It was easier to move through the world with him on my elbow than alone, when the doormen were more suspicious of women of my complexion. The dentist was my bargain the dentist I could keep. Was it disgust that flattened his tone? Or indifference? My heart shuddered uselessly, but I kept steady and kissed behind his left ear, the way he liked. “Are you going to take the job, if it comes?” He found my scars to remind me of the necessary distance between us, the dentist and the hatchet girl. But his had done nothing worse than pull teeth and fix caps for Victor and his men. The dentist’s hands were chapped with alcohol and smelled like rubber, while I rubbed mine with shea butter every morning.

I hated when he did that, though I never stopped him. I leaned over the dentist to take another cigarette too, but instead he caught up my hand and gently traced its scars. But my own lover couldn’t bother himself to remember the name of some Negro showgirl. Lately, because my life has not tended to kindness, she’d also been Dev’s girl. The star of the famous snake dance at the Pelican Club was my best friend in the city. “Tamara,” I said, not for the first time. You just like him because he likes you … you and that snake girl, what’s her name-”

“You know what they say, the things he’s done. “Christ, where’s that lighter? I hate even thinking about Red Man, and you have to go and dream about him…” “Christ,” said the dentist, jamming his cigarette into my silver ashtray and getting another. He had only ever called me Phyllis in extremity: mortal danger, orgasm. He is beloved by the city of New Orleans and will probably be a folk hero in that area for the rest of his life.It had been Dev’s voice at the end of the dream just his voice, warning me against nothing I could see just his voice, pushing me awake, and away from him, again. The whole incident only briefly tarnished the reputations of the Saints organization and Payton, who tried to appeal his suspension.ĭespite the controversy, Payton is still seen as one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time for what he has done with the New Orleans Saints.

The whole organization was fined $500,000, and they lost several draft picks. The NFL suspended Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season for his participation in Bountygate.

The Saints won the Super Bowl XLIV in 2009.Īfter a lengthy investigation, the NFL found that Sean Payton not only knew about this but tried to hide the information from the NFL. Bountygate was alleged to have taken place from 2009 to 2011. According to Wikipedia, members of the New Orleans Saints 'were accused of paying out bonuses or bounties for injuring opposing team players.' Two of those players were reportedly Kurt Warner and Brett Favre.

Trouble the saints