The Punany Experience (6 page)

“Korea is going to work, just like you did. She’s fine, she respects money, and she’s got a little class on her ass. Korea’s young and I’m the only one who’s had her so far. She’s the one. She ain’t got a daddy and I don’t think her momma is about to be checking for her.”

“Is that a fact? How can you be sure?” Dream Crow asked him, turning around on her stool to look at him.

He ignored the disbelief on her face. “I’ll make sure.”

“Oh, like you did with that blue-haired white lady from the trailer park in Vallejo? She basically gave you her daughter. Remember Pepper? You went all out for that little ingrate…buying
shit. She still left us. We still haven’t recovered from that yet. That little trailer park trash. She better hope I never run into her ass again. I mean, just as quick as I cleaned her up in designer knocks and shoes, she turned my best trick into her husband.” Dream Crow could feel herself getting upset. She wanted to stop talking but she had to get her say in. “She got a fucking husband, baby!” She stood up and looked at him with pleading eyes. She wanted to say,
“Don’t make me do this. Don’t make me leave you, too,”
but instead, she painted a simple and vivid picture of his misfortune and their mutual sacrifice. “Keith, we invested thousands on her gear and her car, and now she’s married to a banker in a gated community in Blackhawk. I don’t want to sponsor another green bitch.”

“I don’t want to talk about that white girl,” Keith said, cutting his eyes at her.

Dream Crow’s voice softened and soothed his mood with the tenderness of a love ballad. “Darling, baby, baby…” she said, walking toward him. Pressing her breasts against his chest, she cooed, “I won’t keep talking about Pepper. But I thought you said, after she left us, that it was going to be you and me. I thought you said we were going to slow our roll and pace ourselves, maybe invest and do some real business together. You know, we could have a Laundromat or a car wash by now. It’s like this shit is never going to end. It’s supposed to end. I’m getting ready to be twenty-five. I’m not trying to do this shit forever. Do you think these rich tricks are going to pay a forty-year-old a thousand dollars to meet them in their penthouse suites? I don’t think so.” She paused for effect. “This right here…” She opened her hands and spread them to present the beautiful and extravagant California Street condominium to him. “Look around, baby. I can take care of this right here. It’s all this extra stuff that’s making everything all bad.”

“Well, damn. I thought you could handle this whole situation, now that I got you those thousand-dollar clients, but…” He sucked his teeth. “I guess I was wrong.” His drag may have worked on Dream Crow years ago, but tonight she could see through him like a silk screen.

“I would have it handled and I would keep it handled, but you’re spending faster than I can return a phone call,” Dream Crow said, backing away from him. “We’re just gambling. I could be working on my singing career if I’m going to be gambling. I’m still young and sexy, you know?”

“Yeah, and you could learn to parse Greek.”

“I could learn to do what?”

“Exactly. That’s why your job is on your back.”

“That was hurtful, Keith. You don’t have to be mean to me because you’re mad at that kid.” She pouted, quickly trying to divert him from any thoughts of violence.

Dream Crow’s heart-shaped pout could have stopped the conflict in the Persian Gulf. If Keith could figure out how to profit off of it, he’d have contracted her pussy out to the United States government. Her beauty was undeniable in the soft light of the dressing room. Her caramel-colored skin was a smooth, milky promise. Keith had not really looked at her for a long time. She was perfect in every way. Her skin never had a blemish and all of her womanly parts were perfect and well-pronounced. She always smelled delicious and inviting, like hot apples and cinnamon.

“Is that what I’m doing?” he asked softly, giving in to her perfections. “I’m sorry, baby, you’re right. I apologize.” He kissed her cheek and inhaled her baked goods. “I love the fact that you’re a dreamer. There’s nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds as long as you have your feet on the ground.”

“You mean on the track, don’t you?”

“Excuse me? What track? I’ve brought you clients and opportunities that make it so you haven’t had to walk the block in years. Shit, I even got you judges so you don’t ever have to see a jail cell. I got you into hotels and high-rises. I’m not pimping you; we’re pimping them. I’m your manager and your friend. You wouldn’t have been able to buy your car without me; Seth had your credit all fucked up before you were even old enough to have a credit card. I cleaned your credit up. I even let you send money home to your brother and sister and I helped you put Blue through nursing school. Would a pimp do that?”

