the entire community, not this little group here.
“Right. Well, if he ever comes out to my dad, he’s dead, so let’s hope it stays here at this table… and at Folsom.” Rita and I share a smile. Folsom Street Fair is where the leather and bondage festival takes place. There were half a million people there this year. It’s insane. I’ve never been, but Bruce lives for that shit. Feeling more comfortable now, I pick up my fork to shovel the remainder of my pale veggies into my face. “So why don’t you tell me how this is going to go down and when.”
Her eyes light up. In a low vibrato lilt, she whispers, “This is going down tonight!”
Shocked, a pea flies into the wrong pipe. Coughing until it dislodges, I grab the milk carton and drink it down with my eyes on the transsexual across from me. “What?” I finally choke.
Leaning forward, she tells me what’s going on, including some disturbing details Bruce wasn’t able to share with me. As I listen to this stranger telling me about the plan for that bitch Annie, and how she’s pregnant with my ex-friend’s kid, I start to itch. As more details come out, my blood begins to boil and emotions I wouldn’t have expected to be this strong, take me over.
Rita’s eyes narrow and she hisses, “Calm down. You’ve got murder in your eyes. You don’t want the guards to see that if you’re going to slip by them. Act natural or I’m calling it off. I won’t threaten my guys anymore than I already am by talking to you.”
Licking my lips, I put a leash on it. “Right. Right,” I repeat, trying to calm down.
Rita watches me, then stands up in a flash, tossing her tray at my chest with a man’s strength.
“What the fuck?!” I yell, too shocked to stand up yet.
Her blonde gang rises up, their femininity replaced by the menacing glares of people with nothing left to lose. Two of them toss their trays at me with ferocious growls. I duck unsuccessfully as food smashes into my blue prison uniform and my face. My hands fly up for protection, but it’s all over me.
Rita yells at the top of her lungs, a mixture of shrill and deep bass, “Fuck you, white boy! We don’t want to suck your little white boy cock, pendejo! Get away from us!”
“What?!” I cry out, standing up, looking around me as the mess hall goes silent except for the running footsteps of three guards headed this way. My humiliation is on full display and there’s nowhere to turn. “Alright! Alright! Cut it out! I’m going! What the fuck?!”
Hamilton, Lorenzo and Beady Eyes, Antonio’s spy, all show up asking us what the problem is. The blondes are all speaking in their native tongues at high-pitched, ear-splitting levels. Rita scowls at me with contempt, surrounded by her loyal crazies.
“Okay ladies, that’s enough. Calm down! CALM DOWN!” Beady Eyes yells.
The blondes don’t stop. One of them lunges for me, but the shorter, fatter guard, Lorenzo, blocks him by standing between us and pulling out his taser gun.
“Do I have to use this?”
They cower, but all six pairs of brown eyes are trained on me, not the gun.
Beady Eyes smiles. “Looks like you made some enemies, Pretty Boy.”
I huff, flicking slop off my chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend anyone.” What else am I gonna say?
The guards are all ready to fight the gang or me, but the fight is over, so the short one shoves me toward the exit. “Go to laundry and get cleaned up.”
Lazarus, the oldest convict in here, stands up at the table next to this one to take his tray to the bin. He’s been in here over fifty years and nobody bothers him because he’s ancient. They may have when he first came in, because he’s also small and slight. But nowadays he comes and goes as he pleases because he’s not going anywhere and everyone knows it, including him. He’s trusted now.
Lazy Beady Eyes calls over to him, “Lazarus! Take this fairy to laundry.”
The guy’s wrinkly neck twists as he looks over with tired surprise. Since no other option is given him, his face shifts to resignation and he sighs and shakes his head, shuffling to the bin.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Hamilton says. It’s the first time I’ve ever heard him talk. Apparently he wants to impress his buddies.
Without another word, I scowl at Rita