THE YOUNG SOPRANO PART 2--XXVIII (CONTINUED)
THE YOUNG SOPRANO
PART 2--XXVIII
By
J. BECK
2024
...
(CONTINUED)
XVIII
A.J. left the funeral home office to go downstairs to the kitchen. Walking in through the swinging double doors A.J. walks directly over to open the refrigerator door when Charmaine approached him.
"I want to Thank you A.J."
"For What?-- Charmaine?" A.J. asked as he turned to face her before returning his attention to the contents inside the frig. A.J. chooses a large chilled yellow delicious apple to take a big loud bite of the juicy sweet apple with Charmaine standing speechless.
"I didn't do it for you Charmaine." A.J. said assuredly as he walked away taking a second bite making a saitey sounds as he chewed it with an open mouth & swallowed to finish saying: "I did it for them!"
A.J. walks across the kitchen to approach Vito & Venus: " I should of known I would find you down here little brother!" Covering his mouth with one hand to chew & smile at Venus. Who leaned forward on her toes to kiss his near cheek as she grinned & winked at Vito who pretended to frown until all three of them began laughing causing A.J. to choke on his apple.
"Goddamn it Vito--You should of seen the look you made on your face!" A.J. laughed throwing the apple core into the trash can & acted like he was going to wipe his sticky--juice hand on Vito's dress-jacket.
Vito takes a step backwards to avoid A.J.'s long-reach & tossed a kitchen towel in his face--"USE THAT INSTEAD OF ME!"
Laughing as he wiped his hands clean A.J. said:"So I heard you cleaned up this afternoon Vito?! (Cleaned Up--Venus questions) Vito sheepishly grins saying that he came out ahead.
"How So?!"
I came out ahead 20K I guess?"
"You Guess?!" A.J. & Venus asked together. "Who did better?"
Vito smiles at Venus & answered: "Your father--George."
"Were you letting him win?!" A.J. sarcastically taunted him.
"FUCK NO!" Vito assured them: "I was going straight after him!"
"What happened then?"
"We ran out of time! But not before I won 10K off him."
"VITO!" Venus teased him: "You took money from an oldman?!"
"HELL YEA!--If he is going to give it to me!"
"Well--I will be upstairs." A.J. excused himself to leave them alone together after Charmaine disappeared from the kitchen floor.
A.J. stops back off at the refrigerator & opens the door to extract a large chilled glass bowl of assorted grapes covered with plastic wrap to ssample one (YUM) before leaving with it cradled under hos arm.
"This will all be over before this time tomorrow night!" A.J. kicked the swinging double doors open to leave & return back upstairs. "Then it will be--Happy Birthday to me!"
Upstairs. A.J. stood alone in the Funeral home corridor observing all of the guest & callers in their clusters mingling & appearing to be having an enjoyable time reconnecting. It felt more like a Family Reunion then a Funeral.
Meadow strolls up to her little brother to pinch off a flat juicy red grape from the bowl. "Oh A.J.! These chilled grapes are so good! Where did you get them?!" (Downstairs in the kitchen frig)
"Are there anymore?!" (Nope)
Meadow plucks off a strig of more red grapes to feed herself one delicious one after another until they were gone. Commenting how everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves there at the funeral as she contemplates whether to sample the white ones.
Then Carmela walks up to her two children to partake in the large bowl of grapes provoking Meadow to decide she wanted more also.
As Carmela asked A.J where he found tthe chilled bowl of delicious grapes Meadow answered for him saying: "Downstairs."
At that moment the funeral home lobby doors opened allowing a blast of the Heatwave out doors to proceed the callers.
"Whose that?!" Carmela asked.
"Isn't that Allegra & Catherine Sacrimori?" Meadow answered with a question.
"Yes." A.J. answered them as he hands off the bowl of grapes to his mother to greet & welcome their out of town guest from Yonkers.
Carmela hands the bowl of diminishing fruit off to her daughter who turns around to pass it off to Compagino to join A.J. & her mother Carmela in greeting their long family friends.
