Story Il Agita di Amore

[Kathy in FL]

Il Agita de Amore

Or otherwise known as the story of Joey and Tony. I've been promising and promising to get something up for TB2K that hasn't been seen any place else and I finally got something started. This won't be a daily update story but I will try and get something up every few days. I need to finish a couple of other ones which are approaching that point as well as finish off the MJOTZY that has been hanging out there forever.

Tell me what you think of it. The beginning is different and you will go through a lot of backstory and character development before the disaster but the plot needs it.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Il Agita di Amore

Chapter One

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain …”

It was supposed to have been a nice, normal flight home from Las Vegas; we didn’t even have to switch planes or get laid over anywhere. So why the heck do these things always seem to happen to me? I swear, you’d think fate would cut me a break every once in a while.

“Way to go Joey. You jinxed us … again.”

“Kiss my left big toe Lucia. We would have already been home if you and the hungover Wonder Boy hadn’t made us miss our flight last night,” I said right back at the brassy red head I had called my best friend ever since middle school. Unfortunately I wasn’t sure she was still my best friend, not since she had discovered the double D’s - that had embarrassed the heck out of her when they suddenly popped up before we hit highschool - brought her an inordinate amount of admiration once we entered college.

The only reason I am even on this trip is because Lucia’s cousin Tony basically paid me to be her babysitter for the week. “I’ll pay you,” he’d said. “I’ll throw in some show tickets and some play money too; even cab fare for when she gets too drunk to walk back to the hotel. Just do what you can to keep Loopy Lucy from being a mamaluke and turning into a skid mark on The Strip. OK?”

“What about Bennie?” I asked with a smile, giving in despite my best intentions to keep my distance. I don’t know why I bothered, I already knew what his answer would be.

“Him you can lose. Preferably down an open manhole cover or to some guy named Scarface Malone.”

I laughed telling him, “Geez you love being a stereotype.” At his smile I told him more seriously, “You know the score Tony. If you keep interfering you’re only going to make her hang onto him tighter. If you would just leave it alone they’d probably break up and stay that way.”

“I don’t care what they do but they are driving my aunt and uncle crazy with this on again off again crap. Aunt Belinda is worried she is going to get pregnant before a wedding and you don’t need to hear what Uncle Nicky wants done to him. If they would just mettersi insieme and set a date he might calm down but they both want to fool around too much.” I shook my head knowing that my imagination was good enough since Nicky Moretti’s opinion of Bennie was no secret to anyone within a five-mile block of their house.

“It’s not Bennie so much as Lucia and you and I both know it. So does her dad, he just won’t admit it.”

Tony shook his head and I refused to argue about it again. Tony was, according to everyone in the neighborhood, a good guy even if he was a donnaiolo. Even my dad liked him – respected him even – which said a lot in my opinion. In fact, it was only the fact that my dad liked him that helped me to warm up to the guy in the first place. He used to scare me spitless with piercing black eyes, his Armani suits, and Bacco Bucci loafers. He looked very … Italian. But his name always gave me the giggles when his aunt said it all out when she got ticked off at him. Anthony Vencenzo Tommaso Guilio … MacGregor. That’s right, “MacGregor.” Tony is an honest to goodness Irish-Italian who was born and lived in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn before his parents were killed and he moved in with Lucia’s family.

My heritage is the opposite. I’m Italian-Irish and I didn’t even think about living in the state of New York – honestly didn’t think about the state of New York much at all – until my dad moved us there right as I started middle school. Before that we lived in places like Mobile, AL; Orofino, ID; Dover, TN; and Galveston, TX. My dad is an actuary … was an actuary; he had to retire last year after his second heart attack. Basically it was stress-related. Dad became an actuary because that’s what his father and both of his grandfathers had been but he hated it … hence the stress that led to the high blood pressure that led to the heart attacks. Ironic all things considered.

An actuary assesses risk and statistically speaking Dad was perfect for his job … calm, objective, and could play numbers the way Rachmaninoff could play piano keys. Statistics however always seem to have anomalies … and that describes my family to a tee.

My dad looks every bit as Italian as Tony but sounds like Andy Griffith. In fact the only thing Italian about Dad besides his looks is our surname and ethnic background. Dad’s first name isn’t even Italian. His mom named him Kincaid Balducci; Kinkaid was my grandmother’s maiden name. My grandfather … Dad’s dad … was run over by a train before Dad was born (another statistically anomaly). My grandmother’s in laws decided somehow she was at fault for the death of their only son despite the fact that it was his own father that sent him out to do an on-sight risk assessment; they cut her off. See Dad, according to Gran’s OB/gyn was supposed to have been a girl. Imagine the surprise when she turned out to be a he when he popped out two months to the day after the train accident. Then the inlaws tried to get custody of him. Gran basically gave them the Italian salute, cut them off, and left town to become a respected widow working as a secretary at an insurance company.

At the insurance company is where Gran met the man that would eventually become Dad’s step father. It was his fifth marriage and statistically it shouldn’t have worked … but it did; another statistical anomaly. Mostly I think it worked because Gran let Papa Ralph wear the pants in the family so long as she managed the household finances. Papa Ralph brought in good money – he was an amazing salesperson – but he was also good at spending it, and even better at giving it away to people that gave him a sob story. The sob story didn’t even have to be good, just good enough to get Papa Ralph to open his wallet. I miss Gran and Papa Ralph like crazy. Papa Ralph went like Elvis on his throne the day after getting a clean bill of health from his doctor and two months later Gran fell asleep in church and was singing with the Heavenly choir before the collection plate was passed.

Mom’s family is just as bad as Dad’s. Mom’s mother was a Hatfield and her Dad was descended from the McCoys. The family reunions I remember from my childhood were interesting I’ll say that much. One of the reasons why Dad took a job that moved us around so much was to avoid raising me and my two little brothers around all of the zaniness of our extended family. But everywhere we moved, within a few weeks someone would show up on our doorstep. An aunt here, a cousin there … our front door might as well as have been hung in the middle and revolved. Dad would eventually get fed up and simply move us again in order to escape. Mom would fuss but not much.

Eventually however Mom put her foot down and begged Dad to light some place where she could live long enough to actually get all of the boxes unpacked they’d been hauling around with them for so many years. Dad gave it a lot of thought then got the bright idea to pick a place as far from them all as he could … New York … and into a house conspicuously small and lacking in any kind of guest space.

Mom’s family stayed away because they imagined New York City was some type of modern day Babylon and Gran and her side of the family stayed away because Dad moved us into a small Italian neighborhood. Gran had never gotten over the insult from her first family and had been known, even years later, to sneer at the canned spaghetti and boxed pasta when she went to the grocery store. You could not have gotten her to step a toe anywhere near Little Italy even if the hounds of hell had been after her and chasing her that direction.

Yeah, I know it was an extreme reaction. No worse however than the day she found out our school served spaghetti and raviolis on occasion as part of the lunch program and she wrote a whole editorial to the local newspaper on how it was a crying shame that American schools weren’t serving American food anymore.

My first few weeks in our new home were miserable ones. I was worse than a fish out of water. All the kids in my new school heard my accent and automatically assumed I was just “some dumb, inbred cracker with only half a brain.” Then I got invited to our neighbor’s birthday party. I could tell it wasn’t her idea and was just standing around biding my time until I could escape when the school bully shows up.

I’d already had a couple of run ins with Donny Bonmarito but since he was the son of a local spacone with connections he pretty much could do what he liked and none of the adults would do nothing about him. That day he went too far and actually busted the lip of another neighborhood girl that I’d seen around. Everyone just stood around shocked, even the grownups that should have been all over the situation. Me, that was all I was gonna put up with because if Donny could get away with hitting the daughter of a respected man in the neighborhood he’d be all over me next like white on rice.

The pig was standing there smirking when I walked up and said, “Hey Donny, boys don’t hit girls.” Crack! I had grabbed the spalding the boys had been using to play stickball with and swung it mean and hard right between his legs. Donny let out a soprano squeal and keeled over right there. There was lots of noise about what had happened and even my Dad got a little worried for a day or two but luckily for me and the rest of us Donny’s ol’ man got sent upstate the next week and him and his mom moved to Atlantic City.

The real difference that was made was that the day after the party the parents of the girl that Donny had slapped showed up on our stoop in front of God and everyone and welcomed my family to the neighborhood. The Moretti’s are actually cool people and we had more in common with them than we could have ever have guessed. Both my dad and Mr. Moretti worked for the same insurance company, just different divisions … my dad as an actuary and Mr. Moretti as a fund manager.

My mom and Mrs. Moretti were both stay-at-home mothers and became best friends. They started and managed a neighbor garden, traded “secret” family recipes, and commiserated on the difficulties of raising twin hellions. Yep, another anomaly. My two little brothers are blue-eyed, strawberry blonde heart throbs now in their senior year at the local highschool. Lucia’s two little sistersare dyed in the wool blue-eyed brunettes a year younger than my brothers and if possible even wilder. I think the fondest desire of those two women is to see the twins marry each other. I shudder at the idea thinking what kind of diabolical menaces their offspring would be.

In my family I inherited my looks from Dad’s side of the family – brunette locks so dark in the right light it sometimes had blue highlights – except instead of his blue eyes mine were just plain brown. Lucia has these gorgeous green eyes I’ve always been envious of but her hair color … let me tell you ... she’s a natural blonde but in the last four years she’s managed to experiment with every hair color known to man and a few that wouldn’t look out of place at a manga character convention. I think the strangest was when she dyed her hair emerald to match her eyes. Every nerd on campus was after her, especially when she wore the get up that made her look like an Orion slave girl from Star Trek.

All in all New York isn’t such a bad place but the one thing I hate is the snow. You might be able to take the girl out of the South but you can’t take the South out of the girl. That’s why when it came time to go to college I worked my backside off and got a scholarship to some place nice and warm year round. USF is in Tampa, Florida and though occasionally known as the university of sun and fun, is no where near the party school that UF is which is where Lucia goes to school … or should I say went. She flunked out at the end of the last semester and the Las Vegas trip was her last hurrah before she has to face the music at home and tell her parents.

I was really concerned for her when I found out. Her dad can be tough and hadn’t wanted her to go away so far for school to begin with claiming she wasn’t ready and wouldn’t buckle down without him there to keep an eye on her. To put an exclamation point on it he told her that when she moved out she better get a good degree or a good job because she wouldn’t be moving back home regardless. She did OK the first two years but then she met Bennie, and the classes got a lot harder, she just didn’t feel like struggling or juggling to make it work anymore.

“Lucia … geez. You remember what your dad said. Where will you live? How will you live? You’ll have to start paying back those school loans now too.”

Flipping her hair nonchalantly she said, “Don’t be such a drama queen Joey. I’ll talk Pop around.”

“And if you can’t?” I asked considerably more worried than she obviously was.

“Then I’ll tell Bennie I’m pregnant and he’ll have to marry me.”

Shocked and appalled I said, “You’ll get pregnant? That’s your back up plan?!”

“Don’t be an allocco. Do you think I’m stupid or what? I said I’ll tell him I’m pregnant.”

That little piece of conversation illustrated, as nothing else had, how different we had become. Three years at college and I’m walking away with my bachelor in Finance. My spot in the graduate program is waiting on me when the fall semester starts and so is a graduate assistantship that will pay for nine of the twelve semester hours I have to take each semester. And if I’m not at school I’m at work to pay for what my scholarships don’t, including my room and board; no time to play when you are supporting yourself. And as far as guys go I can identify an anatomically correct doll but that's about it. I’m pretty sure the last real date I had was to the Homecoming Dance my senior year of highschool. I missed prom and just about everything else the rest of that year because of Dad’s first heart attack.

Don’t get me wrong, I'm not miserable or nothing. Mom and Dad helped me financially some my freshman year but medical bills, and now Dad’s early retirement, meant I had to get a brain and grow up fast. Besides, there’s the twins to think about. I guess it is a good thing they have decided to live at home and get their AA first since they really haven’t got a career path chosen. Mom and Dad need the help too since Dad can't do much lifting right now. Tony helped the boys get jobs in his firm’s mailroom on the weekends and they’ve been saving to pay for their books. Lucky for them they inherited Dad’s way with numbers and their test scores got them a sweet deal at the local community college. Tony has also been teaching them the in’s and out’s of investing. With their looks and their brains they should have it made once they’ve run off some of the wild oats they got in their systems.

Not that I’m jealous that they get the help and time to play when I didn't. I made my own choices and life has been pretty good to me too … except when it comes to mechanical things. The problem started showing up when I was very little and eventually became an inside family joke. My parents learned to avoid giving me certain types of gifts for my birthday or Christmas. Anything mechanical is susceptible to the vagaries of “Joey’s Jinx.” As an example, all of my reliable clocks are the wind up types because at least I have a hope of being able to fix them when they putz out on me; a digital clock just has to go in the trash and is a waste of money. The car I drive around Tampa is an old, junker '58 Chevy ... sucks for gas but I ain't gotta hook it up to no computer to figure out what's wrong with it either.

People outside the family don’t find it so funny; some won’t let me near their cars or things like that. I finally got my own apartment off campus rather than listen to my roommates complain about all their crap not working in the dorms. It got so bad and I got so tired of being embarrassed by it all growing up that I learned to fix everything I could. The rule in my family is you break it you fix it; as you guessed I spent a lot of time fixing things. As a matter of fact there’s not much I can’t take apart and put back together but a plane definitely falls into the “beyond me” category.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Due to unforeseen circumstances we are being directed to land at the nearest airport which in our case is in Atlanta. I’ll have more information for you as soon as I can.”

 

[seraphima]

Oh Boy, a new one by Kathy! Yippee!

 

[Deena in GA]

Haven't read it yet, but I'm doing a happy, happy dance that you're posting a story! WOO HOOOOO!!!!! Off to read what I know is going to be a fantastic story...

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Two

“Way to go Joey. What did you do this time?”

Before I could answer Bennie said, “Shut up Luce. It isn’t a mechanical issue or they wouldn’t have said we were being directed to land.”

Wow, I hadn’t realized there was a real brain under the muscles. I ignored the two love birds who had started insulting each other in a way that made me think that Lucia needed to come up with a backup plan for her backup plan.

I was looking for my calm center; no sleep and less for from spending all night at the airport, broke and praying we’d get a spot on the next plane made one Josephine Balducci one very edgy girl. I heard someone ask a flight attendant what was going on and she only repeated what the captain had already said.

The intercom crackled to life. “Upon landing the flight attendants will direct you to the nearest exit. Proceed there as quickly as possible and …”

I never heard what else the captain was saying as some lady in the back freaked out and started babbling about there being a bomb on the plane. Pandemonium erupted on the plane and there was chaos all the way down. I got clipped in the left eye and in the mouth by people jumping seats to get away from a family that looked Middle Eastern, while others headed that direction attempting some type of pile on. Another kick, this one to my head, left me woozy and disoriented.

Landing was something out of a disaster movie but whoever was flying the plane was a freaking genius. We didn’t run into anything or blow up though we did skid enough to fishtail the last few feet before coming to a full stop. Things were still bonkers when a Homeland Security Team rushed onto the plane carrying automatic weapons. Those of us that had stayed calm were quickly hustled off the plane (most of us having the presence of mind to grab our carry ons), but not direction into a terminal. I guess the others were held for questioning on something.

“What the …?!” I heard Bennie mutter as he all but duck marched Lucia to keep her quiet and in line.

“What the?!” pretty much covered it for me too. We were being hustled along towards a cargo bay door while planes were landing all around us and being off loaded. I nearly jumped out of my skin when my cell phone vibrated from where I had tucked it in the rear pocket of my jeans. I pulled it out and saw I had six texts from Tony and one from the twins.

Tony: “txt as soon as you get this”

Tony: “911 Joey. call home asap”

Tony: “forget call … as soon as you land txt me”

Twins: “PHONE HOME 911 HURRY”

Tony: “r u there yet”

Tony: “still cking”

Tony: “don’t give up conexion suks”

All I could think of was my dad. As we entered an eerily quiet terminal by some tunnel from the luggage area the phone vibrated again. It was Tony.

Answering it I asked frantically, “Tony! Is it Dad?!”

A strangely intense Tony responded, “Joey listen to me carefully. Where are you at?”

“Atlanta airport. They …”

Sounding somewhat relieved he interrupted with, “OK, that’s good. The twins hacked in and thought they found where your flight landed. Is Lucia with you?”

“Sure. Trying to find out about our luggage. She …”

He interrupted again this time a little viciously. “Forget the damn luggage. Get her. And Bennie too, he can make himself useful for once. Go directly to the car rental counter. I have a limo waiting for you.”

“Tony stop fooling around and tell me …”

With more of an attempt at patience Tony responded, “Baby Girl, don’t take this the wrong way but shaddup. Just do as I tell you and fast and then call me again when you get to the car. I gotta take care of things on this end. Just hustle your bustle and head out to the cabin.”

Click.

The cabin? I turned to find that I’d outpaced Lucia and Bennie by several yards. They were staring horrified and transfixed by a television monitor that pictured a mushroom cloud as it rose above some vaguely familiar cityscape. I don’t know where it came from but a deep calm fell over me. I walked over to Lucia and Bennie, took their arms and steered them in the direction of the rental car area wondering distantly how I was going to figure out which counter to go to. Thankfully I didn’t have to.

Right outside the facility stood a large man with a sign that read J. Balducci. I knew it was no coincidence. “I’m Ms. Balducci,” I told him.

“Name?” growled the man.

“Joey … Josephine … Balducci.”

A look of relief crossed the man’s face. He looked like he’d been a boxer at one point … or maybe a bare knuckles brawler; his nose had been broken more than once and his left eyebrow was permanently split by an old scar. “This way. Mr. MacGregor wants me to drive you to a place. We need to hurry so follow me and don’t look anyone in the face or let them get your attention. Just keep moving, the natives are getting’ restless.”

“What?” Lucia whimpered, still in shock … and a little smashed from the three drinks she’d had on the flight. She gasped when Bennie grabbed her arm and pushed her forward. He turned to me and nodded. Maybe Bennie had some uses after all; if he managed Lucia I would have time to do whatever else needed to be done.

In the end it took the combined strength and bulk (both considerable) of the driver and Bennie to push us through the crowd and then into the limo itself. The crowd of people was becoming larger, angry, and unruly. They weren’t panicked yet but it looked like it wouldn’t be long and I wanted to be far, far away when that happened.

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?!” Lucia yelled almost in a panic herself.

“Don’t get hysterical on me,” I warned her. “Tony …”

“Tony?! I should have known!”

Lately Lucia has gotten an attitude where Tony is concerned.. She resents what she thinks of as his nosey interference. To be honest Tony can be kind of bossy – maybe even pushy when you don’t want his help – but never to hurt the family. I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side but when he considers you family there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you. Tony has always treated me the same as Lucia and by extension my family … and all because I chose to pick up a spalding that day. He’s cool about it, but he can be an overprotective pain in the buttocks every once in a while.

“Keep your wig on girl. Tony is trying to get us someplace safe.” Turning to the driver – there was no privacy window – I asked, “Excuse me sir, but what is going on.”

He snapped, “Do I look like the newsman? Cain’t talk, gotta watch the road and drive for Chris-sakes. Turn the TV on back there and leave me drive already.”

Before Lucia could let fly with a few choice words Bennie pushed the on button of the monitor. All three of us stared in disbelief. There had been several simultaneous terrorist attacks on US soil as well as at many of our embassies worldwide. Reports continued to pour in from around the country with the most catastrophic appearing to be small nuclear devices detonated near Mobile, Alabama … thus explaining the vague familiarity of what I had seen in the airport. Not all of the attempted attacks had been successful but enough of them were that it essentially brought the nation to a complete standstill and had the world holding its collective breath to see what we would do.

If we hadn’t been wearing our seatbelts we would have been thrown around the interior of the stretched Lincoln Town Car as the driver was forced to swerve, weave, and slam on the brakes more than a few times while navigating the increasingly erratic traffic.

A phone rang up beside the driver. He picked it up and I could hear a loud, angry, and rather distinct voice issue from it. “Oh crud,” I thought right as the driving tossed it back at me. I’d forgotten to call Tony.

“It’s for you,” the driver said dryly.

