by Taylor Hill
“That’s beside the point,” Sal said, “if I tell you to be somewhere, you be there, capice?”
Ferret and Eyeball murmured their agreement and Sal sighed.
“Screw it, you’re probably right,” he said, “who wants to sit in a classroom all day when there’s money to be made? We’ll have a few words with Goldberg, see about getting a pass guaranteed. In the meantime, let’s go find that Guilianno piece of shit. We’ve got some work to do and it’s about time we put that little bastard to the test.”
They met Lou outside Flip N’ Chip’s where he’d been in checking his hours, and together the four of them walked back to Sal’s car. Lou seemed a little quiet today for some reason Sal couldn’t understand, not that it caused him much concern. The prick had been acting moody ever since that little tiff he’d had with his girlfriend in the cafeteria a few days back and Sal wished he’d just man the fuck up. The kid had had everything handed to him on a silver platter in his life and he still acted like a little bitch whenever things weren’t going his way. It made Sal sick. All the same, he considered, it might have had something to do with the Morelli guy too—Lou had been making excuses for the old man for weeks now and Sal had just about had enough of it. Now though, the matter would finally be resolved—whether through Sal getting his money, or Gino going back to the hospital for a spell—and Lou would be the one to make it happen.
“So what are we doing here Sal?” Lou asked from the backseat, where he was sitting beside Eyeball. Sal was taking the car back across the city towards the Orange Grove.
“We’re going to see your old friend,” Sal answered, “it’s about time we got this thing sorted out.”
Lou didn’t respond at first and when Sal glanced up at him through the rearview mirror he saw that the kid looked like he’d been sucking lemons. Good, he thought.
“Now I’ve been very patient with this matter,” Sal continued, “but the fact remains my young friend, that if I’d sent Dumb and Dumber here to do the job, I’d have had my money weeks ago, ain’t that right boys?”
Ferret and Eyeball merely muttered in reply, obviously not happy at the insult but unable to voice their misgivings due to the hierarchy of the system. Yes, Sal reflected, the life of a Capo had its perils but it was, at the end of the day, a rewarding one. He glanced sideways at Ferret as he drove the car through the busy city streets.
“And if you’re wondering which one is Dumber,” he said, “It’s you, Ferret. Eyeball, give him the thing.”
Eyeball reached down to the floor behind Sal’s seat and picked up the five iron golf club that had been lying there, passing it over to Lou, who had been hitherto flicking through the screen of his iPhone.
“This is what we used on him last time,” Eyeball said, eyeing Lou closely.
Pocketing his phone, Lou took the golf club into his hand, swallowing noticeably.
“Yeah, we messed him right up,” Ferret chuckled, “you should have heard him screaming—‘Ahhh! Ahhh!’—sounded like a damn alley cat.”
“Shut the hell up Ferret!” Sal commanded, “Don’t you know Lou and that old man go way back?”
“Sorry Lou,” Ferret said, “I forgot.”
“It’s ok,” Lou said, finally now speaking at last, “business first, right? That’s just the way it is.”
“Exactly,” Sal smiled, nodding to Lou through the rearview, “exactly. You think we take pleasure in this shit? Beating up on old men? Hell no—well maybe Ferret, but not me or Eyeball, right Eyeball?”
“If you say so boss.”
“I do say so. But business comes first. The rules are the rules and if we don’t lay down the law then we don’t get paid. And if we don’t get paid then we get the fellas from downtown calling round, busting our balls, wondering where all the money’s gone. It’s an us or them kind of situation we got here Lou and now you’re in on it too.” He made sure that the kid caught his eye this time as he glanced up at the mirror again. “Because if you don’t get the cash for us off him, then it’s you who’ll have to pay.”
