Odd Jobs (8 page)

“H is a big rock fan,” Sev offers. “He mostly likes the classic rock crap, you know, like the Stones and the Doors.”

A waitress walks to our table and looks at Sev. “What can I get you, Sev?”

“Tina, I won $2,000 on my boy over here and it’s burning through my pocket. How ‘bout two beers and two shots of 151?”

“You actually bet on me?” I ask as Tina saunters away with Sev’s order.

“I didn’t have a choice. You were my guy; you know, from my place. I had to do it even though I thought I was donating it.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone making this guy do anything, but at five-to-one odds, Sev must have bet $400 on me.

Sev looks at me and asks, “Where did you learn to fight? You knew what you were doing with Butch.”

Tina shows up with her bar tray filled with goodies. There’s an entire bottle of rum, the 151 version – it’s as close to pure grain alcohol as you can get. She places two long beer glasses filled from the tap onto the table along with two shot glasses. She pours two shots of 151 and then clicks her cigarette lighter and touches the flame to the top of the shot glass. The rum catches fire and Tina says, “Enjoy,” and walks away.

“What’s with the fire?” I ask.

“It’s kinda gotten to be a tradition you know, working in the Kosher World freezers all day, the guys found this helps warm the bones.”

“Wait, you mean you guys think this warms your bones?”

“What are you a fuckin’ doctor now?” Sev snaps.

“I’m not saying anything Sev, it makes sense, I just never thought of it before.” Holy shit, just when I think I’m getting along with the guy.

Sev takes a sip from his cold beer, puts the beer glass down, picks up his
fl
aming
151
shot and throws it down his throat. So I pick up my shot glass and I’m telling myself, no matter what, don’t cough or act like a pussy.

I swallow and real quickly chase it with my beer. It’s as rough as I expect but I maintain some degree of dignity.

“We got two more fights over the summer. You got any more in you?”

“I don’t know, Sev. I kind of did this one spur of the moment. I’m not sure how a planned one would work out. Me fighting...is that the only way the shit treatment is gonna stop?”

“No, that’s done whether you fight again or not.” Sev motions to Tina for more drinks. “You’re all right. The job’s tough enough and I piled a load of shit on you. You handled it, plus some. We couldn’t believe you didn’t bail. You do your job now and things are gonna be fine. If you want to fight, it helps us. If you don’t, we’ll just sew Hector Pinto’s finger back on and get good odds.”

Look at my boy Sev trying to tell a joke.

Tina walks over to the table and pours two more shots. Tina has a look like she’s seen everything ten thousand times. She doesn’t seem to have an attitude but she’s not too sweet either. Her face is hardened from too many asshole drunks, but you can see that once upon a time she was a looker. Yeah, I’m pretty sure Tina is attractive; I haven’t had enough of the 151 to distort her favorably.

Sev picks up his shot glass and I do the same. He says, “Nice win.” We just tip the shot glasses in each other’s direction because you definitely don’t clink glasses here. We simultaneously down our drinks.

“So where did you learn to fight?” Sev asks as he motions to Tina for some more rounds.

“It’s kinda weird. I blew my knee out during a game and couldn’t play hoops anymore. I used to play a lot of basketball. I even got a scholarship to play at high school.”

“Bullshit, they don’t give high school scholarships.”

“Yeah, they do and I got one. I got one to play at a real ritzy school in Locust Valley, Long Island. Before that I almost spent my whole life playing hoops in Hempstead Park.”

“I know Hempstead Park. It’s not Rucker Park or West 4th Street but it’s on the map.”

“Yeah, that’s it. Me and my boys were always there.”

“So how was the school?” Sev asks as we throw back two more shots.

“School was okay.” I hold back a 151 cough and say, “I got through it. I learned what I needed in class and saw a different way to live. We got a decent hoop team out of it and I had some colleges looking at me. But my timing sucked. I tore my knee up in the playoffs of my senior year. No time to show I could heal up and it killed the college interest I was getting.”

“Tough story about your knee. But Homer, didn’t I ask you how you picked up fighting?”

Wow, I’m rambling. I know what he asked me, but it’s the first time I ever really spoke to Sev. He’s the boss; why does he give a shit about me? Man, I’m getting buzzed. Tina walks over with two more shots. At this point I welcome the shots and damn, Tina looks good.

“Sorry,” I say. “They’re kind of related. Despite my knee injury, my high school coach put in a word for me at New York State University where he had some connections. They offered some financial aid and some bullshit job that I didn’t even have to show up for. It was enough to get me by. They called it a ‘soft scholarship.’ I was going to be a walk-on player. It was the best I could do with a bad knee.

“When
I
got to school, way the fuck up in Albany, the ‘soft scholarship’ got pulled from me and six other prospective players. Only one guy really had a shot for the team and the rest of us were like insurance. It’s the same as an airline overbooking a flight. So here I am; if I want college, I got to pay for it. If it’s not college, it’s back to Hempstead. So I started working a bunch of shit jobs to make tuition and pay bills. Then I lucked out. They had this crazy old coach who took guys like me and trained us for club fights. When we won, he got a third of our prize. I got to learn how to box and make some decent bucks. But to tell you the truth, I dug getting the attention again.”

