Mobster's Girl (2 page)

I throw an old black t-shirt on and hurry
down the stairs. Pop will be mad if I’m late for a meeting. Turning
18 means that I have to attend; it’s not optional anymore.

I jump into my Camaro, an eighteenth birthday
gift from my Dad race to the restaurant. All the meetings take
place at Gino’s Restaurant. It’s a co-owned place that I sometimes
work at as a waiter-when I’m needed. The heads of the town’s
families all own it. My father started it and named it after his
father, my grandfather, Gino Delisi.

I walk in and the first person I see is, Mr.
Maranzano, my friend Alessandra’s father.

“Ah, Antonio!” he beams, “What a boy?” He
grabs my face in his hands and kisses me on both cheeks. “You’re
eighteen now, you call me Vinny! Eh!” Then he smacks me gently. My
Mother calls them ‘love taps;’ I call them annoying and sometimes
painful.

“Thank you, Vinny.” I say appreciatively to
Mr. Maranzano. People are already starting to treat me
differently.

I spin around to see Luigi Prazzo. I watch
him size me up. He looks me up and down. Instead of a greeting, all
I get is a nod in my direction. I never liked him. I don’t trust
him either. His son Dino is an asshole.

“Is that my lady-killer nephew!?” Uncle Tutti
comes strolling in from the kitchen. “Come ‘ere goombah!” I walk
into my Uncle’s arms. He slaps me on the back in greeting.

“Hey, Uncle Tutti.” His name is Mario but
everyone calls him Tutti, I don’t know why, they just do.

The restaurant is closed on Mondays so that
is when the group usually meets. But tonight, they closed the
restaurant on a Saturday night for me and my initiation. My father
claps his hands together and everyone turns their attention to
him.

“Let’s sit.” He walks to me and hugs me,
“Antonio, my boy.” He says as he pats my face, “Sit next to me,
son.”

I walk to the large table that is set up just
for these meetings. There are eight of us tonight. My friends,
Ronnie Contini’s son and Louis Ferretti’s son don’t show. They
won’t be eighteen for another year so their attendance is optional.
Dino Prazzo is away at college. He’s a chooch. I can’t stand him or
his father.

A waitress comes from the kitchen to pour
wine into everyone’s glasses. My father starts to speak. “My
family, today we welcome a new man, my son, Tonio. He has been an
exceptional student, and learned many valuable lessons over the
years. He joins us with a full heart and we welcome him with open
arms. He, like all our sons, is the future of Palmetto, New Jersey.
So let us raise our glasses to Antonio Rinaldo Delisi Jr.” My
father raises his glass, “Vino, Antonio, Salud!”

A chorus of Salud echoes off the restaurant
walls. I pick up my glass and drink with them.

Salud, Salute (Sa lood): to your good health, a
toast (hopefully you’re not wearing cement shoes when you’re
toasted.)

Megan:

The O’Connell’s arrive just before six. I
have vacuumed, and scrubbed the pans my mom used to make dinner.
Erin has set the table and lit the candles. Everything is perfect
like my mom always wants.

My Mother acknowledges her friends, as
Patrice and Aidan wobble through the door carrying a platter of
assorted desserts. Behind them come their two sons, Troy and
Connor. Connor immediately heads for the living room to look for
Erin.

Connor has had a crush on her for years. He
used to be shy around her until last year. Our parents had a joint
birthday party when Connor and Erin turned fourteen. Connor must
have matured or something because now he is perfectly normal around
Erin. Well, as normal as a fourteen year old male can act.

Troy on the other hand has never grown up.
He’s sneaky, silly and my best friend. Troy can always make me
laugh. It doesn’t hurt that he’s a striking Irishman with blue eyes
and thick dirty blond hair. Two years ago he shot up and now he
towers over my 5’4” frame.

“Ahh!” I squeal as Troy picks me up and spins
me around like I’m a little kid. I throw my head back laughing.

“Okay you two,” my mother scolds. “Go put
this in the kitchen, Meg.” My mother hands me the dessert. Troy and
I head into the kitchen following orders.

“So. Spill!” I yell at Troy as he takes some
cheese and crackers off a plate on the table.

“Spill what?” He asks cocking his head to the
side.

“You start college in a week! You
excited?”

“Umm,yeah.” He says sort of quietly.

