Chapter 24
CHAPTER
SHOCK WAS ASTRIDE HIS HARLEY in the driveway of Nash’s home.
Nash parked by the motorcycle and got out of the Rover.
Shock eyed him calmly. The man had been a frequent guest in the Nash home while Nash was growing up, and he had found Shock impossible to read. His father had told him that Shock was the best poker player he’d ever seen.
He was the same way in combat, Ty Nash had told his son. I joined up but he got his ass drafted over to Nam, though if he’d been white he would have gotten a deferment because he was married and attending college.
His father had also told Nash that Shock had adapted quickly to the toils and dangers of the war. The man could go from cracking jokes one second to cracking necks the next, and calm just as quick, his father had said.
Nash had known that his father was not easily impressed and feared no one. But Shock was the only man he knew who had captured his father’s full respect. His unpredictable nature had also sometimes made his father anxious.
Normally, the Army doesn’t like that feature in its soldiers, his father had once told a thirteen-year-old Nash after Shock had visited them. But our second lieutenants were getting killed so fast we had to lead ourselves. And be unpredictable, because nobody had our backs.
Nash said, “Come looking for the world’s biggest prick? Sorry, he doesn’t live here.”
“Nice what you did with Rosie and her ma,” rumbled Shock. “I saw her after you did.”
“It was a test from my father.”
Shock got off the bike and approached. Nash took a step back. It just seemed the smart thing to do when confronted by a man the size of Isaiah York.
Shock came to a stop a couple of feet from him and said, “And you passed.”
“Why wouldn’t my father just tell me what to do? That was more like him.”
“Maybe you read him wrong.”
“Don’t think so. He wasn’t subtle in that way.”
Shock looked up at the imposing house. “Can a workin’ man get a beer in a place like this, or do you only serve Chardonnay?”
Judith and Maggie were out, so it was only Nash and his visitor in the house. Nash led Shock to the lower level and poured them out beers from a tap set up at the bar.
They sat on the covered rear patio with views of the lovely and sculpted grounds that seemed to shimmer in the diminishing light—more illusion than reality, or so it suddenly seemed to Nash.
Shock took a sip of his beer and eyed the backyard vistas. “Nice setup. Real nice.”
“But I’m sure you hate this setup with every fiber of your being, correct?” said Nash.
Shock cocked his head at him. “Why would I? Man works hard, earns money, you can do what you damn well want with it, is my opinion.”
“It wasn’t my father’s perspective.”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“He left you money.”
“I know he did. Mort Dickey told me. I had the same in my will, if I’d gone first. Kinda wished I had. Strange as shit without Ty ’round.”
“Nice to see he kicked the Army’s ass on the Agent Orange.”
“Yep. I got diddly-squat. Not sure they hold a Black man in the same esteem as they do that ‘other’ race. Back then and today, too.” Then he surprised Nash by belly-laughing.
“You find racial injustice funny?” Nash asked.
Shock slapped his log of a thigh and said, “Racial injustice? Now I find that funny comin’ from you.”
“I don’t support any sort of discrimination.”
“Oh, yeah? How many Black folks you got at your business?”
“We have people of color at my firm.”
“How many? I mean in the top jobs? Not the secretaries and mail room dudes.”
“Well, not enough, certainly.”
“Uh-huh. I wonder why that is. Got any suggestions? Come on, help a bro’ out.”
“Okay, I guess I stand corrected.”
“Yeah, that makes it all better. You stand corrected. Let’s go on the TV news and tell everybody it’s all over now, go ’bout your business. Racism is no more. Walter Nash stands fucken corrected.” Shock seemed to be enjoying this and grinned wickedly.
Nash, remembering what his father had told him, said, “You were in college and married. How come you didn’t fight the draft? You could have gotten a deferment or gone into the National Guard. That’s what a lot of guys did.”
“You mean a lot of white guys. And I did fight it. But they were so horny for fresh Black meat that they pulled up an old police arrest I had when I was sixteen and threw it in my face. They said if I didn’t go to Nam, I was goin’ to prison. So’s I went to war.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“Your daddy had joined up right outta high school, while I went on to Gramblin’ State.
