Chapter 12

I was awakened by something loud. I found myself in Rill's arms, cuddled close, my face nestled between her big, soft breasts. She was awake, too, as was Zeke, who was sitting up. The light was still on. Rill had to have light when she slept.

Zeke said, "I think...."

"HEY YOU ZEKE!" It was Blackbird! He opened the door and barged in. His shirt, the blue shirt he had stolen from Cheryl, was wrinkled and sweaty. He had a wild, mean look in his eyes. His hands were fists. He took us in and yelled, "WHAT SPARROW MEAN I'M OUTA THE TRIBE?"

Rill and I sat up. I gathered my legs under me. Our nakedness didn't matter.

We heard steps coming up the stairs. Zeke said, "That's right. We voted you out. It was unanimous."

"I didn't vote! What you mean 'unanimous'? " He advanced to the bed. He towered over us.

Sparrow and Paul appeared in the doorway. Paul wore only his white briefs.

"Andy, you're out. Get your private things out of that room, please." Zeke reached for his pants.

"No! Why you think you kickin' me out?"

"We don't want a dealer in the tribe. This has been building for a couple months...."

"Thass a bunch of shit! I ain't dealin'! Who been lyin' about me?"

Zeke drew on his pants. "You nearly got us all busted at the love-in. You've been moving away from the tribe for a long time. You're not one of us anymore, Andy."

It was the first time I had heard Blackbird's given name.

It was a sign of his changed status. Zeke was telling him and us that Andy wasn't to be called by that tribe name any more.

Andy glared at us all. "You don' want to hear what happened, do you? Man, you so eager to get rid o' me!"

Sparrow was standing just inside the door. She had on a pink chenille robe that was too small for her. It was belted tight to her body but a two-inch gap showed the deep hollow between her breasts, her prominent belly button, and the shadowed blackness of her loins. She spoke up. "It ain' just you dealin'! It's the way you actin' in other ways, too!"

I saw Owl enter the room. That left Robin and Cheryl downstairs.

"What ways? What you talkin about?"

Zeke said, "Andy, you've been thinking too much of yourself and too much of race. It colors every...."

"You fuckin' right I have! Race the number one thing today. The black man got to think race and got to see what the honkies have been doin' to him!"

Sparrow said, "But that ain' tribe! That's what we mean!"

Andy turned on her angrily. "Wake up, girl! YOU BLACK! You always all you life gone be wipin up white shit! Unless you learn to demand your rights!"

Zeke sighed. "Andy, you see? You're out in the square world fighting in their race bag. We don't want that scene in the tribe. We can't have it!"

"You got it, baby! Ol' white Zeke! You want a nice tame house nigger, but you got a black man on your hands now!"

Zeke said, "This isn't getting us anywhere. The tribe can't exist, it just can't work with someone in it who is disliked and not wanted. We're a small, intimate family group. I'm sorry, Andy, but you have to leave."

"I AIN' LEAVIN'! " Andy glared at Sparrow. "What you takin' their side for? You gettin' to like havin' white meat slammin' in you black cunt? That make you feel white?"

Sparrow gave him a look of pure contempt. "You never was tribe, you talk like that now. You sick in the head!"

"NO, YOU SICK! YOU CRAZY if you can't see what goin' on here! This new white cunt come in and I got to get out to make room! Lark got to have her own nest! She the one not tribe!" He pointed to me. "She got all up-tight about fuckin' me you saw how she turn pale when Zeke tol' her! So she workin' to get me out! That's okay, thass fine! She white and what she want she gits!" I said hotly, "That's not true!"

Zeke touched my arm in a 'keep quiet' gesture. I glanced at my watch. It was twelve after four in the morning.

Zeke got up. He said again, "You'll have to leave, Andy."

"I'm paid up. I jes' give you my money las' week!"

"We'll give it back. I'll have it for you when you're packed up and ready to leave in the morning."

"Jus' like that? Four-five hours notice? You expec' me to sleep on the beach?"

"There are lots of rooms for rent around here. You can always stay with one of your outside friends."

Sparrow said, "Go practice your black power someplace else. See how they like you dealin'! "

Owl said, "If you've got anything stashed in the house you'd better get it out of here!"

"Huh! I ain' movin'! Not till I git good an' ready! An' you can shove that up you ass, ol' man Zeke, and trip on it!" He turned and started for the door.

Sparrow shoved him. "Get out! Leave us alone!" She is a solid girl and shoved with authority. He lurched, off balance, against Paul, who pushed him roughly aside.

Andy whirled and crouched. He pulled a switch blade knife from his pocket and clicked it open. His eyes darted around. He centered his hate on Sparrow. "I'm gone cut you!" He moved toward her, still crouched low, eyes fastened on her face. "I'm gone cut off you nigger tit and stuff it up you nigger cunt!"

Sparrow backed away. "You stupid mothah! You touch me with that blade...."

Zeke had moved quickly to his big roll-top desk. He reached into a drawer on the left side and pulled out a revolver. He said sharply, "ANDY!" He pointed the gun at Andy and cocked it. The metallic double click cut through every other sound.

Andy looked and stopped. He stared at the gun and then at Zeke's eyes. Zeke's hand was steady. There was something in the way Zeke held the gun and his manner that told me he knew how to use it ... and would if he had to.

Andy got the message, too. He suddenly ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Paul said, "The girls!"

Paul and Zeke and Owl ran downstairs. Sparrow followed. I grabbed Owl's shirt from the lamp on the floor and ran after them. Rill simply wrapped the patchwork blanket around herself and came along. We didn't care about being covered because of modesty, but because it was cold in the house in the early morning hours.

I heard a shattering crash downstairs and felt a floor shaking thump. Cheryl screamed. There was shouting.

I almost fell down the narrow stairway. Rill was right behind me. I didn't bother trying to put my arms through the sleeves of the shirt I carried. I scrambled naked down the last few steps and dashed around to the archway of the living room.

The tribe's stereo was on the floor. The plastic case was cracked. One of the speakers had been thrown through the front window. There was glass all over. Owl and Paul and Zeke had Andy pinned to the floor. His cheek was cut. His knife was gone. He was swearing, calling them names.....

Cheryl was in the hallway with a sleeping bag clutched around her. Her eyes were enormous.

It was all over then. They tied Andy. Sparrow and Owl went upstairs and packed his stuff for him. Two boxes and an old cheap Thrifty suitcase. Zeke and Owl carried the things down the block to the corner. Then Zeke, still with his gun, took Andy to the corner and untied him. They had broken the handle of his knife.

The stereo wasn't ruined. Paul connected the ripped speaker wires and resocketed some tubes that had been jarred loose inside.

Zeke came back. He looked at the broken window, at the glass, at the damaged stereo. He shook his head. He said to Paul, "You and Cheryl still interested in joining our tribe? All you've had is trouble since you came to us."

Paul smiled. "We'll stay."