"Kev, it was almost like it was real." said my friend, Kool Kat as He, Clerow and I sat at a table in Josie's enjoying some "adult " beverages and listening to a new player, Lemonhead Jefferson on the Guitar and his band perform tonight...They had the joint rockin...People were clapping to the beat and drinks were being ordered in mass...Which was what was keeping Gus happy!...
"So what happened man?" asked Clerow....I sat with a bemused smile...Walter "Kool Kat "Jones, was six feet, four inches tall, a well muscled man of about 240 pounds, with a bald head and an earring in his left ear and packing a .357 magnum most of the time...He'd been my friend since elementary school , which is why I was maybe one of six people in the world who wasn't afraid of him...Once a much feared enforcer for Chris Thompson,Fathead Newton and others...He was now semi -retired from that life... but still, not one to mess with and here he was looking as pale as a ghost , talking about a bad dream... The humor of this escaped most.
"Man, there was this woman...." he said
"Oh boyyy, here we go." I laughed.
"No Kev..I'm serious....She was fine as hell, had a little brown ,tight skirt on, had on make up...Looked great.. She was young too...No more than 28 or 29...She came in my room..." he continued..
"Oh I bet Chelsea liked that!" I said...Clerow slapped his hand on his thigh and we both laughed....
''She wasn't in the dream." he said matter of factly!
"Ohhhhhhh.." said Clerow and I almost on cue..
"She came in my room and she asked me to find her baby...She said she'd been searching for her baby for years and couldn't find it..." he said..
"Her baby?" I asked....
"Then I saw a man...A young White man...He had a wedding band on...He was taking what looked like a baby and putting it in a tub of water...The baby was screaming and kicking and then the woman screamed and I...I woke up." said Kool Kat..
"Dang man, you sho have some messed up dreams " said Clerow...
''Sounds like you really need a drink" laughed Gus , who had just come by our table to shoot the breeze..He had three bartenders working tonight..
"Man Kev...It was sooo real man....She even told me her name...Her name was Cora...Cora Waters." said Kool Kat... When he said that....Gus looked as if he'd seen a ghost...He turned and stared at Kool Kat and asked him-
''What did you say she said her name was?"
"Cora...Cora Waters" he said....
"What did she look like?" asked Gus.
"Gus...it was a dream, some broad he met in a dream." I said incredulous....Both of these guys were bonkers, I thought. Clerow just looked bemused.
"She was petite, about five two, five three....Nice little shape on her , Wore her hair in a bun...Had on a nice brown or auburnish skirt...." said Kool Kat.... I was impressed that he knew this much detail...Again, I smiled.
"Yeah that was her...Yeah...but she didn't have no baby." said Gus.
"You dreamed about the same broad?" asked Clerow.
Gus looked at him like he was crazy....I was waiting for a smart remark from Gus...I just knew it was coming..
"No...No.....I knew her once....a long time ago." he said...looking completely spooked.
"Okay, so Kool Kat dreamed about a lady he saw you with." I said.
''No...No he didn't...There's no way he could have seen me with her." said Gus.
"Huh...How do you know?" I asked, amazed that I was in such a ridiculous conversation....
"Because Cora Waters has been dead and buried for years!!!! She died before the three of you were born!!! There is no way he could have possibly have dreamed about Cora unless she's come back!!" said Gus.
"What?" I said... Even Kool Kat and Clerow were perplexed...Gus just wasn't the type....Not to say something like this....
"She hung herself Kevin....Kool Kat described what she was wearing the last day of her life..Last time I ever saw her....There is a story that she was running with a white man...a married guy named Dag Hammerskold..and that they were madly in love....He had to break it off with her cause he was married and his wife...(We used to call her "Beauty" ,She was half Black, Half White...) was on to them...She never got over it....Your Father and I tried to talk to her Kev...but she just grieved so hard over that no account lout.....She hung herself....Such a beautiful, beautiful girl..." said Gus.
"And Kool here, who never met her, dreamed about her?" I asked.
"Maybe your dad told you about her...He knew her." said Gus,
''I can't remember him mentioning her and you know like I know...My old man knew a lot of women." said Kool Kat.
"Yeah...the apple don't fall too far from the tree." said Gus....The four of us burst into laughter.
II-
Two days later, Gus, Clerow, Kool Kat and I stood across town watching them tear down an old long since closed Meat Packing house...
"Damn man, end of an era." said Kool Kat
"Yeah man...I remember when you,me, Chess, Chris Thompson and Donald Smooth were kids and we could smell the meat from in that warehouse..." I said.
"Yeah, Old Icebox Jones used to own this place...Clerow, you wasn't up here in Philly yet, but you could get the finest cuts of meat from that joint.." said Gus...
"Yeah?" asked Clerow.
"Oh yeah..My pops used to get Bacon, Scrapple, Sausage and not to mention, Pork Chops and steaks from there." I said.
"Not to mention, Icebox Jones sold Beer and Liquor in the back also...and ran numbers in there too." laughed Gus.
"Where is Icebox Jones now?" asked Clerow.
"Oh he's been dead...For years...." said Gus...
As we stood there , we heard a construction worker yell out-
"OHHHHH SWEET LORD...WHAT THE HELL!!! HEY MIKE, BILL COME HERE LOOK AT THIS!"
Mike and Bill stopped working and came and looked...
also...
"Oh my god" I said.
"A baby?? A baby's skelaton, buried here?? After all this time...?? said Gus.
"Kool Kat...you think this is what your dream was about?" asked Clerow...
"To tell you the truth...I don't know...I don't know." said Kool Kat.
I didn't know about his dream...but I knew there was a dead baby buried under this warehouse or what used to be this warehouse...and I was curious about how it had gotten there.
(To Be Continued..)