We played high school ball together. I was pretty much the entire left side of both the O and D lines.
Your daddy was our smashmouth quarterback who could fling it sixty yards on a rope, and then run over you if nobody was open for the ball.
He also played linebacker and would put your teeth right in your balls when he hit you. ”
And joy, joy, I chose tennis, thought Nash. “So you hooked back up in Nam?”
“Got off the chopper and there he was. Couldn’t believe that shit, man.
But later I found out that he had pulled some strings and got me assigned to his platoon.
Guess he wanted to make sure I didn’t die the first week in the jungle.
” Shock took a swallow of beer. “He got three Purples and pretty much every other medal twice over.”
“You got your share, too, including two Purples, a Bronze, and Silver Stars.”
“Your daddy tell you that? ’Cause I don’t talk ’bout that shit. Never have.”
“He was proud of you.”
“Went both ways. He did the full ride, mustered out as a sergeant major. I did my time and come back home. But we always kept in touch no matter what. When he got transferred here to finish out his stint, I moved here, too. So did a bunch of the old guys from the war.”
“You must have really bonded for all of you to do that.”
“Hell, he saved all our butts over there. Your daddy was a professional soldier. We were all just tryin’ to survive. None of us would be here ’cept for Ty.” He took another swig of beer and eyed Nash with interest. “You read the letter yet?”
“How do you even know about it?” demanded Nash. “Have you read it?”
Shock shook his head. “Ty told me he was gonna do it. Man say he gonna do somethin’, he do it.”
“I haven’t read it yet. I just got it today.”
Shock burrowed down in the comfortable chair. It was actually a chair and a half, which was why Nash had directed him to it. Even so, with Shock seated there, it was difficult to glimpse very much of the chair.
“You think Ty hated you, right?”
“No, I didn’t think it. I knew he did.”
“Based on?” asked Shock.
“My life.” Nash set his beer down. “Look, is there a point to you coming here? If so, I’d like to get to it. I do have some things to do before an appointment I have tonight.”
“Oh, right, I forgot, you a big shot. Not much time for us plebes.”
“Come on, I know you can do better than that in the insult department if you really try. I mean, you set such a high bar at the church. You can’t bring your B-game now. It makes you look downright small.”
Shock smiled broadly and it added creases and dimples to the man’s face that both relaxed and enhanced it, Nash thought. It was suddenly a nice face, a kind one. And that thought confused Nash because he had always believed that Shock was neither nice nor kind.
At least to me. He obviously worshipped my father. Like everyone else.
Shock said admiringly, “A fine stinger. You good all right. On fire with your barbs.”
Nash decided to throw him a bit of a curve, and he was also interested in the answer. “What were you studying in college?”
“Finance.”
Nash looked surprised, but Shock didn’t look the least bit surprised at Nash being surprised.
“You thinkin’ I was a football jock, right? How else a brother gettin’ into college back then, right? Especially one my size.”
“No, I was…”
“I’m just pullin’ your chain, Walter. I did play football.
Started my freshman year. But back then it ain’t like it is today.
Army didn’t give a crap that maybe I had a shot at the pros.
And back then the pros didn’t pay shit anyways.
No, I was lookin’ at a job on maybe Wall Street.
Be one of the first Black men to make his mark there.
But I got shot up in Nam, so there went my football scholarship.
Got back to the States and found out my GI Bill benefits were basically squat.
So bye-bye college. I went to work at crap jobs so my family wouldn’t starve, and then took control of my life and ended up doin’ what I did. ”
“Which was what, exactly? Dad never said.”
“Private security. Ty was the one who encouraged me to do it. When he was home on leave he helped me with the paperwork, gettin’ my company set up.
Even made some calls to his friends in the defense sector who’d done really well.
My first clients came from there, in fact.
I guess when it comes to savin’ your own ass and bein’ tough they think Black dudes know their shit.
Only time my skin color helped me, come to think. ”
“Private security meaning what exactly?”