“No,” she admitted.

Keith had been unlike any pimp she had ever met. He had really been a friend to her.

“So you think that it’s just you out there, woman? That ain’t you out there; that’s us. That’s us out there. I can think of a million other things I could be doing. My daddy wasn’t a pimp; he was a preacher. I could do that, and a whole lot more, but this thing we got is what it is, you know what I’m saying? This is going to get us where we need to be. You, making the sacrifices you make, so we can get ahead, means a lot to me. I hope my commitment to you means a lot to you, too. I mean,” he said, rubbing his mustache. “How many times have I had to get with one of your clients about breaking you off after you already put it down? You appreciate me having your back out there, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well then, act like it. You keep talking about being a singer because your jive-ass brother says you have a voice and he could manage you. He’s selling you and your sister wolf tickets. She needs to keep herself at General and you need to get your head out of the clouds. Do you know how many singers never get discovered and die broke? Baby, we’re pulling in close to twelve G’s a month, sometimes fifteen. And you only work part-time.
The rest of the time you’re shopping. You’re complaining about that little money I spent on them bitches to get us ahead, while you’re keeping Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel in business all by yourself.”

“Keith, those are business expenses. I can’t keep quality clientele if I look like a walking billboard for Montgomery Ward,” Dream Crow said, self-consciously pulling her strapless silver Giorgio Armani dress up to secure it over her breasts.

“If I could get this tender on our team,” Keith said confidently, “we could double that and move into a big house. We could get that Laundromat you want, with the daycare in it,” he promised
again
.

“That’s what you said before.”

“Did you hear any fucking thing I said? You should be helping me and supporting me, like I support you. Not threatening to bail out like some punk bitch. You mess around, wasting time trying to be a singer, and you’ll be fucking for free…laid up on some music exec’s couch somewhere. Come on now, you’re smarter than that. Don’t lose the faith. You have to trust me on this.”

Keith was talking fast until he saw the defiance in Dream Crow’s eyes dwindle down to defeat. He liked to keep that look in her pretty brown eyes; it made her look sexy, sad and sexy like a blues singer. He lifted her chin with his pinky finger. “Baby, I’m just saying the truth to you. If I didn’t have mad love for you, I wouldn’t tell you the truth. If I didn’t love you, we would be over there like Titus and that crazy bitch. He’s messing up her face, bruising her up, probably shooting her up, and using her pussy all up for himself. He’s turning her into a twenty-dollar hoe. I’m not like that. I’m good to you, right?”

“Yes, you are, Keith. You’ve been real good to me, for what this is.”

“For what this is?” Keith repeated, unbelieving, “For what this
is? Trina and them never lived with me; they didn’t share my space. I moved you in. I share everything with you, like we’re partners. And except for that one time when you got drunk, I’ve been real cool to you. I be letting shit slide, you know, letting you express your opinions and shit. I have more love and respect for you now than ever before. When Seth brought you to me, you were only seventeen. You had a little past with him; I figured that out when you were holding on to his legs like you were. He couldn’t get out of here fast enough with that brick of cocaine under his coat. He was dragging you across the carpet, trying to get out of the door. Do you remember that?”

“Of course I remember,” Dream Crow said sadly, thinking of Seth. She had heard that he was in West Oakland somewhere, walking the night like a toothless zombie.

“I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to think about that now.” Keith had promised never to bring it up. “But I never held that against you. Never once did I think,
Oh, I can get this nasty bitch to do anything
. Now look at you, classy as all get out. You can hold a conversation with anyone. You can go anywhere and feel right at home. You’re all woman,” he told her, flashing the smile that used to melt her. “I’d like to think I had something to do with the beautiful woman you’ve become.”

“I know,” Dream Crow said, wanting to get him to shut up so she could get out of this loud place that had been sounding off like warning sirens in her head for hours. “I have your back, Papi, like you have mine.”

Satisfied, Keith stepped away from her. “What am I going to do about Korea?”

Dream Crow replied, “Leave her alone. She’ll come to you. Daddy, I would love to stay and talk, but I have a date. I have to go. I’ll be back tomorrow with so much cash, you’ll forget all about that little fucking teenager.”

“Tomorrow?”

