The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

Chapter 15

"I can't stand that disco bullshit!" Clavell irately snarled as he put on his red velvet jacket and checked his wavy hair in a mirror that was attached to the wall.

"Do you want me to go up and tell Jimmy to play something else?" Lucius put on his black Fedora.

Pressing out his mustache, Clavell muttered, "No, we got more important matters to attend to."

Above their collective heads The Trammps', 'Disco Inferno' thumped loud enough to where even the various malt liquor bottles that were scattered on the tables downstairs in the work area were clinking against one another.

It was Clavell who was dressed to the nines in a red velvet blazer, red velvet pants and matching platform shoes. Nita, who was performing her customary duty of staying seated and separating the cocaine, gave only subtle glances at her boss as to say she was somewhat jealous, while Marvin, who along with Clavell and Lucius, was cleaning himself up from head to toe for a night out on the town.

Clear in a corner all to themselves were two fairly young white men who were both adorned in blue plaid, polyester suits. One of the men had a blonde mustache, while the other, who appeared as if he were straight out of high school, wore a pair of eyeglasses and long, dark hair. Both men were holding their own brown briefcase and shivering as if the room they were sequestered in was freezing cold.

Clavell pulled himself away from the mirror and reached into his coat pocket to take out and count a cluster of hundred dollar bills.

"Hey, Marv, hand me one of those Cuban's."

At once, Marvin rushed over and handed Clavell a Cuban cigar before igniting the tip. Clavell puffed away on the cigar while rifling through his bills in a curious fashion. Suddenly, right in the middle of

smokes, Clavell happened to glance over at the two white men who were huddled together side by side like frightened mice.

With a grin, Clavell pointed at the men, "Boy, you two look like you're about to fall to pieces. What's the problem?"

"Look, Clavell." One of the men stuttered before catching himself midway. "Excuse me, Mr. Diggs. But we really just need to hurry and get this over with. We have another drop after this one."

Looking subtly surprised, Clavell asked, "What, you two peckerwoods don't like being around us darkies for too long?"

"No, sir, it's not that, we just—

"Blood, just cool out," Clavell motioned with his cigar. "This place is the safest joint in the city. Besides, I got another transaction I have to clear up before we leave."

"It's just that with your friend getting killed last night, we just don't need any other mishaps."

Right then, the entire room grew eerily quiet. Clavell just turned his head in the other direction before pacing the floor.

"Yeah...when we find the motherfucker who did that to Wendell he'll wish to God he was never born. In the meantime, you two just hang loose."

"But we— "The man said shut the fuck up!" Marvin yelled clear from the other side of the room.

At once, both men became permanent fixtures of the wall that they were already attached to, quiet and unassuming.

Giggling at the two, Clavell commented, "Damn, I bet if we were way out there in Beverly Hills they would be as cool as clams."

At that very second, three knocks blasted at the door. Marvin went over and opened it to find a tall, well-built, bald, black man and the afro-puffed lady right behind him.

"Come on in!" Clavell warmly greeted.

With a cavalier smile on his face, the bald man with a perfectly manicured goatee entered into the room. Immediately, Clavell embraced the man who was wearing only a multi-colored dashiki, a pair of white slacks and a pair of sandals. While his friend, whose face was swollen and her height slightly lengthened, wore only a red dress with sandals.

"Man, I was wondering when you two was goin' to get here!" Clavell exclaimed.

"We had certain matters to attend to, mon." The bald man smiled in a deep Jamaican accent.

Clavell then took a gander of the woman before turning up his nose and saying, "Damn, girl, what happened to you? You look like you've had one rough day."

The young lady just cracked a simple, blushing grin before glancing over at her companion and dropping her head.

"Akoni not speak too much, mon. She speak only when necessary."

"It's cool, blood, it's cool." Clavell patted the man on the back. "I want you all to meet my friends, Akoni and Arthur!" Clavell announced to his comrades.

Everyone in the room greeted the duo with the kind of respect that was expected of them, everyone that is except Nita, who remained at her trusty table with an eye targeted only at Akoni.

"Uh...listen, we didn't know that you were gonna bring over some foreigners." One of the white men stammered. "We weren't told of any foreigners!"

Clavell glared at the two men with the most confounded look on his face. "What, are you peckerwoods racist or something?"

"No, sir, we're not, we just weren't informed about any others joining in on this."

"Calm down, my friends are real deal." Clavell led both Arthur and Akoni over to where two chairs were placed before having them take a seat. "You see, you honkeys don't quite understand how business is conducted these days. This ain't the old Al Capone days where some cannoli eatin' motherfucker calls all the shots. This is 1977, the future. Times have changed. And you two corn-fed, college boy, faggots had better learn that and quick. I ain't some nickel and dime porch nigga, I network worldwide!"

