The sidewalks were teeming with activity. Those not seated on stoops paced within the confines of their block. A woman in a two-piece, turquoise jogging suit stood with her hands on her hips and yelled gibberish at the unconcerned people walking past. Her flat buttocks sagged much like her sloping shoulders. Straight ahead, less than two miles down the strip, rose the Capitol dome.
“Look at it,” Malone said. “This is our city, man. Just look at it. Right in the shadow of the motherfuckin’ Capitol. And they be throwin’ eighty million dollar inauguration parties.”
“You came from a neighborhood just like this,” I said, “and you made it out. It’s no different than it etyitght='0emwas twenty years ago.”
He chuckled cynically and blew out some smoke. “Don’t tell me it’s no different, man. On these streets they kill you now for a ten dollar rock. And the media, all they be talkin’ about: ‘The Mayor Snorts Coke.’ But nobody really cares about these people, because it ain’t goin’ down in Ward Three. It’s just niggers killin’ niggers. Meanwhile, you read the Washington Post- they supposed to be ‘the liberal watchdog of the community,’ right? — well, check it out. Some white woman gets raped in the suburbs, it makes page one. Now go to the back of the Metro section, where they got a special spot reserved for the niggers. They call it ‘Around the Area,’ some shit like that. And it’s always the same little boldfaced type: ‘Southeast Man Slain, Northeast Man Fatally Shot.’” He tossed his butt out the window. “One little paragraph, buried in the back of the paper, for the niggers.”
“You and me have talked about this a hundred times, Andre. What’s it got to do with today?”
He looked out the window and squinted, then ran a finger along the top of his thick mustache. “I remember my first day of work at Nathan’s. I got dressed that morning, real sharp. When I walked out of my place that day, I knew I was serious, I was so hooked up, I was proud.”
“I remember,” I said, and smiled at the thought of it. But I wondered where he was going with it.
“Anyway, I was all fired up, like anyone on their first day of the job. After a year, I had me enough to rent my place on Harvard, out of the old neighborhood. But then I started to notice some shit. The company was always sending other guys to seminars, putting other guys in management training. When the big dogs came into the store, I got no recognition, man, nary a nod. I doubt they even knew my name. And then they started cutting our commissions, changing payplans every six months. I woke up one day, I saw I was sliding back to where I came from.”
“What are you telling me?”
He waved his hand the width of the block. “I don’t want to come back to these streets, man. I won’t come back to these streets, understand?” He lit another smoke and pitched the match out the window. “When I was listening to you earlier, I started to think. We both got a problem we need to work out. How could we take that situation they got down in that warehouse and turn it around to our advantage?”
“And?”
“I ain’t got it all nailed down yet, see what I’m sayin’? But it would involve other people.”
“Not McGinnes,” I said quickly. “There’s something wrong with him. I mean he’s not well.”
“Yeah, I think he’s getting ready to bottom on out. Besides, all the man wants is to sell televisions.”
“And what do you want?”
“I’m still thinkin’ on it,” he said. “Hold up a minute while I make a call.”
He left the car and walked to a payphone at the gas station on the intersection. I ter call.”
“We got an appointment to see some fellas,” he said.
“Who?”
“Just younguns, that’s all. They all right.”
“This is getting too complicated,” I said.
“Not complicated. Simple. Look here.” He slid closer to me on the seat. “You want the boy, that’s as plain as the light. But you got nothin’ to deal with. When that last shipment of goods leaves the warehouse tomorrow night, and they tighten up the loose ends, they gonna do that boy just like they done the one down in Carolina.”
“I could go to the cops,” I said, “like I should have done from the beginning.”
“Too late for that. You might get the boy killed, and take a fall yourself. No, man, there’s a better way.”
“Talk about it.”
“Twenty-five percent of the man’s goods,” he said. “That’s a big bargaining chip to sit down with at the table.”
I thought about that. “You mean, steal the rest of the cocaine.”
“That’s right, Country. Then trade it back to Rosen for the boy.”
I lit another cigarette and tossed the match, taking a deep lungful of the deathly smog. Then I watched my exhale stream out the window and disappear as it met the wind.
“What’s your angle?” I said.
“My angle? A way out. All the way out. The way you tell, there’s gonna be some money changin’ hands tomorrow night. The money will be mine. A hundred-thirty for me, twenty for the boys I just called.”
“So you think we can just walk in and grab it-all of it, the money and the shake-from these guys? You said yourself, these people don’t play.”
“Then neither will we.”
“You’d have to leave town. You’d never work or live in D.C. again. Have you thought about that?”
“This shit goes down in the street every day. As for work, well, a hundred and thirty grand is quite a start. For me, some things I’ve wanted for my mom. Yeah, I’ve thought about it.”
“It’s too fucking crazy, Andre.” I dismissed the idea with a motion of my hand. But even as I did so, I was picturing in my mind the layout of the warehouse.
Andre pointed to the key in the ignition. “Kick this bitch over,” he said. “I want you to meet my boys.”
We veered off of Florida and climbed sharply up Thirteenth Street. On our right was Cardoza High School; to our left were tur ont size=he Clifton Terrace apartments. At the crest of the hill, just past Thirteenth and Clifton, I made a “U” in the middle of the street and pulled the car over to the curb at Andre’s command.
Children kicked a ball around the glass-covered courtyard of the apartments. Boys walked from the high school, hunched and slower than old men. The downtown skyline rose below us majestically.
“Top of the motherfuckin’ town,” Malone said without emotion. He pointed left to the Highview Apartments. “They’ll be coming out of there.”
“You grew up right around here, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
We sat there for about ten minutes without speaking. Then Malone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked left. Two young men were crossing the street.
They were still in their teens. The taller of the two was lanky and wore a red sweatsuit with high-tops, and walked with an exaggerated downstep. There was a fixed scowl on his face. The other one was short and slender at the waist, with a boxer’s upper body. He wore Lee jeans and a T-shirt. Both of their heads were shaved close to the scalp, with off-center parts like scars. They climbed into the backseat of my car.
“All right, Home,” the short one said to Malone, and they touched knuckles.
“Tony,” Malone said to the short one. “Who’s your friend?”
“His name’s Wayne,” Tony said. “He in my crew.”
“This is Nick,” Malone said. Tony nodded slightly. Wayne did nothing. We stared at each other in my rearview. “Where’s your big brother at, Tony?”
“You mean Charles?” Tony said and tilted his head.
“Yeah.”
“Chillin’ in Lorton.”
“What happened?” Malone asked.
Tony said, “Charles always be tellin’ me, ‘Don’t be shakin’, messin’ with guns and shit.’ One day this nigger dissed his ass in the street. Charles steals the motherfucker in the jaw. The nigger gets up for more. Charles double-steals the motherfucker. Nigger hits his head on the street. Dead. Charles doin’ six to twelve, second degree.”
Wayne said to Malone, “What’d you call us for, Home?”
“A job,” Malone said slowly. “Tomorrow night.”
“What kind of job?” Tony asked.
“Robbin’ a cocaine deal.”
