Is there anything deader
than dead?
— Hose
"Mister Foke?"
"Hose."
"There was a predicament."
"I hadda put yo' man down. He knew da rules."
"I'm not calling about that."
"Aaaight. S'up?"
"Respectfully... this is a non-speakerphone-type conversation, sir."
"We good."
"Still, preferably."
"..."
"Thank you, sir."
"You good?"
"I have been better."
"Where you at?"
"I'm still in L.A."
"Wha's goin' on?"
"There was a... situation."
"Say it."
"Nono's brother. Jojo."
"Yeah?"
"He's dead."
"Shit."
"I know."
"Who else know?"
"Nobody."
"How it go down?"
"Fuck."
"Hose. How it go down?"
"He was supposed to be my lookout. He was supposed to wait outside the mark's house, y'know? But he followed me in. Said he wanted to learn. I should've bailed. FUCK."
"What happened?"
"The mark came home and it got messy."
"How messy."
"Jojo got shot. A couple times. By a couple guys. He was gone by the time they dragged him out. I didn't see it, but I saw proof. They drove away. I don't know where."
"Where dey at now?"
"They're dead."
"How?"
"How dead? Very dead. Four men. All dead. So dead. Is there anything deader than dead? Because those four men? They are now that."
"Nah, Hose. I'm sayin', how?"
"Oh, like, how did the part about them becoming so very dead happen?"
"Hose?"
"Right. Well..."
"What."
"I did a thing. Several things, actually."
"Say it."
"Well, basically, I hid across the street and waited to see if they'd come back. And they did, so I waited for them to fall asleep, and they did that too, at which point I burned their mother fucking house to the goddamn ground with their still very much alive sonofabitch-asses trapped inside. I watched to see if any of 'em made it out. None of 'em did. And the whole thing was clean. Made it look like an accident. Newspaper said the fire was caused by, and I quote, 'unextinguished cigarettes.' Smoking kills, y'know. Anyway. Fuck 'em all. I assure you, they are very thoroughly, crispily, dead."
"..."
"Sir?"
"Damn, Hose."
"Was that... wrong?"