No one noticed, or cared probably, that there was blood coming from Fred's mouth as the
bouncers tossed his drunken body out into the freezing night air. Nor did they realize, that at that
moment, the "ol' drunk" hadn't passed out in that booth from too much alcohol, but was closer to
unconsciousness from loss of blood from a brief encounter he'd had earlier with two other
patrons. On the way across the Throgs Neck Bridge from Manhattan to Queens the three men discussed
what had been going on in their lives. As Rasheem delighted in telling about how happy he was,
Larry went on about how no woman was gonna tie him down....To find out what happens next, order the entire story for only $10.00 Copyright
© 2002-2003, Le Shonkoree Enterprises®. All rights reserved.
This was no classy joint Fred was being thrown out of, not by any means, but people started to
complain about the disgusting and foul odor coming from the area where Fred lay, so the owner,
who would, on occasion, let a few of the neighborhood homeless sleep off a drunken stupor in a
corner booth because he knew most of them before they'd gotten to that sad and depressed state of their
lives, so out of some sort of respect or obligation, he'd let them come in out of the cold and sleep
off another day's delirium. He'd often think to himself as he watched them stagger to their
corner, "There, but for the grace of God, go I!" This particular night, Fred, as he lay sprawled across the booth table top, with blood oozing from
his mouth and making strange noises, was disturbing the paying customers and George, the
owner, could not afford to lose any of their business, this bar was his and his families livelihood,
so Fred had to go.
As Fred lie crumpled like an old rag in the alley where the bouncers had dumped his limp, semi-conscious body, he dreamed of Laura. It was Laura's death that had driven Fred to this dreaded lifestyle of continuous drunkenness and homelessness. Fred dreamed of the first time he saw Laura. He remembered that beautiful smile that stole his heart that fateful
night he first laid eyes on her. Laura herself, Fred thought to himself that first night, was not beautiful, attractive in her own way, but not the type of beauty he had worked with during his modeling career, but her smile, on the other hand was another story, he could not take his eyes off her.
She sat on a stool across the bar from him, giggling with her girlfriend. At first glance, all Fred
could think of was, "damn silly women they never grow up!" Then Laura turned and faced him and smiled, it was just a quick innocent turn of the head as she took in her surroundings, just a split second smile, but long enough to mesmerize Fred, for the rest of the night he could not stop staring at her.
A passerby, hearing what sounded like moaning coming from the alley, discovered Fred's bloody body and called 911. As he lay in the alley dreaming of Laura, he could feel someone poking and probing him and
imagined it was Laura trying to wake him. He believed he was lying next to her and mumbled her
name. The paramedic attending to him heard him mumble a name and said in a very nasty tone,
"this ain't no Laura or Nora, or whoever ol' man!" He and his partner picked up what was once a
handsome and healthy young man, practically throwing him onto the stretcher, afraid to touch
him, despite the fact they had surgical gloves on, and proceeded to rush him to the nearest municipal hospital.
Fred continued to dream about times gone by.
Though single when he first met Laura, he had been living with a woman for about four years,
and although things were okay with Alicia, Fred always felt something was missing. He believed,
in his own way, he loved her. She was beautiful, had long sexy chocolate brown legs, beautiful light
brown eyes, cheek bones most women only dream of, and skin like silk. Fred himself was quite a hunk of a man. He was 6' 10" tall, built like Adonis, and teeth so white, they shone like pearls.
He had greyish brown eyes, and just enough facial hair to tickle your fancy. Together they were
the most gorgeous couple you'd ever lay your eyes on. Fred and Alicia had met while doing a modeling job together. For his own security, knowing that with age his modeling career would not always be there, Fred had received an M.A. in business, and was a successful and powerful broker on Wall Street. Alicia, on the other hand, did not have this foresight and so
depended solely on her modeling career, and now that time was passing, although she was still
beautiful, the calls for jobs were not coming in very often. She also had started worrying about her
biological clock, hinting to Fred, quite often, about marriage. Fred knew that she needed him for
security, despite how much she may have also loved him, but he was not ready for marriage. He
knew she was scared, her modeling career almost over and no other marketable skills to fall back
on, he hated to say to her, "I told you so", and he was not going to be her meal ticket.
