Red Dollar by Andrea Clinton
When Leo found a red dollar, his grandmother told him to get rid of it as it looked evil. Red Dollar
is a story about a red dollar bill that many believe has been touched
by the devil. It’s like bad luck money many hate to get and rush to get
rid of when they get it because they believe so long as they have it in
their possession, they’ll go broke in the worst way.
Leo, a ex-drug addict owes money to his old dealer, Low-Blow. In order to rid himself of the debt, Leo takes advantage of his old dealer by setting Low-Blow up to receive the red dollar. Low-Blow who never heard of the red dollar, finds his life whirling into a kaleidoscope of weird, awkward happenings, leading him to believe he’s in a sort of twilight zone. Low Blow learns a whole other meaning to the term, “Money is the route to all evil.”
Excerpt from Red Dollar by Andrea Clinton
Leo did exactly what his mother told him to do. While all the kids were running in the room waiting for the pizza to come, he walked to the door and down the stairs to pay the pizza man. Knowing the guys downstairs who sold drugs robbed him on a regular basis to make up the money he stole from them in the past, he usually kept two batches of money and if he didn’t have it, he would come and go through the back door. But, when he heard his mother say that the money he had was evil money, and he knew all his problems came from those guys getting he and his friends addicted to crack when they were only fifteen years old, he decided to let them rob him of the evil dollar. So, the five dollars he usually kept for them, he swapped for the single dollar bills, including the evil red dollar.
When the pizza man came in the hallway, he quickly opened the door and when one of the guys saw it opened, they ran across the street to snatch Leo. Leo paid the pizza men and set the pizza on the step as he yelled for his nephew who always spied and followed him around to come get the pizza. Then, he came back down and pretended to attempt to close the door just after the pizza guy left. His struggle with the guys was such that any one with common sense would realize he wanted them to come get him.
“Don’t, please, you know my Mama don’t give me more than five dollars for myself.”
Snatching Leo by his shirt, Low-Blow, his ex-dealer, pushed him up against the wall, as two other guys came in and helped pin him to the wall. “You know I’m going to be robbing you for your five dollars for the next twenty five years until you pay me back my three thousand dollars. If it wasn’t for your mother and your cousin, I’d have killed you a long time ago!”
“Ok, let me get you the five dollars,” as Leo tried to go in his pocket.
“Let him go!” his nephew Beady said while standing at the top of the stairs holding the four pizza pies. He was ready to run into the apartment if they came after him. “Mama! They got Leo again.”
“Mama know what time it is. Take ya butt in the house boy,” Low-Blow said, then he turned back to Leo, “I’ll get the money. I don’t want you holding out on me. ‘Cause if it’s six or even eight dollars, I’m taking it,” as he dug in Leo’s pocket and took out the single dollar bills.
The two guys began to walk out the door, Low-blow walked out the door behind them looking back at Leo with hatred in his eyes, hating drug addicts, even when they became so at his own hand.
After they all left out, Leo fell back against the wall. He looked up at his nephew and said, “He’ll have to do evil to get rid of that dollar and if he keeps it, it’ll drive him so broke, he’ll have to do evil to maintain a pocket full of cash, and he’ll go broke trying. Either way that evil red dollar will take him out my life,” Leo said to his nephew with a smile.
“Yeah, and he foolish enough to see the red dollar and admire it, and keep it for good luck,” he said while shaking his head at him. Both Leo and Beady laughed.
“I’m sorry he’s your father and doesn’t even recognize you anymore,” Leo said to Beady.
“I’m not. If he did recognize me, he’d be teaching me all about the drug game and not raising me proper like Mama. Then I’d be treating you badly instead of praying for you to get well so you can get back to being my uncle.”
( Continued... )
© 2012 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Andrea Clinton. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the publisher's written permission. Copyright infringement is a serious offense. Share a link to this page or the author's website if you really like this promotional excerpt.
Purchase Red Dollar by Andrea Clinton
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dollar-1-ebook/dp/B008U94PLS
About the Author
Previously an English teacher and high school principal, Andrea Clinton is a novelist, poet, essayist, aspiring playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker. She is a Montclair State University graduate with a degree in English, Film, and Journalism and is presently achieving her Master’s in Theatre Studies. Andrea is the founder and CEO of the non-profit organization, People Helping People, Inc., whose mission is to help citizens become independent and self-sufficient. She is also Editor in Chief of AMISTAD newspaper; and, is presently working on a biography featuring her uncle, Rock and Roll Hall of famer, George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic and the Clinton family.
Struck with Lupus in 2002, Andrea decided that if she were blessed to live, she would publish her countless stories for the world to read. Her first novel is one of five in the first volume of “Life Knows No Bounds” series. Andrea began this chronicle to exhibit to the world and address through fiction, the many directions life leads us in, regardless of which class we belong to. Andrea also set out to express to the world that life isn’t after anyone in particular, it just doesn’t know boundaries.
