Los Angeles Hustlers

One of the first things we did was to cancel the contract that some Los Angeles hustlers had negotiated to handle the black exhibit at Hemisphere. Shuffler had told the governor he was going to fire these people, and it was part of his deal. Shuffler sent me and George Washington Jr. to California to fire them in person. George and I checked into a downtown hotel and went to see the hustlers. Right away I realized that George was on tranquilizers. He took several pills when he first woke up in the morning and was agreeable all day long. It was like he was floating on a cloud. We met with these people and they started entertaining us royally. One morning Shuffler called me and asked for a progress report. I told him I would take care of it. I did something that was highly irregular. While George was asleep I stole his pills and threw them down the fire escape. When he woke up he could not find them. I asked him what was the matter and he said "nothing." We went to meet with these people. George was cold sober and business like. I notified the group that they were terminated and then called on George. He pulled out a document and said that he had studied this from a legal point of view and that the contract was invalid. One of the hustlers called him an Uncle Tom. I told them the meeting was over and if they wanted to sue us they would need to consult the Secretary of State in Texas as he was our legal representative. Then we went out and hailed a taxi. George began breathing heavily and I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack. The taxi driver became nervous, so I told him to pull over to the nearest tavern. We went inside and I had a bourbon and bought one for the driver, and a double bourbon for George. After a second bourbon, George recovered. We went back to the hotel and began packing for our return trip. I called Shuffler and told him that everything had been accomplished.