Traffic was heavy that day and Sal was growing antsy in anticipation of the upcoming violence, having already spent so long behind the wheel. As they approached their destination things eased off a bit and he began to savor the images of violence and domination that he conjured for himself—a little taste of what was to come—gaining speed as he did so. Now at last he’d have his chance to test the mettle of the kid they called “Junior Lou”. Would he turn out to be a flake just like his old man had been? Now was the time to find out…
“Hey boss, ain’t that Romeo’s car over there?” Ferret spoke up suddenly, as they cruised down a narrow side-street on their way towards the Grove.
“Ain’t that what…?” Sal muttered, irritated to have had his thoughts cut off like that when he’d been gleaning so much enjoyment from them. “How the hell would I know? Lou, is that the guy’s car?”
“Uh, yeah,” Lou said, leaning forward and looking out the window as they passed Romeo’s Lexus parked up on the street outside a little diner.
“Well shit,” Sal said, “I guess it’s your lucky day. Now the two of you can get that old bastard’s money for us while the rest of us watch the show. Look out for a parking space boys, we’re calling our man back to action.”
The narrow street was pretty busy and Sal drove all the way to the end of the block without seeing another space, but he’d told the guys that he was co-opting Romeo to the mission so he resolved to find a way. It was never a good idea to appear uncertain or changeable in front of the troops—not when any one of them might get to thinking they could do the job better themselves someday. He turned the car around and made his way back the way they’d came.
As they approached the diner, cruising slowly down the street, the doors opened and Romeo Mancini stepped out, as grim-faced as ever in his black leather jacket and jeans. Just as Sal beeped the horn, someone else stepped out behind him—a seriously sexy little blonde dame in a smart navy suit and pumps.
“Who the hell is that?” Sal muttered.
As the car rolled past, Romeo looked up and the guys waved, Sal closely scrutinizing Romeo’s female companion. Romeo’s mouth fell open as they passed him. What the hell was he up to out here, Sal wondered?
“Yo!” Sal shouted through the open window, “We’re going to turn around. Wait for us and then follow behind!”
Romeo waved his agreement after them and they continued down the street looking for a place to turn yet again.
“Damn,” Ferret said, “who the hell was that chick? Romeo’s been holding out on us. Wasn’t he supposed to be getting involved with your sister or something Lou?”
Sal glanced back at Lou and saw—with more than a little relish—that the kid appeared even more despondent than he had been before.
“Nah,” Lou muttered, “you think I’d let that jackass near my sister?”
“Hey,” Sal shrugged, “your sister’s a good looking gal. I might be interested myself…”
The other guys laughed but Sal made sure the kid knew that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t joking at all.
At that moment his phone rang and with one eye still on the road Sal whipped it out and brought it to his ear. It was Romeo and, just as he answered, they passed his car again and the kid pulled out onto the street behind them.
“Yeah,” Sal said, talking into the phone, “we need you for a little job, you and Lou… That’s right. Yeah. Now tell me this, you been holding out on us kid? How the hell did a mook like you bag a classy dame like that? Oh yeah? No shit? Well good for you. Ok, see you there.”
He hung up the phone and turned to the others. “Ex-girlfriend from back in New York, he says. She came down especially to see him. Lucky bastard.” He glanced back at Lou. “I guess your sister won’t like that much, eh Lou? Maybe she’ll need someone to comfort her...”
In the backseat Lou didn’t say a word for a moment, just gripped the five iron betw
een his fingers and stared dead ahead.
“Hey Sal,” he said finally, “why don’t you let me and Romeo go in there alone for this one? All of a sudden I feel like knocking some heads and you guys should stay back in case there’s any trouble, watch out for the heat.”
Sal was impressed. He chuckled approvingly as he eyed the stone-faced young enforcer in the backseat. “Sure,” he said, “why not? Just make sure you save that anger for the old man and don’t go taking it out on Romeo for screwing over your sister. You two bastards make too much money for us for me to let you jeopardize it now. Channel the force kid, but use it wisely. That’s how we keep the cash rolling in.”
