Malachi moon, p.15
Malachi Moon, page 15
Sylvester removed his hand, but not before squeezing it hard enough to make Malachi wince from the pain. “Listen to what my brother has said. We’ll hate to send our little brother over to talk to you. He sometimes talks a person...to death,” he said.
Malachi stood there and watched the Brown brothers walk ahead of him. His legs were shaking, and his mouth had gone dry. He turned and walked back to Kai-Chang.
“You had a good talk with them?” Kai-Chang asked when Malachi approached.
Malachi stopped in front of him. “Why didn’t you come with me? Those two fools could’ve stuck a knife in me and left me lying in the street,” he said.
“You said they were not your enemies, so why should I be concerned?” Kai-Chang said.
Malachi scratched his head. “So, you’re telling me if I don’t tell you someone is my enemy, you won’t be concerned?” he asked.
“Yes, for Confucius said that a wise man sees his enemies before they can see him,” Kai-Chang said.
“Who is Confucius?” Malachi asked
“A very wise Chinese philosopher of old who wrote many wise words during his time,” Kia-Chang said.
“How old?” Malachi asked. He gave Kai-Chang a dubious stare.
Kai-Chang looked at him. He arched his right eyebrow. “He’s dead. That’s how old he was,” he said.
“So why are you listening to a dead man?” Malachi asked.
“His wisdom is eternal. His words are like fire that motivates the unwise,” Kai-Chang said.
“Eternal? What does that mean?” Malachi asked.
“It means that what transpires on this lowly plane has already been lived by Confucius on a higher plane. To listen to his reasoning is to prepare one-self for the unexpected that flows with life.”
Malachi scratched his head as he stared at Kai-Chang.
“I see that your expression of confusion must be taken into consideration when trying to explain one as wise as Confucius,” Kai-Chang said.
“Yeah, I guess. Come on,” Malachi said.
“Why do those men want to harm you, Mala?” Kai-Chang asked.
Malachi was walking with his head lowered. He looked up. “I guess they feel that I’m doing more with what Bear left me than when he was alive. They feel threaten by me making more money than them,” he said.
Kai-Chang nodded. His eyes were closed. When he opened them, he stopped and turned toward Malachi. “There are times when your enemy must think he is your friend, and then when he least suspects it, you must pounce on him like a tiger on an elephant. Giving him no quarter and releasing all your might to prevent the elephant from gaining any advantage with its size to crush you,” he said.
Malachi turned toward Kai-Chang. He squinted his eyes, and twisted his lips upward. “What the hell did you say?” he asked.
Kai-Chang sighed. “To beat an enemy that is bigger than you, you must let that enemy think it can win. To be successful in winning your fight with him, you must first gain his confidence.”
Malachi scratched his head. “Okay. So you’re saying I should lead the horse to water and when he gets ready to drink it, I should poison it, right?” he asked.
Kai-Chang looked at Malachi. He shrugged. “Right,” he said.
“Oh. Well, why didn’t you say that?” Malachi asked. “Come on.”
Malachi and Kai-Chang shopped in the general store for paint, brushes, and plywood. They had to get a cart to put the things in. By the time they reached the Queen, Malachi was exhausted.
They stood in the lobby of the Queen when Cotton walked up wearing new clothing and smelling like freshly minty cologne.
“Hey boss,” Cotton said. He stood beside Malachi. He looked at Kai-Chang and frowned. “You hired new help?” he asked.
Malachi shook his head. “Nope. Well, he is in a way. He’d be doing odds and ends jobs around here. Where’s Rose Ann?”
“In the small office doing the books. I was just back there. She wanted something to eat,” he said. He inched a little closer to Malachi. He leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “Uh...he’s a chink, boss.”
Malachi turned toward him. “I remember when you were walking around here not smelling too good, and looking even worse, Cotton,” he began. “I know what he is. So, being that he works for me, he’s to be respected. At all times.”
Cotton gave a weak smile. He nodded. “You right, boss,” he said.
