Chapter 6: Melvin/Ponderosa

 

Nightfall was just touching down and the neighborhood where Keitha and Blaire lived was buzzing with activity. All the children were in their houses, and now it was time for the adults to come out to play, resulting in most of those children being left home alone. It was a warm, but breezy Saturday night and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. The men who were playing craps on the side of the liquor store were taking their wins and losses like men with no arguing.

The local drug addict, Melvin King, was festive as he walked up and down the sidewalk in front of the pool room. He greeted anyone he met with his toothless smile and staggered as he carried his 40 ounce bottle of Old English in a paper bag. Melvin didn't give a damn about not having any teeth. He smiled like he was in a Colgate commercial. He had lost too many pairs of dentures to care anymore, and besides anyone who knew him knew all his real teeth were gone anyway. Why should he care? Neither his wife, Corinda, nor his babies' mother, Ramona, were bothered by it, and that was all that mattered.

F**k it, he thought, it was Saturday and he was fucked up. Not that being fucked up on a Saturday was any different from any other day of the week; however, Melvin favored Saturdays because that was when the people of the Barrel really congregated and he was truly a social being.

            Melvin could remember when the area known as the Barrel was called Azalea Row because of the multitude of Azalea bushes planted throughout the neighborhood. When Melvin was a child Azalea Row was a nice area that was completely inhabited by lower middle-class African Americans, most of whom were raising families. He could remember how close knit the community was, especially in regards to child rearing. It was not uncommon for children to be disciplined by adults who were not their parents, especially if the children was in the care of that adult. Of course, everyone did not get along all the time, but there was love among them and everyone looked out for one another.

            Melvin could almost cry with the thought of how far gone those days were now. He didn't know if he was genuinely being nostalgic or if it was the Cobra talking to him, but longed for the days of yesterday. Everything was so different these days. The people. Even the surroundings.

            Now, the community convenient store was a liquor store. Melvin couldn't really complain about this because he frequented the liquor store, but still, the days when Mr. Rodney Samuels ran the storefront were better. Mr. Samuels had operated the store for years, and had catered to the needs of the community by providing merchandise that was affordable.

            In Melvin's eyes, Mr. Samuels was a saint. If Mr. Samuels heard that someone in the community was experiencing hardships, he hosted fund raising activities and donated all the proceeds to the family in need anonymously. Everyone in the community knew when Mr. Samuels held a fund raiser, someone they knew was in need and they donated because they never knew when their number would be up.

            Every summer Melvin looked forward to attending Mr. Samuel's Back to School Jamboree, located in front of the Azalea Row Community Hall. There would be so much chips, hot dogs, candies, and cakes the children would eat until their stomachs ache. Melvin took a gulp of his drink as his nostalgia began to turn into melancholy. He turned around and looked at the liquor store. The very liquor store he had just left. He took another gulp.

            With Mr. Samuels' passing away began the decline of Azalea Row. David Samuels, Mr. Samuels' son, began to operate the storefront, but he did not receive respect as his father had from the community because David did not give any to others. He significantly increased all the prices of the merchandise and was mean and surly to the patrons of the store. It was not long before no one would even shop in the store, unless it was absolutely necessary

            With declining sales, David decided to convert the storefront into a liquor store. The old fashioned conservative residents of Azalea Row were appalled. "Mr. Samuels would have never sold alcohol, especially with the community church being located on the same street," past patrons of the storefront frequently said to David.

            "Yea? Well, Daddy is dead and not coming back," he would respond smugly. It was David's answer to any concern that was voiced to him, and it always made Melvin wonder if David was always just waiting for the old man to die in order to take over the business.

            The liquor store brought controversy in the community for it revealed who liked to drink alcohol and who liked to judge others. With this new awareness and revelation began the unraveling of the previously tightly knitted community. Over time, the residents of Azalea Row died or move from the neighborhood, until eventually it was inhabited by younger generations of people and their families.

            These people didn't take care of the neighborhood like the old residents. There used to be beautiful well-kempt houses throughout the neighborhood. The yards were perfectly manicured, and the air was scented with azaleas. Now, many of those houses were condemned by the city, a few of them even torn down. The houses that did remain, were on the brink of also being condemned as the residents did not maintain their homes. The huge field he used to play baseball on with the neighborhood children every Sunday now was the site of a low-income apartment complex. F*****g projects, Melvin thought then took another drink.

            The degradation of Azalea Row was so drastic, that it was unrecognizable to Melvin at times. The community hall, was now a pool room. The Azalea Row Community Hall, or the ARCH, was the venue for all the community events. Melvin had attended countless revivals, weddings, funerals, and cook outs there. Melvin was positive that all the people he had grown up with had at least one memory of the ARCH.

            The community members called the pool room, Dave's when referencing it, as the conversion of the ARCH to the pool room was the doing of David Samuels. Dave’s attracted a different crowd than Azalea Row had ever seen before, and the crime rate began to skyrocket. The crime rate increased so much that Azalea Row became known as "the Bottom of the Barrel", which in time, was shortened to “the Barrel” due to all the "scum" the area now housed.

            It was in front of Dave's that Melvin now stood. Melvin deeply hated David, though he did not know him personally. Melvin believed David was solely responsible for breeding the filth that dwelled there. Melvin included himself in that filth, and was convinced that had David never brought the neighborhood down, his entire life would be different.