Although they'd lived together for four years the relationship had been on and off for ten. Their
careers had taken them out of town and out of the country quite a bit, and they both knew there
were others in-betwen, but it was an unspoken understanding, probably why the relationship had lasted so long, but marriage was definitely out of the question for Fred, at least for now, and if 'Licia kept bugging him, he was gonna pack up and leave. He was not worried about anything, with that gorgeous, pearly white, grin and that soft luscious
looking black moustache on that silky-smooth chocolate brown skin, and that perfectly shaped
buttocks...(to die for girlfriend...to D-I-E for), he'd have no problem finding another lady willing
to give him a place to lie his head!
The Queens County Emergency Room was mobbed the night the paramedics dropped Fred off there, just barely alive. He laid on the stretcher in the hall for hours before he was seen. Once he was attended to everyone wondered how he'd sustained his injuries, but there was no one there to tell them or, for that matter, no one to even identify who this poor soul was or where he had come from, he was just another John Doe, of the many they saw in that emergency room day in and day out.
Fred slipped in and out of consciousness, mumbling about Laura, whenever he did mumble anything at all. In his semi-conscious state Fred remembered how foolish he felt when he first approached Laura
that night at the bar. He'd sat there staring until he noticed she'd stopped smiling back at him and
was now cackling with some other dude. Fred couldn't believe it, he was actually angry! He
didn't even know this woman! Someone tapped him on the shoulder, he jumped, startled back into reality. In a way the distraction was a relief, this woman was gettin' to him and he didn't like the feelings she was stirring up in him. The tap came from an old friend, Larry. As he shook Larry's hand, Larry said to Fred, "Damn man, where
was you at??!!" Fred said, "I've been around man, where you been keepin' ya'self?" "Naw man," Larry said," I mean just now." "I been tryin' to get your attention for the longest!" "You okay, dude?" "Yea, yea," Fred said, "I'm alright man." "Hey, how you been dude?" "Long time no see." Fred said to Larry. Larry laughed when he said, "on vacation!" They looked at each other, slapped hands and both laughed knowing the true meaning of what Larry meant by
"vacation!" Fred said, "yea, dig it!" "So when did you get out man?" "Sorry I didn't get up to
see you, I didn't know," "I was out of the country on a job and hadn't heard." Larry
smiled and said, "No prob, man." "Besides between modelin' and Wall Street you sorta lost
touch with the homies anyway, dude!" "But, hey I can dig it," "I don't blame you, beats the hood
life, that's for sure!" "Yea, you got that right!" Fred responded. "Hey," said Larry, "a man's
gotta do what a man's gotta do to survive in this ole world." Fred and Larry reminisced for a while then as Larry tapped a female passerby on the shoulder, he
told Fred he'd check him later.
Fred turned around just in time to catch Laura and her girlfriend slipping their coats on, obviously
about to leave. "Damn!" he exclaimed. "Excuse me," he said to the young lady standing next to
him, "it just slipped out." He'd surprised himself, a second time that night, first getting angry when
the mystery woman was talking to another guy and now at the fact she was leaving before he'd
gotten a chance to hit on her or get her name! Just then Larry came over again, he was with an old basketball partner of Fred's, Rasheem.
"Hey Rasheem," Fred said, "what's up man?" "Asalaam Alakem," replied Rasheem, "what's up
with you my brother, it's been awhile!" "So how's the game these days?" "Get to play
much anymore?" "No not really," Fred responded, "Between Wall Street and traveling all the
time with the modeling career, I sorta got away from it, haven't played in a month of
Sundays!" "Hey look here man, I heard you and Sheila, I mean Keenya got hooked up, gotta
a couple of kids I here too!" "Is that true?" asked Fred. "Yea man!" Rasheem beamed, "got my
own basketball team now!" he chuckled. "Life was gettin' a little tricky out there in them there
streets, I knew it was time to settle down." "My lady pulled my coat tails and told me, You had better
check yo'self for you be by yo'self!" "and I was not havin' that, I love that woman too much!"
They all laughed. Fred gave Rasheem 'high-five' and said "that's allllright man, I always knew Keenya
was gonna calm your butt down, if no one else did." "Yea buddy, always knew you loved you
some Keenya!" They chuckled again. "Hey man," Larry broke in, "we were just about to blow this place, you game or you wanna keep standin' 'roun here with that little lost cat look in your eyes?!!!!" Fred pretended to take a swing at Larry, and said, "yea, why not, ain't nothing happenin' here, may as well hang with you lame dudes!" They laughed and left the bar.
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Last updated March 5, 2003
