Chapter Nineteen: Mother, Mother, Mother...
"When Joe was eight years old, a cartoon revealed its secrets to him in black and white--as in good and evil. It was titled "Felix The Cat". Felix was an ordinary cat whom possessed a bag of tricks;. a physicians case containing an endless supply of wizardry with which all obstacles that chanced upon his way were overcome. Though sometimes a brick would appear to violently hammer an opponent (usually a devilish character) into oblivion, the majority of implements contained in this pouch were designed to conquer in a non-violent way.
"Wow!" He thought to himself as he watched in awe, "If only I had that bag!"
One bright sunny day, his mother purchased a gift for him. She wrapped it and placed it in his room. When he returned from school he noticed this cheerfully wrapped box sitting atop his bed. With excitement he tore the package apart. Low and behold, through the ripped and tattered rainbow wrapping paper, a black doctor's bag was unveiled! Excitably grabbing this emblem of his fantasy, he opened it to discover a wealth of plastic instruments. Something red to hear the heart, something blue to tap the knee, something yellow to depress the tongue -- but nothing else!
Disappointed he began to moan. His mother, hearing his grief appeared at his side.
"Why are you upset, don't you like the toys I bought you?" She inquired as she placed her arms around him.
"I thought this was a bag like Felix The Cat has!" He moaned in despair.
"That is a bag like Felix carries," she replied in all seriousness.
"But where are the tricks?" He challenged for proof.
"You see these tools that you threw upon the floor?..." She asked, picking up one of the colorful items that he had discarded with haste. "...They will unleash the miraculous powers of God.
This is a stethoscope, it is used to check the heart, " she said, holding the red plastic object to his heart. "Listen to the sound of your heart. As long as you can hear the rhythm of its beat you can use its power."
"Ah! Your fooling me." He replied with a smirk. "It can't do nothing!"
"Well let me show you it's magic!" She repeated as she held him in her arms. "You know that I love you," she said, grasping him tighter. "Remember all the times that you hurt yourself and how your crying stopped when I held you like this?"
"Yes, I do."
"That is GOD'S magic of your heart. You can use it's powerful magic any time you please."
She then picked up the blue tool off the floor. "Do you feel me tapping your knee?" She asked as she lightly tapped my knee.
"Yes, I can feel it, but what trick is that!" He asked, sure that this wasn't magic!
"This is God's magic of feelings. As long as you can feel it's thump you can use it's power. How do you feel when I tell you I love you and hold you tight?" She inquired with a smile.
"It makes me feel good," He replied.
"The magic of feelings can change the world!" She said as she picked up the yellow object.
"This is the most important part of your bag of tricks. With this item all obstacles can be overcome," she continued as she placed the item close to his mouth. "Open wide and say Ah!"
"Ah!" He said, eagerly awaiting the mysterious powers of the yellow tool.
"As long as you have your voice, you can use God's gift of the power of speech. How do you feel when I say I love you?" She asked as she handed the "magical" trick to him.
"I feel great."
"Remember that this bag holds magical tricks and how you use them will determine how people feel, see and respect you. The powers of your heart, feeling and touch are brimming with M.A.G.I.C. They bring warmth and happiness to others which in turn become mirrors reflecting that power tenfold. But you must learn that just to say these words and not feel them denies the M.A.G.I.C. power that they possess. They become just words of jest."
He picked up the tools of magic and placed them in his black bag of tricks. Then he hurried out of the house to try them out on all his friends!"
'It's time to get up!' She thought as she rolled over. "Six in the morning and the kids have to be on time"... but her body just did not want to respond; with only twelve hours sleep in the past four days, she was plumb worn out! She forced herself to twist her self up, placed her swollen feet upon the worn carpet and, with a painful grunt, lifted herself up. Shuffling to the bathroom, she brushed her teeth and prepared a tub of warm water for Eddy's morning bath. Trudging to the kitchen, she opened a cabinet. "What should I cook them for breakfast?" She said to herself as she examined the scarce staples lining the shelves. Another two days and she would get paid. She could then pay Tony Black another fifty on the debt Joe incurred and fill her cabinets. As far as the clothing the boys needed, she could more than likely shop the second hand store next week... that is if she could put off the light bill another two weeks! She shook her head and chose the box of oat meal she had stolen from the store last night. How she hated living the way they did! To think that she had been reduced to shop lifting! She measured out three cups and poured it into the pot and turned the stove on. Turning to the ice box, she opened it and removed her insulin. Jeanette then searched a counter draw for a needle, filled it, and gave herself her life sustaining morning "fix". And then, like every other morning for the past year, she set the table for four before realizing she had set one to many. After making toast and arranging her children's clothing, she made a cup of instant coffee with saccharin and milk, then sat down with a groan.
"I wonder if he is OK? Oh how I miss him. Where is he?" She thought as she sat mesmerized by the ripples her tears were making as they rolled down her cheek and into the steaming cup. "God can you hear me? I have prayed that you will watch after my little Joe. It is, and was, never his fault! You know that? I tried, Oh!, have I tried. Why have you..."
