26 Oct The Mafia: Chapter Eight

*This rough draft is entirely a work of fictional writing*

It is about three o’clock in the morning; Isabella and Jay startle one another when they enter the kitchen at the same time – through different entrances.

Isabella shrieks, “Jesus – Jay! What the hell are you doing? You scared the shit out of me!”

Jay replies, “What do you mean what the hell is wrong with me? I can’t sleep. What the hell is wrong with you? It’s three a.m. in the morning!”

Isabella takes a deep breath, “Yeah. I can’t sleep either.”

Jay walks over to the fridge and pours two glasses of milk, then brings over a container of chocolate chip cookies. Isabella and Jay sit down at the kitchen counter. They both coincidentally dunk their cookies into their respective glasses of milk at the same time, it makes Isabella smile, “I don’t know. I’ve been having some strange dreams, the same dream actually – it almost feels like a premonition or something. I don’t know what the hell it is, but it is giving me anxiety – can’t sleep, not even a wink.”

Jay listens attentively, “What happens in the dream?”

Isabella dunks her cookie in the glass of milk, takes a bite then continues to speak, “I’m in a big room and there is a lot of people there that I recognize, I mean I don’t know their names, but I’ve definitely seen them around the family before. At first they’re really friendly and then their faces turn ghoulish.”

Jay looks up at the kitchen light flickering, “Ghoulish, how?”

Isabella also looks up at the kitchen light, “I don’t know how to explain it… do you want me to draw them?”

Jay continues to look up at the light and it suddenly stops flickering, “No, no, keep it in that photographic memory of yours, for now. So, you would recognize these people in real life if you saw them?”

Isabella looks into Jay’s eyes, “Yes. I am certain of it.”

Jay takes a sip of milk, “I find this to be extremely interesting and important. Let’s make a couple of ‘code-phrases’ that you can say to me if you are ever with me and see those people that are inside your dream…”

Isabella agrees, “I like that idea. What should the codes be?”

Jay thinks for a couple of seconds, “You should be able to have two options; either say ‘I’m feeling kind of parched, does anyone else need a drink?’ or point to the person and say, ‘Now that is fashion!’ Do you think those are good?”

Isabella nods her head, “Those are super good. I like those. Thanks for making me feel like I’m some sort of secret agent, rather than thinking I’m some sort of crazy weirdo.”

Jay smiles, “I don’t think you’re crazy at all, in fact, I think you’re brilliant. Everything in life has a purpose, find its reason.”

Isabella stands up and kisses Jay on the forehead, “Good night Jay, I’m going to go watch some cheesy horror movie until I fall asleep.”

Jay laughs, “Goodnight Isabella – I’m probably going to go do the same thing.”

Isabella leaves the kitchen, but Jay stays seated. For some reason he can’t stop his mind from replaying what Isabella had just said: and then their faces turn ghoulish.

After sitting there in deep ponder for about five minutes, Jay takes out his cell phone and calls Lilly – she answers after the third ring, “Hello? Jay? It’s like four o’clock in the morning, is everything alright?”

Jay casually replies, “Yes, everything is fine – nothing alarming and I apologize for calling you at such an inconvenient time…”

Lilly sounds concerned, “So why did you call then?”

Jay continues to casually respond, “Where have we heard the phrase, and then their faces turn ghoulish before?”

Lilly sounds surprised by the question, “What do you mean?”

Jay continues, “What do you mean, what do I mean? Where have we heard that phrase before? I’m almost positive that I’ve heard that somewhere before…”

There is an extended silence before Lilly responds, “Jay… that’s the phrase that your mother said right before she passed away – but there is no way that you could have known that.”

—

Papa G, Rudisin and Sly are sitting at a private whiskey bar, holding their weekly meeting.

Papa G takes a dramatic sip of whiskey, “So gentlemen, I think I have thought of a really solid game plan – a bulletproof type of plan…”

Rudisin clinks glasses with Papa G, “Please continue – I’m all ears.”

Papa G takes another dramatic sip of whiskey, “So, as all of you know – their family employs many, many people that have been working for them for many, many years now – they’ve earned their trust and loyalty…”

Sly grins, “Do, tell… do tell.”

Papa G continues, “Every year their family holds a large fundraiser to help support an assortment of non-profits – a lot of their ‘family’ attends.”

Rudisin rolls his eyes, “Those damn people really think that they are saints…”

Papa G nods his head in agreement, “Right. My plan is to find five to ten people that work for their family, and whom will be in attendance of their event and we flip them.”

Sly sounds confused, “I told you before that we should have done that, but you said it wouldn’t work.”

Papa G snarls at Sly, “Can I finish? God damn it. I know what I said and didn’t say…this is different. We dig up dirt on those people and then we blackmail them into flipping in our favor. They won’t have a choice.”

Rudisin smiles, “That’s my expertise. I’ll get right on it.”

Sly adds, “Genius. They’ll never see it coming.”

Papa G continues, “Yeah, but we move slowly – god damn it. We then get those people to try and schmooze their way up the ranks of their family.”

Rudisin ponders, “That is smart… very smart. It is well known that their family likes to promote from within. It is usually people that they have known for awhile – people that they’ve trusted for awhile.”

Papa G agrees, “We don’t have much time, dig up as much dirt as you can on the people that will be in attendance. I’ll be able to get a list of the attendees – we need to make sure the people that we try and flip have some ‘weight’ within the family – low level fish won’t do us any good.”

Rudisin grins, “Get me that list, I’ll dig the dirt and get them flipped. You can bet your bottom dollar on that.”

Sly chirps in, “So what should I do?”

Papa G speaks condescendingly, “Don’t make any fuckin’ mistakes and don’t do anything to fuck this up for us. You know how you are sometimes. We’ve really only got one shot at doing this correctly.”

*To Be Continued In Chapter Nine*