Tony eventually wound down enough for me to actually understand what he was saying. Trying to cut short what I knew was bound to turn into one of his famous lectures on worrying the family I yelled, “Tony!” Having finally gotten his attention I told him, “Geez, you know I can’t understand one word in three when you start going off in Italian.”

“Good,” he said gruffly. “You shouldn’t know that kind of language anyway.” I could hear the relief behind his irritation. “Listen Baby Girl, the driver I had on standby can’t get to the warehouse so you’re gonna have to drive.”

“Tony … this Lincoln …” I started, expressing my doubts.

“Not the Lincoln Ragazza. I’ve got another vehicle stashed. The back is going to be loaded down but that’s OK. You need to get out of that city asap.”

“What about my family?” I asked still worried despite his earlier assurances.

“Your dad is fine. I’ve got ‘em loaded and we’re on our way out of here. I’ve got Leo riding shotgun with them while your brothers take turns driving. They think they’re freakin’ Mario Andretti. Tell Lucia …”

“Tony?!” I’d heard a scream that I nearly echoed but stopped when I also heard Tony yelling at someone to stop with the backseat driving already.

He snarled, “Relax!” To me he said, “It’s all right. Ana is just … being Ana.”

“You riding with the twins?” I asked in disbelief. Tony rode with the girls as little as possible as their dramatics on the road could be hard to handle.

Lucia looked like she was going to start talking again and I held my hand up in a stop motion so I could hear Tony because the connection was beginning to cut in and out.

“Just tell Lucy the family is doing fine. I’ll take care of them. Sounds like we’re losing the signal so listen up. You remember that combination I gave you?”

“Yeah,” I said hesitantly.

“Do you remember it or not?” he barked.

“Yeah, I said yeah already,” I barked back at him.

Calming he said, “Good, that’s good. Your driver is going to drop you off and keep going. You need to go to Level 2 and open bay 27 with that combination. You’ll find what you need in there to get out of Dodge. Check under the seats and remember what your dad and I taught you. I …” The connection squelched out for a second like a fax machine going off and I jerked it away from my ear. “Joey! Joey can you hear me?!”

“Yeah. Look, Tony …”

Then I heard an Italian expletive followed by, “Another one?! Head for the pier before we get completely cut off.” As if realizing I’d overheard something I wasn’t supposed to Tony turned his attention back to me and said, “Don’t worry. Just head straight for the cabin. Tank is full and there’s extra cans to help get you there. Joey … Josephine …”

I sighed realizing something I hadn’t wanted to know before. “Tony … stay in one piece. OK? I’ll drive from my end, you drive from yours … we’ll … we’ll meet up.”

A static-y silence filled my ears for a long moment before he said, “You just get to the cabin. Me knowing you’re safe will be a good thing.”

I tried to say something back but the connection died. I was still debating whether to call him back when a sharp right following by two more and then a sudden left put us at the door of something that looked like a parking garage with walls.

“Get out,” the driver said in a strained voice.

I was pulling on my backpack and grabbing my carry on when Lucia started up again causing the man to scream, “Get out or I throw you out!!”

Bennie and I pushed Lucia out of the car door and tossed what luggage she and Bennie had out after her. Bennie was wrangling with her and I was the last getting out. I only had one foot planted when the driver hit the gas and peeled away leaving tire marks on the concrete … and nearly on me. I fell forward trying to escape and the door closed briefly but painfully on my left ankle, spilling me to the ground.

“Maniac!!!” Lucia shouted after him shaking a vicious Italian salute at him.

Bennie covered her mouth and dragged her into the building then came back to help me. I was hobbling but was getting angry enough that any fear had evaporated. “You OK?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I muttered darkly between clinched teeth. “Good thing we got the bags out first.”

“Yeah,” he answered quietly, hefting both his and Lucia’s gear with little effort. I pulled mine behind me heading towards the stairs. “Tony gotta plan?”

I nodded and then we were with Lucia who was stilling fuming. “So. What is this grand plan of Tony’s?”

“Come on. We need to get going. I’ll explain so long as everything is where it should be. And be quiet.”

“Don’t tell me …”

Bennie grabbed her and covered her mouth again. Quietly and deliberately he whispered, “You heard Joey. Quiet. Tony put her in charge. Tony tells Joey. Joey tells us. We follow the plan and Tony gets us clear. You got it?”

Knowing Bennie wouldn’t turn loose until she agreed Lucia finally nodded. “You’re a pig,” she spat at him.

“Probably. But I’m smart enough to know what Tony’ll do to me if I screw this up. Family or not, it won’t be healthy for you to get in the way of what Tony wants.”

“Fine. Whatever,” she muttered angrily as she straightened her hair.

Thinking as I hobbled up the stairs I was about to start explaining when loud pops echoed all around us. Instinctively we all ducked which is probably why we weren’t spotted. I heard vehicle doors closing then the screech of tires as it exited down the ramp. After a moment I moved to look around the corner of the stairwell but Bennie stopped me with a shake of his head. He fought Lucia for her purse a brief second then dug around in it and pulled out her compact mirror. Opening it he used it to give him a view around the floor area without having to stick too much of his body out.

He hesitated then rolled out and over behind a large dumpster that was nearby, then he disappeared from view. A tense few minutes and he was back. “No one living left around.”

I noticed him tucking something away in the back of his pants. “Bennie …”

“The guy doesn’t need it anymore,” he said defensively.

“No kidding,” I agreed after spotting a guy who couldn’t help but be dead considering his head was splattered all over the concrete wall behind him. “I was going to ask what the model was. It looked like a 9 mil but you hid it too fast for me to look at it close.”

Bennie and Lucia both stood there staring at me like they’d never seen me before. I rolled my eyes. “Geez, shut your mouths before something nasty flies in. You know Tony. You really think he’d send someone unqualified to act as your babysitter? And you both know my dad. You think he’d let me leave home not knowing how to protect myself?”

Bennie slowly grinned. “That Tony. He’s always got a plan.”

Lucia sniffed and then pouted. “Tony never showed me no guns.”

“After that report you wrote when we were in highschool? I quote, ‘Guns are the scourge of modern man. No one should have guns because they are dangerous. Only policemen and …’.”

“Stop it,” she snapped. “I didn’t mean everybody, just the trouble makers and stuff. I’m not a trouble maker.”

Even Bennie winced at the size of that clanker. Ignoring Lucia I led them over to one of the bay doors and went to town on the lock.”

“Wait … how did you …” Lucia asked jealously.

Bennie showed his brain again by putting two and two together. “That firm Tony works for has offices here in Atlanta. He comes here a lot. Used to even have a girl here.”

I hadn’t known that last part but it shouldn’t have surprised me. Tony was the type to attract women like bees to honey and he enjoyed the attention. Mom said that lately though he hadn’t been as eager to be chased but I figure he was probably just getting more discreet no matter what he said to the contrary.

I turned my attention back to Bennie. “It’s possible, but that’s not the point,” I told them. “You know Tony; he has back up plans for his back up plans. Well this … this whatever it is that this storage area is meant to be must be one of them.” Bennie lifted the bay door on what turned out to be a small garage style storage locker. The room was barely big enough but it held an F250 with an extended cab and full sized bed.

“Sweeeeet …” murmured Bennie.

Noticing clean hand prints on the otherwise dusty hood I mumbled, “Somebody’s been in here.”

“Could’ve been Tony,” Lucia volunteered. “Ma said he was making the rounds while we were in Las Vegas.”

“Maybe,” I acknowledged. “Bennie check the tanks. Lucia put the luggage in the rear of the cab. We need to hoof it before more people start freaking out like that driver did.”

I was looking for the keys under the floor mat when Bennie called to me quietly. “Found … something.”

I squeezed my way around the truck and then nearly screamed despite myself.

“What?” asked Lucia.

“Just more gas cans but they’re pretty nasty. If you load the luggage Bennie and I will get these cans.”

“Whatever,” she said giving her typical answer.

I looked at Bennie and we both looked down at a corpse whose lack of smell despite the blood all around the head told us it was fresh … very, very fresh as the blood hadn’t even coagulated.

“Tony mentioned that he had tried to get us a driver but he – or she – hadn’t been available. Maybe this is the guy … and maybe … maybe he decides to make a run for Tony’s stash and just blow Tony off.”

Bennie points up. “Look. He came through the ceiling.”

Suddenly I was able to relax. “No, the idiot fell through the ceiling and must have done it head first. That would explain the … uh … the … the …” I had to stop and swallow back the bile that was rising in my throat.

“Yeah,” Bennie sighed. “I doubt those other guys … whatever.”

I nodded. “He’s dead and I’m trying to keep us from turning out that way. Forget about the rest of this. Let’s roll the truck forward, see if we can slide these gas cans in the bed and then hit the road before Lucia starts thinking too much.”

Bennie shuddered and I nearly smiled at him despite the circumstances we were in. Lucia could really get going if given a chance. When we opened the bed cover Bennie whistled. “We do not want to get stopped by the cops.”

“Relax; this is Georgia not Brooklyn. I’m licensed to carry in most states in the south and these are hunting rifles not bazookas.”

“That ain’t no hunting rifle,” Bennie corrected, pointing to a heavy-barreled AR-15.

I smiled, “Target practice. I’ve got the awards in my wallet to prove it.”

“Oh yeah,” Bennie sneered sarcastically. “They’re gonna believe that all right. Some chick with a New York license ….”

“Florida license; I switched my residency to lower my tuition bill,” I said my grin getting a little wider. Then I sighed and said, “Don’t worry about it. Just grab that case of self heats. They don’t taste like Momma makes it but it will fill your belly. We’ll need to stop … never mind, here’s a case of water to go with it. That’ll more than get us started.”

Bennie added, “Campin’ gear up here near the cab. Want I should pull it out?”

“Pull a sleeping bag or blanket, whatever is there. We may have to trade off driving.”

Bennie did what I asked but said, “This baby has duel tanks and then there’s the extra cans but that ain’t gonna get us home.”

“We aren’t going home, we’re heading to my parents’ retirement cabin,” I told him.

“Where’s that?”

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Three

I wasn’t surprised that Bennie didn’t put up a fuss. His dad died when he was little in some kind of construction accident and his step dad kicked him out of the house the day he turned 18. His mom was OK from what I had heard but they weren’t especially close.

“Kentucky,” I finally answered him.

“You mean like the Bourbon?”

I snorted. “Yeah Bennie, like the Bourbon. Come on man … are you a teacher or what? Didn’t you have to learn a little geography to get your certificate?”

“No,” he answered. “Just how to keep the kids from tearing up the classroom and making enough of a nuisance out of themselves we’d be forced to call a resource officer.”

“Geez ain’t that depressing. Let’s just get on the road.”

“What about … ?” he asked nodding his chin towards the body.

“What about what?” I asked with an innocent look on my face. “I don’t see nothin’. We haven’t touched nothin’. And in fact, if you wipe the door off where you touched it then it can’t even be proved we were ever here to begin with.” Bennie gave me a hard look making me feel defensive. “OK, I’ll go all girly at some point and cry for the poor slob but not right now; I’ve got too much on my plate as it is. He was a thief Bennie … or at least a wannabe thief. I didn’t make him fall through that ceiling, he chose to be up there where he didn’t belong. And if he had gotten in here I don’t know how we would get out of the city. I’ll light a candle for him later and pay penance for being such a cold witch, right now we just need to get gone.”

Bennie didn’t say anything and I stepped out into the parking garage proper to have a look around and to get away from my own guilty feelings. I just knew I couldn’t show weakness, not if Bennie saw me as “the boss.” He was willing to follow me this far but if he started questioning things he couldn’t cause me serious problems.

I looked over the edge and listened. The silence of a city in shock was beginning to wear off and turn to one in panic. I could hear sirens and gun fire but the way they echoed on the buildings around us told me they were some ways off. Bennie finished pushing the truck out and asked, “You want I should drive?”

“No,” I told him as I headed for the driver’s door. “I’m fairly certain I know where we are and I’ve had to fight Atlanta rush hour traffic enough going home that I can get us out of here without using the interstate.”

I pulled the truck out and Bennie closed and locked everything behind us, wiping things down for good measure just like I said. Suddenly he rushed over and jumped in pulling the gun out of where he’d stashed it. “Go Joey! We got company.”

Glancing into the side view mirror I saw a bunch of young men running our way and I floored it, nearly fishtailing into a pillar as I flew down the exit ramp. We hadn’t been long but the city had changed and looked … and sounded … like it was beginning to fall apart quickly as inhibitions gave way to animal instincts. Lucia who had taken my ipad out and started surfing was listing off the names of the cities that had been attacked. “And CNN just posted that the Atlanta airport is burning from a plane that came down and slid into a bunch of other parked planes. We musta got out just in time!”

Bennie turned on the radio and the babble of overexcited news people was a background to my heart thudding in my throat as I busted every speed limit and ignored every road sign trying to avoid and escape the lunacy going on at nearly every turn. It wasn’t the zombie apocalypse – I could have understood the craziness better if it had been – but people were beginning to act like it was.

“Geez!!” Bennie shouted as a bottle smashed against and nearly took out the windshield. “What was that kid’s problem?! He couldn’t a been more than ten years old!”

“Joey, I keep losing the signal! I’m trying to reach all my friends! You’ve got to go easier or I’ll never get through.”

I slammed on the brakes. “Lucia,” I said with deadly calm. “Give me my ipad.”

“Why?” she whined, hugging it close to her chest.

I reached over and wrenched it away from her, read over her posts on facebook and then tucked it out of her reach. “Lucia, I don’t want half the country to follow us to the cabin.”

“I wouldn’t say anything!”

I put the truck back in gear and took off again as I told her, “You haven’t yet but that doesn’t mean you might not let something slip accidentally. This is no game! I don’t know how bad things really are but they’re bad enough that martial law has been declared on a national level and that they are calling up everybody that isn’t already on active duty. They’re bad enough that Tony is leaving all his business and taking our families to the cabin.” After a brief pause I added, “They’re bad enough that they’ve already closed the bridges and tunnels.”

I didn’t need to explain which ones. “How do you know this?” Lucia asked, refusing to believe me, refusing to believe they’d simply cut the island off like that.

“I heard something Tony let slip. He was going to try and get the family away by water before that route was closed too. We have to trust that he pulled it off. And we have to do what we have to do. It … it will probably get worse before it gets better.” My comment put a kibosh on any more conversation.

It wasn’t easy but I finally wove us out of Atlanta proper and then headed towards my family’s property. When my dad began looking for a retirement property, he wanted one that was close enough to his roots without being too close to the extended family. He wanted it attractive to him and Mom but not to potential visitors. After several years he finally found such a place near an old coal mining community.

The first time Mom actually saw the place in person she broke down in tears. The house wasn’t even wired for modern appliances and the animal smell was so powerful we all ran outside gagging. Somehow Dad talked her around and when all the work was finished on it even Lucia had to admit it had turned into a nice little place. I didn’t know it until last year but Tony had seen the place a couple of times and decided to buy up the plots around the cabin so that my parents’ land was the doughnut hole and Tony’s land was the dough around it.

Tony had plowed over the old road that came up from the city and planted trees and brambles over it and then put in a new road on the other side that led out to an old mining road that was rarely used though it was semi maintained by the county. Tony’d had two purposes to the change. First off it was to stop the kids that used to use the property as a “parking spot” from being able to drive back onto it anymore and secondly so that the propane company would stop complaining that the road was too steep to get their trucks up and charging us extra for delivery. But Tony hadn’t gotten around to doing any more than help Dad bring in gravel to keep the new road graded which means that the road is rough in spots. In other words we were going to need the clearance and horsepower of the F250 to get where we were going.

It had been nine in the morning when we’d been forced to land. Between one thing and another it was creeping up on five o’clock in the late afternoon. “Joey, I need a bathroom break … like now,” Lucia said quietly.

Bennie grunted in agreement. “OK,” I told them. “And we all need to eat. I haven’t had anything since that bag of pretzels on the plane.” Bennie grunted again. “Traffic is picking up; I want to get out of it if possible before we stop. Can you both wait?”

Bennie turned to Lucia and said, “I’ll trade you a cork for a rubber band.”

“Ew!” Lucia complained though smiling a little as she came out of her protective shell.

They started bickering but not loud enough to irritate me so I let ‘em have at it. Who was I to judge how they loved on each other? After a brief bottleneck in a small town the road emptied again and I pulled over only long enough for all three of us to hit the bushes.

“I could really go for a Red Bull right now,” I commented as I got us back on the road.

“You want me to spell you?” Bennie asked.

“No but … look, try and get some rest because you might have to if I don’t get some caffeine pretty quick. Wait … I think I see a Dollar General up ahead.”

I pulled in, saw the store was close to closing time, but realized the area wasn’t as empty as it appeared at first as I counted cars in the rear parking spaces. Luckily the truck didn’t look out of place between the clay dust all over it and the cracked windshield. “Bennie, you and Lucia stay here. I’ve got some cash left and I’ll see what I can pick up.”

“But I want to come too,” complained Lucia.

“Yeah, and your clothes and accent will fit right in. Bennie keep her here, sit on her if you have to, just be ready to roll if I come out running.” I wasn’t kidding about Lucia looking out of place. She was still dressed in her Las Vegas best and even though she’d been living in Florida off and on for three years she still sounded like she’d never been on the other side of the Verrazano.

Walking into the Dollar General was like walking into the twilight zone. No one looked concerned or in a hurry except to finish their shopping before they were kicked out. People were whispering to each other about what was going on but they acted like it was happening on the other side of the world and not in their own state capital.

“So glad we got our unemployment check and got it cashed this morning. Do you know they charged me twice the normal fee for taking it all out instead of depositing some of it for the house payment?”

“Lucky you,” a woman next to her complained. “The Piggly Wiggly wasn’t taking EBT cards; they said the system was temporarily down. If they don’t get it back up by tomorrow I’m gonna have to go down there and say something.”

A young woman pushing a toddler in one of the store’s carts said, “At least you’re still getting checks. They’re taking away my benefits because someone ratted me out to my worker for having my cousin living with me. I told them it’s for protection. Well, he’s not really my cousin and we used to date and still do sometimes but they had no right. How I’m supposed to pay my bills now? I ain’t living in no skank part of town again. I’m getting me a lawyer and …”

I left the three clucking hens sharing the few brain cells they had between them and headed up another aisle. After putting several cases of cola in the cart I grabbed enough high test energy drinks to give an elephant a stroke. I hurried down another aisle, counting my remaining cash in my head, then stopped short to keep from running over an older lady that was trying unsuccessfully to put a case of water in her buggy.

Without thinking I stepped up and got it and put it in for her and two more when she said that’s what she wanted. I smiled politely but as I tried to turn back to my cart she grabbed my wrist and whispered, “Put some of that soda back and put some real food in that cart girl.”

We looked at each other in understanding but I whispered back, “We have what we need.”

She shook her head, “You can never have too much for just in case. I was just a baby but my brother would tell me stories of the war. He’s gone, bless him, and I’m almost too old to care what happens to me … but my granddaughter’s husband is a sheriff in the next county over and he’s sent her to stay with me, away from the big cities. You seem like a nice young woman, now do as I say. They’ve got some things on sale on the other side of the store. Anyone says anything just tell ‘em …” She stopped and looked around then whispered conspiratorially, “… you tell ‘em your child support finally came in but you couldn’t get your bum brother to run you to town.”

She winked and then left me standing there clinching my teeth to keep my mouth from falling open. I finally did as she suggested and filled the rest of the buggy with food that could be eaten without heating it up, and with enough junk food to bribe Bennie and Lucia into not complaining for a while. Contrary to my worry no one said anything up at the register; everyone’s carts were full though most were paying with government issue checks rather than the cash I handed over.

The elderly lady waved as she pulled out of the lot while I pushed the cart over to the truck. Bennie was sweating when he got out to help me load things in the back over Lucia’s complaint that she didn’t have any leg room as it was. “What took so long?” he asked worriedly.

“Taking advantage of an opportunity that might not come around again. Didn’t mean to worry you.” I put the ice I’d picked up over the cans in the Styrofoam cooler Lucia was filling. After that I threw a bag of Wise deli-style potato chips his way as an act of contrition.

Bennie grunted in acceptance and he and Lucia were soon gorging on carbs while I tossed back caffeine and popcorn to fill the void. As I knew it would, the spike and drop in their sugar levels soon had the two of them sleeping off their indulgence. I was finally alone with the kind of quiet that would let me think. Lucia had already discovered neither the phones nor the Internet was working. I sent a text out anyway on the off chance it might cue threw and reach my brothers. Then I tried to figure out a route to take while there was still enough light to see.

