Lula dumped the lettuce out at the corner of Fifteenth and Freeman, we took one last ride around, and Lula drove to the mall.
“I gotta see how much one of them genuine Brahmin bags costs,” Lula said. “I like my Brakmin okay, but it’s no Brahmin.”
“I think a Brahmin bag might be pricey.”
“I could save up for it. I could get a night job, if you know what I mean.”
“I thought you didn’t do that anymore.”
“I’ve been doing it in the name of passion, so I don’t see where it’d hurt to do it once or twice for the sake of being fashionable. I mean, I got a passion to get a Brahmin bag, so where’s the difference, right?”
We passed by the store’s shoe department without so much as a glance and found ladies’ handbags. Lula went straight to the Brahmins.
“There’s too many,” she said. “How am I supposed to choose when they got all these colors? It’s true that none of them got crystals like my Brakmin, but that’s on account of these bags are real classy. These bags are ladies’ bags.”
“That might leave you out since you’re planning on buying one by selling your wares on a street corner.”
“There’s no rules saying a lady can’t do a BJ,” Lula said. “And some of these bags aren’t so expensive. I could have one of these bags in no time.”
“You could also make money by helping me capture Sunny,” I told her.
“That’s true,” Lula said. “I don’t have much confidence in that happening, but I guess we could give it another try.”
We drove back to Fifteenth and Morgan and sat there for a half hour.
“Nothing’s happening,” Lula said. “This is boring. I say we get out and walk around. Maybe we’ll come across Kevin.”
We walked three blocks down Fifteenth and turned onto Willard. We walked one block on Willard and turned onto Sixteenth.
“This is good,” Lula said. “I bet we already walked off those donuts what with walking in the mall and walking here.” She stopped and tipped her nose up and sniffed the air. “I think I might have just caught a whiff of giraffe.”
I looked around. I sniffed. “I don’t smell anything.”
“That’s because you aren’t so finely tuned to Kevin as I am.” She walked twenty paces down Sixteenth. “Yep, that’s giraffe I’m smelling. He’s up there in front of us. I bet he’s heading for Freeman Street.”
“Freeman and Fifteenth is ground zero for Uncle Sunny Land,” I said. “I think we should stay away from that block.”
“Yeah, but Kevin’s going after his lettuce. He’ll be real disappointed if he don’t get to see who’s been leaving him all that delicious food.”
“He’ll be even more disappointed if the food stops showing up because Sunny’s goons drilled you full of bullet holes.”
“Hey, I didn’t shoot Uncle Sunny. I was just a innocent bystander. I’m pretty sure the goons got that figured out. You’re the one they want to drill full of holes.”
“I didn’t shoot Sunny!”
“I know that and Uncle Sunny knows that and you know that,” Lula said, “but the rest of the world don’t know that.”
“Well, I’m going to be careful until the rest of the world knows I didn’t shoot Sunny.”
“I’m not sure the rest of the world cares,” Lula said. “I’m thinking they might want to shoot you anyway.”
“This is ridiculous. I’m a nonviolent person. I hate the Godfather movies. I get nauseous when I see Bruce Willis bleeding. I never even carry a gun. Why do people want to shoot me?”
“Because you’re a bounty hunter?”
“I need a new job.”
“You say that all the time,” Lula said, “but I don’t see you getting a new job. And just because you got a new job don’t mean people won’t want to shoot you. For instance, you get a job as a chef or interior decorator, and I bet some people want to shoot you.”
“I could sell shoes.”
“Yeah, you’d get to spend time on your knees, looking up people’s hoo-has. I can’t see you doing that job neither. That’d be a job for Vinnie.”
“Maybe we should split up. You go look for Kevin, and I’ll make my way back to the car. I’ll meet you there in a half hour.”
“That sounds like a plan. You want my gun?”
“No!” Even if I’d had a gun I didn’t think I could shoot it with my two fingers splinted together.
“Yell if you need help,” Lula said.