Copyright ©2020 by Creole Gaudet. All rights reserved.
No part of this chronicle may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system – except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper – without permission in writing from the publisher, Creole Gaudet.
HIGHWAY 35 – 11:40 p.m.
Cami, Sway, and I had left the movies and were on our way back to the hotel.
We’d exited 35 at Northwest Highway and were jammed because of road construction, along with an auto accident.
Cami was talking to Sway when I caught a sharp nudge to my ribs. Sway pointed. “That’s him, Andre.” Cami paused, listening. “That’s the truck.”
“Gerald?” I could easily see Smith’s trucking in white letters, just as Sway had described.
“Yes, that’s him.”
I watched as the truck slowed and turned onto Stemmons Trail. “I know where he’s going.” I released my seat belt.
“What are you doing, baby?”
“Here, take my phone and keep it with you. Bring Cami home and stay there with her for thirty minutes.”
“What are you…?”
“Be quiet and listen to me. Do as I say.”
I opened the door. The Lyft driver peeked from the rearview mirror. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, slight change of plans. I just got a text. I have to go and meet my business partners…over there at the Elegante.”
“I can bring you, sir. No problem.”
“It’s okay. By the time you get away from the light. I’ll already be in the conference room.” I looked to Sway. “Leave Cami home and meet me at our special place. Wait for me there.”
“What if you need me…?”
“Just wait, like I said. I’ll be there.” I closed the door and took off.
I’d kept my head lowered, avoiding eye contact and building cameras.
As I approached the turn, I saw the truck parked, idling. Being that this was a rest spot, I knew I had to move quickly.
I walked to his side, looking up. He partly rolled down his window. “Hey, fella. I don’t mean to disturb you…”
He eyed me with caution. “What’s that?”
“I said that I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“What can I do for you?”
I looked both ways. “I’m staying right here at the hotel. The Oyo.”
“Okay?”
“Well, I got a couple girls… That’s if you feel like a little company.”
“What kind of girls? I can find bitches out here for ten dollars.”
“Not like these. Young. A blonde and a brunette.”
“How young?”
“One’s nineteen…”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, and the other one is seventeen.”
“Woo hoo, how much you talking?!”
“I have to get more for that seventeen-year-old because she’s stubborn, you know? For my trouble. I’m trying to break the bitch in tonight… I’m talking too loud. I’m coming around.”
He watched as I crossed the front of his truck. I heard the lock open. With the tail of my shirt, I pulled at the door handle.
I leaned in, eyeing the cabin. “You’re not undercover, are you?”
“Driving a truck, buddy?”
I laughed. “Yeah, they don’t drive trucks. What am I thinking? Most of those dumb fucks wouldn’t even know how.”
“You pimping?”
“That’s what I was born to do. None of them can pull the young bitches like I can. That’s my specialty. I get ’em out of high school, even grade school, when I can. They love me and will do everything I tell ’em.”
“I like them young.”
“I bet you do. What real man don’t like that young, fresh pussy? Especially when they fight back. You got to take it from ’em. They like that.”
He flashed those rotted teeth. “I have to get your number.” He reached for his phone. “What do they call you?”
“Grim Reaper.”
“Grim Reaper?” He laughed. “I see why they listen… With a name like that…?”
The first four shots were to the jaw and temple. He was barely conscious as I dragged him out to the ground below. “You motherfucking pervert.”
“What the…? What’s going on, man? The money’s in my wallet.” He held it out. “Here.”
I took it from him, opening the fold. “What you got in here?” I sifted. “Two…three hundred?”
“Shit, you could have just demanded my money. You didn’t have to punch me out like that.”
“You think this is a robbery?”
“You’re taking my wallet. Looks like a robbery to me.”
“No…” I stood, towering over him. “I’m going to tell you a story.”
“A fucking story? I don’t want to hear no fucking story. You got what you wanted. Now get out of here before I get up and kick your ass, you black motherfucker.”
“The story is about a young virgin that you met at the Delux Inn. Her name was Sway.”
“Fuck you, man!”
“Fuck me?”
“Yeah, I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
I began kicking him repeatedly to the gut and to the ribs. I stomped and mashed his head and face into the tall grass.
“Okay, okay. Please don’t kill me, mister. I know who you’re talking about. I don’t know what she is to you or what, but she has a pimp. That ugly bitch Mandy turned me on to her.”
“So it’s Mandy’s fault you raped a young girl? A virgin?”
“I didn’t drag the bitch there. If not me, it would have been the next guy.”
I grabbed his beard with my left hand, lining him up, and punched him flush to the face with my right, shattering his nose into pieces.
Creole Gaudet
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