13 Mar The Mafia: Chapter Nineteen

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

D is walking to pick up a breakfast sandwich from his favorite bagel spot named The Witch Bish, when a pedestrian sitting on a bench tries to get his attention – he speaks with a nasally voice, “Excuse me… sir.”

D thinks he is homeless and politely stops, “I’m sorry my friend, but I don’t have any cash on me right now or I would definitely throw you a few bones.”

The pedestrian responds, “Oh, no, no. I’m not asking you for any money… but let’s just say that I have some information that you might just find useful.”

D starts to keep walking, “No thanks. Not today my friend – my schedule is entirely occupied today… not a second to spare.”

The pedestrian insists, “Please, Sir. Lend me your ear for a few moments, what harm could stem from that?’

D stops, looks at his watch and says, “I guess no harm at all. Consider this me lending you my ear.”

The pedestrian thankfully smiles, “What if I told you that I know a guy, that knows a guy that knows a certain politician who would be willing to help alleviate your distribution dilemma for a little cut of the action?”

D looks at his watch again, “If you could please pardon my suspicion but anyone could say that they know someone that knows someone that knows someone else. That would be like me saying that I know a mortgage broker through my cleaning lady’s mailman’s sister in law’s closest friend – ya know? The connection isn’t streamlined and heavily diluted. This feels like one of those muddy the waters to make the puddle look deeper type of connections, speaking bluntly here.”

The pedestrian appreciates the skepticism, “Let’s just say that this certain politician would be more than happy to help your distribution conundrum disappear for a decent slice of that sweet, sweet pie.”

D appears attentive, “How large of a slice of pie are we talking here? Because I like to cut my pie into a lot of pieces – we’re not talking about pizza over here.”

The pedestrian respects the analogy and hands D a business card, “I totally understand. I can assure you that the six degrees of separation is not that distant. Here is my contact information and the address to my residence – I have nothing to hide nor do I have a reason to lie. Get in touch with me if you would like to discuss with further actionable seriousness.”

—

Avi walks into a coffee shop and is ordering a coffee when he suddenly hears Isabella’s voice, “Hi Avi!”

Avi turns around and sees Isabella sitting at a table with another girl; he walks over and says, “Hi Isabella. Fancy seeing you here, I very rarely ever see you commiserating at local bistros.”

Isabella smiles, “I know right? Luckily I did because I think I might have just found my new best friend.”

Avi looks at the girl that is sitting with Isabella like she looks familiar, but he can’t seem to put a name to the face and then says, “That’s fantastic news Isabella – I’m so glad to hear that you are making new friends in a new city.”

Isabella continues smiling, “Yeah, it just happened so randomly. I was picking up my coffee when she approached me… asked me what I do… I told her that I do accounting for an entertainment company… then she said that she has a marketing degree and could help us out. Isn’t that just such a spectacular serendipitous coincidence?”

Avi nods his head in agreement then reaches his hand out to the other girl, “Hi. Allow me to properly introduce myself, my name is Avi.”

The girl stands up and shakes Avi’s hand, “Wow. Avi… nice to meet you – you’re a lot more handsome than I thought. My name is Selena Morena.”

Avi is slightly surprised, “Selena Morena? I thought that was you! You’ll have to tell your father Romano that I’ve been meaning to make a visit – there are some business opportunities that he might find interesting. That’s crazy though – I never thought that I would randomly run into you.”

Selena smiles, “Well – you know how D and I are dating now so –“

Isabella interrupts Selena, “Wait, what?”

Avi is equally confused. He looks at Isabella then Selena and says, “Say that again? You’re dating my brother D? As in you like him or as in you’re trying to do some business together?”

Selena softens her voice, “We’re just in love – ya know? We’re getting super serious very quickly…”

Isabella is angrily skeptical, “So let me get this straight – you love D? You’re in love with my beloved D? I’m surprised he never mentioned anything to me.”

Avi concurs with Isabella’s sentiment, “Yeah he’s never said anything to me either…”

—

Christopher had closed the pizza shop Broni’s down early so that him, Jay and the four trenchmen (Jack, James, Jimi and Johnny) could watch the basketball game in peace.

They are sitting at the shop’s bar in front of the big screen TV, Jay shouts at the television, “Come on man! You’ve got to make that shot – you were wide open!”

Jack takes a shot of whiskey, “God damn it.”

Jimi slams his hand on the bar, “They couldn’t buy a shot even if the bartender discounted it! What the fuck! Better call Sinbad – it’s a brick house.”

James shakes his head in disgust, “Well boys, it looks like we lost the moneyline bet.”

Jay chugs an entire beer, “Oh well, there’s always next game, eh? On a lighter note, did ya’ll see D post that #Way2Macho challenge on his social media? There’s so many people trying to do the slick your hair back with a comb move as cool as he does.”

James laughs, “I did see that actually. He looks really cool when he does that.”

Jimi smiles, “I’m not gonna lie man, he does look really cool when he does that. If I could look that cool doing it – I would do it too. It’s a statement swag.”

Johnny adds in, “Yeah it’s funny because the other day I was driving him and Jane to a disco when all of a sudden she broke his comb because she got upset with him. So what did I do? I threw my lil bro another comb.”

James is in agreement, “Shit. I would have done the same thing. I feel like when you’re that smooth and suave you gotta act macho.”

Jimi adds in, “Definitely. It’s almost a must. You can’t be running around looking too sweet.”

Christopher walks out of the kitchen holding a freshly baked pizza while singing, “The boy went back to Napaleeeees…”

The rest of the boys bang their glasses on the bar while singing, “Hey mommo – mommo italiana!”

Christopher places the pizza at the center of the bar while speaking with an Italian vernacular, “Hey – move out of the way… I’ve got a fresh pizza over here!”

The boys all start laughing and each grab a slice of pizza. Jay folds his pizza slice and takes a bite, “So damn good. Hey Christopher – I need you to cut the pizza into 32 slices instead of 8 – know what I mean?”

Christopher nods his head and writes some notes down on a receipt, “I know exactly what you mean. Tell whoever to go to Lucia’s Ice Cream Parlor at 6 pm and to order the HoneyDew special.”

*To Be Continued In Chapter Twenty*