Bad Boy Brawly Brown (32 page)

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“JJ!” Mofass called from across the big room.

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/ THE NEXT STOP
I made was Clarissa’s apartment.

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There was at least two days of mail in her box and 2

no answer to my knock.

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P
ROBLEM WITH THE COLD WAR
is not when it’s cold but when 6

it gets hot. . . .” Sam Houston was regaling some poor soul who 7

just wanted his lunch in a brown paper bag to go. The man wore 8

blue jeans and a red checkered long-sleeved shirt. His sparse hair 9

was curly gray, and his skin was black under a layer of fine white 10

dust.

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The googly-eyed restaurateur was about to make some other 12

global pronouncement when he caught sight of me.

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“Excuse me,” he said to the silent workman.

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Sam took off his apron and lifted the door-board to the kitchen.

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Then he strode out to meet me in the middle of the room.

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I had never seen Sam come out from behind his board, so I 4

girded myself for war.

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He had two inches on me in height and reach, and his thin body 6

might have carried more punch than it appeared. I had learned, 7

when I met a man named Fearless Jones years before, that some thin 8

men could be stronger than bodybuilders.

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“You know it ain’t right to come in someplace and sneak around 10

a man’s back,” Sam said, touching my chest with a long, accusing 11

finger.

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The men sitting to my right discontinued their conversation to 13

behold the encounter.

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I didn’t want any eavesdroppers, so I said, “Why don’t we step 15

outside, Sam?”

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That took him off guard. He was angry at me but had no reason 17

to think that I’d come back hard. For my part, I didn’t know how to 18

shut his big mouth without taking it outside. And I didn’t know how 19

to take it outside without saying so.

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Sam stalked off toward the door while the patrons began gab-21

bing. I stayed two full steps behind him, taking a glance back at the 22

kitchen as I went. Clarissa was nowhere in sight.

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Once outside, Sam turned around quickly and I took one step to 24

my right. He took a little hop and fired off a right hook that missed 25

my head by less than an inch. I let the fist go by, then shoved his 26

shoulder lightly. The force of the push, added to the momentum of 27

his swing, picked Sam up off the ground and dropped him on the 28

pavement.

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When he thrust his right hand up under his apron, I put my 30 S

hands in the air and said, “I’m not here to fight with you, man.”

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He was breathing hard.

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“Then why we out here in the street then?” He stopped fumbling.

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I offered my hand and he took it.

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“I didn’t want nobody to listen to what we had to say,” I said 3

while helping him to his feet.

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“Why not?”

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“Do you like Clarissa?”

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“Hell yeah,” he said. He was slapping imaginary dust from his 7

arms and chest. “That’s why I’m mad at you sneakin’ around, talkin’

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’bout one thing but then stalkin’ my girl.”

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“Your girlfriend?” I asked.

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“No. Clarissa’s my cousin. Everybody work for me is family, you 11

know that.”

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“Listen, Sam,” I said. “I don’t know what you been told, but I 13

didn’t lie to you. I was lookin’ for Brawly and I found him — with her.”

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“What you mean, ‘with her’?”

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“He’s her boyfriend. Didn’t you know that?”

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That shut Sam’s mouth for a good five seconds. It might have 17

been the best comeback I’d ever had with him. Even though I was 18

involved in a life-and-death situation, I took a moment to savor his 19

confusion.

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“That ain’t right,” he said at last. “She said that you followed her 21

and tried to get over on her at her apartment. She said that she cain’t 22

be comin’ in to work ’cause she scared you gonna be on her here.”

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“I did go to her place but I was followin’ Brawly, not her.” The lie 24

was not really so bad. I
had
seen her with Brawly at the Urban Party’s 25

gathering. When I followed her, it was only to get to him.

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“You lyin’ to me, Easy Rawlins?”

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“Come on, Sam, you know better’n that.”

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“Not when it come to pussy I don’t,” he said. “Niggah work a 29

eight-hour day six days a week and pray to God on Sunday, but when S 30

pussy walk by he might just lose his mind.”

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As I said, the maddening thing about Sam Houston was that he 2

was almost always on target. He had a good mind, just no real direc-3

tion to point it in.

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“I am not after Clarissa,” I said. “Least not the way you say. I got 5

me a woman and I don’t need to go skulkin’ around after some girl-6

child.”

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There was the ring of truth in my words. Sam squinted so that his 8

eyes were hardly larger than a horse’s orb.

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“Then why she wanna lie?” he asked.

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“You tell me, Sam. Would you have been upset to see her with 11

Brawly? Would you have done something about that?”

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“No. I mean, I might’a given her grief. I might’a said a thing or 13

two.”

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“But,” I said, “if you knew she was with him and I came to you 15

and said that the boy was trouble, you might have been willin’ to 16

help me get a line on her.”

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“What you sayin’, Easy?”

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“I’m sayin’ that since I last talked to you, two men have been 19

murdered and Brawly’s in it somewhere. I don’t know where exactly, 20

but I do know that it’s bad.”

