"What you doin' there, boy?"
It was six a.m. Socrates Fortlow had come out to the alley to see what was wrong with Billy. He hadn't heard him crow that morning and was worried about his old friend.
The sun was just coming up. The alley was almost pretty with the trash and broken asphalt covering in half-light. Discarded wine bottles shown like murky emeralds in the sludge. In the dawn shadows Socrates didn't even notice the boy until he moved. he was standing in front of a small cardboard box, across the alley--next to Billy's wire fence.
"What bidness is it to you, old man?" the boy answered. He couldn't have been more than twelve but he had that hard convict stare.
Socrates knew convicts, knew them inside and out.
So begins
Crimson Shadow by Walter Mosley from
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. And so we meet for the first time Socrates Fortlow as he is meeting young Darryl, the boy who will become like a son to the ex-convict. And thus began my introduction to a world I had never seen before. I've already talked about
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. It's a powerful book, this is a powerful story and definitely one of my favorites. Read it and enjoy the journey.
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