by F. P. Lione
“So Nick,” I said. “You feeling better after the other night?” I noticed he wasn’t drinking too much tonight, and I wanted Denise to know he was a boozer at heart.
He didn’t try to hide it, he just said, “Yeah, I appreciate you looking out for me, Tony. You too, Joe.” He nodded at Fiore.
“Joe’s a good guy.” Denise smiled. “Still praying for me, Joe?”
“Always, Denise.” Joe smiled back.
“What about Nick—do you pray for him too?” she asked, half kidding. Denise is like Romano in that sense, they always bring up God. While Romano throws in some comment when Joe and I are talking, Denise says stuff like “Did you pray for me?” or “Is it true you go to hell for having sex before you get married?”
“Yes, I always pray for Nick too,” Fiore said, amused.
“He prays for God to protect me and tries to teach me how to pray about thousands of people dying around me and I’m the only one that lives. You know, real upbeat stuff.” Romano laughed.
“Joe, what are you teaching him?” Donna asked.
“I’m trying to teach him Psalm 91 for when he goes over to FD and Tony and I can’t watch his back anymore.”
“What was that Scripture you were reading the other night?” Donna asked. “You said you wanted to give it to Nick.”
“What Scripture? Oh yeah, about the fire. It’s in the Old Testament in Isaiah, I think chapter 43. God was talking to the nation of Israel. It said something like ‘When you pass through the water, I’ll be with you; when you pass through the river, it won’t sweep over you; and when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned.’ It says the flames will not set you ablaze,” Joe said.
“Yeah, but I’m not Jewish,” Romano said.
“No, but you’re still God’s child. The Bible says that if we are Christ’s, then we are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. That means that if you belong to Christ, you’re the seed of Abraham and his heir, so all the blessings God had for Abraham can belong to you.”
“Are you Christ’s?” Donna asked Romano seriously.
He shrugged. “I don’t know, I used to be. What about you, Denise?” Romano turned it on her.
Denise blinked at him. “I don’t know, I guess I used to be too, until I grew up and stopped believing in him. When I worked at Macy’s, there was this lady, Nancy, who reminds me of Joe and Donna,” she said, nodding her head toward them. “She was nice, she really cared about me. I went to church with her a few times, and I remember one time going up to the altar and saying a prayer, but I never followed through.”
Story of her life.
“It’s never an accident when God puts someone in your life that leads you toward him,” Donna said. “He’s reaching out to you because he loves you and wants to draw you to him.”
“That just doesn’t seem real to me,” Denise said. “The only reason I put any stock in what you’re saying is the way Tony has changed. He’s different now—I mean, he’s still Tony, but better. I wish he still drank though. Hey, you had a shot today!” she turned on me.
“It was half a shot and it was under pressure,” I said.
“Are you okay? Do you feel like you want a drink?” She looked worried and happy at the same time.
“I’m fine, I’m not gonna drink.”
“Denise, you and Nick should come out some Sunday and go to church with us,” Donna said, changing the subject. “Then you can see for yourself what we’re talking about.”
They looked at each other and Denise shrugged. “Maybe we will,” Romano said.
“What’s this ‘we’?” I snapped at Romano. “There’s no ‘we.’”
“What are you doing tonight, Tony?” Denise cut me off.
“I’m still on the ‘we,’ Denise,” I said. “You don’t know anything about this guy.”
Romano said, “What do you mean, ‘this guy’?”
At the same time Denise huffed, “Yes I do, Tony, and stay out of my business. Answer the question, what are you doing tonight?”
“I’m going home and getting some sleep.” I was dead tired now that the whole thing was over.
“It’s not even seven o’clock!” she said. “Nick and I might go up to Dave’s,” she said, talking about the neighborhood bar we practically grew up in. I hadn’t been there since I quit drinking, but Denise still goes there. “Why don’t you come with us? We’ll play some pool.”
I thought about it. I could talk her into giving me the envelope from the private investigator about Marie and keep an eye on Romano at the same time. When she showed me the stuff about Marie, she said she didn’t want me to tell my father and took the envelope home with her. I wanted it with me when I talked to him so I had something to back up what I told him. At the same time I didn’t want to be in a bar, especially one that I spent a lot of nights drinking in.
“Come on, Tony.” Denise read my thoughts. “I’ll make sure you don’t drink. You can keep an eye on Nick, and I can beat you both at pool.”
“Okay,” I said with a nod. “Let me go home and change first. What about you, Joe, feel like playing some pool?”
He looked like he was considering it. “We better not. The boys have school tomorrow, and we still have to go out to my parents’ house and get them.”
We said good-bye to Fiore and Donna, and we each got in our cars and left. I stopped home, changed into an old pair of washed-down Levi’s and a black T-shirt, and drove over to Bay Street where Dave’s Bar is.
Denise and Romano were still in their clothes from the party and were chalking up their pool cues when I walked in. They each had a drink. Romano was drinking beer, and Denise’s looked like a Sea Breeze. It was early and a Sunday and the place was empty, which was fine with me. I didn’t feel like meeting up with any of my old buddies. Dave was there though and grabbed his chest when he saw me.
