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BINGO BOY - post 48
At first Jimmy stayed in a motel, a nice one. You know how they are. The big ones, I mean. Really like hotels, but you can park right there, so they call them motels. Or they call them nothing, but you know what they are. This one was on Route 73, the main drag exiting Philadelphia, cutting through the suburbs and off to the shore. 'Cept they call it something else when you get near the water. Merges with the Black Horse Pike, I think. Nice stretch. Neat, little 'truck' farms, produce stands, closed for the season custard places, decent roadhouse restaurants and all that. But Jimmy wasn't holed up in that part. He was only maybe ten miles out of Philly. This is the BIG suburbs, like you see close in to New York and Philadelphia. Glossy malls. More glossy malls. High priced theme chain restaurants with waterfalls and mass produced delectables and stuccoed walls and huge, squishy booths. Serious jewelry stores built like thick walled Mayan temples, or Los Angeles movie houses.
Wasn't hard gettin' there either. You see, he didn't know there was another safe deposit box til he found the slip in the first one. Marty probably don't know about the note either. Must a dropped it in there months ago. Maybe it fell out of a pocket, or envelope and he just kept loadin' money on top of it. And that was it. You know he 'knocked down' on Jimmy. You know he skimmed. Well, this was fate. This was pay back. Now he's makin' it right.
At first Jimmy was gonna run right out to the car and tell the kids all about it. But then he starts thinkin'. You know ex-cons are always thinkin'. Russia and Ukrainian ones even more. What's in the box? Is it money? How much money? Was Ricky really gonna kill him. Sure, they had that conversation a few weeks ago, but 'treasure maps' erase shit like that. That stuff gets erased real fast. Thought about the baby. Felt bad about the baby. But he couldn't help it. So he sneaks out the rear entrance, crosses over to a Motel 6. Not one a the fancy, big hotels. This was just a Motel 6. Goes in the office, slips the desk guy a twenty and asks him to call for a cab. Could a used his cell phone, but he don't want no records.
Ninety minutes later he got a room. Nice place. Steakhouse off the lobby. Indoor pool. Coffee shop. Wi-fi lounge. The works. But then he's thinkin'. He's layin' 'on the bed and he's thinkin'. Shades are drawn. TV's off. He can hear the hum of the little fridge in the mini bar, but that's about it. Maid pushes cart down the hall. He can hear that. But she's talkin' Spanish, so he don't know what she's sayin'. Only now he got like a big, fat butt pack fill a money. Bought it when he got to The Cherry Hill Mall, 'cause he don't like totin' all that cash around in a big plastic bag from the bank. Came with a whole mess a cheap bank swag, pocket mirror, calender/notebook, calculator and I don't know what else. Girl behind the counter give it to him when he say he gotta go empty out the box. She think he Marty. That what his I.D.'s say. You know, them Russian, Ukrainians can copy anything. Skin look too old a be Marty. But he pretty fit, so that make up for a lot.
Wanna know how much he got? OK, now I'll tell you. First bank give him three hundred thousand dollar. Second bank give him nine hundred and ten thousand dollar. So that one million, two hundred and ten thousand dollar. You do the math..... No, wait. I just did the math...... He real happy. Not smilin' happy, jus' fas' heatbeat happy. See another bank in the mall, so he go in, get another box and stash most of it there. But keep like two hundred thousand for lunch, clean underwear and emergencies. Got it in one a them butt packs. It big. It like a fat ass butt pack. An' he got that butt pack under a jacket, a leather jacket. Think a black, leather jacket like a religious thing with his people.
Then he go in a hot dog place. Get two wit' the works. Sweet potato fries and everything. Set hisself down in the back. It a nice place. Look like a Five Guys Burgers. We been there before. But this not burgers. This hot dogs. This different. He eatin'. He thinkin'. Maybe he gone let them bastids sweat for a few day. Kep' him in a cage and all. Fed him good. Bought him a nice, all modern, luxury style commode. You could use it for fishin', or tail-gatin'. Nobody'd know. But it still jus' a shit bucket.
