Page 446 of S is for SEX

“Train, walk with me a minute, brother,” I said as I approached.

He raised his eyebrows and shook his head slowly side to side.

“God damn it, Train, we don’t need a mess here, let’s walk,” I pleaded, motioning toward the door with my head.

“Erik, I’m staying here,” he said, staring straight ahead chewing on a cigarette.

“Erik, huh? Well, I hate to pull rank, but we voted. And you’re a member. The club made a decision. You know what that decision was. This is in the club’s best interest. Let’s walk,” I slowly rolled my shoulders popped my neck.

“You gonna whip me, Erik?” he asked, now focused on me.

“You know better than that, brother…”

“Don’t brother me, Erik. On this earth we have two things, right and wrong. He stole Nacho’s bike. He broke into Shake’s house. He had keys to damn near all of our houses. And you all voted. Fine. But the piece of shit came to our run. Ours. He’s rubbing it in our faces. And that, Doc, is wrong,” he looked down at the floor.

“I agree, it’s wrong. You’re right, Train,” as I spoke, he shifted his focus from the floor to my eyes.

“It’s wrong. But, I am reminding you as a dues paying long-standing member of this club, to abide by the minutes of the meeting we just had. Now, walk with me. Do not jeopardize the club,” I whispered sharply.

“You know, Erik…you know,” he rubbed his head, “if a man burns a building down in the city, commits arson…of say a million dollar building, and you catch him in the act – you can’t kill him. You just call the cops. Turn him in. If a man steals billions, say electronically, from people…you know like them big money guys do…” he paused and looked up.

“Hell, later the people that are stolen from end up committing suicide because of the losses. He can steal their entire retirement - but, if you catch him in the act, you just call the Fed’s. You can’t do nothing else. There’s one crime, just one, that if someone’s committing it and you catch ‘em, you can kill ‘em, no questions asked. That’s robbing a man’s house. If a man’s robbing your house, and you wake up and shoot him, there’s no questions asked. Know why, Erik? You know why?” he asked.

I shook my head slowly, thinking about what he said.

“Because a man’s home is sacred, and it should be. It’s what we’re allowed to do to protect the one’s we love. He robbed Shake’s house. He broke in. He’s just. He’s a piece of shit, Doc. And I didn’t vote.” He spit his cigarette on the floor and rubbed his head.

“That he is,” I responded as I turned and started walking to the door. Over my shoulder I saw him step on his cigarette and slowly start walking behind me.

As we got close to the table where Easter and Shake were sitting, I noticed The Bone outside talking to Jake.

“Bunny, Shakey, c’mon,” I motioned to the door.

“Fella’s,” Bone said as we walked up beside him.

“Bone, we have a situation inside,” I sighed.

“Slick?” he asked as he took a drag off of his cigarette.

“Yeah,” I laughed, not really surprised that he already knew.

“Leave it alone, fella’s. We voted. It’s final, he’ll get his. Make no mistake about it, he’ll get his. I’ve already talked to the prosecutor. I’ve talked to the detective on the case. I talked to the fucking cops that raided his house. He’ll get his,” he said as he tossed his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it with the toe of his boot.

“Well, it’s settled,” I said as I glanced at Easter, Shakey and A-Train.

“It was settled a week ago,” The Bone reminded us.

“I’m sunburnt as fourteen motherfuckers,” Teddy said as he walked up to the group.

“Holy shit, Crash,” I laughed.

The portions of his face that weren’t covered in beard were bright red. His cheeks looked almost swollen, and his lips were chafed terribly.

“Well, fuck. I was in that damned dunk tank for an hour. It was hot as absolute fuck, so I kept splashing water on my face. Sun beat down on me the whole time. I’m ready to get the fuck out of here, who’s got clean-up?” Teddy asked, his cheeks glowing red.

“Prospects and the girls from the bar,” Bone responded.

“Then I ain’t gonna be nothin’ but a memory. I ain’t huggin’ none of ya either. I’m burnt the fuck up. Great turn out, boss,” Teddy said as he turned toward the dunk tank and started walking.

---