"Power Struggle"
The day began not one you'd like to venture into if at all possible to reschedule. Unexpectedly rain beat down hard and cold that morning. The alarm clock sounded piercing the room's silence. Mira reach up across Tee and pressed the snooze button. Oops too late the clock had done its job Tee was awake. He reached yawned reach out took Mira in his arms and planted a sexy kiss on her lips.
The slow steady rain played out in the background as they made love. After she relaxed in Tee's arms breathing heavily.
Oh Hell there was a knock at their bedroom door startling the couple back to reality?
"Wake up in there we gotta' get this day started. See you at breakfast," Sprout whispered through the door on his way down the hall.
They laughed, "That was your brother wasn't it," asked Tee.
"Yeah that was him. He just brought back so memories for me. Listen Baby he sounded exactly the same the morning of mother's funeral. His voice screams family I think he needs some family time. It has been a long time since we just sat down and hashed out the good old days. He sounds like he needs to do that right about now I know I could. Maybe I'll find some time today to get together with him."
Mira leaned in across the bed kissed Tee. He stood up extended his arms and waited for her to wrap herself up in his arms.
"I could use some of that myselfbaby. Come on now give me some of that sexy thing you do with your tongue."
Their bodies melted into a quivering mass of pulsating pleasure between the sheets. An hour-or-so later they heard the faint sounds of the family scrambling down the stairs hall in a race to make it down to breakfast. At 8:30 Tee and Mira joined the others as they filed past.
"Good morning," rang out from all directions.
Names and comments followed. Tee and Corn clasped hands touched opposite shoulders feeling the pain of loss.
"Good morning Bro," Corn uttered.
"Morning Baby Boy," Tee returned.
Sprout standing in front of the buffet preparing his plate looked back over his shoulder right into Mira's smiling face. Reaching back he kissed her on the cheek.
"Good morning Sis."
"Morning Bro here we go again together to say good-bye. It's getting as though we don't get together unless we are saying good-bye to another family member isn't it," she enquired.
"You know it Sis it takes you back don't it," he returned.
"What time will the cars be here," Sprout asked sitting at Mira's left.
"We're leaving at ten services begin at eleven," Robert injected joining in the conversation.
"Hey Baby," Mira pecked Robert on the cheek between bites as he sat down to her right.
"Good morning," Robert returned kissing her softly on the cheek.
The staff hustled about attending the buffet and greeting the family. Condolences followed with nods of acknowledgement just what they all needed that day. Corn was the only one present that knew the devastation about to befall the city that morning he was keeping the secret under his hat. The rest of the family went about their daily routine unaware of his diabolical plan.
The limos arrived and the family was on the move. One-by-one they piled out of the cars parked in front of the chapel. When they entered they saw that the place was filled to the rafters with flowers. It looked as though Westerly Berry's exploded on the scene. A giant bleeding red heart of roses sat at Don Lucado's head from Posqualli's people. Covering the golden casket was a blanket of white roses from Mayor Coleman Youngblood. Potted plants lined the walls which filled the room to capacity.
Don Lucado was a much loved and respected man. A line nearly a mile long of diverse family, friends and enemies filed past to view the body before the services began. An organ prelude play as the choir sang, "Going Home to Jesus."
A solemn Catholic mass followed officiated by Father James Hall and his assistant Father Eugene Borkowski.
Prayer, song, and acknowledgement of cards, telegrams and condolences were followed by the breathtaking eulogy of Judge Adam Schaffer. The two hour service ended in a recessional organ postlude. Six of his nephews pallbearers hoisted the coffin on to the horse drawn carriage.
While hundreds of family and friends looked on as gunfire cut loose in the crowd. Four well placed gunmen planted throughout the crowd cut loose with oozes killing several on-lookers. Total chaos erupted with the hundreds of people clad in their funeral attire dove for cover. Tee calmly visibly rushed about ushering Don Lucado's special friends to safety. He cloaked Lottie, Mira, Sprout, Robert with his body until he had them safely tucked away in the limo.
"Get outta here don't stop until you get them safely deposited at home. Get back with me later. I have some things for you to do."
As he closed the back door Mira drug a promise from him.
"Make sure you get home safely you hear me?"
"I will Baby trust me."
Without further hesitation Tee kissed her hand and closed the door. Tapping the limo on its trunk he sent the family to safety. Tee looked about for his closest friend. Corn was nowhere to be found. Kahlo another of his henchmen nodded as Tee passed a sign of acknowledgement.
Tee stropped to ask, "Have you see Corn?"
"Yea Man I saw him talking to one of the gunmen just before all hell broke loose. I think your boy had something to do with this mess."
