04 Mar The Mafia: Chapter Thirteen

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

The three brothers, Avi, Jay and D are on their routine morning walk. They walk roughly six miles every day as most doctors unanimously agree that walking is the best exercise to maintaining a healthy mind and body – some might even add in the spirit.

Avi makes everyone put their cell phones on do not disturb, “So D… did you and Maria reconcile your differences?”

Jay adds in, “Yeah – did you both fall in love again.”

D smiles, “I think so, I don’t know… I mean I guess so. Her and Jane came to pick me up from the hotel pool – they surprised me, another ambush yet again…they came in through separate entrances. Maria caught me exchanging some mellow conversation and cellular data with this one girl though. It was just some low-grade flirting, nothing too serious, but Maria was kind of pissed. She got over it though; I mean she was the one that kicked me out. Maria was also wearing a #HeSaidThat shirt… which is false. I never said that… I never said that I wanted a divorce.”

Jay closes his eyes and chuckles, “Some low-grade flirting. Don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before. It’s good to have you back my brother.”

D points his finger in the air, “Yeah let me tell you though, she was a little fiery sweet caliente pepper mixed with some honeydew – if you know what I mean.”

Avi laughs, “Well, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, and um, I’m glad to have you back bro, we’re not the amigos without you. It was actually Isabella that led the charge; she came into the meeting yesterday wearing a ‘Free – D’ shirt chanting, ‘He Never Said That!’ It really fired everyone up.”

D is thrilled, “Really? That’s nice… Isabella always has my back.”

Avi and Jay speak simultaneously, “Same.”

They continue walking in silence for a few minutes before D re-initiates the conversation, “So, Rose was saying that her sit down meeting with Papa G yesterday didn’t produce favorable results – is that right?”

Jay sighs, “Yeah, we have to discuss next steps. It’s unfortunate, but they do control distribution which ultimately means they have the slight upper-hand.”

Avi refutes, “I beg to differ. I think they maintain the illusion of an upper-hand.”

D is intrigued, “How so?”

Avi continues, “Allow me to abstractly explain. There is a light bulb, there is a light switch and there is electricity… which of those three have the upper hand?”

Jay ponders, “Well… potentially none of them because if the ultimate goal is to be able to have light or not have light, you need all three of them, the process, the components equally.”

Avi concurs, “That is precisely my point. The upper hand lies with giving people what they want or what they need. People want the ability to have light or not have light.”

D is slightly confused, “I’m not quite sure I understand your point.”

Avi continues, “We have what people want… we have what people fiend for… we make what no one else can make – therefore we have the upper hand. We control the ability to have light or not have light, that’s what people want.”

Jay responds, “That is a very interesting perspective.”

Avi nods his head, “Indeed it is. So my recommendation to our family, our council, would be to stop all of our production – until we get what we want. If we don’t get what we want, people don’t get what they want – regardless if someone owns distribution or not. If we are not producing, there is nothing for them to distribute.”

D moves his hands like he’s cooking on a Wok, “Damn that is smart because they can try and copy it, but they can’t do it – they can’t cook it like we do. We’ve got too much charisma and swag.”

Jay laughs, “Yeah, I agree, I’m liking this idea because if we aren’t producing there is nothing for them to steal, it’ll hurt their bottom line and they’ll almost be forced into compromising with us. It’s an ideal, peaceful way to get what we want.”

Avi looks up to the sky, “Yeah, best believe when them fiends start showing up for our product and they don’t have it anymore… they’ll have to come to us to turn the light on. Sometimes you’ve got to give the people what they want.”

—

Jack, one of the infamous four trenchmen is visiting a pizza shop named Broni’s – owned and operated by the family.

Jack walks into the restaurant, “Christopher – how are you doing my brother?”

Christopher stops what he’s doing, wipes the flour from his hands on his apron and walks over to Jack, “Jack – is that you? How’re you doing my brother – I haven’t seen you in years. Two slices of pepperoni pizza and a soda?”

Jack shakes his hand and then takes a seat at a table, “That would be great – thank you. Yeah, definitely, long time no see my brother – how has business been?”

Christopher slides two slices of pizza into the brick oven, “Great man… business has been really great. The pizza is flying off the shelves – people really love it – plus Uber Eats is making all of this shit easy to move. How’s the family doing? I’m looking forward to their yearly event – I always enjoy attending.”

Jack smiles, “That’s great to hear and I am sure the family is looking forward to seeing you as well. They’ve been good… having to maneuver through trials and tribulations as always though – you know how politics go.”

Christopher removes the pizza slices from the oven, walks over to where Jack is sitting and takes a seat, “Ah, yeah? What’s going on this time? How can I help?”

Jack folds his pizza slice and takes a bite, “This pizza is damn good. You always know it’s good pizza when it burns the roof of your mouth – only people from New York can understand and appreciate that – am I right?”

Christopher laughs, “We’re always using the freshest ingredients.”

Jack finishes chewing, “So, the family sent me here with very specific instructions. They need you to arrange a meeting with the twelve chefs at the family’s house sometime this week. Can you make that happen?”

Christopher is worrisome, “Yeah definitely – consider it done. I’ll get right on that. Why though? Is everything all right? Sounds kind of serious.”

Jack responds confidently, “No reason to be alarmed. The family just wants to make some adjustments to their strategy.”

—

*To Be Continued In Chapter Fourteen*