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Fathers and Sons Chapter 2 It was right about then, about the time Richard was working on our patio, that Lynn told me she wanted another baby. I said, “Are you nuts?” and she got mad. The Doc told us, when Lynn miscarried the last time, to quit. No more. He explained it to me; the only part I really understood was when he said that unless I wanted Lynn to bleed to death the next time, I was supposed to make sure she didn’t get pregnant again. You know what that meant. Lynn didn’t like it, and I didn’t really like it either, but compared to losing Lynn, it was ok. Till she started wanting to do it here and there and everywhere. Took me a while, but finally I realized she was trying to catch me unprepared. I started carrying ‘em in my pants pocket. The only other option was to tell her to stop, and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna do that. You shoulda heard the ribbing I got when I accidentally pulled the tin outta my pocket with my cash down at the hardware store, the day I bought the bags of cement. I thought Sam was gonna bust a gut. Lucky for me his wife was in the back, cutting glass. And then, one evening after Richard put his tools away and went home, when Lynn and me were sitting outside looking at the forms filled with wet cement, she said, “I need to have another baby. Right now.” I coulda made a joke, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t laugh, so I kept my mouth shut. “Please, Bud. Wouldn’t you like to have another little baby to cuddle?” That’s when I said, “Are you nuts?” And that’s when she dumped her soda in my lap; right before she went back in the house and locked the door. I had a key in my pocket. So I coulda gone in if I wanted to; but I thought maybe I oughta let her calm down a little before I did that. Otherwise I mighta got the mashed potatoes leftover from supper in my ear. On the other hand, she knew I had a key. So maybe this was one of those times when the woman walks away because she wants you to follow her. And if you don’t, that’s when you’re really in trouble. The problem is knowing which is which. I was still thinking about it when I heard the lock click open. Ok. Got it. She was throwing the leftovers in the trash when I walked in the kitchen. I mean really throwing 'em. So I stood back a little till she was done. She banged the spoon against the edge of the trashcan, and glanced at my pants. “I’m sorry,” she said. I just started to talk---“You know what the Doc said”---when she threw the pot and the spoon both into the garbage can with the leftovers, and ran upstairs. Charles was in the living room, listening to the radio; and Becky was learning how to climb up on the back of the sofa by herself. Charles peeked around the corner of the sofa, and said, “What’s the matter?” when I went by the doorway. “I don’t know. Just…..try to keep your sister from falling on her head, would ya?” “Sure,” he said. He lay down, and said, “Hey, Becky!” I heard his grunt when she jumped on him, and then her giggles. Lynn had locked the bedroom door, too. I knocked. “Hey, baby, open the door.” I didn’t hear anything. “Come on, let me in…… Lynn?” “Go away.” “You know I like babies, Lynn, but—“ “Goawaygoawaygoaway!” she screamed. I didn’t have a key for this door in my pocket. I waited, but I didn’t hear the lock click open. So maybe she really wanted to be by herself. But I didn’t wanna go away. I leaned up against the door frame and waited. My pants were wet and sticky. I figured if she didn’t open the door pretty soon, I’d ask her again, and if she still didn’t open the door……I thought about whether it’d be better to go out the kids’ window, out on the roof, and then in ours, or whether I should just give the door a little nudge with my shoulder…….. The door flew open, and Lynn ran out, ran right into me there next to the door. “Oh,” she said. She had tears running down her face. Then she threw her arms around my neck, and said, “Don’t go away. I didn’t mean to say that.” She sobbed for a second and went on, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just feel like…..but it doesn’t matter, I don’t want you to---“ I kissed her. “I’m not going anywhere.” Then she really started to cry. She had her arms around me tight, and she didn’t let go, so I just stood there with her till she’d cried herself out. The kids came up the stairs while we were standing there; Becky first, one step at a time, and Charles behind her. Becky screamed if you tried to carry her up the stairs. She insisted on going up by herself, and Charles wasn’t big enough to hang on to her when she got bully. All he could do was walk right behind her, so if she fell, she wouldn’t fall all the way