Chapter 23
Camille had an open door and open mouth policy that kept Billy up all night long. They still held a grudge from the Pastor Paul days so Billy wouldn’t touch him, not that Earl would have let him anyway. Monday morning rolled around as Monday mornings tend to do and it was time to go to work.
“Y’all get y’all black asses out them damn beds and get ready to work!” the guard shouted like an overseer on a plantation. The boys knew that being late out of the bed would cost them to be late in the fields so they rushed to get up and out.
Billy wasn’t sure what to do so he did what everyone else did. He put on his coveralls and boots and filed into the day room. Breakfast consisted of grits, biscuits, and jelly and then it was time to hit the fields.
“Hell naw!” Billy protested when he saw cotton for as far as his eyes cold see.
“Don’t worry ‘bout dat. You coming wit’ me,” Pickle assured him. If he was connected to a major player like Leroy then Pickle wanted to be next to him.
“Okay,” Billy replied in relief at not having to pick cotton like the other boys. Except Earl that is, he was the designated water boy/girl.
Pickle led the way through the fields and through the woods until they reached another field. A greener more pleasant looking field than the one they’d just left.
“That’s…” Billy pointed in shock once he’d identified the crop.
“Shol’ is!” Pickle exclaimed smiling at the rows and rows of marijuana plants. They were ripe with fat buds that made your fingers sticky from the resin. We ‘llowed to carry some back in our pockets.”
“Sho’ nuff!” Billy replied and snatched a bud off. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket as other elite workers came from the tree line.
“We gotta fill the sacks first!” Pickle laughed. He then instructed Billy on what to do.
“See, you got a new gal there Pickle!” Hambone, from Nashville, teased. Billy was ready to go fight but Pickle held him back.
“Prettier than that lil bitch you got with you,” Pickle shot back. The two traded barbs until Billy realized that the leaders were cool. It was only the soldiers who fought.
Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich chased by a soda pop courtesy of the police. They treated the chosen few picked to work their cash crop better than they treated the rest of the boys. It wasn’t all good, but it wasn’t all bad either.
****
Lady watched with an almost sexual anticipation as Leroy cooked a spoon of dope up. He then pulled the bubbling poison into a syringe and then plucked out the deadly air bubbles. Next he tied off her arm to find a vein.
“Mm hm,” Lady said knowingly. She realized that he’d slowly strung her along until she was strung out. He’d eased her into addiction by laying the pipe when he came through. All that was replaced by the needle. He would pop through when she needed a fix and fix her.
“There she go,” Leroy cheered when a fat vein popped up as if volunteering. He slid the needle inside and drew up a little blood. That was the old school equivalent to checking the internet connection speed.
“Mm hm,” she repeated as she watched the drug disappear into her body. She felt the effects of it coursing through her before the syringe was emptied.
“That’s right,” he said soothingly as she began to nod. She didn’t even notice when he slipped out to go pimpin’. He wasn’t the only one pimpin’.
****
The air grew thick with tension as the weeks ticked away. There’d even been a few minor skirmishes as boys jockeyed for the crown that would be vacated when Pickle left. Everyone wanted to be the next HNIC, which ironically was a phrase coined by the racist guards. They didn’t want to have to speak to all the niggers, just the Head Nigga In Charge. How that became a good thing is anyone’s guess. It was probably the same logic behind turning being called a bad bitch into a compliment.
The position did have its perks though. Being the go to guy of the guards definitely had its rewards. First there was working the cash crop which paid in weed and free world food. Next was exclusive access to the only pussy in the house. Everyone was allowed to use Earl’s mouth, but his tail belonged strictly to the HNIC.
The front runners to the position were Billy and Ox, a big high yellow man-child. Ox had whooped everyone’s ass except for Pickle’s and Billy’s, and he was ready to try Billy.
Billy had a lot of support, however, because the boys liked him. Most respected that he didn’t touch the sissy even if they did. The boy had the smooth speech of a politician/pimp/preacher that appealed to all.
Billy relieved his sexual pressure by jacking off several times a day. Sometimes at night while Earl slept across the small room, or so he thought. Sometimes Earl was actually sleeping, other times he was watching. The sissy still held a grudge from Pastor Paul’s and therefore he never offered his services. He hoped to have the satisfaction of turning Billy down but he never asked. Instead he just lubed up his palm and pulled on his penis.
****
The moment of truth came a few days earlier than expected. While Pickle had a mean fight game, he sucked when it came to numbers. He knew his birthday was in two weeks but two weeks equaled twenty days, have him tell it.
“Pickle!” the guard stuck his head in and called. “Pack it up ‘less you just wanna stay here with Earl.” Pickle paused for a second to choose before deciding he’d rather leave. The sooner he left the sooner he’d finish his time and go home.