“Hey, Dave, look who the cat dragged in,” Denise said.
“More like look what the sewer backed up. Tony Cavalucci, how you been, man?”
He came out from around the bar to get me in a bear hug. I’ve known Dave a long time, since I was a kid really. His dad ran the bar up until a couple of years ago, when he had a heart attack. I used to come in with my father when I was a kid, and Dave and I would play shuffleboard and eat barbequed potato chips and drink black cherry sodas.
“I heard you quit drinking,” he said.
“Yeah, it was getting out of hand.”
“You quit being my friend too?” he asked, looking hurt.
“Not at all, Dave,” I said, meaning it. “I just wanted to stay away from the booze for a while. I’m okay now.”
“Good.” He smiled and shook my hand. “Go shoot some pool. You hungry? I got turkey club tonight.”
“Nah, I’m good, I just came from my engagement party. I’m getting married in November.”
“So soon? She pregnant?” Dave tilted his head to the side like a dog that doesn’t understand what you’re saying. He reminded me of a golden retriever, friendly, with scruffy blond hair and big innocent eyes. He was dressed in his usual duds, black Harley shirt, threadbare jeans, and black boots.
“No, she’s not pregnant,” I said tiredly. I wanted to scream that I probably wouldn’t be getting married so soon if I was having sex, but I didn’t want anyone to know I wasn’t actually getting any. They just wouldn’t understand. Where I come from, sex comes first, marriage comes way later.
I played two games of pool. I won the first, Denise won the second. Denise’s friend Carla showed up, dressed in a short flowered dress with a jeans jacket thrown over it and high-heeled sandals.
“Tony!” she screamed. That’s what everyone knows her as, Carla the screamer. “Hey, Carla,” I kissed her cheeks and tried not to wipe my mouth. Carla’s made the rounds in the neighborhood, and I think I’m the only person she hasn’t slept with.
A couple of guys came in who were friends of Nick’s. They were all Italian except for one, all heavy on the attitu
de, wearing gold jewelry and lots of cologne.
I pulled Denise to the side. “I want the stuff you have on Marie,” I said quietly.
“Why?”
“Because I want to show it to Dad.”
“No, Tony. If you want to tell him, that’s your business, but you’re not getting the stuff.”
“Why not? I’m already telling him.” I didn’t understand her logic.
She waved her hand dismissively. “He won’t believe you.”
“When I was at the party I went down to use the bathroom, and I heard Marie on the phone with Bobby Egan. She was talking about emptying the bank accounts before she left Dad,” I said.
“Good. Then everything’s going according to plan,” she said, smiling.
“Why do you want to hurt him so much?” I asked.
“Why did he want to hurt us so much?” she countered.
“He didn’t want to hurt us—he just didn’t give us that much thought,” I said honestly. “It still doesn’t make it right for us to let her take his money. And remember, the money she’s looking to take is from our house. Technically, it should have gone to Mom.”
She put her head down and closed her eyes. “I’ll think about it,” she said.
“Well, think quick. I’m going into the city tomorrow to talk to him while he’s at work so he has to act right.”
“You’re telling him in front of his friends?” She looked appalled, which is ridiculous considering she wanted his viper wife to rip his heart out and empty his bank accounts on top of it.
“What time do you go to work?” I asked.
“I have to be in by ten.”
“Where do you work now?” She changed jobs so often I couldn’t keep track.
“The same place I’ve been at for eight months!”
“The motorcycle place on Bay Street? That’s a record.” I was impressed.
“No, it’s not my record. I worked at Macy’s for two years,” she said dryly.
I kissed her cheek. “Stay away from Romano, he’s too young for you.”
“No he’s not. He’ll be twenty-five, I’m twenty-eight,” she said.
“You’ll be twenty-nine,” I reminded her. “And he drinks too much.”
“Don’t worry about me, Tony, I know what I’m doing.” Famous last words.
I said good night to Nick and Dave and walked out to my truck. It was a warm night and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I drove down my old block toward the water and parked the truck. My old house was surrounded with a plywood fence to hide the construction that they were doing on it. I didn’t look at it as I passed. I just wanted to see the water.
It was such an awesome view from here. The Verrazzano Bridge stood to my right, the lights on it twinkling against the night sky. I looked across the water to the Brooklyn side and watched the fast-moving current head toward the Atlantic. To my left were the ferry terminal and the city. I could see the skyline and the Twin Towers spearing toward the sky, and I thought how much I loved it.
I didn’t want to get sentimental about it—I was afraid I’d start toying with the idea of going back to the bar. I shook it off and got in my truck and drove home. I watched Law and Order and read my Bible and was asleep by 11:30.
13
I woke up to the sound of someone banging on my door. I looked over at the clock—8:45. I threw a pair of sweats on, thinking it was Denise bringing the pictures of Marie, then I heard my father yelling.
“Open this door,” he yelled. He used a few choice words that I won’t repeat to describe the door.
“Hold on,” I said.
He banged louder now, and I found myself shrinking back a little at hearing him, like I did when I was a kid. My heart was pounding and that aggravated me, so I unlocked the door and yelled, “Cut it out—there’s people upstairs!”
