Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Trouble With Harry


I didn't believe her! I didn't believe for one minute that Bernadette was alright...She didn't look it..So I drove to her beauty parlor...She was just opening up....Nobody had come in yet.I walked in ginergly...She turned , startled.....

"Oh Kevin...you startled me." she said.

"Bernadette...What happened to your wrist?" I asked.

"Oh, I was in a fender bender last night after you guys left....I'm pretty clumsy....I just was out of it...working a little too hard I suppose." she said nervously.

I walked over to her and took her sunglasses off...One of her eyes was swollen shut...the side of her face that was already discolored was swollen even more....

"That must have been some fender bender...considering your car doesn't have a scratch...."I said.

She hung her head down....I ran my hands softly through her hair......

"He do this to you?" I asked.

"He...He...He just gets so mad when he loses....He's under a lot of pressure....He owes some guys some money..some real heavy guys...He's scared...We already had to sell our house and if he keeps this up, he's gonna want to sell my business...No way I sell my business..I had this business before I met him...That's what we always argue about...and it always ends in him hitting me.." she said as she began to sob....I held her in my arms as she cried...I was filled with rage...I wanted to find my friend, Harry Charles and beat him to within an inch of his life....but then I thought about something else.

"Who is he into ? Do you know?" I asked.

"Yeah...a guy named Dirty Burt Collins...and I think he owes him 50G's..." she said.

"He lost 10 G's last night at a crap game..." I said.

"That was my whole days take...He came in here and raided my cash register." she said.

"Yeah, I figured as much..." I said.

Dirty Burt Collins was a big time gambler and loan shark....He was as Gus would say it, a nasty peice of business...His enforcer was a smary cat named Van Dyke...A nasty guy who would think nothing of cracking a skull with a lead pipe just to make a point...If Harry Charles was into him...No wonder he was nervously trying to win at the tables.

"Close up your shop today Bernie." I said.

"What?, I can't do that.....If I'm not making any money and Harry comes by..He'll ,He'll..." she cried.

"He's not going to hit you ever again...trust me... Where is he?" I asked her.

"Oh Kevin, please...don't tell him that I told you he beats me,please." she said.

"Bernadette...the whole neighborhood knows he beats you..Close this shop...I'm taking you to a doctor." I said.

"Oh no...No....I'll be alright...He doesn't mean anything....He just gets so frustrated, so scared..Once he gets on a winning streak again..He'll be alright." she said.

I looked at her and I shook my head...I kissed her forehead....I decided to go look for him...If I knew right..He was at Joe Neptune's joint...The Mermaid Club. There was always a card game going on in the upstairs room...

I drove over to the Mermaid Club...Joe Neptune, the bartender and owner was serving drinks to a smarmy crowd of thugs and wanna bes and thugettes...I walked over to him and whispered so only he could hear-

"Hey Joe....You seen Harry Charles?" I asked...

"He's upstairs Kevin." he said and pointed to the upstairs steps. I walked up the stairs...The was a beefy body guard at the door.. Joe walked to the steps and yelled-

"He's Alright Snuffy, let him in."

Snuffy let me in. There was one big table and a massive card game was going on...Harry Charles was in the middle of it..For once he miraculously seemed to be winning! He saw me and smiled.

''Heyy Kevin , you're too late baby, I just won....$40G's baby...I told you my luck would change,I told you..." he said as he cleared the piles of money off the table and into a satchel...I wasn't smiling, but just as I was about to walk over to him , two men just rudely brushed by me like I wasn't even there....It was Dirty Burt Collins and Van Dyke....

''I believe that dough belongs to me." he said and snatched Harry's satchel.....

"Alright man, alright...so all I owe you is 10G's right...which I'll have by Friday..I swear Burt, I swear." he said.

"You know...you been duckin me....and I don't like havin to look for you." said Burt... I saw Van Dyke pulling a lead pipe out from under his coat....I immediately snatched it from him and tossed
it across the room...

''Uh Uh Uh...You're not gonna hit him...He just gave your boss most of the money he owes..Now if you brain him, he can't concentrate and win the rest of the money." I said.

"Who asked you? " said Van Dyke , who of course turned and raised his fist as if he were going to hit me...A big mistake on his part...I slipped his first punch, then slipped his second punch...Then I put several hard lefts and rights to his body and an uppercut to his jaw , which knocked him across the table and on the floor...He went to get up and I smashed a wooden chair over his head and back....He hit the floor with a thud and did not get back up....Dirty Bert looked like he was going for his gun, but I was quicker on the draw...I had my .38 smokeless very close to his adams
apple...

"Wrong move my man....Now pick up your satchel and your boy and get to steppin." I said.

"He owes me money." said Dirty Bert with a whimper.....

"He owes you ten grand right, you take a check?" I said.

"What? Are you nuts?" he asked. I cocked my gun...His eyes grew large...

"Sure..Sure..I'll take a check!" he said.

"Good...I'm gonna write you a check for the rest...Now is he good? " I said as I wrote the check.

"Yeah he's good.." said Bert...

"Okay..now take a hike." I said...

Van Dyke was awake now and he picked himself up off the floor..He walked over to me and he said-

"It may be over between Bert and my man..but me and you got business to finish." he said...

"Yeah,I suppose we do." I said and I slugged him in his stomach....He crouched in pain and I hit him with a left-right combonation that sent him flying backwards and on the floor. He rolled and got up slowly...

"Okay...Okay..that's enough...that's enough..I'm good.." he said.

"Business settled ?" I asked.

"Yeah...we good...ummmmph..." he groaned as he stumbled out....Dirty Bert took his money and scrambled out...All of the gentlemen in the room that witnessed the entire thing stood and clapped..They hated Dirty Bert..but they really dispised Van Dyke..Seeing him get his clock cleaned was a vicarious thrill for most of them.

"Gee thanks Kev..It sure is good to be from under that...I'll pay you back, every cent..I swear.."
said Harry Charles..

"Forget it...Here is what you're going to do...You're going to apologize to your wife, You're going to get some treatment for your gambling addiction and you're going to enroll in some anger management courses...you feel me?" I said.

''Aww Kev.."he said... I gripped him up in his collar...

"If I see another bruise on Bernadette, you and me are going to have a big problem, do you understand me?" I said.

"Okay..Okayyyy man...I'll go enroll in some programs today...I swear." he said.

I pushed him away and I walked away from him, I was disgusted..From a distance , I could hear him....

''Hey Kev, thanks man..Thanks for everything..I sure will sign up for them programs." he said.

I kept on walking...I didn't even turn around to look in his direction.

(Conclusion Next)

1 comment:

SLC said...

Just shoot him Kev