Don Gregoree's Die, Ugly

By Don Gregoree

Reformed thug finds trouble waiting for him when he visits his mother.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781631922992

Book preview

BOYZ

CHAPTER 1

They say Virginia is for lovers, but be cautious, they never say lovers of what.

— Don Gregoree

May 21, 1997

Sunday 4:43 P.M.

It would have been a beautiful sunny day if the devil wasn’t slapping his wife around the boiling pits of hell, surely a sign of things to come as the dark green two-door Explorer pulled over to the curb on the corner of Sparrow Drive and Indian River Road. Two teenagers are walking down the street with McDonald’s bags when they cross in front of the Explorer, giggling. The old lady sweeping on her porch stops to bend both forward and backward, stretching that lower back muscle that often tells older people that they should have started exercising at a younger age. More nosey than not, she takes a few seconds to stare at the Explorer, knowing it isn’t a resident of her block, before waving it off.

Behind the truck, at least five houses down, are a group of kids flying kites. Interesting enough, they seem not to care about the trees that block the falling drizzle and the sunshine from getting through, even though they block the kites from flying as high as they should. Two or three dogs bark in the distance.

The young man called Carver adjusts his rearview, moving slowly up the wide street, away from the main intersection. The address he pulls up to is 542 Sparrow Drive. He counts back to 532 and glances across the street to 531. Looking down at his brand new Jordan’s, he smiles, then reaches into the glove compartment and grabs the pack of Trident sugarless gum. Taking a couple of sticks out, he throws the pack back in the glove compartment and grabs a pocket knife. Closing the compartment, Carver adjusts his seat to lay back, adjusts his rearview to accommodate the seat, whips the knife out of its shell and starts to clean his nails with it, all the while keeping his eyes on 531 Sparrow Drive.

Edward Vega was playing Uno with Danny Davis, when suddenly Uno out! Man, your daughters cheating! Ain’t no way she could win five in a row without cheating Ed says half laughing. I’m just too good for y’all old timers Danny says as she gets up from the table. Now I’m going to take my shower so we can make it to that movie I was promised. Get your butt in there before we renege on you. You know how my condition makes me say and do things Raylene says rubbing her stomach. Edward shakes his head in agreement as he opens a beer. Too late, I’m already in the shower! Danny screams turning the knob.

Two squad cars pull on Sparrow Drive, one behind the other. At first they creep real slow, then waste the gas of speeding up rapidly just to slam on brakes three houses down. Carver raises his head just enough to see the house they stop at, then lowers it again. Closing the pocket knife, Carver jolts to a loud slam of a screen door. He looks up in time to see some skinny man swing on Chesapeake’s finest. A dose of the stun gun brings the skinny man down and his evening to a rapid end.

Two of the four cops pick the skinny man up roughly, even though he’s tazed out of his mind and is no threat at all. Carver laughs as the skinny man’s woman, mother, or sibling raises hell over his treatment, to no avail. Five minutes and one hundred curse words later, the cops pull off with the skinny man and his woman, mother or sibling cuffed in the back seat.

Still laughing silently to himself, Carver almost leans back in the car seat until out the corner of his left eye he spots movement at 531 Sparrow Road. A man walks up behind a long haired female as she is bending over in the garden. They both laugh before he grabs her hands and pulls her up as Carver looks on in the rearview. Pausing, he takes a deep breath and reaches under the passenger car seat. Bringing up a black briefcase, he sets it in the passenger seat, opens it up, and slides into what he likes to call to himself, the zone. Quickly snapping together two pieces of steel and then a third, Carver pulls out a picture and looks it over. Starting the truck, he starts to accelerate when his cell phone rings.

Where are you dragging me off to Edward? Raylene asked with a sneaky smirk on her face. After we get this mail out the box, we can hop in the van and make out Ed replied. Now you know I can’t quite move around like that at this moment. She’ll be with her father the whole weekend starting tomorrow, so cool your horses one more night, mister. Ed looks down, turns around and smiles. Anything for you, love he replies just before he notices her glossy eyes. What is it, babe? Raylene looks up and says Do you think she’ll leave us alone? Do you think she’ll finally let us be? We can only pray that she will Ed says back to her. We can only pray.