"Naw Man you gotta be kidding me? I never thought that Nigga' would do no dumb crap like this."
Tee quickly came to the realization that Corn did in fact orchestrate about the worst shooting in the city's history ever before broadcast on national TV.
"What a fool how could he be so obtuse. Damn! I have to tell Mira this crap. He done left us holding the bag on an all out war with the other families. Boy we have one big ass mess to clean up. Mira is going to scream."
"Thanks Man," Tee returned before parting company.
Just as suddenly as all hell broke loose the chaos subsided. The gunmen got in the wind before the crowd could disperse. Dozens of inquisitive on-lookers milled about discussing the events they witnessed and speaking on.
He got away from there but not before overhearing, "Did you see that crap Man? They came out of nowhere with them oozes, fired up that Nigga Posqualli, his boys and then took out them two little kids."
"Yeah, that was some f'd up crap coulda' been my boys they wanted to come, but I said no good or I wouldda' been out there looking to get them Nigga's back."
"You right Man that was bold."
"I heard that Posqualli was the Nigga' that killed Don Lucado. I saw him at the club the other night bragging about his part in taking over the city. I guess he was wrong about that. He ain't about to take over nothing but Hell maybe!"
"Yeah well I heard Corn say that he was gonna take that Nigga out I guess he did just what he said he was going to do the Nigga' dead ain't he?"
"Yeah you right man."
"I guess he saw was thinking if anybody gone take Don Lucado's place it was gone to be him"
As the dust settled dozens more police sirens glaring arrive on the scene. The officers who arrived in haste guns drawn jumped from their vehicles like storm troopers. Police Chief Brandon began his investigation. The bodies of Posqualli, his two henchmen and those two little boys lay dead in pools of their own blood in the shadow of the chapel of St George's.
So as not to give the police a reason to harass him Tee got in the wind. Riding back to the house he mapped out his conversation with Mira. After adding up everything in his head Tee concluded that Corn the culprit went against everything the family believed for his own personal gain.
He asks himself, "Man how they gonna take this crap? How could he disrespect the Don so much as to disrespect his funeral? He knew that was the worst thing he could do. He ain't no fool. We are going to have one of the bloodiest turf wars since the thirties. I gotta clean up this crap. I brought this Nigga' into the family now I have to silence him," he recounts.
Later that night after dinned the whole house hold sat around the den watching the 6: 0'clock news. The reporters spent an hour describing every detail of the murders at Don Lucado's funeral. Without fanfare Corn crept up in the crib with a copy of the evening news tucked tightly under his arm. After making his presence known he stopped in his tracks cut his eye at Mira and threw the paper on the table in front of her.
"Check this out," he proudly announced.
"I told you that I could get that Nigga' Posqualli it was a synch nothing too it. Stick with me and I'll get the rest of um'. We can take down the whole organization. I know I can, just follow me and I'll set the record straight. We will take over where Don Lucado left off."
Corn was pacing back and forth across in front of the fireplace proud like a rooster singing his won praise. He was incensed with his own self worth. Enraged Robert sprung from his east. Walking up on Corn with his hands shoved deeply in his pockets he yelled.
"So you are the Bastard that disrupted my father's funeral."
Choking Corn up he snarled, "I ought to kill you myself, MF."
Squealing like a pig, Corn confessed.
"I had to do it man. We gotta show them MF's whose running this city. Put me in charge and I'll show you all that I can run this city. I'm the man the next Don. This is my family. I can make us large and in charge."
Robert released his grip on Corn. Shaking his head in disbelief he read him the riot act.
"That's your damn problem, Man you don't think. You jump to conclusions and run around half cocked doing dumb stuff."
In his defense, "I ain't dumb Man. I know what I'm doing. I'm gonna show you."
Tee trying to disarm a volatile situation before it got out of control yelled at both of them.
"Listen yawl Corn man you jumped the gun. You just made us look desperate. You put us out there on front. Our people down town are gonna' be looking at this like we don't know what we are doing. There ain't no way we can't go around killing kids and still represent that's a no-no."
"Robert man your right he did ruin your father's funeral. I know he was wrong, but he did have the family's interest at heart. Corn just went about it all wrong. Let's not make another mistake trying to justify this crap. We need to sit down and iron this out."
Pointing toward Corn Tee continued.
"Whether or not we like it is neither here nor there Corn you done started an all out war some crap you can't even imagine. "
Now facing him he got pretty damn precise, "Man you done it now. Posqualli's people know it was you that hit him they ain't no fools. I overheard conversations to the effect after the shooting. They ain't gonna' take it lightly either; we have to do some really quick damage control. We have to devise some sort of plan to off-set this war ain't nobody ready for this crap."