Lou said nothing and Sal took it to mean that he’d understood the severity of his orders. Sal’s word was the final word and anything else the kid would just have to suppress. With Romeo’s car directly behind them, he turned off down a smaller road, the geography of the city now feeling a whole lot more familiar. The Orange Grove was just up ahead.
Right when I needed her most it was time for Lisa to leave me. Rebecca, the girl who’d been my roommate before heading off to Italy for a few months as part of her exchange was due to return and now Lisa had to give up her room again. She was going to stay with her sister for a few days while she waited for her new apartment to be ready, because she certainly didn’t want to be around Lou at the moment and neither, for that matter, did I. Everything he’d promised her had collapsed in on itself—not only had he failed to keep his other life from infecting the one they shared, but now it had infringed on her more than ever before—and the worst thing was he’d seemed totally unapologetic about the whole situation, as if it was something that he himself had been powerless to prevent. I was so angry at him I felt like I never wanted to see him again and I certainly didn’t want to talk to him, although I knew that I had to—at least once—just to make sure Gino was ok.
After I’d left the cafeteria that day, the overwhelming instinct had been to call Romeo, to beg him to put my mind at ease by telling me that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Gino. If I couldn’t trust Lou, I felt like I needed to trust Romeo, I needed to know that somebody out there was looking out for us and wasn’t going to let anything bad happen. Why I thought that could be Romeo even then I had to admit to myself that I didn’t know. If Lou himself hadn’t been willing to put himself on the line for Gino’s sake, why did I think that Romeo would when he had virtually no personal obligation at all?
In retrospect, considering the way everything turned out, maybe I should have called Romeo and certainly that was what my emotions were willing me to do, but I couldn’t deny that logic dictated it was Lou alone who I should speak to about it. It was only a shame I didn’t want to speak to him—not then, not ever, and certainly not while he was still in the company of those animals from the Orange Grove.
I was halfway back to the apartment by the time Lisa caught up with me, her chest heaving with breathlessness as she hurried to reach me. In my anxiety I hadn’t realized how fast I’d been going and I suddenly felt guilty about leaving her behind like that, at the mercy of those other creeps.
“Sandy,” she said, panting, “I’m sorry, I had no idea...”
I looked at her for a second and then threw my arms around her, clasping her body close to mine and burying my face in her shoulder. “Jesus Lisa,” I said, “it’s not your fault.”
We went back to the apartment and even though Lisa had been due to start packing up that day, she stayed over with me for one last night together. I shared an extremely cold and functional telephone conversation with Lou in which he assured me that he would look out for Gino and make sure nothing bad happened to him (as if he actually had control over those other guys) and swore that he’d had no idea about the true nature of the accident until just a couple of weeks previously and had been doing everything he could to make it right since then. I told him I didn’t believe him (which was almost true, I certainly wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t be sure) and when he asked to speak to Lisa I hung up the phone. That night, all the joy and fun that we’d had together since Lisa moved into the apartment seemed like scenes from a different life. Now the atmosphere was more like that of an unexpected funeral—it was as if right before our eyes we’d watched something beautiful just wither up and die.
Lisa went back to her sister’s place and spent the next few days helping out at the store. Neither of us felt much like going to class at the moment (not least of all because Sal and those other Mafia hoods might be hanging around), so we both agreed that we would take a few days off to think things over. I promised her that I’d come up to see her so we could give each other some support but when the time came I just didn’t feel up to it so I sent her a text to cancel. Over the next few days I had several missed calls and texts from Lou demanding that I call him, but from the person I wanted to hear from the most, I heard nothing at all.
I called Gino, just to make sure he was ok, and when he assured me that he was (and I’d sufficiently ascertained for myself that it was true—even if I found it hard to believe when he once again sang Lou and Romeo’s praises for helping him out), I told him that I had the flu and wouldn’t be in to work at the café for the next week or so. I’d just about had my fill of irresponsible, lying men and after all I’d been through over the past couple of months I didn’t know when I’d be ready to see him again. If it was true that he’d narrowly avoided disaster yet again, I still didn’t know if I could bear it the next time it happened.
