LIGHTER WAR III
I couldn't begin to describe my emotions as I pulled away from Shorty's house that night. I was glad that I had cut her loose, hopefully giving her the chance to spread her wings and be as great as she could. I hoped that the misery I was giving myself would help her in the end.
What I needed to do now was take my mind off of Shorty. I decided that since it was only three a.m., I would stop by Pretty's. I wanted to finish the lighter war. I didn't care if I won or lost, but I wanted it to be over with.
Pretty's apartment complex always had a spot in front for my car. I think it was actually the spot that Pretty was allotted, but he didn't own a car. I used the spot for him.
Moments later, I was entering his room and putting a c.d. in the stereo. The c.d. was Deltron 3030. By the time I took off my jacket and sat down, Pretty had gotten out of bed and prepared his bowl. I pulled out two packages of greens. The first was smaller, it was my head sack.
The next bag, I put on the table in front of Pretty, was much larger. It was two ounces. I told Pretty, who was staring at the greens, that in front of him and between us, was almost one thousand dollars worth of smoke. I told Pretty that I wanted to be paid six hundred dollars for it, but the rest was his, to do with as he chose. Basically, this was my way of putting him on.
As I let my offer linger, I took the bowl from the table and packed it. With all the stress going on in my life, that first hit was incredible. I was jonesin' for anything that would take my mind off of Shorty.
Pretty continued the lighter war, and took his own hit. He exhaled into a big cloud of smoke that hung in the air between us. The bag of greens still sat underneath.
I began to tell Pretty about Deltron 3030, and how it was the soundtrack to an idea that only hip-hop would survive in the year 3030. He seemed intrigued, but I sensed that his attention was mostly on the greens.
The lighter, fixed in its proper position, was in my hand. I took a hit. I told Pretty that "it" was a good deal. I mentioned that it was easy money, or at least, free smoke. That, more than anything else, seemed to please Pretty.
He took the lighter from my hand and took a deep hit. He exhaled a cloud of bless, and passed the bowl. Then he said, " all right, I'll pay now". He started to stand, then, paused. He sat back down on the chair and punched his knee. He looked directly at the lighter in my hand.
He had forgotten to adjust the flame.
It took me a couple of seconds to notice, but, finally it all sunk in. After two years of warfare, I had won the lighter war.
I dumped the bowl out and put it on the table in between. Pretty had his head down and I could tell he was cursing himself. I was so happy that I had finally won the war. I was equally happy that it was finally over.
Anyway, I sparked a victory blunt and offered Pretty the first hit. I thought this might make the peace between us. Five minutes later, the war was forgotten, but the blunt was still hitting.
There's a side story that I feel is relevant to understanding No. Every day, for the last four months, No has a little side project he likes to work on. About four months ago, No was in the local supermarket. The woman in front of him in line was a very attractive woman in her thirties. But she was wearing sunglasses that covered almost half of her face. No thought this was confusing because they were indoors and she appeared to be very pretty.
After she left the market, No followed her out to her car. When she got into her car, No walked up to her window. She had removed her sunglasses and was starting her car. She nearly had a heart attack when No tapped on her window. After her nervousness passed, she rolled down her window and faced No. Her eye was swollen shut, and there was an indent above her eyebrow that looked like a ring. Someone had hit her hard enough to leave a ring indent in her head.
No made eye contact with her, but didn't say a word. The woman realized that No fully understood what had happened to her eye, and she started to cry softly. No said, "You don't deserve this", and walked away.
No followed her home that night and wrote down her address. When she pulled into her driveway, he sped away. He planned on being back every night.
Every day for the last four months No would find himself parked in front of her house, tucked in an alley. He would sit in his car and watch her house. He was watching to see how her husband treated her. He was waiting for the husband to beat her again. No had decided, that night at the supermarket, that her husband would never beat his wife again.
No had learned that they didn't have any kids and that her husband was always home before she was. He knew that on the nights that she worked late, she would bring home dinner so her husband wouldn't get mad. No was beginning to understand that she would do anything she could to make sure her husband wasn't mad. No waited in his car for the night that he finally found a reason to get mad. Although No never told anyone, he despised bullies. He always thought that if he didn't bully people, at his size, why should anyone else? No decided, four long months ago, that he would do whatever he could for the woman to be safe.
At the same time I was ending my relationship with Shorty, No was parked in the alley watching the house. On this night, she finally made her husband mad.
No arrived about ten minutes later than normal, but she still wasn't home. No searched his car for a blunt and found it in the dashboard. He opened his moon roof and sparked the blizz. Five minutes late, she pulled into the driveway. She had a bucket of chicken in her hands as she ran frantically to the front door. Her husband was already waiting at the door. He was dressed in a pair of chinos, and his white t-shirt was tight around his large belly. He was drinking a beer, which didn't appear to be his first.
She went to the door and immediately started to explain and apologize for being late. Her boss had kept her late, but she picked up some chicken that was extra crispy. He loved it liked that while she hated it. But, she didn't want to make him mad. She extended the bucket towards her husband. He looked at his wife in a way that made it apparent that he didn't believe her. He threw his beer on the front lawn and the foam started to spray a little. He knocked the bucket of chicken out of her hands and pulled her into the house by the back of her neck. She fell into the house and she could see her husband undoing his belt and sliding it off his waist. He closed the door behind him and wrapped the belt around his fist.
