Sugar Doll's Hurricane Blues (15 page)

“If anyone follows us out of here we’ll blow you’re heads off. We have two men posted outside.” Kevin smiled beneath his cap.

“I won’t have to follow you Bertrand, I know where you work. I’ll just come by and pay a visit.” Tony said coldly.

Both men were stunned that he had been recognized. Kevin turned around aimed his gun and pulled the trigger. Tony fell to the ground on his knees. Mona screamed. In the heat of the moment Howard the Jew reached his gun and fired two rounds into Kevin’s head. The blood exploded over everything.
Bertrand turned and ran down the narrow stairway. He ran to the back alley into the pouring rain. He ran for his life, he knew that Kevin was dead. As he started the engine his only thought was getting out of the city.

“Down home where a nigger could get lost.” He pointed his car toward Plaquemines Parish. He didn’t have time to think. He didn’t have time to fear the hurricane. He only had time to look at the briefcase and drive.

Tony lay on the floor bleeding from his chest and shoulder. Mona leaned over him crying.

“Stupid nigger, didn’t he think I’d recognize him?” Tony asked. Sirens were approaching the club. Someone had called the police or ambulance or both.

“You set this whole thing up didn’t you Mona?” Tony asked.

“No Tony, don’t say that.” Mona cried.

“I’m going to live Mona, and then I’m going to kill you.” Tony’s blue eyes looked deeply into Mona’s.

“Like you killed my husband?” Mona asked.

Chapter Thirteen

“I’ve been feeling like this for a long time Sugar.” Remy encircled her waist. She could feel the warmth of his touch. “I want you to be a part of my life.” Remy kissed her gently as he pulled her closer. Sugar Doll felt her body pulsating with desire. She knew that she wanted him too. “I know that you have been well protected and…” his voice trailed off. Sugar Doll placed her finger on his mouth.

“I feel the same way.” She said. Remy grasped her in an urgent kiss his desire flowing through him. He kissed her neck as he trailed down to the swell of her breast. Sugar Doll gave a gasp in anticipation, she wanted him to go farther. He stopped and looked up at her.

“I know you haven’t been with anyone else and I want to make you mine.” His face flushed with desire as his blues eyes gazed intently into hers. She caressed his forehead.

“I want to be yours.” Sugar Doll breathed in as the rain poured down furiously.

Remy kissed her gently his tongue seeking the warmth of her mouth. He kissed her for a long and tender moment. He unbuttoned the front of her blouse. She gasped as he kissed her between each button. The butterfly kisses created a heat in
her as Remy kissed her skin so lightly. Her heart raced as he came to the final button.

“I love you cher,” Remy whispered into her ear.

“What in the hell am I doing?” Bertrand could hardly see as he drove down the narrow river road. The rain was blinding. The windshield wipers were like two tiny sticks moving back and forth slowly. He was tempted to turn them off as the rain pelted heavily; it looked as though someone were on the roof of the car with a huge bucket of water. He was reminded of a car wash. He crept along the highway fearful that someone may still be down in the parish and that he was on the wrong side of the road. The ditches were filling with water and overflowing onto the old highway. Fear tingled down Bertrand’s spine. He drove toward the old high school that had withstood so many hurricanes in the past. As he turned down the familiar highway he saw that there was a huge gate surrounding the school. He hadn’t recalled this gate before today. He got out of the car and walked toward the gate to see the huge pad lock there. He looked at the high fence thinking to jump it. “Who you kidding fat boy?” He said disgusted with himself. He was soaked but it felt good from the heat of the car and his own fear. The rain dripped sense into his brain. He thought of the story of old Uncle Charlie riding out the storm on a tugboat. He thought that this seemed even better than hiding out in the old school which was probably full of snakes and raccoons and all kinds of spiders. He shuddered at the thought. He got back into the car with a renewed sense of direction. The sky was an angry purple and the rain was unrelenting. The cool feeling he’d gotten when
he was out of the car now turned into damp discomfort. He remembered Mr. White had a tugboat near the dock. He didn’t think that Mr. White would mind so he headed for the Venice dock to prepare for the storm. With any luck there would be food on the boat as they were usually stocked for the crew. “Man this is going to be easy!” the image of Kevin’s handsome dark face flashed into his mind. Kevin was dead, and he was wanted. The feeling of salvation dissipated as he drove slowly down the narrow river road leaving the school behind him. His first instinct had been right. Had he stayed at the school he would have run into the Young’s a Vietnamese family who had cut through the south side of the fence. Bertrand had only been a few yards away from the cut.

