Part 1 (1/2)

THE CRAZY KILL

by Chester Hi, July 14th, in Harleraves

A coloredof , the top tied with a cord It lay on the front seat of a Plymouth sedan that was double-parked on Seventh Avenue, in front of an A&P grocery store in the middle of the block between 13 1st and 132nd Streets

The Ply contained silver e The curb was lined with big shi+ny cars, and the er had double-parked until he'd unlocked the store and put thea block down a Harle of money in his hand

There was always a colored patroler arrived The patrolroceries and vegetables, which the A&P delivery truck unloaded on the sidewalk, until the er was a white man He didn't trust the streets of Harleer's distrust was being justified

As he stood in front of the door, taking the key fro by his side, the thief sneaked along the other side of the parked cars, stuck his long bare black arh the openof the Ply of silver er looked casually over his shoulder at just the instant the stooping figure of the thief, creeping along the street, was disappearing behind another parked ”Stop thief!” he shouted, assueneral principles

Before the words had got clear of hisfor all he orth He earing a ragged dark green cotton T-shi+rt, faded blue jeans and dirt-blackened canvas sneakers, which, along with his color, blended with the black asphalt, uish

”Where's he at?” the cop asked

”There he goes!” a voice said froer heard the voice, but neither looked up They had seen a dark blur turning on a sharp curve into 132nd Street, and both had taken off in pursuit si in a lighted third-story , the only lightedin the block of five- and six-story buildings

Froure ca forth in the unseen rooms The hot licks on a tenor sax kept ti on the sidewalk pave the light dry thunder of a kettledrum

The silhouette shortened as the man leaned farther and farther out the atch the chase What had first appeared to be a tall thin et And still the er turned the corner, theso far out his silhouette was less than two feet high He was leaning out of thefrom his waist up

Slowly his hips leaned out His buttocks rose into the light like a slow-rolling wave, then dropped below theledge as his legs and feet slowly rose into the air For a longupside down on top of two legs was suspended in the yellow lighted rectangle Then it sank slowly fro head-down into water

Theall the way, so that he turned slowly in the air

He fell past theunderneath, which bore the black-lettered e:

STRAIGHTEN UP AND FLY RIGHT

Anoint the Love Apples With Father Cupid's Original ADAM OINTMENT

A Cure For All Love Troubles

To one side of the cartons and crates was a long wicker basket of fresh bread The large soft spongy loaves, wrapped in wax paper, were stacked side by side like cotton pads

The th on his back exactly on top of the mattress of soft bread Loaves flew up about hied waves as his body sank into the war hted as empty The street was deserted The thief and his pursuers had disappeared into the Harleht

Tian to stir A loaf rose and dropped over the side of the basket to the sidewalk as though the bread had begun to boil Another squashed loaf followed

Slowly, thefroripped the edges of the basket, and his torso straightened He put a leg over the side and felt for the sideith his foot The sideas still there He put a little weight on his foot to test the sidewalk The sideas steady

He put his other foot over the edge to the sidewalk and stood up

The first thing he did was to adjust his gold-rinimed spectacles on his nose Next he felt his pants pockets to see if he'd lost anything Everything seemed to be there--keys, Bible, knife, handkerchief, wallet and the bottle of herb estion

Then he brushed his clothes vigorously, as though loaves of breadof his nerve ly alcoholic He wiped his lips with the back of his hand

Finally he looked up The lighted as still there, but soates

2

Deep South was shouting in a hoarse bass voice: ”_Steal away, daddy-o, steal away to Jesus_”

His ht fantastic on the keys of the big grand piano

Susie Q was beating out the rhyth on his tenor sax

The big luxurious sitting room of the Seventh Avenue apart Joe Pullen,

His black-clad , Ma of refresh Joe's Godson, Johnny Perry, andering about, being strictly orna to be helpful

Doll Baby, a chorus chick as carrying a torch for Dulcy's brother, Val, was there to see and be seen

chink Charlie Dawson, as carrying a torch for Dulcy herself, shouldn't have been there at all