 

[cheyennep]

Excellent start! Thanks!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Four

Phones and the internet didn’t work but by some weird conjunction of the planets satellite radio was still up though I had a feeling someone would get around to fixing that eventually. Getting to the cabin wasn’t easy under the best of circumstances but at least normally we had the interstate and highways most of the way; but not this time. I plotted and re-plotted routes in my head as more and more major road blocks were announced.

The cabin is located between a small place called Jonesville and an even smaller place called Dot. No, I’m not kidding; the town is called Dot, KY. The Wilderness Road runs between the two towns and from there we drive up into the area around Elk Knob and Buzzard Roost. It’s pretty remote and once you are up there you don’t really want to drive back down if you don’t have to. I’d been concerned that my dad had wanted to move there with his health being what it is but he’d insisted that he’d be fine. They had decided to wait until Ike and James – the twins – had gotten better settled before moving there permanently but they went up there every other month so hopefully we wouldn’t be walking into some major repair issues. That’s all we needed on top of everything else.

Through the night I drove. Sometimes Bennie kept me company, sometimes Lucia. About three in the morning it all finally hit me and I pulled off the road behind a dilapidated building and started puking my guts up.

“You ain’t gonna do any good this way Joey,” Lucia said after handing me a baby wipe for my face. “Let Bennie drive while you eat something.”

I didn’t want to but I knew she was right. “OK, at least until we have to change roads.”

“Sure, sure. Let’s get back in the truck. The freakin’ bugs are about to carry me off.”

So while Bennie drove I tried to eat a Heater Meal of pasta fagioli. It wasn’t great but it put some food in me. I knew from reading the label the nutritional count wasn’t bad – Dad’s health brought us all to a new awareness of what we put in our bodies – but the calories wouldn’t carry me very far. Three hundred ten calories and eighty of those from fat so I added a Peanut Toffee Clif Bar and then munched a Mojo Bar while I used a pen light to look at a map.

“How can you eat those things?” Lucia asked in disgust. “They taste like twice eaten cardboard.”

I shrugged. “Acquired taste I guess. I ate Clif Bars for breakfast more often than not during freshman year and I just kept the habit up. I’m just glad Tony had some packed even though I’ve never seen him eat one.”

Lucia snickered and I asked, “What?”

“You’re so dense.” She snickered again.

“I’m too stressed to play games Lucia. Either spit it out or leave off.”

Even in the dark I could see her roll her eyes. “Geez girl are you blind? All it would take is a little encouragement from you and Tony’d be all over you.”

I sighed and didn’t comment.

“Oh my god, you do know it. Are you crazy?! What are you waiting for? He’d set you up real good.”

Sure, set me up … but the last thing I had ever wanted was to be the kind of girl that had to be “set up” to make her way in life. Besides, how did I explain to her the talk that Dad had had with me while he was still in the hospital after his first heart attack? He thought Tony was too old for me. He didn’t care for some of the connections he had. He wanted me to get my college degree and be able to support myself before I thought about anything else.

At the time I had thought maybe the heart attack had done something to his mind. I hadn’t been thinking of Tony as anything other than an occasionally over protective brother; cool but way older and a little out of touch. I didn’t even have a crush on him. But after “the talk” as I came to think of it I spent a lot of time wondering. I went off to my freshman year of college stilling wondering but unsure what my dad had thought was even real, or if he even remembered it since he’d been so doped up when he said it.

Money was tight and there was no way I could afford to go home for Thanksgiving that year. I spent a miserable weekend in the dorm trying to work out a way that I could afford to go home for Christmas and still afford my books and fees in the Spring. No matter how I added the numbers I couldn’t make it work. I saw Lucia the weekend after she’d come back and broke down crying with homesickness. I spilled the problem but swore her to secrecy as I wasn’t ready to disappoint my family again.

So much for secrecy. The following weekend I walk back to the dorm to find Tony chatting up a couple of top heavy coeds. My hours at the deli had been cut back even further so I was able to say yes to grabbing a bite to eat. I don’t know what I was hungrier for, a Five Guys burger with the works or news from home. I blasted him when he offered to subsidize my income.

“I’m not offering charity Ragazza. That new secretary I’ve got just doesn’t get me. She don’t listen or pay attention. It’d be the same arrangement we had when you were still living at home. I fax you my notes, you put them together so other people can understand them. You email them back to me, I make changes and additions and get the final version done in the office. I’d rather see you get the money than have to break in someone new.”

Suspicious I asked, “Why don’t you just get a new secretary?”

“She’s the sister or something of one of the senior partner’s … er …”

Shaking my head I asked, “Mistress?”

“Yeah,” he admitted after a moment. “Something like that.”

I laughed at his discomfort over his admission and said, “Maybe you should make her an offer. At least you’d be getting attention.”

Tony surprised me by snapping, “I don’t do that no more.”

I wasn’t sure what to make of his reaction as far as long as I’d known him he’d always had a girl or two … or three. “Why?” I asked him curiously.

“Never you mind. This ain’t a fit topic for you no way.”

I rolled my eyes but let it go knowing when Tony got in that particular mood nothing would move him. And in the end I was just plain desperate enough to put my pride on the back burner and accept his help.

I didn’t waste the opportunity and made sure the work was as real as if I worked at Schlotsky’s. I got to know Tony even better than before and the only thing that bothered me was that we kept our arrangement a secret. I had my reasons and he had his, some personal and some professional, but still it bothered me and seemed to make him uncomfortable as well on occasion.

He called me his secret ace in the hole. His firm’s branch in Tampa got to know my face pretty well as he moved up the ladder. They liked that I was “discreet” and sometimes I’d pick up a courier run after dropping off or picking up a package for Tony.

When Tony found out about it he came unglued. “What are you thinking?! What kind of packages?!”

“Geez. Relax Tony. I’m just taking stuff around.”

“Around where?!” he yelled so loud he blew out my Blue Tooth.

Ripping it from my ear I yelled into my cell’s receiver, “Now look what you’ve done!”

“I asked around where Josephine?!”

“Turn your voice down before you wreck my cell phone too!”

“Dammit Josephine WHERE?!”

Disgusted as yelled, “What’s your problem?! The bank and the courthouse and once to this house on Davis Island.”

“You listen careful Joey, you listen real careful. You don’t go to no private house or hotel no more.”

Angrily I told him, “I can take care of myself and you know it.”

“Sure. Sure I know it but those guys don’t and they … they might just put you in a position where you’ll have to do it … so just avoid it.”

Understanding more than Tony seemed comfortable saying I asked, “Be honest with me. Are you being over protective or do I really have something to worry about.”

He was silent for a moment then asked, “They ever call you to carry a package for them?”

I shook my head even if he couldn’t see it. “No, only when I’m already there dropping off or picking up for you. It’s only happened a few times and only when the manager down in the mail room looks like he’s close to a coronary. It’s good money Tony and not cash under the table stuff. Don’t ask me to give it up. I put it aside for grad school.”

I could actually feel him trying to relax through the phone. “Ok. Just … just watch yourself. And don’t go doing no special favors for anyone upstairs.”

“Tony, I’m not stupid.” I didn’t say more because there wasn’t any need to.

Two weeks later Tony shows up out of the blue like he would on occasion and whisks me off to the grocery store where we picked up some drinks (cola for me and wine for him), cheese, crackers, and prosciutto. We drove his rental car to Clearwater Beach, parked, and then threw a blanket out on the sand to watch the sun go down. Something was bothering him but I let him take his time.

Finally he asked, “Anyone bothering you?”

I acted silly on purpose by looking around and told him, “Not at the moment.”

“Josephine,” he said with a warning in his voice. “From the firm.”

I sighed. “No Tony.”

“You’d tell me if they did.”

Seeing how serious he was I put my hand on his arm and said, “Yes Tony, I’d tell you if anyone was bothering me; from the firm or not.”

“Anyone?” he asked in a way that reminded me just how much of the wine he’d polished off.

“Anyone.”

We sat there for a while and after two years I finally got up the courage. “Tony, can I ask you something?”

He’d relaxed and laid back on the beach blanket. He made a sight with his suit pants rolled up and his dress shirt open so that I could see his tanned body and white tank-style t-shirt beneath it. “Sure, you can ask me anything Ragazza. If I can’t answer at least I won’t lie.”

I supposed that was going to have to be good enough and I asked him about what my dad had said.

He sat up slowly, suddenly stone sober and said, “I hadn’t realized he’s said anything to you.”

“Tony?”

“You were just a baby. I wasn’t thinking about you like that Joey, I swear. I don’t know what made him think it. I’m ten years older than you. I wouldn’t … couldn’t … spoil such innocence.”

I snorted in a decidedly unladylike manner. “Don’t turn me into a saint. You act like I’ve been raised in a cloistered convent.” When he gave me a strange look I laughed. “I just mean that I haven’t acted out any feelings but that doesn’t mean I haven’t ever had them. I’ve been asked out. I’ve been pursued when I said no. I just haven’t met anyone I’ve felt like saying yes to. And Dad knows both of us well enough that … well his worrying about it enough to bring it up when he was so sick … it was just … weird. It eats at me sometimes.”

He was upset so I knocked against him with my shoulder and explained, “Not at you … and not in a bad way. I trust you, it just … put ideas in my head that weren’t there before. I just … I don’t know … started wondering I guess you’d say.”

He sighed, “Yeah, your ol’ man caught me off guard too. I explained I’d never treat you … well … with anything less than respect. He seemed to accept it and then it was like we’d never had the conversation. It made me wonder if I’d ever done anything to make him think that … that I’d go after some underaged baby like you were then but I … I’ve never asked him if he still feels that way. I was kinda hoping it was just the medication talking. But …”

“But?” I asked a little breathlessly.

He turned and looked at me with his dark, nearly black eyes and then ran his index finger down my cheek. “It made me look at things. How I was living my life. What I wanted … who I wanted. What I needed to do to get there.”

I was barely breathing. “I … I … I’ve got … things … things I want to do with my life.”

“Shhhh,” he said with another caress. “You want your degree. You want a chance to prove yourself, make your mark, be your own woman before you become someone else’s.”

After a moment I relaxed. This was Tony, he wouldn’t force anything on me. I leaned against his shoulder and said, “This is what I think about. How you know me … understand me … even better than Dad and Mom do it seems. Every time I go home it’s like they have to relearn I’m grown now. They don’t treat the boys that way. I … I worry about losing this.”

“This?” he asked quietly.

“This. This whatever there is between us. Friendship. Being comfortable. Trust. Respect. I don’t want you to think of me like those other women that hang all over you, the ones you eventually trade in on the next model when they get too close or start to bore you. This whatever it is is important to me. I don’t want to lose it. And … and I don’t know if I’m … I’m ready for … for …”

I’d leaned forward and was hugging my knees. He pulled me back. “I’d never treat you like that. You’re not that kind of woman. Stop worrying. I’m a man, not a boy. I’m patient. When I want something I know how to wait for it … savor the waiting. There’s no need to rush. I’ve got things I want to do too. We have all the time in the world.”

His head descended towards mine and a sensation of falling came over me and then I jerked awake still tasting that first gentle, wine-flavored kiss.

“Geez Joey, nightmare much?!” Lucia huffed as she drove along a road packed with cars as the sun just cracked the horizon.

 

[223shootersc]

thanks for the chapters, good stuff, can't wait for more

 

[artjs]

Thanks for writing here Kathy... I have always enjoyed your stories

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Five

I jumped up from the backseat when the number of cars on the road finally registered in my dream riddled brain. “Where are we? How long has it been like this?”

“We were tooling along fine and then about an hour ago all these seem to come out of nowhere. It was really bad as we passed under what Bennie thinks was I40. We’re just outside some little squirt town called Carthage.”

Sighing, I told Lucia, “Switch places with me and hand me a can of pop please.”

Lucia was more than happy to switch. I turned to Bennie and asked, “Why aren’t you driving?”

“When there was enough light to see I took a look at the faces of the other drivers. It’s better that I should drive shotgun … in case.”

“That bad?” I asked as I clicked my seatbelt across me.

“You tell me,” was his tense reply.

I looked around. People had some pretty intense looks on their faces. Some were scared. Some looked almost catatonic; some really crazed and out of it. More than a few were angry. No matter what the expression almost everyone looked upset and too far gone not to show it … too far gone not to just need one little match to strike an inferno.

Belongings were piled high in and on many of the vehicles in a haphazard way that said it was done quickly … too quickly for good sense. I took a guess. “Nashville is evacuating.”

Bennie nodded. “Radio signal died not too long after you conked out but before it did Nashville got added to the list of places attacked.

“Did they say how?”

“Nah.”

Bennie was staring hard at something behind us and I looked in the rear view mirror. It made me sick to my stomach. “Is that a one off or has that been happening much?”

“Couple of times that I’ve seen,” he answered. “Might have happened more in the dark and we missed it.” We both watched as some people got yanked out of their car and beaten on while their belongings were ransacked and tossed in a bus that had gotten behind them. “Anyway we can get out of this stuff? Them guys on motorcycles have ridden by us more ‘n once the last ten minutes and seem to be juicing up for something. I think they’re the spotters for the guys in the bus.”

Thinking and looking for a moment I said, “Hang on.” I jerked us out into the median in front of the motorcycles’ path causing at least one of them to have to hit the concrete and then cut across all of the lanes, forcing my way through a small gap in the opposite lanes. I skipped traffic that way several times and then crossed the Cumberland River at Carthage Bridge. The town was packed and the roads narrow but I eventually wove my way to the Dixon Springs Highway. There was still traffic but it got lighter after the highway split off from TN80. We’d long ago left the road sharks behind but I’d managed to tick off a few more people along the way. Bennie was pale and gripped the plastic arm rest so tight he left gouges and Lucia looked in serious need of a Dramamine.

Traffic snarled at every little town, especially around gas stations and stores. Near Hartsville it was so bad I had to get off on really small side roads that added almost two hours to our driving time. Weaving through mountain roads was eating up our gas but it was more than apparent that it was the only way we were going to move forward. By early evening we made it to a place so small it barely had a sign; Rocky Mound, TN.

Looking at the gas gauge Bennie said, “Low fuel light just came on. We need to fill up. Will the rest of those cans get us where we’re going?”

“I … I don’t know. We should have had more than enough. But with the route we have had to take …” Taking a deep breath I said, “We’ll just have to make it last.” With more confidence than I actually felt I added “I’m going to pull off down this runaway truck area. Let’s fill up, stretch, and wash up. Lucia open that other container of baby wipes please.”

The night wasn’t completely silent. A few cars could be heard and there was this … this strange expectancy to the wind. I don’t think I was the only one that sensed it because Lucia and Bennie both rushed through what I expected them to make the most of.

“You want I should drive now?” Bennie asked.

“No. I know where we are. Get some rest if you can in case …” I let the rest of the sentence hang with a shrug.

He whispered, both of us trying not to set Lucia off. “It’s not gonna be some little walk if the gas don’t hold out.”

I nodded then whispered back, “We got roughly 75 miles left no matter whether it’s all highway or I cut across using back roads. The problem is the closer we get the fewer options we’ll have to cut off on. I’ll save us some by aiming towards Sugar Grove before crossing the state line but we’ll have to be careful getting passed Franklin … probably do it by way of Providence and Prices Mill. Last bit of real trouble might be Adairville which is why I want to do it all tonight if possible rather than wait to see what tomorrow brings.”

And we did actually manage to do just that though the sun was up an hour by the time I locked the gate behind us and drove the rest of the way up to what we called the cabin.

“They’re not here,” Lucia said, disappointed like she had somehow expected them to be.

“They had further to go than we did. It took us nearly 48 hours to get here from Atlanta; it will take them longer to get here from NY. And I imagine traffic is worse coming from their direction too.” Looking around the empty, overgrown yard I tried not to think about the fact they could still be stuck in the city.

I pulled the truck around back and parked it under the pole barn that was next to an old tractor shed that doubled as our garage and storage building. Dad had refurbished it at the same time they worked on the house. Inside the shed was an old tractor and attachments he bought at a local auction as well as a bunch of stuff my parents stored there because they didn’t have the room for it any place else. I was thinking as soon as I checked the house over we could unload and then put the truck in with the tractor where no one could see it just in case anyone did stumble across the property.

All three of us were walking up to the back porch when I heard a couple of pops and liquid fire poured down my left arm before it went numb. I was down. Bennie was down holding his forearm and then Lucia went down when Bennie knocked her legs from under her. She squawked but then stopped when her brain caught up with what was happening.

We scrambled back the way we came and took cover by the truck. “Did you see anyone?” I asked through gritted teeth, refusing to give into my stomach churning.

“Shots seem to come from that pile of wood over there,” Bennie panted while Lucia wrapped part of her t-shirt around his wound.

 

[Genevieve]

You can't leave me hanging like this!

I'll hold my breath and turn blue and THEN you'll be sorry!














LOL! LOL!

 

[Jimbopithecus]

She's Baaaaacccckkkkk!!! And she brought her buddy Cliff with her! Thanks for the new story Kathy!!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Six

“You’re hit too,” Lucia said heading my direction.

I pushed her back towards Bennie. “It doesn’t hurt yet and before it does I’ve gotta do something. I pulled open the tail gate and pulled out the AR15 Bennie had noticed back in Atlanta. I fumbled getting it loaded but all the practice Dad had forced on me paid off.

“Bennie, can you shoot left handed?”

“Not great but I’ll do what I have to,” he said trying to prove he wasn’t as hurt as much as he obviously was.

“Good man. Cover me so I can get to the side of the barn.”

“Joey …”

“You’re not really gonna pull the guy card on me now are you?” I asked irritated at his delaying me.

“Guess not,” he muttered sarcastically.

My arm was already starting to pound but shock had given way to anger. Somewhere on the road I had made the conscious acknowledgement that TS had really HTF and that not only was I physically capable of doing whatever I had to do but mentally prepared for it as well … or at least as much as my life experience allowed me to think. I crept over through the tall grass while Bennie distracted what turned out to be two shooters.

The more complicated a plan is the greater the likelihood of something going wrong if not having it fail all together. My only goal at that moment was to damage them enough to stop them and for the three of us to come away uninjured … or not any more injured that we already were.

I watched as one of the shooters ran for the corner of the house to try and angle in behind the truck and take away that protection from us. The other at the wood pile kept shooting at Bennie to pen him down. They had completely missed me moving away, likely not thinking a female would, or maybe could, shoot right back at them; certainly not realizing the firepower we had at our disposal or my practice hours with something pretty similar to the heavy barreled target rifle I was holding onto for dear life.

I got the guy at the corner of the house fair and square and Bennie got the other one when he stood up too far for too long in surprise. We stayed quiet, me changing positions to a more secure one, while the men finished their whimpering and dying. It was both sickening and satisfying at the same time which made me wonder at myself. No one came to help the men who had been our enemies and no sounds came from the woods surrounding the house except the animals recovering from the racket we had made.

I moved back to be with Bennie and Lucia in time to catch Bennie preparing to go into the woods. “Let me get Lucia into the house and I’ll go with you.”

“Not this time Joey. This is my job.”

“Bennie …”

Then I saw a side of Bennie I hadn’t known he kept under wraps. In a voice without emotion he said, “You know why Tony don’t think I’m good enough for Lucia.”

I sighed but admitted, “Yeah, you were in a gang and did a few years in juvie and just missed getting sent to Attica as an adult. But you cleaned up your act and …”

“And you know what my step dad did … probably still does.”

After a pause I admitted again, “I’ve heard the rumors.”

He shook his head. “They ain’t just rumors if they’re the truth.” Lucia refused to look at me but was quietly fussing over Bennie as much as he would let her. “I’ve done this before Joey, you haven’t. Besides Tony’ll bury me hard and deep if anything happens to you. You can deny it all you want but he will and without a second thought whether it is my fault or not.”

It kept me angry to watch him go off into the woods by himself and resenting Tony’s heavy handed protection even when he wasn't there in person. Rather than go into the house I sat there scanning the area in case someone was biding their time.

“It’s an open secret you know,” Lucia said matter of factly.

“About Bennie’s past? You know I’ve never judged him for it. He made a mistake, paid for it, and still managed to turn his life around.”