That when he see the baby. Nice chunky, little fella. Mama shovelin' in a mashed up sweet potato. He go 'ahm-ahm-ahm' jus' like the one back 'home.' You know he do think a Marge house as home. Mama smile. He smile. Baby laugh. He laugh.... Mama say - Look, he like you!..... Jimmy say - You sure got one baby-deluxe over there. What his name?...... Mama say - Jesus... Only she go - Hay-Zoose... But he know that mean 'Jesus.' An' although Jimmy tryin' to be all Jew and everything, it still put him in mind a God..... So he finish up, bus his table real nice, slip the Mama twenty to go but a toy for the baby (she doan want it, but he say 'please.' so she take it) and go out to the stores.
Half hour later he got a ring. It big. It round. It diamond. It got baby diamonds all 'round the mama diamond. An' it for Marge. Next day he get the car. Not like a Cadillac or a Buick. This a Bentley. Sure it a few years old. But still cost like a hundred thousand dollar. Had a give the guy his social security number. Used Marty's number for that. But not like he ever gone know 'bout it. Bentley's what you drive when you can tell folks to go to hell an' they can't do nothin' 'bout it. It blue, real dark blue and shiny. Wit' brown leather inside and everything. I once floated through Beyonce (you know I am a disembodied spirit, jus' like all them other professional narrators) and she got a real good leather pocketbook smell the same way.
Now he down the shore. That 'bout ninety minutes away. Less if you speed. But Jimmy don't do that. Cops like a stop a Bentley. He know it. Place mostly cleaned up after the big storm. Least this part is. Everything all cozy and twinkled up for The Holidays. He lookin' for a house. He lookin' for a nice house. 'Cause you know.... he got money a his own too.....
Real estate lady like a cousin or somethin'. She doan wanna leave him alone for nothin'....
He like this place. It like Mayberry, if Mayberry had fancy houses an' a beach... plus a few good hoagie/submarine stores too...
Imagine, them what still in Philly think he never comin' back....
But Marty due for money trouble and jail trouble an' everythin'. Skinny school teacher an' his TV station girl cousin got a whole big thing comin'. They been settin' in that bingo hall for days. They been lookin'. They been watchin'. Not the teacher, jus' the TV folks.
An' soon it gone be showtime.....
______________________________________________
At first Jimmy stayed in a motel, a nice one. You know how they are. The big ones, I mean. Really like hotels, but you can park right there, so they call them motels. Or they call them nothing, but you know what they are. This one was on Route 73, the main drag exiting Philadelphia, cutting through the suburbs and off to the shore. 'Cept they call it something else when you get near the water. Merges with the Black Horse Pike, I think. Nice stretch. Neat, little 'truck' farms, produce stands, closed for the season custard places, decent roadhouse restaurants and all that. But Jimmy wasn't holed up in that part. He was only maybe ten miles out of Philly. This is the BIG suburbs, like you see close in to New York and Philadelphia. Glossy malls. More glossy malls. High priced theme chain restaurants with waterfalls and mass produced delectables and stuccoed walls and huge, squishy booths. Serious jewelry stores built like thick walled Mayan temples, or Los Angeles movie houses.
Wasn't hard gettin' there either. You see, he didn't know there was another safe deposit box til he found the slip in the first one. Marty probably don't know about the note either. Must a dropped it in there months ago. Maybe it fell out of a pocket, or envelope and he just kept loadin' money on top of it. And that was it. You know he 'knocked down' on Jimmy. You know he skimmed. Well, this was fate. This was pay back. Now he's makin' it right.
At first Jimmy was gonna run right out to the car and tell the kids all about it. But then he starts thinkin'. You know ex-cons are always thinkin'. Russia and Ukrainian ones even more. What's in the box? Is it money? How much money? Was Ricky really gonna kill him. Sure, they had that conversation a few weeks ago, but 'treasure maps' erase shit like that. That stuff gets erased real fast. Thought about the baby. Felt bad about the baby. But he couldn't help it. So he sneaks out the rear entrance, crosses over to a Motel 6. Not one a the fancy, big hotels. This was just a Motel 6. Goes in the office, slips the desk guy a twenty and asks him to call for a cab. Could a used his cell phone, but he don't want no records.
