19 Oct The Mafia: Chapter One

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

“Bonjour, Mademoiselle Lilly.” 

Lilly places her hands on her hips with an essence of sweet sass, “Avi – Don’t try to butter me up, you’re taking your shot today.”

Avi chuckles with his usual soft-spoken voice, “What shot is that?”

Lilly rolls her eyes, “The COVID-19 vaccine.”

Avi pretends to be unaware, “What does that do?”

Lilly tries not to smile, “Avi – you have a doctorate degree, you already know what it ‘does.’”

Avi appears disgruntled, “You know how I hate needles… terrified of them.”

Lilly is un-amused, “Quit being a baby, roll up your sleeve.”

Avi rolls up his right sleeve; along his triceps is a tattoo that reads, Live Life As A Family,  “I must be the most blessed man on the planet to have a secretary that is also a registered nurse.”

Lilly smiles and readies the syringe by slowly drawing from the vile. Along her forearm she has the same tattoo, Live Life As A Family, “And I must be the luckiest lady to have a doctor as The Godson.” She carefully injects the syringe into the middle of Avi’s deltoid, “See, that wasn’t too bad was it?” She kisses the injection site and places a Band-Aid over it. Avi makes an awkward face, “Hurt like hell Lilly, it hurt like hell.”

Lilly sympathizes, “Aww, poor baby.”  

Avi grins, “Why does everything you say sound like a sweet lullaby?”

Lilly avoids the compliment and takes a seat next to Avi, “You have some stuff on the schedule today.”

Avi intensifies his mood, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

Lilly pulls up her calendar, “Walter is here to see you, and he should be here in about thirty minutes.”

Avi rubs his shoulder; “Have him meet me in the Garage.”

Lilly widens her eyes, “It’s like that?”

Avi looks into Lilly’s eyes with the utmost concentration, “Yes. It is like that.”

Lilly’s demeanor quickly changes from jubilance to a stark seriousness, “Head over there, I will bring him to you when he gets here.”

—

Lilly is reading through some notes in the common room when she hears the doorbell ring, “Come on in!”

In walks Walter; a short man in his mid-50’s wearing a brown tuxedo that reeks of cheap cigars, “Wow, who knew Avi had such a stunningly beautiful assistant…exotic and all. What’s your ethnicity?”

Lilly’s expression is blank and stoic, “I’m half White, half Spanish.” Walter smiles like a used car salesman, “With curves like that it is no wonder why he gave you this job.”

Lilly tries to maintain a calm composure, “Sir, please refrain from trying to flirt with me, The Godson is expecting you. Take the hallway to the right and open the first door on the left.”

Walter is slightly offended from her blunt denial, “Yeah… I call him Avi, not The Godson and I don’t want to get lost – do you think that you can walk me over there?”

Lilly fakes a smile and starts to draw very simple directions on a piece of paper, “Here you go, just in case you get lost.”

Walter grabs the paper and crumples it up in annoyance, “Thanks for nothing.”

—

Walter enters the Garage, a room with concrete walls and a cement floor. A painted mural of a light blue sky, decorated with clouds covers the ceiling. Avi is sitting at a stainless steel table – there are two glasses and a bottle of 25 year aged Macallan whiskey on top of the table. Avi motions for Walter to take a seat “Please make yourself comfortable.”

Walter takes a seat, “Long time no see, Avi.”

Avi remains expressionless, “It appears you need a reminder, while you are in my presence and in my household you will refer to me as the Godson, is that clear?”

Walter is surprisingly uncomfortable with the remark, “Uh… yeah, I got it.”

Avi continues, “Would you like a drink? This is some of my favorite whiskey, ultra-smooth.”

Walter nods his head, “Sure.”

Avi very slowly pours the whiskey into both of the glasses and slides the glass over to Walter like an ice hockey puck, “Do you know why I use crystal glasses?”

Walter takes a sip, “Because they’re expensive?”

Avi shakes his head, “No, it is because when you cheers, clink glasses, it makes a very unique sound. Much like this room, surrounded by concrete, the reverb acoustics is almost like a polygraph.”

Walter gives Avi a crazy look, “If you say so… you are right though, this is some mighty fine whiskey.”

Avi stares up at the ceiling for an awkward thirty seconds while he swirls the whiskey in his glass, “Mighty fine indeed. Do you know why people call me the Godson?”

Walter grabs the bottle of Macallan and pours more into his cup, “Because they either respect you or are afraid of you?”

Avi downs the whiskey quickly, “Neither. It’s because any area that we operate in, we take care of the community that lives there. We pay for their medical expenses, should they ever need it and we pay to send their kids to college, if they so choose to go. No questions asked. That costs us roughly 35% of our net profits, do you know why we do that?”

Walter squints his eyes, “Because you want to appear as some sort of Saint or something?”

Avi lowers the octave of his voice, “Wrong. It is because we live life as a family.”

Walter responds condescendingly, “How noble of you. Look, I’ve got a busy day today, why did you want to see me?”

Avi reaches into his shirt pocket and pulls out a piece of paper, “It has recently come to my attention that you have some choice words about me. Did you or did you not say the following?” Avi begins to read from the paper, “I’m not going to listen to some 30 year old kid, nay a brat, that inherited his position because of who is father was. If Avi wants his money he can come get it from me himself!”

Walter cautiously nods his head, “That is how I feel.”

Avi warmly smiles, “You do realize that all debts to the family will be paid in full, right?”

Upon completing his sentence, four big, strong men enter the room holding baseball bats. They stand against the wall in silence. Avi reaches into the holster on the right side of his hip, pulls out a gun and places it in the middle of the table, “Do you know what this is?”

Walter looks over at the men standing against the wall and then at the gun, “Yeah it is a 6-piece revolver, 6 shots, no one really uses those anymore though because they are not very accurate.”

Avi grins, “Are you a gambling man Walter?”

Walter responds, “No, not really. In fact I despise it.”

Avi laughs with a serious tone, “That’s funny, considering it is apparent that you have no quarrels with pushing your luck with me, the family. For someone that despises gambling, that seems odd, doesn’t it?”

Walter quivers a bit, “Look – I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but I can get you your money soon – “

Avi cuts off Walter from speaking, “Since you love gambling so much, lets play a game, are you familiar with how Russian roulette works?”

Walter tries to stand up, but one of the big men ushers him to sit back down.

Avi continues speaking, “You see, this is how we decide judgment around here…” Avi picks up the revolver from the middle of the table, opens up the chamber, places one bullet into the chamber, spins it and then locks it back into place, “if you’re lucky, you live and we forgive you, if you’re unlucky… well, judgment has been passed. A five out of six chance at forgiveness seems like rather favorable odds. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Walter begins to panic, “I’m not doing this… what is this?”

The four men against the wall speak in harmony, simultaneously, “You don’t have a choice, but you’re getting a chance.”

Avi slides the pistol over to Walter, “Kindly place the barrel over your temple and pull the trigger.”

Walter in tears, “I guess… I guess I don’t have a choice. You guys are sick!”

Avi raises his voice, “No. You left us no choice!”

Walter picks up the pistol, closes his eyes, nervous tears trickling down his cheeks, he places the barrel to his temple and pulls the trigger. The firing pin strikes the bullet and Walter’s brains are scattered all over the wall.

Avi stands up and lights a cigarette, “Looks like judgment has been served…” he looks over at the four men, “Clean this mess up and go get our money.”

The four men speak simultaneously, “Your wish is our command.”

*To Be Continued In Chapter Two*