The sound of Eddy arising snapped her out of her prayer, and she knew she would not sit down again until the following morning when her daily ritual would begin all over...
SCREEEEECH!... the green and white car slammed to the corner, the doors flung open, and two blue uniformed predators scrambled in pursuit of the fleeing game...
"Hey! I ain't done nothing!." Donny shouted as Jolly Green Giant slammed him to the ground.
"You wanna stay on the streets? Do you? Well if you do, you will tell us where Joe and Pauly are! You hear me." Jolly said his face a mass of beet-red anger.
"Man, you guys know they have been gone a long time! We don't know where, I swear."
Wrenching Donny's hands behind his back, Jolly questioned him some more: "SOMEONE KNOWS... AND YOU KNOW THAT SOMEONE, DON'T YOU?"
"The only one that close is Aggie... she might know. His girl friend.. Aggie.."
"Who?"
"Aggie!"
"Aggie who..." He screamed as he twisted Donny's arms with vengeance.
"OWE! AGGIE, Aggie McDonald! In Woodside, she lives in Woodside..."
"Where does she live?" TWIST!!!
"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! JUST GO TO THE PROJECTS AND ASK! I SWEAR, I SWEAR..."
After a brutal pummeling of kicks and punches, Jolly let Donny scurry away. Sweating and breathing hard, both men got back into their cruiser.
As they drove off, Jolly told Ball he would get even: "I'll show that $%%$#@^&! I will get even for all of the aggravation he and his father caused!."
"Heh, you know Aggie McDonald. Its that little hussy. The red head with green eyes. The one you are always telling me she looks nineteen! You remember?"
"OH! That's her name? Yea, I #$%^%$# remember. Lets go and have some fun!"
Chapter Twenty: Joe & Jack...The Cat!
The individual was dressed in black; also his shoes, pants, shirt, gloves, and ski mask!
"Hey man get that gun out of my face!" Joe said with indignation.
"What is a young punk doin' on the beach at this time of night?"
"What is a jerk "doin" on the beach dressed in black with a gun in the face of a kid?"
"You seem to be mighty testy, where do you live?"
"Here..." He said.
The next thing he knew, the guy handed him three one-hundred dollar bills and says: "If you need some "real" work, come by the Hollywood Dog Track any Saturday afternoon after twelve. Just go by the left parking lot and ask the attendant for Jack..."
With that, he was gone as quietly as he had came.
"Is that your name?" He asked to the dead, silent emptiness of the night...
Harry, with the offer of a job, all that cash, the accent of the man--who obviously was from up north--Joe felt strong enough to leave and return to the projects...
After Joe left, he discover an informant had enabled the police to infiltrate the biker's drug operation. The suspected "snitch" was uncovered and grabbed.
Under the Halendale Beach Pier, as waves gently crested the rocky pilings and sea gulls glided upon the soft, swirling, warm-fall breeze, they tortured and murdered her. The leaders of this operation would be arrested, prosecuted, and finally sent to prison for long terms... including the Boss and The Animal!
Twelve in the afternoon and the track was alive and jamming.
"Jack? Jack who?" The attendant asked as he gave Joe this scratch-his-head-who routine.
"Jack!... That's who! Listen I just came all the way from NY to see my father's best friend. Father died and I'm here cause I was expected to be. I had all the information but I lost it at the airport, now, will you tell Jack that Kid Joe is here? Please?"...
.."Well, you found the place. Pretty good line you gave Junior. He fell for it. Did you spend all of the bread I gave you?"
"No. I have two-fifty left."
"I'm impressed, lets go inside. They do not allow kids bu..."
"Hey, lets get something straight, I'm not a kid, OK?
"OK, big guy, lets go."
At the main gate the guards seemed to know Mr. Jack very well. They looked over towards him, winked, and Jack handed him twenty as they entered the frenzy.
"There's the betting windows over there," he said, pointing towards a bank of crowded counters with open windows spaced every three feet. Lines of betters, scowls of urgency written upon each face, jostled with one another in their haste to reach the window and place their bets--as if each and everyone of them had THE BET. "That's the Club House up there... where we are going." He said as they swaggered over towards the stairs which led to a large, enclosed room over looking the track.
A door man opened the door and they were seated with a group of men whom Joe knew were mobsters.
"Hey, Jacky, whose da kid?" An extremely short and swarthy individual asked.
"My nephew. From NY... Joe, meet Shorty."
"Yea, how ya doin'." He said with a mobster inflection while staring in semi-shock at the guy he was sure was the same man Bianco spoke of.
"Where did you get your tattoos? Sounds like your from The City..."
"I'm from the Q and Manny Hat. Just visiting. Got dese in da city."
"You vacationing? Got any people besides old Jacky baby?"
"Some, my father, Joe"... and then he stopped--realizing he almost made a mistake. "I'm jus visitin Jacky."
"Hey, Yo..." Shorty yelled across the table at the bar man. "Bring a burger, a dog or sumptin for tha kid, an' a coke!" Then he patted Joe on the back, pulled a chair out, and offered it to him.
