My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 165

nikki:
You got paper? ‘Cause you aint gonna
remember, if I just tell you.
sara begins to get up to get paper and
pen. nikki grabs her arm, and pulls
her back down.
nikki:
Stay down! I got your back.
sara:
Right.
sara low crawls to a bag in the corner
and pulls a paper and pen out. sara
low crawls back to nikki who is poised
with her gun, looking out for targets.
sara gives nikki the paper and pen in
exchange for the gun.
nikki::
I feel a breeze coming through my left
ear. Is there a hole there, too?
sara:
It’s always been a hole there, Nikki.
nikki:
Nah. I mean, a bigger hole, a hole
where there wasn’t one. There’s a breeze
there. Hold my ear. Hold my ear on
my head.
sara cups her hand over nikki’s ear.

164

nikki:
That’s better. Now, you gotta start
down at the swamp. At the river. After
midnight. That’s where you get what
you need. Power. Breathe it in down at
the river.

sara:
Power. And mosquitos.
nikki:
It’s in the congos when I play. See. You
gotta get that first for the bomb to
work right. Hey, I think that hole by
my ear’s better. You always did have
good hands. So, you gonna take this
route down New York Avenue past
Bladensburg.
sara:
New York Avenue to the Parkway.
nikki:
Right. Cross the river so it’s at your
back, and then turn around and sit
right at the mouth, and breathe it in.
Don’t take nobody with you.
sara:
Nobody.
nikki:
But you gotta come back a different
way. So, you gonna come back over
the bridge to Pennsylvania Avenue.
Let your feet fall on federal land.
sara:
It’s all fed.
nikki:
But we built that shit, too. Need that.
sara:
I feel you.

nikki:
Don’t stay there too long, though.
It’s too many eyes around there. Find
a quick turn to 14th Street and come
back up to the spot. (a beat) You gonna
have to do most of this on foot.
sara:
To Union Street?
nikki:
Shhhhhh….
sara:
To 11th and…
nikki:
I said shut the fuck up…
sara:
You’re nasty.
nikki:
Like your ass crack in the morning.
Give me my gun.
sara gives nikki her gun.
sara:
How exactly am I supposed to bomb
this truth, Nikki? I’m not even sure
what truth you’re talking about.
nikki:
Don’t worry about that right now. Just
get to the swamp. I’ll send you a sign
when it’s time.