“That wasn’t too convincing.” I retort
popping a cheese cube in my mouth.

“Come on…” I say grabbing Troy’s arm and
leading him to my room, “Let’s go talk.” Obviously, something is
bothering him. He’s never not excited about something. He makes
pumping gas for a car an adventure.

“So why didn’t you text me that you’re not
happy about going to college?” I ask opening my bedroom door. Troy
flops down on the bed his blond hair trailing into his eyes.

“I just think I’m not ready.” Troy responds
scrunching my pillow under his chin. “I really wanted to try
traveling. You know see the world. And you’re not going to be there
at school for another year.” He pouts. Troy’s voice sounds worried
and a bit lonely.

“We’ve never gone to school together. You’ll
be fine. It will go by like that,” I snap my fingers. “Then it will
be the next year, and I will be there.” I push his shoulder to get
him to look at me. “Come on, you’ll be fine.” I reassure him. I
can’t wait to get out of Palmetto.

I hear a thump come from the other side of
the room.
Thump. Giggle.

I gingerly open my closet door to find Erin
and Connor sitting on the floor looking very guilty.

“What are you doing?” I asked
exasperated.

“Nothing.” Connor says while my sister sits
there red faced.

“Well, I’m glad to know
nothing
considering my sister’s face matches her hair!” I toss my hands up
and turn to Troy, “Do you believe this?”

Troy stares at the two on them on the floor
from his position on the bed. “Yeah. I’m just mad I never thought
of it before.”

“Why you!” I lunge at the bed and grab my
pillow out from under him. I start hitting him with it. He grabs my
waist and throws me down on the bed tickling me. “Stop!” I yell,
“Stop!... I can’t breathe.”

“Sucks to be you,” he says and tickles me
harder. I kick and thrash on the bed trying to free myself only I’m
laughing too hard.

“Megan!” My mother screams. We both still to
listen. “What’s going on up there!?”

Troy still poised over me looking down on me
with a wicked gleam in his eye answers softly and sarcastically
only to me. “Well, Connor is ravishing one daughter in the closet.
As for me, I am straddling the other on her bed.” Laughter bubbles
up in me again.

“Unfortunately, this is all true.” I say as
Troy lets me up and I am out of breath. I walk back to the closet
because the door has been shut again. This time I fling it open.
All I can see is the back of Connor’s head. “Get out now!” I say.
Troy and I watch as Erin and Connor scramble away.

Chooch (choo-ch): Jackass!

Antonio:

Glad that the meeting didn’t run late, I head
down to the dock. Vito, Louie, and Ronnie are still there. The
tires of my car on the wooden boards thrum and bump as I stop in
front of the guys. I kill the engine and get out. Vito tosses me a
beer. I catch it and smoothly pop the top. I take a long pull off
it.

“So, how did it go?” Vito asks me.

“Good.” I say as I sit on the hood of my car.
“They’re watching Sommersville though. Pop says Sommersville is
getting fuckin’ greedy.” Louie lets out a loud burp while Ronnie
cranks up the stereo on his car.

“Shit, Louie!” I curse at him. “I can smell
your Ma’s cooking ova here!”

“Sorry, Dude. Got some serious agita…” He
says banging his fist on his chest. I light a cigarette.

“Hey, Tonio? Why’d you get a red Camaro? I
thought black was more your thing, man.” Louie asks between
belches.

“Ooo, speaking of Red. The Irish Princess
looked fuckin’ hot today. Didn’t she?” Ronnie yells over the
music.

“Shit yeah!” Louie says, “I’d like a piece of
her!”

I felt my back stiffen at the mention of
Megan. My friends and I talk shit about girls all the time but this
is different.

My father told us years ago we all had to
stay away from her. Pop meant ‘don’t fuck her’ or ‘fuck with her.’
He never said why but I kept my distance like everyone else.

Megan is beautiful, sweet, and smart. It’s no
wonder everyone is into her. Just listening to them talk about her
makes me want to punch something. I didn’t get a chance to remind
them to stay away from her because a black sedan was coming towards
us. I took another puff of my cig and watched Donny the Knife pull
up in his Lincoln. The dark window rolls down as I stroll over to
Donny.

“Hey, Tonio.” Donny says, “Give this to your
Pop.” He hands me a bulky manila envelope. “Tell him Johnny is all
set but there is no juice.”

