Sugar Doll's Hurricane Blues by Kalua Lauber Page A

entire body. She took off the belt on her jeans and wrapped it around her waist and felt pleased with her ingenuity. “Mother necessity where would we be?” She sang the tune from an old cartoon. “Well here goes,” she thought as she stepped into the strong wind. The water was up to her knee caps now and she felt afraid but certain that the hurricane had not hit ground yet. She had time, time to see Remy.

Chapter Eleven
     
    Bertrand loaded his gun. It felt unusual in his hands. He had only purchased it for protection against robbers. “Now here I am the robber,” he thought to himself. He looked down at the ski mask and thought how stupid it was to go shopping for an item like this in the hottest city on the planet. He had suggested simple pantyhose but Kevin had reasoned with him that these were easy to see through. What would his father the deacon think? “Son, thieving and robbing and lying and cheating all in the same category with God. Don’t even think about killing. Never point a gun at a man if you don’t intend to use it because if you miss or threaten he’s coming for you.” That’s all his father had told him about a life of crime. Up till now he’d avoided it. Gambling wasn’t crime as far as he was concerned but then the debt kept growing. He was a big man and hiding out wasn’t an option. “I just don’t want to lose my bar. I’m sorry daddy.” Bertrand whispered to himself like a prayer. He loaded the gun and walked to the garage. He rationalized that his father didn’t agree with his lifestyle anyway. He wanted him to work in a church. “A fool’s game,” Bertrand sighed aloud. A cold trickle of sweat rolled down his back. A scripture came to him, “The fool says in his mind there is noGod.” He would have considered it an omen but decided that it was just his Baptist mind going wild with thoughts of sin.
    Kevin waited in the car. The fresh smell of French fries wafted up from the window. Kevin sat there munching. He handed up a bag of Burger King to Bertrand. “Eat like a king brother because tonight we are going to be rich.” Bertrand grabbed the bag and then opened the door. He slid in easily onto the soft leather interior of his Lincoln Continental.
    “Hey man, you ready for tonight?” Kevin asked between bites. Bertrand looked down at the bag. He didn’t feel like a King. “Come on man, eat. We need to go over the plan again. I know your big ass is hungry.” Bertrand agreed and opened the bag and looked disappointedly at Kevin.
    “What’s wrong? A Whopper, right, extra cheese?” Kevin asked.
    “I’m a big man, I meant two of those.” Bertrand said.
    “When you mean two, then you say two.” Kevin opened his whooper and began casually eating it.
    “All right man, so what’s the plan?” Bertrand asked munching his fries.
    “The plan is still the same. You go into that back hallway. I’ll follow you then we walk in and bust up the game. We hold Marsalas hostage so to speak and his boys. Then we get the money.” Kevin and Bertrand clinked fists like a toast.
    “It’s so simple man. No one would ever think to rob the robber.” Bertrand chuckled.
    “Yeah like Robin Hood, ‘cept we is keeping the money.” Kevin laughed.
    Bertrand thought about tonight and he felt a moment of dread. He began to sweat again. “Kevin, what if we get caught?” he asked.
    “We ain’t gonna get caught. We are going to catch them off guard. As far as they know with this hurricane nobody is even thinking about them.”
    Bertrand smiled slightly reassured as he heard the pounding rain outside. He felt scared but all of his thoughts of God and goodness disappeared like the wind.

     
    Sugar Doll began to see the wisdom of her friend’s words. As she struggled against the wind it was a constant battle to make it across the street. She saw people running haphazardly to and fro. She alone looked like she had a direction, a focus. She thought of a song Remy sang to her one night. She