Carmela almost fell over when she realized that the thin woman with the two sisters were their once obese mother.
"Oh my God--Ginny Sacrimori?! Is that you?!" Catmela reached out her open arms to embrace her. "It's been so long!" ( Too Long!)Ginny blushed as Carmela made a fuss over her & her two gorgeous daughters who hugged & kissed A.J. before Meadow.
"Doesn't mother look wonderful?!" Her oldest daughter Allegra complimented her. Speaking around her backhand covering her mouth to say: "In one word--Cocaine!" with a giggle!
Ginny held Carmela's hand to assure her that it was true. After her boss husband died of throat cancer on prison-hospital she was devastating & overcome with grief. But instead of binging on food she snorted Cocaine instead & the fat came off!
Carmela congratulates her however she found success --It Worked!The two women agree chuckling together as Varmela leads her away to see their other old friends attending & gathered in the assorted sitting parlors.
A.J. hands the two Sacrimori Sister's off to Meadow to lead off as more callers arrived.
A.J. turns his back to the lobby entrance way to face Compagino asking: "Whose that?--With Vito & Franny's mother Maria Spatafore?"
"That's Jerry Basale--He's Carmine Jr's Front-Boss for the Luppitazzi Family in NYC. "
A.J. watched as he stood in front of the hallway mirror to adjust his collar and dress-tie as Patsi Parisi Albie Cianflone approached Jerry Basale and rendered him respectful gestures of his status. Then Coco & Carlo with Albert Barese greeted their out of town friend.
When A.J. turned away from the mirror Jerry Basale stood before him to shake hands & embrace. Jerry was respectful & pleasant as he offered A.J. his condolences.
"Old Corrado is the last great gangster of the old school order of the Mustache Pete's Era. As all of the press & media outlets attest to. No one has garnished so much media attention since John Gotti's Funeral!--Except--they are all not here?! It's a beautiful thing Anthony! I have to hand it to you kid-whether it is by design or simply fate as I've heard you've claimed?! You are as smooth as your late great father Tony! I can see the DIMeo Family is in good hands with you at the head!"
And with that Jerry hands A.J. a fat envelope saying: "This is from our Basale Crew--If you will excuse me now to rejoin my party."
A.J. watches Jerry stroll off to offer Maria his arm to escort her inside the viewing parlor with the other guest.
A.J. enters the funeral home office pass Compagino instructing him to send for his two young cousins Tommy & Bobby.
A.J. stands up from behind the large empty desk when the two young men entered the office.
"Did you sell off all of those instant lottery tickets?"
"SURE DID--ALL OF THEM!" Each of them handed over 500$ (5$ x 100/10$ Tickets) to A.J.
Who in turn gave them their 20% (100$ apiece) from the sakes. Then Bobby looks at Tommy before peeling off a 20$ bill from his 100$ profit for A.J.'s 20% Bump. Tommy follows Bobby's lead & adds a second 20$ bill. "Good Men!" A.J. acknowledged their unwarranted gesture putting the money in the dress drawer which he left open to point out to them.
" I need you two to do something else for me?' (Sure Anthony--Just name it!)
"I need you two whom I trust the most to count up all the cash in this open drawer. I have a good idea what it is in my head but I want the exact amount."
"Which means it must be counted three times?" Tommy interjected. (Yes.)
Tommy sat down behind the desk beside Bobby who counted the money out of the drawer to hand to Tommy to count & stack before they would use a counting machine to confirm the amount.
If there were any discrepancy they would have to begin over again & again until the full amount was the same.
A.J. left them alone to work behind the closed & locked funetal home office doors instructing Compagino that no one enter or leaves the office except for himself.
Looking down at the empty bowl of chilled grapes on Compagino"s hallway desk "They didn't last long!"
(Nothing Good in Life--Ever Does)
...
(To Be Continued)
ALL
AI GENERATED IMAGES
CREATED BY
USING WORD PROMPTS
2024
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