The note was written in a scrawl
Prologue.
The deck of life had nine cards
Love poker heart blood forgive abandon revenge
The truth card was lost
The last card was unknown maybe it was the future
The fate of each card was delivered in a handwritten note
You have a choice, but don't ignore the note

Chapter 9: The night before, Maggie discovered her sister Joddie is a sex performer in Crooks Tail. And she looses her virginity to River Boy.
River Boy agrees to go to Crooks Tail and see if he can bring Joddie back.

Chapter 10) Joddie comes for Sunday lunch
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Version;
Maggie woke up early next morning not believing what happened in Crook's Tail.
She looked out the second-floor bedroom window and saw her mother working in the garden.
There were rows of sunflowers, beans and carrots.
The tomatoes were big this summer.
A rabbit fence, hand pump with galvanized buckets for watering, cement cistern, clothesline, ligustrum hedge, the stone sidewalk out to the garage where the neighborhood tomcats lived, the garden swing they built after the outhouse was torn down.
It all felt was so normal.

Through the transom above her bedroom door she could hear her father walking downstairs.
Maggie could feel him thinking about her. She sat back on the bed and got dressed.
Her whole life changed in one night.
She wanted to ask her older sister about Joddie, but with the new baby and Howard working with her father ... it wouldn't work.

Maggie finished dressing and ran downstairs, yelling on her way out, I'm going to Becky's.
Joel got to the front door in time to see Maggie running down the street.

River Boy woke up late. He was supposed to get up early and go fishing with Grandpa.
He felt bad about missing him, but he would catch up later.
=====================================
Maggie woke up early next morning not believing what happened the night before.
Looking out the second floor window, she saw her mother working in the garden.
It was all so normal. The watering can sitting atop the stone step next to the hand pump, the sunflowers and rows of beans.

She could hear her father's hard shoes walking on the wood floor downstairs, his worry coming through the transom above her bedroom door.
She got dresssed, waiting for him to walk to the kichen before bolting downstairs and out the front door, yelling back, I'm going to Becky's.
She needed to ask her sister about Joddie, but with the new baby and Howard, it wasn't right.
Joel got to the door in time to see Maggie running down the street.

River Boy was going to get up early and go fishing with Grandpa but woke up late.
He would catch up later at the bridge.
Maggie was nagging him. She was beautiful and he enjoyed pushing her knees up and opening her breasts to the night sky, but she was too noisy. Crooks Tail offered no mercies in the night. With men in the parking lot, they were lucky they didn't take her off on the ground and beat him. Even more lucky that she was with him later when Ranny and Dack saw him in Top Hat's car.
The promise to get Joddie out of Crooks Tail was foolish. It was bad to push luck that far.

Bob and Joddie came for lunch at Maggie's on Sunday.
They stepped out of a big new Buick.
Joddie wore a tailored blue dress. Her white skin against the dark dress and her mother's cross replaced by a silver and opal pendant, she sparkled in the sunlight. She and Bob were a spectacle walking up the stone steps with his sequined suit, jet black hair and shiney shoes, and a smirk on his face to match.
Joel knew something was wrong with his sweet Joddie.

The men sat down in the parlor, choosing opposite chairs waiting in a war of silence, while Maggie and Joddie helped their mother set up lunch in the dining room.
A late church function kept Howard and Maggie's older sister away.
Bob was exposed by the alcohol and careless manner of his life, each day wondering how big his score would be, never bothering to add the losses.
He wanted and loathed what Joel had. The wood floors, plush center carpet, high ceilings, and formal chandeliers ... it was not a standing. Not an accomplishment. Nothing to Bob. He wanted to go outside for a smoke.

Lunch was served at great grandmother's table. They had the carpenter glue one of the legs and the upholstery man recover the chairs with patterned silk fabric the year before. The china and polished silver service were handed down from Joel's mother before she passed. It was displayed behind the glass doors of the china cabinet that sat against the wall. His family brought it over from France in the 1700's when they settled in Louisana.

The table was laid perfectly with flowers in the center, fresh turkey from the butcher and buttered green peas from the garden. Maggie's mom spent all day Saturday getting it ready. Making the breaded dressing and gravy. The potato salad came from her secret recipe using farm eggs, milk, butter, ketchup dressing, mayonnaise and onions. Lunch was topped off with fresh-squeezed lemonade. It was the family's favorite when the girl's were little.

Maggie set across from Joddie and kept seeing the tragedy in her eyes.

After lunch Joddie wanted to talk on the side porch.
They walked down the hall, away from the kitchen and dining room and went outside, shutting the door behind them. The porch had a varnish beadboard ceiling that needed a bit of repair in the corner because of a leak. Joel and Howard had it on their schedule fix, but with work and the new baby expected soon, there wasn't time.
Sheltered from the rain and summer heat, the porch used to be a beautiful place for evening sits, but the family stopped going after the brother's death.
Joddie chose the large double seat at the far end and Maggie sat down next to her. The smell of roses came through the screen.

