got him into San Quentin.
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Brown: O yeah, that time. Yeah, that nigger said something about âExcuse me, isnât that my seat?â all bushwa. Kekup .
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Kingfish: (mimicking, gesturing) No, the nigger say, âExcuse me, that seat is reserved for me.â Next thing they know that nigger was on the ground holding his brains in. Kekup!
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Brown: Kekup! Yeah, that was something. Look like chittlins comin out. Kekup!
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Kingfish: (tears of laughter) Street told the nigger that we donât believe in no reserved. We Moochers believe that niggersâall of themâis in the same boat.
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Brown: They the same thing. Thereâs no such thing as privacy as you own thoughts, we is linked to each other and canât break that linkage.
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Brown: That Street was the real Royalty of the avenues of despair, as that newspaper man said. Sho wish we had him as the leader of the Moochers.
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Kingfish: Whatâs wrong with Minnie?
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Brown: Well, me and some of the boys been thinkin, Kingfish. Since Minnie is heading it up, them gals be around her has become bodacious. Them girls talk to a man any way they want to talk to him. Them Dahomeyan Softball Team that be riding around on them meter-maid scooters. Look like they go out of the way to ticket us poor colored men, and Kingfish, the fellas afraid to go to meeting any more. That big ol one?
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Kingfish: The one they call Eunice, the Reichsführer?
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Brown: Yeah, thatâs the one. Well, she put some kind of Dragon Foo See on one of the boys.
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Kingfish: Dragon Foo See?
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Brown: Some kind of new thing them chinamen invented where the woman go all the way up in the air and come down choppin away and whatâs worse of all â¦
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Kingfish: Whatâs the worse, Brown?
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Brown: Well, why is a grown woman like that needs to have a Nanny always chaperoning her. Some of the fellows are saying that that woman Nanny is dealing Minnie more than pancakes.
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Kingfish: Why⦠youâ¦
(Kingfish and Brown stand up and begin to wrestle. On their feet, Brownâs derby comes off while Kingfish has him by the neck. They fall against the bar, causing the pitchers to fall and break.)
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Elder: Hey! Whatâs going on here?
(The bartender comes from behind the bar and grabs both of them, rushing them to the outside of the bar.)
CHAPTER 12
LaBas was sitting in his office reading the Berkeley Gazette , a newspaper that carried Max Lernerâs column. A different kind of politician, indeed a âradicalâ politician of the ânew politics,â Berkeley Congressman Ron Dellums was buying a $150,000 home in Washington, D.C. So read a report with the dateline Washington.
Outside LaBasâ window could be seen the motorboats of fishermen, some small yachts, sailboats, and people fishing on each side of the Berkeley pier. Outside his office-door window he could see the Workers going about their Work. The incense was floating in from beneath the door. LaBas continued reading. He always read the Berkeley Gazette . Its feature, âAbout People,â with its announcements of The Business and Professional Womenâs Groupsâ meetings: âMrs. Mabel Speers will read an old-fashioned Christmas Storyâ; its recipes for âKung Fu Clusters,â told you more about Berkeley than the Telegraph-Calcutta Street (only three blocks) of runaways or Mario Savio.
LaBasâ thoughts were interrupted by Wolf, who entered the room wearing a white double-breasted suit. LaBas looked up.
âYes, Wolf.â
âPop, I just wanted to say that youâve done a good job here. Why, after Dad died we didnât have anyone to turn to. Street and Minnieâtheyâre so ragged in their ways. They would never have been able to manage the household and this place too. Now that weâve built ourselves back to the top, itâs time to liquidate our physical assets as my father
Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life, Blues