Just then the phone rang. Mira excused herself to answer it.
"Excuse me guys I gotta' get this," she said leaving the discussion up in the air.
She retrieved the receiver and said, "Hello may I help you?"
It was her boss from the paper on the other end of the line.
"May I speak with Mira please," the voice on the other end asked.
"Yes this is she may I help you," she asked.
"Hello Mira this is Coleman. I am calling for a couple of reasons. First I would like to convey my condolences for the loss of your uncle. Second I would like to say that I am sorry about the fiasco at the funeral. About the funeral though I want you to write an expos covering Don Lucado's funeral for our next issue."
Her life was in such an uproar at the time that she just flatly refused to accept the assignment.
"Come on Boss you know better than that you could have asked me to cover almost any story, but you can forget about that one. I am not going to help you exploit my family's misery for your paper. In fact I was going to call you tomorrow, but now that I got you on the line I am going to have to give you my notice. With the death of my uncle staring me in the face I do not have time to continue working for you. I am sorry it is so unexpected, but it is the best I can do."
Feeling bad about quitting her job she pleaded her case with a proposition. "I know that you need the help, so I will oblige you by writing a couple of more columns giving you time to find a replacement, but not the one about my uncle's funeral. I think the sooner you find a replacement the better for you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write for your paper. I wish you all the best."
Colman wished Mira well.
"Thank you for your timely notice. I'll talk to you soon hope things bet better for you in the near future. Good-bye."
"Thanks again Boss, hope you find a good a journalist as me Bye Boss," show appreciation before hanging up the receiver.
When she returned to the living room with the others it was in an uproar. Everybody was standing around the coffee table pointing fingers waving their arms at each other's throats. Mira stamped her feet gaining the attention of everyone at once and yelled out over the crowd.
"Stop it stop this crap right now you act like a bunch of kids fighting over a basketball game in the playground. This is getting us nowhere. We have to sit down calmly rationally and talk this thing out. We have to plan our strategy."
The room went silent as they all looked back and forth checking out the expressions on the others faces. Throwing up her hands she waved them toward the office.
"Come on people follow me. Let's get this meeting started. We have a lot of decisions to make this evening."
The whole crew wound up in the office around the conference table once again babbling like children. Corn took it upon himself to take his place at the head of the table in Uncle David's chair. The room took on an eerily silent faade then suddenly Robert blew a gasket.
"Why in the hell are you sitting your ass in my father's chair? He isn't even in the ground because of you I might add and you are trying to take over. Don't be ridiculous you're not unrivaled material You could never make the grade you just don't have the smarts."
Tee squashed the argument before things got out of hand.
"Come on man just leave the damn seat empty on honor of The Man. Come on now we have a lot of work to worry about we don't have time for this crap. We have to get busy trying to clean up this mess you createdCorn."
Like a little Bitch Corn shoved the chair back from under him with his foot.
Throwing up his hands he snarled," Now what?"
Mira offered, "Here Corn come on Baby sit beside me."
Tempers diminish and they got down to the business at hand. Mira called the meeting to order. As they got underway Corn came clean admitting to his part in causing the fiasco at the funeral.
"I rented an apartment at the Calvert address as a safe house rounded up some of my own people and took a hit out on Posqualli and his men. I did it because I wanted them to know that we ain't no hoe's that we ain't gonna' sit back and let them wipe our faces in no crap. If you let me finish what I started you will see that we will be back on top with all the respect dew us."
Tee strongly objected to any one person taking it upon themselves to make such a crucial decision for the family.
He reported, "Corn I hung around after the smoke died and over heard that you were seen chatting up one of the hit-men minutes before the shooting started. The police are looking for you in connection with the murders of those two little boys."
Waving his finger in Corn's direction he displayed his personal concern for his safety.
"Posqualli's men already have a hundred thousand dollar hit out on you head. You need to law low get out of town like yesterday."
Corn's anger built until he exploded. Jumping t his feet he slammed his fist down hard on the table in protest.
"I ain't afraid of no damn cops or Posqualli's men. I'm gonna' be the next Godfather because I'm gonna' kill anybody who gets in my way I don't give a damn."
In an attempt to pacify the crowd before Corn got them all going she spoke out on behalf of the whole family.
"Come on Baby nobody is trying to get rid of you. We just want to get you out of town until we get a handle on this thing. None of us wants to see you dead or in jail for the rest of your life."
With contempt in his eyes he looked down at Mira considering her implications.
