Mr. and Mrs. J

For the Love of...

They say love will make you do crazy things. Well they ain't never lied about that. Love is so strong an emotion that once it gets down into you you become a stark raving lunatic. I mean it'll make you lose your damn mind! You can lose your mind over the love of power, the love of a woman (but I'll get back to that later), and the love of money. And this particular day was about the love of money and we were about to find out just how crazy in love we were.

1935 Buckaroo, Texas 

It was the summer of 1935 and the afternoon heat was sweltering. While kids my age were either graduating high school, trying to find a job, or chasing the girls, I was sitting in the front seat of a fine glistening beige Ford, straddled down with guns. I was also hanging with the nation's biggest bad guys. But they weren't bad guys to me. Besides what they did for a living, I considered them to be great guys. Having just arrived in Buckaroo, Texas eight hours earlier, we all relaxed in the front parking lot of the DixieLuck motel. Now who are we you may ask? Well we were the J5 boys and we were on a mission. Yep it was me; Lil Ricky, sitting shotgun in the passenger seat, as usual and proud, with men I considered my family. Big P, who we sometimes called King Kong; because he was so tall, big and black like King Kong, was in the back seat viciously cleaning his gun. He was sweating something serious and while in concentration was not to be disturbed. He was one man that was not to be fucked with. He was mean and all about business; just the way its supposed to be in a business like ours. Sitting next to him was Jimmy, who seemed annoyed by now. Jimmy was a little older than me, maybe around 24. He was usually a real wisecracker, except on this day he was really on edge and for what we were about to do he had every right to be. And right up front with me, relaxing in the driver's seat, was the man himself: Mr.J. In his crisp white suit, matching white hat and shoes, was the man that taught me all about life, love and eventually loss. I admired no man the way that I admired this one. I wanted to be just like him, from the way he dressed, to the way he walked and talked, down to the white bandages he wore on his fingers. Mr. J was like God in my eyes. He was our fearless leader and that day he was going to show why he was America's Most Wanted and my idol!

"C'mon, Mr. J! She's holdin' us up!" Jimmy anxiously complained in the back seat.

Mr. J chuckled, while polishing his silver gun with his white handkerchief. "That's my Sylvie. Always gettin' dolled up at the most inconvenient time." 

"The bank will be closed by the time she comes out." Jimmy continued, huffing and puffing like child.

"Cool it, Jimmy! Damn!" Big P's big voice boomed from the back. "She'll be out. Now don't get this man started. I ain't in the mood today." Big P returned to roughly cleaning his gun. I could tell he was already annoyed but he knew the chaos that could ensue if Jimmy wasn't careful. 

"Yeah she'll be out and the registers will be cleared out by then. I tell you, Mr. J, you need to get a hold of your woman, man!" Jimmy said, turning his head to the window. The car got stone quiet. All that could be heard was the sound of my breathing. I was breathing so hard because out the corner of my eye, I could see Mr J's face. He had the death stare and it was directed right to Jimmy through the rearview mirror. Big P threw his head back and shook it because he knew what was about to go down. Mr. J slowly turned around in his seat. He motioned for Jimmy to sit forward. 

"Awww no, Mr. J. I'm sorry, man. I ain't mean nothing by it." Jimmy squirmed in his seat. Jimmy's expression said it all. He knew he'd fucked up. Mr. J motioned again this time with a pleasant grin on his face. Jimmy grimaced as he hesitantly obeyed. He knew not to make Mr. J tell him again. When Jimmy got close enough, Mr. J swiftly cupped the back of his head and slammed poor Jimmy's face onto the dashboard. Blood splattered all over the front of the car. My ears and the car rang with the sound of Jimmy howling in pain. Mr. J roughly flung him back into his seat.