The two white men just remained against the wall they were perched to in total submission. Meanwhile, there was Akoni, a woman of few words. She sat in her chair with her legs crossed in a demure fashion while her eyes seemingly examined the room in which she was gathered in.

From one corner and edge of the room she meticulously studied until her eyes eventually connected with those of Nita's, who in turn was staring continuously right back at her. Nita just wouldn't remove her hard glaze away from the mysteriously silent woman. It was as if they were magnets attracted to one another. All the while, the men in the room carried on in a jovial manner. But there was something obviously amiss with the women, and only the women.

Akoni kept her hands on her lap while a polite smile graced her swollen face. Nita, who had her left hand on the table, next to her cocaine, had her other hand underneath the table, where her index finger was tickling the trigger of a nine millimeter. But the men kept on and on.

"C'mon, man, let's do this before these two pansies wet their pants." Clavell said to Arthur. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, you had some real serious shit for me and my clients."

"I'm afraid I cannot do dat, mon." Arthur sat back and relaxed in his seat.

Clavell looked back at the man in a stunned glare before sniggering, "I beg your pardon? Man, c'mon, me and my partners have another engagement to go to."

"Akoni and I did not come here for your money, mon."

Still sniggering and snorting, Clavell asked, "What the hell did you come here for then?"

Arthur just sat and looked up at Clavell in a clever style, as if he hadn't a worry in the world.

"We not come for dat, mon, we come for something else."

The smile that was on Clavell's face quickly dissipated as he approached Arthur and said, "Hold on, we had a deal for some pure diamonds. Now, it's time to pay up."

"I bet these niggas didn't even bring the product!" Lucius shouted.

Drawing closer to Arthur, Clavell demanded, "Wipe that stupid ass grin off your face before I smack it off, nigga."

Arthur just gazed up at Clavell, refusing to rub the look off of his face. "We come all de way here for something else, mon."

"Ain't this about a bitch?" Clavell angrily yelled as he spun around. "I deal with these Jamaican motherfuckers for a whole month and this is what happens!"

"Never trust these island niggas!" Marvin said.

Clavell turned back around and immediately whipped out his silver-plated pistol before pointing it directly at Arthur's face. "You gonna give me my product, or—

"You have her scent on you." Arthur blurted out.

Everyone inside the room once more paused. It was a pause of complete confusion; one that caused each person, excluding Arthur and Akoni, to glance at each other in total bewilderment.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Clavell turned up his face.

"You have her scent on you." Arthur repeated.

"Who's scent?"

"De girl, Lynnette," Arthur raised his eyebrows.

Giggling all over again, Clavell glanced back at everyone else. "Lynnie," he shrugged. "What's she got to do with anything?"

"I smell her all over you, mon. Akoni see her last night with your friend. We not here for your money, we want you to know that we smell her."

"Hold up, you know where Lynn is?" Lucius belligerently walked over.

"Stay loose, man." Clavell ordered Lucius before turning back to Arthur. "Are you trying to say that Lynnie had something to do with Wendell gettin' killed last night?"

"I say just dat, mon."

"Ain't that about a bitch?" Clavell furiously backed up. "Something told me not to trust that skeezer after she ran away from you, Lucius!"

"That bitch just jumped out of the car and took off down the alley, for no reason!"

"She not fear you, mon. No, no." Arthur spoke up. "It was Damerae that she feared."

"Who the fuck is that," Lucius frowned.

"He was supposed to finish de job, but he did not. So...I burn his very soul."

"Okay, okay, that's it," one of the white men stepped forward, "we didn't come here for all of this voodoo, shaman talk. We just came to do business and leave."

"Shut the fuck up and get back to that wall!" Clavell pointed his gun at the two men.

Without haste, both men retreated back to their favorite wall where they remained tight-lipped for the time being.

"Now, you're gonna tell me just what the hell is going on here, or I'm gonna put four slugs in that bald head of yours!" Clavell returned the gun back to Arthur.

But Arthur continued to sit cool and relaxed in the midst of an escalating storm. He had the demeanor of a person that actually delighted in conflict. His look wasn't so much cocky, but rather serene, as if he had the matter all under control.

"I not want your money, Clavell. I come for your soul." Arthur said. Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

"I knew it!" Marvin shouted. "These Jamaican niggas are always into that voodoo bullshit!"

"It was voodoo that happened last year." Nita, from out of nowhere, uttered.

Clavell turned his head and asked, "What are you going on about?"

