Vietnamese Slick

 

The white limo is outside. My guts are twisting and turning. Down the rabbit hole we go.

'I'm sure you have a lot of questions.'

'Who are you?'

Mr. Bling gives me a card.

Lewis Ranieri, Magician-Entertainer.

'Who are you?'

'A friend.'

'What do you want?'

'To help you.'

'Why?'

'Because this is what I do, I help people with talent to reach their full potential.'

'Why me?'

'I like you, you have style, pizzazz, and you are not greedy. You know when to stop. Your weak spot isn't your pocket, but your heart'

He started to get on my nerves.

'If you want to help, you have to give straight answers.'

'If you want me to help you, you must ask the right questions.'

'How bad is it?'

'Are you familiar with the term storm chasing?'

'No'

'Storm chasers are photographers that love to shoot any severe weather phenomenon. And if you're doing it wrong, the storm is chasing you.'

'That bad..'

'Worse than you think.'

'What can I do?'

'Nothing without me.'

'What's in it for you?'

'I like happy endings, and you my friend, you really needed one.'

He lights a cigarette. Five perfect smoke rings, the one behind the other.

He offerered me champagne.

'So tell me, what I have to do?'

'First, you must take Rinaldi out of the equation.' 

'What do you mean, kill him?'

'No, no, nothing that drastic. Just beat the shit out of him.'

'You are serious.'

'Deadly.'

He smiled. His presence was hypnotic and terrifying at the same time.

'I would be dead, before I step out of his house.'

'Don't worry about that. I'll take care of it. He's having his weekly poker game, I'm taking you there. Don't hold back, make them bleed. And one more thing, you have to beat the others too. Literally.'

I'm dead and this is the waiting room of my personal hell.

'And what happens, if I don't make it?'

'Your sweetheart is doomed. She's quote a dish. A remarkable kind of woman.'

'I know.'

'Not in the way you imagine. She's beautifully broken. A creature that can understand love, only after she commits a crime. A work of art, made by accidents in slow motion. Chaos is her poetry.'

'I hope you don't mind, if I tell her that.'

'Be my guest. Are you ready?'

'No.'

'Great. Have fun.'

Rinaldi is not happy seeing me.

'What do you want?'

'To play.'

'You are not on the list.'

'I'm a very happening cat. Make an exception.'

He's suspicious, but he lets me in. He's trying to figure out my angle. My guts are ready to explode, I'm choking on adrenaline.

Five geezers and me. They are easy prey. First, you take their money. Than, you break them down mentally.

The bald moose is frowning. I'm trying not to laugh.

'You've ruined a friendly game.'

'Don’t worry, it’s just foreplay.'

The others smirk.

'Oh yeah? What's next, our cars and houses?'

'I would say your wives too, but we all know that the last female that touched you on purpose, is dead 30 years now.'

'Cut it out Vic! You won, take your money and leave.'

Rinaldi is pissed. Good.

'One of these days Tassotti, you're going to kill yourself.'

'If I wanted to commit suicide, I I would wrap a cord around my neck, like your stillborn child did.'

His heart attack had a stroke. 

'Get the fuck out, you sick fuck!'

'And you're not taking a dime, you fuckin' thief!'

'And shouldn't put your ass  where they measure  dicks.'

The fuse is lit.

'Hey Ricky, you look good. Are you getting enough these days?'

'3-4 times a day.'

'You must be ugly for having sex 3-4 times a day in jail. Average is 6.'

We are here. I'm three moves ahead.

Toss the cards on Jimmy. Ricky is down. The fatso takes the glass on the head.

Paul tries to run. I break the chair on him.

I knock Jimmy down. Beat the living daylight out of him.

This is like an orgasm. Forbidden senses  are burning, I'm shakin' with rapture.

5 down. I take the money. I'm walking to my house. Soaked in blood. 

What I've done? Am I that crazy? The best and worst thing is that I don't care. I'll climb a mountain of knives just to see you. Highways like crossed swords, I feel off balance. But fear has me on a leash no more. I had no idea that I had no idea. That there's a different kind of happiness. Trying to escape the freak show called reality, I never thought that chaos is the most liberating experience. The purest form of tranquillity. The core of happiness. 

The lunatic was right. After a crime, you feel love burn brighter. Blood slows downs time, leaves a tattoo on it's skin. The signature of perfection. Where are you? I need you, to take all the darkness out of me. Make me walk on stars again.