With the goal of helping people to understand and accept life, Andrea is said to write with that same creative gene and knack that made her uncle George Clinton the musical great that he is. See her many book reviews that support Andrea Clinton as a creative and entertaining great writer on the rise.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/teaclinton
Blog: http://around-the-way.blogspot.com
Website: http://www.AroundTheWayPublishing.com
Leo, a ex-drug addict owes money to his old dealer, Low-Blow. In order to rid himself of the debt, Leo takes advantage of his old dealer by setting Low-Blow up to receive the red dollar. Low-Blow who never heard of the red dollar, finds his life whirling into a kaleidoscope of weird, awkward happenings, leading him to believe he’s in a sort of twilight zone. Low Blow learns a whole other meaning to the term, “Money is the route to all evil.”
Excerpt from Red Dollar by Andrea Clinton
Leo did exactly what his mother told him to do. While all the kids were running in the room waiting for the pizza to come, he walked to the door and down the stairs to pay the pizza man. Knowing the guys downstairs who sold drugs robbed him on a regular basis to make up the money he stole from them in the past, he usually kept two batches of money and if he didn’t have it, he would come and go through the back door. But, when he heard his mother say that the money he had was evil money, and he knew all his problems came from those guys getting he and his friends addicted to crack when they were only fifteen years old, he decided to let them rob him of the evil dollar. So, the five dollars he usually kept for them, he swapped for the single dollar bills, including the evil red dollar.
When the pizza man came in the hallway, he quickly opened the door and when one of the guys saw it opened, they ran across the street to snatch Leo. Leo paid the pizza men and set the pizza on the step as he yelled for his nephew who always spied and followed him around to come get the pizza. Then, he came back down and pretended to attempt to close the door just after the pizza guy left. His struggle with the guys was such that any one with common sense would realize he wanted them to come get him.
“Don’t, please, you know my Mama don’t give me more than five dollars for myself.”
Snatching Leo by his shirt, Low-Blow, his ex-dealer, pushed him up against the wall, as two other guys came in and helped pin him to the wall. “You know I’m going to be robbing you for your five dollars for the next twenty five years until you pay me back my three thousand dollars. If it wasn’t for your mother and your cousin, I’d have killed you a long time ago!”
“Ok, let me get you the five dollars,” as Leo tried to go in his pocket.
“Let him go!” his nephew Beady said while standing at the top of the stairs holding the four pizza pies. He was ready to run into the apartment if they came after him. “Mama! They got Leo again.”
“Mama know what time it is. Take ya butt in the house boy,” Low-Blow said, then he turned back to Leo, “I’ll get the money. I don’t want you holding out on me. ‘Cause if it’s six or even eight dollars, I’m taking it,” as he dug in Leo’s pocket and took out the single dollar bills.
The two guys began to walk out the door, Low-blow walked out the door behind them looking back at Leo with hatred in his eyes, hating drug addicts, even when they became so at his own hand.
After they all left out, Leo fell back against the wall. He looked up at his nephew and said, “He’ll have to do evil to get rid of that dollar and if he keeps it, it’ll drive him so broke, he’ll have to do evil to maintain a pocket full of cash, and he’ll go broke trying. Either way that evil red dollar will take him out my life,” Leo said to his nephew with a smile.
“Yeah, and he foolish enough to see the red dollar and admire it, and keep it for good luck,” he said while shaking his head at him. Both Leo and Beady laughed.
“I’m sorry he’s your father and doesn’t even recognize you anymore,” Leo said to Beady.
“I’m not. If he did recognize me, he’d be teaching me all about the drug game and not raising me proper like Mama. Then I’d be treating you badly instead of praying for you to get well so you can get back to being my uncle.”
( Continued... )
© 2012 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Andrea Clinton. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the publisher's written permission. Copyright infringement is a serious offense. Share a link to this page or the author's website if you really like this promotional excerpt.
Purchase Red Dollar by Andrea Clinton
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dollar-1-ebook/dp/B008U94PLS
About the Author
Previously an English teacher and high school principal, Andrea Clinton is a novelist, poet, essayist, aspiring playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker. She is a Montclair State University graduate with a degree in English, Film, and Journalism and is presently achieving her Master’s in Theatre Studies. Andrea is the founder and CEO of the non-profit organization, People Helping People, Inc., whose mission is to help citizens become independent and self-sufficient. She is also Editor in Chief of AMISTAD newspaper; and, is presently working on a biography featuring her uncle, Rock and Roll Hall of famer, George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic and the Clinton family.
Struck with Lupus in 2002, Andrea decided that if she were blessed to live, she would publish her countless stories for the world to read. Her first novel is one of five in the first volume of “Life Knows No Bounds” series. Andrea began this chronicle to exhibit to the world and address through fiction, the many directions life leads us in, regardless of which class we belong to. Andrea also set out to express to the world that life isn’t after anyone in particular, it just doesn’t know boundaries.
With the goal of helping people to understand and accept life, Andrea is said to write with that same creative gene and knack that made her uncle George Clinton the musical great that he is. See her many book reviews that support Andrea Clinton as a creative and entertaining great writer on the rise.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/teaclinton
Blog: http://around-the-way.blogspot.com
Website: http://www.AroundTheWayPublishing.com
