by Jesse West
“Don’t talk to my mother like that! Judge and jury nothin, I’ll put you on your ass before the night’s over!” he shouted in a tough guy tone. Jack brought his attention to him immediately since he was hoping that Sal would be the one to step in because he was the one he really wanted to address.
“Well, I guess you’re doing fine over there aren’t ya?” he said to Sal sarcastically.
“Yeah, stick it up your ass. Uncuff me and take me on like a real man. Mister Judge won’t wanna use his bare hands, but you’ll tie up an entire family while pointing a gun at them. Are you such a little bitch that you can’t even fight one on one?” he insulted Jack trying to see if he could get a rise out of him. Jack was unfazed by these attempts as he reached over and grabbed a cookie from one of the trays on the table. He took a bite and gave Sal a rebuttal to have him point his anger in another direction.
“Mmm, good cookie. Ya see Sal, I’m not really afraid of a guy who apparently is still on disability after what? Two? Three years? After a while, people go back to work. But not you. You decided to stay here and help around the house. Well, if you wanna call sitting on your ass in your room doing nothing for anyone all day ‘help’ well, that’s you. Personally, I don’t think you get my point, but perhaps it can simply be answered by this,” he ate the last bite of the cookie then continued, “What ever happened to your disability checks?”
From the corner of his eye, he saw both Gene and Pauline take deep breathes as he asked Sal this question yet their straight faces did not alter. Jack has been trained to understand body language and detect liars with his own instincts, but he needed none of his skills to know they were hiding something; even though they were giving it away out right. He already did enough research into all of them to know everything that he needed.
“What are you talkin about?” Sal said in confusion, “I get my checks once every three months just like I’m supposed to, so yeah I get my checks.”
“And what happens to the money?” Jack asked him.
“Most of it goes to my mother to take care of things in the house and I keep a little for myself. So what?” He replied with confidence.
“Hmm. One check every three months?” Jack spoke with a joking tone in his voice, half sarcastic, but the other half clearly showing off that he knew something Sal wasn’t aware of. “Hmm, that seems completely logical. A man on disability for a few years now, has only been receiving checks once every three months.” He put his index finger to his lip and stood up with his other hand on his hip. You could tell he wasn’t taking what Sal said seriously from the tone of his voice and posture he came off mockingly because he knew that Sal didn’t know the truth of the situation. “You mean to tell me that doesn’t seem odd to you, Salvatore?” he looked right at Sal and noticed his confident stare began drooping in confusion. He looked over at Pauline.
“Mom, what is he saying?” he asked her nervously, part of him was beginning to feel something might not be right.
“Nothing, sweetie. Don’t listen to…“, and before she could finish her thought, Sue spoke up for the first time.
“Mom’s been stealing your disability checks.” She spoke out loud so everyone could hear. Jack smirked to himself, knowing he broke her.
“Wha…?” Sal couldn’t believe what he just heard; he could barely get the words out, “Mom…is that…” He was holding himself back from asking because he didn’t want to believe his sister but why would she lie, “…is it true?”
“Sal, I…“, she began speaking but Sue cut her off.
“They’ve both done it for years. They forge your signature on the checks and cash it themselves. They give you one so you would think that’s all you were getting. They figured you were too stupid to know better.” Her head never moved as she spoke. She kept staring into her lap and wouldn’t look up while she revealed this unbearable truth to her brother. She had no reason to keep their secrets anymore. She continued to gaze away from everyone until Sal finally spoke to her.
“How often?” he asked.
“Every week,” she replied, “You’re supposed to get a check every week.”
His expression dropped in incredulity. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His jaw fell opened as if it was unhinged from his skull. He just couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it.
“Tell me the truth mom?”
“She’s lying. She’s just mad cause we don’t love her as much as you.” Gene replied with confidence. Sue’s head whipped to face him with a gaze of unrelenting rage.
