Malachi moon, p.16
Malachi Moon, page 16
Cotton tossed a thumb over his left shoulder.
Malachi moved his head slightly to the left of Cotton’s frame. He saw Kai-Chang slowly walking toward them with his hands in the sleeves of his yellow silk kimono.
“I’ll take care of it, Cotton,” he said. “Go on and get cleaned up.”
Cotton glanced back at Kai-Chang as he walked by him. Kai-Chang nodded slightly while passing Cotton.
Malachi walked to a chair on his right and sat down. He watched Kai-Chang take his time. When Kai-Chang reached him, he stood there.
“Take a seat, Kai-Chang,” Malachi said.
“Kai-Chang will stand.”
Malachi nodded. “What happened?” he asked.
“I do not know what you speak of,” Kai-Chang said.
“Cotton said that you don’t want to help around here,” Malachi said.
“I shall help when it is needed, Mala,” Kai-Chang said.
“What does that mean?” Malachi asked.
“Kai-Chang is a person who helps when there is no other help to be rendered,” Kai-Chang said.
Malachi tilted his head while arching his eyebrows in confusion. “What does that mean, Kai-Chang?”
“One does not know that one needs help until one asks. That might be the simplest form to enlighten you, Mala. Help comes when one doesn’t expect it. That’s when it is really needed,” Kai-Chang said.
“What does painting, sweeping, or carrying supplies have to do with what you’re talking about?” Malachi asked. “You wanted a job. I—“
Malachi stopped when he saw Kai-Chang raised his right hand.
“Kai-Chang took the offer of your job to assist you, Mala. Kai-Chang was fine with his other job, but your offer of more money persuaded Kai-Chang to vacant his old job and come work for you. Yet, Confucius has said that a man who leaves one labor for another labor is a man who is trying to catch his own tail,” Kai-Chang commented.
Malachi sighed while rolling his eyes upward. “And that means....”
“To evolve in life, one must move forward and not backward to achieve great things and a higher enlightenment,” Kai-Chang said. He bowed.
“So, you don’t do anything?” Malachi asked.
“I do what is expected of me, Mala.”
“And what is that?” Malachi asked.
“That is anything that may come to past,” Kai-Chang said.
Malachi shook his head, and rolled his eyes. “What am I paying you for?” he asked. He placed his hands over his face as he sighed with exhaustion. “You said you wanted the job.”
“Kai-Chang was pleased to accept your offer of a job, but you did not ask Kai-Chang what he did. Kai-Chang only delivered laundry to help, but that is not my job. Kai-Chang has many jobs.”
“What is your job?” Malachi asked with exasperation.
“To assist those who may need my assistance,” Kai-Chang said.
Malachi slapped himself on the forehead hard. “Okay, Kai-Chang. “I’ll think of something for you to do...later,” he said.
“Kai-Chang shall be patient in awaiting your decision, Mala.”
Malachi looked at him. “I bet you will,” he said. He stood up. “Come on, let me show you around.”
Kai-Chang bowed as Malachi stood up.
“Gambling is making money,” Malachi began, as Kai-Chang followed him. “When Bear taught me how to run the Queen, I didn’t know if I could do it, but as time went on, I became comfortable, plus Cotton helped me a lot.”
“I do not like him. The one you call Cotton. He expects too much from people. And he is too headstrong,” Kai-Chang said.
“In other words, you don’t like him asking you to work,” Malachi said.
Kai-Chang said nothing.
Sheriff Hays was standing in a large cornfield surrounded by thirty other men dressed the same way he was. Night had fallen. The evening was muggy and humid. The men were passing around several jugs of moonshine.
That evening Sheriff Hays could feel sweat running down the back of his shirt. He snatched off the white hood that covered his head. He exhaled and inhaled quickly as if he were short on breath.
“It’s hot as hell under that damn hood,” Sheriff Hays snapped. He spit out a mouthful of tobacco juice. “Why for Sweet Jesus do we have to wear these damn things?”
“Goddamn it, Barney, you always start this crap when we’re going through the ritual,” said a man whose stomach looked as if he were pregnant, and, who was dressed the same way. “Why can’t you wear the damn hood?”