Maggie couldn't hold back, she whispered, what are you doing?
Joddie said, Bob knows.
He doesn't care?
He takes me there. You were there. What were you doing?
Maggie couldn't think what to say. It's not the same.
Yes it is.

There was silence for a long time.
Neither could remember the last time they talked.
Their mother brought out iced tea. Maggie got up and closed the door after her mother left.

Maggie said, it's not the same because a friend took me there. Did you tell Bob that I saw you?
No.
How often to you go there?
It's none of your business. How often do you go? And who were you with?

Maggie said, that was the first time and I'm never going back.
Joddie looked away.

There were no words to explain it. Joddie could not separate sex and life.
She wanted children. She wanted a family. She wanted all the things they used to dream about.

Maggie could see her sister was starting to cry.
She reached out and Joddie leaned her head on Maggie's shoulder. They sobbed.
Her mother heard them. Joel and Bob were washing dishes in an impossible cooperation of duties. Inside the house was quiet.



Old version:
Maggie woke up early next morning not believing what happened in Crook's Tail.
She looked out the second-floor bedroom window and saw her mother working in the garden.
There were rows of sunflowers, beans and carrots.
The tomatoes were big this summer.
A rabbit fence, hand pump with galvanized buckets for watering, cement cistern, clothesline, ligustrum hedge, the stone sidewalk out to the garage where the neighborhood tomcats lived, the garden swing they built after the outhouse was torn down.
They all felt was so normal.

Through the transom above her bedroom door she could hear her father walking downstairs.
Maggie could feel him thinking about her. She sat back on the bed and got dressed.
Her whole life changed in one night.
She wanted to ask her older sister about Joddie, but with the new baby and Howard working with her father ... it wouldn't work.

Maggie finished dressing and ran downstairs, yelling on her way out, I'm going to Becky's.
+++++++++++++++++++

Maggie woke up early next morning not believing what happened in Crook's Tail.
She looked out the second-floor bedroom window and saw her mother working in the garden.
The water can sitting on the stone step, the sunflowers and rows of beans.
It was all so normal.

She could hear her father downstairs walking on the wood floor. His worry was coming through the open transom above her door.
She got dresssed and waited for him to walk to the kichen before bolting downstairs and out the front door, yelling back, I'm going to Becky's.
She needed to ask he sister about Joddie, but with the new babby and Howard, it wasn't right.
Joel got to the door in time to see Maggie running down the street.

River Boy woke up late. He was supposed to get up early and go fishing with Grandpa.
He felt bad about missing him, but he would catch up later.

River Boy had to get to Crooks Tail to help Joddie.
There were problems.
He delivered payments to Crooks Tail from Top Hat.
The night before somebody was watching him from the dark hallway when he and Maggie went into the room where Joddie was performing.
It had something to do with delivering the payments.

Top Hat was in a corner because Spade was trying to take over the gambling and rent business in Blacktown. Nobody else wanted to deliver the payment out of fear.
River Boy didn't understand the reasons but he was old enough to understand that delivering payments was a bad idea. He hoped he was young enough to get away with it and Top Hat was his friend.
Except now he had to go back and put his head in the lion's mouth, over a girl.
Grandpa had already left to go fishing. He dreamed back to the night before how he removed her panties and pushed her knees up. And how her large breasts and nipples felt when he pushed them open to the night air.  It was dark and Maggie was noisy. Crooks Tail offered no mercies in the night and they were lucky a bunch of men didn't beat him and throw her on the ground.

The fellows in Crooks Tail didn't like a white boy coming from Blacktown. It showed disrespect.
It was an uneven arrangement that left a bit of money in River Boy's pocket.

River Boy delivered payments for Top Hat. The arrangement left a bit of money in River Boy's pocket but the problem was clear. Crooks Tail didn't like a white boy coming from Blacktown.
It showed disrespect by Top Hat.

River Boy was too young to understand every detail of this aspect but he was old enough to know that it probably wasn't a good idea and hoping he was young enough to get away with it.
He was walking a fine line.

You have to understand the damnable history of man to understand the stupidness that people get involved in.
Except the history was as forgettable as every gorilla with a butt and we all got butts.
If only ifs-n-butts were sugar-n-nuts, we'd all have a merry christmas, but they ain't.

Nonetheless River Boy told Maggie he would try to get her sister out of Crooks Tail and he needed a ride.
And who should drive by at the opportune moment? Big Mak.
Obviously fate was rebelling against common sense.
Big Mak liked River Boy, seeing him as a younger version of himself.

Big Mak wasn't a salamander under a rock. He was open about his business.
He was protected and made the proper payoffs.
He knew how to spot the undercovers and informers, listeners, set ups, ripoffs. All the usual stuff.
He was known around the state but didn't get his head up tall enough they'd cut it off.
Very agreeable, very tough.

