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The Cross 2
It may have been Big Arthur come looking, marching up and down Dumaine yesterday, asking "who know where it is 'lil Arthur got shot?" Now this was only ten or twelve hours after the shooting took place and six-year-old Erica Lewis, just visiting the neighborhood, offered--not quite within hearing distance of Big Arthur--"I know, it was 'roun that corner." Shelton Jackson, standing nearby, said, "shut your mouth, Erica."
I was reading the Metro section this morning while Shelton, Lance, and Hunter took baths and put on their new easter outfits. I had just started the article about the two shootings, was reading about the 18-year-old girl shot for her bicycle (Evelyn just stopped by, said there's more to that story), by some men in a Dodge truck with extended cab and tinted windows, over around 1900 N. Johnson, and Shelton walked by seeing the obits on the back page and said, "they got all the pictures in there?"
I assumed he was referring to the shooting that everyone was hinting at yesterday, which was likely the second shooting in the article I was reading, so I said, "no, that picture will come out later," and added, "hey did you hear about that girl who got killed for her bicycle?" He asked where and I told him, Seventh Ward, seven blocks on the other side of Esplanade. He offered a general lament for the sad state of things, which did not exactly fit him, and sounded somewhat scripted.
"They got the story 'bout Arthur in there?" Shelton asked, and I looked down the column, seeing Arthur Brown, 22, shot in the 2600 block of St. Philip (one block over from here). "He tried to jack a dude for his crack and the dude chased him down and unloaded his clip." And I read, and translate, "shot two times in the neck, four times in his legs." And I think if he emptied his clip then it was half empty (full?) to begin with, or, in fact, his weapon was a revolver. Either way, Arthur Brown is dead.
Shelton said, "he jacked Mike outa his money a while back."
"Michael?"
"No, not that Mike, and not Big Mike, another Mike."
"So he wasn't really a friend to anyone around here?"
"No, I wouldn't say he was," Shelton said.