            “F**k it”, he said out loud, tired of feelings of depression and oppression. He just wanted to be happy. Happy and free. Al Green made him feel this way, so in between taking drinks of his Old English Melvin belted Al Green's "Let's Stay Together".

            He staggered closer to the pool room, singing incoherently, then belched loudly in the face of Ponderosa Roundtree, who was approaching the pool hall.

            "Let's stay together," Melvin serenaded Ponderosa, then grinned.

            "Honey, chile, with that breath and that black hole you call a mouth, let's not!" Ponderosa said, waving away Melvin's breath.

            As annoying as Ponderosa found Melvin to be, all she could do was laugh.  Tonight, Ponderosa did not have time for Melvin's antics.

            "Melvin, please leave that s**t alone," Ponderosa said to Melvin as she walked passed him and into the pool room.

            The pool room was a hole in a wall.  There was very little light and the faint smell of beer and urine, but Ponderosa couldn't imagine any other place she would rather be on a Saturday night.  The music.  The drinks.  The food.  Plus she knew everyone who hung out there, a very important fact to Ponderosa. 

            She was a chameleon who loved being in the mix of things and could blend in with any group.  These great networking skills allowed Ponderosa into the homes and personal lives of those she encountered.  Ponderosa knew everything about everyone.  Not that she was a gossip, but it was good to know things that people did not think were known.

            Ponderosa discovered early in life that knowing things that were not desired to be known was a tool of power and protection.  Being the eccentric child she was, Ponderosa needed such power and protection.  Ponderosa had never blackmailed anyone per se; however, she was fully aware of the weight of her words when faced with adversaries.  The things that she knew about the people of the Pound certainly could make neck hairs stand up, but it allowed her the freedom to be herself.

            Ponderosa did not seek other people's secrets.  There was just something about Ponderosa that made others confide in her, a skilled she expertly honed with time. Ponderosa speculated that it was because they viewed her eccentricities as weakness and did not feel threaten by her or because she had a soothing way with words.  Maybe both.  Over time Ponderosa honed her.  She didn't even have to be friends with someone to know their business, as news always seemed to travel to Ponderosa quickly and there had been more than one occasion when Ponderosa was just in the right place at the right time.

            Ponderosa gathered information not to disseminate it, but because she had a genuine interest in people's life stories.  She wanted to know it all:  their past, their present, and their aspirations.  She couldn't help if in the midst of satisfying her interest, she came upon information that may be useful to her or a hot topic to discuss with her closest friends.  Not that Ponderosa was a gossip. 

            Ponderosa scanned the room and spotted Phyllis, Donnie, and Darvetta at the bar.  They were having a great time cackling over beer and chicken wings.  Ponderosa could practically count the teeth in Phyllis' toothy smile.  If Ponderosa were a gossip, she would have sauntered over to the group to inform Phyllis that her best friend, Darvetta, was f*****g Donnie, and had been for quite some time.  Surely, that would have caused Phyllis to hide her big, horse teeth, but Ponderosa was not a messy boots.  At least not tonight. 

            The first order of business was to get a few drinks in her.  She needed to be loose for the plans she had later.  Her skin prickled as the hairs on her arms stood up with mere thought of the exciting night she was anticipating.  After getting a pitcher of beer and some chicken wings, Ponderosa found a table towards the back of the room.  She hadn't planned to meet anyone in particular at the pool room.  She never did.  She simply went wherever the wind carried her. 

            The wind often blew her to shady places, and sometimes she took part in the shady activities.  Tonight, she was looking to set full sail to a shady place.  That meant she had to find shady people. 

            Which she immediately discovered was not going to be a problem at all when she spotted Ersula entering the pool room.  Ponderosa raised her hand in the air, gesturing Ersula to come over.  Ponderosa didn't recognize the young girl who followed Ersula over to the table, but she knew before the end of the night she would learn enough.

            "Oh, b***h, you just stank today!" Ersula said ecstatically, reaching for a hug from Ponderosa.

            "You know me, girl.  Completely unpredictable!" Ponderosa responded.

            "Well, regardless, you are wearing that dress better than most women,"

            "Most? Darling, try all of them.  I'm a better woman than a woman, and don't you forget that,"

            "Ponderosa, I aint even gonna start you up, Gimme some of that beer though," Ersula said as she sat down

            "Well before you invite yourself to my s**t can I at least know who all I am sharing my table with?"

            "Oh, that my friend Ana.  She cool.  I want the beer while the head still on it now,”

            "B***h here," Ponderosa said sliding the pitcher to Ersula without looking at her.

            "So, Ana.  You new to the Barrel?"

            "What's that?" Ana asked, then looked to Ersula.

            "Ersula where did you find this one?  She don't even know where she at?"

            Ersula gulped her cup of beer down in three long drags.  She released a stifled belch before saying "Ponderosa, you never know when to shut the f**k up.  When I said Ana cool, I mean she "cool".  Feel me? We just killing time before we go back across town.  We waiting for B-Block"

            "Oh, my.  Is it a shady night?"

            "Oh, yes.  It will be a pitch black night,"

            "Might I have some of your shade?"

            "You know that's not even your f*****g thing,"

            "Yea, but sometimes I get in the mood for a different type of feeling,"

            "So back to this barrel you were asking me about..." Ana interrupted.

            "Ersula please fill her in, I’m going to get another pitcher from the bar"