Workers could be found and replaced just like that. There was Sherrena’s brother, who had a crack habit, or Quentin’s uncle, Verne, a gummy-faced alcoholic happy to log hours for beer money. Tenants often asked for work; even Ricky One Leg had been calling. Plus, Sherrena had on call a crew of hypes—“jackleg crackheads,” she called them—willing to “work for peanuts.” In a pinch, Quentin sometimes recruited men right off the street. It wasn’t hard to do with so many men in the inner city out of work. Sherrena and Quentin provided tools, materials, and transportation. They paid workers by the
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