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Fled
Ginny drove hoan want her, could ht coo-driven apes Control the dick and you control the uilt buttons
Of course, tooa man was a delicate business
She thumbed a Nine Inch Nails tape into her cassette player, pounded the steering wheel in ti rhythm She squiran had hit a dry spell His writing output had evidently slowed to nothing Maybe the professor was all out of inspiration But Ginny could fix that too Like that woman who inspired Pollock in the Ed Harris an had pounded her good A slight tingle
She hurried ho
Harold Jenks discovered the graduate dor to stay that way They wouldn&039;t kick anybody out just so he could move in Jenks had thrown a shit fit
The deputy director of student housing showed up to hush him, and Jenks called theand the vice president of student affairs showed up, he&039;d called the off caned Jenks an unfurnished apartment five miles from campus Jenks had loudly pointed out he had no furniture and no car, so they located a furnished studio four blocks from campus The vice president had even called security to co around his new place, Jenks nodded and s pushovers He threw his duffel on the bed He shoved Red Zach&039;s gy underneath He went to the room&039;s only , leaned on the sill, and looked at the wet street below The studio arhborhood
Stealing Sher even more smoothly than Jenks had planned
Jenks had a rap sheet of ed a ht hihetto life of poverty and petty crime But he found all doors closed to hi would reform Nobody wanted an employee you couldn&039;t turn your back on
So Harold Jenks decided he would simply cease to be Harold Jenks Sherman Ellis had no family and no record Jenks would drape himself in Ellis&039;s innocence, wrap himself in Ellis&039;s accoitimacy
There&039;d be probleot picked up even for jaywalking the whole scaerprinted He&039;d already vowed never to return to East St Louis Too many people knew him there
But orried him most were the classes, the teachers Worried? Hell, he was terrified Jenks kneas smart You had to be to survive on the streets But he was sence and education Jenks had barely h school
But poetry? Shit, how hard could that be?
He pulled an NWA CD out of his duffel and a Walkman He thu his head with the rap h to the beat But this time he really listened, took note how the rapper bit off the words Jenks mouthed the syllables, moved his mouth over the vowel sounds Yeah, this was his kind of poetry He could do this, no probleree for it? White people were crazy
He shut off the Walkht now he hadroll of cash from his jeans pocket, counted the wrinkled bills Jenks had exactly sixty-one dollars to his nae was e to need books and other supplies Pencils and shit, notebooks
He counted it again Still sixty-one bucks He checked his other pockets Nothing
And he hadn&039;t set up the deal yet to move Red Zach&039;s coke Once he did that he&039;d be set for a while, but that wasn&039;t helping hiht would need to be put on hold just a little longer
Okay He knehat to do
He stripped out of his clothes His body was lean, hard, three knife scars about an inch long across his belly He pulled a pair of plain black sweatpants out of his duffel and stepped into the sweatshirt Then the black knit ski mask He rolled the mask up above his eyes until it just looked like a watch cap
The Glock would be a problem A nice bit of heat, 9mm He checked the clip It was full, so he smacked it into the pistol Jenks liked the metallic click when the clip snapped into place
But it wouldn&039;t stay in the elastic band of the sweats He took a half-used roll of duct tape from the duffel, ripped off a piece He used it to tape the Glock across the small of his back He danced around a little, hopped twice, shook his ass, but the Glock stayed put Good
Jenks looked at his watch Shit It was too early He pulled the gun off his back and dropped it on the bed next to the Walkman
The little twenty-four-hour convenience store he&039;d spotted three blocks awayup on RC Colas and MoonPies He&039;d wait
The convenience store was not the perfect target It was too close to where he lived, but he didn&039;t have a ride and you can&039;t take a taxi to a holdup
Also, it ht not be much of a score Last time he&039;d done a Quickie-Mart, he made off with only twenty-three dollars and a fistful of SlimJims
But Jenks had to have some cash
No matter how much Jenks had screamed and ranted and called everyone within earshot a racist, the lady at the financial aid office insisted that stipend checks were only-ONLY-disbursed on the last day of the ured it was tiain, and e apartment Once, on his way to the convenience store, a set of headlights scared hies
At the convenience store, he watched through thefor ten uy behind the register was alone
Then he pulled the Glock and went in fast
The oldopen, blood draining froht Black man kill a white dude in this du for him Too many of these convenience stores had hidden cameras, and there was always the chance of so him no matter how careful Jenks was But he&039;d need to put the fear of Jenks&039;s 9uy Let him know not to twitch Bluff him
"Don&039;t move, motherfucker!" Jenks held the Glock sideways at arister, old reen stuff"
"What the hell, boy? You on the crack?"
"Don&039;t give me no shit Just the "
Jenks waved the gun, shoved it in the man&039;s face Didn&039;t this old fool knoas happening? "You want to die,with each word "I&039;oddamn bullet in your brain, you du this job with Spoon, and Spoon would have shot this dumb fuck by now
Spoon had no patience for dumb white fucks
"Ihis nerve, had already lost the edge of surprise he&039;d had when he&039;d exploded through the front door
The olda puun, barrel sawed off short He pu the barrel around to Jenks, as already diving behind a display of two-liter Dr Pepper
The shotgun blast shook the little store, riddled the Dr Pepper with double-ought pellets Soda fizzed, foamed, sprayed sticky across the dirty tile floor and Jenks&039;s back
Jenks&039;s cry was a strangled, anih-pitched shriek caught in the back of his throat He heard the old ain and crossed his arms over his head Oh, Lord, this fucker&039;s crazy
The second blast shredded the candy racks Butterfingers rained The odor of chocolate and cordite swirled thick in the air
"Show your ass, you son of a bitch" The oldaround the end of the aisle toward the rear of the store He fired wildly back over his shoulder, the 9arettes and beef jerky
Jenks looked up and could see the old , fish-eye un
Jenks ran for the door
The oldthe barrel in line with Jenks&039;s chest Jenks hit a muddy-slick patch of Dr Pepper just as the old er Jenks&039;s heels slid out from under him He landed hard on his ass, bruised his tailbone
The shotgun blast destroyed the newspaper display
Jenks fast-crawled through the front doors, knocking the closed behind hilass Jenks ducked beneath the dialitter shower
He stood and ran
The oldafter him, but Jenks didn&039;t try to hear He pu time