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Bingo Boy - post 5
It was drizzling when he pulled into the street. No parking spaces, as usual. Every house had two cars, plus a pick-up truck out there. Itinerant 'contractors,' don't you know. Everybody's 'daddy' a roofer, or a basement guy or something else. Hey, money gotta come from somewhere. Ricky knew that. He knew that real bad. The 24/7 kids were out running and screaming, like always. Never got sick too. Girls shriekin' like somebody tryin' a grab 'em. That's what they're hoping for. Boys smokin' stink weeds and cursing. Some a them wanna be skin heads. You can tell. But sayin' so is a dangerous proposition 'round here.
Ricky parked in the alley behind his house. Used a be a little postage stamp grassy spot tacked onto each property. But most a the 'new folks' cemented 'em up real fast. He couldn't let himself in through the back door, 'cause his key didn't work the lock anymore. Could a called a locksmith, if he had a little more money. So he quietly walked around to the front of the block, went down the street, turned into the twenty foot walk way leading to the front door and went in. Then he did his ritual. Locked the dead bolt with a key. Turned the manual lock under it. Laid a big, heavy, snow shovel handle across the door knob, wedging the end into the corner by the jam. Peeked through the little window shade. Saw that the lawn needed cutting. Been seeing that every night for the past week. Went to the refrigerator, grabbed the iced tea jug and guzzled some. Iced tea jug gonna go bye-bye soon. Cost too much. Two ninety nine a pop. TV save money lady say you can get the same thing with tea bags and a pitcher. Ricky gonna try that soon. Got no chocolate chip cookies. Got no pretzel sticks. Eats a few slices of American cheese straight from the wrapper. Crunches like three or four pre-washed baby carrots. Gonna have to give them up soon too. Then he watches TV. Don't look at the ceiling. Don't look at the ceiling. Don't look at the ceiling. That's what he says to himself, inside his head. Water seepin' through from where the tub meet the floor upstairs. Maybe guy at Home Depot can tell him how to fix it?
Now it's cold. It gets like that in Philly. Daytime still Indian Summer. Nighttime more like Canadian Winter. But gas costs money. Wearin' sweatshirts don't. So Ricky grabs two from over the back of a dining room chair and burrows in. Then he lays on the sofa and dozes off, dreamin' 'bout work. First he sees Little Chrissie. She scatin' over solid ice Jello. Wearin' like a bikini wedding gown. Got lace and everything. Then he sees Jimmy. Jimmy got a meat grinder.... got a real big meat grinder. He makin' sausages outta de-boned people meat. And some a that meat look like it come from Ricky's legs.
Jay Leno come on. Ricky wakes up. Peeks at the 'yuck yuck, I tellin' jokes' part and drifts off again. At four a.m. he goes upstairs. Turns on a small, eight dollar and eighty eight cent, plastic desk fan from WalMart. Needs it to kill the noise from next door. Hammerin' and bangin' never stop over there. No, really, it don't. Sound like they makin' Chinese coffins, or somethin'. Very nice family.... Very nice. But that where they from. So I don't know. Could be makin' something else.... I guess..
Gotta buy another blanket. What he got not enough. Pee runs make him shake all over. Bathroom cold. Bathroom real cold. Got some old toys in the basement. Gone try an' sell 'em. Got boxes and everything. Robots. Army guys. Space shit.... 'Put it away and don't ruin it.' - that what they say when he little. So now they not ruined. Maybe he be able a make something?
