Eridan15

ERIDAN 15Short storystep back.She blinked her eyes. “No, that won’t do…” The hunger faded from her eyes.“But what can you do, Mammy?” Eddie asked.“The least I want is to have a little chat with the one who killed me,” Mammy said.“I heard someone shot you. Do you know who it was?”“No, I just remember him yelling at me. He wanted to know where the gold was.”“What did he look like?”“Big man, dreadlocks, light eyes. His right hand covered in scars and bad ink.”Crazy Eddie turned pale. “Jean Baptiste.” His shoulders drooped and tears welled up inhis eyes. “He did follow me, he did. I’m so sorry, Mammy, it’s my fault.” He pushed hisfists in his eyes and sobbed.Cold hands came to rest on his shoulders and the smell of the grave came real closenow. Mammy’s hoarse voice sounded just beside his left ear. “Cher Eddie, tout c’est bien.Can you get Jean Baptiste here? Ici, a moi?”Eddie looked up. His vision was blurred and to his eyes Mammy Eleanor’s hair movedaround her head with a will of its own, making her look like the voodoo queen he alwaysthought her. “Yes, Mammy. I have his cell number.”“Then call him, bring him to me.” She smiled and her fake teeth looked sharp and bloodyin the red moonlight.Out on the street Eddie searched for the nearest pay-phone. He found a working pairnear the ‘We Got It’ convenience store on North Claiborne Avenue.“Allo?” Jean Baptiste’s voice held a threatening tone. It always did. He was the archetypicalbully and he thrived on the misery of others. Tormenting Crazy Eddie was one of hisfavorite pastimes.“It… it’s me, Eddie,” Crazy Eddie said. He felt Jean Baptiste’s interest through the phone.“Well, well, Crazy Eddie.” He made it sound like ‘Crezzie Eddie’, which Eddie knew to bea fake French accent. “Where is my money, you little piece of merde.”“I… I was calling about that, Jean Baptiste,’ Eddie stammered. “M… my p… pawnshopwas closed.”“Dun’ gimme excuses, asswipe,” Jean Baptiste said. “Arrange something else!”“The… the thing is... she died,” Eddie explained.“Not my problem. Get my money by tomorrow, or else…”“I… may have something better,” Eddie said. He felt ever more nervous. Lying to JeanBaptiste made him physically uncomfortable.26