With her right hand still stuck up underneath the table, Nita slowly explained, "Last year, at Thanksgiving, something broke into this house and ate up all these Jamaicans. They never found out what it was that did it."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that." Marvin added. "They found Isaac in there, too."

"Ahh, Isaac...I knew him well." Arthur dropped his head.

"You knew that nigga Isaac?" Clavell looked shocked. "Where was I when all this went down?"

"You were out in Cali taking care of business." Lucius replied.

Raising his head back up, Arthur replied, "Yes, he was very special to me."

"That means that Lynn had something to do with it, too!" Clavell screamed. "And we had that bitch up in here! She was probably wired the whole time!"

"But we checked her out!" Marvin insisted.

"Man, the feds now have tiny ear pieces!" Clavell said. "She probably set Wendell up last night! That's why no one can find her black ass!"

"Oh, but we will find her." Arthur said.

Clavell slowly turned back to Arthur and said, "Wait a second, I now see how this shit is going down. You Jamaican motherfuckers have been trying to muscle in on my turf all this time. First, you send some wild animal to kill some of your own. Then you hire Isaac and Lynn as undercovers, but Isaac goes crazy on some of his own supply and the cops take him out. Then, what do you do? You have Lynnie not only come in here, but you have her set my man Wendell up to get killed."

But Arthur remained completely stalwart in his sitting and listening. Not once did he budge or even twitch while Clavell and the others ranted and rampaged about like several angry lions.

"Look at you and her both." Clavell pointed at Arthur and Akoni. "You both come up in here thinkin' that you can just take what you want. You even have the same eye color."

"They're probably inbreeds!" Lucius laughed out loud.

"Shut the fuck up, nigga!" Clavell blasted. "Then what do you do? You have the nerve to tell me what's going to happen. Motherfucker, this is my town! I own these fuckin' streets! Hell, I made my first five G's at thirteen! My name is Godzilla! I spit fire and motherfuckers die! I'm the motherfucker you should fear! First I'll kill you two, then I'll find Lynn and split her wide open!"

Arthur's sociable grin soon vanished. The man momentarily turned to Akoni, who was still studying Nita, before he refocused his attention back to Clavell.

In a steady, slow tone, Arthur uttered, "You say you Godzilla. I come in many forms. Some see me as a ghost. Soon, you see me as something else. You not touch Lynn. I come for your soul, Clavell."

Right at that very second, the lights in the room began to blink off and on before the music up above abruptly cut off.

"Have you ever seen an anaconda feast?" Akoni surprisingly spoke very slowly.

At once, everyone inside the room focused their stuttering attention to the woman. With the flickering lights and the chatter of agitated dancers above on the top floor, the tension in the room became so thick that most of the people found it hard to even breathe at that juncture.

"Before it feeds, it sizes up its victim. It moves ever so slowly when it tinks that its victim is at its weakest. At its most vulnerable. When de victim doesn't suspect a thing. Dat is when the anaconda moves in and wraps itself around its victim before it swallows de victim whole. Dat is exactly what has been happening here. You all have been sized up."

"We need to kill these niggas and quick!" Marvin whipped out his pistol.

"No, no, wait until the music comes back on, then we'll plug them both." Clavell said before turning to the two white men. "Maybe you two were right; doing business with foreigners ain't very smart."

"We need to shoot them now!" Nita all of the sudden exploded from her table with her gun drawn.

"Cool out, girl!" Lucius struck back. "It's probably an electrical short or something!"

Without notice, Akoni got up from out of her chair and just stood. Clavell, Nita, Marvin and Lucius immediately all pointed their weapons at the woman.

"Sit your ass back down!" Clavell screamed.

But the woman would not obey the command; instead, she simply lifted her dress up and over her head revealing her completely naked body before the entire crowd.

"What the fuck is this?" Marvin shrieked.

"These motherfuckers are high!" Clavell hollered.

Akoni's body began to tremble before she threw back her head and started to moan, sounding as though she were in agony.

Turning to Arthur, Clavell stammered, "What the fuck is she doing?"

But everyone was far too busy paying attention to Akoni to notice that Arthur's eyes had turned completely white all of the sudden. A hissing noise soon came from out of his mouth. Slobbering fangs began to extend as did his fingernails that were rapidly turning into claws.

"Fuck this!" One of the white men yelled before rushing to the door and trying desperately to open it, only to find that it was seemingly locked tight; it wouldn't budge for anything. "We can't get out!" The other man sniveled.

But all everyone else could do was stand and watch as Arthur ripped his own clothes off before dropping to the floor in a heap.

"Fuck this," Clavell relented. "Shoot these motherfuckers!"