House 'cross the street gettin' robbed. More like 'smash and grab' burglarized, but they gettin' everything. Old lady what live there (she one a originals on the block) go to 'Lantic City wit' her daughter and son in law. They get 'comped.' She happy. She eat buffet food, hear Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Junior. She win like thirty seven dollar and fifty cent. She laugh. She cry, but it like happy cry, so that make it OK..... Back on the street, they break her window. Shimmy through. Boost a TV. It nice, but it not real special. You could get it for maybe two hundred and eighty nine dollah at Best Buy. But she got a safe. Keep it upstairs in a closet. It behind some old boxes and shit. They find it. Smash open the lid. Bet they do a happy happy, joy joy dance when they see what inside, 'cause it got 'bout fifteen thousand dollah squeezed all in it. That how they do. Old people, I mean. Go to store. Break a twenty. Spend like seven dollar and thirty nine cent. Go home. Stash the rest. Year go by, got like thirty six hundred dollar. Fourteen year go by, got like fifteen thousand dollar. Now my math not exact. Old lady want Tyson Chicken Nugget one time. Maybe she buy like an Entenmann's cake. You know. Every time not the same. But who care. She not got it in a bank and now she not got it at all. She not know til she get back. Then she gone cry. Then she gone shake. Son in law go - God damn it. Maw, why you do that? You know that buy year for little boy at college? You know that pay for like three quarter of a hearty tack? Damn. Damn. Damn.
Ricky gone get note in his door. It from the cops. It gonna say - Your neighbor got herself robbed. Tell us if you see somethin'. Good bye for now. You friend, the cops. But nobody gone see nothin'. They never do. Not even sticky finger neighbor guy what help 'em do it. He the look out. He laugh. He smoke... Not stink weed, jus' regular weed.
Ricky wanna get out. He wanna get out real bad. But even little, bitty shoe box place cost twelve hundred dollah a month, specially if it got parkin' spot or disease free little pool. You disease free little pool not everywhere. Ricky need money. He need it bad. Thought bout knockin' down on Marty, 'cept he doan know how to do it. Place got cameras. Place got 'Muscles.' Soon it gonna have two 'Muscles.' An' that Jimmy bastid there now too.
Little Chrissie not havin' good night either. Not 'cause they robbin' a neighbor. Neighbor robbin' like a big hobby where she live. It 'cause a the baby. He sick. He got snot in lung disease. Doctah give a note. He say - You get youself to the Rite Aid and buy this. She say - What if they got like a discount, generic version?..... Doctah say - Hell no. Ain't got no immy tay shun. Immy tay shun shit poison. You like that little sucker, don't you?..... Little Chrissie go - Yeah... He say - Then you make sure you buy the good stuff.... Then he pinch her cheek, pat her ass real light like and go 'NEXT!'.... What he not tell her is, he get money for sellin' that crap. An' if they not givin' him no money, they give him trip, like to Bermuda, or where you go to ski place. An' he do like plane rides. But baby fixin' syrup cost eighty two dollah an' she not got it. Granny woman what she live wit' ain't got it either. Maybe in day or so they get it? Granny like a young granny. You know, 'round here they go in granny business like forty years old. It a tradition. She know what to do. She done it before..
So for now he get Robitussin PM for children. An' he do like the way it taste. She wipe his head. Dress him up all warm. He do got a cute little sleepin' place. Baby daddy momma buy that. But then she move away to Indianapolis . An' they never see her no more. Baby daddy do some baby daddy magic. He go 'abby cadaver' POOF! an' disappear. Last she hear he in Florida. That like Happy Town for disappeared baby daddy. Little Chrissie hope a alligator get him.
Seem like planets all linin' up. Like a big Gypsy Lady in the sky makin' it all happen. Like soup. Like she stirrin' a big pot a soup. Money trouble. Baby daddy trouble. Leaky bathroom floor trouble. Asshole boss. 'Nother worse asshole boss. You know how it go.... You got a asshole boss, you gotta do somethin'. Mister Never You Mind see it all. He see it lotta time. But this one gone be different... This one gone be a little bit crazy an' a little bit not crazy.
You know Halloween candy got magic in it. Not all, but some. Not them Mary Jane's an' all that cheap crap. But chocolate bars got magic. Hershey bar got lot a magic. Ricky jus' ate one. Crawled downstairs. Went into the kitchen and ate one. Little Chrissie jus' ate one two. And boaf from the same bag. Jus' layin' around at work and they grab some.
A half Mexican, half Puerto Rican ghost I know from out on the Avenue tell me it come from beans off a bush what sprout on Montezuma's grave. So you know it gone be strong.... Not like genii magic though. This magic gone be different... This magic gone be twisted........