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“Murder?”

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“Murder. Two men. Dead as doornails.”

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“Who?”

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“Henry Strong, the mentor of the First Men” — Sam spit at the 25

mention of the radical organization — “and Aldridge Brown.” I con-26

tinued: “Brawly’s father.”

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“Who killed ’em?” Sam asked.

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“Hard to say. The cops think it was the First Men. The First Men 29

think it was the cops. Brawly’s cousin has nominated him for at least 30 S

one of the killings. It’s all up in the air. I’m just lookin’ for some shel-31 R

ter before it come back down to earth.”

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Sam pulled at the collar of his gray T-shirt and moved his chin 1

around as if he couldn’t get enough air. He wasn’t used to being on 2

the short end of the conversation.

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“So what you want?” he asked.

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“Brawly Brown,” I said for the hundredth time, it seemed.

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Sam put his left hand on top of his head and his right hand on 6

his chin.

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“She’s just a child,” he said. “Him, too.”

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“They’re all children, Sam. All of ’em. But you know in the 9

Stone Age most’a your people only lived long enough to see twenty.

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They were old men and women by twenty-five.”

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I knew the scientific explanation for the problem facing us 12

would hearten Sam.

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He smiled and said, “Yeah, Easy. You right about that. You sure 14

are.”

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They were words I never expected to hear come out of Sam’s 16

mouth.

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“So what you doin’ here?” he asked me.

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“I got to find Brawly again. Clarissa’s my best bet,” I said. “I went 19

to her house, but she was gone. Do you know where she is?”

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“She told me that she was scared’a you, Easy. She went into 21

hiding.”

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“I told you why I’m lookin’ for her.”

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Sam’s face contorted so that it looked like a wizened brown fruit 24

ready to drop from the tree. At first I thought he was having a heart 25

attack but then I realized that that was the way he must have looked 26

when he was thinking. His mouth twisted with distaste and his shoul-27

ders rose, making him look like a comical scavenger bird. Finally he 28

shuddered like the great vulture he resembled, shaking dust from its 29

feathery frame.

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“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. I can see it in my mind. Brawly comin’ in, R 31

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sittin’ near the kitchen, comin’ on through to go to the bathroom out 2

back. And Clarissa always hoverin’ somewhere nearby. Uh-huh. Uh-3

huh. She used to stay late every night, talkin’ to her first cousin 4

Doris, helpin’ out with the cleanup even though she didn’t have to.

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But after Brawly started comin’ around, she always left right on time.

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Yeah. You right, Easy. Clarissa been seein’ that sour boy for three 7

months at least.”

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“You know where she is?” I asked.

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“No. No, I don’t but I know who does. Doris. She’s been 10

Clarissa’s partner in hidin’ this from me the whole time.”

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I realized that Sam was angry because he had been fooled by his 12

employee, that the whole time he was being superior with his knowl-13

edge, reading, and reasoning ability, they had a secret right out in 14

plain sight.

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“You wait here, Easy,” he said, and then he strode back into the 16

restaurant.

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I lit up a cigarette and remembered again how good a smoke 18

could feel when you had been denied. Then I remembered running 19

with my lungs aching and then Henry Strong getting a bullet in the 20

head. The silhouette of the assassin had some heft to it. It could have 21

been Brawly, but I wasn’t sure.

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I thought about Mouse. He would have tagged along with me on 23

this adventure, laughing the whole time.

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“What you doin’ messin’ with this boy, Easy? He just sowin’ his 25

wild oats.”

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“But he’s in trouble, Raymond,” I’d say.

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“We all in trouble, Ease” would have been his reply. “Shit. If it 28

wasn’t for trouble, life wouldn’t be no fun at all.”

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I stubbed out the ember of my cigarette and returned it to the 30 S

pack. A few minutes later Sam came out.

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“I know where she is,” he told me.

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“Where?”

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“Hold on now, Easy. I believe you and everything, but you cain’t 2

go see Clarissa without me comin’ with you.”

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“This ain’t restaurant work, Sam,” I said. “People gettin’ killed 4

out here.”

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“Clarissa’s my family,” Sam said. “Doris is, too. When I asked 6

Doris how I could get to Clarissa, I told her not to worry, because it 7

was me goin’ to her.”

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“Okay,” I said. “It’s your funeral.”

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/ “YOU KNOW, EASY,”
Sam Houston said. “I was surprised to see you when you walked in the

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other day.”

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“Yeah?” I asked. “How come?”

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We were on Highway 101, on our way to Riverside, already out-6

side of L.A., traveling through the rolling green hills of the southern 7

California countryside. Oak trees appeared here and there on the 8

landscape. I like the oak because it’s a brooding, solitary tree. It 9

grows within sight of its brethren, but rarely do you see one sidled up 10

to a mate.

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“ ’Cause I thought you’d be dead by now,” Sam said.