of our fighters has a match tonight so you’ll have the house to yourselves. Let me show you around. Here’s the bed. You take mine—you and Destiny. And there’s the bathroom. Clean towels are in the linen closet. I’ll sleep in the guest room. This way, you two have the sitting room so she has a place to play. I don’t have any food to offer you two, but tomorrow I’ll get up early and go to the grocery store. All I have is leftover Chinese. And you know Deacon, he still does that juicer. You’ll hear it whirring at all hours. You know that thing is strong enough to juice a human head, I think. If you want fruit, or raw carrots, I can bring some up. That’s what he lives on. That and fresh salmon.”
“We’re not really hungry.”
“Okay. I’ll get some other food tomorrow. What can she eat?”
Crystal laughed. “She can eat the same food you and I eat.”
“Oh. Well, what does she like to eat?”
“Pop-Tarts, chicken nuggets, French fries…Cheerios. She likes blueberry yogurt, the kind with the fruit on the bottom.” All of a sudden, Crystal started crying.
“It’s okay, Mama,” Destiny whispered.
“Yeah, Crystal. It’s going to be okay. Just chill for a couple of days. Listen, I’m going downstairs to let Deacon know you’re here, okay? Why don’t you freshen up or change into your swimsuits and go for a dip in the pool.”
“It’s actually time for The Wiggles.”
“The what?”
“It’s a TV show. Her favorite.” Crystal picked up the remote and turned on my plasma-screen television, clicking through to the program.
“I didn’t even know I had that channel on my cable,” I said, shaking my head. Then I left my sitting room and went down to talk to Deacon, who was sipping some sort of brown-green liquid.
“What the hell is that?”
“Wheat grass.”
“Gross. Hey, Deacon?”
“What?”
“Crystal’s upstairs.”
“Crystal? Well, Lord, it’s been a while since we’ve seen her around.”
“She’s here with her daughter.”
“How old is her child now?”
“Five. Listen, they’re, um…I don’t know. She’s on the outs with Tony. Something’s up. I told her she could stay a few days.”
“If she needs money, help, we’re here for her.”
I looked at my uncle. He hadn’t lost any of his thick black hair. His eyes were a warm brown, and his nose had a tilt to the left, courtesy of “Left-Eye” McGill, a boxer Deacon had squared off against a long time ago. “I was hoping you’d say that, Deacon,” I whispered, and leaned down to kiss him on the top of his head, grateful for him. His given name was Nick, but he had found God somewhere along the way and became a minister by mail-order ordination. He was also the high priest of all things boxing, so the nickname fit.
I looked at my watch. “Dad should be calling in about twenty minutes.” I opened the sub-zero refrigerator, which was very clearly delineated. Two shelves for Deacon, stockpiled with okra, kale, parsley, wheat grass, carrots and piles of apples to use in his juicer. Two shelves for me, barren except for Chinese take-out boxes, Coke and a bottle of tequila chilling on its side. I opened up various cartons of takeout, sniffing each one.
“This one’s gone bad,” I said, dumping it in the trash. “But I think if I microwave the chicken and cashews from Tuesday night high enough to obliterate any bacteria, I’ll be okay.”
Deacon rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how it is you ain’t dead yet. I can see your gravestone. ‘Killed by Old Chicken.’”
“But I’m sturdy stock. Grandma lived until she was eighty-eight.”
“I got my hands on you too late. By the time you came to live with me, your father had already turned you into a junk-food eatin’, trash-talkin’, poker-playin’ hellion.”
I gave him my best you-are-so-full-of-shit look. “Deacon, you play poker with me.”
“Yes, but I do not curse like a navy seaman when we’re playing.”
I popped my Chinese food in the microwave, heated it and began eating out of the box. Ten minutes later the phone rang, and I ran toward it.
“Yes…I’ll accept the call…Dad?”
“Hey, Jack, how are ya, kiddo? Good to hear your voice.”
“I’m doing okay.”
“How’s Deacon?”
“You know, lecturing me about my taste for Chinese.”
“Best food on the planet, especially the second day. What I wouldn’t give for Chinese takeout right now.”
“If I could, I’d mail you some.”
He laughed his hollowed-out laugh. He was counting the days until his release—four long years from now. “How’s Keenan look?”
“Good. He’s in great shape, and Deacon says next week we’ll go into lockdown mode, have him move out to the ranch. That way we can keep him from that flaky actress he’s dating.”
“Is she still talking about having a baby with him?”
“Yup. I’m sure it’s a ploy to get at his multimillion-dollar take for this fight.”
“He needs to dump her. He’s too smart for that.”
“Let’s hope so.” Both my father, who was a boxing legend himself, and Deacon had watched too many of the guys they trained fall in with, as Deacon called them, “fast women and phony friends.” We all thought it was pathetic when people like Mike Tyson ended up declaring bankruptcy. Entourages, flashy clothes and cars. They bought into the life, and it ended up leaving them destitute with only fleeting memories of the good life.
“Want to talk to Deacon?”
“No, that’s okay. Tell him that Keenan needs to stop leading with his left every time he’s going to throw an uppercut.”
“Okay.”
“Listen, there’s a line of guys here waitin’ for the phone. Bye, Jack.”
“Bye, Dad. I love you. See you next visiting day.”
“Love you, too.”
He hung up, and I felt my spirits sink. My father was framed. Sure, everyone says that whole “I’m really innocent” routine, but in my father’s case, it’s true. We even know who did it: Benny Bonita. Which was why, more than anything, we wanted Terry Keenan to win and decimate his opponent Gentleman Jake Johnson.