“Are you friggin’ stunad or somethin’?! Not Bennie you dunce … you and Tony.”

Quietly I said, “Knock it off Lucia.”

“Hah! And you finally ain’t denying it!”

“I said stop it,” I told her with more force this time. “My dad won’t …”

“Goombah,” she said poking at me with a fond smile. “Your dad likes Tony just fine. Better’n mine likes Bennie, that’s for sure. I overheard your mom telling mine that your dad wouldn’t mind you getting’ with Tony but only if he cleaned his act up and let you live a little first.” I was so started I nearly dropped the rifle I was holding. “Close your mouth. You look like something Ma brings home from the fish market. It’s true, I swear on my grandmother’s crucifix. And Tony’s changed the last couple of years and you know that too.”

“Drop it,” I said, even in the face of hearing my dad might not be as set against Tony as I had thought.

“Come on. You …”

“Drop it Lucia, I mean it. Please.”

She looked at me hard and then thoughtfully before asking, “Why? Don’t you like him? Is it like the people he knows turning you off?”

Knowing she wouldn’t shut up about it if I didn’t give her something I finally said, “Not the way you think. Just being with Tony that way would change things; it would get complicated and turn into real serious business real fast. My family would expect certain things. Your family would expect certain things. Tony’s friends would expect certain things. What I want and expect would get lost in all of that. I don’t even want to think about the kind of responsibilities I’d have to take on in Tony’s world being his … his whatever. I got things I want to do. I’m … I’m not ready for … for the kind of things Tony would need from me.”

I refocused my attention back out to the woods but after a moment Lucia said quietly, “Tony ain’t like most of them. He’s never been in trouble and he’s honest. He’s no corner man or skive working his way up from the bottom. That’s why he’s where he’s at. He’s the front man and they don’t want him dirty; he their show piece. He coulda gone the other way. Dad thought he would turn out like his ol’ man but for whatever reason he didn’t. If Tony wants you and I think he does, it’s for the real deal and long term … he doesn’t just want you for arm candy. And if Tony wants you so bad he’s given up … connections … to have you then it’s the church for you girl and you not having to worry about no girlfriends on the side either. And … and it’d be cool … having you for a sister.”

I smiled a little and said, “We already are you goof; or as good as. But I think we’ve talked more in the last two days than we’ve talked in the last year.”

This time she was the one that shrugged and looked away. “Yeah … I’ve had stuff going on. I …”

Before she could finish Bennie came jogging out of the woods. By the set of his shoulders I could tell all was clear.

“You know there’s water … a little stream or somethin’ … about a quarter mile that way?”

I nodded. “Yeah but I didn’t expect you to go so far,” I said knowing it would have been through a lot of forest tangle to get there.

“Following a trail,” he explained. “They’d walked it down enough that it was easy. These two had a camp with three others. They had one of those little Mexican flags hanging from the rear view mirror of one of their trucks. Musta had some kinda fight or somethin’. There were three body dumps about fifty yards from their camp. Or … or maybe they highjacked the drivers of the trucks back there and then dumped the bodies to hide them. One way or the other they didn’t seem to care too much for the fellas that were dead.”

“How do you know?” I asked wondering at his assumptions.

“Didn’t hardly bury ‘em. There were just leaves piled over them basically and animals had been at ‘em. Sure didn’t look like were bothering to try and stop it. And there were three trucks … I don’t know … maybe a farm group. One of the trucks got some chickens on it. God they smell as bad as the bodies and that’s how I found the camp so fast. Lifted the back of the other panel truck and it’s full of store stuff …” Suddenly he slumped.

Lucia screamed, “Bennie!” I suddenly remembered my own injury and the world spun.

“Don’t you dare Joey Balducci! Don’t you dare pass out on me!” snarled Lucia who was already holding up a wobbly Bennie. I tried to clear my head and tottered over to the stoop and up to the porch.

Knowing we needed to get Bennie in out of the sun and heat I had to climb onto the porch swing – that was a lot of fun – to remove the piece of soffit where we kept an extra stick hidden that could be used to crank open the roll down doors.

After trying unsuccessfully I told Lucia, “I’ll help Bennie up the stairs but you’ll have to turn the pole to get the door open.” Finally we were up the stairs and into the house. I was going to have to ask Lucia where she’d learned a few of the creative phrases that had fallen out of her mouth while she cranked the reluctant door high enough that we could slip under it to unlock the bolt on the back door.

I put Bennie in a chair at the kitchen table and wanted to sit down myself but I knew if I sat I might not get back up for a while and there were things that needed doing. There was a small phone table that sat outside the door that opened onto the basement steps. It had a drawer and inside it was a couple of flashlights, one of which I grabbed after making sure it worked. I slowly descended with only the pool of light from the LED bulbs to keep me from breaking my neck or the steep, wooden staircase. My mission was to throw the switch that let the batteries recharge in the solar system my dad had installed when the power company said they didn’t service the area the cabin was in … which was just another reason why my parents had been able to get the cabin and plot it sat on for so cheap.

As I heard the distinctive thunk of the main switch make contact I suddenly understood the satisfied smile on my dad’s face every time I had seen him do the same thing it in the past. I felt like Dr. Frankenstein as I threw the switch and breakers that would power the house and wanted to laugh maniacally and yell, “It’s alive!”

The only thing that kept me from doing it is the certainty that my friends upstairs would think me certifiable and a candidate for Bellvue. I was beginning to wonder myself if that wasn’t part of the problem. The light filtering in from the top of the stairs looked ten times further away than it should have.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Seven

Going down the stairs was a lot easier than going back up was. “We’ll have power tomorrow,” I wheezed to Lucia as I finally reached the top of the five mile staircase.

“Well we need water now,” she snapped while she tried to clean Bennie’s now shirtless arm with some baby wipes she’d run to the truck to get. The first aid kit that always stayed in the linen closet except when in use was open on the table beside her.

“No kidding,” I said fighting the dizziness and pain in my own arm.

Lucia stopped then shook her head. “I’m hormonal so ignore me. Sit down and let me look at your arm before it goes septic.”

“Listen to you and your bad ol’ nursing self,” I joked, trying to put off the inevitable.

“Geez don’t remind me, right now is nightmare enough. Dad is going to kill me for flunking out. Why I needed all that math and science is beyond me. All I wanted to do was help people. I wanna do first aid, not be a friggin’ pharmacist.” I let that one go. I knew nursing wasn’t as easy as some people made it out to be and these days it was even harder because of the types of loads they had to carry. Lucia played at being a nurse when all she really wanted to be was a glorified candy striper that made people happy.

“Sit!” she ordered. I sat; she didn’t exactly give me much choice. I nearly puked while she cleaned the gash on my arm where a bullet had grazed me. “It didn’t go in like Bennie’s but it left a mark.”

“Furrow,” Bennie called it sounding even queasier than I felt.

“Whatever,” Lucia said nodding anyway. “Both you bums got off lucky and I oughtta let you have it for scaring me like you did.” I let that bit of illogic float by too without a comment. “Bennie you need to lay down and get your feet up; you’re clammy. Joey …”

I shook my head at her. “Get Bennie settled in the … the back bedroom I guess. Its’ the only one that’ll fit him downstairs. I promise you the last thing he’s gonna want to do is climb stairs.”

“I’m fine,” he objected but his eyes were crossing like he was having trouble focusing.

“Sure, and Lucia is a nun from St. Agnes.” Lucia gave me a dirty look and told me to watch my mouth before I cursed her. “Go on Bennie. Sooner you give in the sooner you can get up.”

When Lucia came back to the kitchen she said, “Seriously Joey, you need to lay down too.”

“I will but I wanna see the chickens first. If they have food and water I’ll leave them alone and if not … I’ll have to think of something else. That’s food for us and besides, I don’t like the idea of any animal suffering if I can help it, not even a bunch of dumb chickens.”

In the end I had to get out the tractor and wagon and bring the nasty things back to the barn. There was an old chicken yard my dad used to store construction material in and that is where I turned the chickens loose. I’d thrown a half dozen or so dead ones out into the brush at the enemy camp and a couple of the ones just sitting in the yard didn’t look too healthy either. None of the dumb clucks seemed to know what to do with themselves at first but eventually most of the three dozen birds that remained started scratching around and foraging through the grass. I poured a bucket of water from the stream into a shallow trough and prayed they’d learn to drink from it – drink, not drown – before dying of thirst.

The chickens weren’t the only things I brought back. I pulled some of the lighter items – mostly just paper products – out of the panel truck and brought them back to the house and Lucia helped me to bring them in and find places to stash them.

Sticking my head in the door I asked, “You think Bennie is OK by himself for a while? I could use some help with …”

Lucia interrupted, “Yeah, he’s sleepin’ it off but you ain’t going nowhere. You taken a look at your face Joey? You’re the color of moldy provolone.”

I started to say something smart aleck back but having been born with a modicum of commonsense I closed my mouth and came in and sat at the table while she ladled some minestrone soup into a bowl that she then put in front of me.

“Tastes like horse crap but it’ll fill the holes. Here wipe your hands with this and use some of that hand sanitizer before you pick up your spoon. I hate those lousy store brands; just look at this stuff. Why did you get a whole case of it?” she asked aggrieved.

Realizing the soup was probably from the items I had bought at that Dollar General I told her, “Because it was on sale and I figured we could doctor it up.”

“There ain’t no doctoring what came outta that can. There are a buncha jars in the pantry but I didn’t know if they were still good or what.”

I got up and stumbled over to the door that opened into a space dad had called the coal room but that he had stripped and then remodeled into a pantry for Mom. Sure enough there were shelves and shelves full of jars of home canned and dried stuff. Using the flashlight I was still carrying around on my belt I looked at the dates on many of the jars and whistled. “Wow, Mom must have been on a real tear last time they were here.”

“Huh?” asked Lucia having only caught the last few words of what I had said.

Talking more to myself than Lucia I muttered, “Oh wait, I remember. She said something about the outrageous deals she had picked up as some fair or farmers market or something like that … or maybe both? My heads too fuzzy and I can’t remember.”

Lucia gave me a strange look. “Joey what are you talking about?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lucia wasn’t a bad cook – our mothers wouldn’t have allowed that – but she was a reluctant one and she had absolutely refused to have anything to do with learning skills like preserving food or making breads and pastas from scratch. She got food poisoning one time at her aunt’s and it influenced her from there on out about all of that stuff; a mental block sort of thing. She didn’t trust anything that didn’t come from the store with a label on it, preferably in a box or can.

“Did you get Bennie to eat?” I asked as I finally started to eat the tinny tasting soup with some stale crackers.

“Bennie could be three-quarters dead and sliding fast and he’d still eat. The guy’s got a cast iron stomach that is never too full to tuck a little more into,” she snorted.

I smiled because while it might have sounded like an exaggeration I’d witnessed that it was pretty close to the truth. But my smile fell away as I began to slow down long enough for reality to creep in.

“Joey, when do you think they’ll get here?” Lucia was quiet and serious – something she isn’t normally – so I guess reality was beginning to set in for her as well.

Trying to believe in the “when” and not think “if” I began speculating aloud since it is what I had been doing in my head already. “Geez … it’s a tough call Luce. Traveling I64 the whole way it is 900 miles from The City to here but there’s no way they’re going to be able to do that. We saw for ourselves that any type of interstate or highway was a snarled mess. It took us two days, driving around the clock, to go about 450 miles. And unless Tony works some serious magic they’ll have some fuel issues to deal with too. That tank your folks drive sucks for gas mileage.”

“And? That still ain’t saying when they’ll get here.”

Shrugging I agreed. “I know Lucia but anything I come up with is just a guess.”

“So guess already,” she snapped impatiently.

“Fine,” I snapped back, irritated at the pressure she was putting on me. “But don’t go blaming me if I’m wrong. If it took us two days – or a full 48 hours of driving – to go about 450 miles that means we made roughly ten miles per hour including breaks, traffic congestion, and that stop at that store. Getting off the interstate is going to add at least a hundred miles to their road trip, let’s be conservative and add two hundred but for all I know it could be more. That’s around eleven hundred miles which gives us 110 hours of driving which is about four and a half days straight if they drive round the clock like we did.”

After a breath I continued, “But they’ll be moving through denser population areas and the traffic is going to be much worse than what we saw, at least until they can get into West Virginia, so add another twenty-four hours for that and the fact they may have more road blocks to deal with. New York plates might make them a target too … but if I’ve thought of it Tony probably has and who knows what he’s got up his sleeve. And there is no way they are going to be able to keep up the round the clock pace for that long the way we did even with their extra drivers; the cars will overheat if nothing else. So add another twenty-four hours for that. A hundred and ten plus forty-eight is …”

“Don’t look at me,” Lucia complained. “You’re the friggin’ human calculator.”

“I know … I’m just fried. Cut me some slack. It’s 158 hours or about six and a half days; let’s call it an even seven or a full week. We’re in day three so seven minus three …” I stopped, my head truly aching. “Look, at best I think it will be another four days before they get here.”

“Four more days?!” Lucia yelped. “How am I supposed to wonder if they’re all right for four more days Joey?!!”

“By staying busy. Tony didn’t say for sure but it sounded like there were in three vehicles. Let me think … gah … my head is killing me.”

Suddenly pulling out her proverbial nurse’s cap Lucia admonished, “You need to rest. You’re having caffeine withdrawals too. I’d give you something but I don’t want anything thinning your blood or messing with your circulation at all or you could just make your arm worse and leave it open to infection.”

“Fine but if my head explodes it’s on you,” I told her tiredly trying to remember the pressure points for headache relief I learned in that screwy intro to health and the human psyche class.

“Why did you say they were coming in three cars?” she prompted me.

“Stuff Tony said. My brothers were taking turns driving my parents with Leo – that guy Tony went to school with I guess is who he meant – riding shot gun for them; that’s one car. Actually probably a truck since they knew they would need the clearance. I think it’ll be that Chevy that Dad bought when I was home for spring break. Then I know Tony was in a different vehicle but he wasn’t driving and Ana was in the back seat.”

“Tony’s riding with the twins?!” Her shocked laugh echoed off the kitchen tile.

I winced, her shrill voice peeling a layer of my brain away. “Yeah, that’s what I asked but he blew me off. The only reason he’d ride with even one of them is if he had to which means if there wasn’t room for them any place else. I only heard Tony, then Ana screaming about someone’s driving, and you know she wouldn’t do that to your dad.”

“Naw ‘cause Dad would reach back and smack her if she did. So that means Tony had a driver and my family is in a third car,” Lucia finished.

“Yeah and probably with a driver which is why Ana would have been riding with Tony.”

After a resigned paused she asked, “So … what is so important that it can keep us busy and sane for four days?”

 

[bad_karma00]

Very cool story! Love to see more!

 

[223shootersc]

good stuff, Kathy have missed your work, it is always so good

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Eight

“We need to get the house ready.”

Lucia groaned in response. She despised housework nearly as much as cooking from scratch. “Come on, get with the program girl,” I told her. “A lot of people are going to have to fit in here and there are only four bedrooms. My parents will have one bedroom and yours another. That still leaves at least four females and six males that need a bed.”

Getting a stubborn look on her face Lucia said, “Bennie and I …”

I was not going there. “Uh uh. No way am I gonna deal with your dad starting WW3 over that one and you know how straight my parents are.” Lucia huffed but let it go and I was relieved. What she and Bennie chose to do in private was none of my business but I didn’t like having my nose rubbed in it either. “The guys can split the other two bedrooms; you and the girls can have the basement. I’ll put together something for me up in the attic.”

Outraged Lucia asked, “Hey, why do you get a room to yourself?”

If she only knew how much I’d like to switch with her, but it was either that or being a guest on a cot at the foot of my parents’ bed and that is something I definitely did not want to do. Crimping Lucia and Bennie was one thing … crimping my parents’ style was a subject I had no intention on thinking about.

“There’s a cot and a pull out sofa in the basement that will do for three people – you and the girls. There’s a set of bunk beds and a single in each of the two downstairs bedrooms – the six guys. Our parents can split the two upstairs bedrooms. So unless I wanna sleep under the kitchen table, or on the porch with the gnats the attic is all that’s left.”

“Still …”

Shaking my head I came back with, “Still nothing. The attic has so much crap in it from my parents and the previous owner that it’s not like I’m going to have room to stretch out. I’ll probably have to move and stack boxes half a day just to make a pallet area to sleep on.”

Refusing to give in she said, “At least you’ll have privacy.”

I snorted humorously. “From everyone but the spiders and occasional mouse or black snake that finds its way in.”

At her look of horror I knew I wouldn’t hear about it again. Lucia was such a city girl. I was too but at least I remember what my life was like before New York and could deal with the changes we faced with some grace. Trying hard not to laugh at the way Lucia was looking surreptitiously around and moving her feet from under the table I told her, “We’ll also need to take care of the chickens, empty that panel truck and get the stuff stored and out of the way, and we can move stuff around in the barn to make room for the cars that are coming.”

Giving me the evil eye she asked sarcastically, “Oh is that all? Rearrange the house, the garage, and unload a semi. Yeah. I’ll be sure and get right on that.”

*****

Between our injuries, exhaustion from the drive and just being fearful and nervous from everything else it was a full day before we really got started on the list of chores I had devised. After resting Bennie bounced back better than I had thought he would but he and I were both sore and a little slow. It was not fun getting everything out of the panel truck. Lucia had been totally exaggerating when she called it a semi but that didn’t mean it was fun or easy to empty, or that it was easy to figure out a place to put everything away in so we could remember where it was and find it again.

Lucia wiped the sweat off of her face and re-did her pony tail where it had fall down. Her roots were beginning to show but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell her that. “Man Joey, this is like we are back working at the market. And you sound like old lady Stenheim.” Her voice switched to a good imitation of the mother of the man we had both worked for all through highschool. “Don’t rip the labels you little tarts, they’ll fall off and we’ll never know what is in the can. You drop it and it breaks you’ll clean up the mess and I’ll be making sure it comes out of your check … once for the mess and the second for just being stupid. Don’t stack them like that! They’ll fall and we’ll have to put them in the dent bin. You think we run a charity around here?” Returning her voice to normal she said, “Bossy old cow.” She followed that with a look that left me wondering whether she was talking about Ol’ Mrs. Stenheim or not.

The house was a real piece of work. My mother was a cook not a decorator. About the only furniture in the rooms were beds in the sleeping areas, sofas in the two common areas, and a few tables to set stuff on. If you had to call it something it would be summer camp décor. Now the kitchen was another matter entirely; it was a to-die-for replica of a kitchen Mom had seen on some TV show with stainless steel appliances (downsized to fit the solar system), granite counter tops, travertine back splash, and along one wall an antique soap stone basin and counter that was nearly big enough to take a bath in. The flooring was a commercial grade PVC system that was easy on the feet and even easier to keep clean. In the corner was the original wood cooking stove that Dad had restored and they used it to heat the kitchen when they came during the winter. The breakfast table was a family heirloom made of an old piece of redwood on mahogany legs that had belonged to Mom’s grandmother. The chairs were an odd collection of mixed pieces because the matching chairs to that table were instead used in the dining room around another family heirloom … a pecan wood dining table that sat ten people with a matching china hutch and buffet table. Everything else in the house kinda looked like it came from a thrift store sale, which knowing Mom it probably did.

I wasn’t there to do Mom’s decorating for her so we stuck to general cleaning – like dusting and cleaning the bathrooms – and washing all the bed linens. Lucia really fumed about that one.

“You wait to tell me the washer isn’t working after I’ve already stripped all the beds?! Wait, let me guess, the machine was working just fine until you touched it.”

Knowing she had some reason to be upset I said, “Relax. Since they only need rinsing out we can just put the linens in a tub filled with water and a little fabric softener set on the porch and then hang them on the clothes line to dry while the bedroom air out.”

The sound of grinding teeth was my only answer until she blasted me with, “Relax she says. Well you ain’t the one lifting and pulling and tugging on these things and you aint the one that is gonna have to put ‘em back on either.”

I didn’t blame her for being cranky. Bennie and I tried to help but after she got flattened twice as we tried to flip some of the mattresses she all but screamed, “If they want their friggin’ mattress turned then they can do it themselves!”

Leaving Lucia alone to work out her frustrations by stomping the sheets down in to the tub of water like one of those Greek women stomping grapes, Bennie and I emptied the panel truck. It took a whole day for us to get everything emptied and a piece of another to get the stuff down into the basement storage room and out of the way.

