Chapter 39

Bill drove up to the store on his scooter and parked it around the backside of the store where it would be out of sight. He walked into the store through the front door and found Mike sitting at the counter. Giving him a wave, he said, “Hello, Mike. How’s it going?”

“Fine, Bill. Your dad is in the office,” answered Mike gesturing towards that back of the store. With a grin, he said, “We’re expecting Abe to show up in about twenty minutes.”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Everyone else is back with your dad,” answered Mike. The telephone rang and Mike turned his attention back to business.

Bill walked to the back of the store to where his father’s office was located. On the way, he passed by Martin who was pulling an order. He stopped and asked, “So how is Abe doing?”

“He is pissed about having to work on his birthday,” answered Martin with a laugh.

“I’m sure he is,” said Bill understanding how important birthdays were to people his age. The young man watched as Martin returned to work.

Entering the office, Bill could see that it held more people than had ever been intended. Of course, his father and Henry took up the space that six people would normally occupy. His father was seated behind his desk while Henry occupied a corner of the room. Karen was seated at the other desk. Carlos was seated in one of the chairs leaning back and chatting with Sue, the new woman who had just started at the store. Sammy had stopped by the store, taking an afternoon out of college, and was talking to the other two college students.

Two of the kids from the neighborhood, Denzel and Leo, were leaning against the wall, watching the others talk about school and work. Bill watched them for a moment and realized that the expressions on their faces conveyed unease at the environment. These young people had never been inside a real work environment and didn’t understand much of what they were seeing or hearing.

When the discussion had turned to inventory control, Denzel turned to Bill and asked, “What are they talking about?”

Laughing at the question, and the way that it had been put forth, Bill gestured to the door and said, “Let’s talk over by the couch.”

The three kids left the office in time to see Shauna arrive. She shot a worried look at Bill and then went over to Leo. The young black man put an arm around her and gave her a kiss.

Denzel asked his question again, “What were they talking about?”

“They were talking business,” answered Bill. He ignored the interaction between Leo and Shauna, recognizing that she had made her choice. He explained, “From what I understand, having a bunch of stuff in the store waiting to be sold costs money, but you can’t sell anything if you don’t have stuff in the store. So I guess the big deal is to keep the right amount of stuff, so that you can sell it, but not so much that it costs you money to store it.”

“That sounds complicated,” confessed Leo with a frown.

Bill shrugged his shoulders and said, “I guess that is why Martin is going to college. He needs to understand that kind of stuff before he can become a manager.”

“Bullshit, they ain’t gonna make no nigger a boss,” exclaimed Denzel. His use of the word nigger earned him a dirty look from Shauna.

Martin appeared behind the boys and, in a stern voice, said, “Hey, kids. Would you mind keeping the language a little less colorful? This is a place of business.”

Denzel stared at Martin as if he had a third arm or something. He retorted, “Talking like an Uncle Tom.”

The comment made Martin angry. Stepping up to Denzel, he grabbed the kid by the back of the shirt and dragged him out the back door.

Leo shouted, “Martin’s gonna kill him.”

Half convinced that they were going to see a fight, the other three kids followed them out the door. Once outside, Martin said, “You’ve got no fucking idea what you’re talking about. This is a job and you do what the job requires, or you don’t work. It pays money. It pays good money. They don’t give a shit if I’m black, white, or orange. They pay me to work.”

Denzel gave Martin a look as if the man was a fool. He countered, “Fuck, what you want to work for? All you got to do is get enough money to have a little fun.”

“You’re a fool. You want easy money, great. The last guy in our neighborhood that wanted easy money is dead. He died, in prison, when he was only two years older than you,” said Martin wondering why the kid couldn’t see the stupidity of his world view.

“Yeah, but he got a lot of pussy.”

Martin barked a laugh and replied, “You don’t get pussy in the grave, asshole. I’ve gotten more pussy since he died than he got in his entire life.”

“But you’re acting so white!”

