Sal Gabrini: Love And War

by Mallory Monroe

  Tommy smiled.

  “I want to thank you for all your help, Tommy,” Gemma added.

  “No problem at all, Gem. You know I’ll always be there for both of you, Miss Soon-To-Be District Attorney.”

  “Not so fast, Tommy,” Gemma said. “I still have opponents. I still have an election to win.”

  “You’ll win,” Trina said confidently as she leaned back and rubbed her ever expanding pregnant belly. “Nobody can beat you now.”

  “I can beat her,” Sal said, and everybody looked strangely at him. Sal looked strangely at them. “In cards, motherfuckers,” he said, and they all laughed. “What’s wrong with yous?”

  But at the kids’ table, Reno’s preteen son Dommi, his little sister Sophia, and little Lucky weren’t feeling this little get together. Their parents were filled with talk and laughter, but they were bored.

  “It’s boring here, Luck,” Dommi said. “Where’re your games? Where’re your fun stuff?”

  Lucky handed Dommi his toy sports car. “My game,” he said. “This Daddy’s car.”

  Dommi looked at the unremarkable car. He was used to high gadgets and technologically-advanced equipment. “This doesn’t even have a remote! You are one strange dude,” he said.

  “I think he’s sweet,” Sophia said with a smile.

  “He’s sweet,” Dommi agreed, “but strange.”

  The sous-chef came to Dommi’s table with plates for the children, while the chef served the adults. But when Dommi saw the plate of food, which was a veggie dish, he frowned. “I don’t want this shit,” he said, causing Lucky to grin and Sophia to cover her mouth in shock. The sous-chef was shocked, too.

  “What happened was,” Dommi said, trying to quickly correct his error, “is that I misspoke. What I meant to say was that this isn’t my kind of food. But I’m sure it’s tasty.” He said this and smiled a charming smile at the sous-chef.

  But the sous-chef, an older black woman, gave a grunt of disapproval at Dommi, as if she wasn’t buying his contrition for a second, then she left.

  “Daddy and Mommy will be very upset with you, Dominic, if they found out,” Sophia said.

  “Who’s going to tell them?” Dommi asked. “You?” Then he looked sidelong at his sister. “Are you a snitch, Sophia?”

  Sophia looked at her big brother hard. “I’m no snitch,” she said as if he offended her. “Daddy said you should never snitch on anybody. But Jimmy says it depends. So, I don’t know who to listen to.”

  “Listen to Daddy,” Dommi said firmly. Reno was his hero. “He’s always right.”

  Then Dommi looked at the food, frowned, and then looked at Sophia and Lucky. “You guys want to blow this joint?” he asked.

  Lucky just stared at Dommi, his mouth open. Sophia didn’t get it, either. “What’s that?” she asked.

  Dommi broke it down. “Wanna go to Chuck E Cheese?” he asked.

  “Chunky Cheese!” Lucky said, clapping.

  “Oh, yes, please,” Sophia said happily, clapping too.

  “Get the baby,” Dommi whispered to his sister, “and meet me around front.”

  As the adults got into another round of bragging and arguing, Dommi got up, and headed inside Sal’s house. He knew his mother’s habits. He knew that Trina always left her keys on the table in the foyer whenever she came to Uncle Sal and Aunt Gemma’s.

  Sophia and Lucky stood up. She took Lucky’s hand and began walking toward the front. She expected her parents, or at the least Aunt Gemma, to ask where they were going, but nobody said anything.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Reno asked Sal. “It’s not your turn!”

  “I’m going for Gemma,” Sal said. Gemma laughed.

  “You can’t go for Gemma, what are you talking?” Reno responded. “Gemma has to go for herself! Your ass cheating!”

  “Cheating?” Sal asked.

  “You’re cheating!” Reno said again.

  “I’m no cheat!” Sal was livid. “I’ve never been a fucking cheat in my life. You’re a cheat!”

  “Not again, guys,” Gemma said. “Geez!”

  Then they heard the cranking of a high-revved motor. Reno, who knew his wife’s car, frowned. “What the?” he asked. Then he thought of something. “Where’s Dommi?” he asked and looked over at the kids’ table. They all looked. When they saw that Dommi, Sophia, and Lucky were all gone, they all jumped up.

  “God, no!” Gemma said as she and Trina, Reno, Sal, and Tommy, all ran around to the front of the home. And their worst fears were realized. Dommi was in Trina’s Mercedes, behind the wheel, with Sophie and Lucky on the front passenger seat as if they belonged there, about to go to where they happily thought was Chuck E Cheese.

  “Dommi!” Reno yelled angrily.

  And when Dommi heard his father’s voice, he realized his miscalculation and floored the gas of his mother’s car. But the car was too powerful for Dommi to handle and it sped up alright. Right into the back of Sal’s beloved Bugatti.

  Everybody stopped, and looked at Sal. When Sal realized that what he was actually seeing was real, he screamed. “No, you motherfucker!” he yelled. “No!”

  Dommi, now all points terrified, turned off the ignition and ordered Sophie and Lucky to get out. He got out, too.

  Gemma and Trina ran up to Sophie and Lucky as they began getting out of Trina’s Mercedes. They knew the men would take care of Dommi.

  But Sal was beside himself with anger. “First my plane,” Sal said to Reno, remembering the time Reno and Trina wrecked his private plane, “and now my Gatti? My Gatti? Your crazy-ass family is a boil on my butt, Reno. A boil on my butt!”

  Reno couldn’t help it. He laughed when Sal made that statement. But it wasn’t funny to Sal. He began stomping toward that damn Dominic Gabrini, Junior with fire in his eyes. Reno saw Sal’s rage, as God only knew what Sal was going to do to his son. And since the damage was already done, and Reno knew he would have to pay for all of it anyway, he decided he had nothing else to lose. He knew it wasn’t right. He knew he would have to set Dommi straight himself when all was said and done. But Sal had too much fire in his eyes. Dommi was doomed.

  “Run, Dommi!” he yelled to his son. “Run for your life!”

  And Dommi, grateful to have a way out, and thrilled that his father, his hero, was giving it to him, took off running.

  “Bring your ass back here!” Sal yelled at Dommi, as he reached for him and almost caught him. But Dommi was too fast.

  Sal was no slouch, either, and took off after him. Reno started laughing as Sal chased Dommi across the lawn of his estate, nearly catching him repeatedly, as if they were in a Marx Brothers movie.

  Gemma picked up Lucky and Trina hugged Sophia, as they all watched Sal chase Dommi. “Uncle Sal is going to kill Dommi, Mommy,” Sophia said, “if he catches him.”

  “And it’ll serve him right,” Trina said. And then she couldn’t help but smile when Dommi jumped over a chair, and Sal, attempting to jump over it too, instead fell over it. When he came back up, his face was covered with dirt, but he kept on chasing Dommi. Reno was out-and-out bent-over laughing by now.

  Trina, trying hard to suppress her own smile, was scolding Reno for his laughter. “That shit ain’t funny, Reno! His wild-ass is completely out of control!”

  But Reno dismissed her concern. Not because she was overstating it, but because he didn’t want to face it. “That boy wasn’t getting any further than Sal’s gate. Besides, it’s just a fender-bender,” he added, between laughs, although the damage to Sal’s Bugatti didn’t square with that statement at all.

  And Tommy, smiling too, looked over at Gemma. “Still sure you want to remain a Gabrini?” he asked her jokingly.

  Gemma looked at Sal and Dommi running across the estate like fools, and at Sal and Trina’s wrecked cars, and she smiled. “There’s never a dull moment,” she said. “That’s for sure. So yes, Tommy. I’m proud to be a Gabrini. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

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