Fahrenheit 1600 (Victor Kozol)

by Jerry Weber

  Karen notices that all of Sam’s attention is now on Vic, and the garage door is open. She bolts for the opening and gets almost to freedom when a bullet bites into her left shoulder. Karen is stunned, but hoping it’s a flesh wound keeps running. She continues to run. Sam’s second shot goes wild because Vic gives him a shove just as he fires at Karen again.

  If Sam were thinking right he would finish off Victor and then catch up to, and finish off, the wounded Karen. But Sam is too enraged and can’t get the scenario out of his mind of cremating Vic alive. He backhands Vic with his pistol. Vic falls in front of the retort and pretends to be knocked out cold. Thinking Vic is taken care of, for now, Sam leaves him behind and rushes outside to pursue Karen.

  Karen, not knowing where to run, stays on the street heading away from the garage. Sam spots her white coat reflecting off a streetlight at the next intersection. He darts through a wooded area hoping to head her off before she can make it so the next intersection and the safety of some houses. It is just before the second intersection that Sam surprises Karen, who confused, hesitates as she looks for which way to turn. She is also getting light-headed from loss of blood.

  “Alright girl, we are now going back. This time I finish you off right here if you make one sound. Now march!”

  Upon entering the garage with Karen ahead of him, Sam scans the retort, but there is no Vic lying there. He turns around with his gun still drawn looking for Vic. But, still no Vic anywhere in sight, just shadows and silence. Sam walks towards the retort where he last saw Vic, when out of the corner of his eye sees Vic coming at him with a leftover piece of two by four.

  Sam holds up his right arm to deflect the blow; however this is his shooting arm and his gun is knocked loose and slides under the Suburban.

  Sam says, “I hadn’t planned on killing you with my bare hands, but it will give me great pleasure.”

  Vic is now too pumped up to stop, so he lands a second blow on Sam’s shoulder. Sam grabs the plank and rips it from Vic’s hand. Vic immediately closes the distance with Sam and begins to wildly pummel him with his fists.

  Out of nowhere Aunt Sophie appears with a pavement brick and smashes it into Sam’s face just as he is about to land a roundhouse on Vic.

  Sam’s legs buckle from Sophie’s blow and his upper body slumps into the opening of the retort. Vic is trying to hold Sam’s lower body against the retort so that he can’t get any leverage. Karen, unfortunately weak from her gunshot, is slumped on the floor and can be of no help.

  Vic yells, “Sophie, push the second red button!” Sophie searches for the button, but Sam is beginning to slip out of Vic’s grip; just then the hydraulic door began to close, clamping Sam’s head between the closing door and the floor of the retort. Sam screams, but the pressure crushes his skull as Sophie refuses to release her pressure on the button. In two more seconds Sam goes quiet—his life is over.

  Vic and Karen are once again surrounded by police and EMT personnel. Karen is taken to the hospital with Vic left to answer questions to the authorities. Sam’s body, released from the retort, lies dead on the floor. Sophie stands silently in the background.

  Later at CMC hospital, Vic is in Karen’s room and she is sitting up looking much better than at the garage. Her wounds are superficial, but they did cause a considerable loss of blood. Sophie is seated in the one chair looking on.

  “Sophie, how did you get there?”

  “Well, every Friday, I have dinner with Esther at the Silver Bell Dinner in Duryea. I never was satisfied that this thing was over, so after finishing, I got in my car and instead of going right home I decided to cruise by your funeral home. Parked at a funny angle was this large gray Lincoln with New York plates. I thought this was suspicious, so I parked and walked up to your place and rang the bell. When I didn’t get an answer, I walked around the back and saw the door wide open, but nobody there. I didn’t know where to look, but I knew of your crematory down the street, so I just decided to go there.

  When I saw your SUV lights on and heard voices, I crept up to the door, and, well, you know the rest.”

  “Sophie, I can’t tell you how much that intuition meant to Karen and me, but any hard feelings I had towards you are gone. And, you have my sincere apologies for the past.