______________________________________________
It was drizzling when he pulled into the street. No parking spaces, as usual. Every house had two cars, plus a pick-up truck out there. Itinerant 'contractors,' don't you know. Everybody's 'daddy' a roofer, or a basement guy or something else. Hey, money gotta come from somewhere. Ricky knew that. He knew that real bad. The 24/7 kids were out running and screaming, like always. Never got sick too. Girls shriekin' like somebody tryin' a grab 'em. That's what they're hoping for. Boys smokin' stink weeds and cursing. Some a them wanna be skin heads. You can tell. But sayin' so is a dangerous proposition 'round here.
Ricky parked in the alley behind his house. Used a be a little postage stamp grassy spot tacked onto each property. But most a the 'new folks' cemented 'em up real fast. He couldn't let himself in through the back door, 'cause his key didn't work the lock anymore. Could a called a locksmith, if he had a little more money. So he quietly walked around to the front of the block, went down the street, turned into the twenty foot walk way leading to the front door and went in. Then he did his ritual. Locked the dead bolt with a key. Turned the manual lock under it. Laid a big, heavy, snow shovel handle across the door knob, wedging the end into the corner by the jam. Peeked through the little window shade. Saw that the lawn needed cutting. Been seeing that every night for the past week. Went to the refrigerator, grabbed the iced tea jug and guzzled some. Iced tea jug gonna go bye-bye soon. Cost too much. Two ninety nine a pop. TV save money lady say you can get the same thing with tea bags and a pitcher. Ricky gonna try that soon. Got no chocolate chip cookies. Got no pretzel sticks. Eats a few slices of American cheese straight from the wrapper. Crunches like three or four pre-washed baby carrots. Gonna have to give them up soon too. Then he watches TV. Don't look at the ceiling. Don't look at the ceiling. Don't look at the ceiling. That's what he says to himself, inside his head. Water seepin' through from where the tub meet the floor upstairs. Maybe guy at Home Depot can tell him how to fix it?
Now it's cold. It gets like that in Philly. Daytime still Indian Summer. Nighttime more like Canadian Winter. But gas costs money. Wearin' sweatshirts don't. So Ricky grabs two from over the back of a dining room chair and burrows in. Then he lays on the sofa and dozes off, dreamin' 'bout work. First he sees Little Chrissie. She scatin' over solid ice Jello. Wearin' like a bikini wedding gown. Got lace and everything. Then he sees Jimmy. Jimmy got a meat grinder.... got a real big meat grinder. He makin' sausages outta de-boned people meat. And some a that meat look like it come from Ricky's legs.
Jay Leno come on. Ricky wakes up. Peeks at the 'yuck yuck, I tellin' jokes' part and drifts off again. At four a.m. he goes upstairs. Turns on a small, eight dollar and eighty eight cent, plastic desk fan from WalMart. Needs it to kill the noise from next door. Hammerin' and bangin' never stop over there. No, really, it don't. Sound like they makin' Chinese coffins, or somethin'. Very nice family.... Very nice. But that where they from. So I don't know. Could be makin' something else.... I guess..
Gotta buy another blanket. What he got not enough. Pee runs make him shake all over. Bathroom cold. Bathroom real cold. Got some old toys in the basement. Gone try an' sell 'em. Got boxes and everything. Robots. Army guys. Space shit.... 'Put it away and don't ruin it.' - that what they say when he little. So now they not ruined. Maybe he be able a make something?
