Doctor Hate by Richard Helms

Author:Richard Helms [Helms, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbadoes Hall Communications / Black Arch Books
Published: 2021-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

____________

Sonny called me on Sunday morning. “Earleen and I are doing brunch in a couple of hours. Want to join us?”

I covered the phone and stuck my head into the shower, where Heidi was soaped up and getting ready to rinse. “Brunch with Sonny and Earleen? Around noon?”

She nodded and stuck her head under the water.

“Sure thing,” I told Sonny. “Where?”

“The soul food place on Polk. Brenda’s.”

“Count us in.”

“See you there.”

Brenda’s French Soul Food on Polk Street was a lot like Brennan’s in New Orleans. Upscale Creole and low country fare with a French twist, usually served only after a half-hour wait on the sidewalk. Sonny and Earleen were already seated when Heidi and I arrived. They had already ordered a plate of crawfish beignets, half of which still remained in the middle of the table.

“How’d you get seated so quickly?” I asked as we took our seats across from them, and Heidi started in on the beignets.

“Friend of the family,” Earleen said. “They always take me right in. Who wants mimosas?”

It took Earleen two mimosas—on top of the one she’d had in front of her when we arrived—to finally work up the courage to ask. By then, we had all ordered our entrees, which had just arrived at the table.

“So,” she said tentatively, “about Brandon.”

“No longer in his employ,” I said.

“Yeah. Sonny told me. The whole campus is buzzing about his firing, and it’s still just the weekend. Come Monday morning, yow.”

“Yow about sums it up,” I said. “I…uh…I guess you saw the pictures.”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before,” Earleen said. “Figured I’d seen the last of that skinny white ass.”

“I haven’t seen them,” Heidi said. Earleen pulled them up on her phone and handed it to her. After flipping through half a dozen, Heidi whistled. “Difficulty factor of three-point-two. Are those girls even legal?”

“The two in that picture are,” I said. “What do you suppose will happen to his classes?”

“They’re going online, with substitute professors. Gonna be a lot of disappointed little Hitler Youth, now that their Fuhrer isn’t at the head of the class anymore.”

I said, “I don’t know. Most of the students I saw in his classes seemed to be there for the curiosity value.”

“That’s how indoctrination starts,” Earleen said. “It’s old corporate advertising psychology. First you grab their attention. They aren’t listening, they aren’t changing their minds. Fascist clowns like Brandon are how you get ‘em under the big top. Then you bring out the lions. Soon as the students show up on Monday and find out Hunt isn’t on the playbill, there’ll be a run at the drop/add office. I’ll put ten dollars on it.”

“No takers,” I said.

Earleen wrapped her arm around Sonny’s arm and beamed. “Well, something good came out of it. Got a chance to finally hang with this guy.”

Sonny looked a little sheepish. It was cute as hell.

A minute later, Earleen excused herself to visit the ladies’. Heidi, adhering to the Creed of All Women, went with her.

“They’re talking about us, you know,” Sonny said.

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