“You like living in our neighborhood?” asked Martin with scorn.

“No, but it’s the man keepin’ us down that’s the problem.”

“You’re even dumber than you look. I’m getting good money to do my job for forty hours a week. Guess what? I work for a white guy and he isn’t keeping me down. He’s teaching me the business so that I can run it some day,” replied Martin. He glanced over at the other three kids and noticed they were nodding their heads in agreement with him.

“Forty hours a week? Shit, that’s slavery.”

“Do you think the white guys don’t want to sit around all day doing nothing? You bet they do, but they don’t do it. They come to work for forty hours a week and make enough money so they don’t end up living in shit holes like our neighborhood,” said Martin. Anticipating the kid’s next statement, he added, “Believe me, they work just as hard as I do here. Shit, Bill’s dad works harder than me and he’s running the store.”

“Yeah, but you’re working for him!”

“Pull your head out of your ass and look around for a change. The guy started as a stock boy when he was your age. Hell, he’s been working in that store longer than I’ve been alive. Of course, I work for him,” retorted Martin. Dismayed at the density of the young man’s brain, he turned and went into the store.

The earlier shout by Leo had attracted Jerry’s attention. Going out to investigate what was happening, Jerry had seen the three teenagers go outside. Instead of charging outside, he had stood at the door listening to the conversation. He’d heard what Martin said starting about the time when Martin was explaining how the man wasn’t keeping him down. Rather than interrupt, Jerry had stayed inside. Jerry stayed by the door for another minute.

On entering the store, Martin had been surprised to find Jerry standing by the door listening to what had been said. At first, he thought he might be in trouble for stepping out of the store without telling anyone, but Jerry had just winked at him and flashed him an okay gesture. Martin nodded and went back to the counter, leaving Jerry listening at the door.

Surprised at Martin’s treatment of him, Denzel turned to Leo and asked, “Can you believe that shit?”

“Yeah, I can. He’s right, you know,” replied Leo. Martin had sold him with the comment about not getting laid when you’re dead. He knew that you didn’t get laid in prison either.

The whole time that Martin had been talking, Shauna had thought about her future. Her mother had given birth to her while in high school and had dropped out of school to raise her. Since then, her mother had taken just about any job that she could get. Of course, most of the jobs available for a high school drop out were pretty bad. Money was always tight. Shauna had even caught her mother having sex with the landlord to pay the rent on one occasion. She knew that it wasn’t the first time and hadn’t been the last.

Looking at Denzel like he was an idiot, Shauna said, “Look at the future I’m facing. If I don’t get my shit together and get a real job, I’ll be sucking cock and fucking for money for the rest of my life. Martin’s right. I’d go in there and give everyone blow jobs right now if I could keep that from happening to me.”

Leo wasn’t a stupid person and he had watched what was going on with Martin and Abe ever since Jerry had moved into the neighborhood. He’d taken the time to look up how much Abe’s restored motorcycle was worth and had been impressed.

He commented, “You know, Abe is doing pretty good for himself. He’s been riding that scooter of his around while we’ve been walking or peddling our bikes. Now, he’s gonna be riding that motorcycle and we’ll be riding the bus for the next ten years at the rate we’re going. Martin’s got a brand new truck. My momma ain’t ever had a new car in her whole life. You might think they’re acting white, but I’m not convinced that’s all that bad.”

Jerry had listened to the conversation thinking that Martin had started to help them, but it wasn’t enough. He wished there was something he could do to finish the job. It was possible that he could move Abe over to part-time sales so that he could hire a new stock boy, but that would only help one of them. He wished that he could hire all three kids, but it just wasn’t possible. Denzel needed it the most, Leo had the best attitude, and Shauna was the most desperate.