  CHAPTER 40

  Duryea Revisited

  It has been some time since the violence culminating in the drama ending with Sam’s death at the crematory. The tally is: Victor up one, and the syndicate lawyer Sam, Milt, and Vinnie all dead; plus, another mob soldier and his boss indicted by the feds. However, there are other closer to home consequences to all of this. To have a shootout between the FBI and the mob in Duryea is not everyday news. And how many mob lawyers get their heads crushed in a crematory retort? This is more like having Martians landing in the town. People can’t stop talking, and the local papers have run countless features on their front pages.

  Finally, the local TV stations were interviewing anyone willing to comment on the events, and running the clips on the local evening news. The once bumbling Vic is now a huge celebrity. But, is he a good guy or a villain? If John Flaherty and the FBI are willing to spin it that Vic was helping in an undercover operation from the beginning that would be one thing. However, if it comes out that Vic initiated all of these events because of his underworld dealings public opinion might be much different. Will the Justice Department allow a report that shows Victor in a good light?

  Vic’s lawyer, Steve Lamont, is in a case more complex and higher up the legal food chain, than any other local lawyer has ever seen. The authorities and Steve work out a compromise in which Vic admits to some initial wrongdoing. But, then they must concede the fact that he risked his and Karen’s life to help apprehend the criminals. He is now a genuine local hero.

  Most people in Duryea want to believe the second part of Vic’s role because in a small town, even an unpopular local trumps a crime family from New York. Vic will get a pass on the initial illegal cremations since he didn’t participate in or was he complicit in the actual murders of those individuals. In exchange, he has to agree to testify as a government witness as to his part in any trial of those mob family members now under indictment.

  CHAPTER 41

  A Future

  Vic and Karen both know they have to make something positive happen with their lives. Karen has always been ambitious, but Vic needed a whole new makeover after his life had been turned upside down.

  “Vic you have to put the same effort into your future as you used to put in college beer parties.”

  She then gives him an ultimatum. “Vic, I am not getting any younger. I am now twenty-eight, and you are what I have to show for my social life up to this point.

  We either make this work together, or I am out of here. I can’t say being with you hasn’t been, to say the least, exciting. And, no one can hold a candle to the experiences you and I have gone through. But, this is not how two people who love each other should spend their lives together. We seem to just be going from crisis to crisis.”

  “I need time to sort all of this out Karen, maybe we could just continue to see each other until all of this is behind us.”

  “No Vic, that is not how this is going to go down. If I walk out this door tonight, I am gone for good. I want no more procrastinating, lethargic spells lasting for weeks, or indecision about your future. I will not stay with a man who continues the behavior you have in the past. So, what’s it going to be?”

  “Karen, I love you, but I have to be sure that I can provide a future for the two of us.”

  “I love you too, but I will not hesitate to come down on you worse than the mob if you ever revert to your former ways.”

  “I understand Karen, I needed that.”

  With that Vic gets down on one knee and says, “I am tired of whining and thinking of what might have been, I promise to be a man you will be proud of. Will you marry me?

  “Yes, yes, we can rebuild our lives right here where we have family
and friends to support us.”

  “I think I know how to rebuild the business I trashed. It could make for a good living for us as it had for my family for three generations. Then, we can tell our parents and start planning for a new life together.”

  Karen’s parents, Fred & Sue Schmidt, are more urbane and liberal than Vic’s people. Since neither of them came from a small town, they see things with a more cosmopolitan view. They now live in Scranton, a city of seventy-five thousand, which is ten times the size of Duryea. Fred, a transplant from Philadelphia, is a foreman at a local plastics plant and Sue is a pharmacist’s assistant at a local drug store. They are actually thrilled that their oldest of two daughters is going to marry Vic. They believe him to be intelligent and personable, and hope that he will do what is necessary to make the marriage successful. Their youngest daughter Jean is already married with a baby.