I’m surprised Sev’s asking but more surprised he’s listening. I’m feeling weird telling Sev about this shit. I wouldn’t mind not talking anymore. As a matter of fact, I can use some answers myself.
Fuck it,
I tell myself.
Let’s see
if
I can get some info; worst case,
if
he gets heated up, I blame the
151.

More of the liquor magically appears at our table. Tina lights them up. It dawns on me that she’s probably lighting them right at the table as opposed to the bar so that the blue flames won’t lap up the booze before we get our chance. It’s a pretty good observation. I’m thinking that this stuff might actually be making me smarter. “Sev, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Sev seems to be more relaxed than I’ve ever seen him. His head is bopping slightly to the Allman Brothers song, “Sweet Melissa.”

“Who whacked Georgie Skolinsky?” I ask.

“Good question, but it’s not one I’m gonna answer. You got any other questions, wiseass?” Before I could ask anything Sev blurts out, “Say, how did you get into Kosher World anyway?”

“I got friendly with Rich Balducci, Jimmy Balducci’s son.” I told him how we started at the Remington Academy together. We both really stood out, I said, since everyone else there practically came off the Mayflower except for the two of us. “I got in for hoops and Balducci’s old man donated a building or something. The kids let me alone but they really hassled Richie. I kinda looked out for him and even got him on the basketball team. His father always appreciated that, and every now and then he did some nice things for me. I still stay in touch with Richie, and when his dad knew I needed some money over the summer, he did me this favor.”

“He gets you in Kosher World and considers that a favor?” Sev chuckles quietly.

“You laugh, but I’m always looking for money,” I say. “This is as good as it can get for me as far as the dough.” We both fall silent for a minute, and I figure I can try again. “How come nobody can give me a straight answer about where you were before Kosher World? Did you do any fighting?”

This question seems to intrigue Sev and I can see his normally powerful eyes are starting to get glassy. “I don’t know.... Is it just you asking?”

“Yeah, just me. Who’s gonna listen to me anyway?” I say.

“It’s funny, but no one’s really had the balls to ask me to my face for years,” Sev says. “I never told anyone before either. I just preferred it that way. Truth is, though, I can help you, and so I’ll tell you something. I was star linebacker at a high school in Detroit. I went to the Marines after high school, and if you think you got involved in a whole different world, it was nothing like I saw.”

“Vietnam?” I asked.

“Just after. As far as the world knew we weren’t fighting wars anymore. The problem was, we were fighting in wars and I was fighting in them. You probably don’t even know about Biafra, Congo or El Salvador, but I fought in places like that. We were trying to take out governments, and the shit I saw and did makes what happened to Georgie a walk in the park. The fucked-up thing is when we were finished we became a problem. The CIA didn’t want us around anymore. They couldn’t use us and they didn’t want anyone to know about us. So they started taking us out.”

“When you say out, you mean.... “

“Out is out. It was sick shit. Luckily, I did a few really big guys some huge ‘solids’ in my day and they ended up doing the right thing by me. They got me to disappear. You know, become invisible.”

“Invisible, like Kosher World invisible?”

“Exactly. Nobody here knows my past, so if somehow, someone has a great discovery, you and I are gonna do some discussin’ and I ain’t as easy as Bino.”

“Sev, I’m not gonna say anything, for real. Why do you think this can help me?”

“You remind me a lot of me. Different worlds but, at the core, more or less the same. You’re gonna have some choices, some roads are gonna fork. I thought I was a badass, and I ended up killing guys that I didn’t even know. Why? Because some colonel told me to. Then they turn around and try to waste me and my buddies. You can do better. Look at me. Do I look like I’m fulfilling my potential?”

I have nothing to say to that, so Sev continues. “That shit with Bino in the lounge, it’s a waste.”

“C’mon, Sev, that guy.... ”

Sev interrupts me. “That guy is a fuckin’ pimple on your ass. He probably was done bustin’ your balls like the rest of us. You just had a hornet up your ass and you weren’t smart enough to let it go. I’m sure it felt real good to grind him down in front of everyone. But now, you know he’s gonna try to do something back at you. The thing is that if you keep doing that kinda crap, then you become Bino. How do you think Bino got like he is? The point is, don’t make enemies you don’t have to. Keep piling up worthless enemies and you’ll never know who puts a cap in your head when you’re not looking.”

Sev pauses and looks over at Tina. There are three workers from another factory, and one of them keeps trying to pat Tina on the ass. Sev kinda half stands up, leans over the table and barks out, “Yo.” He glares at the three guys. “Everything okay, Tina?”

“Seems to be fine,” Tina says. “I got yours here, too. I’ll be right over.”

Sev turns back to me and picks up where we left off. “You and me, we have some inner demons. If you’re gonna be better than me, then control those demons. Do you want to fulfill your potential? Listen up. You are gonna kill someone sometime. Maybe you think I’m on crack. How can I know something like that? Because I’ve been around, that’s how. I was the same lost hotshit with a big set of balls and some ambition. You don’t even know what you are capable of and willing to do. When you do it, you better make it count. Make it worthwhile.”

Tina drops off more shots, she lights them and we drink them. I am definitely feeling it now. I haven’t eaten in a while and this stuff is rocket fuel, but I think it’s going down smoother. I have some weird thoughts. I don’t think Sev asked me here to get info, even though he was asking me a lot of questions. He’s carrying a lot of baggage, and he’s doing most of the talking. Could I really be the first guy he told that stuff to?