Tony was transported to Charity Hospital as the old folks called it. It was now Central something or other. Sometimes after hundreds of years as an establishment it’s best to just leave good enough alone. It’s like Muhammad Ali, the old folks still knew him as Cassius Clay and that was that. Mona sat silently by Tony thinking about all that had happened. She couldn’t believe that kind, fat and bungling Bertrand would be involved in something like this. She’d known him as a boy and sometimes he even came to her club. He was always respectful and gave her information on Sugar Doll. She couldn’t stand to see this happen. She wouldn’t stand to see it happen. Tony hadn’t breathed a word to anyone about who had done this thing. The other goons had scattered even before the police had come. The storm outside was worse than ever. Tony had severe trauma but was put into the hallway. He was sweating profusely. It was
hot but it was a remarkable thing for a man whose motto was “Never let them see you sweat.” People passed him as though a gunshot wound was nothing remarkable. She sat next to the bed. She’d seen the look in Tony’s eyes when she’d accused him of Karl’s murder so many years ago. It rang true and his eyes confirmed it. He didn’t say anything else before he went unconscious. Something inside of her had always known. The generosity, the filtering of conversation about Karl. The change in behavior toward Sugar Doll. She’d known all along but then she didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to realize that her “savior” was also her condemner. The man who stole the spirit of a kind and funny young man. She didn’t want to believe it but now painfully she did. “Why had he stuck with her all of those years? Guilt? Love?” She felt disgust for the man she’d loved for so long and now another relative was in trouble.

The lights went out. Everyone in the hospital broke into a frenzy with nurses running all over the place. She heard the word transported several times. Nurses began carting out patients. “Tony needs surgery! I should do something.” She looked frantically around but no one seemed to notice her. She should reach out, but then she saw Bertrand’s round innocent face and she sat back down quietly, invisibly. She reached for her purse and she walked away not looking back.

“You live by the sword, you die by the sword” Mona said this under her breath even as she knew Tony would die right there on that blood soaked bed.

Big Ma rang Bertrand for what seemed like the hundredth time. “Where is that boy?” She was becoming agitated. The storm
had driven them to a hotel but she was able to afford her own room. It was good because she loved her privacy. It was bad because she knew that all of this worry with no one to talk to would bring up her pressure. Her head began to hurt which she knew was already a sign of problems. She reached into her little plastic sandwich bag which carried the bulk of her medications. She took the pressure pills and took off her glasses. “Nothing I can do Lawd.” But she knew that something was terribly wrong. Why hadn’t Sugar Doll tried to call her? She was the only reason she had the damned phone in the first place. She knelt beside her bed to pray. “Lawd Jesus, my children are out there in the storm and your word says that you will never forsake us or leave us as orphans in the storm. Bring them to safety Jesus, precious Lord. I beg for you to take them out of the eye of the storm.” Big Ma remained on side of the bed and as a sign of faith she did not cry. She got up and went to look out of the window expectantly.

Bertrand wiped the sweat from his brow. He drove down the path to old Fort Jackson. As he drove up the graveled highway he realized that he was not in the best place. The rain was coming down in buckets and the wind had picked up considerably. He shook off his feeling of dread. If Uncle Charlie could ride out a storm so could he. He climbed the small hill that was the levee. As he curved the corner of the levee he saw just how much the river had risen. He was afraid. Then he saw the tugboat in the distance and increased his pace in the old car. The big gray rocks spit out from under the tires. He imagined himself in the warmth of the tugboat and the rocking of the water and he felt hopeful. “Everything will be all right once I set foot on the boat.” The Venice dock all of a sudden looked like home.

Sugar Doll woke up with a start. A cold sense of dread ran over her as she turned to feel the warmth of Remy’s body sleeping peacefully next to her. The feeling passed and she was filled with love. She leaned over to kiss him gently on the neck. He stirred, “Look here cher, if you gonna be starting up with me again we can ride the storm out right here in the French Quarters.” Remy pulled her over his shoulder and playfully kissed her. Thunder cracked loudly outside.

“We should leave Remy, it’s not safe”. Sugar Doll looked worriedly out of the window at the obvious brewing storm.

“Relax hon, God ain’t gonna let nothing happen to the French Quarters.” Remy purred unconcerned.