There were three streets down to Crooks Tail from Lewiston.
Big Mak stayed off the main route.
River Boy noticed Mak's eyes change from watching to seeing. Searching for movement or recognition that might alert danger.
A man sitting in a car, did he turn his head? Did somebody duck out of sight? Did a bird fly up after getting startled? Was there a noise?

River Boy and Big Mak's trip to Crooks Tail was not a social visit.
Big Mak parked behind the Lewiston hotel, a destination long forgotten by respectable travelers.
A place where men could imbibe themselves of matronly flesh and delight and drink the hardest whiskey until they were happily numb.
They got out of the car. Big Mak looked around and checked both revolvers before secreting them back in his pockets.
He was large. Not overtly tall. Thickly built maybe some fat. More like a potato chip and a hotdog than all beef patty.
He wore a baggy brown jacket, plain pants, never colorful, but he had plenty of personality.

Before they went in, Mak said, you know they're going to kill Top Hat.
River Boy asked, why?
Mak was the type of guy who when he wasn't babbling nonsense said what he knew but didn't fill in the blanks.
They went in the back door and past the kitchen toward the bar.
River Boy followed.

Suave Jinkins tended bar. You couldn’t miss him. He was the tall jet Black man walking through the room with a tipped hat and checkered shirt.
His twin brother played piano. The place was crowded and noisy.
His younger brother Lucius set at a corner table with Crackling Green and Boy Johnson.
The corner table was dimly lit and the nighttime room let the occupants run deep in the shadows with a door where people came and went without being seen.
Yet the corner table could see everybody in the room.

You could have stirred hell with an electric rod and not come up with a more devious pair than Cracking Green and Boy Johnson.
Crackling was the killer. Boy Johnson kept a civil tone that carried the pair to the top of Crooks Tail and under paybail to the Upstate Boys.
They collected the money, ran the tables, sold the whiskey, controlled the gaming and the girls.
Top Hat was afraid of them. It didn't make sense that he hired River Boy to carry the payment.

River Boy and Mak sat at a table in the middle of the room.
River Boy had never been there before or met Crackling or Johnson. He always handed the payment to someone else at different hotels each time.

Mak said, don't look at those guys. They know you're here.
If they want to talk, they'll let you know.
If not we need to leave.

Mak added, they'll read you like a book.

The waitress brought drinks to the table.
Leave it Mak said.
Why?
I deliver it.
Big Mak didn't drink his own product?

A girl stopped by and sat down. She was topless and her heavies hung down against the table. It was kinda funny having large brown nipples staring at your hands.
Big Mak cracked open a peanut and threw the shell on the floor. She offered him a situation so he got up and went into the back with her.
She was shapely and had extra meat hanging on the reverse side.
River Boy got a twitch. Grandpa told him about men getting the rot from those girls.
Still he wanted to have a peek.

He watched the piano player until another girl came over. She was white and topless. Young and pretty. Her nipples were pink and they didn't whack the table when she sat down. At least his eyes had a place to rest.

A minute later Big Mak came out.
River boy was thinking that was kinda quick for a robust performer like Mac.
Miss pink nipples got up and left.
Mac said real low, damn that place. They got it on the walls and on the doors. Damn.
It was the dirtiest haikute brothel he'd ever seen, and that was claiming a lot for a man who traveled the low trade since he was eight.
River Boy wondered about the chair he was sitting on. No wonder Big Mak didn't drink the product.

A rough-looking Negro nodded toward River Boy.
Mak said, it's you.
River Boy followed the Negro up several flights of creaking stairs. The building smelled old.
The carpet was worn through to wood.
At the top floor was a long hall. The Negro pointed to a door at the far end. River Boy had to pass three unlit hallways from the side. Anybody could be hiding in those holes. He was scared but couldn't go back.

He knocked on the door and went inside. Joddie was there, sitting next to heavy dark Negro.
It was Boy Johnson.
She was beautiful. Wearing a pure white dress with high lace collar. Her mother's cross hanging on the front.
It was hard to resist looking at her face or seeing she was unhappy.
Did her 5-year old brother's death strike at the very time she was beginning to mature sexually?
Why did she burn misery into herself that she had to scorn punishment out of her body by trading her life for this mess?

There was a table with whiskey bottles and glasses. A piano in the corner. The room was painted red with gaudy circus curtains. Pictures with ornate frames. There were four lamps with glass shades and bright bulbs.

River Boy made his pitch. Boy Johnson squinted. He had no intention of giving up that girl but liked watching the boy play over his head.
Joddie yelled back, I don't want to be saved by your stupid ass.

River Boy couldn't give a reason and Johnson would charge more if he knew it mattered, so River Boy lurched forward and smacked her across the mouth.
He was surprised he did that. it was the same way he was treated as a child.
It surprised him that he treated he same as he was treated as a child.
Bob Johnson saw the weakness.
That should fix that except nobody could outdeal Boy Johnson.
Johnson laughed. The girl was defiant and proud sitting next to her man.
Why was River Boy there if it wasn't important?

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