First Week

1.

The Daily News says a tsunami will strike the city within the next month. Nector sleeps naked on 61st St. Marla returns from Bermuda. Ted Lime says that the Hornets are two games out of first place. I slept with a chauffeur on the beach, Marla says.

2.

Do you want a date, Sally asks. Sally is a hooker. Sally wears red make-up and has thin sallow skin. I am in hell, Nector says. You don’t even want to hit me, Marla asks. I want to die, Sally says. Nector bleeds from his ears at night. Dr. Michaels says that the drinking level in urban America is at an all time high.

3.

Nector has a bandage over his eyes. There are small round spots on the bandage. The spots are red. The spots grow. The bandage turns red. I am in hell, Nector says again.

4.

Bobby is a police officer. Bobby sees Nector on the street. Why are you naked, Bobby asks. Theo lifts a box of bullets from his brother’s apartment. Downtown, there is a woman dancing behind a glass wall. Her eyes look like she is empty, Hue thinks. Where is her front door, Theo wonders. The girl in the window rubs herself. Hue hides in his shoulders and gives the girl another dollar.

5.

Bobby arrests Nector and puts him in a cell with Angel. Angel is a crack dealer who lives in the Bronx. Angel has two brothers and a sister. Angel has a three year old daughter. Her name is Precious. I have no eyes, Nector says. I don’t either, Angel says and lies down.

6.

You could kill me, Marla says. She is bald and looks like a ghost. Mrs. Fields is a psychiatrist who has a radio show on Sunday mornings. You look like a ghost, Hue says. Mrs. Fields says that white men in their late twenties are homicidal. I am not white, Hue says.

7.

The judge looks at Angel. Why did you sell crack to a police officer, the judge asks. Marla shaves her head and stares at her reflection in the mirror. The man in my cell bleeds from his ears, Angel says. I look like I am famous, Marla says.

8.

Bobby walks home and sees Theo on top of Maria. Maria is naked. Where are your clothes, Bobby asks. Hue masturbates in the downstairs bathroom. Marla buys a bottle of champagne for $29.95. There is a hurricane in southern Florida, Stan Harding says on the evening news. Those reports aren’t usually accurate, Theo says. Bobby undresses in the bathroom.


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