The Jook

The one thing I got from my dad was a talent for womanizing. But it ain't like he taught me that at his knee. I only heard about him and his other women from my fucked-up Uncle Nate when he was sipping on some Canadian Club, eating up my mother's grub.

The two of us went downstairs. We had to do something with the body of the chump Da

"Man, we gotta jet," Da

"Be cool, Da

"Why you say that?"

"Chekka needs the club."

"He can get some refugee Polack motherfuckah to run the joint."

"No, that would be too obvious. Come on, we got to move the body." I wasn't sure I was telling the truth, but I wanted to make sure Da

There was no choice but to stick the corpse in the back of my Explorer. Good thing the rear side and hatch windows were tinted. I backed down the driveway as Da

I pulled out. Da

I took Hollywood Way and kept going north. Every once in a while, I'd look back to see if our passenger was bleeding. Wouldn't you know it, just as I was heading past the Burbank Airport a cop car pulled in behind me.

"Damn," Da

"Keep your goddamn hands in your goddamn lap. Don't do anything to make them pull us over. Especially no eye rollin'."

"Ain't got to do anything 'cept DWB."

"We got a dead man in here, remember?"

I kept below the speed limit and the cops pulled alongside us at a stoplight. The one riding shotgun pointed for me to roll down my window. Da

"Zelmont Raines, right?" He was older than the one at the wheel.

"Yeah," I said gri

"You were playing overseas, weren't you?"

"That's right," praying for the light to change. "Had to come back and try my luck with the Barons, you know how it is." Da

Finally he said, "Would you mind signing an autograph? My boy is playing ball in high school."

He asked it the way cops always do, with that tone that said, "Look, asswipe, I can make it hard for you if you don't volunteer and do this." Just like a coach.

"Sure." What the fuck could I do?

Da

"I really appreciate this." He had his notepad opened to a blank page. For a second, I freaked, thinking maybe this was a trap 'cause I hadn't paid my child support. As if having a dead body less than ten feet from a member of the LAPD wasn't enough to get shitless about. "Make it to Jeremy, okay?"

"Hey, I'm just glad somebody remembers me." Like I knew he would, he couldn't help but give my ride the once-over while I struggled to spell his kid's name. "Two `E's, right?"

"Yes."

It seemed like he looked at the tinted windows a little too long. What if like in one of those horror films the dude we thought was dead suddenly came to life? We were standing near the front windows, and he naturally settled on Da

"There you go." I was going to offer an explanation on where we were going but decided that would sound wrong.

He tapped the pad against his open palm, like he was trying to decide something. I might be able to hit him, take his piece, then what? Have the law chase my sorry ass down the highway like Rodney King? Only they'd shoot me rather than waste time beating me.

He looked narrow-eyed at the rear of the truck, then back at his partner, who held his fingers up from the steering wheel as if to say, well?

"Thanks for the autograph." He stuck out his hand.

I shook it and gri

"Aw, motherfuck," Da

"It's a county dump, what'd you expect?" A few big haulers were going up a hill off to the right. A couple of Stadanko's blue and silver Shindar trucks were among them.

"He must have some kind of plant or something around here," I said out loud.

"Yeah?" Da

"Yeah, Stadanko, hauls solid waste, toxic shit, and lard from restaurants here. He would have to have a place where they pump that crap out and it's converted'rendered,' I think they call it."

"You a garbage-studyin' motherfuckah, ain't you?" He pointed. "On the other side of the hill is where they dump the garbage?"

"Yeah, biggest pit of nothing you'll ever see." I saw a side road to my left and took it. The path led down to an area where there were a couple of regular garbage trucks and some cars parked near several low buildings. Nearby, I could hear traffic racing by on the Golden State Freeway.

"Did you see the car they were driving?"

"Naw, I was kinda busy bustin' 'em up."

I couldn't tell if he was being smart or what. Then I saw something I recognized. We had cut down another pathway and had come to a part of the yard not seen from the front. The silver Prowler with the cobalt rims was parked parallel to a building with a door, windows, and no name on it. Behind that building were some tall round towers with pipes feeding into them.

"This is it." No sooner had I said it than he was scrambling out the door. I grabbed his arm. "Slow down, we gotta scope the scene out first."

"Get up off me, man." He snatched his arm back, his piece in his other hand. "We got to go save Nap."

"We will, Da

He didn't say squat, his gun half on his lap, that prison yard blank on his mug.

I backed up and parked the Explorer away from the building. Then we got out and crept over. I couldn't hear anything so we went around to the rear. There were metal parts from machines and pieces of wood scattered back there next to a concrete wall that was about seven feet tall. A window up high in the building was open. We stopped to listen for a few seconds and heard some groans.