Just Bones

I don’t know how they talked me into this.

Frankies taillights bounced away and it was too late to think about how I got here. Mike said If I didn’t start by sun down it was going to be a hell of a time. Fucking Frankie showed up two hours late and smelling like salami. He gave some shit about his Ma in the hospital for testing, but the shredded lettuce on his collar told me otherwise. I guess they have been using this spot for a long time now. Mike says to walk till I hit the double blue trail then bank a right at the boulder that looks like a bear. After a bit, you’ll know the spot. Ive only been into a forest a couple times. Field trips and high school parties. I’m not even sure what a bear really looks like, let alone what a rock that looks like one, is gonna look like.

I joined up with the Old Boys nine months ago. My uncle knew some guy and that guy knew this other guy, I mean I don’t ask a lot of questions. I do what I’m told and I get paid for it. Its 1954 and there ain’t much for a guy like me to be doing. So here I am, rehabilitated by the sweet and sanguineous state of New York, digging a hole in the ground for some schmuck who talked when he shouldn’t have. Worse even, gave a name. A real name. Not one of the ones they drill into our heads. So that its the first thing we think of. Cops like it when you spit it out quick. Makes em think you’re really caving. The white light and the humid room and their eyes and badges finally got to ya.

Take em out. Bury em. Once Big Mike gave the word, people stepped too. It was impressive.

I don’t have to worry the how, Sal’s got that. Aunt Connie called in a few favors from the deli. Got that good paper. Wrap him up good. Then double bag em. That rug shits for the cartoons.

It took me long enough, but I found where my gut told me people were beneath my feet. “You’d know” he said. Well. I guess this is it.

I’ve never dug a hole before. Something I was sure I’d have years of experience in by now. I mean sure, the one time I went to the beach, when my mom was still around, I dug and I dug and I dug, and I kept coming up with water. I lost interest and went for a swim. I’ve demolished houses and rebuilt them. I did some time in the sanitation department then moved on to clean toilets and bed pans in hospitals. In my twenty-four years, there are few dirty jobs that I haven’t done. An accomplice? More than I can count. Murderer? Nah, ain’t got it in me. Dig a hole at night, in the middle of nowhere and never tell any one for 500 bucks. I think so.

They said watch out for the wolves and bears and all that shit. They said start during the day when you can see and don’t forget to radio in when your done. They never said diddly about these MOSQUITOES!!! Digging a hole deep enough, large enough to fit a body into was hard enough. Add the constant attacks and its hell in a hand basket.

***

Three hours later, I think what looks good enough to be a resting place is finished. Its up to my ears and just a bit longer than me laying down. It should do the trick. I dug out some holes into the side and put in rocks, so that I could climb back out as I got deeper and deeper. I found water, but it sunk back into the soft brown earth. Found a few bones too, didn’t think twice, just pushed em to the corner and kept digging. I don’t have a singing voice but there wasn’t anyone out here to tell me to hush. So I kept my mind busy and my heart light by belting out what ever popped into my head.

I called in to Connie, she’d been waiting since ten, thinking I shoulda been done by then. I didn’t think to call in and let em know I was late, that Frankie was late. It felt like snitching so I just got to work and kept my mouth shut. Connie was pissed. She gave me an ear full for a while. But I could tell she found the hard stuff around one. She was drinking alone and got to that talkative state one does in such situations. I just hope she calls Frankie before she passes out. Either way. They’ll be here soon enough I guess.

The woods at night is no quiet place. Every broken twig is a beast ready to eat me alive. I never thought I’d miss the street lights and pavement, but this place is for the birds. They can keep it. I’m ready to kick rocks and get to sleep. I told Mike I’d open up the Deli in the morning. Thought I’d be home by now. Sal should have been here by now. I was two hours late and they were gonna be here just after sundown. When the roads were safer. Connie said they were on their way though. Just sit tight.

Sit tight. I sat tight for four years, my second B&E got me with manslaughter. I didn’t kill the guy but I was there when he went down. I ran with the rest of em, but I got caught. The judge saw my rap sheet, a high school drop out with a last name that ended in I, and sealed my fate right then and there. He didn’t know my Ma left me at the church when I was eight after my dad died. That I dropped out of high school and ran away because my foster parents like to put their hands where they didn’t belong. The judge didn’t care about any of that.

