And all that Jazz

Mr. John Najera

As Joan waited for the taxi she pulled out the knife and cleaned up the blood on his head. When the taxi arrived she used the same excuse that he was dead drunk and she was taking him home. As she got to his house she thanked the cab driver paid him and walked to his house. As she saw the cab leave Joan went into the alley behind the giant house. As she entered she heard the sound of drops hitting a can and the scurrying of rats as she walked farther into the passage. When she got to the end she saw a man with a top hat and a white jacket and leather shoes.

He was flipping a coin that was slowly reflecting light from the lamps on the walls. He spoke catching the coin "Is that him" the man's voice was raspy with was crackly and dry sounding. "Yes, it is," Joan said attempting to throw the body forward but it only slid forward an inch. "Ahh thanks very much, m'lady".  The man's face was now in the light and she could see his face. He was an African-American man looking to be in his 50's with a 12-inch scar over his left eye which was cloudy and seems like he was blind in it. "So what would you like me to do". The man thought for a moment and then said "Let's burn it together" They toss Garth in the dumpster and the man lights a cigarette and offers one to Joan. She of course accepts. She lights hers and then grabs a piece of paper from the garbage and lights it and tosses it. The flames grew and the smell grew worse so they moved out. "What's your name miss". She says "Joan what about yours" "John," he said puffing his cigarette. "So you must want your payment then," she thought for a moment and then said "Yeah... But why did you go out of your way to make conversation most of my hirers just give me the money and take off". he stopped and grinned and said "Its a bit more personal" They sat down on a bench and he started saying 

"When I was a little boy in 1895 my mama was a freedwoman and She couldn't find a job and then we found ourselves working for garths family. We are all servants me my brother my father my mother and when my newborn baby sister was growing up she would be a servant as well". John paused for a second and then went back to tellin the story  "Anyway fast forward a couple of years and it's the 19 hundreds and the good age of 15 now and I decided I was going to look for someplace else to go for work instead of working for the use people that don't care about us. I presented the plan to Mama but she said '"Nah child we are here now and we need to help this family and then once we have enough money then we can move on"'. He continued and said "Anyway my mama died before we could even get enough money to leave the garths. even that my father died a few years later, then that left me with my older brother and younger sister.  Garth's children were in college and that's where I wanted to be" Joan was baffled that they went from slaves to servants and then were never able to get out of that cycle. "What happened next john". He looks up at the moon over the library and says " We were on the streets me and my brother was the only ones working. My sister however was walking downtown and saw the two Garth twins and decided to go say hi like the oblivious child she was." John paused for a second his eyes wet and glossed over and his Adam's apple moving. Joan was concerned that he looks like he was in distress.  "Those sons of bithces raped the poor girl". Joan was hit with a wave of emotions and then she started to cry. John saw this and was very comforting grabbing his handkerchief from his suit jacket. She came back to being calm and ask john to continue. John Then finished with " She was pregnant at thirteen and died by giving birth. Her baby was premature as well so it died too". Joan felt sorry even though she wasn't even born yet. She then asked, " What happened to your eye". He said, "Garth slashed it, I'm now blind in that eye but I can see the truth." 

They parted ways and Joan walked home.