Treading The Waters, Part 28

Photo of bridge in New Orleans

Courtesy of ed2465

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When we were last with Gerald, he was running the streets of New Orleans with his friend, Minew, who was talking to Muscles, a woman who was also involved with a major operator, Sam Skully, a dough boy. And things were getting heavy…

Y

ou don’t really want to beef with a dough boy. You want to get him out the way quick. 

With me and Minew being outlaws… I can always get to Sam, cause I’m one of his workers.

I think Sam look at the picture he got like ain’t nothing he can do. 

Minew and him didn’t really get in a talk. But Minew always watched Sam move.

Sometime we used to ride at night. Minew ride with the gun right at his leg. And I ride with mine.

Sometime we want to go out. And we might say, “Nah, we ain’t going.”

We never was scared of the big dogs. We worse than them. They got more to lose than we got to lose. 

Yeah, it be the money that effecting with them, but it be more the power they got. They wouldn’t do they dirty work. They put somebody under you and do they dirty work. You don’t know who they will send at you. 

If they will send anybody. 

They call it “who upped first?” Who upped the trigger first. He might send you to kill me. But you might get the gun and the gun might jam on you.

That’s when you can’t really trust too many guys. Can’t be thinking everybody your friend. Cause I’m talking to you now, we like gum, we sticking together. But nah, man, it’s cutthroat. 

There sometimes Minew used to come get me, and I might tell him I don’t feel like riding. My mind telling me that. Cause remember, he a killer and I’m a killer.

Minew used to come get me in the morning. He might say, “Come on, let’s go eat breakfast,” and like that.

I say, “I ain’t moving this morning, bro. Come back later.”

My mind be like, “This what I’m gonna do.”

If me and you was to hug each other in the street now, I always hit your waistline to see if you strapped. That’s how you can tell you can get ‘em. Any time you hit my waist, that gonna tell you. That n*** got like a TEC.

Bill Cosby came out with these sweaters. They call them “Bill Cosby Sweaters.” I used to wear them. Big old heavy sweater, cost like $200, $300 dollars. 

You have a TEC 9 underneath and they wouldn’t even know it’s right there on you. Only way they know that they come up on you.

But most time the killers gonna know, they gonna hit each other around the waist. 

“I know you strapped. You busting heads out here, you getting money. You be strapped.”

I go to the police like that. I’d rather get caught with it than get caught without it.

The game is dirty. You’re on your own. It’s like Russian roulette. 

To be continued. Anderson’s first book, “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina,” is available on Amazon.com.

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