The Little Black Book

The Little Black Book

They were best friends. They never were without the other which is why it was quite devastating for Ronnie when Beam left Oakland California to live with his pops in Sacramento. Ronnie was lost for the first couple of weeks. He lost him homie.

The phone rang as Ronnie made his way to pick the receiver. He smiled as he heard the voice blasting in the phone. It was Beam. Beam told him that he was coming back to Oakland and needed someone to pick him up from the bus station. Ronnie yelled into the phone no problem as Beam gave him the time to be at the bus station to get him. Ronnie listened intently and told Beam he would be there and hung up the phone.

Ronnie was excited. His boy was back. He made his way to the front door and headed to his car. Ronnie jumped into the car and stuck the key in the engine. He paused before he turned the key. He thought of Beam and laughed out loud. He then turned the key and listened to the purr of the engine. He stepped down on the gas pedal lightly and shifted the car in reverse and backed out his driveway before slamming the Camaro in drive and ripping down the street and fishtailing around the corner.

Ronnie approached the intersection and sped thru the red light. He hadn’t seen Beam in a year let alone talked to him. The day before he found out that Beam had gone to Sac’ he had seen Beam at the corner store but didn’t say anything to him because his mom was yelling at him in the aisle by the candy bars. Ronnie remembered that because he didn’t buy the Skittles that he had came in the store to buy. He purchased a pack of Double Mint instead that had been on the shelf by the checkout stand as he passed out.

Ronnie pulled into the bus station parking lot and looked around as he parked. He opened his door and stepped out. He took a look around and shut the door.

The bus station was occupied. Ronnie looked through the crowd to see if he spotted Beam. As he leaned in to see if the person, he had been looking at was Beam he felt a nudge in his back along with a subtle chuckle. He turned slowly as he smiled. It was Beam. They embraced one another and Beam handed Ronnie his backpack. Ronnie put the backpack in the trunk and ushered Beam into the car. Ronnie got in the car and before he could put the key in the ignition Beam told him to go to the old laundry mat.

Ronnie pulled out of the bus station and headed straight to the old laundry mat. He knew the laundry mat all too well. When he was young, he and beam would always get in trouble for hanging out there. The laundry mat was the only place that had an arcade, so they went there to play videogames, but it also served as headquarters to the drug lord of Oakland California at the time, Felix Mitchell.

Ronnie's grandpops would scold the both of them whenever he would get word that they were around the laundry mat. He would literally whoop the both of them and explain to Beam’s mom what had happened. She never obliged. However, they still went there just not on a continual and against Ronnie’s grandpops wishes.

They finally quit going around the laundry mat when the laundry mat got raided by Oakland Police Department and they were there playing Street Fighter.

The washhouse had an hour before closing time as five Chevy Malibu’s pulled into the parking lot. They parked and turned off their lights. Ronnie had noticed the cars because he was waiting for Beam to lose so that he could get his round. As he was waiting, he noticed the cars.

The cops rushed into the laundry mat with extreme force and laid the whole laundry mat down in a matter of seconds. Everybody was taken to the police department and things were sorted there. They both were eventually released to the custody of Ronnie’s grandpops who of course was furious.

Ronnie looked at Beam and before Ronnie could ask Beam handed him a little black book. Ronnie grabbed the book as he made his way onto the freeway. He held the book out in hand and noticed the number 276 on the front right corner. He handed the book back to Beam and stepped down on the gas pedal as his Camaro sped through traffic.

Beam sat back in his seat and exhaled. He then explained to Ronnie that he had gotten the book from his pop’s girlfriend. He said that she gave it to him after all of them were shooting dice the night before he left. He told Ronnie that he thought nothing of it until he was on the bus and was bored so he decided to check the book out. It wasn’t until then that he noticed the number 276 on the cover of the book. He knew that 276 was the address of the laundry mat where they used to hang. He then explained to him that his pops girl told him that it was some money in the laundry mat.

She told Beam that it was money under a washer vent. However, she forgot the number of the washer because Felix had refurbished the numbers. Beam told Ronnie that after he asked her how she would know she told him that she hid the money as Felix instructed her to.

Now, this was official simply because Beam’s pops girl was Felix’s x-wife. She was the reason that his pops were shot and was crippled from the waist down.

