George Pelecanos - Right as Rain

'Sharmba Mitchell,' said Strange. 'That's a beautiful fighter right there.'

'Look at that left,' said Quinn.

'I had a left like that one, I'd never throw a right.'

Strange and Quinn sat in the bleachers of the Washington Convention Center, drinking a couple of four-dollar drafts. In the crowd of four thousand, Quinn was among a small number of whites, the others being the parents of a light heavyweight Texan, four frightened-looking fraternity boys, and several white women accompanied by black men. The convention center was a grim, outdated white elephant that had underserved the city from day one. But the sport almost lent itself to unattractive, spartan arenas; as boxing venues went, this wasn't a bad place to see a fight.

The white, light heavyweight Texan, who fought under the name of Joe Bill 'Rocky' Jakes, was walking along the edge of the stands, having changed into street clothes after his disastrous defeat. His face was marked and puffy, and one eye was swollen shut.

'Hey, Rocky!' shouted a guy from the stands.

'Yo, Adrian!' shouted another.

'You'll get 'em next time, Rock,' shouted a third, with a Burgess Meredith growl, to much laughter from the spectators in the surrounding seats.

'They're usin' the hell out of that guy,' said Quinn.

'You ever notice,' said Strange, 'how many white fighters call themselves Rocky?'

'I think there's been one or two.'

'There's that hook again,' said Strange, pointing to the ring.

Takoma Park's Sharmba Mitchell was defending his WBA super lightweight title against Pedro Saiz, out of Brooklyn. Saiz, a late replacement for a scratched William Joppy, had not been expected to show too much, but he was proving himself tonight. Mitchell wore trunks cut in strips of red, white, and blue. Saiz wore white.

The fourth round ended. As the fighters went to their corners, a blonde showing a whole lot of leg climbed into the ring and walked around the edge of the ropes, a round-card held up in her hands.

'You see the ladies?' said Strange.

'I liked Round Two, myself,' said Quinn.

'Shame about the face.'

'Hey, I bet she's got a big heart.'

'A big inverted heart, you mean.'

'Her ass was pretty big. But I thought you guys liked that.'

'You thought. Anyway, I'm not talkin' about the ring girls, Terry, I'm talkin' about our ladies. Our dates.'

'They went to get a couple of beers.'

'Fifteen minutes ago.'

'They're okay. Probably down there with their faces together, having a firefight. Talking about us.'

'I hope they are. It's when they stop talkin' about us, then we're in trouble.' Strange sipped his beer and looked at Quinn out of the corners of his eyes. 'You didn't tell me about Juana, man.'

'That she was fine?'

'That she was a sister.'

'She's half Puerto Rican.'

'Half nothin'. You got a drop of black in you, you are black.'

'Got a problem with it?' said Quinn.

'Uh-uh. I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you, it took me back at first, 'cause I didn't expect it.'

'It's the way we're programmed, is all it is.'

'Now you're gonna tell me what it is.'

'I was up in Wheaton Plaza a couple of weeks back, the mall? Half the young couples, some of 'em had babies in strollers, were interracial. Fifteen years ago, when I was hanging out up at the Plaza, you wouldn't have seen it. It's just natural for these kids now. And it made me think, the way my generation is, and especially the way your generation is, it's our hang-up, man. It's something we've got to get over, 'cause the world's changing whether we like it or not.'

'Case you didn't notice, you been getting a lot of looks here tonight. From people in all sorts of generations.'

'She's been drawing the looks, and I don't blame the guys who been lookin'.'

'You're gonna have to at least face this, Terry: there's a whole lot of people, black and white, they just don't believe in mixin', man. That doesn't make them racists or anything like that. It's just their opinion, straight up.'

'Long as they stay out of my business, they can have any kind of opinion they want.'

The fifth round began. A fight broke out by the men's room to their right, and security guards swarmed the guilty parties, carrying one man out as he kicked his legs and yelled obscenities over his shoulder. There had been a few fights in the crowd that night, and they had occurred with more frequency as more beer and liquor had been served.

'You been seem' Juana long?'

Quinn rolled his eyes. 'Shit, man, you still on that?'

'I got to admit, when we came up on the two of you, first thing I thought was, Terry got himself a one-time date with a black woman for my benefit. Trying to make an impression on old Strange, like, Here I am, Terry Quinn, lovin' all the people, can't you see I just want us all to get along?'

Quinn laughed. 'I'm through trying to impress you, Derek. You ought to know that by now. I've told you everything I know. I mean, can we just hang out and not deal with it for one night?'

'So how long you been seein' her?'

'Not too long, I guess. I'm crazy about her, too, you want to know the truth.'

'I got eyes.'

'How about you and Janine?'

'Shoot. We been seein' each other now, I don't know, about ten years. Not exclusive, nothin' like that.'

'She's in love with you.'

'Go ahead, man.'

'Look, I got eyes, too.'

'My mother always tells me that old parable about the guy, went all around the world lookin' for diamonds, when all the time he never did think to look in his own backyard.'

'Diamonds in your backyard. I've heard that one plenty of times.'

'Yeah, she didn't make it up. But when it's your mom tellin' you, you tend to listen. Anyhow, I guess me and Janine, we're good for each other in a lot of ways.'

Strange knew it was deeper than that between him and Janine. But he was a private man, and that was all he could bring himself to say.

Saiz issued a flagrant low blow to Mitchell, sending him to his knees. The increasingly raucous crowed booed loudly as the ref directed Saiz to his corner and deducted a point. At Mitchell's nod, the ref restarted the fight. Mitchell came out with fury, throwing a flurry of punches in a blur of speed and power.

'You're gonna see somethin' now,' said Quinn.

'Yeah,' said Strange. 'Sharmba's gonna fuck him up.'

Mitchell decisioned Saiz unanimously. Janine and Juana walked up the stands carrying two beers each. An elderly couple on the end got up to let them pass.

'Damn, where y'all been?' said Strange, as they took their seats. He sounded mildly cross, but it was plain from the relieved look on his face that he had been worried about Janine.

'Juana wanted to see Sugar Ray,' said Janine. 'He's down at ringside.'

'You see him?'

'Mm-huh,' said Juana, and she and Janine laughed.

'Saw Don King, too,' said Janine.

'Must have made you hungry for some cotton candy,' said Strange.

'Wondered why my stomach was growling,' said Janine, 'looking at that hair of his.'

'How you doin'?' said Quinn, touching Juana's hand.

'Janine's really nice,' she whispered.

'Havin' fun?'

'Uh-huh.'

He kissed her lips.

A tuxedoed man came into the ring, pulled down the hanging microphone, and began to describe, with flourish, the participants in the main event.

'Who's that guy?' said Quinn.

'Discombobulating Jones,' said Strange, with affection. 'Best ring announcer in D.C.'

'Here we go,' said Quinn. 'Bernard Hopkins.'

'Hopkins took out Simon Brown,' said Strange. 'You know that?'

The main event had Hopkins in a rematch with Robert Allen for the IBF middleweight crown. Their first pairing, in Vegas, had been marred by Allen's shoves and holds, and ended as a no contest when Hopkins fell through the ropes and sprained an ankle.