THE RUNNER/SCREENPLAY, BRIAN R. LUNDIN [best classic books to read .txt] 📗

young girls jumped rope and flirted. A dj had set up ten large speakers in the area and alternated playing blues for the older people who grind on each other, cool jazz for the hip crowd and rhythm and blues for the young men and women who bopped and did the Watusi and Mashed Potatoe. Harriet and Troy organized a bingo game and Mack was the referee for the tag football game. The park officially closes at 11:00 pm, but Jerome gave the 3rd District Commander $1,000 to let them stay a little longer. He and Joan snuggled against each other as they watched the children play and the young and old people dance to the music of the bands and the dj.

Jerome remembered their honeymoon in Paris. Paris was Joan and himself in another time and age. Two young, carefree honeymooners who wandered the boulevards holding hands which stopped and kiss every so often and couldn’t stop touching each other. He remembered the frown she made while sipping café au lait on the crowded boulevard. They made all, the typical tourist stops-the Eiffel Tower, Montparnasse and the Opera Garnier, and then he remembered that faithful day five years ago.
It was a beautiful Sunday morning. There was a slight breeze coming off Lake Michigan and the bright June sun had made it appearance. For the last three week-ends he had promised to take his twin daughters to the Lincoln Park Zoo located on the far northeast side of the city, but always had to cancel because of some business emergency or to help someone who was in trouble. This weekend he was determined to keep his promise and he loaded the twins, Brittney and Lauren, ten years old, into the station wagon after they gobbled down a quick breakfast of cereal and milk. The zoo had just opened a new exhibit called a “Petting Zoo” where the youngsters could actually pet and feed some of the animals and the twins were anxious to get started. They had bags of peanuts and fruits for the animals and Joan who was eight months pregnant had packed a picnic lunch of cold cuts, lemonade, potato salad and chips. The girls scrambled into the rear seat munching on dried prunes as his wife slid into the seats next to him. As he pulled the vehicle of the garage of their modest home at 4916 South Forrestville Avenue instead of turning right and heading east Jerome, out of habit turned left heading west, Joan looked at him but said nothing. Jerome turned on the radio and Herb Kent a leading Chicago disc jockey was playing “dusties,” Jerome and Joan joined in when he played Still Waters Run Deep by the Four Tops. The girls giggled as their parents harmonized with the record. They headed west on 49th Street, passed Corpus Christi Catholic Church and continued to 49th South Prairie Avenue. Jerome made a right turn onto Prairie and headed north. Churchgoers in their dark suits and white shirts were already making their way to the early services. As Jerome passed one of his stations at 43rd South Prairie he waived at some of his players who were sitting on the stoop of the policy station.

JOAN
Where are we going Jerome?

JEROME
Oops!

Jerome answered with an embarrassed giggle, “just taking the scenic route,” as he turned west on 43rd Street and headed to the Dan Ryan Expressway. There wasn’t much traffic on the expressway on Sunday mornings except for the trucks that hoped to avoid the weekday traffic jams. Jerome never understood how it happened; it was burned into his consciousness for the rest of his life. The big semi’s passed him during well over the posted 55 MPH speed limit, but Jerome wasn’t in a hurry as he and Joan sang along with another “oldie but goodie,” on the radio. Jerome was in the right lane driving the speed limit when he noticed out of his rear view mirror a large 18-wheeler behind him approaching fast. Jerome sped up and so did the truck. As they come near the 22nd Street overpass that lead to Lakeshore Drive the truck increased his speed and pulled besides Jerome forcing him closer to the railing. Jerome looked up into the high cab and screamed at the driver through his opened window. The driver a dark skinned man merely smiled and gave thumbs down as he wedged the large truck closer, then the unbelievable happened; the semi turned violently alongside Jerome, ramming the vehicle. The steel chassis of the carriage crashed into the station wagon, metal against metal. The girls and Joan screamed while Jerome fought for control. Another ramming came with such force that the driver’s side window shattered, peppering him and his wife with sharp pieces of glass. The wagon’s wheel locked and the hood popped open, dark smoke came from the busted radiator. The wagon lurched on the shoulder of the highway and then begins to fall over the overpass plunging downwards. Jerome heard the screams of his family but as he turned to look at his daughters the vehicle hit the concrete pavement the vehicle strived to survive the successive impact of car versus concrete as it rolled over and over and over, finally coming to a stop upside down. The screaming had stopped and Jerome looked over at his wife, a large glass shard was embedded in her forehead and blood ran down her face. He attempted to turn to look for his children but he couldn’t move-he was locked in place by a shaft of steel. He heard the sirens of police and ambulances before he lost consciousness. Jerome awakened a week later in the Intensive Care Unit of Provident Hospital. There were casts on both arms, and bandages covered most of his face. His entire body ached and he had a migraine Madame Bourneis, Marque and Ted were at his bedside.