  Vic’s side of the family is a bit more complicated. The provincial leanings of his parents show through when they come to Duryea to meet the future Mrs. Kozol.

  Albert says, “Vic she might be a nice girl, but her name is Karen Schmidt, and with a mother’s name like Flaherty, we don’t see one ounce of Polish heritage here.”

  Vic’s mother chimes in, “A German father and an Irish mother might be fine in Scranton, but what will people say here in Duryea?”

  “Look Mom, she is after all, Catholic and educated, with a profession. Her new last name will be Kozol not Schmidt. I think she will do fine, even if she doesn’t speak Polish. By the way neither do I!

  She will be a great partner to help me salvage this business. Karen is a people person who makes friends and fits in. Look Dad, I want you to reconsider about the business, if you sell it now, you will get little more than the property value.”

  “All the years I trusted you Vic and you always fell short of your promises and my expectations. I am going to reserve final judgement on the business until later. As for you and Karen, you have our blessings to get married. That is, if she agrees to get married at Holy Rosary Church with Father Sosnowski officiating.”

  “Always thinking of the business dad, we’ll see.”

  Karen and Vic were married in an old fashioned Polish style ceremony that spring. First, there was the concelebrated Mass with three Priests (one a cousin of the family from Cleveland) and of course two vocalists one who sang “Ave Maria.” A parade of four white limousines carried the bridal party around town that warm and sunny May day.

  Next, was the reception at the church social hall with three-hundred in attendance. There was kielbasa, pierogi, kuegele, ham, and turkey. In addition a seven tier wedding cake with the ubiquitous miniature bridal couple on the top graced the head table. There was also enough beer, wine, liquor, and other beverages to last for two days, a five piece polka band, Franky and the Coal Miners, to keep the tempo upbeat. There was a bridal dance where everyone lines up to put money in a hat for a dance with the bride. With three-hundred attendees each dance lasts about 10 seconds. This is followed by the ‘kidnapping’ of the bride by the attendants. After a suitable time, Vic rescues Karen by paying a ransom to the best man; Karen is then returned to her groom.

  The next day the couple flies to Bermuda for a non-Polish honeymoon.

  CHAPTER 42

  Clouds on the Horizon

  Upon returning from Bermuda, Karen and Vic settle into the apartment above the funeral home in Duryea. They get busy scrubbing, cleaning and polishing the funeral home. Vic is now getting at least a funeral a week—which for him is the best it’s ever been. After a month has gone by, they have not heard from Albert. So, Vic calls Florida.

  “Dad, we should sit down and talk about my future. You said after the wedding, we could sit down and talk about me buying out the business.”

  “Vic, what I said was that we would talk about it afterward.”

  “Well, this is the time.”

  “Okay, then here is the problem. Mom and I went through some horrendous months last year. There were the late payments from you, the fire, the bad reports from the townspeople about your actions. I saw the books. Half of the business is gone. What took two generations to build you destroyed in a couple of years. We don’t think we can risk our retirement on the premise that you can turn around an already damaged business.”

  “Are you telling me that after all of the promises I made to Karen, plus getting myself psyched up to finally do something here, that it’s over?”

  “Well you see Vic, my old friend John Postupack in Wilkes-Barre, has a son Bob who got his Funeral license a couple of years ago. He has been working at the Driscoll funeral home down there, and would like to have his own place. So, John and I sort of have a handshake deal where he would take Duryea off my hands. Look Vic, you always said you didn’t want the business. It was I who was forcing you to do something you never wanted to do in the first place. What you did in your first year was just short of criminal negligence.”

  “Okay, you have made up your mind, but don’t expect me to hang around and show the new guy the ropes. We are out of here now.”

  “Let’s not be too hasty here, I’ll pay you to help make a smooth transition to the new owner.”

  “Dad, I don’t want your money, I would rather sell apples on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre than kowtow under this ultimatum. Karen and I will move to her place next week, and you can get one of your old cronies to cover the place until you do the deal with Postupack. I have never been so hurt and humiliated! You can have your wedding present back too!”