I thought we were making great progress and was kind of excited to hear what Mom and Dad would say about it but Bennie and Lucia both mutinied after taking one look at the barn and I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything else. When Gran died Dad had inherited everything and rather than deal with it then – “those auction houses are a rip off” - he’d simply brought it all back to New York and put it in metal drums which he then stuck in a big storage locker. When they bought the cabin Dad refused to pay any more storage facility rent so he trucked it out to – you guessed it – the barn; and there it has stayed there ever since. Mom tries every once in a while to go through everything but Dad always claims it can wait. She just shrugs and tells me, “At least mice can’t get through the metal.”

Bennie spent his suddenly free time cleaning the guns of the guys that attacked us while Lucia speculated on what the men were doing there.

“Probably illegals,” Bennie said trying to add to her musings.

“No kidding,” Lucia said while rolling her eyes at what she considered obvious. “But why would they be camping right there?”

“Could be a pot patch in the woods. Might be worth looking for,” he said.

I glared and he said defensively, “Just for informational purposes only. We don’t need anyone else sneaking up on us.”

Feeling a little snarky myself because of their refusal to help I said, “Yeah right. Besides Tony owns that land and you know how he is. One whiff – no pun intended – and whoosh! Going up in smoke wouldn’t begin to cover it. He’d come in with bulldozers and bazookas.” My reminder was enough for them to take another tact. Tony might have different kinds of friends but he hated drugs. He considered druggies, pot heads, and alcoholics to be weak and useless, a worthless drain on society. He had the same opinion about people that sold drugs … from the street dealer right on up to the big pharma companies. The only time Tony came close to getting in trouble with the law as far as I know was when some kid that had been selling drugs down at the park got whacked. No one was ever officially fingered for it but the way Lucia and I heard it at the school (no one would talk about it at home) Tony’s name came up a couple a times because he’d stomped the guy pretty hard for offering some of us a trial size of the newest “candy” on the rave scene.

“Does it really matter how they wound up where they did?” I said cutting through their debate that was turning into another petty fight. “They’re not here anymore.”

“It might,” Bennie argued. “Depends who else knows about this place.”

That made me pause and think. “Not too many people. Even the surveyors got lost coming out here. Only the man from the propane company has ever been out here more than once as far as I know. Dad and the boys always brought the construction material in themselves or had stuff delivered at the bottom of the hill and brought it up with the tractor; and that was before Tony changed the roadway.

In the middle of cussing the former owner of one of the rusty rifles Bennie said, “Been meaning to ask where the propane tank is. Knew there had to be one because of the stove and hot water tank but don’t see one anywhere.”

Smiling I told him, “That’s the point. Actually it’s buried. The old guy that used to own this place was some kind of crazy according to the few people in town that claimed to have known him. They all said he was completely antisocial and hated people so much he didn’t want to see another human being anymore than absolutely necessary during his lifetime. It was six months before anyone realized the old guy had died.”

“In the house?!” Lucia squawked.

I laughed at the look on her face and said, “No; in the old outhouse. Dad burned it down after they bought this place because it was full of hornets and not worth saving. As far as the propane goes we don’t even know for sure how much the system holds as it is really three tanks run together in kind of a tandem set up. My folks have never even come close to emptying it; Dad just has the gas company top it off at the beginning of every summer and doesn’t worry about it. Propane doesn’t go bad.”

Polishing a stubborn rust spot he nodded and then said, “The access must be at that concrete pad.”

I shook my head. “Nope. That’s the access for one of the cisterns that feeds the irrigation system out in the garden and orchard area.”

Doubtfully Lucia looked at me and said, “I ain’t never seen no garden around here when we visited and Mom has never mentioned one either and you know she’d be all over it if there was.”

Laughing in complete understanding of how our mothers worked I said, “You’re right on both counts. But there is space for one, a pretty big one. There are some terraced areas that sit lower than the house and the orchard is …”

I squinched my eyes shut painfully at my own stupidity. When I jumped up they both asked me in alarm, “What?!”

“The fruit trees,” I answered. “Dad said he caught some hunters out there last fall … some Hispanics that claimed they worked for the forestry department and hadn’t realized the land was no longer public use. He didn’t like the idea of people so close to the cabin and that’s when he and the boys installed the rolldowns and metal shutters. Mom hates they way they look – claims it makes her feel like she’s in prison – but when she realized it would take Dad’s stress level down a couple of notches she stopped objecting to them.”

“Where you goin’?” Bennie asked as I headed for the door.

“To see if there’s any fruit on the trees.”

He got up too and said, “I’ll come with you. Ain’t a good idea to go off on your own; could still be others around.”

I knew it wouldn’t do any good to argue so I gave them both a look that said if you’re coming then come on. Lucia planted herself even more firmly in the kitchen chair she’d been sitting in but Bennie followed me out. “Don’t touch nothin’,” he told her referring to the guns on the table. Lucia just sneered and went back to reading the old gossip magazine she’d found in one of the bathrooms.

Once out of earshot Bennie asks, “You think Tony and Lucia’s ol’ man are going to let me stay?”

Giving him a look I asked, “You crazy or what? This is my parents’ place; no way will Dad turn you out with things like they are. Besides Tony knows you’re here and said you could be useful.”

“Bein’ useful ain’t the same thing as being welcome. I don’t wanna cause no problems but I don’t know if I can stay around and not be with Luce. But I won’t just leave her neither. She may be a pain but she’s my pain.”

“I thought you two were ready to break it off last week.”

He sighed. “I hate it when other guys look at her. It ain’t her fault or nuthin’. I mean she’s beautiful so guys are gonna look. But it still drives me crazy.”

I felt like smacking Lucia for being such a flirt. “You can’t count on things changing. You’ll either have to accept it as it is or make a clean break of it. This back and forth ain’t healthy … for either one of you.”

“Is that your problem with Tony?”

I hated the personal questions but decided that since I’d gotten into his business I didn’t have room to complain. “Not … not exactly. Tony is who he is. I can live with that. It’s everything that comes along with being Tony’s girl that I’m not so sure I’m ready for including the part where my parents come into it.”

Nodding like he understood he asked, “You think I can ever bring Luce’s parents around?”

Refusing to lie I told him, “I don’t know. Mr. Moretti can be hard ‘cause that’s the way he was raised. And this thing with her flunking out is going to be enough to make him come unglued for a while and you know he’s going to blame you at least for some of it.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Revealing how frustrated he was over the issue he said, “No matter how I warned her she didn’t wanna listen and once I started working full time I couldn’t stay on her the way she needed. I told her if she didn’t want to be a nurse then she needed to change her major and stop wasting time and money but she said her ol’ man had his heart set on it. She coulda done the work, it was just her way of getting out of something she didn’t really want to do in the first place.”

Bennie really did know Lucia pretty well but I still had to laugh. “I’m sorry Bennie, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but your brain and your brawn don’t always seem to go together. Sometimes I have a hard time picturing you as a teacher … even after you won that new teacher award last spring.”

Seriously he told me, “I know. Hard for me to believe sometimes too. You’ll think it even weirder when I tell you my dream job is to work in a juvenile detention center. Luce thinks I’ve lost my mind.”

Really surprised given his history I asked, “Why would you want to do that? You hated being in juvie from what little you’ve said.”

“Yeah I hated it but that’s where I belonged; do the crime, do the time … and it ain’t supposed to be Club Med. Truth is Joey, you don’t want to know the kind of things that go on in places like that; but there are good people there too. One of the guards used to shove my face in my school books when I started slacking. Man he was tough but … but tough – the right kind of tough – was what I needed, not all that touchy feely crap they try on the kids most of the time saying they just ain’t been loved on enough or their parents weren’t good enough or whatever. I needed some order and rules and boundaries. That’s why gangs are so easy to get into and so hard to get out of … they’re like a family for the kids that don’t have that stuff.”

Having heard this from others, but never from anyone that had actually experienced it, I didn’t interrupt and hoped he would keep explaining. “See, until I had the boundaries to teach me self control I couldn’t understand anything else because my priorities were all messed up. One day – I don’t know why – I did my homework without this guy having to stand over the top of me and even helped a new kid that had just got in. This tough guy, he bumps my shoulder with his fist. No big deal but for the first time something clicked for me. That day my life changed. I wanna be that guy for some other kid … you know teach ‘em about self control and what self respect really means and how you don’t have to be where you come from, you got a choice.”

Suddenly understanding Bennie a whole lot more than I ever had I said, “What I know is maybe there’s more to you than people think and that maybe Lucia don’t have such a bum deal with you after all.”

Bashfully the big guy says, “Aw don’t start Joey. I ain’t no saint.”

“No kidding,” I laughed. “But the way I hear it most of the people that wind up being called saints sure didn’t start out that way. Peter, Paul, Thomas … couple of the women weren’t exactly nuns when they changed their lives neither.”

Bennie had had enough sharing and since we had gotten to the orchard I let it go. Besides, looking around, I had enough to think about as I saw the mess I had on my hands.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Nine

“Mom is going to have a litter of purple cows,” I muttered.

Used to the strange phrases that Lucia and I had coined as girls but still puzzled, Bennie asked, “Why?”

Grimacing at the blow up Mom was likely to have since she treated wasted food like a first degree felony I told him, “Look at the decayed fruit.”

Still puzzled and looking around he asked, “Where?”

I’d forgotten who I was talking to. Bennie was such a city boy he’d probably only seen some of this in pictures. Knowing it would be easier to show him rather than tell him I said, “Come on, give me a hand. We need to get some buckets and come back and try and save some of the fallen fruit before we start picking. Lucia can prepare it and put it on the dryer if she wants to stay in the house.”

*****

Acting like I was sentencing to her hard labor at Sing Sing Lucia asked, “You want me to do what?! Why can’t we just put it in the frig?”

“There’s too much; it’ll spoil before it gets eaten. And I’m not listening to both of our mothers complain about all of the waste and how we could have done yada, yada, blah, blah, blah and how we weren’t thinking about the cost of groceries or whatever else they come up with. I swear you know how the two of them are, especially when they get going together. Do you really want to get double teamed by one of their infamous lectures on how modern girls just don’t seem to understand the value of a dollar and how we’ll never find husbands worth anything if we can’t even …”

“All right already,” she said huffing. “God, you are starting to sound just like them. I’m never going to get any peace unless we get this done and over with. So what is it you want me to do?”

“Get the Excalibur out and …”

“The what?”

Lucia wasn’t the only one with frayed nerves and on top of that my patience was wearing thin. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her dragging her feet every step of the way just to tick me off and pay me back. “Don’t play dumb Lucia. You know I mean Mom’s big food dryer. It’ll pull power off the batteries but we can deal without the TV tonight since we aren’t getting anything but snow anyway. The radio is enough and there isn’t much worth hearing on it except the government line of BS to stay calm, stay home, help is on the way.”

“But Joey …”

No amount of whining on Lucia’s part would put me off. I refused to have my mother show up and think I was slacking and just messing around sitting comfortable while they risked their necks on the road to get here.

Unfortunately I hadn’t a clue what I was getting myself into. It felt like I worked harder the next few days than I ever had in my life. There were apples, apricots, pears, blackberries, blueberries, nectarines, raspberries and something I’d grown up calling a Saskatoon. There were also a few figs and a tree full of black mulberries that I knew I would have to fight the birds for like I did when I was a little kid still living in Dover, TN.

Thoughts of Dover flitting threw my head had me checking out the small grove of pawpaw trees and sure enough there was fruit on them, only none of it ripe yet. There was fruit on the persimmon trees too but I wouldn’t go near them for love or money before they finished ripening in October. Biting an unripe persimmon was like chewing powdered alum. The quince trees would give ripe fruit next month but they already smelled wonderful. The grape vines were also full for next month’s harvest but I wouldn’t track through them on a bet without boots and heavy gloves in hand. Mom had warned me about the snakes that sometimes masqueraded as vines when they were sunning themselves.

*****

“You’re nuts Joey!” Lucia exclaimed, throwing up her hands in irritation while I threw the peelings and fruit pieces too bruised to save over the fence to the chickens. “I’m not doing this anymore, not even for your mother … or mine for that matter. This stuff will just spoil and all the work will have been for nothing. You act like the friggin’ world has come to an end. You heard what the radio said; the government has it under control. Everyone just needs to relax and calm down. It’s people freaking out like you are that is causing heartburn for everyone else. This is hoarding and people are getting thrown in jail for it. Is that where you want to end up? If you want to think of what your mother will worry about, why don’t you think about that.”

“Hoarding my foot!” I yelled back at her. “This is my parents’ land. These are my parents’ trees. This makes this my parents’ fruit. It in no way belongs to anyone else and I will not listen to some blow hole on the boob tube justify redistributing resources and rationalizing breaking into people’s homes to take what doesn’t belong to them!”

I was too tired to fight the same fight we’d fought for the last three days that always ended up being a cry fest because our families hadn’t shown up yet. Even Bennie, once my stalwart supporter, had started siding openly with Lucia and saying I was overreacting.

Cutting through all of it I said, “Look, I’m sorry I was wrong. It’s obviously taking them longer to get here than I thought it would. But if you two take the truck and leave like you want to how do you think you are going to find them? You have absolutely no idea what route they took. You two already took the truck back down the road once to just short of the town and you didn’t see anybody or even hear anything. The cell phones aren’t working either even though we’ve kept them charged. That phone you guys found at that little forestry substation didn’t work either. The internet is still down even though you found a place to get three bars on your smart phone. We even walked to the overlook last night and didn’t see any lights from the highway … or any place else for that matter … and at a minimum we should have seen a few houses lit up down in Dot. The one TV channel that has finally come up is either broadcasting re-runs or just more of the same happy-happy talk from the media on how good the president is doing and how Congress and local state governments are moving as fast as they can and for everyone to be patient. I still don’t get why a national cable news anchor is on a local station. And you have to have noticed there weren’t any pictures, film clips, sound bites, and no real news with any substance about what is going on outside the country. So tell me, does that sound like everything is OK and getting back to normal?!!” My voice finally cracked when I yelled and I threw the bucket in the general direction of the barn and stomped back to the orchard to keep working even if they refused to help.

Three hours later I was still at it. I was beyond tired, beyond feeling sorry for myself. I had a bad case of auto-pilot going on.

I thought at first a buck was running across the path but then I heard, “Joey! Joey!”

My head jerked up at the racket Bennie was making. He’d startled me bad enough I nearly dropped the bucket of blackberries I was picking. I did begin to run over to him when I caught a glimpse of his face.

“Lucia?! Did something …”

He grabbed my good arm to stop me. “No,” he gasped and I realized he was a pale green beneath his tan. “They’re … they’re here …”

Ready to hit him for scaring me I tried to yank my arm but he wouldn’t turn loose. He looked in my face like he was trying to prepared me for something. “Joey … Joey … aw man … I’m … I’m so sorry …”

“Dad? Is it my Dad?” I whimpered but I didn’t give him a chance to answer because I’d finally managed to get loose from his grip. I ran up the path that led back to the cabin knowing something was wrong … horribly wrong for Bennie to react as he had. I heard Lucia’s parents carrying on before I reached the yard, her Dad especially. He was spewing the nastiest stuff I’d ever heard from him.

I knew it was bad, felt it deep in my bones. But nothing, absolutely nothing on this side of hell could have prepared me for the truth of it all.

 

[223shootersc]

thanks for the new chapter

 

[hummer]

awesome story...........real cliff hanger!!!!!!!!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Ten

Two cars … well, really my parents’ truck and a cargo van. No sign of the Moretti’s old Monte Carlo. I thought, “Oh no, they had an accident.” It would have certainly explained Mr. Moretti’s yelling and screaming.

But he was yelling and screaming at Tony who was leaning against the cargo van like he could barely stand up. Mrs. Moretti was hugging and kissing on Ana like she’d been missing for a week. Lucia was crying and then ran to Bennie when he followed me into the yard. Things began to take on a surreal quality and I only caught tableaus whose meaning seemed to be just out of my reach.

I kept looking around. I thought the house and started to run that direction but Bennie stepped in front of me and shook his head and turned me around. Not the house? Maybe in the van and I went to walk towards it but Lucia pulled me away.

“Dad? Mom?” I called looking around. No answer. Then I asked, “Lucia, where are the boys?”

My voice brought the entire yard to an immediate hush. Lucia’s face froze in some horrific grimace caught between emotions I wasn’t ready to name. Mr. Moretti had his fist drawn back like he was going to hit Tony. No, that couldn’t be what it looked like. The twins and Mrs. Moretti looked at me and then Mrs. Moretti straightened up, wiped her face, and started coming my direction.

Nope. I did not like the look of that and took a step backwards. Bennie’s bulk kept me from retreating. Then I watched as Tony slid down the van, landing on his knees, his arms hanging loosely, his head bowed like the weight of the world had bent it beyond his control. Mr. Moretti got a disgusted look on his face and jumped away from the van.

I brushed past Mrs. Moretti and not even Mr. Moretti’s outstretched arm could stop my forward motion. Still there was no sound besides the quiet sobs of Lucia’s sisters as they held onto each other. I went down on my knees beside Tony.

Quietly, in a voice that seemed to come from far away, I asked, “Tony? Where are my parents? My brothers?”

It seemed to take everything he had but Tony lifted his head and looked at me. I gasped. Something was very, very wrong. He was trying to say something but it took several tries before he could push words beyond his parched lips. “I’m sorry Ragazza … I’m sorry.”

He slowly fell forward, still kneeling and he ended up at my feet like he was prostrating himself. In a dream I put my hand on his head and he sighed and again said, “I’m sorry … so sorry.” He was burning up. I’d never felt anyone so hot, and his head felt lumpy. It immediately reminded me of my brothers when they caught mono in their last year of middle school. Their lymph glands had been so swollen it looked and felt like someone had beaten them with a stick.

“Sorry?! Sorry?!! You worthless piece of …” Mr. Moretti was screaming so horribly that I couldn’t even understand what he was saying. Or maybe I didn’t want to.

I saw a man step forward that I vaguely recognized. He was calm and got between Mr. Moretti and Tony as the man I’d thought of as a second father tried to aim a serious kick at the sick one I was all but holding in my arms.

Still detached from it all I asked Leo in a strangely even tone, “Do you know what happened?”

“Yeah,” he said looking at me with some sympathy; too much sympathy, and I had to look away. “Yo Bennie, take Mr. Moretti here over to that stoop and maybe you could see some way to get him something to drink. He’s … er … overset.”

Snarling Mr. Moretti said, “I’m not sitting. I’m not staying. Me and my family are heading back and no one …”

Leo, obviously having some experience dealing with people who were … er … overset said, “Mr. Moretti no one is going anywhere yet.”

“I’ll damn well …”

“ … Do nothing,” Leo finished with a little more bite to his words. “I’ve got the keys and access to the fuel. You calm down and get out of my face. Take you nice wife and daughters there and go sit down while I work some things out. Joey here needs some answers before you get what you want and Tony … Tony needs …”

Hearing Tony’s name Mr. Moretti stomped away shouting, “Tony MacGregor can go to hell.”

That more than anything shocked me. What on earth could be going on? The protective calmness was beginning to dissolve and I started breathing in deep gulps. Tony kept muttering about being sorry. Neither Bennie nor any of the Moretti family would meet my eye. That left only Leo to make sense of the nightmare.

“Leo?”

He shook his head. “We need to get Tony inside first. Haven’t got no idea how he’s lasted this long except he’s stubborn as hell. I’ve thought it over, he ain’t infectious no matter how ol’ Nicky acts but I don’t know whether he’s going to live or die … he’s damn sure not gonna live if we leave him on the ground like this.” The curtain came back down on my curiosity. I was no longer sure I wanted the answers that Leo could provide but faced with Tony’s real suffering I couldn’t abandon reality completely.

Bennie started to come over to help but Mr. Moretti threatened to refuse to let him near Lucia if he moved a muscle. Nick Moretti was suddenly a stranger to me. I looked at Mrs. Moretti and as heartsick as the situation was obviously making her she simply turned her eyes down unable to go against her husband’s will.

When I turned my back to them and helped Leo get Tony up the stairs it was like I was turning the last page of a novel and closing the cover, leaving certain characters I had grown fond of behind forever. In the kitchen Leo stopped and told me, “You should maybe want that door locked for a bit to give us time to talk without people busting in and … distracting us.”