The ring tone for Tricia Cole, Carvers lover, snaps him out of the zone. Pulling to the curb, Carver takes a deep breath, clears his throat, and answers the call. Hey, what’s up? Well, first of all you have to remember, he didn’t have any insurance. Secondly, suicide was the one thing hers wouldn’t pay for. Yeah, he don’t know I know. We basically went to school together. A loud round of laughter reminded Carver of his playful parents when things were different. Huh, oh, I’m at work right now because we need the money, but soon as I get home I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Love you, too Gram, bye. Carver closes the cell phone and smiles, but only for a second. After a blink he hits the gas, makes a u-turn and spins off. He’s back in the zone.

Edward’s eyes catch and lock on to Carver’s. In that instant the story is told. Edward starts to back away from the mail box but bumps into Raylene, knocking her down. He looks back at the trucks trajectory as it excels, then turns and screams to Raylene GET UP, RAY! GET UP! Raylene, uninformed of the horror Ed sees, tries to pull herself up by hanging on Ed’s arm. Before she can scream loud whispers of air seem to rip into Ed’s groin and torso before his arm is totally ripped from his body.

Raylene, trying to break free of the severed arms grip, is pushed backwards by the same deadly infection that’s eating Ed inside out. She screams for what seems like an eternity, but it could only have been a split second as several hollow tipped shells pass by and through her pregnant body, mouth and skull, crashing into and through the house behind her. Windows shatter and crash to the ground. The clock on the living room wall shatters, holding the time of this tragedy forever, signed by a stream of bullets.

Raylene never heard the commotion, her dead eyes set on Ed’s cooking flesh as it writhers in its last seconds of life. The noiseless death stops flying as a voice yells out NOOOO!! Somebody get some help!! The Explorer speeds off as Ed smiles, convulsing, thinking help is coming for his unborn child.

The dark green Explorer makes so many turns before coming out on the main highway, the driver barely remembers where he is. He slows to the regular speed limit for a couple of lights before pulling into a 7-Eleven not a mile from the crime scene. He tears the picture into pieces, grabs the pocket knife and the pack of gum and exits the vehicle, leaving the briefcase with the gun in it. Walking around the back of the convenience store, he heads next door to the Hardee’s parking lot to a white Dodge Charger. Pulling the car keys out of his pocket, he quickly removes the black shades, gloves and the dreadlock wig he has on, slips into the car, brushes off his new shoes and pulls off slowly. Three minutes later he throws the wig into a dumpster behind a Food Lion grocery store, walks into the store and buys a twelve pack of Foster’s beer.

After Carver purchases his beer, he walks back to the Charger and sits, watching every car that comes into the grocery store parking lot. Satisfied after exactly 35 minutes, Carver drives another mile down to a pay phone that reaches into your car and sits for a few minutes before he dials.

Homicide Detective Louie Louis was bending over Raylene Brown’s corpse when his boss Lt. Milton Davis called him away from the body. Detective Louis this is Agent Light and this is Agent Little. What are Feds doing at my crime scene, Lt.? asks Detective Louis. Who’s in charge, let me talk to the man in charge. Uh, that would be Agent Nelson, but she’s off scene right now, so you can talk to me says Agent Little. No Agent Little, I’ll wait for the boss. That way I’ll only have to ask one time what it is you’re doing here in my city, at my crime scene, trying the hell out of my patience! said Lou Well Lt., I’m sure she’ll tell you we’re doing what we do wherever we go, Detective, we take over answers Agent Little.

Det. Louis half laughs before looking at his Lt. and asking Is he serious? Is he fucking serious?! Now calm down Lou the Lt. said. Calm down?! Okay, I’ll calm down when somebody tells me what makes a drive-by federal! Det. Louis yells. They were federal witnesses… Bullshit, or they would have been under federal protection! Det. Louis says cutting across Agent Little. "Clearly, no one was being protected