“Find something for Kai-Chang to fix around here. I’ll be in the office,” Malachi said.
As he walked to the office, Malachi began to think. If the Brown brothers were thinking about getting rid of him, what would he do? How would they go about it? And whom would they use to get to him?
Opening his office door, he was shocked to see Stump sitting on the desk facing him. He wanted to slam the door close and run, but his pride got the best of him. With nervousness and apprehension running rampant through shaking body, he took in a deep breath and walked into the room as he closed the door. When he turned back around to face Stump, his body braced itself for the bullet he knew would be coming his way.
“You really filling out, Malachi,” Stump said. “How’s your sister?”
So that’s where the Brown brothers were going to take their intimidation. Malachi bit down on his bottom lip. His breathing became shallow. He stuffed his shaking hands deep into his pocket so Stump couldn’t see them.
“Don’t worry about my sister. She ain’t got nothing to do with how I run the Queen. She ain’t in nothing that I do, so don’t be trying to threaten me with her!” Malachi snapped.
“You scared, ain’t you, boy?” Stump asked. He slid off the desk, and walked toward Malachi. “Ain’t nothing wrong with being scared. Fear keeps you strong.”
“You don’t scare me, Stump. Whatever you want to bring to me, I ain’t scared,” Malachi said. He balled his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. “I know Bear wasn’t scared when you shot him in the back either.”
Stump was close enough to Malachi to breath on him. He stared down at Malachi. “That’s what you think? It’s only right. A lot of people are thinking that I killed my best friend because of our differences,” he said.
“Think? Everybody in Blackenfield knows you killed Bear and sided with the Brown brothers!” Malachi hissed with hatred. He was becoming angry. “And now you’re here to kill me for the Brown brothers so they can take over the Queen.”
Stump spun around and walked quickly away from Malachi. He walked to the door. He stood there with his hand on the doorknob, and then just as quickly, he turned back around and headed toward Malachi. He walked around the desk. He opened the draw. Malachi’s eyes popped out of his head when he saw Stump take out Bear’s gun. He looked at Malachi with the gun in his right hand.
Malachi wanted to fall to the floor and beg for his life, but he didn’t it. He pushed that thought out of his mind, and lifted his chin while defiantly staring at him.
“Killing ain’t nothing, Malachi, do you know that?” Stump asked, as he stood in front of him. He lifted the gun inches from Malachi’s nose. “Once you’ve killed, any other killings after that don’t mean anything. You become...less caring.”
Malachi stared into Stump’s eyes.
“But you have to be heartless to kill a friend. A real good friend at that,” Stump said.
Malachi eyes harden. He bit harder on his bottom lip. He could taste blood in his mouth. And, the fear he thought would make he run out of the office was gone. Instead, it was replaced with an urge to grab the gun and shoot Stump between the eyes. Although he’d never fired a gun before, he would chance it if it meant avenging Bear. He took his hands out of his pocket.
Stump flipped the gun expertly over his index finger making the butt come into Malachi’s face. The point of the gun was now directed at Stump. He offered the gun to Malachi.
Malachi looked at the butt of the gun, and then Stump.
“I gave this gun to Bear when we first came to this town. They were a set. I have the other one,” Stump said. He lifted his shirt. In the waist of his pants was the other gun just like Bear’s. “They’re matches.”
Malachi looked down and saw that the guns were matches.
“Take the gun, boy,” Stump said.
Malachi hesitated.
“Go on, take it, Malachi. Everything that was Bear’s is now yours,” Stump said.
Slowly, and, with caution, Malachi reached for the gun. When his hands gripped the handle of the gun, Stump let it go and took three steps backward.
Malachi looked at the gun.
“All right. You got a gun now. Do you want to use it? Would you like to take a shot at me?” Stump asked. He placed his hands on his hips and stood in wide-leg stance. “You was scared before, are you scared now?”
Malachi looked at the gun, and then Stump.
