Property Damage by James Vachowski

Author:James Vachowski [Vachowski, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

The rain beat steadily down overhead, its heavy drumming inspiring quiet among the troops packed inside the small convenience store. The bland, one-room market on the corner of South and America Streets was unnamed, perhaps intentionally so, and most outsiders drove past it without a second glance. For the young men inside, however, the shop’s central location made it a community hub. Twenty young men— boys, really— made up Antoine Brown’s loyal army of foot soldiers, and their youthful energy buzzed through the small space.

At noon exactly, not a minute before nor after, the front door swung open and their leader swept through. Antoine took a long, slow look around, taking attendance from a mental list of names. A thoroughly meticulous leader, he’d long ago acquired the habit of running his less-than-legal enterprises without the aid of written notes. The crew’s Saturday morning meetings had continued even after he’d matriculated off the block, his team taking pride in their professionalism.

“Wha’?” Antoine finally asked, breaking the tension. “Y’all ain’t evacuated by now? Ain’t you seen the news reports, they’s a storm comin’. We got to go!”

The chuckles that followed were nervous ones. No one in the group could have afforded to evacuate their families; even if any of them had the funds to rent an upstate hotel room for a week, they wouldn’t have gone. This block was their home, their territory. Their turf. These boys were creatures of habit, and most felt uncomfortable whenever they got too close to the city limits. Despite the fact that this group lived a mere twenty minutes’ drive from the shore, most of them had never gone to see the waves roll in. Outside of their element, the boys tended to grow anxious and suspicious. Thankfully, though, this incoming storm carried with it a chance for hard work. The crew knew from experience that all they had to do was follow Antoine’s directions, and everything else would fall into place. As always, their leader had a plan.

Antoine smiled as he surveyed his troops, contented by their punctuality. Of course none of them would have dared to miss out on this opportunity. The shop’s owner was the only absence, having entrusted Antoine with the keys before falling in behind the long line of cars heading west. The crew’s rent was steep, five hundred dollars a week, cash, plus the promise to keep any and all trouble far away from the business. As Mr. Regan had pointed out, however, those overhead expenses were simply the cost of doing business. It was an investment, really, one that brought in an astronomically high return. Antoine made a mental note to leave behind a particularly large tip that weekend, and also to have his crew pull down the plywood and sweep out the building once the storm had cleared. Never pass up an opportunity to build goodwill— that was another one of Duke Regan’s tenets.

“All right, y’all. Listen up.” The room instantly fell silent. “It might be pouring buckets outside, but if you couldn’t tell already, these streets have gone dry.

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