I hang my cig out of my mouth to take the
package and shake hands with Donny through the window.

“No problem, Donny.”

“Ah, you’re a good boy.” He taps me on the
cheek with his hand. “Stay out of trouble, eh?”

I know better than to open the envelope.
Juice means Donny collected some money but there was no interest on
top of what was owed. Donny’s the Enforcer. He works for my Pop. He
collects on debts or he fucks you up. It’s that simple. There’s a
Cleaner, too. No one knows who it is. The cleaner ices people who
don’t pay or rat out to the cops. The secret identity of the
cleaner keeps everyone loyal.

I open my car and shove the package under the
seat. The guys are still hanging out and drinking. No one even
flinches at the sight of Donny the Knife. I lay back down on the
hood of my car after I’ve had about five beers. The conversation
about Megan is over. I’m buzzed. The music is rocking and I’m
feeling very relaxed. Vito comes over to sit on the hood.

“School starts Monday. It fuckin’ sucks. Why
can’t summer be six months instead of three.” Vito crushes his beer
can and throws it into the river.

“At least we’re seniors.” I say. “It’ll all
be over by May. I jus’ wanna get it over with.”

Louie taps my car to get our attention. He
points towards the end of the road that leads to the dock.
“Company.” He says.

I reach into my car window to the glove
compartment and grab my glock. I shove it in to the back of my
pants. Ronnie grabs a blade.

The music is still playing and we are all
focused on the car stopped at the end of the alleyway. I hear a
rush of movement and an
oaf
from Ronnie.

From the water side of the dock, six
ski-masked guys jump us. We’re outnumbered but we hold our own. I
get pushed to the ground and my assailant gets in a good punch to
my face. I thrust up with my legs and push him off. He flies
backwards and lands smashing his head on the boards. Only seconds
have gone by but it feels like an hour. I scan and see Ronnie,
Vito, and Louie all fending off attackers.

I reach behind me into my waist band and grab
my gun. I fire a shot into the air. It startles everyone. All eyes
stare at me. I lower my piece and point it directly at the fucker
who jumped me.

My eye is trained looking down the barrel of
the gun at the asshole. “You have less than three seconds to get
the fuck out of here. 1….” My voice is menacingly deep. They all
jump up and start running. The four of us watch as the chooches run
their asses off. I learned how to intimate people at a young age. I
also learned from the best-my Pop.

“What the fuck?” Vito yells brushing himself
off, “Do they think this is a Jackie Chan movie? Those dickheads
were all dressed in black like fuckin’ ninjas!”

Some of the tension slowly leaves my body. I
lightly touch my eye that got socked. “Wow, Tonio, your eye is
gonna be really black and blue for church tomorrow.” Ronnie
comments.

“Yeah, thanks.” I say deadpan.

Stunad (Stew nad): You’re just stupid!

In the morning, while I’m putting on my suit,
Pop walks in. “Thanks, Tonio. I got the package you left.” He looks
at me. “Eh, what happened to you?” He grabs my face to examine my
eye. I yank away from him.

I continue getting dressed, staring into the
mirror tying my tie. “Got jumped.”

“What? Who? Tonio!”

“I don’t know… some fuckers dressed in black.
I pulled my glock on them and they ran.” I grab my keys and wallet
and shove them in my pocket shrugging my shoulders.

“You think it’s Sommersville?” He asks
me.

I shake my head, “I don’t know, Pop.”

“I’ll send Donny to look in to this. Stay
away from them docks for a while.” I don’t look at him. “Eh!” he
smacks me, You got me?”

“Yes, Pop.”

Megan:

My family goes to St. Mary’s Church. We could
leave and go to an Irish Catholic church like St. Patrick’s in
another town where the O’Connell’s go but St. Mary’s is close to
our home. So as my father says, convenient.

I have on a summer silk cherry-red sundress
and put my hair up in a messy bun. The temperatures on this last
day of August are supposed to reach 90 degrees and there is no air
conditioning in the church. I am thankful that we are going to an
early morning mass. Going to a later one just means it will be
hotter in the church.

My father drops off my Mom, Erin, and me at
the entrance. St. Mary’s is a huge Cathedral-like structure; all
stone and stained glass. A twenty foot cross with Jesus on it hangs
behind the altar. It’s a lovely church. On special occasions the
Priest says Mass in Latin.