EXCERPT FROM FAMILY, FRIENDS, FOES?

Malcolm walked into the pipe smoke filled club. There were about forty of the wealthiest black and Hispanic men in Florida in the well-appointed room. The furnishings were solid redwood and leather and the walls were appointed with paintings by famous African-American artists. The waiters and bartenders were all beautiful women dressed in tuxedos. Jazz played softly in the background. A tall distinguished man walked up taking Malcolm's hand shaking it heartily. "Mayor Black it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I have been a fan for years but you are hard to know. By the way, I'm Wilson Thomson. "My brother, I know who you are. You own more convenience stores than the Arabs and Indians." “So brother, if you know who we are, what is the reluctance to network?” “Truthfully, I have found that in most men’s organizations there isn’t much networking going on as there are shenanigans. I’m grown and my frat boy days are over. Just not interested in strippers and all that male bonding nonsense and I’m certainly not going to sit around with a bunch of brothers married to non-black women, listening to them bash sisters.” Every man in the room was silent. Drinks had stopped midway to mouths. Thane smiled inside. For several seconds Wilson stared at Malcolm as though he was stunned; then he fell out laughing. A few other men chuckled as well. “Well damn, man why don’t you tell us how you really feel? I know what you mean, though and my wife is a black as you are. But there are some good organizations out there and this is one of them. I’m not gonna tell you we don’t talk shit, and eat bad food and drink expensive liquor because we do. But, we are also about the business of our community, educating children, making job opportunities for the unemployed and all that. We know what you're about Mr. Black and we admire that about you. We won’t hold your past against you either.” “You can hold it against me if you wish. I’m good with that and I’m not holding anything against you. I just don’t run in packs. I can work with anyone but my hanging-out days are over. If you require that I’m not your man.” “I totally get that, especially being newly married to the Queen of Center City. Makes sense to me.” Malcolm chose to let that remark pass. Thane cleared his throat. “Actually, we wanted to talk to you about incorporating The Learning Centers. We all know you have singlehandedly run the one here in Center City and most of the overhead comes out of your pocket. We would like to start them around the state. Maybe four brothers fund one and that way by years end we can have ten. Most of us cannot afford to do it singlehandedly, but we can together.” Malcolm’s interest was peaked, he actually liked the idea. “Go on….” Thane laid out the plans, discussing how the centers would operate. “Man, as mayor, I won’t be able to run the centers, in fact, my wife is now the official owner of the Center City Center.” “I have no problem with that. She's a smart, powerful, gorgeous woman.” Malcolm threw Wilson a look. “She is. Let me talk to her and I'll meet with you and we'll see what I can do.” “Of course, I don’t make decisions without talking to Mrs. Thomson. Now can we have huge steaks and aged brandy and talk about women?” Malcolm threw him a grin. “Steak and brandy sounds good, that other shit, I will leave to you guys. I know too many good women.” For the next two hours, Malcolm assessed the men in the room. His impression was they were all good, well-heeled brothers who wanted to make a difference. A few admitted he had been their business mentor, unofficially. The men found him to be fascinating and reserved and knew that being part of his team could only be a good thing.