“Oh, Jim, Jim, how could you even think that of me”, cried Phyllis vehemently.
“Dino called me …”
“Dino! That’s rotten, low-life bastard … He came here today … sure, he came with one thing on his mind. And when he couldn’t get it, his conceited pride was hurt. Oh, Jim, how could you, … how could you believe that rat”, she cried, throwing herself in Jim’s arms.
“You didn’t … baby, I mean …”
“Nooo”, she wailed. “Nobody but you, Jim. You’re the only one. I wouldn’t even look at that greasy bastard. If I see him again, I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him”, she screamed.
“There, there, take it easy, baby”, said Jim, holding her closely in his arms. “You cry if you want to. I’ll take care of Dino”.
Phyllis cried and cried, and soon she couldn’t cry anymore. She just sobbed for a long time as Jim held her, and kissed her head. “I’ll get him for this baby, for all of it”, he said.
“Please don’t do anything, … please, let him go. Don’t fight. He isn’t worth it. And I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you …”
“But baby …”
“Please, Jim, no fight. If he’s capable of this, he’s capable of anything, and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you”.
“Don’t worry baby, … I’ll get him”.
“Please, Jim, please”, she began to cry again, “please promise you won’t fight”.
“But …”
“Please. I don’t want anything to happen”, she looked up at Jim and kissed his lips softly.
“All right”, he said softly, resignedly. I won’t … Don’t cry anymore”. He held her tightly and she rested her head on his shoulder again.
“Hey, Dino, Jim wants ya on’a phone”.
“Okay, baby, thanks”, said Dino getting off the bar stool. “Order another round will you, Bob?” He walked into the back dining room and picked up the receiver off the shelf in the phone booth. “Hello, Jim …”
“Listen, you rotten son of a bitch bastard, … I got the whole story from Phyllis and if I ever see you near her or me again, I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you”.
“Hold it. What the hell is this? What’d I do?”
“Did you really expect to get back at her for not going to bed with you by telling me that … you miserable low life …”
“Now wait a minute …”
“No, you wait a minute … I’ve got to get back to her. She feels bad about this whole thing … That’s another thing I’ll get you for … making her cry … Just keep out of my way, punk”.
Dino sat in the phone booth dumfounded, holding the dead receiver in his hand. Finally he got up and walked absently back to the bar.
“What’s up, man?” asked Bob. “Somebody slip you a Mickey?”
“Kind of. The guy’s chick makes a pass at me and I tell him, because he’s my buddy and I don’t want him stuck with a chick that’s on the make. So she tells him I tried to make her, and now he wants to kill me … I thought he should know and he believes her lying mouth and he wants to kill me”.
“They shouldn’t make handsome guys with feelings. It’s a contradiction of parts. Don’t you know the guy wouldn’t believe you no matter what you told him, no matter if you went to bed with her or not. Phyllis can wrap Jim around her finger, and you expect him to believe you?”
“So what are you supposed to do—let him get married to a tramp?”
“So what did you do? You told him and where’d it get you. He didn’t believe you and he never will, … and you missed out on a good lay … So what did it get you—nothing. You even lost on the deal. You told him because you cherished your friendship, … and you even lost that”.
“That’s right, you know. If I went to bed with her or if I didn’t, if I told him or not, it wouldn’t have made any difference. I could’ve gone to bed with her and he still would believe her. Maybe I should’ve”, Dino said, laughing hollowly.
“Yep”, said Bob smiling a deep meaningful smile, his eyes twinkling slightly. He nodded his head and laughed softly.
TENNIS, ANYONE?
Earth had been spinning in orbit for eons. Its internal fires were cooling from the original burst of energy infused at the inception of its journey through space. Its course had been regular, peaceful, and uninterrupted. Suddenly, on a fine Spring morning, without rhyme or reason, the earth shuddered, almost shattered, stopped, its houses and people scattered as twigs, buildings collapsing, glass shards flying, rivers overflowing their banks. All the elements of nature were transformed from an ordered system of existence into a polyglot mass of rubble.
And then, as suddenly as it had happened, the cataclysm was over, earth rose again, bearing on it now, not glistening, proud civilizations, but splintered carcasses. The course of its orbit was different now, the world was completely reversed.
And from somewhere light years of light years away, a shattering, ear splitting voice, so loud as to fill the vault of the heavens themselves boomed:
“Double fault. That’s set point. Match to Rongdfmo”.
And the stray sphere that was called earth continued its course, toward a fence of that ethereal tennis court, surely to bounce again in perhaps two or three million earth years.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by John Nicholas Iannuzzi
ISBN: 978-1-5040-3649-8
Distributed in 2016 by Open Road Distribution
180 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038
www.openroadmedia.com
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