down the stairs. So he did that. He was a good kid. Becky peered up at Lynn after she got to her, and patted her on the leg; sat down on the floor right next to Lynn’s foot, and leaned her head against her mama’s leg. Charles was a little more upset. He’d been growing, so he was tall enough now to put his arm around Lynn’s waist. He said, “Don’t cry, Lynn; whatever we did wrong, we’ll fix it.” So then Lynn had to cry some more, but it was different. It was OK. Just before we went to bed, I asked her if she thought she oughta go see the Doc. “Why?” I didn’t wanna say it, but I had to. “The last time you had a fit like that was when you were pregnant. Maybe you should just go get checked out.” Her face lit up. It hurt me to see it. “You think I might be?” She shook her head, then. “No, we’ve been very careful. I don’t think I could be. But wouldn’t it be wonderful?” She waited for me to say yeah, wonderful, but I couldn’t. “The Doc said no more babies.” “But that was a long time ago. I’m much stronger now.” I shook my head. “I don’t wanna take the chance. We’ve got two good kids,” I said. “Maybe we should just be satisfied with them.” I shoulda just stuck a knife in her. “I want a baby of my own.” “What’s Becky? A stray we found in the back yard?” I expected her to get mad at me again, but she didn’t. She just looked real sad. “I want a baby that will love me the way Becky loves you.” “Becky loves you.” I guess I didn’t sound very convincing. I knew what she meant, and she knew I knew. She just shook her head, and got into bed. “I don’t wanna take the chance,” I said again. “It’s too much of a gamble.” I don’t want you to die, I thought; but I didn’t say it. I got into bed, too, and pulled her up next to me; but it was like there was that baby that wasn’t around yet in between us, holding us apart……….. The Doc said she wasn’t pregnant. He said he wanted to do some more tests. Lynn cried; I was relieved. Arbutus had been visiting her brother in Oklahoma City for a couple of weeks. When she got back, she came by to see the progress on the patio. “My, look at that. It’s coming right along, isn’t it?” “Not really,” I said. “He spends an awful lot of his time gawking, or playing with the kids.” “Gawking? What would he be gawking at? He’s been at your place a hundred times.” “Uh-huh. Probably just my imagination.” She didn’t ask me any more about it, but I saw her watching Richard that evening while he was there working. And I could tell she saw it, too, it wasn’t just my imagination. But as long as that’s all he did—look--I could put up with it. I don’t wanna give you the wrong idea. Maybe I’m making it sound like things weren’t going right, but it wasn’t bad. Everything was going OK. It was. After that first time, Richard was careful not to come by when I wasn’t there. The patio was gonna get done, sooner or later. Lynn would be able to throw barbecues, and the rest of Mabel’s money would be gone. Lynn wasn’t pregnant. Things weren’t perfect, but they were OK. I guess I shoulda known it couldn’t last…… Thursday afternoon, I had some visitors; they came to the station. A surprise. I guess they figured, since I was a cop, it didn’t matter much where they talked to me. Or maybe they wanted to let me know that they weren’t scared of me, that maybe I should be scared a’ them. The head guy was easy to spot. He had a suit on that’d cost me a year’s wages, and you woulda thought he owned the joint. He walked right past Betty, whose mouth was hanging open, past Herbert, and into my office. The other three guys followed along like hounddogs on two legs, and after they were all in my office, one of ‘em shut the door and stood in front of it. The other two moved to opposite sides of the room. One fella opened his jacket so I could see his piece. Three goons and a boss. The head guy pulled a chair in front a’ my desk and sat down in it like it was a throne, like he was somebody. “Deputy White,” he said. “Finally. We’ve been looking for you for a long time.” “Yeah? What for?” “I think you know.” I shook my head. “No idea.” “I think you have something that doesn’t belong to you. Don’t you?” I looked at him for a minute before I said, “Nope.” He didn’t look happy. He was one a’ those guys that figures everybody should care whether he’s happy or not. Some people probably did. I didn’t. “So. You’re going to make this difficult.” I shrugged. He shifted in his chair, looked over at the goon with his gun showing. The goon reached for the piece, and the boss held up his hand. “No, Anthony, we don’t need to do that yet. I’m sure Deputy White will cooperate, once he understands. He looks like a reasonable man.” I knew just what he was doing. It was sorta like good cop, bad cop. Not exactly, but sorta. You know? “I want my money, Wendell. Can I call you Wendell?