Butchers Hill

Tess had hung back politely, waiting for the man to wind up his snack cake inquiry. When he started sifting through the used sweaters, she asked the woman, 'Do you know Treasure Teeter?'.

'Huh.'

The one syllable, although not particularly friendly, was more or less affirmative. 'Has he been here today?'

The woman said nothing, just turned her back on Tess and began folding up several brown grocery bags. The man was still picking through the clothes, but he was studying Tess from beneath his heavy-lidded eyes. She took a five-dollar bill out of her jeans pocket and fluttered it ostentatiously in her hand, then began walking away with Esskay. She turned the corner off Collington and waited, out of sight. Soon enough, the man came around the corner, jogging to catch up with her.

'I know that guy,' he gasped out when he caught up with her, his breathing ragged from running even that short distance. 'Treasure Teeter. He calls himself Trey, though, but there's this girl who comes around sometimes, calls him that. A good-lookin' girl. I don't know what she's doing with him.'

'You show me where to find him, I'll give you this five-dollar bill and you can buy all the Butterscotch Krimpets you want.' Tess knew he wouldn't, though. With cash in hand, he would forget his sugar craving and start thinking about the junk that made him want sweets in the first place.

'I'll take you right to him for ten.'

'Right to him? Deal.'

He put his hand out-not to shake and seal the deal, but to take the bills.

'After I see Treasure,' Tess said.

He took off almost at a trot, heading west, then south onto Chester Street, stopping about midway down the block.

'Here,' he said, holding out his palm insistently.

'This is a boarded-up rowhouse,' Tess said. 'How can I know if Treasure hangs out here?'

'He's here right now.' He pounded on one of the windows so the plywood shook and rattled. 'Trey, man. It's Bobby. Got something for you. Something good.'

The window board swung slowly to one side. The boy whose head poked out looked much younger than seventeen, with a sleep-filled cherub's face like a small child awakened in the middle of the night. There was crust in the corner of his eyes and his hair was flatter on one side than the other. A yellow smear ran down one side of his mouth, lemon filling from his fried pie.

'What you want, man?'

But Bobby had already gone, sprinting away with Tess's five-dollar bills tight in his fist.

'Hi, Treasure. I'm Tess Monaghan. I've been looking for you.'

'My name's Trey.'

'I'm still looking for you.'

'I know you?'

'No.'

'I didn't do nothin',' he said automatically.

'I didn't say you did.'

'What you want with me, then?'

'Someone asked me to check up on you, see how you're doing.'

He was too affectless to evince true skepticism, but she could tell he didn't believe her. 'My aunt hired some white woman to come ask me how'm doing? She knows how'm doing. I asked her for money last Wednesday, the day Beans and Bread was closed and I couldn't get me no hot meal. Man, she was cold. Said if I was hungry, she would make cornbread for me. That woman can't cook for shit, though. What I want to eat her cooking for?'

'You live with her, don't you?'

'When I wanna. When I have to. Her place is nice in the winter. Other times, I'd rather be on my own.'

'What about your sister, Destiny? Does she live there, or here with you?'

'Destiny's gone.'

'Gone where?'

'I ain't seen her, but she'll be back soon, and then everything will be all right. That's what she told me, everything going to be cool. We gonna get our own place as soon as she gets back.'

'Where'd she go?'

'Dunno.' A giggle. 'I think she went to Burma.'

'Burma?'

'Or maybe she dug all the way to China this time. Yeah, maybe that's it.' More giggles.

Junkie humor. An acquired taste. Then again, Tess had always found herself hilarious when stoned.

'When is she coming back?'

'When she done.'

'How long has it been since you've seen her?'

Treasure held up his hands, as if to count the days off on his splayed fingers. Instead, he began to laugh again, as if he had glimpsed something hilarious in the palms of his hands. Maybe it was his lifeline. Then he held up his palm, flat, like a traffic cop, and looked over his shoulder, holding the pose for quite some time.

'Treasure?'

'I'm doin' the Heisman.'

'What?'

'Doin' the Heisman. You know, like in football.' He repeated the movement, and Tess understood then that he was suppose to be the trophy, straight-arming his way through life. 'I could run. Man, I could run. I could have had me a scholarship if I wanted one.'

'I was asking you about Destiny. I thought twins were close, closer than ordinary siblings.'

Treasure just stared at her blankly. 'We're close. We're real close. Destiny 'n' me, we always stick together. Look, you want me, or you want my sister? What you doing here, anyway?'

A good question. What could Luther Beale do for Treasure Teeter, besides buy him more crack, perhaps set him up in a nicer place to smoke it?

'You interested in kicking your habit, maybe getting your GED? I know someone who will help you if you are.'

'Man, I knew you were full of shit. You're from that clinic, ain't you? The one that sends those social workers out on the street to bring people in. Everybody knows there's no slots for detox now, even if you want to get clean. The state waiting list just goes on forever. 'Less you're a vet. Then the VA has to take you. But I'm no vet. Not officially, anyway.' He giggled. Yes, Treasure Teeter sure could crack himself up. 'I'd go to war, if they wanted me to. It can't be any tougher than where I been. Yes, ma'am, I'd go to war any time they want me to.'

'I could get you in a private hospital. I know a…program that will pay the full freight. If you're interested. Private room, good food. Not a state hospital.'

Treasure propped his chin on the windowsill. He actually seemed to be thinking about her suggestion. Then he was distracted by a centipede inching its way along the flaking paint. He held out his finger and let it crawl onto his nail, pulled his finger close to his face, staring at the centipede until he was almost cross-eyed. Then he shook his finger, flinging the bug to the ground.

'Naw, that's not for me.'

Tess handed him a business card. 'If you change your mind, call me. The offer will stand, at least for a while.'

Treasure took her card and began picking his teeth with it. 'That pie sure was good,' he said. 'I wish I had taken me two.'

Kitty was preparing to open the store when Tess and Esskay arrived home. The dog, who hadn't had the benefit of a homeless man's orange soda, slurped ravenously from the bowl Kitty kept behind the counter, displacing more water than she actually consumed.

'Do you ever feel like there are two Baltimores out there?' Tess asked her aunt, trying to mop up after Esskay's sloppy drinking.