Blacktop Wasteland

The narrative perspective jumps back to following Bug. As the workday ends and Bug closes his garage, he tells Kelvin he is going to meet with Ronnie to discuss a job. Kelvin says he is available to assist if needed. Bug calls Kia, whom he’s avoided since their argument the previous day, to tell her he is going to the meeting. She asks him to avoid potential danger. When he tells her, “I don’t want to argue with you, Kia,” she replies, “And I don’t want to lose you, Bug” (69).

Sitting in his Duster inside the garage, Bug reflects about his father, comparing himself. He believes the key difference is that he will never desert his family as his father did. At the same time, he shares his father’s love of speeding from the police, which Bug finds to be the ultimate thrill.

When Bug steps into Ronnie’s mobile home, he closely examines everyone in the room, including Reggie; Reggie’s girlfriend, Ann; and Quan, a Black friend of Ronnie’s. Bug forces Reggie to leave with Ann and immediately sets down three unbreakable rules if he is to participate: No one besides the five of them can know their plans; after the robbery, they do not meet again; and none of them are to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol the day of the robbery. Quan compares Bug to “Ethan Hunt,” the fictitious hero of the Mission Impossible movies.

After Ronnie breaks down his plan, Bug asks a series of pointed questions about the site of the robbery, for which Ronnie has no answer. When Ronnie says they must acquire new, untraceable guns, Quan flashes his pistol, expressing impatience with Bug. In response, Bug spills a beer on Quan and, when Quan leaps up, grabs the gun and accuses Quan of being a boastful coward, saying, “I ain’t trying to wake up to three hots and a cot because you gonna ball up like a baby when the work goes down” (77). After announcing they would meet again the following week to get guns and review what Bug had learned about the jewelry store, he leaves.

When Bug gets into bed that evening with Kia, she tells him the risk is not worth the payoff. She asks him to sell his garage and find other work. Though Bug promises her everything will go smoothly, he recognizes the very real possibility that the plan could fall apart.

This is a brief chapter in which the point of view switches to Jenny, Ronnie’s girlfriend who works at the jewelry store he intends to rob. Ronnie sends her a text message asking for the security system alarm codes. Jenny texts back, asking him to call, then telling him not to leave text messages that can be used by the police. She tells him she already has the codes. He says he wants to see her when she gets off work that evening and that he has alcohol and drugs to share with her.

Bug gets up early to drive to Newport News and check out the surroundings of the jewelry shop. He evaluates the driving issues he might face, checking the mileage off his potential escape routes. As he drives back toward Red Hill, he sees a car broken down in the middle of a busy route. A young man is trying to get a ride to the hospital for himself and his wife, who is well along into labor. Bug takes them into his truck and makes the 35-minute ride to the hospital in 18 minutes. When the husband asks his name, Bug identifies himself as “Anthony” (90), his father’s name.

The chapter ends with a flashback of Bug remembering riding with his father in the Duster in August 1991. His father confides that he must go away for a long time without explaining why. He tells Bug things he wants Bug to remember, chief among them a proverb: “Don’t ever let nobody make you do for them something they wouldn’t do for you” (91).

The next day, Bug goes to Boonie’s recycling yard and asks for a favor—a car with a tight frame. Boonie immediately asks if this has something to do with Ronnie. Boonie reports that Ronnie was boasting about having a job coming up that would be so lucrative he would never have to work again. When Bug asked for a car, Boonie assumed it had something to do with Ronnie. Though he provides a beat-up Buick, for which Bug will pay him after using it, Boonie warns Bug to be leery of working with Ronnie.

Bug picks up his sons from his sister-in-law, Jean. In their brief conversation, she intimates that she knows he is about to pull a job. Talking with his older son, Javon, who wants to drop out of school and get a job, Bug explains that education will be his ticket to do anything he wants and that, as his father, Bug’s job is to take care of the family, which he promises to do.

In retrospect, Bug acknowledges to himself that Boonie is correct about Ronnie, saying,

Boys in the game only respected you in direct proportion to how much they needed you divided by how much they feared you. There was no doubt they needed his skill. And if they weren’t a little bit afraid of him that was their mistake (100-01).

Bug briefly meets Ronnie and Reggie in an isolated spot so Bug can give them two untraceable revolvers he obtained from a supplier nicknamed Madness. When Ronnie says Quan will not like the fact that they are revolvers, Bug replies, “Quan ain’t gotta like it. Revolvers don’t leave behind shell casings. And if you need more than six shots you in the wrong line of work” (102-03).

Back at his garage, Kelvin asks Bug about the car he has been working on secretly. Bug shows him the renovated Buick that he has fitted with bulletproof glass and run-flat tires. The two go to a saloon for a drink. Kelvin offers to participate in the job if needed. Bug says he only needs him for an alibi; If asked, Kelvin should simply say that Bug was in the shop all throughout the upcoming Monday and Tuesday. Leaving the bar, Bug sees Melvin Navely; when Bug was an adolescent, he ran over Melvin’s father to save his own father’s life.