The Watery Morning Death

Abel Gardenor was no fool and he didn't take being shown up lightly...He wasn't going to strike at Gus...Oh maybe later, but right now...He was red hot mad at what he saw as his romantic rival...Ralph Scallion!!! I was worried about Bernadette too...I asked her to close her shop for a few days and lay low...but like Gus..she refused. I don't think either of them realized how nasty a charactor this Abel Gardenor was! I did...and I never left my house without my kevlar vest on under my clothes and my .38 smokeless.

To make matters worse..I was driving around and who do I see Abel standing in front of the Mermaid club talking to but Gorilla Lewis and Elephant Jones....The two stone cold gangsters that Harry Charles was foolish enough to owe $1400.00 clams to. I could have paid his debt off, but I wasn't going to start doing that for him...I had already got him out of one jam..I wasn't going to spend my life doing that.. Still ,I wondered what these three were talking about....I was certain they were going to try and snatch Ralph Scallion. He was another one I really didn't care about. I figured he'd done enough to have some serious karma coming his way...Still, in all, he was no killer...just a regular working guy...and Harry Charles was my friend...even if I was a little cross at him for letting a good woman get away and still gambling. I didn't like Abel Gardenor at all!

I didn't have a desire to tangle with Gorilla Lewis or Elephant Jones...They were cold blooded killers, who between them have ended about 24 people's lives in Philadelphia and it's surrounding suburbs.. They had been around for years and unlike a lot of these wanna be gangsters and playas in waiting, were the real thing...the genuine article...If you threw down with them...you were in for an unpleasent evening...24 people were in their graves who could attest to that!

I sat in Josies the next night when a guy I didn't think I'd see in a long time, Marco Gervay, one of those wanna be gangsters and playas in waiting I referenced came in and sat down next to me at the bar...

"What's shakin Kevin?" he said.

"Marco...I didn't expect to see you again. What are you doin in town?" I said.

"I been back...been keepin my nose clean."

"Oh you have? " I laughed.

"Yeah Kev, Honest...I been workin a nine to five and it's kickin my tail...but at least I don't have to look over my shoulder no more..I'm totally out the game." he said.

"Oh yeah, for real?" I laughed.

"Yeah..but uh speakin of lookin over his shoulder....Your boy, Harry Charles is in serious trouble

Kev." he said.

"Oh yeah..what kind of trouble?" I said, already knowing.

"I was in The Mermaid Club last night and I overheard Gorilla Lewis and Abel Gardenor, remember him? Crazy Abel from grade school???" said Marco.

"Yeah,yeah, what about him?" I asked.

"Abel is talkin about how he's gonna hit that chef over at Bottom of the C", Ralph somethin or other ,because he's makin time with his girl,Bernadette and then Gorilla tells him that Bernadette's ex-husband owes him and Elephant Jones $1400.00 and they gonna hit him." said

Marco.

"All this over a lousy grand and a fourth?" I said.

"Man, you and I know that that's crazy..but with them guys..it's all about the principle of the thing." said Marco.

"Look Kev...I shouldn't even be tellin you this..but they said somethin about a boat that one of em owns at Penn's Landing and about snatchin both of em in the mornin..." said Marco.

"In the morning? Hmmm..It would be a perfect time to do something like that..." I said.

"Tell your boy Harry to lam it man..get outta dodge." he said.

"Yeah Marco..I'm gonna do that..thanks for the tip." I said.

"Hey Kev...For God's sake...you aint hear this from me." said Marco.

"It's good Marco." I said.

There was only one man who I could turn to at a time like this....Walter "Kool Kat" Jones!!! When I called him , he was more than glad to get involved...He and I were driving in his car...He was playing some old Temptations song on his CD player and singing along with it...

"Kev, I'm glad you called me in on this...I mean, you one tough customer..I heard what you did to Little Willie Basemore, but these guys..Gorilla Lewis and Elephant Jones...They aint no joke..You need the help that only I can provide at a time like this.." He said.

"Yeah ,I know...We gotta find that boat man....If I know right...they not gonna do em until they get em on the boat and get out in the water...So we gotta get the drop on em before they get on the water." I said.

Kool Kat looked at me and laughed...

"See this is why you need my help man...you aint gonna get no drop on Gorilla Lewis man.....He and Elephant will shoot you dead as soon as look at you right on the spot...Let me make a call and get us a scope on that boat." he said.

" What are you talkin about?" I said.

"I know folks that know all kinds of things ...The morning is full of surprises Kev." laughed Kool Kat.

My Blackberry went off just then....It was Clerow....

"Kev..Gorilla Lewis, Elephant Jones and another guy just pulled your boy, Harry Charles out of his mama's house in his drawers...He put up a good fight man, got in a few good licks...really clocked Elephant Jones...but he couldn't beat all three of em...They beat him pretty bad and tossed him into the trunk of they car...I'm following them now." he said.

"Well just hang loose...use the GPS tracking system that Peeping Tom installed on their car yesterday...Don't let em know you're on their tail." I said.

"Got it boss." he said.

"They got Harry" I said.

"Dimes to donuts, they gonna snatch your boy Ralph next." said Kool Kat.

He was right....It was nearly six thirty in the morning and the trio of Abel, Gorilla Lewis and Elephant Jones grabbed Ralph Scallion, also in his boxers and pulled him out of his house...Unlike Harry Charles..He did not put up a fight..He begged for his life...

"Hey man..I aint seeing her no more, I'm datin a chinese chick..so you don't have to do this..you don't have to do this.."he cried..