At once, guns fired at the two, but something just wasn't right. Rather than succumb to the effects of the bullets, the two foreigners' facial and bodily features changed right before their eyes.

"What are they doing?" Clavell continued to shoot. Lucius and Marvin took off for the door, but much like for their Caucasian counterparts, the door would not open for them either.

"What's with the door?" Marvin screamed at the top of his lungs.

Completely out of bullets, Nita slowly stumbled backwards until her back hit the wall. Then, while witnessing the entire transformation, which in her eyes was both terrifying and fascinating all at once, she dropped her gun to the floor and murmured in a dull lisp, "I always knew this would happen."

***

"Just give me a moment, ya'll!" Jimmy urged everyone through the microphone. "We'll have the music back up in a second!"

The crowd was entirely too restless to be contained. Jimmy frantically fiddled and fumbled with one button after another at the turntable. But after so much trying, a sound began to erupt from the speaker. At once, Jimmy's stomach that had been lodged down into his knees gradually picked right back up.

"Here it comes, everyone!" He excitedly announced.

At once, the crowd of agitated dancers clapped and cheered, that is until a type of music they weren't accustomed to hearing started to play. The Mama's and Papa's', 'Words of Love,' just happened to be the selection. That alone sent the crowd not only into a frenzy, but also clamoring out the door.

"Come on, ya'll, give me one moment!" Jimmy pleaded before looking down at young Sammy and saying, "Man, go downstairs and check in the fuse room to see if any of the fuses are off!"

At once, Sammy rushed off towards the basement door. Past the door the boy headed down the stairs and walked on until he saw the first door to his right. He opened the door and right away saw the fuse box.

The boy examined each and every fuse that appeared to be working just fine. No sooner had he finished, a ruckus caught his attention; that ruckus was coming from clear down at the other end of the hallway.

Leaving the fuse box wide open, Sammy skittishly began down the hallway towards the door at the end. He was always told by his uncle not to go anywhere near the door at the end of the hallway, but something was pulling him towards it all the same.

The boy drew closer and closer before hearing the sound of people screaming. Those same screams were followed by roars. The roars alone caused Sammy's entire body to tense up. He stood perfectly still just ten feet away from the door as the roars and growls from the other end echoed out into the hallway. Screams and yells of "help", and "God" would not cease. The shouts were followed by bumps against the door, as well as glass breaking. Sammy could hear the hinges on the door begin to come loose, that was when the child slowly began to pace backwards.

His pace soon went from slow to fast the more he heard the angered roars and snarls of animals draw nearer to him. Sammy's legs, that at one time felt stiff and unmovable, at last saw fit to awaken and carry the boy down the hall at a quicker pace. But before Sammy could reach the stairs, two glowing, orange eyes appeared before him.

The eyes were part of what appeared to be a mist-like body that stood above the boy in the dimness of the hallway.

Sammy, at once, just stopped and stared. It was all he could do, just stand in place and be mesmerized by the being that seemingly dared him to make another move.

"Man, what the hell are you doing down here?" Jimmy came tearing down the steps and straight through the apparition that Sammy was staring at.

Caught up in its withering, black mist, Jimmy swatted and swung until the mysterious fog completely vanished.

"Is there a fire down here?" He sniffed and smelled before gazing down at Sammy. "Little nigga, what are you doin' down here? Did you check the fuse box? Folks are leaving!"

But Sammy would not speak or move, he just stood with the most wide-eyed scowl on his face, as if he were about to cry.

Jimmy grabbed Sammy by the shoulders and shook him. "What's the matter with you?" He yelled into the boy's face. "What are—

Just then, something from the other end of the door at the end of the hallway crashed. It sounded like a crane exploding through a brick wall.

Jimmy released Sammy before taking his nine millimeter from out of his back pocket and carefully proceeding down towards the door. The second he reached the door's knob, Jimmy paused. He waited and listened for any other noises that may have turned up. Then, with as much caution as he could muster, he twisted the knob and pushed open the door to find nothing but severed body parts, blood and a hole where one of the walls used to be.

Sammy crept up behind Jimmy. The two of them stood in mouth-dropping awe at the death that was so lavishly presented to them.

From one corner of the room to the other were heads, arms, legs and fingers, while plastered on each and every remaining wall was blood; blood that even somehow managed to reach the ceiling. Guts

combined with once stylish clothes were strewn all over the floor, along with hundred dollar bills that were still hovering in the air as if a fan had been blowing in the room recently.

Jimmy placed a shaking hand on Sammy's shoulder, and without even looking down at the boy, he said under his breath, "Well, Mexico...here I come."