“Yay!” the crowd roared as they did anytime a boy got to go home. Never mind that half of them came back within a year. Half of the other half escaped coming back to reform school by turning eighteen and going to grown man prison, which is where Pickle was headed.
The revelry died down almost instantly once Pickle left the dorm. Ox and Billy were on opposite sides of the dorm, which allowed the other boys to show their allegiance by going to one end or the other. Earl switched his narrow ass over to Ox’s side to show him his support. An eerie silence filled the air until Ox stood up and broke it.
“Guess we may as well get to it,” the large boy stated as he stood. He made a big display of ripping his shirt off to reveal the ripples of muscles beneath it. Earl swooned, batted his lashes, and fanned himself at the display.
Billy wasn’t impressed since he was six feet three inches of lean chocolate muscles himself. He didn’t take his shirt off but everyone knew it since they all showered together in one large room He really had no desire to fight the boy or be the HNIC but a challenge was issued and he couldn’t back down. Punk out in jail and the other men will be lining up outside your cell to use your mouth like they did Earl.
“Kick his ass Billy!” One of Billy’s supporters said as he rose to his feet. The boy made sure to whisper it just in case he lost.
“I’m finna,” Billy assured him and stepped forward. The two boys met in the middle of the dayroom where the tables had been pulled out of the way so that they could have room to fight.
Ox was still putting on by popping his knuckles and flexing his muscles, while Billy just threw up his dukes. The larger boy had no way of knowing that Billy had a mean fight game of his own, it had been honed on the rough streets of South Memphis, but he was about to find out quick, fast, hard, and in a hurry.
“Ugh!” Ox grunted as he threw a large looping haymaker. It was so slow that Billy actually laughed at it before ducking under it. He slipped the punch and let a savage body shot go. All the air was evicted from Ox’s lungs when the punch connected.
Technically the fight was over at that point. The brutal beating that followed was more to let anyone else who may have had a thought about trying him not to. The body blow had bent Ox in half and a vicious knee to the mouth stood him straight back up. Not only did it stand him up but it also snaggled his tooth and put him directly in the path of a speeding right hook that put him on his ass. Billy proceeded to kick him to sleep and back awake again.
“Anybody don’t like what I did?” he asked turning slowly to catch each eye. The eyes don’t lie even if the mouth does. No one spoke up so he nodded in acceptance of his new position. “Y’all clean him up, fi’ up some of that reefer, and break out the buck!”
The crowd cheered and proceeded to get their party on. Earl had a sour face at now belonging to the boy who had stolen Pastor from him. He sucked his teeth knowing what he’d be sucking next.
****
To Earl’s surprise Billy still showed no interest in him. That night he once again pulled out and pulled on his dick until he got off. Then he rolled over and went to sleep. Changes would come with the morning’s sun. There wouldn’t be many, but they would be drastic.
“Knock, knock,” Randy called out before sticking his head in the door. “You mind if I get straight?”
‘Getting Straight’ was the oxymoron the boys used to refer to having sex with Earl. In actuality it’s gay, not straight. Most boys felt like getting oral sex from him didn’t make them gay, but they were wrong. Others felt that it wasn’t gay since they were locked up, but they were wrong as well. All that shit is gay and so are they.
Billy felt like he had been sexually abused by Pastor Paul. He wasn’t gay and that’s why he didn’t touch the sissy in the room with him. He may not have had a choice then, but he had one now. He chose no.
“I don’t mind at all!” Billy said genially as he stood to leave so they could have some privacy. He stopped just short of leaving as if an afterthought and explained the new rules. “’Cept now it cost to get straight.”
“Huh?” both Earl and Randy asked as if the meaning of the words weren’t clear. They were. Billy was a pimp and this was pimpin’.
“Shit cost now! At least a dollar. I’ll take cash, reefer, tobacco, or some buck,” Billy explained. He really didn’t care for Earl much and would have sold his brown ass for a brown penny.
“I got a dollar in my locker,” Randy whined. He wanted to hold on to it, but he wanted to ‘get straight’ too.
“Well, go get it then!” Billy ordered, sending him rushing out the room.
“So, how much I get?” Earl asked with his hand on his hip.
“Bitch, I’ma pimp! You ain’t getting shit but the dick!”
Chapter 24
“Shit!” Billy fussed when another orgasm escaped him. He had a handful of lotion and dick, but all he got from all his stroking was a sore arm. He would get right to the verge of an orgasm just to have it slip away.
Every time he got close memories of his dearly departed sister would invade his mind. He then stroked even harder to prevent his conscious from winning. That’s the sign of a true monster. Even a regular fucked up person is held back by scruples, but a monster didn’t give a fuck. The devil himself couldn’t corrupt this one because he was already corrupt on his own.