While pulling an order, Martin glanced towards the back door and saw Jerry standing in the same place that he had been earlier. Rather than listening, the big man was thinking about something. It was obvious to him that Jerry was trying to figure out what he could do for the kids. Going back to work, Martin was confident that Jerry would end up helping all three kids, even Denzel. He thought to himself, ‘Was it the man keeping them down? No, those kids were keeping themselves down.’

Jerry opened the back door and asked, “Any sign of Jenny?”

“No, Dad.”

“Would you mind keeping an eye out for her? She’s bringing the cake,” requested Jerry.

Looking at the other three teenagers, Bill said, “No problem. We’ll watch for her.”

“Great,” said Jerry as he returned to the store. He had expected Denzel to look at him with suspicion, but the kid had remained his normal self.

It was just a few minutes later that Jenny pulled into the parking lot with Melissa in the car. The pair got out and opened the back of her car. There was a cake and a cooler of soft drinks in the trunk. Looking over at the three boys, Jenny asked, “Would you like to give us a hand?”

Without the least bit of hesitation, Bill answered, “Sure. I’ll help you.”

“Good. If you carry the cooler, I’ll take the cake,” said Jenny with a smile at her future stepson. When he reached the trunk, she wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in for a hug. Grinning at his obvious discomfort at the affection in front of the other kids, she said, “You’re a good boy.”

Bill blushed and then reached into the trunk for the cake. Leo started to make a wise crack, but Shauna elbowed him in the side. Bill stood up and handed the cake to Jenny, letting her know by his thoughtfulness that he had appreciated the hug. As she accepted the cake from him, Jenny said, “Thanks.”

After Bill grabbed the cooler, Melissa dug into the trunk and removed three presents. There was one large flat box, a medium size cube, and a small box. It was awkward balancing all three of them. She turned and found Shauna standing next to her. Shauna said, “Let me give you a hand with those.”

Surprised by the gesture, Melissa said, “Thanks. If you could take the top two that would help a lot.”

“No problem,” replied Shauna taking the top two presents. Before grabbing them, she believed that the big cube contained a bowling ball based on its size and had been thinking that it was a strange present to give to Abe. When it was far lighter than she had expected, she realized that it was a motorcycle helmet.

Denzel was about to make a comment that he liked Melissa better when she was green when Leo hit him lightly on the shoulder. Anticipating his friend, he said, “Be nice.”

“Shit,” answered Denzel. He wasn’t really upset, but disappointed at the chance to make what he thought would be a joke.

“Why don’t you get the door for everyone,” suggested Leo to his friend as he went over to the car. Winking at Shauna, he said, “Let me shut the trunk.”

Since moving away from the influence of her mother and grandmother, watching men and women interact fascinated Melissa. With a smile and a hug, Jenny had Bill doing all kinds of things for her without complaint. Leo was clearly interested in showing his girlfriend that he could do nice things without being asked. The fact that Bill respected Shauna’s relationship with Leo surprised her more than anything else did. She wondered if Leo knew that Shauna and Bill had been having sex with each other.

The break area where the couch was located had been transformed. Jerry had set up a small table to hold the cake, paper plates, and soft drinks. Jenny had set the cake on the table and was busy removing the box around it. Melissa and Shauna added the presents to the small pile that was on a chair. Leaning against the boxes of parts that had been delivered earlier that day, Jerry watched the activity with a broad smile. Abe was going to be surprised.

Henry entered through the back door and, in his deep rumbling voice, observed, “Looks like everyone is here except for the birthday boy.”

“Who you calling boy? He’s got more hair...” started Denzel before coming to a halt upon catching sight of the look Henry was giving him. He grumbled, “No one has a sense of humor today.”

After setting down the stack of presents he was carrying, Henry put a hand around the back of the neck of the young man and pulled him over to his side. Bending so that his mouth was next to the younger man’s ear, he explained, “There are times for some kinds of jokes and times for different kinds of jokes. Right now, it’s time for polite jokes. There are ladies present.”

Awed by the sheer size of Henry, Denzel swallowed heavily and said, “Okay. I didn’t think about that.”