She lay on the floor, slowly crawling away from him. She was crying and trying to apologize for not being home to cook his dinner. He seemed to change facial expressions. It looked like he was going to accept her apology and stop the beating. He told her that he had misunderstood. He didn't know she was sorry. He didn't know it wasn't her fault. If she could grab him a beer, maybe she could explain it to him?
She wiped the tears from her eyes. He hated when she cried. She started to stand but stopped when he extended his hand to help her up. She gingerly accepted. He pulled her a little and then punched her with his other fist. She fell to the floor hard and could feel the blood in her mouth. He started to call her a "slut" and a "cheating whore", but she tried not to cry, because she didn't want to make him mad.
She tried to look at his forehead because she would cry if she saw the anger in his eyes. She tried to focus on the ceiling behind him. He bent over and slapped her in the face. She started to cry and he told her to stop. She tried to watch the ceiling fan, but he blocked it while he stood over her. He bent over her again, and she could see the fan, but he slapped her harder than before. He started to tighten the belt around his fist. He bent over her again, she saw the fan, but he was whispering in her ear. He told her, " Tonight, was going to be a very long night". She started to shake all over. She hoped that she would pass out like the last time. She tried to find the fan, and saw her husband undo his shirt.
With his shirt undone, he leaned over her again and slapped her on the forehead with his palm. Her head bounced off the floor and her vision started to blur. She prayed she would pass out. She tried to find the fan, but it was too blurry. Her vision began to clear a little, but the blurry figure of her husband blocked the fan.
She wiped tears away from her eyes and blinked rapidly trying to clear her sight. Her husband leaned over her again, blocking her view of the fan, and told her to sit still and "take what she deserved". He straightened up, trying to impress her with his size but there was someone behind him, he was a much larger man. Shock was followed by apprehensive relief as she saw it was the man from the supermarket, all those months ago.
She gasped as she realized who it was. No grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and threw him across the room. The husband crashed into a bureau, smashing it to pieces and knocking a lamp to the ground where it shattered. The husband gritted his teeth and tried to stand. He placed his hand on the broken lamp pieces. Blood started to pour from the wound as he propped himself up and prepared to fight.
He charged at No, screaming and cursing. No just smiled and waited for the attack. No moved incredibly fast, and the husband went flailing by, crashing into the wall. His head started to bleed where his face had cracked the plastered wall. No asked him, " How tough do you feel now?"
No helped the woman to her feet. She was shaking badly and her face was puffy from the slaps, punches and her crying. The husband tried to stand, but dazed, he fell back to the floor. Blood was flowing from his nose, mouth and scalp. He called his wife a "bitch" and tried to spit on her. No picked him off the ground and started slapping him. No asked, " Who's the bitch?"
He pushed the man away, hoping he would attack, again. No didn't have to wait long. Before the man could fully stand, No broke his nose with a quick punch. The man fell to the floor, and No put his foot on his chest. No asked, " Does it make you feel good to beat someone that you are supposed to love?"
No grabbed him by the collar and lifted the two hundred pound man off the ground. No asked him, " Do you know what it is like to live in fear?" No slapped him back to the ground.
The woman was watching her husband being beaten by a complete stranger, with a smile on her face. She stuttered, but yelled, " Kill h-h-him". No was shocked as he stared at the woman.
The husband began to stir, and No bent over to him. He cowered like a scared kitten when No got close. No laughed at him. He told the man, " someday, you will see me again, and there will be no witnesses"!
No banged the husbands head off the wall and stood up. He walked over to the woman. Her eyes were glassy and she looked dazed. He had to snap his fingers in front of her face to get her attention. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of hundreds. He placed the money in her hand.
She looked at the money and then at No. He said, " Beyond that door, is a new life, all you have to do is close the door behind you, when you leave". She nodded and walked to the door. She grasped the handle and opened the door enough to let a cool breath of air in from the night. She turned and looked at her husband. She smiled at him laying on the ground bleeding from his many wounds. She mouthed the words, "thank you", to No, and walked out the door.
She closed the door behind her as she left.
Walking to her car, a small smile escaped her lips as she saw that she not only had at least five thousand dollars in cash crushed in her palm, but the atm card for their shared finances. Tomorrow morning she would go and close the account, and re-open one in her name, and her name alone. Suddenly, her fear of her husband had abated, and she saw him for what she was. He was a scared little man that was easily beaten by someone that actually had courage. She realized then that a person like No was a real man. He was large, and somewhat intimidating looking, but he had placed himself in jeopardy to save a stranger. People like that were rare, and she was glad that he had come along to save her life, and provide her with a new one.
When she reached her car, she turned and took one last look at her former house. She saw No standing in the doorway, one hand clasped on the door knob, probably about to close the door on his way out. She smiled at him, and blew him a kiss. He smiled back, and then turned to face the husband, probably still cowering on the floor. No turned and looked at the woman, before closing the door, but staying inside the house.
She stood still for a moment, wondering what No was going to do with her husband, with no witnesses there to see the events, and nobody there to stop it. But, she realized she didn't care. Everyone paid for their sins one day, and today, her husband would pay in spades.
Poser's Dictionary
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