Rebecca moved back into the room and for her, at least, life seemed to be going pretty wonderfully. She didn’t say what it was exactly, but I got the impression that she’d met somebody special over in Italy and certainly, she seemed like a different woman from the uptight, anxious one who’d left three months earlier. She had a lot of catching up to do with all her friends and family and because of that she was barely in the apartment at all from then on and I was, for the most part, completely and utterly alone.
The evening after I’d cancelled with Lisa, there was a knock at the door and I opened it to see my friend, standing there in her big red mac, her hands stuffed in her pockets.
“It was open downstairs,” she said, “I hope you don’t mind that I let myself in. I know I don’t live here anymore and all…”
“Don’t be stupid, Lees,” I grinned, “come on in.”
I made us tea and we sat down in the living room. If I’d thought things had been bad before, they were about to get a whole lot worse…
I’ve got some news,” Lisa said, breaking the silence with a sudden finality that unnerved me, “it’s not good.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“I saw Lou this afternoon…”
“That is bad news,” I said, smiling sardonically, but Lisa just frowned, her eyes wide with what seemed, bizarrely, to be pity. Suddenly I didn’t feel much like joking any more. “Lisa, what is it?” I repeated, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Romeo,” she said, “Lou told me that his ex-girlfriend from New York has come to town especially to see him. He says they’re all certain that Romeo’s getting back together with her…”
For a moment I felt nothing, like I’d heard the words but they weren’t even processing. I smiled. “Uh, is that it?”
Did I even care? Certainly I wanted to appear like I didn’t and why would I anyway, for that matter? Hadn’t me and Romeo both decided that we didn’t want to be together? And compared to what she could have told me as bad news, it seemed like I’d gotten off pretty lightly here, right?
“I know you and him kind of had a thing together,” Lisa continued, still studying me with those big wide eyes.
I laughed, a choked, forced sound, that clearly didn’t have much humor in it and said: “Jeez, Lisa, it’s fine. What do I care? Seems like it was you and Lou who wanted us to be together more than anybody… Maybe I should be comforting you guys.”
“Well Lou is pretty pissed about it,”
Lisa admitted.
I narrowed my eyes, suddenly remembering how mad I was at Lou in the first place. And wasn’t Lisa supposed to be mad at him too?
“So you decided to see him then.”
“Yes,” Lisa said, “I did. He had a lot of explaining to do and I thought I’d give him the opportunity to do it.”
“You shouldn’t have bothered.”
Lisa shrugged her shoulders awkwardly. “Sandy, he didn’t know. That stuff with Gino and those other guys happened practically before he even knew them.”
I stared at her, a hot rage bubbling up inside me. Surely she wasn’t sticking up for him here?
“And what?” I demanded, “He knows now, doesn’t he? If he was half the man he lets on to be he would have walked away from those guys the moment he heard that stuff. Gino was like a father to us.”
“I know,” Lisa said, “and believe me Lou does too. He’s pretty cut up about the whole thing Sandy and he’s doing his best to look out for Gino, but the fact is that if Lou wasn’t so friendly with these guys then they would have come back for Gino a long time ago. Between the two of them, Lou and Romeo are the only ones holding the wolves back from his door in all of this.”
It was too late, all that hurt, all that anger, was boiling over now and ready to erupt. At the mention of his name I was not myself but somebody else and I rose from my seat, levelling my finger in anger at my friend. “Don’t you mention those two to me ever again Lisa,” I warned, “I swear to God from now on I want nothing to do with either of them and if you insist on staying involved with them, well you can just go ahead and sign your own death warrant, because that’s how this shit ends—somebody dies and if it’s not you then it’ll be one of them. Now I know you don’t live here anymore but I presume you can still show yourself out.”
With that, I turned and strode from the room, slamming my door and ignoring her pleas to enter until finally, without another word, she gave up and left the apartment. I was alone again, hating myself now more than anybody.