It was a strange suggestion but I did as he bid because I somehow felt safer knowing I at least controlled a little bit of what was going on around me. We took Tony over to the nearest bedroom and while Leo put Tony on the bed and undressed him I ran to get some cloths and a basin of water.

I came back and was shocked. Tony was down to his undershorts but that wasn’t what had my attention. He was covered in odd bruises and I could tell even in his half-conscious state he was in pain.

Leo looked at me and said, “Looks like the worst of the swelling is gone but he ain’t out of the woods yet.”

I whispered a frightened, “What is this?”

“Don’t know but … but look see … you … you need to sit down and let me tell it from the top. It don’t make sense otherwise.”

I couldn’t stand to see Tony like he was so I started washing the sour sweat from his body. I had to be gentle because everywhere I touched him seemed to cause him pain. As I ministered to Tony the best I could Leo sat on the bottom bunk and started talking.

 

[Grand58742]

Kathy, I love your writing. Always makes me laugh with some of the ways you describe things...Orion slave girl from Star Trek, LMAO

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Eleven

“You know me and Tony go way back. Even then I knew he’d go places I couldn’t but he’s the kinda guy that don’t forget where he comes from like some of those suits upstairs have. I ain’t just the guy that guards the elevator to the executive floors, I got a name and he asks what’s going on in my life when he sees me.

So’s anyway, me and him are in the parking garage shooting the breeze while his car gets brought down. He offers to give me a lift across town so I don’t have to waste no time on the subway and get all smelly and crap and then have to rush for my date. Like I says, Tony’s cool. Then them little jerks they got running the valet parking start squawking and gabbling like last year’s turkey and we see all this stuff on the little television they got in their cubicle.

They’re going friggin’ nuts – pardon my French – I have to admit I wasn’t doin’ too well either but Tony’s got like ice water in his veins. He takes his keys from the A-rab kid and we get in and he starts driving and making phone calls. I’m thinking, maybe I didn’t hear the man on the TV right or maybe Tony is checking his contacts to see what’s really going on.

See though, Tony gets real pale and then gets quiet. You know how he gets when he’s making a plan? That’s how he was. Then outta the blue he says, ‘Hey Leo, got a proposition for you.’ After I heard him out how could I say no? I don’t have no close family and no connections so I said yeah, I’ll drive wit you.

There ain’t no need to tell you about how the Moretti’s and … and your folks was. It ain’t important except that your folks was a whole lot easier to deal with than ol’ Nicky. Him was something else and if he hadn’t been family to Tony I woulda popped him one just to shut ‘im up. You see how he is now? He was almost this bad that first day and poor Vinnie said he didn’t shut up until he got his punch spiked if you know what I mean.

Tony was smart. If we had waited even one more hour to get on the road we would still be there, waiting our turn for a ticket across one of the bridges. As it is Tony had to use some pull and we got taken on a cargo ship and then we floated our way down to Atlantic City. Can’t beat that with a stick. Man. That Tony.

But it wasn’t easy gettin’ out of there neither. People were crazy. The news was just no good. But still we did get out and all three of the vehicles went this way then that, cutting back north to get around Baltimore and DC before we could really get going west. I ain’t never seen nothin’ like it and hope to never again. We were a couple a days out and finally getting the rhythm of how to avoid the worst of it when we got hung up in this snarl outside of Harrisburg. Man, there were cars as far as the eye could see in all directions.

Mr. Moretti was about to bust a blood vessel. He wanted to turn around and go back home. He was listening to the radio and they was saying that it wasn’t as bad as people were making it out to be. It was only the people that were panicking that were causing the problems. If everyone would just go home and stay there and wait for further instructions everything would be all right. The government then told all the gas stations and stores to close so people would have to go home. I mean, how stupid can you get? If there ain’t no gas or food how’s people supposed to get home?

So’s anyway we’re on this stretch of highway just standing around and Tony finally tells Moretti to shut up and get in his car and then ol’ Nicky cusses Tony out but good and then tells all his family to get in the car, that as soon as he can figure out a way to turn around they were going home. Your ol’ man, he believes Tony, tries to talk some since into ol’ Nicky but Moretti cusses him too and says a few things … well that Tony wouldn't want you to hear about. Your ol’ man gets angry and it looks like there’s going to be a throw down right there but your Ma she … she pulls your dad off and they’re standing over by their truck with your brothers. Vinnie’s done had enough and so has Carlo, the other guy that was with us. For Vinnie it was ol’ Nicky he was full of but Carlo, he never had no bottom and wanted to run crying to his sister’s place in Hagerstown. Carlo and his sister ain’t talked in five years but still he seems to think she’ll take him in because he’s her little brother. Stupid guido.

So’s Tony asks me to get in with the Moretti’s to keep the ol’ man from doing something to make an ass out of himself and Vinnie and Carlo was standing with your family. Tony had gotten in the van and pulled out a map to try and figure a way out. Then out a nowhere this wet fog comes down on us. I just get a glimpse of one of them farm planes … crop duster they calls it … following the highway towards the city when I can’t see nothing because there’s this friggin’ sticky stuff all over the windshield – pardon my French.

Then out of the fog Vinnie plants his face against the side window and … and it was like he … You sure don’t need that picture in your head.

Anyway this fog or whatever the heck the crap was just goes away, like smoke or steam. It’s just gone. But … but now I can see there’s people all over the place coughing and gagging, falling down. I can see your family and then I sees Tony and he’s got this … this look on his face I can see even from as far away as I was. I says, “Don’t do it Tony, don’t do it” but he can’t hear me see and even if he could, I don’t think it would have stopped him.

He jumps out of the van and runs over to your family. He’s trying to grab ‘em all up. Your dad just pushes the boys at him and takes your Ma’s arm and they’re all heading for the van. Tony tosses the boys in and turns to see that … that your folks … they were on the ground and … and real still Joey. It was too late for them … and your brothers. I don’t know what it was but it musta been some kind of nerve agent like in the war. It was just that quick.

Tony … Tony man, he was like in shock or something. He’s turning this way and that and then he starts coughing. He got some of that crap on him when he got out to help your family. He didn’t breathe it in, it got on his skin. Then he’s OK for a little while but he’s still got this wild look in his eyes like something – or someone – needs killin’. I guess we was all in shock but Tony was the worst. Ol’ Nick wouldn’t let his family out until they abso-freakin’-lutely had to take a leak and the girls busted out and hit the bushes.

Ol’ Nick went at Tony even though he could see Tony was coming unglued. Tony kept saying stuff like “I promised her.” I figure he was talking about you. You know how he is … he takes things to heart. And don’t get me wrong we were all heart sick, even Moretti, though he was acting like a jackass but Tony was … it looked like something was breakin’ in his head or somethin’

So’s during the night Moretti is saying that’s it, he ain’t going no more. Lot’s of other people are talking about going back home too only there really ain’t that many people to talk about it ‘cause of all these dead bodies … er … I mean … Don’t mention to Tony I told you that part.

Anyway, about Tony. He takes all the keys – where I got the idea from just now – and tells Moretti to get stuffed, no ones going nowhere without a plan. Then a big ol’ dump truck starts coming through and with a bull horn says they’ll be back through in a couple of hours so have the bodies ready to be picked up and to pin some kind of identification to them. Well, somebody had to do it before … before nature took its course. Only people coming from where they were starting first said that the guys – some kind of private security detail from the look of ‘em – are taking all the gold and jewelry off the bodies before they just dump ‘em in the back. Well, Tony man he’s messed up and not having any of it. He takes … well … he said the stuff was yours and it’s in a bag in his pants pocket over there. He wanted to bury your family right but there ain’t no way to do it. No consecrated ground, no one to say the proper words … ain’t really even any ground to do it since it ain’t nothing but concrete roads and parking lots all over.

He accepts he can’t do what he thinks he should but it put a big hole in him to let go it so’s try not to be too hard on the guy about it if he lives. By then Tony’s getting’ crazy angry and you can see his brain is working again. He tells us to siphon off all the gas from all the cars around us and to check for anything useful. Oh Saint Peter Paul and Mary did Moretti start making noise about that. Tony tells him the score and to shut up but I could see that Moretti was making plans of his own. Without Tony’s say so he switches his family to your ol’ man’s truck and puts your family’s stuff on the side of the road so he can put his in.

Him and Tony go at it again but there ain’t no time because we see this truck coming through that is just bulldozing cars out of the way to clear the road … and bodies too if they haven’t been moved off the road like they were ordered to be done. Tony starts scrambling to put your family’s stuff in the van but he’s keeping an eye on Moretti because only a blind man would miss that he was trying to make a move.

All of a sudden Tony tells me to get in the truck and follow him and he grabs that noisy kid Ana and tosses her into the van right as that big truck gets between the van and the truck. I see what he’s up to and jump in the truck pushing Moretti over into his wife’s lap. By the time the big truck is out of the way Tony is using the clear lane it’s left behind to turn around and take off.

Moretti and his wife are coming freaking unglued and I tells ‘em both to shut up and let me drive. It’s been like that ever since. When we had to stop for something – which wasn’t often after that because people got scared of being on the road in case there were more planes ‘cause it wasn’t just us that it happened to but all over the country – Tony had a gun and kept Moretti off him and the girl. Moretti wanted me to shoot Tony to get his girl back but I told him I wasn’t shootin’ Tony and if he told me to do it one more time I’d shoot him instead.

I could tell Tony was getting sick. His drivin’ started to suck and he was lucky that he didn’t drive off a friggin’ mountain – pardon my French. Moretti kept threatening and Tony kept saying that he would save him whether he wanted to be saved or not and what about Lucia and you and … Tony can tell you the rest of what was said if he thinks you need to know.

Just that’s what happened and here we are.”

 

[Kathy in FL]

Just a reminder to the readers. I occasionally make really stupid editing mistakes and I'm not too proud to acknowledge that fact. You see something cock-eyed, please say something in the comment thread 'cause it needs to be fixed. If I've missed it after reading it three times I doubt that I'll catch it on accident after I've posted a chapter and you aren't going to bother me a bit. I'd rather fix it now than look like a doofus for all time.

And smaller editing things can - and in my personal opinion should - be noted as well. I'm well aware there is a difference between constructive critique and constant criticism. I learn ... you may just need to point it out to me a couple (or more) times before it will stick. So don't be afraid to sing out.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Twelve

If someone ever asks me how I felt at that moment all I’ll ever be able to tell them is numb. Numb doesn’t exactly describe how I was feeling but it’s as close as any word in the human language will ever come. There isn’t a word big enough to describe how I was feeling.

Mentally fighting to process what I’d just heard I said, “So … here you are.”

Leo nodded, “Yep.”

“And?” I asked.

“And … and in a way what was good enough to get us here ain’t good enough to keep us here.” Uh oh, I could feel yet another layer of situation forming. “Now, since Tony ain’t himself, but knowing how he feels about you, I feel obligated to give you some advice. You ain’t gonna like it but you need to think on it.”

My brain felt stupid. All I could do was look at him and say, “Advice?”

“Yeah. If Tony could he’d explain how Moretti is off his rocker, popped his cork, Bellevue bound. Call it whatever you wanna but he’s a dangerous man right now. Maybe he was always this way and the way he used to act was just a disguise he wore. Maybe this stuff going on cracked him or something. Don’t matter; result’s still the same. Whichever way you cut it, he ain’t a man to trust. I seen and heard some of the things he promised to do to Tony when he wasn’t lookin’.”

Still talking he said, “Now, I saw your face when Tony slid to the ground. I’m thinkin’ that maybe you feel the same way for Tony as he feels for you … or maybe Tony has a good chance to make you feel that way. And if I saw it you can bet Moretti saw it. Right now they ain’t thinkin’ too clear but you give him a chance and he’ll start making plans … see you’re the enemy now too. You can bank on that. You give him time to start thinkin’ and plannin’ and maybe he’ll see Tony wasn’t so wrong about needin’ to get away from the city and maybe he’ll see this place and think your ol’ man was his friend and maybe start thinking who better to run this place since your ol’ man is dead.”

I flinched at the word but if Leo noticed it didn’t stop him from continuing.

“I’d … encourage his delusion about leaving and ‘goin’ home.’ If I was you I’d tell him that he can have the van – after it gets emptied of yours and Tony’s stuff – and that we can have all the fuel left in the two vehicles, and some food, so that we can get where we’re going.”

Catching the pronoun I said, “We?”

His eyebrow cocked up and he gave me a considering look. “You definitely ain’t stupid. Didn’t figure anyone that could hold Tony’s attention the way you have would be.” He kept looking until he’d given me the creeps. “Yeah ‘we’. Tony said I could have some cash and one of the vehicles and that Vinnie, Carlo, and I could head where ever we wanted to after we helped to get him here. Tony ain’t dead yet so I figure the deal is still in motion.”

Carefully I said, “I don’t have any cash.”

“Didn’t figure you did. ‘Sides I know where Tony stashed it. I’ll just take my share … and Carlo and Vinnie’s since they ain’t needin’ it no more.”

Leo had more than a bit of snake in him I realized; I could see it in his eyes. But I had me some backbone and gave the deal some thought before answering. “If that is what Tony agreed to then that is the way it is going to play out. And you get the other two cuts on one condition; you make sure Bennie gets a bit of that cash so Mr. Moretti can’t leave him high and dry with no options. You also make sure that Tony’s ‘stuff’ and my … my family’s things are left on the porch, that Mr. Moretti doesn’t trash them or take them with him … er … accidentally shall we say.”

The snake look suddenly got real strong on Leo’s face and he whispered, “No, you ain’t stupid.” He smiled and I wanted to vomit but the look got tucked away and he stuck out his hand and said, “Deal.”

It took a lot of courage for me to calmly place my hand in his and shake on it. Once done Leo went back to being his formerly semi-charming self. “I’ll go tell the others. And you’re figuring that Lucia and Bennie are going to go with us?”

“Lucia will go with her mom and sisters even if she is scared of her dad; and Bennie won’t leave Lucia.”

“Good. Bennie’ll help with Moretti in case he starts giving me too much trouble. Now if we are doing this let’s get it done.”

I looked at Tony and after I brushed the hair out of his eyes and felt the roughness of his unshaven face I directed Leo ahead of me and we both went out onto the porch.

I will not record what came out of Mr. Moretti’s mouth when I unlocked the door and stepped out. Basically he started in with wanting to know why I had locked the door, what I thought I was doing keeping him out, that I better not be planning anything with Tony, and he even went so far as to wonder if I wasn’t doing something clandestine and/or sexual with Tony on the side to have my way … or with Leo too.

At that point I was ready to puke at how much the man in front of me had changed. I could see Lucia looking at her father like she was realizing he was a few fries short of a happy meal and she was getting scared. I saw how Bennie put himself between her, her mom and sisters, and the man they were supposed to be able to count on.

It wasn’t getting done any faster with me letting him run his mouth so I broke in and tried to act like I wasn’t dealing with a crazy person. “Mr. Moretti as you can see Leo – Bennie too if he’ll lend a hand – are emptying the van …”

“You don’t have no right!!”

I shook my head, “Mr. Moretti it’s not going to work with me. I love you like an uncle but Leo’s told me a few things – things you have not given me any reason to doubt the truth of because of the way you are acting – and those things make me believe that you’ll really not be happy until you leave here.”

“Don’t tell me girl …”

The numbness was wearing off. Grief hadn’t struck but anger was beginning to. “E … nough,” I ground out both syllables. “You wanna leave so freakin’ bad I’m makin’ it possible. And you will. Leave that is. Just as soon as we get the van unloaded and the gas tank filled.”

Mr. Moretti tried a different attack. “Your father …”

“... isn’t here Mr. Moretti,” I finished quietly as something in me finally acknowledged that fact. “And if he was he’d tell you the same thing I am.” Turning I looked at Lucia and she at me. I saw her take a small step closer to her mother and sisters. A confirmation. Bennie who was still torn between standing guard over Lucia and helping Leo sighed and I knew I’d said it all true; Lucia would stay with her mother and Bennie would follow Lucia.

Feeling defeated and alone I said, “Bennie, please help Leo. The faster things finish up the sooner they’ll smooth out for everyone.” That got him moving.

Snarling like a rabid dog Mr. Moretti ordered, “I’m in charge here girl, not you. You’ll leave the supplies right where they are and give us whatever else we need to get out of this dung heap!”

Snapping him a look I spat, “You’ll take what I choose to give you and be grateful. I heard about your fight with my dad and the things you said to him and my family. I know you cowered in your car for hours rather than help them. The only man who tried to help them is lying inside near death himself.”

Striking a superior pose and tone he responded, “Nothing could help them girl. It was God’s will and no one, certainly not that spawn of satan you seem to be so fond of, could go against that.”

I wanted to say something so badly my head shook with the force of trying to hold the words back; but I refused to be drawn into his self delusion. I felt like I had palsy. It was Leo’s call that saved me from exploding. “Done!”

Mrs. Moretti whimpered, “So quickly?”

Back to snarling Mr. Moretti turned to his wife and daughters and roared, “See how fast she turns us out? With nothing but the clothes on our backs? If that’s how she treats those she calls family I’d hate to be her enemy … but maybe that’s what she thinks we are now. Maybe Tony has gotten to her too … or had her all along.”

Lucia looked at me and I could see her father had managed to touch a nerve. I shook my head at them all but it was Mr. Moretti I addressed. “Wrong again. Leo and Bennie will be your security and drivers. Both are slick enough to be sure they can survive the trip back and that includes having enough food and fuel. Tony and Leo had a deal; I’m abiding by it. You’ve already said you don’t want to stay and I’m sure not going to try and convince you. You’ll be riding away on their coat tails so I’d treat ‘em nice if I were you.”

Looking at me with spiteful hate he said, “The day the Balducci family moved to the neighborhood was a black day that I wish had never happened.”

It hurt. I admit it. But I could see what he said was hurting not just me. The twins were shocked, Mrs. Moretti grieving hard but whether for my mother or her own self I don’t know for sure. And Lucia was confused but was at the same time trying to hide the shame her father was causing her.

Knowing for my own peace of mind I had to make one last appeal I said, “Lucia, while Leo and Bennie help your father move your family’s stuff out of the truck and into the van why don’t you grab your luggage.” She was slow to respond but she eventually came inside with me. I flipped the door bolt behind me again and the sound made her jump.

“Wha …?!”

I went from slow deliberateness to frantic speed in a blink. “Come on,” I said dragging her to see the condition Tony was in and so I could check on him too. He was still only half conscious and muttering under his breath words that even if they had been strung together a half dozen different ways wouldn’t have made sense.

“Oh god Joey …”

“Yeah. I had to make sure you saw this. Tony might not be a choir boy but he sure ain’t no spawn of satan. He’s hurtin’ and he might die … he might die Lucia … because he tried to save my family. You don’t forget that … don’t forget it no matter what your father says. For all his faults Tony still put the family before his own safety and needs.”

When she nodded I could see some of her confusion had gone away. “Are you sure you want to leave Lucia? Are you really sure?”

Her eyes looked into mine and there were tears there. “It can’t be like it looks. It can’t be. Them people on the TV and radio have to be telling at least a little bit of truth. But even if … but even if it is I … I can’t leave Ma or the girls.”

I sighed in resignation and nodded. “I figured but I had to hear it from your own lips. Come on, let’s get your stuff.”

She and Bennie hadn’t unpacked because there really wasn’t anything to unpack into; no closet or dresser in the downstairs rooms. I grabbed Bennie’s bag and took it to the kitchen and Lucia went to the bathroom to gather their hygiene products. Quickly, knowing I only had a moment and not wanting Lucia to know, I unzipped Bennie’s bag and tucked in a couple of the guns and some of the ammo that he had spent so much time cleaning.

When Lucia came out she only found me putting apples into a plastic Dollar General bag. I looked at her with a watery smile and said, “For the road.”

“Don’t start Joey,” came her own watery response.

Suddenly we fell into each others’ arms. “Joey, I’m scared. Pop’s lost it.”

“You can stay.”

“No. No, because Ma won’t if Pop doesn’t.”

“Please Lucia …”

“Don’t ask Joey. I can’t. But we’ll send help as soon as we can find some.”

That stopped my tears and I pulled away. “No Lucia, don’t.”