Sheriff Barney Hays looked at John Hawkins as if the man was a fool. He was considered the Grand Dragon of their lodge. To Sheriff Barney Hays, John Hawkins reminded him of Santa Claus at that moment with his big, red shiny sheet.
“Look, Johnny Boy, I ain’t wearing that sweaty hood until it’s time for us to burn the logs,” Sheriff Hays said. “Anyway, you ever try to spit out tobacco juice under one of these goddamn things?”
Johnny lifted his hood. “Hell, yeah,” he said, as spit out some tobacco juice. “That damn stuff gets all over my shirt.” He pulled his red hood back down.
“I’m tired of these meetings in the woods. Why we can’t meet in a house or some place more comfortable?” Sheriff Hays asked. He placed his hood back on his head but not before spiting out some more tobacco juice. “So what if the niggers know who we are. We get tighter ropes to put around their dark necks when it’s time to hang the bastards.”
“We’ve been best friends since our daddy’s shined shoes together, Barney. The boys thought you weren’t hungry enough to be in the Lodge, but I told them you’d make this thing work. Now this is the first Lodge for our order on this side of the state, and we got to set an example for future ones,” John said. “Now bring your white, lily ass on. I have a meeting to conduct.”
With lead feet, Sheriff Hays followed his best friend.
John walked to a wooden pulpit. He stepped on the metal crate that was behind it, and looked down into the faces of white hooded sheets. Sheriff Hays stood beside him.
“Boys, we gathered here tonight for our first official meeting as Ku Klux Klan members. We’re the first chapter in New Orleans to acknowledge the purity of the white race. Our purpose is to put fear in these dark jungle bunnies that some free-minded liberal set free from our chains of bondage and servitude. We have to get these niggers back in their place to continue the purity of the white race,” John said to the boisterous applause of the men in front of him. “We have to protect our white women from these niggers. They are soiling our white land and our white women’s virginity with their antics of bestiality and devilish ways.”
“I ain’t never had me a white virgin woman, Johnny Boy,” someone from the crowd shouted.
The crowd erupted in laughter.
“That don’t mean they ain’t none out there, Hubert Wallins,” John shouted back. “And don’t be cutting in when the Grand Dragon is talking. All right. We need to keep fear in these niggers everyday to let them know that the Ku Klux Klan is not to be toyed with. Every other Wednesday, we’ll meet and stra...uh...strate...what’s the word I’m looking for, Barney?”
“Strategize, Johnny,” Sheriff Hays said as he rolled his eyes in disbelief.
“Right. We’ll strategize to bring about the destruction of these niggers. Because we can’t let them demand what the white man has. We refuse to give them the rights that will make them act like they equal to us. Ain’t no nigger the same as us!” John shouted.
“What about your uncle Henry from Tallahassee, Johnny Boy!” Another person shouted from the crowd.
“Uncle Henry ain’t a nigger, Charlie! He’s a little dark because my family has a little Injun in them from my great grandma’s side of the family!” John shouted. “It ain’t none of your damn business anyway! Now ya’ll stop cutting me off so I can finish my speech. Getting back to them niggers. The way I see it, we gonna have to set an example. We got us a town full of niggers in Blackenfield down yonder, and we better let them darkies know who’s the boss. So, I, the Grand Dragon of this Lodge, suggest that we start lynching us some niggers! What do you boys say?”
The crowd of white sheets erupted with yells of joy. Two of the unknown men began dancing.
“All right, Charlie, light up our Christmas tree,” John said. “And pass around more of them jugs of moonshine.” He stepped down from the podium.
“We gonna go mess with them niggers in Blackenfield, Johnny Boy?” Sheriff Hays asked.
“Damn right, Barney. Now our policy has been as long as they stayed on their side of town, we ignored them, but this is a new age. Niggers are acting too uppity with the entire world looking on. Once we lynch one, two, or twenty of them, they’ll know their place,” John said.
“Some of them niggers we’ve known for years,” Sheriff Hays said. He raised his face hood, and spitted out tobacco juice. He left it up. “And some of them pay good money to be left alone.”
