work for?”
Moses tells her and she blinks in surprise.
“Well, I didn’t know he owed
