Part 5 (2/2)
”Don't know, maybe some Sixties, but I really don't know”
”And where you frohties?” she asked, but soetting very unco on over there My son is involved in that shi+t,” she said with disgust
”Who is your son and where is he from?”
”Now don't you worry about that”
”Is he from ot nothin' to say 'bout it no mo' It's a damn shame how y'all do each other over soht, here co and that we are all black people Save it, lady But she didn't say anything else, so I asked her why I was being moved Because it was requested by the authorities, she said I didn't give it a second thought, but I did ask if she'd still be my nurse, to which she replied she would
”Now can I please have ly
”Yes, yes, chile, you can have yo' dope,” she answered, and ible under her breath as she strode out of the rooone, but I never asked after hiot ain When I cale-occupant room The pain was not as intense, but I was even more dehydrated Apparently another day had passed
”Good , Mr Scott” An American, Dr Blakewell, spoke to me over an aluminum clipboard as he jotted down soh parched lips ”When can I go home?”
”Well,” he spoke in er so as to monitor your development You've had a difficult operation, but you seee in a couple of weeks”
He lifted up own and felt around uess”
”Well, we are going to stop giving you shots and give you codeine fours These ork just as well,” he said, hu now as he continued to write et one last shot of what you been givin' me?”
”No, Mr Scott, I don't think it's necessary Your pain should not be that intense now”
”How you gonna tell me'bout pain, muthafucka?” I blew up and surprised the shi+t out of Dr Blakewell ”I'm in pain now,” I continued, ”all over, man, so what you talkin' 'bout?”
”Yes, of course there is pain, Mr Scott, simply due to the severity of the wounds and the extent of your operation However, we must not allow you to become dependent on the pain medicine Do you understand?”
I simply said, ”Aw, man, save that shi+t”
Dr Blakewell left my room red as a beet
When lad to see her We had begun to develop a healthy rapport and her wit, in the face ofafter she ca at Dr Blakehich she got a treht me a telephone and informed me that I had a caller who asked for me by my full name Perhaps it was Li'l Monster or China I kneouldn't be Taone to Texas
I elevated myself up with the reood talk Gathering the phone fro that I wanted privacy, and waited for her to leave the room If this was anyone from the 'hood our conversation would definitely be about coht, I could trust no one, especially a civilian Once she left I cleared my throat and spoke into the receiver
”hello”
Silence
”hello”
And then, ”You ain't dead yet, tra After a few seconds of thought fueled er I exploded into the phone
”Naw, punk ot scared and couldn't finish the job bitch-ot no response to this
”hello? hello?”
The caller had hung up Mad, nervous, and irritated, I sat there and fu to verifyWhen Eloise cay, for she is that type of strong sister, so I gave her one After all, she was not the cause of er, and even if her son was in the enemy camp, she had not told him who I was I explained to her that I needed to make a call and could she please excuse me She readily corips with the chutzpah of my foes Clearly they had wanted to quash the debate once and for all Was I dead or not? The rumors ran hot and cold Of course, this was also a scare tactic, one that was truly wasted onsixteen tiot no answer I knewup, a bit frustrated, and called Li'l Crazy De When I reached hi of , the others had aborted the surplus mission Li'l Hunchy, ithstarted, was questioned at length about the circu the ambush No one had any idea that he had run out on me He told everyone that the shooters had specifically wantedthe call to colors, went in search of a crew of elite shooters, troops steeled in the ways of urban guerrilla warfare That night they did nothing but plan Several units were organized in the hours following , but just six individuals were selected by Li'l Monster to roll with him: Li'l GC, Rattone, Al Capone, Li'l Capone, Sliets, but this creas specifically assigned to the Sixties Search and destroy was the mission
At dusk on January I, 1981, a van was commandeered by one of the selected soldiers to be used in the execution of the upco mission Earlier in the day Li'l Monster had acquired two shotguns fro and wanted to give assistance in the way of ared and the weapons were secured: a double-barrel over and under, a 12 gauge, and a 20-gauge pump that shot six times Because the mission was search and destroy, the weapons were not sawed off Also in stock were an 8 millimeter Mauser that had ten rounds and looked like a Daniel Boone gun, a six-inch 357The driver was to be unaran to fall out when darkness ca to Li'l Crazy De, wasn't no one on the streets but police and fools, the police not giving a fuck and the fools dooht? And from what sets did they come? No one knew the actual count, except the recipient set and the parents who had to bury their children And that's e all were, children Children gone wild in a concrete jungle of poverty and rage Arle in search of ourselves, ere children who had grown up quickly in a city that cared too little about its young Males, feets Curfeas declared in eneht out after dark and before daould be shot The Tet had begun
The first night was pretty ht was a bit more complicated, as word traveled fast around the colony The third night, I'o house to house in search of ”suspects” It was in this climate that the officers fro with Li'l De I had had no idea of the scope of the retribution and, for sure, I had not conspired with anyone to make it happen Could I stop it? Perhaps, but why? ”fuck 'em” was pretty muchthe violence? They had been helping us kill ourselves, so ere they so interested? It is o on record as having tried to stop the killings shi+t, if they wanted to stop the killings, they would have begun by outlawing the choke hold!
After being briefed by Li'l De about the Tet, I informed him that Li'l Hunchy had run out on me He asked what I wanted to have happen to Li'l Hunchy I said simply that he should not be allowed to run out on anyone else That avethe phone in its cradle I lay back and shty Eight Trays
By rown quite accustos of the orderlies I had learned, for instance, that the Chicano woman who had attended me first was the mother of the candy striper who now cleaned hteenth Street She and I chatted twice But still I had no visitors, and I had not talked with Li'l Monster On the afternoon of January 4, as I lay back inin lance, I took theh looking, as I used to, into anyone's hospital room But these people looked fa, and I'll be damned if it didn't hit me like a ton of bricks It's them! The same three who had ambushed me! The mustache, the beard, and the clean-shaven one stood erect and alert at my door No doubt it was also theht arm, a catheter in my penis, a tube in my nose, stitches in my stomach, a cast on my left hand, dehydrated and weak, I knew I didn't have a chance
As slowly and as inconspicuously as possible I reached forthat Eloise was on duty My assailants seeuess, waiting for the proper ured they'd probably stab or suffocate me so as not to maketo irritate soht, would persuadeas if I was heavily sedated, sosized up damn, any other nurse would have responded by now Just an to despair and settle for the final rest Of course, I toldas , and bite, if I could But I was sure I'd lose, and I resigned myself to that end Just then, as in a Hollywood ets killed, in rushed Eloise, past the three and to , baby?” she asked, concerned that soan in a low voice, ”see those three people at the-”
”I can't hear you,” she said
”Shhh, listen, listen,” I said, trying to control my voice ”See those three dudes at the door? Don't look, don't look!”
”What about 'eo dra Eloise by the collar and yanking her down face-to-face with !” I was speaking low through clenched teeth For sure she no, perhaps for the first time, my thousand-yard stare