While he consumed a sandwich that came from the kitchen --four hamburgers, four hot dogs, four pastrami sandwiches, and several cokes had appeared... though no one else ate anything! -- the guys were busy sending runners to bet on the dogs.
"So, whose ya old man?" The question flashed again.
"Jus a guy." He said as he stuffed his face. 'I should have said he was dead... and mother too!' He thought.
"Just what guy?"
"Hey, give the kid a break.... his fathers dead. He just came down from the funeral... nobody you know, OK?" Jack cut him off.
For the balance of the afternoon, he just acted like he was watching the races while he really paid attention to the conversations that bounced back and forth. It did not take long until he had figured out Jacks occupation: A thief!
Jack was what was called a "second story man": a thief whose specialty was robbing homes, hotels, apartment houses, and "cracking safes. He began his criminal career selling gold coins over the phone--long before it became a popular scam--and wound up learning how to steal them! He would climb six stories -- from the outside! -- to defeat a doorman. Quite a few "jobs" were performed while the occupants slept. His generosity was in fact motivated by business... he needed a short, slightly built juvenile to perform a few "tasks", as he called them. The meet at the track was based on a discussion for the "fencing of loot" from some big job. His appearance on the beach, combined with his situation, build, and facts of his past, suited Jack just fine.
Now, on his part, the fact Jack dressed well, always had a huge roll of "C" notes, a pretty woman --or two-- on his arm, drove a fast, sporty, luxury car, and commanded respect where ever he went, kind of had an impact.... You know?
"OK, just as we discussed: You will squeeze through the bars of the gate with a bathing suit and lots of sun tan lotion... if you get caught, plead you got lost"
---'like who was gonna be sun bathing at two am?'
"You then make your way along the fence line. I'll meet you by the beach wall and hand you your stuff. Then, you will have to stand on the sea wall, jump on to the hood of that there Buick," Jack says, pointing to a wall six feet above a parked black Buick, "as you can see, the parking garage bars you from gaining access to the first balcony... but with your bounce off the car, you can grab onto that floor ledge and pull your self up. You see that telescope on the third balcony up?"
--'This constituted the fourth floor!'
"You will tie this rope to it" --handing Joe the rope-- "lower it down, and then climb down the rope"...
Joe had trained for four days at a private spa located above the shopping center on 79th. St. and Biscaine Blvd. This -- as Jack called it -- simple job, was to be a "preview" of the real thing! Joe looked up at the fourth floor, knowing he had to climb three balconies --that's if he did not jump, bounce off of the car, and land on his head! Well, he did not have much of a choice, and after all, Jack was making sure he had plenty of attention, respect, and a place to stay....
"OK, calm down.." Joe said to himself as he stood on the edge of the six foot sea wall. Jump! Dull bang. Pop. He's flying up... Grab it! "Whoa!" "Ugh, eeeeeemmmm..." He pulls him self up... grabbing ahold of the cut out designs of the concrete balcony walls... he's soon standing upon the edge of the balcony... he climbs the corner supports using the open cut design... pushes off on an angle--without looking down!--he reaches the next one..."Ooooommm"... he grabs the edge.
And so on, and so on.
Looking over the side of the fourth floor balcony--including the raised parking area under the building-- "It's a long way down!" He says to himself.
On beach side, Jack is waiting outside the twelve foot fence. The balcony is about three feet from the edge of the wall. He ties one end of the rope to the telescope, the other to the balcony concrete railing. Holding six feet of coiled slack in his left hand, he uses his right to lower it down; gently swinging it back and forth until it clears the wall and then lets it go.. Jack unties it and ties the rope onto the fence. He motions Joe to climb down....
"Well, let me check the door out," he says to himself as Jack is frantically waving him.
Jack had informed him this test would be done with an empty apartment. 'So', he thinks to himself, 'I'll just check it out! Show him I'm cool. What I have learned. Heck, he was acting like a father figure, right? I'll please him!'
Joe uses the nail he carried specifically for this situation. Wedging the head under the door, he pushes down on it while pushing upwards against the glass with his body... the door gently slides on it's well lubricated track. He enters the pitch black and drops down. So far everything went just like Jack taught him. His eyes adjust and he begins to gropes his way to the back of the room. He sees that this is one well laid out apartment. He begins to explore. Entering the bedroom...'What's that?' He thinks to himself as he takes several steps and hears a light rustling... 'Must be the breeze coming from the open door... What's that over there?... Is Tha...'
"Roar! Ruff, Ruff... Growl.." The Doberman tore at him...
Joe blasts towards the balcony as lights flash on.... a guns cocked.... "BLAM! BLAM!" and shots careen off the concrete...
He's going over the wall as the large dog rips the legging off his pants... on the rope... sliding down so fast his gloves are hot... it seems... burning... crash...
He is up and running as several balconies come to life with lights, noise, and shouts:"There he goes... Call the police!"
"What the heck is wrong with you? Your supposed to snatch a five hundred dollar telescope and come down! Not wake up the entire shoreline. Next time... that's if there is a next time... you will do what I say.. GOT THAT!"