“But Joey …”

“No. I … I don’t want … won’t have … strangers come here. Not for any reason.”

She looked at me and started to draw away but I grabbed her arm one last time. “Listen to me Lucia. If you need to come back then forget everything else and just come. But don’t send strangers here. Your family … even … even your father … Bennie too … but … but not Leo. Not strangers. Please. And if your dad threatens to send someone here, don’t let him.”

“Pop would never …” Then doubtfully she fell silent.

I patted her arm and let go. “I’m not sure I know what your dad would do anymore. I … I’m sorry Luce but I don’t trust him. I wish you’d stay … wish your mom would say something for Pete’s sake … but I know she won’t and you won’t so I won’t tease you about it no more. Just don’t forget what I’ve said.”

She asked quietly, “And you won’t come with us?”

“No. I’m staying with Tony. There’s no room for us where your father is going.”

“And if Tony dies? I mean look at him.”

Not wanting to believe it but forced to give her an answer I said, “Then … then I bury him and grieve for him and the rest of my family.”

There was nothing more to say. We both jumped when the door knob rattled and then fists and kicks began to pound the door. I rushed over and unlocked and opened it before it could be busted in. A fist caught me in the side of the head and then a kick caught the side of my leg as I turned to the other side. There was a scream as the beating continued for a few more solid hits.

“Nick!”
“Pop! Stop! Don’t!”

Lucia and her sisters’ screams echoed Mrs. Moretti’s call to her husband. I used the doorframe to hold myself up and watched as Bennie and Leo drug Mr. Moretti off the porch. He continued to spew hatred as fast as he’d thrown punches. “I knew it! I knew it! You’re trying to pull a fast one, the same thing that rat bastard did! You’re tryin’ to keep me from my daughter!”

Lucia, trying to calm her father implored, “Pop! I’m right here. Joey didn’t do what you said she did. You shouldn’t a hit her!”

“Go on, stick up for her. She turning you into a traitor too?! When I’m done with her I’ll set you straight too! I’ll …”

Ka-pow!

A fast tap from one of Leo’s mammoth fists dropped Mr. Moretti hard. “OK, I’m done with this. He ain’t the boss, I am. Bennie here is my second. Get your butts in the van ‘cause I’m ready to go. Mrs. Moretti … your ol’ man wakes up and tries to bother me or anyone else again without my say so and I’ll leave him on the side of the road and he can walk back to your place so’s you make him understand that real good.”

Leo looked up at me and gave a hard nod but didn’t offer to help. He climbed into the passenger seat and conspicuously took out a pistol that looked dangerous even if I couldn’t identify the make and model. Bennie hustled everyone else into the van while he tried to fit Lucia’s unconscious father into one of van’s bench seats. Lucia had to be pushed into the van as well as she called back to me asking if I would be OK.

As Bennie climbed into the driver’s seat I nodded but called to her, “You remember what I said. And give Bennie his bag later on so he can change out of them rank clothes.”

The shadows began to lengthen and the bugs come out but still I stood there. In fact I must have stood there nearly an hour in a kind of daze. There were things I knew I needed to do but not even that niggling urgency could move me. Then I heard an odd scrape behind me and I come to myself and jerked around.

 

[223shootersc]

thanks for the new chapter, scary stuff "family"

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Thirteen

No, it wasn’t a zombie but he looked like a fresh one might if there were such things. Tony stood – well sorta stood, actually kind a leaned on whatever was handy to brace himself up – wrapped in his sheet. He wasn’t saying anything and his eyes had this kind of vacant look. Reminded me a bit of my own eyes after a week of cramming for final exams … too much caffeine, not enough food, and a general shock that the test was over with but the results were still to come.

I gently stepped under his arm to make him lean on me instead of the counter. He drew back like it hurt. “Come on Tony. Back to bed.”

He briefly closed his eyes but let me lead him easily enough. On the way back to the room he muttered, “Thirsty.”

“I’ll get you some water. You drink that and rest and then I’ll bring you some broth.”

He started to shiver. “Sick.”

“Yeah.”

He seemed to clinch up and I thought for a moment he was going to vomit. “So sorry … so …”

“Tony. Please don’t do this. Leo told me … you did everything you could including nearly getting yourself killed. No one could ask for more than that.”

He moaned like an old man. “Not enough … not … enough.”

Not knowing what else to say I told him quietly as I helped him to lie back down, “Sometimes life is just like that.”

I left him and then came back with fresh water and some topical pain reliever from my parents’ medicine cabinet. The water helped, I think dehydration is Tony’s most immediate problem. But there was no doubt that he was in pain too.

“Tony, I’d give you something but I don’t know what kind of shape your stomach is in. I don’t know what you have.”

Tony wasn’t answering, the trip to the kitchen had exhausted him. Again I was reminded of the mono my brothers had had. I felt every one of my own pains as I flinched away from the reminder. Intentionally remembering hurt but I forced myself to list the ways my brothers had been affected and how the doctor had told Mom to treat it.

“Drink water. Rest. Vitamins. Rest. Small meals. Rest. And when that is finished get more rest.”

I knew that my brothers could take Tylenol or Ibuprofen for fever or for the aches and pains of mono but I still wasn’t sure whether I should try to get Tony to take any. I looked at the topical ointment in my hand and then told myself I had no choice.

Tony was bruised in odd patterns but as I looked at them some began to make sense. He had some bruises that corresponded with his seatbelt. Those were the worst ones on his chest and abdomen. He was very dark under the eyes but I decided those weren’t really bruises so much as shadows from all of the fatigue. Being unused to seeing Tony with a beard had given the impression that his face was bruised as well but on closer inspection it was simply swollen, especially around his neck and ears.

Around his pits were bruised looking and even in exhausted sleep he held his arms the way I used to when I first started shaving and would get heat rash there in the summer. Gently touching, afraid to tickle him, I instead found very swollen lymph nodes and Tony grimaced in pain and tried to jerk away. Gearing myself up I pulled the sheet down further and knew that there was going to be another painful jumble of lymph nodes and sure enough I could see bruising where his jockies rode up enough for me to see the crease of his legs above his thighs.

I touched and nearly screamed when Tony knocked my hand away and jerked upright in a groan before falling flat on his back again and grimacing.

“OK, that’s sore.”

Gasping Tony said, “Trying to send me to hell where I belong Ragazza?”

I pulled the sheet up over him and said, “Don’t be a doof. You’ve got the same symptoms as mono but I don’t think that’s it … or maybe a type of mono. You haven’t gotten anyone else sick and Ana would certainly have …”

Clarity seem to come to him suddenly. “Where are they? Joey you must be careful … Uncle Nicky …” Too much too quickly and he groaned.

I eased him back down again. “We’ll talk about it later. It’s just you and me now kid so you have to promise me you’re going to get better. You don’t want me to bust your chops do you?”

He was confused … and frustrated because he knew he was confused and missing vital facts. “Shhhhhh. It’s OK Tony. You did everything you could, now you need to let me do everything I can. Don’t fight me, at least not right now. You get all better and we can go at it real good, just like old times.”

I’m not sure he heard what I said. “Your face Ragazza.” He focused and then tried to come out of the bed again. “Who did this? I’ll kill ‘em.” I know he meant to snarl like a lion but he sounded more like a wounded hound dog.

“Too late, he’s gone.”

“Leo?” I shook my head no as I adjusted his pillow. I started wiping his face with cool water to calm him when he gasped, “Bennie?” I shook my head again and put my fingers to his lips to try and stop him from talking. He groaned. “No, no … Uncle Nicky wouldn’t … couldn’t …”

“Shhhhhh Tony. He’s …” I stopped not sure how to say it. “He’s … he’s …”

Tony whispered in Italian, “Insano.”

Tony’s word was full of anguish from remembering how bad his uncle had gotten while on the road. “Yeah, but he’s not here anymore. The whole lot of them left with Leo. It was the only way Tony. I … I didn’t see any other path to take. We’ll talk about it later. Right now just let me do for you OK?”

Still hurting emotionally as much as physically Tony began, “Joey … your folks … I …”

“We’ll talk about that later too. Leo told me everything … or nearly everything. He described it enough for me to know there wasn’t anything you could do. I’ve already told you this once Tony but if you need to keep hearing it from me I’ll keep on telling you again. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t know who to blame right now but it isn’t you. Now I’m gonna … well … touch you and put some of this cream on you to try and help with the bruising and pain. You behave for me ‘cause you’re too big for me to fight with and … and it … well, you just behave so I can stay focused on what I’m supposed to be doing.”

Tony didn’t like it as I’m sure no man would, the feeling of being helpless, but we did come to an understanding though without words to complicate it. The things I would do for him were to take care of his health and not to … er … tease him any. In return he didn’t make it any harder on me than it was all ready. Tony wasn’t a little boy but a grown man and I was heading into territory I’d never been.

By the time I was done there was no question that neither one of us was enjoying it. Every place I touched and rubbed with the ointment made Tony either pale or green. He tried not to move but when I noticed dampness in his eyes and he noticed me noticing I think we were both just about undone. And since I’m no sadist giving him pain with every touch no matter that the end result was supposed to be relief sent me out of the room when I’d finally finished to heave up and puke what little I had in my stomach. He’d finally passed out before I was finished and it cost me a lot to keeping hurting him when he wasn’t awake to chose whether to defend himself or not.

The house was dim because I had never opened the shutters that morning and I pulled the bedroom door shut so I could work without disturbing his already broken sleep. Part of me kept wondering if the family would change their mind and come back, or that some of them would; or even that Leo put them out on the side of the road and they’d have no choice but to make their way back here. Part of me kept saying don’t fall for that thought trap or nothing would ever move forward. It was bad enough trying to come to terms with the fact that the last time I saw my family was the last time I would ever get to see my family. I hadn’t even gotten to say good bye. I tried to remember if I had told them I loved them the last time we’d talk on the phone … had I told them I loved them often enough period.

I stumbled through the kitchen door and nearly broke my neck on the stuff that was piled there by Leo and Bennie. “Oh crud,” I sighed.

Slowly and painfully I started bringing it all inside and setting it anyplace I could find. There were boxes and bags, pieces of luggage, containers of all shapes and sizes. I nearly laughed and subsequently gagged myself on the contents of the stuffy nose that I’d developed while I cried without really letting it all loose. My mother must have filled every piece of Tupperware she owned with stuff from the house … and only about half of it food related. A pitcher had dress socks in it. A salad spinner was full of stuff that I knew for a fact came out of the junk drawer that sat under the kitchen phone. Some of it made sense to me and some of it didn’t.

Finally I finished breaking into everything to see what was what. I stood, surrounded by the flotsam of my family’s lives as well as Tony’s things. In the big picture it wasn’t a lot to represent five people but that was ok, I had enough before me to deal with. It appeared my mother remembered what was important to pack from those early years of moving from place to place. She also knew what was easy enough to leave behind since they were heading towards a fully furnished cabin.

Every day dishes were left behind but Gran’s gravy boat was carefully wrapped in the Chantilly lace table cover and packed inside my great great grandfather’s leather traveling case that held all his worldly goods when he stepped off the boat at Ellis Island. The frou frou sofa pillows were left behind but the sofa cover itself had been used to cushion my mother’s thimble and spoon collections so they wouldn’t rattle. There was a box of heirloom Christmas decorations packed in with rolls of toilet paper and paper towels.

I didn’t know which hurt worse, to stumble through discovering the few bits and pieces of my family’s history my parents had chosen to drag with them from place to place, or the more mundane things like my father’s shaving kit whose smell was so emotionally overpowering I rocked back and forth trying not to fall apart.

Somehow just as bad was trying to decide what to do with my brothers’ sports bags that held their clothes and personal items … including their wallets, each containing the same wrapped condom I had bought them the summer before I left for college after I found them making out with a couple of little tarts behind the basketball court. I don’t know if it had made them think about what they were doing or if they simply bought their own and kept the ones I’d given them as back up. And now I’d never know because I’d been too busy with my own life to make sure my brothers weren’t getting led down the garden path by some girls that would break their hearts. The thought that I wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again was just too much and I gave up.

I crawled to the porch and simply cried. Cried for what seems likes years. Cried until there was nothing left inside to cry with. Then I lay there and watched the stars come out, the stars that always seemed so much brighter and closer at the cabin.

The thunk of two knees hitting the boards beside me had me rolling over and sitting up. “Tony,” I said tired and breathless. “What are you doing up?”

“Don’t know,” he muttered. “House was dark and quiet. Hot. Too freakin’ quiet. There’s no noise out here. It’s like we’re on the moon.”

Sighing I told him, “Hold on to me and we’ll stand up and go inside. And there’s lots of noise if you listen. Listen to those frogs sing for some rain. If we get a cricket in the house it’ll seem loud enough to drive you crazy until you find it and kick it out. There’s wind enough in the trees tonight and the air smells like the frogs might get their wish.”

“Uh,” was all he said.

I got him back to the bed and tried to get him to lie down but he wouldn’t cooperate. “Tony, you promised not to be a pain in my backside.”

After a minute of quiet he said, “Stay with me so I know where you are.”

I nearly said something smart aleck until I realized what it must have cost him to say it. A big man like Tony needing what amounted to a night light. Instead I told him, “OK. Let me lock up and change. Or do you want me to fix you something to eat first?”

“Drank that soup you left me, don’t want nuthin’ else right now except maybe some more water.”

I nodded in the dark. “OK, I’ll fill the pitcher.”

“And … and that salve … it helped.”

I looked at him but knew he wouldn’t ask … maybe couldn’t. “Let me put some more on so you can sleep through the night.”

“You … you don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t have to. I know you aren’t asking. But I’m offering. If it helps.”

After a quiet pause he said, “Sure. OK. S’long as it isn’t a problem.”

I wanted to tell him the problem was trying to pull what he needed or wanted out of him but I let it go. It wasn’t Tony’s fault he was feeling down and trying not to make me feel worse. But looking at those stars reminded me that this life we live isn’t the end. There’s more to it than the breaths we take between our birth and our death. I didn’t have all the answers but the one thing I was absolutely certain of was that I’d see my family again. And that whatever time I had left on this earth I wanted to mean enough so that when I did see them again I was certain I would have as little as possible to be ashamed of.

 

[bad_karma00]

Kathy, you're one of my favorite writers, and this story is just another fine example of why. Thanks for a great story.

 

[223shootersc]

Kathy., good stuff as always, thanks

 

[BigRuss]

I love how you make the characters come alive. It's easy to picture the events going down and people standing nose to nose fighting over everything. Very visual writing.

Glad to see more of your work here!

Russell

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Fourteen

This time putting the topical pain relief on him wasn’t so bad but it still wasn’t a joy ride for either one of us. He was sweating and shaking by the time I was finished and just pulled up the sheet and turned his face away.

“You gonna be OK if I turn the lamp off? It’s eatin’ the batteries.”

He didn’t answer for a minute and then when he did it was with a question of his own. “You … you really OK Joey?”

I sighed. Tony could be so hard headed. I really didn’t want to talk about it all but I’ve known Tony long enough and well enough that if I didn’t throw him a bone he wouldn’t sleep and it would keep eating at him. And he needed to sleep. He was better – not so much like the half dead guy he’d been earlier – but any little thing might set him back.

“I’m as OK as I’m gonna get for a bit. It just ain’t sunk in yet. I mean it has but … but I’m sure it’s gonna be like when Papa Ralph and then Gran died. Things are under control and then you suddenly think on something only you have to remind yourself they’re gone and then you gotta deal with the hurt all over again.” Sighing I finally said, “I’ll live. I’ll live because it’s the right thing to do. Just we both know sometimes the right thing to do ain’t the easy thing to do.”

I thought he was done but then he said, “Turn the light off.”

I switched the lamp off and started to slide into the bottom bunk on the opposite wall but stopped when he said, “Come here.”

“Tony?”

Quietly he said, “I swear I ain’t gonna do nothing Joey, ain’t in no shape to … just come here.”

The room was pitch black but since I knew there wasn’t anything in the floor between the bunk and the twin bed it was an easy couple of steps to make. He was waiting for me and I felt his hand take mine and tug me down beside him. He kept holding my hand and rubbing it with his thumb. There’s no forcing Tony to get where he’s going any faster so even though I was so tired I coulda passed out I just sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

Like the words were being pulled out of him a syllable at a time he said, “I need to ask you somethin’.”

“I’m right here and it ain’t like you ever had trouble talking to me before.”

He sighed. “Don’t know how to do this.”

The grip of his hand on mine was getting uncomfortably tight but I didn’t say nothing or budge. Whatever was coming Tony needed it. I could feel it building and building and building until I was nearly as suffocated with it as he seemed to be.

“I … I need you to forgive me Joey. I can’t … can’t get away from it. I see ‘em, everywhere I look I see ‘em. I see ‘em in my sleep too. I know you say you don’t think it’s my fault but … but it feels like it. I’m drownin’ here and you’re the only thing that I got to keep me from goin’ under for the last time.”

He was shaking like he was cold so I used my free hand to pull the sheet up around him better. “Tony, you don’t need my forgiveness but if you gotta have it then it is all yours to have. This ain’t your fault. Trust me. Right now you … you just ain’t thinkin’ clear. You’re … you’re sick from that stuff you got on you. If you wasn’t you could see it for yourself. You really think Dad would want to see you like this?”

I heard the rasp of his hair on the pillow as he turned his head. “Look what he said about me. He thought I’d mess with you when you wasn’t nothin’ but a baby. I still don’t know what I did to make him think that but that your ol’ man could think it – him bein’ the way he was – it just kills me. I figured I’d have time to prove to him I could wait, that I’d be good to you … we were supposed to have all the time in the world.”

I swallowed and could hear the dry click. I was scared. It was handle this right or accidentally destroy something that I might be miserable without.

“Tony, Lucia told me a few things recently. Said she overheard your Aunt Belinda and my mom talking. Heard Mom say Dad wasn’t set against you … or you and me … just he wanted something different for me than … than just being your girl, being a piece of arm candy for a while for some important schlub, getting’ my heart broke and then tryin’ to find the next guy to fix it. We’ve both seen women like that. Dad … well … I been thinkin’ and maybe … maybe Dad kinda set us up. I mean, he was sick and we all thought he was dyin’ … he was dyin’ accordin’ to those doctors … I heard Mom say he was puttin’ his house in order. Dad was old fashioned so maybe … maybe he wanted to have a hand in picking who … well who took care of me when he wasn’t around no more. He liked you for the job ‘cause you made good money and had a future but I was still too young and nothing but a little sister to you. And maybe he liked you but not everything about you … you was still going around with a lot of girls back then, and some of ‘em wild. So maybe he planted some seeds, put ideas where they weren’t at before, hoping they’d grow … but grow the way he wanted ‘em to and not … not just any old direction.”

I felt him right behind me and his face pressed into the small of my back. When he spoke, the words caused vibrations to run up my spine. “Lucia really tell you that?”

“About what she heard our mothers talking about? Yeah. The rest … the rest is me thinkin’.”

He breathed in and it’s like he didn’t want to let it go but finally I felt the heated air escape, felt it curl around me about the same way Tony’s arm was trying to do. I told him, “You move too much you’re gonna start hurting.”

“Don’t care,” he muttered. “Just need to know you’re here and real. Saw you on the road too … looking at me with them big bits of chocolate you got for eyes. Only it was me that was meltin’. Sometimes the only thing that brought me back around was Ana screaming like a freakin’ banshee. Got to where I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. Didn’t know if I wanted to know because if I lived I’d have to explain …” His voice cracked.

“Tony, you need me to say it again? It ain’t your fault and I don’t blame you. Someone someplace cheated me … us … of something precious. They had no right to do what they did. It was wrong and I hope they rot in hell for it. But I ain’t gonna let what they did take you from me too. Stop hurtin’ yourself Tony. I need you to get well. I need you to help me make some plans. I can do this by myself if I have to … but I really don’t want to.”

He didn’t say anything after that. He’s breathing just slowed down and got deeper and eventually even his arm relaxed enough for me to wiggle off the bed. I was frustrated but figured something as broke as Tony seemed to be wasn’t going to get fixed in a day. And he was really sick even though he seemed better than he had been. I still didn’t know what was wrong with him and was worried that he wasn’t out of the woods yet, but at least we’d made a start. I could live with that … and could sleep on it too.