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “I know you have it.” “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” “Some years ago, perhaps ten……I had a Leonard White in my employ for a short time. He stole from me, and ran. I couldn’t find him. But I did not forget him. Then someone saw his name in a newspaper. He was dead. Shot by his own son. He hadn’t told us he had a son.” I guess he expected me to say something, ‘cause he waited for a few seconds, but I didn’t have anything to say. “As it happened, there was a lot we didn’t know about Leonard.” He leaned forward and looked me right in the eyes. “Believe me when I say, if we had known what kind of man he was, he would never have worked for us. I grieved when I read what had happened to your mother. I was outraged that I had allowed the kind of dog that would do such a thing to come into my house.” “Oh, yeah, you’re all saints.” I looked at the bum with the gun. He looked back at me. The boss smiled. “Well. Perhaps not saints. But every business has to have standards. Every family has to have some honor. If you notice, I don’t ask you why you killed him. I understand. How could you leave an animal like that alive?” This guy was good. In another minute or so, we’d be pals. “Who the hell are you, anyway?” He looked surprised. “Did you hear that, Anthony? He asks me who I am.” He sat back in the chair and smiled again. “I am Vincent Ricci.” Like I oughta know who that was. I waited but he didn’t say anything else. He was waiting for me to say, gee, Mr. Ricci, I didn’t know, I’m sorry, here’s your money. I didn’t say that. I said, “Never heard a’ ya.” He stopped smiling. “You’ve heard of me now. So. You’ll get the money, you’ll bring it here, and in three days we’ll come back for it.” “On Sunday?” “Is that Sunday?” He thought for a minute. “So it is. So…….Tuesday, then. You will put the extra time to good use?” “How much money we talking about?” “A hundred thousand dollars.” Jesus fucking Christ. “You’re outta your mind.” “No one steals from me, and gets away with it,” he said. “Well, somebody did. If my old man’d had a hundred thousand dollars, he’da gone to Rio, and never been seen again. He wouldn’ta ended up drunk in a dive in Seattle. Jesus Christ, if he’da had a hundred thousand dollars, you’da found him right away. He’da been spending it like there was no tomorrow. Even if you’re right and he took it, there ain’t no way you’re gonna get it back. He’s dead. Remember?” “You will give it back to me.” “That’s gonna be kinda tough. Since I don’t have it.” He shrugged. “I don’t believe you. I think you do have it. But if I’m wrong……you will think of something.” Yeah, shit. He got up out of the chair, and walked toward the door. One of the goons opened it for him. He turned around and said, “Let me reassure you, Wendell. Your family is safe. I don’t want you to worry about that. I take my payment only from men. But I will have it, one way or another.” And he left. The old bastard woulda just loved this. He was probably looking up from hell right now, laughing his guts out. I could almost hear him. “You all right, Bud?” That was Herbert, his hand on his holster, ready and waiting in the outer office like he thought the goons might be coming back. “Peachy.” “I can tell Albert to tail ‘em. We’ll set up surveillance on ‘em—“ “No. Tell the boys to stay away from ‘em.” “I heard them threaten you. You’re an officer of the law. We can’t allow--” “They could be dangerous. Keep the boys away from ‘em.” One minute, he was the Chief of Police. The next, he was an old man with a bad hip in an outdated uniform. He looked at me; I wondered what he was thinking. Then he nodded, and turned around to go into his office, and I realized I’d given him an order in front of Betty and Sue and Albert’s little brother, Phineas. Dammit. I followed him into his office. “Herbert….” “I’m going fishin’,” he said, and pulled his tacklebox out from under his desk. “You can handle things here, can’t you, Bud?” “I’m thinking I should give you back this badge.” He set the tacklebox down on the desk. He didn’t look at me for a minute. When he looked up, he kinda winked. Surprised the hell outta me. “If you give me back that badge, when am I gonna get to go fishing?” He jammed his fishing hat on his head. “I only got seven more months, Bud, to get my thirty years, and then…….” He grinned. “Then somebody else’ll have to be giving the orders.” “Wait a minute,” I said. I followed him outta the office and onto the street. “Don’t you get any ideas.” He got in his car, and started it. “No. You hear me? Huh-uh.” He drove away. Dammit. Dammit.
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