House 'cross the street gettin' robbed. More like 'smash and grab' burglarized, but they gettin' everything. Old lady what live there (she one a originals on the block) go to 'Lantic City wit' her daughter and son in law. They get 'comped.' She happy. She eat buffet food, hear Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Junior. She win like thirty seven dollar and fifty cent. She laugh. She cry, but it like happy cry, so that make it OK..... Back on the street, they break her window. Shimmy through. Boost a TV. It nice, but it not real special. You could get it for maybe two hundred and eighty nine dollah at Best Buy. But she got a safe. Keep it upstairs in a closet. It behind some old boxes and shit. They find it. Smash open the lid. Bet they do a happy happy, joy joy dance when they see what inside, 'cause it got 'bout fifteen thousand dollah squeezed all in it. That how they do. Old people, I mean. Go to store. Break a twenty. Spend like seven dollar and thirty nine cent. Go home. Stash the rest. Year go by, got like thirty six hundred dollar. Fourteen year go by, got like fifteen thousand dollar. Now my math not exact. Old lady want Tyson Chicken Nugget one time. Maybe she buy like an Entenmann's cake. You know. Every time not the same. But who care. She not got it in a bank and now she not got it at all. She not know til she get back. Then she gone cry. Then she gone shake. Son in law go - God damn it. Maw, why you do that? You know that buy year for little boy at college? You know that pay for like three quarter of a hearty tack? Damn. Damn. Damn.
Ricky gone get note in his door. It from the cops. It gonna say - Your neighbor got herself robbed. Tell us if you see somethin'. Good bye for now. You friend, the cops. But nobody gone see nothin'. They never do. Not even sticky finger neighbor guy what help 'em do it. He the look out. He laugh. He smoke... Not stink weed, jus' regular weed.
Ricky wanna get out. He wanna get out real bad. But even little, bitty shoe box place cost twelve hundred dollah a month, specially if it got parkin' spot or disease free little pool. You disease free little pool not everywhere. Ricky need money. He need it bad. Thought bout knockin' down on Marty, 'cept he doan know how to do it. Place got cameras. Place got 'Muscles.' Soon it gonna have two 'Muscles.' An' that Jimmy bastid there now too.
Little Chrissie not havin' good night either. Not 'cause they robbin' a neighbor. Neighbor robbin' like a big hobby where she live. It 'cause a the baby. He sick. He got snot in lung disease. Doctah give a note. He say - You get youself to the Rite Aid and buy this. She say - What if they got like a discount, generic version?..... Doctah say - Hell no. Ain't got no immy tay shun. Immy tay shun shit poison. You like that little sucker, don't you?..... Little Chrissie go - Yeah... He say - Then you make sure you buy the good stuff.... Then he pinch her cheek, pat her ass real light like and go 'NEXT!'.... What he not tell her is, he get money for sellin' that crap. An' if they not givin' him no money, they give him trip, like to Bermuda, or where you go to ski place. An' he do like plane rides. But baby fixin' syrup cost eighty two dollah an' she not got it. Granny woman what she live wit' ain't got it either. Maybe in day or so they get it? Granny like a young granny. You know, 'round here they go in granny business like forty years old. It a tradition. She know what to do. She done it before..
So for now he get Robitussin PM for children. An' he do like the way it taste. She wipe his head. Dress him up all warm. He do got a cute little sleepin' place. Baby daddy momma buy that. But then she move away to Indianapolis . An' they never see her no more. Baby daddy do some baby daddy magic. He go 'abby cadaver' POOF! an' disappear. Last she hear he in Florida. That like Happy Town for disappeared baby daddy. Little Chrissie hope a alligator get him.
Seem like planets all linin' up. Like a big Gypsy Lady in the sky makin' it all happen. Like soup. Like she stirrin' a big pot a soup. Money trouble. Baby daddy trouble. Leaky bathroom floor trouble. Asshole boss. 'Nother worse asshole boss. You know how it go.... You got a asshole boss, you gotta do somethin'. Mister Never You Mind see it all. He see it lotta time. But this one gone be different... This one gone be a little bit crazy an' a little bit not crazy.
You know Halloween candy got magic in it. Not all, but some. Not them Mary Jane's an' all that cheap crap. But chocolate bars got magic. Hershey bar got lot a magic. Ricky jus' ate one. Crawled downstairs. Went into the kitchen and ate one. Little Chrissie jus' ate one two. And boaf from the same bag. Jus' layin' around at work and they grab some.
A half Mexican, half Puerto Rican ghost I know from out on the Avenue tell me it come from beans off a bush what sprout on Montezuma's grave. So you know it gone be strong.... Not like genii magic though. This magic gone be different... This magic gone be twisted........
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2 comments:
how'd that comment up above get removed???
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