"You guys just want me to roll over so you can seat a Don without considering me in the running. I'll show you," he growled before storming out of the house.
He left more than ever determined to prove his manhood. The meeting went on for hours they went back and forth with suggestions until they were blue in the face.
About the time Corn reached his destination his keen sense of self preservation questionable at best escaped him. It kept him from noticing the strange vehicle that pulled up alongside him. Even when the rear door opened and the short well dressed man in a long dark camel hair coat emerged he was unaware.
Preoccupation with the earlier argument allowed the stranger to walk up on him pull a sawed off shotgun from under his coat and put a slug in his head just as he turned toward him stepping from his vehicle. His lifeless body slumped to the ground like a ton of bricks. To ensure Corn's death he stepped in and unloaded a second slug into his exposed chest. Then re-holster-in his cannon he vaulted back into the awaiting vehicle and disappeared into the night the whole incident was creepy but effective Corn was a dead man.
Back at the house Tee was sitting on the sofa reading the news Mira was sitting at her desk fingering through the mail when a breaking news bulletin flashed across the screen. Tee recognized Corn's car parked in front of the Calvert apartments where he earlier confessed to having a safe house. He slid forward then jumped to his feet in disbelief. It was definitely Corn and he was dead dead as a doornail. Just as they had imagined Posqualli's men got to him before they could convince him to get out of town. The boy had a death wish there wasn't anything they could do for him.
"Awah Hell I told that Nigga' I told that Nigga' it was time to hat up why didn't he just listen to me? I wasn't trying to slight him I only wanted what was best for him he was my boy.
Mira trying to console him sprang from her desk and ran to his side.
"Come on Baby listen up. It is not your fault. Corn got it in his head that he had to save the world even when it was unnecessary. You couldn't have stopped him no matter what you did even if your life had depended on it. He had a death wish. Nobody could stop him from running head first into it. Come on now we have t go on. Lets' clean up this mess before it gets to stinking."
Following the breaking news flash they abruptly switched to clips from yesterday's town hall meeting. It began peaceful enough then suddenly before their eyes the meeting exploded into a free for all.
"Look Bay, this is important check this out."
They sat down Mira exhaled and settled back into her seat and tuned in to the bedlam happenings at the meeting. Realizing that her friend needed her help she leaned over picked up the receiver hesitated a second then dialed the Mayor's private number. The phone rang one two three times before he answered.
"Good evening Mayor Youngblood speaking May I help you?"
Mira replied, "Good evening your honor. This is Mira Lucado. I just caught your town hall meeting on the news and knew that you could use a friend."
"Your right Mira I was wading through the hundreds of cards and letters that I have been bombarded with since the meeting. What can I do for you?"
"It's not a matter of what you can do for me. I have a proposition to offer you that may help solve this urgent difficulty."
"Girl if it were only true that you could give me the solution to this crap I would be eternally grateful."
"Well your honor I suggest that you figure out a way to thank me. I have the perfect solution to your problem."
He paused chuckled and breathed out feeling relieved.
"You don't know how much I needed to hear from you my friend."
"I know how you're feeling right about now a lot has happened these past few weeks. We need to sit down and have a long talk. I have a plan that will help you handle the whole thing."
"Girl you ain't said nothing but a work. How about lunch tomorrow? I can use all the help you have to offer my friend."
Pausing momentarily he cosigned his earlier offer.
"Lunch at the Belcrest hotel I will set it up."
"Sounds good to me," Mira cosigned.
"One 0'clock is good for me how about you," he asked.
"Your time is mine your honor. I will see you at 0'clock at the Belcrest. God bless and be safe. We will talk tomorrow."
"Thank you for call I feel like I can exhale now with your help. See you tomorrow," he concluded before returning the receiver to its cradle. Both of them felt relief from their burdens."
Later that evening while sitting in the kitchen with Tee and Robert Mira decided to tell them about her plan to have lunch with Mayor Youngblood and asked them to accompany her. Returning her cup to the saucer she began.
"Oh yeah boys I spoke with Coleman, your Mayor a little while ago I told him that we can solve his problem with this war crap. We are having lunch with him at the Belcrest hotel tomorrow to iron out the details. Am sure that you will join me?"
Robert chuckled, wisecracked, "Are you going to tell him about your Nuptials of Blood? Don't get me wrong Baby if we fine tune your plan we can wipe out all of our enemies in one fell swoop. I believe in your plan."
"You are right you know we can clean up the streets and restore this city to a more peaceful place and all during our wedding ceremony. It is a good plan and if he is half the man he used to be he will go for your plan hook line and sinker."
Once their appointment was set in stone the trio retired for the evening.
The End