“I know you don’t love me,” she said, “I know I’m not your precious baby boy or first child all grown up. I’m just the lonesome daughter. I was raised in a house where all I wanted was the affection of my mother and father.” Pauline was staring at her the whole time she spoke; Gene refused to turn his head. “But you were both just too busy caring about the boys and giving them all of your attention. It’s like I wasn’t even there sometimes. I wasn’t important enough, and I never understood why. Why, Mom? Why don’t you love me just as much as them?” she screamed at her.
Pauline’s expression plunged into despair and she fell silent. She did not have an answer for her or at least one that Sue wanted.
“I’m sorry Sue”, Jack thought to himself as he watched on “but I knew you were going to be the one to break first.”
Sue fought back tears as she turned away and looked over to Sal.
“It’s true, Sal. It’s all true.”
Sal was still processing everything.
“You’re just a paycheck to them,” she said.
Silence filled the room as Sue leaned back up against the wall and stared at her lap. Sal sat there in disbelief, confusion on his face, and uncertainty of what to say.
“Why Mom?” is all he could muster.
She stiffened her lip and turned her head away, refusing to answer.
“WHY?!” he shouted.
“Because you are my son,” she replied, “and all you need is your mother.”
“I would’ve given you the money. I … I was still giving you the money,” he proclaimed, “You didn’t have to lie to me. You let me sit here believing that I was getting screwed by the system.”
Pauline turned her head away again.
“And you dad?”
Gene looked at him and without hesitation he said, “What do you need all that money for? A bigger couch? More ridiculous clothes? Your mother and I put that money to good use. It went to the house. It went to putting food on the table for everyone. It went to…“
Sal cut him off.
“My money! It’s not a matter of what it was going to, it was my money! That was my name you put on those checks! You could go to jail! I could go to jail! Did either of you ever think about that?!”
Pauline was still quiet.
“We gave you that name,” Gene said in a firm voice, “we could do whatever we want with it.”
Jack sat in his chair as this all unfolded in front of him, with a pleasured look on his face, as he watched their relationship crumble. All the lies have finally come to light. He stood up and walked back over to Sal, knelt down and in a slight whisper, but not low enough where the others couldn’t hear him. He said, “Now do you see why I have to do this?”
Sal took his stare off of his parents and looked right at Jack. They looked at each other for a few seconds in silence. He took a deep breath and leaned back. They shared a moment of acknowledgment as he understood at least why Jack was doing this even if it was a minor sympathetic acknowledgment. Despite being right, Sal still wasn’t going to take Jack’s side, at least not for now.
Jack had the situation right where he wanted it, but he got too confident. He forgot that he had left the gun on the corner of the table. He was too occupied with how successful things were going; he didn’t notice that Jimmy was looking at it in the first place. He didn’t realize he hadn’t looked over at the kids for some time. At this point, it was too late. His inattentiveness wo
uld backfire on him before he knew it.
While he was knelt down in front of Sal, Jimmy finally decided to take charge. He jumped up and ran around the table for the gun. Jack heard him running and turned around quickly.
“Shit!” he couldn’t think fast enough to spring up and reach the gun before Jimmy did. He reached across the table, but to his dismay Jimmy beat him to the pistol. He held it up and pointed it at Jack. Jack looked up at Jimmy and saw the nervousness in his face.
“Easy Jimmy,” he said trying to calm him.
“Listen Jackie, I … I don’t wanna do this man but … but you gotta let everybody go.” Jimmy declared with the gun shaking in his hand along with the shake in his voice. The rest of his tied up family began cheering him on for various reasons, cheering that he either shoot Jack or have him untie everyone.
“Atta boy, Jimmy!” Gene shouted.
“Good, Jimmy. Good, now have him untie us,” Bobby said behind him.
“Shoot him, Jimmy. Just shoot him!” Sue looked up and shouted at her son.