"Shut up....at least the other cat fought back...you're a little wimp." said Elephant Jones as he punched Ralph Scallion several times , while Abel laughed maniacally!

Kool Kat and I followed them to Penn's Landing and parked our cars...Clerow was already there as planned...He pointed out the boat. It wasn't hard to find , based on the information that Kool

Kat had gotten from his sources and passed on to Clerow.

Abel was driving and Gorilla Lewis was riding shotgun....Elephant Jones was in the backseat with a now terrified Ralph Scallion. They parked the car. It was a Saturday Morning..It was 7:00 am.
Nobody was around...Gorilla Lewis and Elephant Jones marched Ralph and Harry into their boat... Abel stayed behind ..He was getting something out of the car. As Abel was getting out of the car..I came up behind him. Kool Kat ,meanwhile had followed Gorilla Lewis and Elephant Jones onto the boat.

"Abel, my man..I always thought a guy like you was too chickenshit to get on a boat." I said.

"I told you that one day you'd stick your nose in the wrong person's business.. And this is that day."he snapped...but before he could do anything..I clocked him and knocked him into the car.I punched him in his stomach and knocked him to the ground...Clerow put his gun to his temple.
He was grinning as usual... "Lie still now..I might get nervous...accidentally shoot your nose off."

"Ouu, You guys don't know what you're gettin yourself into..wait till my boys come out to look for me." he said.

"Yeah, we'll do that ." I laughed.

Like I said...Abel was no fool... he knew not to resist us. I looked around !! There was no sign of Kool Kat....and then I heard a sucession of gunshots..I ran towards what I heard, their Boat... Elephant Jones came running out screaming like a woman...

"Aggghhhh, I been shot..I been shot..lawd have mercy, he shot me in the butt..agghhhhhh."

Elephant Jones saw me running towards him with a gun and ducking, he hit the ground, rolled and then crouched, He aimed his pistol right at me and fired ,he missed....but I didn't, I put two nice rounds in his forehead and he fell one last time and did not move again...I heard more gunshots...Then ,I saw Kool Kat emerge from the boat with Ralph Scallion and Harry Charles...unharmed. He was smiling broadly.

"Man, what did you do?" I asked.

"Same thing you did... What you mean, what did I do? I tried to talk to Gorilla Lewis...and you know how he is?" said Kool Kat, laughing hysterically.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He in there...but uh, he aint in no mood to talk..Where's his punk boy, Elephant Jones?...I never knew he was such a punk...Soon as we started shooting, he run out...." said Kool Kat.

"He's over there...he's not in the talkin mood either."I said. Kool Kat looked at me and cracked up laughing. Elephant Jones lay on the ground, dead to the world...On the boat, Gorilla Lewis lay on the floor,riddled with bullets, a bloody mess...

Just then, I heard two more loud shots...Kool Kat , Harry ,Ralph and I ran towards where Clerow was....

"Heyyyyy, what happened?" I said.

"Man Kev..I tole him to stay still, He tried to overpower me and take my gun...He won't try that no more." said Clerow....Abel Gardenor lay on the pavement, with a hole in his chest...quite dead.

Kool Kat fell out laughing..."You guys is something else...but I sure thought they'd was gonna put up more of a fight than they did..." he said non-chalantly. We had just killed three men and he was as non-chalant as if we had been playing a pick up game of basketball.

Kool Kat loaded all three bodies on the little boat into the body bags that they had probably planned to put Harry and Ralph in.It was funny that there was a third body bag on the boat...Somebody, probably Abel was not going to live to talk about this...These two only trusted each other and they didn't believe in leaving behind loose ends...Abel was too much of a hot head and a talkative one at that...They had planned to kill him too! Poor fool!

"You guys go on...I'll take care of this ." said Kool Kat.

Clerow , Harry,Ralph and I got in Clerow's car and pulled off....We heard a huge explosion sometime later and saw the billowing smoke as we drove away from the harbor into the city!

EPILOUGE:

Sepia ,Bernadette and I sat in Josies a few nights later having drinks and talking quietly...

"You know Kevin, Harry has been around to see me a couple of times..We might go out tomorrow night." she said.

"Oh yeah? That's nice...What about Ralph?" I asked.

"Nahhh, he's really not my type..I saw him yesterday, all up in some other chick's face...He's a player." she said.

"He's a dog." said Sepia.

"Gus must have put the fear of God in Abel Gardenor...I aint heard a peep out of him in days..I don't guess he'll be comin around here no more." said Bernadette.

"No, I don't think so either." I said.

"Kevin, did Harry pay Gorilla Lewis and Elephant Jones off? They aint been around either and Harry walks around like a big weight was lifted from his shoulders. He told me that he's learned his lesson and that he aint gamblin no more or taken bets of any kind." said Bernadette.

"Well uh,er..I heard they left town in a hurry...Went on some uh, boat ride." I said.

"Really? I'll bet someone was after them and they forgot all about Harry." she said.

"Who knows? ,Who cares about those bums?" I laughed.

Just then, Kool Kat walked in...he was decked out in an expensive and tailored suit and smoking one of his cigars...

''What's happening Kevin?" he said as he slapped my palm.

''You, big man." I said.

"Good evening Missus Kevin." he said as he kissed her hand.

"Oh Walter stop." laughed Sepia.

Bernadette nudged Sepia..

"Girl who is that?" she said.

"Oh that's Kool Kat...that's Kevin's friend." laughed my wife.

"Now that's the kind of guy I should be with." said Bernadette.

Sepia and I looked at each other and laughed and laughed!

(For Carlene)