“Pull down your goddamn hood, Barney,” John whispered. He watched as Sheriff Hays pulled down the hood. “It don’t make a difference as to how much money they giving us. They’re niggers, and like any nigger, they get lynched, burned, and killed if a true white man wanted to do it. That’s our God given right as white folk. Ain’t no laws in this country gonna convict a white man for killing a nigger. That being the case, we gonna set some examples with these niggers right next door.”
John stopped as the night around them became ablaze. He and Sheriff Hays turned around to look at the sudden illumination of a twelve-foot tree that had been crisscrossed in the form of a cross.
The gasoline Charlie had tossed on it was a little too much, because Charlie was running through the woods with his burning body while screaming in pain.
“Some body better put Charlie out!” Sheriff Hays shouted. He looked on as Charlie ran back and forth as his screams became louder and louder while the flames ate his clothing and skin.
“Goddamn it!” John said, as he stomped his foot. Somebody throw Charlie to the ground and put his ass out before the boy is charcoal. Then we’ll have us a white nigger in our midst”.
Sheriff Hays looked on as three men, one with a blanket, began chasing Charlie. When they finally caught him, he was tossed to the ground and the men began smothering the fire with the blanket as they rolled around with him around in it screaming and kicking.
“Ku Klux Klan my ass. They’re all a bunch of assholes,” Sheriff Hays mumbled as he lifted his face hood, and spit.
Malachi was on the stage finishing up his last song. He looked out into the audience and saw the girl. He waved at her. He watched her look over her shoulders, then point to herself. Malachi nodded and waved again. She smiled and waved back. Malachi strung the last chord on his guitar, and stepped down from the stage. The audience gave him a standing ovation. He was dressed in his best double-breasted gray suit. He’d slicked down his natural curly black hair with some thick pomade. He felt confident as he approached the girl because he’d awoken two days previous to find that he had peach hairs growing on his top lip. He was becoming a man.
As he walked to the table where the girl was sitting, he glanced in the corner to the left of him and saw Kai-Chang sitting on a stool with his hands inside the sleeves of his dark blue kimono. He smiled. He saw Cotton and three other workers making their rounds taking numbers on their small writing pads.
“Hello,” Malachi said as he neared the girl who was wearing a beige dress with matching purse and shoes. Her white hat was pulled down snugly on her head. “You like the show?”
The girl, obviously embarrassed looked up at Malachi, nodded. When she did look at him, Malachi gasped. Her beauty was mesmerizing. He’d seen her only from distances up to that moment. Up close, he realized that she was gorgeous. Her almond shaped face with light brown eyes made a person’s brain shut down. He’d never seen anyone as beautiful as her.
“Hi,” the young woman said.
Malachi sat down on the seat across from her. “What is your name?” he asked. He could barely make his lips move. Maybe it had to do with his singing, but he knew that was not true. His mouth was dry because the girl’s beauty was breathtaking.
“My name is Betty Mae Johnson.”
“My name is Malachi Moon.”
Betty Mae smiled at Malachi. Malachi mouth fell open out at the sight of her smile. It was so innocent and warm.
“I know who you are. Most people in town know you’re the young boy who owns the Queen,” Betty Mae said. “I have two girlfriends who came with me tonight. They said you were more than handsome.”
“You do? They did? I didn’t see them,” Malachi said, as he glanced around.
Betty Mae waved her hand. “They’re around here somewhere. Where’s your sister?” she asked.
“Rose Ann? I don’t know, but she’s around here working. I’m going to tell you something, but I know you hear it all of the time,” Malachi said. “You are beautiful.”
“No,” Betty Mae said, as her smile grew bigger and her dimples set in deeper.
“No what?” Malachi asked.
“I’m not that beautiful,” she said.
“Stop lying to yourself. You’re more than beautiful,” Malachi said. He leaned forward. “You can make a grown man cry with your beauty.”
Betty Mae laughed. “That’s sweet,” she said.
“How old are you?” Malachi asked, as he leaned forward in his chair.
“Didn’t your mama tell you never to ask a girl her age?” Betty Mae asked.