He pushed past me into the apartment, and I looked to see if Marie was with him.
“What’s the problem, Dad? Why aren’t you at work?” I asked.
“You’re the problem,” he yelled. “And don’t worry about why I’m not at work. You stay away from my wife! You hear me?”
“Tell your wife to stay away from Bobby Egan,” I said. I didn’t plan on blurting it out like that, but I was still half asleep.
He got deadly quiet. “You two don’t give up, do you?”
“Who?” I wished I knew what he was talking about, but I was pretty sure Marie came up with a doozy to cover her tail.
“You and your sister, that’s who. Do you think I’m so stupid to believe a copy of an apartment lease that anyone could have signed? Marie told me she saw the lease and she could tell the signature was forged.” He was breathing heavy, shaking his head in anger.
“Where did she see the lease?”
“You showed it to her!”
“No I didn’t.”
“And you had pictures of her and Bobby walking out of the precinct together after work. They work together, Tony—they aren’t doing anything wrong. Forget it,” he spat. “It’s over with your mother. I wouldn’t go back to her if she was the last woman on earth!”
I ran my hands over my face and walked back to the door and opened it.
“Go home, Dad,” I said quietly and nodded my head toward the door.
“What?”
“You heard me. There’s no sense talking if you’re gonna be like this.”
“You’re throwing me out of here?”
This seemed to enrage him more.
“You come barging into my apartment, yelling loud enough for the neighbors to hear you, without even asking me what happened. If you made up your mind about what happened yesterday, then why’d you come here?” I put my hands out in front of me.
“I came to tell you to stay away from my wife,” he said through gritted teeth. “You and your sister have tormented her since the day you met her.”
“Yeah, poor Marie. I’ll tell you what, you can either listen to what I have to tell you or you can leave. And in case it means anything to you, I heard Marie telling Bobby Egan on the phone that she was gonna empty your bank accounts,” I said.
He waved me away. “She told me what you said! How you and Denise think since your mother’s sober that I’d go back to her. You think I don’t know these things?”
I wondered how all this ended up being my fault. His wife is a lying cheat and makes me and Denise look mean and conniving.
“Dad, you’re kidding yourself if you think Mom would ever go back to you,” I said quietly. “And if you think Denise wants you back with Mom, you’re kidding yourself even more.”
“You and your sister hate Marie.” He got up in my face again.
“I don’t hate her anymore,” I said. “But I don’t want anything to do with her either. Denise may hate her, but she hates you more. She doesn’t want to give me the pictures and the lease to show you. She wants to wait until Marie cleans you out and leaves you, and then she wants to let you know she knew all along.”
He waved me away again and walked toward the door. “Stay away from my wife. I’m not gonna tell you again,” he said as he went to leave.
“Hey Dad,” I called, and he looked at me. “Is Pete Catalano’s son-in-law the guy you were looking to invest your money with?”
“Why?”
“Because I heard Marie telling Bobby Egan about it.”
“You could have heard that from anyone,” he said.
“Maybe, but you and I both know I didn’t.”
He left then, but he didn’t seem as sure of himself as when he stormed in.
I took a shower, feeling myself getting enraged. He caught me off guard, half asleep, and now I was thinking of all the stuff I should have said.
I didn’t shave, but I charged up my electric razor so I could run it over my face before I went to work tonight. Michele was at work already and I couldn’t call her, so I thought about what to do today. I drove around the corner for coffee, a bagel, and the paper and ate breakfast in my kitchen.
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I packed up my laundry and put it by the front door. Now that I already saw my father, I might as well catch up with it.
My apartment didn’t look too dirty to me, so I did the basics. I took the sheets off the bed and added them to my laundry pile, sprayed the bathroom sink and shower with scrubbing bubbles, and swished my toilet.
I threw on jeans and a Yankee T-shirt and brought my laundry out to my truck. It was sunny out, probably around 75 degrees, a good day to be outside.
I drove to the Laundromat on Sand Lane and loaded up two machines. The place was empty, so I felt okay to leave my laundry there. One time I left stuff in the dryers and somebody stole my sheets.
While the clothes were washing, I drove up to Hylan Boulevard and went through the car wash. I had hosed it off the other day at Michele’s, but the remains of Romano’s puke were still stuck along the passenger side of the truck.
I went back to the Laundromat and threw my stuff in the dryer. These were good commercial dryers and I had it down to a science—four quarters, twenty-eight minutes, and the clothes were perfect.
My cell phone rang while I was folding, but I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello,” I said.
“It’s me,” Denise said.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at work.”
“Dad came to see me this morning,” I said.
“I guess Marie beat you to the punch,” she chuckled.
“How did you know?”
“Because that’s Marie. She lies through her teeth and gets her side of the story in first. Then she cries and does what she does best, leaving Dad dazed and feeling like a man and voilà—he falls for it again.”
“Well, I tried to tell him. Whatever happens now, he can’t say I didn’t warn him.”
“What are you doing today?” she asked.
“Nothing, I’m at the Laundromat folding my clothes, then I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Wanna go for lunch?”
“Sure,” I said. I had nothing else to do. I might as well get the scoop on her and Romano. “What time?”