“You feel I killed Bear, and I’m going to tell you right now, I didn’t,” Stump said. He turned slightly to his right. He slammed the side of his fist against the wall, and a section of it popped out. “I would never kill my best friend.”
Malachi lowered the gun to his side. He walked over toward Stump.
“Bear and I had us a getaway made in case we had to get out of this office other than the front door. This leads to a room one flight above this office. I thought only Bear and I knew about it, but someone else did, and they used it to get out of this office after shooting Bear,” Stump said.
Malachi placed Bear’s gun on the desk.
“When I saw the Brown brothers running toward me after the gunshots, I thought one of them had done it. When I ran to the office I was hoping to catch the killer. As I pushed open the office door, I saw this,” Stump pointed to the secret door. “It was closing. I could’ve run after the person who shot Bear, but instead, I tried to help him. He stared at me and smiled before he closed his eyes. I don’t know why I picked up his gun. Maybe it had to do with reflex, I don’t know, but when everyone busted through the door, it looked like what it looked like.”
“I never knew about that secret passageway,” Malachi said.
“And whoever did, had Bear’s trust, because he wouldn’t have just told anyone,” Stump said. He closed the small secret passageway door by pulling a metal lever on the side of the wall by the window. “You never tell anyone about your escape route out of a one-way box.”
“So you didn’t kill Bear?” Malachi asked.
“No, boy, I didn’t.”
Malachi nodded. “The Brown brothers cornered me earlier. They wanted to know how the number rackets worked. They said that you didn’t know how it worked. That Bear had told you about it,” he said.
Stump smiled and nodded.
“But you’re the one who told Bear how it worked,” Malachi said.
“Yeah. I wouldn’t tell those bastards the correct time of day,” Stump said.
“I heard them talking to Sheriff Hays about how they appreciate him getting you off for killing Bear,” Malachi said. “I saw them give him money.”
“The Brown brothers must have set that up after they ran out of the Queen. I figure they knew I’d be the one to blame for the death of Bear, and contacted that white, crooked cracker, Hays. They probably figured no one in town would trust me and, that they could use my situation to get what information they could out of me and go after you,” Stump said.
“Do you think they know who killed Bear?” Malachi asked.
“If they do, they’re keeping it close to their chest, because I ain’t heard nothing,” Stump said.
Malachi walked behind the desk and sat down in the chair. He placed his elbows on the table and his hands under his face. “The Brown brothers are coming after me,” he said.
“They’d be coming after the Queen. You’re young, Malachi. Those boys will throw everything at you to get this hotel and everything that comes with it, but you have an advantage now,” Stump said.
Malachi looked up at Stump. “Really? What’s that?” he asked.
“You have me working on them from their side of the fence.”
Malachi moaned.
Saturday night brought out the best and worse dress people in Blackenfield. The Queen and the Goldspot were the most prestigious places to go to on a warm spring night. As everyone pampered themselves to start the night, Lester Brown was sweating profusely as he searched for his moment of pleasure.
“Come on, woman, give me what you got!” Lester shouted, as he wiped the sweat out of his eyes with his bare shoulder. “I know you want it hard!”
Sally, her legs spread wide open while lying on her back, stifled a yawn by placing a hand over her mouth. She looked up at the sweaty face of Lester while he pounded on her with his eyes closed. She turned to the right of her and cursed. Lying on the small table out of her reach were her cigarettes. She needed a smoke to calm her nerves, and to put some excitement into what she was currently enduring.
“Go ahead, baby, you riding that horse good,” Sally said without much enthusiasm. “Hold those reins, big boy!”
“I got you now! Shit! I got you now!” Lester screamed, as he continued to thrust himself into Sally.
Sally could feel the buildup inside of her. She was happy that it only took Lester two minutes to reach his climax. She watched his face contort in different stages. There was a face of agony as she watched Lester pull back his teeth in a snarl. To an image of his face becoming a face of pleasure as he began shaking his head and smiling. His eyes rolled in the back of his head. His body began to convulse as veins popped out on the side of his neck. He went stiff, and then he collapsed on top of her.
