Earlier that same morning Buddha and George woke up in plenty of time to make their appointment, but George had remembered that they left the Dyno at the shop. Buddha told George to hang on a second then disappeared outside for about ten minutes. “Where’d you go?” “Oh, I had something to do.” “Did you…
Chapter 21: The Perfect Crime
“Mrs. Jesi! Mrs. Jesi! I think someone needs to come up here. Oh my God, it’s horrible! It’s horrible! Oh God!” “Calm down Esmerelda. Show me what you’re talking about.” “We should call la policia!” “Just hold on. Let me see first. Where is the problem?” “In little Max’s room! Pictures of dead people! Horrible…
Chapter 20: The Events Surrounding St. Anthony’s Day
The Prince rarely ventured into the shop, preferring to hold his court on the sidewalk uptown by St. Vincent’s. But on the rare occasion when he did, it was nothing to see New Orleans’ celebrities like John Goodman or Terrance Blanchard seeking an audience with the Prince. He did not treat the rich and famous…
Chapter 19: Rambo’s Storm
KRAPOW KRAPOWCHTZ “Dang worn out piece of junk,” George cursed as the chain slipped off the Dyno while hopping the curb. The frightened freestylist jumped and let out a yelp as a bolt of lightening struck the huge bronze statue of Andrew Jackson that adorned Jackson Square. The smell of stale beer and fried food…
Chapter 18: Mad Max
By the time the kids started working at the voodoo shop, Miss Cara had been completely rehabilitated. She had been drug-free for five years, regained custody of Spider, and even was a narcotics anonymous sponsor at the Grace House meetings on Camp Street. As a matter of fact, she was Jesi’s sponsor. Jesi had been…
Chapter 17: Wizards for Hire
A line of convicts meandered like a huge black and white striped snake, inmates shuffling anxiously, yet patiently, awaiting their turn before the bars. Buddha had drawn a picture of a wizard on the back of a cardboard box the guards had left behind after handing out the inmate’s weekly ration of toilet paper. Under…
Chapter 16: Payment Due
The boys cautiously walked inside, fearing that whatever they had done to warrant a motley crew that included Mr. Curtis and Country Mike, the two most unlikely people to ever share a cup of coffee with George’s straitlaced, Stepford-wife Mom, would be easier to endure if they moved slowly. Their eyes went wide as saucers…
Chapter 15: Don’t Mess with the King of Pop
The Ice Cream Gangsters were posted up in front of the street car stop at Elk and Canal by the old State Palace Theater. The place is at an intersection where the real New Orleans, the seedy underbelly of the dragon that is the Big Easy, meets the brightly colored scales that tourists flock to.…
Chapter 14: Freestyle, a backpack, a thief, Julian Polk, and Halloween
Some places grow magical during certain holidays, like Christmas in New York, or Rio during Carnival, but there is no place on Earth that embodies a holiday like Halloween in New Orleans. Perhaps it’s the city’s Congo square with deep voodoo roots growing into the very heart of a concrete jungle, or maybe just a…
Ch 13: Raffle
I have seen many heroes since I first secured my place in history by telling Achilles’ and Hector’s tale. For a warrior knight to even qualify as a knight, they must have a horse. For every great champion there was a great steed. Before there was Arthur and Lancelot, before there was Remus and Romulus,…
Lords of Magazine Street: The Ice Cream Gangsters 