Drama City

higher platform than those of the BMW, nearly blinded Miller and Lee. But Miller did not reverse the car. It was a given that neither driver would back up or pull over to let the other pass.

DeEric Green, behind the wheel of the Escalade, landed on his horn. 'C'mon, motherfucker. Move it.'

'That's Deacon's people,' said Michael Butler, recognizing the man in the passenger seat of the BMW and the animal-looking boy under its wheel.

'I know that,' said Green. 'Don't mean they got the right to block the street.'

Green hit the horn again and kept his palm on it. A couple of lights went on in the nearby row house windows. The BMW did not move.

'Fuck this bullshit,' said Green, reaching under his seat and finding the checkered rubber grip of his automatic. It was a stainless steel eight-shot .45 Colt. Green had bought it, a Gold Cup Trophy model, because it was the most expensive one the dealer had.

Green kept the gun low. He checked the safety and racked its slide. He thrust his pelvis out and slipped the gun under the front of his jeans so that the grip leaned toward his right hand. He put the tails of his FUBU shirt out so that they covered the gun.

'Let's go, Michael,' said Green.

Butler hesitated. He was hoping for a quiet resolution to this. He had always managed to avoid violence.

'Let's go,' said Green.

Green left the motor running and the headlights on as he and Butler stepped onto the street. Miller and Lee did the same. Melvin Lee stepped forward; so did DeEric Green. Michael Butler stayed back behind Green and slightly to his left. Rico Miller hung by his car. He kept his eyes, heavy with contempt, on Butler.

'Sup?' said Green, looking Lee over, looking down on him because he had the height advantage and could.

Lee waited a moment before speaking. It was a moment too long. It told Green that he was hesitant and maybe afraid.

'Somethin' you want to say to me?' said Green.

Lee nodded.

'Then say it.'

'Heard you stepped to our boy Jujubee this morning,' said Lee, finding his tongue.

'That ain't news.'

'You told him to move on.'

'So?'

'Boy was on our real estate.'

Green took another step forward and got close to Lee's face. He spoke clearly and evenly. 'I made a mistake. I already discussed it with the man I needed to discuss it with, and he gonna work it out with your man his own way.'

'You—'

'What I don't need to do is discuss it with an itty-bitty motherfucker like you.'

Green brushed his hand over the front of his shirt. Lee saw the lump there, right above the waistline. Lee, confused, looked over his shoulder at Miller. 'You… you hear that, Rico?'

Miller did not answer. He kept his eyes on Michael Butler.

A Toyota drove up Otis and, blocked by the Cadillac, came to a stop. The driver gave a short, timid sound of his horn. He did not roll his window down or say anything to the men and young men standing in the street.

'You gonna be seein' me later on,' said Lee in an unconvincing way. He clumsily pointed a finger at Green's face.

'I'm seeing you now,' said Green. 'What, you gonna act like a man later on?'

Green laughed. He knew he was showing off. But Melvin Lee was just making it too easy. He didn't even feel the need to prove to Lee that he was strapped.

'You had your say,' said Green with a jerk of his head. 'Now take your boy and get.'

'Yeah,' said Lee, nodding his head rapidly. 'Yeah, okay.' He was trying to maintain, searching for the right clever parting words. But nothing would come.

The driver of the Toyota hit his horn again. Another light came on in a nearby house.

Green grinned. 'You ain't gone yet?'

Lee turned around. He saw Miller staring at Michael Butler, smiling at him in that way of his that was all about pain.

'Let's go, Rico,' said Lee, unable to look in the eyes of the young man who worshipped him. Miller nodded, his smile frozen in place, and the two of them went to their car.

Miller backed his BMW up Otis and turned south on 6th.

Lee rubbed at his face and turned to Miller. 'He was strapped, Rico. You saw it, right?'

Miller did not respond.

In the Escalade, Green and Butler settled in. Green put the transmission in drive, turned on the radio, and headed up the street.