Page 59 of Here Comes the Judge

Idon’t knoweverything, but I’m trying to learn a little more each day. Today I learned that a motherfucker tried me. Now it’s time he learned a lesson, too.

See, for those of y’all who don’t know about me and mine, we’re down here in the Bible belt. In fact, Tennessee is the whole damn belt buckle. We’re the type of motherfuckers to shoot you dead in the face while casually smokin’ a cigarette and praise the Lord all within the same breath. I got more money than I know what to do with now, but inside, I’m always starved. Always that poor, little, dirty White country boy from Bordeaux, Tennessee.

You can take the poverty out of the child, but if he’s smart, he’ll always use it as constant motivation. Stayin’ hungry keeps you alive. Stayin’ hungry keeps you humble, at least in mixed company. I worked my way up to the top, and each step I climbed, it chipped away at my soul. Some folks may say it’s blood money, but all money is blood money, ’cause somebody, somewhere, hurt a little bit so you can get what you got. Not even a carton of eggs can sit in your refrigerator without sacrifice. What I say goes in my little carved-out section of this here fucked up world. I’m the king, THE JUDGE, and if someone decides to test the waters—try and see if it’s a baby pool I got goin’ on over here, or a shark infested ocean—they best believe, they’ll find out right quick and in a hurry that it ain’t full of moonshine, divine wine, and sunshine…

If you want a thang to go right, I ask that you follow my three commandments. Now listen good.

The three Judge commandments:

1.Thou shall not fuck-eth with my blood (family)–

(That’s Earth. Family keeps you grounded.)

2.Though shall not fuck-eth with my money.

(That’s Wind. Easy come, easy go.)

3.Though shall not fuck-eth with my woman.

(That’s Fire. She brings that passion.)

Two out of three of those commandments were broken recently. It’s showtime. Down here in Tennessee, God’s country, we call it primetime. I’m puttin’ on my robe, grabbin’ this here gavel, and entering the courtroom of hard knocks. You can be the jury, but understand, that’s only in name. This is a spectator sport. You decide nothin’ because my mind is already made up. I appreciate you bein’ here all the same. Just realize, I don’t give a fair trial. Life ain’t fair, now is it? I’m fixin’ to show these motherfuckers how it’s done…

ALL RISE!!!

“Uh huh.” Jude paced on his nephew’s porch, the wood creaking under his steel-toe boot. He smoked his cigarette and peered at the beautiful trees and wilderness surrounding the house. Good huntin’ was to be had here, and it definitely was hunting season. “Cain, calm down. It’ll be all right.” The bastard knew their calls were being recorded, so Jude had to watch how he spoke. He said things in code, just like when they were children, but Cain seemed too worked up to notice.

“I thought I was gonna lose my damn eye!”

“Take it easy, now. I helped you with another matter you came across. I’ll send you a crossword puzzle to help busy your mind.” The other “matter” was that damn guard who had buried himself deep in business that didn’t concern him. The one who’d taken it upon himself to cross the line, and mess with him at the prison when he’d visit Cain. Jude managed to get him “relieved of his duties,” soon thereafter, and crossword puzzle meant he was sending in someone to handle the situation for Cain, from the inside.

“All of this for what they’d gone and done to Paul! If anybody should be kickin’ somebody’s ass, it shoulda been us! Now I’m in solitary confinement…” The man went on and on, bellyaching about how another gang member inmate had approached him and tried to extort him because of the situation at Paul’s home.‘If you give us ten grand, we’ll leave you alone for a year. Each year, you give us ten more…”Cain, being the man he was, told this guy to fuck himself, and refused to even call Jude about it. He suffered the consequences—stabbed in the side and beat to a pulp. He did, according to him, get a few good licks in, but then another fucker joined in, and that was it. They took turns turning poor Cain into a chew toy.

After a while, a guard finally broke it up. Cain was sent to the hospital for a couple of days, while the two gang members got a slap on a wrist, denying they had anything to do with it. Cameras and hundreds of motherfuckers standing around, but no one saw shit. That’s how it was in prison—lawlessness. Half the damn staff was corrupt. The inmates went in as men, and turned into animals. Jude recalled it all too well.

“I could use a crossword puzzle… I like those.”

He smiled at his brother’s words. Cain had finally calmed down enough to replay the words he’d said to him.

“Good. I’ll mail it out tomorrow. I want you to keep your peepers open, and your mouth shut. My girl told me God gave us Karma. Karma has a pretty name, but she’s got two faces. One of ’em is gorgeous, if you done right. The other face is so ugly, it turns men into stone.”

Jude hoped Cain caught his drift, ended the call, tossed his cigarette on the porch, and stomped on it. Sherry joined him outside, her shirt flopping open, exposing her breasts. No bra. Again. Last time he’d visited, as soon as Pete’s head hit the pillow, she was butt ass naked, dripping wet from her shower and pretending it was an accident. Another time, she touched his dick, said that was an accident too, then made a snide remark:“You Cooper boys got big cocks… Must be that Italian in you… I bet yours is even bigger than Cain’s.”

He’d told her he already had a woman, and to never do that shit again or he’d stop the checks, and instead just set up an account in Pete’s name that he could draw from. He couldn’t wait until the boy was eighteen so he could be rid of this woman altogether. It was like she had something to prove, but more than anything, he knew she wanted to hurt Cain the way he’d hurt her. The woman had been head-over-heels for the man, but Cain didn’t love her the same way. Now, she was bitter and emboldened. He didn’t tell Cain what was going on for the man had enough stress AS IS. But Jude had had enough.

He made for the steps.

“Why are you playin’ these games, Jude?”

Those words made him pause and turn around. She smiled at him, her eyes full of lust.

“I told you a million and one damn times, Sherry, I don’t fuck my brother’s ol’ lady. We don’t swap pussy. I’m tired of your shit.”

“Well then why don’t you just stop sniffin’ ’round here?!” she barked.

“Pete needs me around. Someone’s gotta teach him how to be a man, but you make me not wanna come ’round here anymore because more times than not, you’re flirting with me, then getting mad because I won’t screw you. We both know what this is about. You want revenge, and you’re tryna use me to get it. People been tryna get between my brother and me for years. You damn sure won’t be the reason for a split. You know how much I care about Pete. If you want to get even with Cain, you’ll have to find another way, because it sure as hell won’t be through me.”

“First of all, Mr. Righteous, Cain and I parted ways looong before he went to prison. Secondly, you were always the one I wanted, anyway.” She grinned real sly like, walked up to him, and reached for his collar, running her fingers along the edge. Jude stepped away, glanced back at the house, then looked into her eyes.

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