“Paris, you all right?” he repeated.
“Yeah,” I said, angry about where my mind had taken me. “That motherfucker LaSalle fucked my head up. I was dreaming about that last day with Niles.”
“Damn, that must have been some good-ass dick! You still dreaming about him after he’s dead.”
“Shut up, Sasha,” Rio and I said in unison. “Shut the fuck up!”
Brother X
5
“Two ninety-nine, three hundred.” I finished my last pushup just as the sound of the cell block changed from the normal jailhouse chatter to a hushed whisper. This could only mean one thing: there were more than the usual number of corrections officers, or screws, as we inmates called them, on the floor. Within seconds of this observation, two of my most trusted associates, Brother Muhammad and Brother Jules, were posted outside my cell.
“Jefferson and Nugent are headed our way, Xavier,” Brother Muhammad said without moving from his post.
“It’s cool. I’ve been expecting them,” I replied.
I stood up and adjusted my kufi then whistled at Lenny and Squiggy, my two pet rats, who scrambled up my arm and onto my shoulders. I’d raised them from babies after I killed their mother for chewing into a pack of Oodles of Noodles I’d stashed in my cell. There was only one thing in the world I cared about more than those two rats, and that was my wife Sonya—who, unfortunately, didn’t seem to share the same feelings for me anymore.
As I fed Lenny and Squiggy peanuts, two white-shirt screws, Sergeant Jefferson and Captain Nugent, stepped in front of my cell. They might have been employed by the state, but both of them were on my payroll as well, and occasionally did a job or two on the outside when the price was right. Jefferson, a brother, stepped in my cell and almost killed himself tripping over Nugent to get out when he saw Lenny and Squiggy perched on my shoulders.
“Jesus Christ. What the hell are those things doing in there?” he asked once he was safely back outside.
“What’s wrong, Jefferson? You don’t like rats?” Nugent laughed as he walked into my cell. Unlike his darker counterpart, he didn’t seem to have a fear of my pets.
“Fuck no. If it wasn’t for the money he’s paying, I’d have those nasty motherfuckers exterminated. If you don’t mind, X, I’ll stay right here.”
“Suit yourself,” I replied.
Unlike his partner, Nugent was always careful not to implicate himself in anything illegal, so he spoke in a low tone, making sure that only he and I could hear what he was saying. “The Italians just got word that their little problems in Attica and Rahway were taken care of. They send their thanks.”
“Tell them that prompt payment is thanks enough.”
Nugent nodded then made his way out of my cell. A few seconds later, Jefferson poked his head back in and said loud enough for the entire tier to hear, “Hey, X, I need you on a work detail over by Cell Block C. Deputy Warden Martinez said I can buy you some KFC if you finish it today. What do you say?”
I smiled. “Long as it ain’t swine, I’m down.”
Five minutes later, Jefferson and I, minus Nugent, were walking down the main corridor of my cell block. Jefferson was keeping his distance because I had Lenny and Squiggy hidden in my orange coverall pockets. That didn’t stop him from talking, though.
“X, man, what the hell would make you wanna mess with nasty-ass rats?” Jefferson asked.
I wanted to stab him in the neck with the shank I was hiding for talking about Lenny and Squiggy like that, but I also knew I needed his diarrhea-of-the-mouth self, so I kept it lighthearted. “They wouldn’t let me have a dog,” I replied.