Page 6 of Sac-rifice
“Aye.”Ghoul nodded.
“The where is covered, but what about the how?As in how are we getting them past border patrol and then to where we need them?”I asked, racking my brain for possible routes, already planning to scout out the locations if need be.
“Captain Pink has someone on his payroll; they’re going to look the other way when our shit reaches their checkpoint.They’ll get where we need them to,” Ghoul said, reassuring me.I might have been the one to physically ask the questions, but it was information we all wanted and needed to know.Moving anything illegal into the country wasn’t possible if the wrong person got wind of it.
“Where would that be exactly?”Sledge eyed our Prez, but Ghoul let Spider do the talking.
Spider tapped the table with the tip of his finger.“Monty Cat,” he confidently said the name of the last person on earth we should trust with something this big.
“Monty Cat?”Sledge, Tin Man, Sleeper, and I all loudly asked in unison.
“Yeah.He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s about to earn his keep,” Ghoul stated, staring past all of us.
“Fucking fabulous.”My legs jumped up and down under the table faster than before, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.We all trusted our Prez to make the right decisions, but involving that weasel of a man was a horrible idea.We had bounced from being in bed with the FEDS under Agent McFaye’s thumb, barely landing on our feet, and then stumbled onto a mound of shit where Monty lived.I wanted to believe everything would be okay, but there was a sickening feeling swimming in my stomach over this.Judging by the bleak look on most of my brothers’ faces, they didn’t trust this plan any more than I did.
CHAPTER5
THE BOOB SMACK HEARD AROUND THE WORLD
COR
Igrunted, rubbing my hand over my stiff neck, and dropped my bag onto a wooden slat of the porch.
“Another rough one, kid?”My neighbor and landlord asked, lifting her foot into the rocking chair and adding a fresh coat of paint onto her toenail.
I jumped at the sound of her voice and glanced to where she sat.This was only the second time I had seen her on my side of the fence, so I hadn’t expected her.
“Yep.I guess you could call it that,” I muttered, wondering how old she actually was and at what age dementia began.Maybe she was lost, but I doubted it.I didn’t mention it was odd to find her sitting on my porch because, technically, even though I paid this month’s rent, the property still belonged to her.If I was being honest, it was nice to come home to a happy greeting after the difficult week I’d had.
I rocked on my toes and chewed on the inside of my cheek, studying her.
“Hmm.Yeah.I would just call it a shitstorm, but I haven’t figured out if you’re a shitstorm type of person, or a person who falls under the stereotypical category,” she confidently spoke the statement.I wanted to be more like her.She really didn’t give a shit.She had to be well into her seventies but dressed more like she was at least fifty years younger.Her clothes were always bright in color and often tie-dyed.She wore a flower behind her ear most days; today’s choice was a neon green one.I wanted to say it was an iris, but I didn’t have the first clue about which flower was which.Screw it.I was calling it an iris regardless if it was one or not.
“C’mon, honey.Sit a spell with Auntie Rach.Tell me all about it.”She patted the empty rocking chair beside her.
“Eh.Last week was crap.This week hasn’t been much better.The week before that, a winner with a weiner tried to wear me like a baseball mitt.Being a typical man.You know, a normal Tuesday.This week, I went job hunting, and people are just as rude and closed-minded as I remember them being.Needless to say, I’m still unemployed.”I shrugged.“The guy was being a typical man, I guess.”I shook my head and let out a deep breath as I sat down beside her.“Who knows?”
She glanced at me, dipping the brush down into the polish, and then moved on to the next toe.“First off, you’ll find something soon.As for the rest, honey...”She paused, dunking the brush into the bottle one more time to paint her pinky toenail.She placed the brush back into the bottle and screwed the lid on tightly.“I don’t give men a pass any more than I give any woman a pass.We’re all people, born to this planet.We all bleed…although I’m pretty sure my ex-husband might leak a living black sludge like Hexxus from Ferngully out of his veins, that SOB.”She giggled and then sighed.“Maybe he was Lucifer’s brother or something.The only thing I know is that man was pure evil.”Her eyes stared off into the distance for a moment as if she was lost in thought.
I didn’t say anything to distract her and bring her back from wherever she had gone.I too had lived with the devil and had gotten away, but a person didn’t just live through something like that and escape with their innocence.Living through something downright evil took its toll on a person’s soul, but it couldn’t be seen on the outside after the wounds healed.One would think there would be blaring signs that were unmistakable, but that wasn’t how it worked.A lot of times, a person’s soul and self-worth was what suffered the most.Bruises and scars eventually faded when they were on the outside, but you weren’t so lucky if tragedy scarred you from the inside out.Even if years had passed since you were faced with the heaviest trauma of your life, there were moments that could drag you right back to that dreadful moment you were changed forever.
“Anyway.I want to give you some advice.The next time any self-righteous ass tries to touch you, I want you to give it to him.”
“Huh?Give what to him?”I arched my eyebrow as I made myself completely concentrate on our conversation.I absentmindedly picked at the jagged cuticle on my thumb, hiding it beneath my pointer finger once I realized my nervous habit had come to the surface again.
She smacked my hand lightly.“Stop that nonsense.You’ll end up having funky ass hands when you’re my age.And you give them people exactly what they deserve.”
“And what would that be exactly?I think I got my point across right before I stormed out and slammed the door,” I said and sighed, wishing I’d stayed to see the man’s face when he figured out the long convoluted insult I’d yelled at him was the equivalent of me telling him to eat a bag of dicks.
“That’s not enough.You have to shock them.Tell them something they’ll remember and challenge their puny little brains.”She pointed to her crotch.“Not this one, but the one up here.”She tapped her forehead with her fingertip.
“Pretty sure I did that.So, mission accomplished.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.What’d you do?”
“I told the guy to feast on a satchel of Richards until he cried.”Somehow, I managed to repeat my words with a straight face.
“Ha!Feast on a satchel of Richards.I love it!I’ll have to remember that one!Next time, tell them to shut their damned mouth before you smack them with your boob.That one always works well for me.Ha!Lemme tell you it was the boob smack heard around the world.Not a pin dropped when I said that one to a grabby ass drunk.”She smiled.“Of course, there might be someone to take you up on the offer.That’s how I became a mama.Old Cecil was into that kind of thing.”She laughed, reminiscing.“I miss him.If he hadn’t up and died on me, I’d call him tonight.I have a few bats in my belfry that could use a nice long chimney sweep, if you get my drift.”She winked, nudging my side with her elbow.
