Street Mind

"Boy," Li corrected, "your mom and dad know better than that."

"Yeah, well if they do, then they ain't lettin' on, or they don't mind not having to give me an allowance."

Li laughed. "Alright, get in the car. And meet me at your girl's house on Friday at four."

"Four? Why so early?"

"Because," bragged Li, "I'll be early. I'm gonna be taking Friday off to roll around in the bed with her momma!"

Li had rented out one of the old Knights of Columbus halls in Pomonkey for the night's fight. A few of the locals were inside to spectate, but the crowd was mostly made up of people from the wealthier suburbs in Prince George's and Montgomery county. These were bored black, white and Filipino people with plenty of money to waste. Li had managed to get some his drug running cousins to get a good word of mouth going about the night's fight. Word on the street was that Dan was going to have to fight someone who'd been around the block a little bit and was immune to his "mind-games." What the black people down there thought were mind games were really Dan's mental powers in action. The crux of the matter was that Dan was honestly caught off guard by the level he'd have to perform to that night because of one reason: Lincoln had been so charged from having sex with Rachael's mother that he forgot to tell his partner about height of the stakes.

The hall was large, and half of the tables had been cleared out to make room for an impromptu concrete ring. By the time the greedster's had driven down the gravel driveway, the grassfields that served as a parking lot were full of people. A few of Li's cousins were outside acting as valets, hosts, vendors and porters all rolled into one. There was even a line formed outside at the barbecue pit behind the building. Chitterlings, barbecue, beer, perfume, cologne, and sweat were blending into an interesting country aroma outside.

Li and Dan had the windows of the cadellac rolled down. They drove slowly through the lot so that they could eyeball the scimpy dressed local and out of county women.

I am getting PAID off this here! Sh*t, I could take off for over a month with this money.

"So how much ARE you making tonigh, Li!" asked an annoyed Dan.

"Relax, Whiteboy, relax" said Li. "I figure that off the fight, we both are going to make four grand. I am going to make that much and more from the grill and the house. I got two fights of some crack-heads that's going on before y'all two first, right, then a couple of bull-daggers said they'd slap each other around a bit. Then, comes your event with Cedric."

A thought crossed Li's mind that made Dan upset.

"What the hell do you MEAN that Cedric is going to kick my ass? Li, you said that I wasn't going to have to fight a professional! You're setting me up!" Dan was furious. He wish he'd been practicing his telepathy more so that he could kill Levi with his mind. Li was a thick, stocky, chocolate brother. Although he was past his prime, Dan knew that even with his youth and mental power he'd be lucky to beat Li in a fair fight.

"Calm down, Whiteboy, calm down," said Lincoln, parking the car. "Cedric ain't no professional. Sh*t, that n*gg* work downtown. He's a natural fighter that's all. He was into that karate stuff when he was in school, and I heard he picked it back up recently. He's strong, he's tough, but he ain't no thug, man. If he whips ya, he ain't gonna kill you 'cause that's not his nature. He's gonna take pity on you because you're younger."