  With that Vic slams down the phone and is seething and kicking things around the apartment.

  Karen arrives later that night after her shift at the hospital and surveys the mess. This time Vic is not drinking, he is just sitting in his corner chair staring into space. Vic tells Karen the entire sad episode with his father. She is devastated too, as she told her entire family about her new life centered around the funeral home, now down the drain with one phone call.

  “Do you think your father would reconsider, Vic?”

  “Hell no, he already has the joint sold. Once he takes action, right or wrong, he carries it through.”

  “Well, I guess I have to call my landlord in Scranton and ask him to stay. I think he will say alright. But now we need a new future. I can keep my job at the hospital, but you Vic will have to decide what you will do for the future. I am just so sorry for you Vic.”

  Vic contacts a couple of old friends, who agree to help him move some of his furniture to Scranton. However, most of his things won’t fit since Karen has an already furnished one bedroom apartment. His friend Mike Elchock has a large garage and offered to let Vic keep some of his furnishings there. After a couple of days, reality has set in deeper about the loss of the funeral home.

  Karen remarks, “What are you going to do about the cremation retort? We still own that.”

  “First, I only have a lease on it, secondly it sits in my father’s garage.”

  “Vic, what if we buy or rent the garage from your father, and keep the cremation business as a separate entity? Could it work as a separate business?”

  “Well maybe, but I would need to do a couple hundred cases a year for it to make financial sense. Plus, we have no money to buy the garage from my father.”

  “Let me talk to my father,” Karen interjects. If he would loan us the down payment, we could buy the garage from Albert. We would at least have an income.”

  “Dad, it’s Vic. Look, I’m sorry I blew up at you last week. The whole thing was too much for me to grasp at one time. However, I have had time to cool down and think and would now like to cut a deal with you.”

  “Apology accepted, what can I do for you son?”

  “As you know the crematory lease is in my name, but you own the new garage I had rebuilt with the insurance proceeds. I would like to lease the garage with an option to buy it from you. I could then continue to run the cremation business independent of the funeral home.”

  “Geeze Vic, t
he new buyer already asked to include the garage in the sale of the funeral home. He is buying new cars and needs room to store them.”

  “Okay then, I will have to get the retort out of there. Can you give me some time?”

  “Yes Vic, but in exchange you can help me by staying in Duryea until the new owner can close the sale.”

  Vic is once again nowhere and now has to either give the crematory retort back to the manufacturer or find a new home for it. He and Karen are sitting together in the funeral home apartment and realize that all is slipping away.

  Karen says, “Vic your friend Mike who is letting you store your excess furniture has that big old garage five blocks from here. Maybe we could lease it and move the retort into it?’

  Vic calls Mike who agrees to a three year lease on the property subject to Vic getting all of the zoning and other approvals for a crematory.

  Vic now has a plan, but no money. Just moving the retort will cost $5,000 not to mention hookups and remodeling. Karen comes through again.

  “Vic, I talked to my parents and they will loan us $20,000 to move, remodel, and have working capital to start-up the crematory business. They want no interest, but you can pay it back in the first three years of operations.”

  “Karen I can’t take charity, what if I fail again?”

  “First, it’s a loan. Not charity. Second, Vic, you won’t fail. Together we will make this work. Let’s take the offer.”

  CHAPTER 43

  Starting Over

  Vic finally has a way forward, giving him new energy and resolve. First, he shows Bob Postupack around and orients him to the funeral home he is buying from Vic’s dad. Here, Vic notices that this guy has no personality and the people skills of a robot. While not surly, Bob is clipped and almost military-like in his responses. Vic tells him that all the embalming chemicals are in the closet next to the morgue. Bob’s response was, “roger that, copy.” This is just something to file away for future reference as Bob will be dealing with the Kozol families. Vic has his own future to deal with.