The Lotus Crew Read Free Page B

next week’s material as if everything was natch. I never saw him next week, Alvira. Never seen him since. Imagine blowin’ that kind of weekly turn for a lousy burn.”
    â€œPretty shortsighted,” Alvira conceded.
    â€œFuckin’ stupid is what it is. But when a man’s usin’ he’s not there anymore. You ask him a question and Jones answers for him. Tell him to expel Jones and he says, ‘What Jones?’ I been in the game too long for that sound, Alvira. I don’t want to hear it from anyone. Certainly not a friend.”
    Alvira’s eyes tightened. “If you’re worrying about me, T, I’m steppin’ out of the box. I know myself. If I say I’m gonna do it right, that’s what’ll happen. I didn’t try’n hide my blowout, and I didn’t do it on credit.” Alvira looked towards the door. “If I’m going to worry you let’s chill it out right now—”
    T put his open palm up in a bid for silence. “Don’t talk like that, Alvira. I set this up for the two of us, and that’s the way the play stays. I trust you. That’s rare on this planet, but I do. God knows why. Just an instinct, I guess. If I’m soundin’ down on you it’s because I know our friend Mr. Jones too well. I don’t want him workin’ against us. You’re gonna have to face some tasty schmooz in this game. Every time we re-up material we’ll have to sample it. Extreme caution is in order, or Jones will make his presence felt. Believe me.”
    â€œI hear you.”
    â€œThis is a chance for us to take some real steps forward, Alvira. We’ll triple our cake on the first play, and you’ll get acquainted with my supply people so you can negotiate future buys without me. We’ll be sittin’ right if this goes down. Think about it.”
    â€œOh, hey, I think about it all the time.”
    Alvira broke eye contact to rumble for a match. He lit a Three Castles and sat back, relieved that T had turned his attention to preparing another reefer.
    A slight tremble passed through Alvira, and he recognized the modulation of his system from opiated to mild yen. A gentle hunger, not a fierce need. Another few days and he’d’ve found himself in trouble.
    â€œHere, Alvira, this reefer’s laced with freebase. Should distract you from the blowout blues.”
    Alvira sat back comfortably in a soft blue chair by the window, dreaming about his first sniff in the school yard long ago. He’d felt better at once, as if some great abstract adjustment had been made. Boyhood chalk on the street for years. A lot of time had passed since he’d played handball on the factory wall, watching the workers perform their tediums through bleak dirt-smoked windows. Alvira swore he’d never end up like that. It’d be like doing time without a conviction.
    â€œAlvira, you seem miles away. Dreamin’ about all the cake you’re gonna make?”
    â€œJust dreamin’, actually, about a pinch of powder to the wind on a gray afternoon years ago.”
    T knew the ritual. A pinch of powder to the wind for the souls who’ve slid into Endless Nod.

in a dream …
    ALVIRA WIPES THE sediment of centuries off his clothes and steps into the girl’s chambers. Bare blue walls, a small functional bed, and, beside it, a tiny night table with a green-shaded copper lamp. Unseen radio plays rude-boy music in the distance. He lies on the bed with detached amusement, sinks into the comfort of sheets, female smells. Unfamiliar luxuries prevail. The girl is showering. Alvira sits and smokes a thick memory chip. The girl appears, a smooth graceful entity. Olive skin draped in a sparse towel. Dark eyes widen as he tears the towel off her cakes and pounces on the flesh cookies. Gobble gobble giggle giggle. Taste of girl dew as silver streaks appear on taut thighs.
    Later, he cradles the cool round balls of her