“Goddamn, woman! You make a man want to cry,” Lester said. He was out of breath as he lay on Sally’s naked breast. “Give me an hour or two and I could go at it again.”
Sally grunted, as she rolled Lester off her and reached for her cigarettes on the table. “I can’t wait another hour, big boy, I have a show to do,” she said, as she sat up with the pack of cigarettes in her hand.
Lester’s face fell onto the pillow when she moved. He lay there breathing hard.
Sally sat on the edge of the bed with her legs open like a man. She lit her cigarette, as she felt Lester’s seed run down the side of her leg.
“You know how long I been wanting to get into that bush of yours, Sally?” Lester mumbled while his face was in the pillow.
Sally turned toward him. She exhaled smoke in his direction. “How long, big boy?” she asked.
“Looooonnngggg time!” Lester said. He rolled over. He looked at Sally. “So, was it good to you?”
Sally displayed a cold, harden smile. “It was the best I ever had,” she said.
“Better than my brother Chester?” Lester asked.
“He’s a little boy compared to your manliness,” Sally said. She took a long pull on her cigarette, filling her lungs with smoke.
“What about my brother Sylvester?” Lester asked.
Sally lifted her head, and blew the smoke upward. “Negro, please. He’s even less of a man when it comes to you. Sure, he’s tall and what not, but you are the real man among men, Lester,” she said.
Lester smiled. With blinding speed, he reached up and grabbed Sally by the mane of her thick, black hair, yanking her head back as he pulled her toward him. “That’s right, bitch! I’m the big nigger you gonna be giving that trim to from now on,” he hissed menacingly.
Sally, her face close to Lester’s stared into his black, dark eyes. She’d slept with many men to get what she wanted in life, but as she stared into Lester’s eyes, a sense of dread engulfed her.
“It’ll always be you, baby,” Sally said.
Lester yanked her hair harder. “It better be,” he said.
“But things could be better if we had our own thing going,” Sally said.
“What thing?” Lester asked, as he slowly stroked Sally’s hair gently.
“Your brothers always think that they’re smarter than you, but I know that you’re the real one running things, baby,” Sally said.
“Damn right!” Lester snapped. He yanked hard on her hair to emphasize his point.
“Well, baby, I know you can run things without them always questioning your actions. You’re a man to be respected and feared. They take your actions and use them to make themselves look good. What they do, you can do better,” Sally said.
“You think so?” Lester asked. Releasing his grip a little.
“Yes. You need to really start thinking about if something happened to them—and I’m not wishing anything would—it might be you who would be running things in Blackenfield,” Sally said. She pulled hard on the cigarette. “Ain’t no one can live forever.”
Lester reached between his legs. He felt himself coming to life. “If I became the man around here one day, I’d need a good woman behind me,” he said.
Sally twisted around as she felt his grip loosen. “Ain’t I a good woman, Lester?” she asked.
Lester tightened his fingers in Sally’s hair again. Bracing for her to do something. He reached over and removed the cigarette from her fingers with his other hand. He crushed it out in the ashtray. Settling back down, he looked at Sally.
“Yeah, you’re a real good woman,” Lester said.
Lester pulled Sally’s hair to the point of pulling out a few strands as he directed her head downward toward his crotch. “Let me see how really good you are with your mouth,” he said.
Sally, a tinge of fear running through her body, grabbed Lester’s hips as she moistened her mouth.
Lester looked down at her and started snickering while watching Sally’s head bob up and down on his crotch.
Chapter Eleven
Malachi was walking into the gambling area of the Queen when he heard Cotton calling out to him. He stopped and turned around.
“That damn slant eyed fool, don’t want to do nothing!” Cotton said, as he neared Malachi.
Malachi watched Cotton approach. He saw that his clothing had paint on them. “Where is Kai-Chang?” he asked.