“Mama and I never got around to that conversation,” Malachi said.
“Oh. Well, take my word for it. Girls don’t like to talk about their age. We feel it makes us old. How old are you?” Betty Mae asked.
“Seventeen,” Malachi said. He pushed out his chest.
“Seventeen? Dear me. I thought you were...Well, your sister told me you were twenty-two. You look much older than seventeen,” Betty Mae said.
“I had good looking parents. So, if you thought I was twenty-two that would make you about twenty or twenty-one. Right?” Malachi asked. He smiled.
“Twenty-one,” Betty Mae said.
“Boss?”
Malachi turned around to see Cotton hurrying toward him. When Cotton reached him, he bent down to whisper in his ear.
“About six of the Brown brothers’ men just came in acting rowdy and drinking heavily,” Cotton said. He moved his head to the right. Malachi followed his direction.
Toward the left of him, Malachi could see six men dressed in weather worn, ragged clothing drinking and talking loudly.
“How do you know they’re the Brown brothers’ men, Cotton?” Malachi asked.
“One of the girls overheard some of them talking about the Brown brothers giving them some extra cash.”
“Go get my Louisville Slugger behind the bar, and tell the other men to surround them but don’t make it look too obvious,” Malachi said.
Cotton nodded and quickly dashed off toward the bar.
“What’s happening?” Betty Mae asked.
“Nothing for you to be worrying your little head about. I’ll tell you what. I have some business to take care of, but I don’t want you to leave. Do you see that doorway over there?” Malachi said, as he pointed to the far right corner. “Stay over there no matter what happens.”
Betty Mae stood up. “What about my girlfriends?” she asked.
“Believe me, they will be all right. Now you go on like I told you,” Malachi insisted.
Cotton returned. His arm was concealed behind his leg. He slipped Malachi the Louisville Slugger baseball bat as he stood up. He watched Betty Mae make it to the door where he’d told her.
“Did you tell Blackie, Dun, Moose, and Mack about the situation?” Malachi asked Cotton.
“Yeah. They spread out so the Brown brothers’ boys are in the middle of us,” Cotton answered. “They did it without looking suspicious.”
“I hate this. For a Saturday night like this one, I can lose money like it was water running out of a facet if a fight broke out. Did you tell them not to break too much of the furniture?” Malachi asked.
“I told them, boss.”
“Let go take care of business,” Malachi said, as he took the lead.
Malachi and Cotton made their way to the front of the club. A man wearing a brown derby hat who was with the Brown brothers was sitting at the table. He turned toward them. Malachi watched as he said something to the other men. When he finished, they all turned toward Malachi and Cotton.
Malachi approached the table with a smile. The Louisville Slugger was concealed behind his left leg. “How you boys doing?” he asked.
The man with the brown derby hat grunted. “We was doing all right until you showed up,” he said. “Look, boys, we got ourselves a little big man.”
They all started laughing.
“Get your ass out of here!” Cotton snapped. “You flunkies for the Brown brothers don’t belong in the Queen.”
“Hey, Slim, we got us a loud mouth,” said brown derby hat.
Everyone turned to Slim. A man as thin as a rail stood up. Malachi gulped at his height. The man was over six feet, three inches tall. In his hands he was holding a crowbar.
“Yeah, I heard him,” Slim said. His voice was a full baritone. “What do you think about that, Tomcat?”
Tomcat stood up. Wrapped around both his fists were two thick, heavy linked chains. “Shonuff! I think you gonna have to put my ass out with some help,” he said. “Cause you two ain’t gonna be able to do it yourselves. But I might be wrong. Whatcha you think, Buster?” asked Tomcat.
Malachi slowly gave each face a brief stare while still sitting trying to determine which one was Buster. No one stood up.
“This young punk doesn’t know who he is messing with.”
The voice came from behind Malachi and Cotton. They turned around to see a man dressed in all green whose size was as big as a house towering over them.
“So you want to play with the big boys?” Buster asked, as he took a step forward.
Malachi heart skipped two beats. When Buster moved toward him, he thought he felt the entire building shake.
