damage that Harold’s gun had done from ten feet away. The key to Jewelle’s glove compartment was in my stomach and even if it weren’t, she and her .45 were many miles away. I was unarmed and my door was open. I couldn’t remember if I had left it that way or if Harold had shot me before I’d unlocked it.
I couldn’t run because of my wounds. I should have shuffled off but I didn’t. Instead I jumped through the doorway and yelled.
Mouse looked up from my chair. He had his feet on the tabledesk, leaning back against the windowsill. He smiled when he saw me.
“Hey, Ease,” he said. “How you doin’?”
I sighed but said nothing. I just walked to the visitor’s chair and sat down with my wounded leg out straight in front of me.
“I saw Benita,” Mouse said. “She was at the hospital with Bonnie and them.”
I nodded and wondered where I could find Harold.
“She told me that she almost did herself in, that you busted down her door and took her to the hospital.”
“Was my door open when you got here, Ray?”
“Naw. I jimmied it. I figured it didn’t matter ’cause it was already fucked up from that gunfire.”
“How long you been here?”
Raymond shook his head and pointed his gray eyes at the ceiling. “Couple’a hours. More.”
“What you want?” I asked.
“You saved her life, Easy. Here I fucked around and almost got the girl killed but you showed up. There you were and now Benita got a new chance. That ain’t half bad. I just wanted to tell you.”
I noticed that Jackson’s tape had moved. Between the desk and the back of my chair I was able to press myself into a standing position. I turned the arrow switch to “rewind” and then I switched it to “play.”
“Easy, are you there?” Bonnie’s worried voice asked. “The hospital called and said that you checked out without paying your bill. I’m calling everyone to find you. Raymond said that he’d look for you and if you called and had trouble, he said to leave a message with EttaMae.”
“Where are you, Mr. Rawlins?” Juanda said then. “I been waitin’ for you to call me. I wanna see you real bad.”
Mouse’s eyes lit up at Juanda’s tone. He gave me a look that almost made me laugh but I was knee-deep in dead black women. From where I stood laughter was a sin.
“Mr. Rawlings? Are you there?” a timid woman’s voice asked. If I didn’t know better I would have said that it was a slender child talking. But I did know better.
“I need you to come over here, Mr. Rawlings. It’s Honey May. I think you might wanna hear what I got to say.”
Jackson left me a message and so did Jewelle. Both of them were thanking me.
I picked up the phone and called Bonnie.
“Hello,” a musical male Spanish voice answered.
“Hey, Juice. How you doin’, boy?”
“Daddy,” he said.
That one word called up a deep emotion in me. Jesus hadn’t called me daddy since we were alone with no Feather or Bonnie or nice house in West L.A. He was my baby boy again and it hurt me that I’d put him through so much pain.
“I’m okay, Juice. Just had to do a thing or two before getting to you.”
“Where are you?”
“At the office with Raymond. He’s gonna help me close out my business and then you and me and Bonnie and your sister are all going to San Francisco for a vacation like we used to do a long time ago.”
“Okay,” the boy said. “But you’re okay?”
“Those bullets just stung.”
Feather stayed on the phone with me for ten minutes asking about my leg and my arm and my fingers one at a time. She knew each wound and wanted to know what they looked like and how they felt.
Bonnie didn’t speak many words. She was waiting for me. That’s all I needed to know.
“Baby,” she said. “Benita wants to say hi.”
“Mr. Rawlins?” Benita said. She never called me Easy again. “I just wanted to say that I know you’re busy and I’m sorry that you got shot. And thank you so much for takin’ the time to help me get back on my feet. I told Raymond that you saved my life and he said that you were the only good man that he ever knew.”
I looked up at my crazy friend then. He smiled and nodded as if he knew what she was saying.
“I’ll see you later on, Miss Flag,” I said. Then I hung up the phone and limped back to the chair.
“What’s up, Ease?” Mouse asked just as if it was a normal day and we were sitting on the front porch watching the children playing with a water hose.
“You got a gun, Mouse?”
“Hell, yeah. I got two.”
