Return of the Prodigal by Michael Caudo

Author:Michael Caudo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: crime
Publisher: Tasker Morris Ventures, LLC
Published: 2022-10-21T11:18:03+00:00

MIGHTY MICK

Nick could make out a lone figure sitting at a table with his back to the corner of the dining room. The figure seemed familiar to Nick, familiar but changed somehow. Just like the Avenue. Just like every other rotten thing Nick encountered since he returned.

“Tommy? Tommy McKenna? Is that you?”

“Have I gotten that fucking fat?” the red-faced, white-bearded man asked.

“Not at all,” Nick answered as he ran over to the man and jumped in his lap. “But is it too late to tell you what I want for Christmas?” Nick gave him a big loud smooch on the face as Kris Kringle pushed him off in violent protest.

“Get off me, you crazy guinea,” Tommy yelled.

Nick was so happy to see his grade school best friend (and not be stabbed or shot), he could hardly contain himself.

“I missed you, harp.”

“Hey, watch it with the ethnic slurs.”

“You fucking started it.”

Angie interrupted the reunion with two Rolling Rocks. “I see you two boys are getting along.”

“Just like old times,” Nick said as he raised his bottle.

Tommy raised his bottle in return. “Just like old times,” he said, but a bit subdued.

Angie left the two childhood friends to catch up and placed the keys on the table.

“Lock up when you’re done and throw the keys back in through the mail slot. I’ll pick them up in the morning. And clean up after yourselves.”

“Okay, Mom.” Tommy cracked, and Nick laughed. Just like they were back in St. Nicholas of Tolentine. Tommy must have been reading his mind because he raised his bottle again. “To the good old days.”

Nick drank. “Yeah, but they weren’t always so good.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tommy said. “By the way, I miss your pop. Now that’s what we should be drinking to.” Tommy got up and went to the cooler to fetch two fresh Rocks.

Nick had overcome his initial shock, as pleasant as it was. When Tommy sat back down, he asked the inevitable question. “So, Tommy, I gotta ask to what do I owe this honor… at this ungodly hour?” Suddenly I’m a pretty popular guy, Nick thought as he said this.

“You know, Nick, when my mom died when we were in fifth grade, I came over your house every morning when my old man left for work, and your father made me breakfast. Do you remember?”

“Sure. Runny eggs, sunny side up, and black coffee. Said it would make men out of us.”

“That’s why I eat them scrambled to this day.” Tommy laughed. “True story.”

“Well, your old man worked the graveyard shift if I recall correctly.”

“My old man was an abusive drunk, and trust me, I recall correctly.”

“They were different times, Tommy, these kids today are spoiled.”

“They weren’t that different. A prick was a prick, even back then.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“Fucking-A I am. Anyway, I never forgot those breakfasts and the way your father spoke to me. Not like an annoying kid, like my father did, but like a person. Like I mattered. Like I wasn’t worthless. You know, it was your father who convinced me to enter the police academy.

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