Browse:Red Brick and Redding (Volume 1, entries 2577–2580)
Red Brick and Redding
Volume 1, entries 2577–2580. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → BUSINESS AND CUSTOMERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2577
I tell you what you get. You get this yere - you get - you get some - you see that red, pure red, red brick. You got to go to the drug store to get that. It's powdered brick. Well, you get that pure red, red brick. (That's called redding?) Yeah. (All right.) You get that pure, red, red brick. You get you a bottle of essence of cinnamon from - from Crackerjack Drug Store. After you get that essence of cinnamon, you turn round and you get you a box of love powder and you. mix that with that, and you gets this here - what do they call that stuff? There's another powder you get too. It's van-van.
(Is it a powder?)
No, it's a liquid. Van-van is a liquid. You mix that together and you take nine buckets of water and you wash that place where your place of business at. And when you wash that place of business wash it with nine buckets of water, and then after you wash that place with nine buckets of water, don't say nothing to nobody when you wash that - don't even tell nobody good morning atall when you washing that place, and it going to smell very nice when you wash it, and people going just pouring in.
(You put this mixture in the water?)
In the water and wash it - wash that place with that. [See Red Brick Powder, p.470.]
Entry 2578
Well now, the way yuh have to do. You git de cap'un [captain of the police] of the presint [precinct] name, then you'll burn his name in this same stuff - honey an' cinamint [cinnamon]. Then you'll take honey, cinamint, an you'll scrub wit dat. An' when you git through, you'll take jis' plain cinamint- water wit dat, an' you sprinkle roun' your front doah wit it. You take you some brick - red brick - beat up fine. You done put verbena-water wit dat brick - red brick - an' sprinkle it aroun' your doah wit sugar, brown sugar. The law won't come.
Entry 2579
You is bootlegging or anything like that and you want customers. You get you some [sounds like red'nin' = reddening].
(Red ink?)
Looks red like grapes. You get you some red'nin' [reddening] and you get you some lucky perfume and you get you some van-van and scrub your house Wednesdays and Mondays and Fridays - three times a week, and you throw the water in the street. And you see by.you got all that in your water scrubbing with, that draw the crowd right into you. I've seen that did.
Entry 2580
Take cinnamon, brown sugah, reddenin' - it's jis' lak a powder but it's red, an' yo' scrubs with that. Yo' scrub with dat powders an' dat brings yo' luck. [Three ingredients.]