Ninety minutes later he got a room. Nice place. Steakhouse off the lobby. Indoor pool. Coffee shop. Wi-fi lounge. The works. But then he's thinkin'. He's layin' 'on the bed and he's thinkin'. Shades are drawn. TV's off. He can hear the hum of the little fridge in the mini bar, but that's about it. Maid pushes cart down the hall. He can hear that. But she's talkin' Spanish, so he don't know what she's sayin'. Only now he got like a big, fat butt pack fill a money. Bought it when he got to The Cherry Hill Mall, 'cause he don't like totin' all that cash around in a big plastic bag from the bank. Came with a whole mess a cheap bank swag, pocket mirror, calender/notebook, calculator and I don't know what else. Girl behind the counter give it to him when he say he gotta go empty out the box. She think he Marty. That what his I.D.'s say. You know, them Russian, Ukrainians can copy anything. Skin look too old a be Marty. But he pretty fit, so that make up for a lot.
Wanna know how much he got? OK, now I'll tell you. First bank give him three hundred thousand dollar. Second bank give him nine hundred and ten thousand dollar. So that one million, two hundred and ten thousand dollar. You do the math..... No, wait. I just did the math...... He real happy. Not smilin' happy, jus' fas' heatbeat happy. See another bank in the mall, so he go in, get another box and stash most of it there. But keep like two hundred thousand for lunch, clean underwear and emergencies. Got it in one a them butt packs. It big. It like a fat ass butt pack. An' he got that butt pack under a jacket, a leather jacket. Think a black, leather jacket like a religious thing with his people.
Then he go in a hot dog place. Get two wit' the works. Sweet potato fries and everything. Set hisself down in the back. It a nice place. Look like a Five Guys Burgers. We been there before. But this not burgers. This hot dogs. This different. He eatin'. He thinkin'. Maybe he gone let them bastids sweat for a few day. Kep' him in a cage and all. Fed him good. Bought him a nice, all modern, luxury style commode. You could use it for fishin', or tail-gatin'. Nobody'd know. But it still jus' a shit bucket.
That when he see the baby. Nice chunky, little fella. Mama shovelin' in a mashed up sweet potato. He go 'ahm-ahm-ahm' jus' like the one back 'home.' You know he do think a Marge house as home. Mama smile. He smile. Baby laugh. He laugh.... Mama say - Look, he like you!..... Jimmy say - You sure got one baby-deluxe over there. What his name?...... Mama say - Jesus... Only she go - Hay-Zoose... But he know that mean 'Jesus.' An' although Jimmy tryin' to be all Jew and everything, it still put him in mind a God..... So he finish up, bus his table real nice, slip the Mama twenty to go but a toy for the baby (she doan want it, but he say 'please.' so she take it) and go out to the stores.
Half hour later he got a ring. It big. It round. It diamond. It got baby diamonds all 'round the mama diamond. An' it for Marge. Next day he get the car. Not like a Cadillac or a Buick. This a Bentley. Sure it a few years old. But still cost like a hundred thousand dollar. Had a give the guy his social security number. Used Marty's number for that. But not like he ever gone know 'bout it. Bentley's what you drive when you can tell folks to go to hell an' they can't do nothin' 'bout it. It blue, real dark blue and shiny. Wit' brown leather inside and everything. I once floated through Beyonce (you know I am a disembodied spirit, jus' like all them other professional narrators) and she got a real good leather pocketbook smell the same way.
Now he down the shore. That 'bout ninety minutes away. Less if you speed. But Jimmy don't do that. Cops like a stop a Bentley. He know it. Place mostly cleaned up after the big storm. Least this part is. Everything all cozy and twinkled up for The Holidays. He lookin' for a house. He lookin' for a nice house. 'Cause you know.... he got money a his own too.....
Real estate lady like a cousin or somethin'. She doan wanna leave him alone for nothin'....
He like this place. It like Mayberry, if Mayberry had fancy houses an' a beach... plus a few good hoagie/submarine stores too...
Imagine, them what still in Philly think he never comin' back....
But Marty due for money trouble and jail trouble an' everythin'. Skinny school teacher an' his TV station girl cousin got a whole big thing comin'. They been settin' in that bingo hall for days. They been lookin'. They been watchin'. Not the teacher, jus' the TV folks.
An' soon it gone be showtime.....
______________________________________________
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