Felix had found out about them fucking and shot Beam’s dad in front of her and she chose Beam’s pops that day and never fucked with Felix again. Beam told Ronnie that it had to be true and Ronnie shook his head in total agreement. He then told Ronnie that it was at least twenty thousand bucks in that box. Ronnie looked at him and told him that they need to rip the little black book apart.

Beam explained to him that he had checked the book out and looked through every page as Ronnie made his way off the freeway. He gazed at Beam and pulled into Chevron gas station and killed the engine at the pump.

He knew that Beam was lazy and hadn’t looked through the book at all. He knew that all Beam probably had did was look at the cover and noticed the number 276 on the cover.

Ronnie reached his hand out towards Beam and in unison Beam handed him the little black book. Ronnie feverishly flipped through the book page by page. He didn’t recognize the writing because it was in a foreign language. He yelled out fuck after ten minutes of searching the book. He pounded the steering wheel and slumped down in his seat. He then handed the book to Beam.

Beam grabbed the book and glanced out the car window. It came to him. He tapped Ronnie's shoulder and leaned to him. He told Ronnie that all the older heads were only betting fifteen bucks at the dice game. They kept yelling out 15! Beam didn’t know what that meant at the time he explained to Ronnie but now as he replayed it in his mind, he then yelled out 276!

Beam kept yelling out 276! 276! 276! 276! Ronnie sat up in his seat and it dawned on him as well. 2+7+6= 15. He smiled briefly before he did the equation in his head a second time. He chuckled out loud and tapped Beam's shoulder as Beam tapped his when he figured out the code.

Ronnie wasted no time he turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the gas station. He was only three blocks away from the old laundry mat. It had halfway burned mysteriously the day after Felix was arrested. It had sat there for about 18 years now without any company other than the bums and winos using the place as a shooting gallery and bar station.

Ronnie sped down the avenue and made a left. He approached a big empty parking lot. He then pulled in and turned the key. The building he saw was nothing that he remembered it once was. It was dilapidated. It molded and mildewed. The smell of the building was grotesque and that was from the parking lot. However, if money was in there then Ronnie was going in.

He opened his door and got out as Beam followed. Ronnie glanced at Beam with a look of confidence and told him that he remembered Felix’s nephew wearing that number 15 gold Cuban link chain. They smiled at each other and headed in the entrance of the old laundry mat.

Ronnie walked in first then Beam. The inside was fucked. It was destroyed. Nothing looked the same from what they remembered. Some of the roofs had fallen and was sitting on top of the washers on the other side of the laundry mat.

The open roof actually allowed them to fully see throughout the laundry mat. The arcade machines were toppled over and burned on their sides. They looked around at the washers and nodded at each other as they walked towards washer number 15.

They walked deliberately to the washer and stopped right in front of it. Ronnie wasted no time as he bent down and ripped the bottom portion of the washer vent open. He kneeled further and stuck his hand inside the vent. He felt around vigorously but didn’t feel anything. He then told Beam to come and feel around and see if he had missed it. Beam trotted over and stuck his hand inside the washer vent. He felt around and readjusted his hand. He reached in deeper and pulled his hand out. He shook his head in disgust.

Didn’t the laundry mat get remolded Ronnie asked Beam? Beam stood up and told Ronnie that it did. Ronnie then made a beeline towards the opposite side of the laundry mat. He approached washer number 30 and stopped. He looked at Beam and smiled. He then kneeled and pried open the washer vent. He stuck his hand in and instantly felt a roll of paper that was in a rubber band. He knew it was money.

Ronnie stood up from the washer vent and told Beam that nothing was there. He then told Beam to have look inside the washer vent to make sure he didn’t miss anything. Beam nodded in agreement and made his way to the vent. He kneeled and proceed to stick his hand in the vent when Ronnie pulled out his 44. Magnum and pulled the trigger twice. The first bullet ripped Beam’s ear as he was dead instantly. The second penetrated his head.

Ronnie then leaned down and moved Beam’s lifeless body out of the way and stuck his hand inside the vent and grabbed all the money from the vent and sat it on the ground. He then took his shirt off and put the money in his shirt and made his way out of the laundry mat and to his car.

He got in and locked the door. He sat the shirt down on the passenger seat and opened it up. He looked at the money and sighed. He then grabbed a bundle and pulled the rubber-band from the roll of money. All 100$ dollar dills. Seventy 100$ dollar bills. He then counted 26 rolls and stuck his key in the ignition and pulled out of the laundry mat slowly and made his way down the avenue smiling with 182,000 dollars.