“Jimmy, look at me,” Jack was attempting to keep his attention on him. He did not expect this nor did he plan for it and he had to take control to the best of his ability without harming Jimmy, “Just give me the gun man.”
“Come on, Jackie. W…we…we can work something else out.” Jimmy said with a nervous tension in his voice. His body language spoke out his uncertainty of what he should do.
“Don’t give him the gun, Jimmy.”
“Just shoot him!”
“Make him untie us Jimmy”
“Jimmy, you shoot him. Right. Now.”
“Put him down, son. Put him down.”
“Don’t do it, man. Just listen to me.”
“Shoot him Jimmy!”
“Just listen to me, Jimmy.”
Jimmy stood there and listened to them all talk over each other, yelling and screaming. He was confused. The gun was shaking in his hands. He was trying to get words out, but he couldn’t muster putting them together into coherent sentences.
“I just wan…“
“Just gimme the gun Jimmy and it’ll all be alright.”
“Don’t you give him the gun boy!”
“Untie us Jimmy.”
“Jimmy. Give me the gun.”
“Shoot him Jimmy! Shoot! Him!”
“It’ll be alright Jimmy. Just do what needs to be done.”
“Give me the gun, Jimmy!”
“Jimmy.”
“Jimmy!”
“Don’t do it, Jimmy”
“JUST SHOOT HIM!”
“JAMES!” Sal screamed for his attention above everyone else’s voice and snap him out of his confusion. Everyone else fell silent and Jimmy looked over at Sal and listened to what he had to say.
“Give him the gun.”
This took everyone by surprise, even Jack. He turned his head slightly so to not fully take his eyes off of Jimmy.
“Don’t listen to them, Jackie’s gotta do what he’s gotta to do.”
This put a smirk on Jack’s face. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he thought.
“Uncle Sal?” Jimmy sounded even more confused now.
“DON’T LISTEN TO HIM JIMMY!” his mother’s scream nearly screeched. “JUST SHOOT HIM!”
“What are you doing, Suzanna?” Sal looked at her and asked. Her disheveled hair sticking to her face from sweat and tears, she was out of breath from yelling. They looked at each other and as Sal shook his head, she broke down into tears. In that moment, she knew she didn’t want Jack dead for what he was doing. She wanted him dead because for her entire life, the idea of her parents not caring about her was just a word she would put in her own ear. It was never made real to her; it was just a childhood fear she grew up with. But tonight, Jack made it real. He made it true. She knew he wasn’t to blame, but she didn’t know what to do anymore.
“Give me the gun, Jimmy.” Jimmy was too busy staring at his mother. He’s never seen her like this. In that moment, in his mind, his mother was just like him. No. Not like him. Worse than him. Growing up he always felt like no one cared. After his father left, Jimmy secluded himself from feelings. For a young boy to lose his father, it can leave a negative impact on how he grows up. Blaming themselves, hating everyone, and building an unwillingness to compromise. Jimmy saw that his mother, right now, was dealing with that same pain he’s had inside for so long.
“Jimmy,” he called to him again, this time getting him to glare at him, tears building up in his eyes, “give me the gun. Go over there and hug your mother,” he told him.
Jimmy stared at him for a second then, with little hesitation, gave the gun back to Jack and ran to his mother. He knelt down and held her in his arms. Jack took the gun and tucked it in the front of his pants and took a deep breath of relief knowing that didn’t end as bad as it could have if things went wrong.
He looked over at the girls and Vicky was looking at him with tears building up in her eyes. He looked down at Sabrina whose face was filled with tears as she held Vicky close to her, crying into her chest. He looked back up at Vicky and nodded for them to go to their mother as well. She mouthed, “Thank you,” to Jack as they ran over and embraced their mother and brother.
Jack turned and sat back down in his chair, took another deep breath, and glanced over at Gene and Pauline.
“You see that?” he pointed to them huddled together, embracing each other, “That is the love of family.”
Gene scoffed at this remark as Pauline chimed in with her own opinion.