 

[DustMusher]

Kathy

Thanks you for your offering for us. Having survived the great banishment - I was hoping that since he was not a registered member of the forest animals, that Cliff would have been left behind ---- oh, well, I guess he escaped and I am so glad I got to read up to this point in one gulp - the visits from Cliff were only a mouse scroll away.

Great story waiting ...... waiting.......tap tap tap tap

DM

 

[EdRider]

Great Story Kathy... I love your strong intelligent female characters. Rarely have I read better descriptions of thier character from any author.

I have been following all of your stories and don't want any of them to end!

Regards,
EdRider

 

[223shootersc]

Kathy, Joey is a star, strong yet caring woman, keep up the great work

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Fifteen

Oh man, even my eyelashes hurt. Only half awake I thought at first that the bunk bed mattress was the culprit but slowly the memories started falling in place, clicking like the tumblers on a safe, until my brain opened and I saw all the “treasure” that I’d experienced for the last two weeks.

Then with a soft groan I said it out loud, “Oh man.”

A guttural and somehow fragile “Ragazza?” came to my ears. I rolled over and sat up so fast I cracked by head on the bunk above me.

“Ow!” I wanted to say more – and probably would have – but when I flipped on the lamp my eyes finally focused and got a good look at Tony.

He was feverish again. The pitcher was empty so he must have been drinking it off and on all night, or maybe this morning and I hadn’t heard him. “Hang on Tony.”

He started drinking as soon as I got back from the kitchen and brought a cup with a straw in it close to his mouth. I went back and brought clean cloths and more water to wash him down with. Putting cool cloths on the places where the worst of the lymph node swelling was seemed to bring him relief and I left him like that while I went to the bathroom, got dressed, and then filled the tub with water.

“Tony, if I put you in the tub can you hold yourself up? Not go under?”

He’d woken up enough to give me a look that would have burnt toast. “I’m not a child Josephine. And I can take a shower like a grown man.”

“Uh uh. I haven’t had my coffee yet so forget about it. You’ll let me pay some attention to you so I can have some peace of mind one way or the other.”

It was the right tact to take with him. It left him with his male pride and also gave him a sense that he was allowing me to take care of him because it made me feel better, not because he actually needed me to. That’s the same thing Mom did with Dad. I know it won’t work all the time but thank goodness it worked this time because I wasn’t kidding about needing some coffee real bad.

Getting him in the tub was easier than I expected. He wouldn’t drop his shorts so he climbed in still about as dressed as he had been then told me to get lost and give him some space. The snarky tone he used made me want to give him some space all right … by cleaving his head open and making some more right between his ears.

When I realized where my thoughts were going I stumbled to the kitchen and made me a cup of instant cappuccino. I grimaced as I realized that it was the French Vanilla flavor but it was better than nothing. I would have preferred straight espresso shots at that point but I couldn’t remember which box I saw the instant stuff in. I knew it was at my feet somewhere between the kitchen and the living room but I needed the caffeine before next Juvember.

I cranked open the security door – it can be done from the inside or outside for fire safety reasons – and then stepped onto the porch. It was a good morning, not glorious, but fresh after the rain that did indeed come over night. I was glad to have taken the effort to bring everything in. Then I saw it, the bucket of blackberries I had run back to the house with yesterday. It sat forlorn, half filled with berries and half with water that had ruined said berries. I watched gnats swarming the mess and sighed, finished my cuppa, then eased my way down the stairs trying to get the kinks out of places I hadn’t known I had.

Bending over was just as fun as fighting the swarm of gnats but I did it and started carrying the bucket and its contents to the chickens. I nearly swore when I saw that two of the hens had died, hopefully the last of them because I’d already lost three. I distracted the rest of the brainless wonders with my offering of blackberry soup and picked up the two corpses. Picking up dead animals ain’t sexy and is just plain gross so I wasn’t no happy camper. Then I saw another hen just sitting there inside the opening of the little house they called home.

I growled, “Freakin’ great, another one.”

Only this time I go to grab the bunch of feathers and this one ain’t dead. Not only ain’t it dead, it’s in a hacked off mood and gives me what for before finally moving off like I’ve affronted its dignity or something. I’m the one that is in flip flops, picking up dead chickens and getting bird crap on me and it’s the one with affronted dignity. Go figure. I was about to kick the door shut when I spotted three somethings in the grass she’d been sitting in.

“Well hot dog, maybe you birds will be good for something besides cacciatore after all.”

I picked up the three eggs – because sure enough that is what they were – and after tossing the birds carcasses off into the woods where I knew something would eventually carry them off, took them into the house. A lot of cursing and splashing was coming from the bathroom and I ran in there to find an awful mess.

“Tony! Look at this. Couldn’t you have just called me?”

He snapped, “I did. You didn’t answer. How am I supposed to know you ain’t lying someplace hurt?!”

“Stop yelling! You’re giving me a headache!” I turned and grabbed an armful of fresh towels and start trying to soak up the inch of water all over the floor.

In a suddenly conciliatory tone Tony said, “Come here.”

“You know, I’m getting tired of you bossing me around all ready. You ever heard of the word please?” I was three steps from the tub when I spotted his wet jockies thrown in the sink. I stopped and crossed my arms giving him a look. “Tony I ain’t in the mood for trouble.”

He tried to look innocent but it didn’t work. Then he tried to look wicked … and that didn’t work neither. His shoulders slumped and all he looked was tired. “I ain’t up for givin’ you none. Just give me a hand getting out of here, I’m turnin’ into a freakin’ prune.”

I did as asked but kept my eyes averted until he had a towel wrapped around his waist. “Maybe you look a little prune-y … but you sound better.”

He grunted then said, “Feel better.”

He still walked like he was sore and I couldn’t blame him for that. I remember the pain my brothers had been in and how embarrassed they’d been about what had caused the worst of it. “I’m gonna bring you some fresh clothes and then get you some breakfast. As soon as you get something in your stomach I want you to take a couple a pills to keep that fever down now that it’s broke.”

“Joey you don’t need …”

I shook my head. “Yeah I do and we both know it. Maybe someday you can return the favor.”

I’m glad Tony is one of those guys that has common sense. He may not always like what it tells him but at least his follow through is pretty good. I got him to the bed and then realized the sheets needed to be changed so I helped him to sit on the bottom bunk, stripped the bed he’d slept in and put clean sheets on it, then went to get him some clothes.

It was kinda distracting to be digging around in Tony’s luggage much less dealing with things like his undershorts and socks but I tried to think of it as if I was dealing with my brothers’ things. That hadn’t bothered me so there was no sense in letting Tony’s things bother me. When I got back to the room however I found that I wasn’t the only one a little uncomfortable with the sudden intimacy.

“You coulda just brought my bag Joey.”

I shrugged, “Sure I coulda but I don’t guess you really saw the mess out there. It was just easier to bring the clothes than to try and drag the bag through everything else.”

He got real quiet, “Gimme some privacy already.”

I looked at him and then stepped close and bent down and kissed the top of his head gently so he wouldn’t jerk away. “Tony, the only thing that matters is that you get better. I need you … and for you to get better. So it takes a little time? That don’t matter to me, only that you keep getting better. Let me help you.”

Still he shook his head. “Maybe next time Ragazza. This time I need to do it myself.”

I sighed knowing it was his pride talking but Mom had told me that sometimes you just had to let a man’s pride talk because it is part of what made a man a man. I left him to it and then went to make some scrambled eggs and toasted piadina, something I knew was one of Tony’s favorite breakfasts.

Piadina is real common in Italy and in real Italian neighborhoods but it’s hard to find anyplace else. Most people who see piadina think they are tortillas but they are a little different. Instead of being made with flour and corn oil or lard the piadina is made with flour and olive oil or lard and you also add milk to it; and instead of being cooked in a skillet you are supposed to cook the piadina on a terracotta dish. There was a little bakery not too far from our house that still made it in the most traditional way.

I pull all of the ingredients together first: a pound of flour, two and half ounces of lard, a half cup of milk, a half cup of water, a half teaspoon of baking soda, and a half teaspoon of salt. The milk came from some powdered stuff I found in the cabinet but someone had been smart and brought a couple of cases of canned evaporated milk. I knew I needed to ask Tony some questions about what he brought but I wasn’t too sure he was ready for that kind of worry.

I put all of the ingredients into a big bowl and started kneading it until I got a good dough and then I gave myself a dope slap. The dough would need to rest for an hour before I could do anything with it. I went in to check on Tony and found him asleep – and no fever. I knew I’d caught a break.

I wrote a note and left it beside the water pitcher which I also refilled and then went out to the orchard. The rain of the previous night had knocked some fruit off the trees and I spent forty-five minutes picking it up and adding some I’d pulled from branches then started back to the house. I had three five-gallon buckets to move uphill … so not fun. I played the leap frog game with them; move a bucket and go back and get the second bucket and move it ahead of the first, then go back and get the third bucket and move it ahead of the second and then start over. Eventually I was within sight of the house and just muled them the rest of the way. Good thing my upper body strength has been developed from all the years I worked in the corner market and then in the deli because I really needed it.

I was hot and sweaty and could have used a shower but didn’t have the time. Tony was still sleeping which was a good thing; it didn’t even look like he’d moved. I decided to wash up just enough to finish cooking then while Tony was eating I’d open the upstairs shutters and see if he wanted to move up there. I would be able to open the windows upstairs and he’d be more comfortable. I didn’t go past that point because I wasn’t sure if Tony would want to talk, sleep, or what.

The piadina was easy enough. I divided the dough into egg-sized portions and then rolled it out until it was about as big as a pie plate and about as thick as two quarters stacked on top of each other. At the same time I was heating my mother’s rectangular griddle. One side I prepped for the eggs and the other for frying the piadina.

Practice makes perfect but it had been a while since I had made the flatbread so a couple of pieces rose a little too much before I pricked them with a fork to keep them from bubbling. I only took two with a small portion of the eggs to Tony on a tray with a small glass of watered down Tang. I walked into the room just as he was waking up.

Blinking like an owl when I turned the lamp on I think he must have taken a moment to decide whether I was real before letting me help him to sit up and put the bed tray across his lap.

“You didn’t have to do this Ragazza.”

I smiled and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “I know. And it’s nice to know you know it too. Appreciation is a good thing. Now eat. If you want more I’ll put some nutella …”

“Mmmm …” was his response when he put the eggs in his mouth.

Smiling slightly I asked, “Is that a yes or no?”

“Don’t know yet. Wait,” he said stopping me as I started to walk away. “Have you eaten? I’m … I’m trying to remember …”

I walked back over to the bed and sat on the edge. “Well stop trying so hard, it looks like it hurts. I’m fine, mine is in the kitchen and I’ll eat as soon as I open the shutters upstairs. When you’re finished you might want to move up there, it isn’t so stuffy and I can open the windows. The bed is bigger too.”

He put his fork down forcefully. “I won’t take your parents’ bed.”

I could feel the heat in my checks as I told him, “Not theirs … mine. You decide and let me know.” That time I did make it out of the room, ignoring his wheezing as a bit of egg went down the wrong way.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Chapter Sixteen

The shutters were opened and the upstairs airing out nicely. I’d cleaned up from breakfast and even managed a quick hop in a cold shower to knock out the cobwebs where they were hanging on for dear life. I needed to do something with the fruit I’d picked but I also needed to do something with the man I’d dropped the bombshell on. I picked up the ibuprofen bottle off the table – I’d just taken two myself to try and alleviate all of my own pulls and strains – and started in the direction of the lion’s den.

I stuck my head around the door and found him watching for me. I stepped into the room. “How’s your stomach?”

“Full.”

“Think you could handle a couple of these?” I asked showing him the bottle in my hand.

He grunted and I took it as an affirmative answer so I took out two and poured him a glass of water as he eased himself into a sitting position. He washed them back and then I didn’t know what else to say.

I was relieved to find out I didn’t need to start the conversation. Tony’s eyebrows came together and he said, “Sit down a sec. My head is finally clear and we need to talk about what’s happening.”

Sitting on the bed with him was a little more than I could handle and sitting on the bunk seemed too insulting after what I’d already said and done. I didn’t want him to think I was afraid because I wasn’t, not really; I was nervous though, definitely nervous. Compromising I sat on the floor beside his bed, leaning against it so that I wouldn’t have to look him in the eye unless I turned my head.

He wasn’t angry like I expected but was definitely puzzled when he said, “Explain to me what happened. Why isn’t the family here? And Bennie? I expected Leo to take off, that was the deal, but the rest of them … I ain’t puttin’ it together. What freakin’ happened to turn it all upside down?”

“You gonna let me get through the explanation without yellin’?”

He sighed. “That bad?”

“Depends on how you look at how things turned out I guess.”

He just looked at me so I turned my eyes back to the bunk bed. I tried to figure out where to start and then decided to go all the way back to the plane landing. That first week was easy as the three of us hadn’t had any real problems beyond the normal sorta stuff that really didn’t matter. But when I went past that point it got harder. My eyes lost focus and I musta cried a little because at some point I remember Tony pulling me up onto the bed with him and then both of us lying down, me in front and him in back holding me and telling me it was OK.

“You gotta get well Tony. I’m sorry I couldn’t figure out another way for things to work but Mr. … I mean your uncle … was so … crazy determined and just being awful to you and so angry at every little thing. And you know your aunt would follow him to Hades no matter what the consequences were; I can count on one hand the number of words she said and not one of them was don’t or stop. And Lucia and the girls wouldn’t leave their mother and Bennie wouldn’t leave Lucia and …” I was in a panic, sure that he was going to blame me.

“Shhhhh Ragazza. Shhhh. I get it. I still can’t believe he hit you and woulda done more if Leo and Bennie hadn’t pulled him off.”

Trying to find an answer, rationalize it, I told him, “Maybe some of that stuff did get on him or something. Maybe through the air conditioner vents in the car.”

In a hard voice Tony said, “Don’t make excuses for him Joey. All of them would have been the same way as him if it were true. It’s simpler than that. Uncle Nicky’s temper is famous … he’s just never turned it on the family before; first time for everything I suppose. He and my father were friends growing up, that’s how he met Aunt Belinda. Uncle Nicky always denied it but I’ve heard he was as bad as my father before he decided he wanted his friend’s sister more than he wanted … living that other way. He was reformed but it still was inside him.”

I shook my head, “It was more than just temper Tony. Something in your uncle … it’s cracked, sick. I hope maybe getting someplace he knows and getting quiet and calm will help him pull himself together.”

Tony musta heard my internal debate on it. “But you don’t think so.”

I shook my head and said, “I didn’t say that.”

“Then what?”

Hesitantly I said, “I … I just don’t think there’s going to be a lot of quiet and calm in too many places for a while.”

Tony stopped talking for so long I figured he’d gone to sleep but when I tried to get up he had enough strength to stop me. “Don’t,” came his coarse plea.

“Ok.”

After more quiet he asks, “You sure you’re OK? I ain’t said nothing about the bruises but …”

“I’m fine Tony, really. I was sore this morning but that’s mostly gone now.”

“Am I hurting you? Holding you like this?”

I forced myself to relax in his arms and said, “Probably not nearly as much as holding me is hurting you. You need to rest. You want me to put some more of that topical stuff on?”

“Better not. At least not now that I’m thinking clear.”

“Huh?”

His quiet chuff of laughter tickled my ear. “Never mind Ragazza.” After a moment he said, “We got other things to talk about too, important things.”

“I know. I got a long list in my head but if you’re staying …” A sudden thought almost put me in a panic. “You are stayin’ aren’t you Tony? I mean … you aren’t going to try and go after them? Do you want to leave? Is that the important stuff you want to talk about?”

“Hush that crazy talk,” he said and I could feel him moving my hair out of the way. I needed to remember to put it up and not let it go all over the place like I usually let it unless it was in a net at the deli. “I ain’t goin’ no where. Why would I when you’re here?”

I thought about that for a bit and said, “Good. That’s real good.”

“We gotta talk about some things first.”

I sighed in resignation. “You’re gonna make this complicated.”

I could feel him trying not to smile. “Not yet I’m not … but soon.” He cracked a yawn and then when he tried to stretch he jumped like it hurt.

“Tony, you need to rest. You scared me near to death when you were so out of it.”

He sighed and got comfortable again, still not really turning loose of me. “I’ll rest, don’t seem like I’ve got much choice. But first we need to talk.”

“I already told you all I know about the family. I keep thinking they’ll realize their mistake and come back.”

Tony gave a slow shrug. “Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.”

Surprised at his tone I asked, “You saying you’re OK with this?”

“No, but ain’t nothin’ I can do about it. They left.”

Beginning to wonder I said, “But … but they’re still family.”

A pause and then he said, “Some of ‘em.”

“Oh Tony.” I felt so bad. Tony was all about family and for him to say something like that … it was awful.

He sighed. “Joey, let it go. That’s the way I feel right now. Best I can do.” I tried to turn but he wouldn’t let me I wiggled and then felt a damp spot on my neck. Just one place.

I stayed quiet while he mastered himself and when he changed the subject I let him. “You have an inventory of what there is?”

“An inventory? Of like the stuff here in the house?”

“Yeah … like food and clothes and stuff. We can’t make a plan if we don’t know what we got to work with. You’d think with your finance degree you woulda thought of that.”

I sighed, “I did think of it, just haven’t wanted to face it. Let me up Tony so I can get a piece of paper and make some notes. I been putting this off, waiting for my family and you to get here I guess. We’ll you’re here now and … and it’s time to see what kind of shape we’re really in.”

“You shouldn’t a have waited Joey. What if we hadn’t ever gotten here?”

I so did not want to think about that so instead told him a little defensively, “I wasn’t a complete do nothing you know. Let me get the paper and I’ll be right back.”

When I came back I told him about what I’d been doing … cleaning the house, trying to save the stuff in the orchard, the chickens – he was surprised about the birds but then I reminded him how we’d come by then. He started asking questions. Some of his questions made me feel smart and some made me feel stupid.

“So you been doing that thing your mom taught Aunt Belinda … all that food preservin’ and stuff.”

“Yeah. But there is still a lot to go and all I can hear in my head is Mom saying ‘waste not want not.’ It’s driving me batty with the need to get more of it done.”

He was very tired but he kept at it. “You got any idea how much you done already?”

“You mean how much … oh wait you mean how much fruit turned into how much dried stuff?” At his nod I answered, “Not really but I might could give it a guess if I think about it.”

“Why don’t you wait and start measuring from here on out. Like how much fruit you put in that dryer thing and how much comes out in volume when it’s done. Then we’ll go back and see how much of the other stuff you did and be able to work backwards from there.”

I wrote it down and realized that would mean that I would have to keep everything separate until I could get caught up with the counting. Then he asks, “What about what was left here in storage and what was left from what you three arrived with?”

All I could tell him is, “Not a specific list but I can work it out.”

“It needs to be done. And we need to figure out what Leo left us. What was left in your parents’ truck?” When I didn’t answer he asked, “What? Something happened to the truck?”

“No,” I told him. “They moved your uncle and aunt’s stuff to the van where it had been in the truck.”

“What about the other stuff?”

“The other stuff? My parents’ things? That came out of the van.”

“Not that stuff … wait, have you even looked in the truck to see if there is anything in there?” That’s when I started feeling stupid. “Joey, how many times I gotta tell you? Never assume anything. You need to get out there and see what is in there.”

He sat up and acted like he was about to start the inventorying himself but he turned pale and his eyes got big. “Oh no you don’t,” I told him pushing him back down. The fact he didn’t give me any trouble told me he was weaker than he’d admit out loud and he’d pinched something to make it hurt again. “Tony, you gotta be careful. Here we are talking and you need to rest. You’re hurtin’ all over again aren’t you.”

Grimacing he tried to distract me by asking, “Does this mean I don’t get to move upstairs?”

I snorted. “Fine time to bring that up. If you want to, I want you to. But only if you promise to get some rest when we move you up there. You’ve given me a long list of things to think about on top of my own list and when I come up with more questions you need to be in shape to be able to help me figure some answers out.”

He gave me a look. “You sure Ragazza? I ain’t gonna be moving like an old man forever.” Despite feeling a little warm in the face, despite everything that had happened, despite everything period, even myself, I nodded. “Then after I … I rest a bit … we need to talk about complicated things.”

 

[223shootersc]

thanks for the new chapter, good stuff

 

[hummer]

Awesome story..............

 

[bad_karma00]

Thanks for the great updates. Very good stuff!