Jaderious turns his head and looks at the wall, as though pulling a curtain around himself.
James Ervin walks to the door. ”I say feed him to his boss.“
I join Ervin at the door. ”Come on, Dad. He’s too stupid to save himself.“
My hand is on the doorknob when Huntley says, ”Hold up, now.“
I open the door.
The snitch jumps up from his chair. ”I said hold up, dog!“
”Your mouth is moving, but I don’t hear anything.“
Fresh panic twists his face. Even this desperate to live, he can’t wring the information out of himself. ”I don’t know where Cyrus be, man! But I know somebody who might.“
I step outside the apartment.
”I ain’t playing, man! That’s all I got!
This stops me. ”What’s his name?“
”Stoney Washington.“
I look at James Ervin. He nods and says, ”He’s a truck driver. Couple of possession busts.“
”That’s him!“ says Jaderious. ”Cyrus fucked up his sister. Quenisha was a ho‘ over in Ferriday, and she got crossed up with Cyrus over some coke.“
”And?“
Jaderious’s eyes close, then open slowly. ”Cyrus fucked her up, man.“
”How?“
The snitch shakes his head again.
”Tell us.“
”He cut her up, man. He messed up her insides and shit. I don’t want to think about it. Cyrus be
”Because he could send you to Parchman.“
Jaderious stops twitching and stands before us, like a starving soldier in the act of surrender. ”No, man. Cyrus makes Parchman look like Christmas. I knew that girl. I loved her. She was a ho’, but I don’t care ‘bout that. Now she just be fucked up. Stays home all the time. Takes medicine to keep her from killing herself.“
I force myself to focus on the problem at hand. ”What about her cousin?“
”Stoney still be tight with Cyrus. Moves shit for him in his truck. After the thing with Quenisha, Cyrus made him choose, see? Stoney swore he wouldn’t try to do nothing ’bout what Cyrus had done. Said Nisha deserved that shit. What else could he say?“
”Go on.“
”If Stoney believes you can really take Cyrus down, he might talk to you. You give me your number, and I’ll call you.“
”You think I’m stupid, Jaderious?“
”What choice you got, dog? You wouldn’t be here if you had something else. And I’ll probably be dead tomorrow anyway.“
From behind me, my father says, ”Give him your number, Penn.“
I pick a pizza box off the floor and write my cellular number on it. Then I walk back to the door.
”Wait!“ Jaderious cries.
”What?“
”You forgot to give me the stuff. The shit to make me puke.“
I’d already forgotten.
Dad opens his bag and digs in it for a few seconds. Then he takes out the bottle of syrup of ipecac we purchased at Walgreen’s an hour ago.
”Open your mouth,“ he tells Jaderious.
Huntley obeys. ”Will this get me high, Doc?“
”No, low. In a few minutes, you’re going to make a beeline for the john.“
Dad pours a stream of the syrup down Jaderious’s throat. The snitch gags, then swallows three times. When he straightens up, he grimaces. Without a word he walks swiftly out of the room.
”Throw an opened syringe in his trash,“ I tell Dad.
He does, and then we depart.
There’s a reception committee waiting at the foot of the stairs. Two large black men in their thirties block our passage, with a woman who looks about sixty standing to the side of them.
”What y’all doing up there?“ asks one of the men. ”You cops or what?“
Before I can answer, Dad says, ”I was making a house call. That boy was near death. He was trying to go cold turkey, and it almost killed him.“
”What you mean ‘house call’?“ asks the woman. ”Doctors don’t make house calls no more.“
”I do,“ Dad says, walking to the bottom of the stairs without the slightest hint of anxiety. ”You ought to know that, Iola Johnson.“
The woman’s eyes go wide. ”Dr. Cage!“
Dad smiles. ”In the flesh.“
”What you doing up in here? Lord, I ain’t seen you in twenty years. I should have known you, though.“
”That boy’s sick, Iola. Dope sick. His mama called me, and then James Ervin called me, and I thought I’d better get on out here.“
The woman shakes her head in wonder. ”That boy ain’t no good, Dr. Cage. He’s all up
”Who have you been seeing for medical care?“ Dad asks. ”Dr. Jeffers?“
Iola cackles. ”Ain’t been seeing nobody! Ain’t had to, thank God. Ain’t got no money to see one. I tell you, though, old Arthur starting to get me now that I’m getting up in years.“
Dad gives the woman advice about her arthritis, and then we walk out to James Ervin’s truck. As the engine rumbles to life, Jaderious’s terror comes back to me, and with it his description of Cyrus’s acts of retribution:
”It’s time to get Annie out of town,“ I say softly.
”Past time,“ Dad agrees. He turns to Ervin. ”Thank you, James.“
The retired cop shakes his head, his beagle eyes filled with pain. ”This world be goin‘ down, Dr. Cage. I never seen it this bad. It’s like the end times or something.“
Dad squeezes Ervin’s knee but says nothing. Then he turns to me and says, ”I read that Mayor Jones finally stepped down.“
Perfect timing, as ever. ”I heard that, too.“
”You heard what James just said. Do you still think you want that job?“
”I’m considering it. Caitlin seems to think this town doesn’t want to be saved. I recall you expressing that sentiment not long ago.“
”Not precisely that sentiment.“ Dad reaches into his pocket, takes out a cigar, and begins unwrapping it. ”There’s a quote I remember-I don’t recall where it’s from. It may be the Torah.“
”What is it?“ I ask, ready to hear a proverb about the wisdom of knowing when to walk away from something.
” ’Just because you will not see the work completed, does not mean you are free not to take it up.‘ “ Dad smiles and takes out his lighter. ”Or something to that effect.“
”Like Moses,“ intones James Ervin. ”He never saw the promised land, but he sho’ led his people there. Sho‘ did.“
Dad’s eyes twinkle with mischief.
An hour after we left Brightside Manor, Annie and my parents were on Highway 61 South, bound for the relative safety of Jackson. When I got home, I found Caitlin sitting on my front steps. It was odd to see her at rest, without even a cell phone in her hand. I started to ask if she wanted to cook dinner together, but before I got five words