“You think this means something? You blurt out a couple of things and get my kids to hate me. You think this is going to solve your problems?”
“No,” he replied, “But it’s not just my problems I’m here to solve.”
“Why haven’t you said anything to him?” Pauline shouted at Bobby who looked over at his mother, Jeanette, who had been silent while all this was going on.
“You haven’t said a single thing to your son since he’s been pointing a gun IN MY FAMILIES FACE!” he shouted at her, attempting to transfer blame. To all of a sudden not claim to be Jack’s father, admit to being the one that raised him, or take on any responsibility for his own actions.
“And she won’t,” Jack added on, “She’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to be doing.”
They both looked up at Jack.
“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” Bobby said with a slight attitude in his voice as if to not take Jack seriously.
Jack’s glare slowly moved over to him as he could tell the tone in his voice meant to be in an aggressive manner. He stared at him for a second then looked over to his mother.
“Playing her part,” he said, “as she always does.”
Nature versus Nurture
Jeanette and Mike brought baby Jack home the next day. Her mother and Emily were waiting impatiently for them to come home. Mike called to tell them that everyone was fine, since he didn’t go home that night. He and Jeanette stayed together all night with their newborn baby in the hospital.
The second they walked in the door, Emily ran to see her new baby brother. She was so excited to know she was a big sister now. It could’ve been more of how much she thought it was great to not be alone anymore. If it wasn’t for Jack, Mike and Jeanette would’ve both ended up back to the habits they were into before he was born. Mike didn’t want that, as hard as it was to give up, he and Jeanette both kicked their habits together for the kids.
It’s still tough for a family of four to grow and live happily in Brooklyn it is especially tough for the kids. When Jack was young, he was a good kid. Nothing wrong with him for the most part. He didn’t cry, he didn’t go through a typical terrible twos phase, he wasn’t even allergic to anything. Besides that he just liked running around the house naked. They lived in an apartment on the top floor of a four-story walkup in the middle of Bensonhurst Not the best of buildings but Jack loved living there. He loved looking out his window at the tops of houses and over at oth
er buildings. He loved watching the sunset behind the Verrazano Bridge during the summer with his sister and listening to the rain on his window.
Jack’s family wasn’t rich nor were they the poorest people in Brooklyn. Their apartment was basic and a decent enough size. It had three rooms, one big bedroom, one big living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. As Jack got older, he began sharing a room with his parents since Emily was also getting older and she deserved to have a room to herself. Granted, it was the living room, so there was no door and when everyone wanted to watch TV together they would all go in her room. So half of the room was normal living room and the other half was a girl’s bedroom.
Jack used to tear apart and ruin her Barbie’s because, well, that’s what boy’s with G.I. Joe’s do and it would drive her crazy. She was the big sister though and she used to tell on him all the time, but they would still get along. Jack didn’t know she wasn’t his full sister or that she had a different father because Mike treated her as her daughter and she called him daddy.
Mike worked hard as a medical assistant and Jeanette was a stay at home mom. Jack was a needy baby but Emily kept him company a lot of the time. Even though she was only three years old when he was born, she played with him all the time and Jack adored her. Emily was the one who gave him the nickname ‘Jackie’, she just started calling him that one day after hearing it on TV. As Jack got older he was still your typical boy. Refusing to eat the food he didn’t think looked good without tasting it, never wanting to take a bath, and didn’t want to go to bed when he was told. He loved watching movies with his father and eating pizza. Pizza was his favorite because he also loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. By the time he started school, a lot of that caught up to him.
Junk food made him a bit bigger than most other kids and not wanting to bath himself left its own noticeable mark. He was the fat, smelly kid in school. Those two things separate are the worst things to be for a kid and Jack was both. Kids picked on him every day growing up. His parents were good to him and you would think they would’ve instilled more discipline when it came to personal hygiene and better eating habits, but not every parent is perfect.