“He’s new; I’m breaking him in.”

“Make sure he’s paying double, if you’re staying over.”

“Of course, Keith. If I have any problems, I’ll call you.”

“You can break him in all you want, as long as you break him.”

“Will do,” she said, pecking Keith on the cheek.

She grabbed a small Louis Vuitton tote, her Gucci handbag, and left the condo. Over her silver mini-dress she donned a luxurious vintage three-quarter-length, brown mink. Dream Crow stepped into the night with her strappy silver stilettos beating the pavement quickly to her car. The minute she walked out of the door, her stomach had stopped hurting. She wasn’t nervous anymore. Her hands weren’t sweaty or shaking. She didn’t have to shit.

The clock on the dash reminded her that the time on her dressing table was set thirty minutes ahead. She wouldn’t have to meet Hartford’s friend for another forty-five minutes. She drove down California Street, thinking about the girls that she used to work with and had left behind. She didn’t know that they had been traded. She wondered what Keith had traded them for. She was headed for the 101, but decided to take a left onto Leavenworth and drive by her old stomping block. It was Friday night and the 500 block of Jones was popping with rich white potential clientele. Besides the music convention at the Moscone Center, a big charity fashion show called Macy’s Passport was going on. She had heard that Elizabeth Taylor would be helping to raise money for AIDS. The event was sure to bring a lot more Hollywood players to town.

Dream Crow drove around the turf, showing off her shiny black convertible Spider, waving at girls that she used to know. It had been a long time since she had seen or talked to any of them. Looking at the scene, she almost felt like a traitor. She stopped for a traffic light when a girl leaned against her car.

“I’ll suck your pussy for fifteen dollars,” the girl said. Dream Crow pulled her car over to the curb. The girl followed and stood outside the passenger door. “So we got a deal?”

Dream Crow could see that she was high on heroin and there were needle marks all over her arms and neck. “I don’t know, yet. You got a man around here?”

“Yeah,” the girl said. “He’s over there in the car, watching.”

“Okay.” Dream Crow reached into her purse and pulled out a fifty. “Here.” Dream Crow handed the money to the girl. “Go ahead, get in.”

“Damn, how did you go from hoeing to tricking?” Someone on the sidewalk was talking to her. Dream Crow looked up and saw Trina standing there in a dingy white pleather dress and white boots. Her blonde wig was matted and her lip was healing from where it had been recently busted. There was a black patch over her left eye.

“I see you’re still giving those tricks more than they bargain for,” Dream Crow said. “Who blacked your eye?”

“Ain’t nobody blacked it,” Trina said. “It’s gone.”

Dream Crow wanted to stay and talk, but she didn’t have time. “You take care of yourself, Trina.”

“You, too,” Trina said. “Hey, where are you going with Pillow?” Trina called after the car as Dream Crow hit the corner.

“I can’t go too far for too long. Pull over in the alley over there,” the girl said. “I can do you in the car.”

Dream Crow turned into the alley, but she did not stop. “How old are you?” she asked, guessing she wasn’t more than fifteen under her makeup.

“Don’t you know it’s not polite to ask a lady her age?” the girl said, nodding off.

Dream Crow checked her rearview mirror to see if she was
being followed as she pulled out of the other end of the alley onto O’Farrell Street.

“Hey, wake up!” Dream Crow smacked her face and pulled her eyelid open at the stoplight. “How old are you?”

“Twelve. But I can suck your pussy like a grown-ass woman. For this fifty bucks, you can even suck mine.”

“Y
OU KNOW
, H
ARTFORD
, I’
LL DO MOST ANYTHING FOR YOU
, but your sister is late and I’m supposed to be taking a very large check to Macy’s Passport tonight. If I don’t show up with that money, Liz will hogtie me. How much of my time did you promise to your sister?”

“Mr. Bandarofski, I promise you that Dream Crow is well worth the wait. She’s fantastic. You won’t be disappointed. Please, hold on. Give her fifteen minutes; she’ll be there.”

“I’ll give her ten,” Bandarofski said, and then Hartford was talking to a dial tone.

I
T WAS A TEN-MINUTE DRIVE TO
P
OTRERO
A
VENUE
. She parked in an emergency room stall and helped Pillow out of the car.