JEROME
Where is my family?

He attempted to get out the bed but was restrained by Ted. Two male nurses rushed into the room and gave Jerome a shot and he relaxed and went to sleep as Madame Bourneis leaned over Jerome and gently rubbed his face and arms. Jerome awakened again two days later but the casts had been removed and his face and other wounds were healed to the amazement of the doctors. Ted, Madame Bourneis and Marque were still there with his mother and two brothers and the Reverend Clarence Cobbs.
JEROME
Where are Joan and the girls?

REVEREND
They’re with the Lord, but the doctors saved your unborn and he is with your mother.

Jerome’s mind wandered back to just after his kidnapping and how his wife was so happy to see him again, alive. She had begged Jerome to get out, let someone else take the risk of running the wheel. At the time, he agreed and promised to turn the reins over to Ted, but something always stopped him. It wasn’t the money he had enough money to last him for two lifetimes. It was always the people, someone was always short on rent or food money and he had to help them or some mother crying about her son being locked up and needed money for bond and a lawyer, always something. That was over five years ago, and he hadn’t gotten over it yet and he knew he never would. Years later he found out that the Semi that had murdered his family had been stolen and the driver had been found with a bullet in his head. The unofficial word on the streets was that Vito Paligreno was behind the murder of his family.

Now Jerome could not look at the park without thinking about all he had lost. In acknowledging this about himself, he wondered why he had rented the apartment with a view of the very things he missed so much. There must be a subliminal pathology there that he did not want to explore. He pulled an old policy drawing from his pocket, looked at it and wondered if this was the cause of all his trouble. It had made him rich but it had also cost him everything that he loved. He flipped it into the air and watched as it fluttered and disappeared into the darkness, and he thought about how easy it would be to end all this pain, one leap from the balcony would end it all. Jerome stood and walked to the chest high railing of the balcony. In the darkness, he saw the policy drawing, floating on a gust of wind and blowing towards the dark, brooding lake. Jerome placed his hands on the railing, the tears streaming from his eyes.


O.S.
Jerome he heard a soft soothing voice coming from the front room.

JEROME
Mom?

Jerome turned around, hoping all that had happened was just a bad dream as he walked into the darken living room. Standing in the room was Madame Bourneis and Marque. Jerome did not ask how they got into his apartment as he flopped into a plush brown recliner closed his eyes and tried to hide his tears. Madame Bourneis presence was overpowering, but this time Jerome did not feel afraid. Madame Bourneis gently placed her hand on Jerome’s forehead and he though he felt sharp claws. After a moment, Jerome opened his eyes and looked into the face of this beautiful woman.


I’ve decided to get out.

MADAME BOURNEIS
This you cannot do Jerome too many people depend on you for their livelihood.

` JEROME
All my life I have tried to be honest and help my family and my people, but what have it got me? I was so busy making money that I lost my wife and children, my mother and my brothers. What good is it to have money and all the other things that I have and no one to share it with?


MADAME BOURNEIS
Listen Jerome yes, you have suffered a terrible loss, but don’t let this loss defeat all the good work you do. Many of our people are able to support their families because of you. You give them hope and dignity. Because of you, they can take care of the wives and children without going through the embarrassment of relaying on the white man’s charity. Because of you, black men can hold their head high and walk proudly. Your mother and brother will be avenged, the people responsible will pay for their crimes, and they will pay a high price. Madame Bourneis said. Take a trip, go somewhere, relax you need to take it easy Jerome, grieve for your family, don’t worry about anything.
 
Certain that his officer was bugged; Vito and Jimmy spent most of their time at an Italian Restaurant in the Patch.

JIMMY
What we do next, what we do next boss?

VITO
We took care of the hitters in that McLemore’s fucked up shit there only one link to us that, young nigger. We’ve got to take him out; he’s weak and will break and tell everything.

JIMMY
How we going to get to him?

VITO
One of his livery cab drivers is on our payroll; we’ll use him to make the hit.

CHARLES LEWIS, 18 years old was a recovery heroin addict. After being released from the Cook County Jail for drug possession, his mother Charlayne, one of Jerome’s writers asked Jerome to help her son. Jerome paid for his treatment at a detox center and gave him a job as a driver. Charles, like many of the other drivers idolized Jerome, did not like Mack who was disrespectful with the drivers; shorting them on