“Let me help,” Earl finally offered. He’d watched the torment for an hour and felt bad for Billy. All that pulling and no payout was like being a loser at a Las Vegas slot machine.
“Hell naw!” Billy screamed, only in his mind because his mouth remained shut. Earl took his silence as a tacit yes and quickly crossed the room. Billy watched helplessly as the sissy went down on him. His whole body flinched when Earl’s hot mouth engulfed him. He closed his eyes to pretend that he was a she, but then opened them back up to watch his head bob in the darkness.
“Mmph,” Earl grunted when Billy’s explosion caught him off guard. He kept his mouth locked around him as Billy writhed beneath him. He swallowed with a loud gulp and stood. He took one step towards his own bed before Billy stopped him. He took his hand and pulled him back.
“Lay down!” Billy ordered. Earl did and Billy fucked him, with his nasty ass.
****
“Okay, I got two dollars, two sticks, and a pint of buck!” Randy announced when he returned. His dollar had gotten him sent away so he’d gone and collected all he could. He obviously really wanted to ‘get straight’.
“It’s over with,” Billy announced with Earl laying with his head in his lap. “You may as well smoke that reefer and drank that buck cuz shop closed!”
“Closed?” he asked as if it were a new word. He understood the word but didn’t understand why Billy was now cuffing the only sissy in the house.
The dorm flipped often as boys came in and out of the revolving correction doors. Sometimes they got lucky and had two or three sissies, and other times drought struck like a famine and they had one or none. The truth of the matter was that Earl was leaving in a couple of weeks so Billy decided to keep him to himself. Randy made a
‘Will you look at this shit here?’
face and walked away shaking his head.
“So you want a party ‘fo’ you leave?” Billy asked, resuming the conversation while running his fingers through Earl’s hair. “I’ll tell Vincent to fix up some of his potato liquor.”
“I guess,” Earl sighed, like women do when they want a man to ask what’s wrong.
“What’s wrong?” Billy asked proving that it even worked for sissies, “Scared ‘bout goin’ home? Seeing Pastor Paul?”
“No. I ain’t even going back to Memphis. I’m finna go to my Nana’s house in Atlanta. Start me a whole new life.”
“At-lanta!” Billy demanded as if it were preposterous.
“Un huh! I ain’t never going back to Memphis!” Earl huffed.
“Wish I could go to At-lanta,” Billy said wistfully. “I cain’t tho’ my mama need me.”
****
“Please Leroy! I needs you!” Lady pleaded into the phone. She held the receiver in both hands, like
Lady Sings the Blues
, as she sang the blues, greens, and reds of a nasty withdrawal.
“I’ll be through in a few,” Leroy said and hung up. He liked for her to feel the pains of withdrawals before he gave her, her next fix. The lower she got the more she’d appreciate the high.
It was at least another hour before Leroy finally showed up. When he did he found Lady drenched in sweat and curled into a tight ball on her bed. Leroy got right to work and fixed her up a nice dose. He then pulled her arm free and prepped her for her medicine.
“Mmm, you my savior,” Lady moaned as she felt the feelings of the drug enter her body.
“Thought you said Jesus was yo’ savior?” the piece of shit mocked.
“No, you is!” she said, looking up for the first time and realizing that he wasn’t alone. “Oh!”
“Don’t fret none. This is my patna’ Dave. I tol’ him how good that pie was and he wanted to get a lil’ slice. You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, I don’t mind,” Lady said and laid back on her back. She spread her legs apart before departing into a dope induced nod. Lady hadn’t bothered with panties in months so her bushy box was out in plain view.
“Hell yeah!” Dave clapped and cheered before he passed Leroy the agreed upon ten and dove in. Lady had already left the building so his fondling failed to lube her vagina. Dave shrugged, his indifference, spit on the head of his dick and shoved it inside of her.
“Slow down boy, you…” Leroy began but Dave cut him off.
“Oooooowweeeee!” he shouted and went completely stiff as he busted a nut. He shook and shivered then took a second to recover. Once he did he started stroking again.
“Nuh uh nigga, if you gon’ go again you gotta pay again!” Leroy advised ready to snatch him out of the vagina in mid stroke.
“In… my… wallet!” Dave called over his shoulder. The pimp dug into his pocket and retrieved the other man’s wallet. There was two more tens inside so he took them both.
This marked the first trick Lady would turn for Leroy. He could and would now mark her off his list of ‘The Ones That Got Away’. There weren’t many on it being that he had tracked them down and turned them out decades after adding them.
Leroy would have to save up shit to be a piece of shit because he wasn’t shit and neither was his son. The old saying was true, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.