Deconstruction of the Blues

Murphy Man

64 MURPHY MAN He came at us with pictures “Say-y-y, m’man, you lookin’ fo’ a good ti-i-ime?! Checkit, got white, brown, Portuguee . . . ” The girls looked good scanty lace and garters posing in his wallet He looked bad a black eye patch and a rumpled seersucker suit But we were seventeen hopeful come to bust our cherries on Pimp’s Corner in Roxbury “Checkit, checkit, foxy an’ fi-i-ine . . . ” Another pimp came sniffing bobbing forward from an ass so high and fat he looked like two men in a camel suit Pirate patch appropriated us simply whisked us away He seemed indignant “Whatsamattah, ain’t ‘chew got no sense!? talkin’ wif a lowdown niggah like dat!!?” Across the street he sat us on a stoop so much for this so much for that extra for time depending on the color Premed Jimmy and I tried to look tough unimpressed Things seemed to be jumping on all sides disappearing around corners in the neon light 65 He had us choose our girls and our pleasures We haggled back and forth and finally struck a deal “Yeah-h-h, m’man! Solid! You guys some lucky du-udes!!” and he strutted over to a phone booth to make the ‘arrangements’ Gut check time for Jimmy and me I could tell he was shaky his wiseguy front pasty like his face might fall off And I was feeling the weight of my lies Jimmy thought I was Ice Pick Slim the officer in charge But Patch came back looking grave It seemed we’d hit a snag the pad was occupied No problem though no problem We’d just have to sit tight awhile overcome our adversities And he launched into explication of the enterprise Did we see that drugstore there a block up across the street? Well the pad was in that building upstairs and when everything was straight he’d go into the drugstore and make our ‘order’ He cast us a signifying glance 66 Then he bummed a cigarette and we sat around and smoked while he talked and talked “I be president— I’d exterminate all these niggahs,” he cocked scornfully over each shoulder “‘cause I’d know they be plottin’ on me . . . ” He inquired after our education approved that we were in college He liked educated people high class people Every once and a while he peered up the street sizing up the situation at the drugstore The evening began to float the chattering of his voice our easy bonhomie the jitter and heat of the whores behind it all I found myself watching the drugstore too Now and then I’d see some leggy black women clicking by Steady traffic in and out Were people passing scripts in the pharmacy copping drugs? I tried to x-ray through imagine what was really going on who owned what who was paying whom But it was taking too long twenty minutes? a half an hour? Jimmy was fidgeting getting more and more nervous beside me 67 I knew his biggest fear was getting busted thrown out of school Finally he broke on the pimp to get us some girls or we’d go and find ourselves someone else who could Patch stared at him coolly pushed back his sleeve to check his watch and said he’d go make another call for us I could tell by the way he walked back from the booth we were in peaches and cream! He promenaded us up the block past the drugstore and into the tenement building that housed it We followed him up two flights of stairs and then he turned to face us “Why’n’chew guys gimme the bread, I go down an’ git the ladies . . . ” Alarm bells “Wait, man . . . Wait a minute! . . . ” He reared back a little looked his blackness at me him down us up A curl to his lip as if to say of course we thought he was a thief An ugly edge to the look and he let it fill a moment It seemed to me I saw his face his body vibrate blank and eerie like a police target 68 “Da’s it den—no deal.” And he started to push past us down the stairs “Well wait a minute, man . . . Wait . . . ” I...