Skells by F. P. Lione

Author:F. P. Lione
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook
ISBN: 9781441237262
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2011-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

10

It was one of those rare Saturdays when the weather is perfect. The sky was cloudless and clear, the sun was bright, and the air was warm enough to make it T-shirt weather.

The parks were full along the boardwalk on Father Cappodanno Boulevard. The paddleball courts at the end of Greely Avenue were in use, and I could hear the pop as the ball was whacked against the cement wall as I drove past. There are four playgrounds, three baseball fields, a hockey rink, and bocci ball courts along the three-mile stretch of beach and boardwalk where the kids play during the day and the dealers sell drugs at night.

There was a softball game at the Midland Avenue fields and a street hockey game in the parking lot past Seaview Avenue. Girls were jumping rope; double Dutch it looked like, by the concession stands in South Beach. The old ginzos were out playing bocci ball near Lily Pond Avenue, like they do every Saturday.

“You ever play that?” Romano asked, nodding toward where they were playing.

“When I was a kid, we played at my grandfather’s house,” I said. “You?”

“Yeah, I used to play. When I was little, before my father was killed, our family used to go to this resort upstate. An Italian place, I forget the name. We used to go there on vacation every summer, and we always played bocci ball. They had tournaments my mother and father used to play in.”

“It sounds nice,” I said. “You still go there?”

“We went back there once or twice after he died, but it wasn’t the same.” He sounded sad.

I felt sorry for him. I mean, I know I don’t see my father a lot and we have our problems, but I don’t know how I’d feel if anybody ever put a bullet in him. Especially when I was ten years old and he was the person I wanted to be like when I grew up—long before I found out he was as screwed up as everyone else.

I found myself questioning God, not about why it happened, but about how he could help Romano get past it. I know it happened a long time ago, but I think it has a lot to do with why Romano was drinking now. Since I’m nobody’s shrink, I concentrated on getting through the traffic on the Verrazzano Bridge.

“I hope I wasn’t too much trouble last night,” he said.

“Nah, I was glad to help. You were pretty hammered, though. Just be careful—don’t let the drinking get a hold of you,” I said.

“I went a little overboard. I just hate this job. I’ll be out of here in a couple of weeks, and I bet no one at that party will even notice that I’m gone,” he said quietly.

“Joe and I will notice.”

“Besides you two,” he said like we didn’t count.

He was right, no one else will notice once he’s gone. I see it all the time. Aside from your partner, it doesn’t matter to anyone else. Someone else will take your place, and everything keeps on going.

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