I used to.

Those bars take away more than they give back. But what they do provide is time. Time to think about all the crap life has thrown at me. Time enough to realize life didn’t do any of it. People did. People left me, people touched me, people hit me, people stole and cut and lied and hurt me.

Life was pretty good otherwise.

I had three squares and a place to sleep. Manslaughter gets you a good rep, so I got left alone for the most part. Did my time, smashed some rocks and figured out I liked reading. It’s like the radio, but the words are put in your head through your eyes.

***

Its about freaking time they show up. Its gotta be almost morning by now. Sals going too fast down these roads. They are nothing but rocks and dirt. I can hear his car radio from here. Show tunes? He’s getting ribbed for that when he gets here. And for not telling me to wear long sleeves, on account of getting sucked dry by all these damn bugs.

I took off to meet up with Sal, in case he needed a hand. I wasn’t sure if he was coming solo or not. Dead weight is dead weight, even for a guy like Sal.

It wasn’t Sals car parked outside the trail. It was a black Cadillac with white wheels. I could see a figure standing outside the car, its head lights were still on. Must of sent someone else, or maybe this was the Johns car. Mikes former lawyer maybe. Not a cheap set a of wheels. Either Sal lost some weight since he dropped me off or that was someone else, checking their watch and looking around.

He looked well kept, matched his car down to the white gloves. His face obscured by the shadow of his brim, but I could see thin cheeks and a goatee. I decided to stay hidden, just a few yards behind the tree line, away from the headlights. This wasn’t one of Big Mikes guys and I wasn’t looking to make friends. I hope Sal is being Sal, passed out at home right now. That they couldn’t get the guy tonight and I’d have to fill in the hole just to dig back up tomorrow.

“Sammie! Sammie you still there?”

Shit! The radio!!

My fingers can’t find the off switch fast enough. I know he heard that. My heart pounds and without even looking to see, I take off into the woods. I know where Im going, but its a needle in a hay stack for him. I can get back to the pit and lay low. Keep the radio on and call Connie. Get someone, anyone here.

***

I don’t think he followed me. I heard tires spitting up rocks, he must’ve ran too. Found more than we were both looking for. I’ll wait here till the heat dies down, and my breath catches up to me.

“Connie, Aunt Connie, you hear me? I know you can hear me, close the fridge and talk to me, someone’s out here and it ain’t Sal! Get me outta here!”

“Sammie?”

“Yea, I’m here. I’m in the pit hurry up and get me outta here!”

It took a moment to register, but the voice wasn’t coming from the radio.

“Sammie, I bet you prefer Sam, don’t you? I wouldn’t worry about Connie, shes sleeping soundly on the couch. Sal, he’s back home too. Its just you and me.”

I guess a grave isn’t the best place to hide after all. I cant place his accent but he’s not from around the neighborhood. I bet I can make it out of here and into the woods before he’s close enough to grab or shoot me. There’s enough trees here that a shot in the night won’t gonna kill me. Really glad I put in these stones. Made for quick escape and Mr. Mystery is no where to be seen.

He couldn’t have been alone, whoever’s driving is going to make their rounds then head back, to pick this guy up. If I can cut him off by playing dead in the road, I can grab his keys and get out of dodge. Leaving the two of them to figure it out.

I only got a few feet outside the clearing before he clothes lined me. I went down hard, my head crashed on the grey stones of the path. I could feel his watch face still embedded in my throat when he stepped over me, and peered down his thin nose. He tilted his hat to get a better look at me before pulling me up by the collar. Like I was a toddler who said his first cuss word. The look in his the same as my fathers when he was heading for the belt. Whatever was about to happen, was going to hurt.

“I bet this, I mean, well, I must assume that you weren’t brought in on this deal? Am I correct in my assumption Mr. Cavarelli?”

His breath was more than just spit and sound. It came out in plumes off crimson pyroclastic fog. Charing my face with every syllable. Something told me he was tenderizing me. There was no point in answering. His eyes aren’t like mine, or my priests or Big Mikes, or anyone’s I’ve ever seen. But they tell me enough just the same. I guess eyes don’t change that way. They tell me that hole wasn’t for some guy who snitched. It didn’t even need to be that deep. I found bones just a couple feet down after all.

Someday, someone’s gonna find mine.