Ladies of Pagodaville

by Ellen Bennett

  “Uncle Vinnie.”

  Doreen gasped, “Vinnie?”

  Milton whispered, “Oh no, Uncle Vinnie.”

  Georgie spoke quickly. “Yeah, see, Irene is the manager at the diner where Vinnie gets his breakfast. He likes to talk, Vinnie does, so he was telling her all kinds of stories about the family. Like how Gino and his boys would do business out of certain safe places, like this motel. Then he tells her about all this money that Gino hid in this cabin. I guess this was his cabin.”

  Doreen turned the chair around and sat down on it. Her mind reeled. “Go on.”

  “So he tells Irene that there is all this money buried here. That after Gino got knocked off, the family shut down the operations here and moved on to another location. And that Gino hid the money in a safe box under the fridge, in the floor.”

  Doreen ran her hand over her face and muttered, “Ah God.”

  “So, Irene got this idea and passed it on to me. We weren’t sure about it, but according to Vinnie he was pretty sure the money was still here. And … and … look, Doe! It’s here! Just like he said!” Georgie grabbed the box and brought it to Doreen.

  Doreen turned away. All she could think about was how to tell Lorna about this. She was shocked, flustered, and starting to feel anxious. She looked at the packages of sealed money.

  Anya and Milton leaned in and peered over her shoulder, whistling at the contents of the box.

  Doreen covered her eyes with her hand. She saw her present, her future, her life, flash by. It almost made her sick. She said, “Anya, Milton, I’m good in here. I need a few minutes alone with my brother. I’ll holler if I need you.”

  Anya stood up, giving Georgie and Irene the stink eye. “I don’t like these two. But I will go and wait for you.”

  Georgie shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, we’re family. It’s okay.”

  Anya said quietly, “You might be family but is not okay.”

  When Anya was out of earshot, Doreen sighed. “Georgie, sit down with me here.” She indicated another chair, and he pulled it around to face her at the little table. “Good. Now.” She looked at Irene. “Here’s what needs to happen. First of all, Irene?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do me a favor and reach into the second drawer there, the one to the right of the sink.”

  Irene furrowed her brows. “What for?”

  Doreen did not look at her but kept her eyes on her brother. “Just do it, Irene.”

  Irene looked at Georgie. Georgie nodded, “Go ahead babe.”

  Irene said, “What am I lookin’ for?”

  “Duct tape.”

  She opened the drawer, rifled around a bit, and pulled out a roll of gray tape. “Now what.”

  Doreen explained, “Go ahead and measure out about four inches and tear off that piece.”

  Irene did as she was told. “Okay, now what?”

  Doreen turned to look at her directly. “Put it over your mouth.”

  Irene cocked her head. “Are you outta your fuckin’ mind?”

  “No. Put the tape over your mouth and make some coffee. It’s going to be a long night. You’ll find everything where you think it should be. As a manager of a diner, you should know these things.”

  Irene shook her head. Georgie signaled for her to comply. She ripped off a piece of tape with a grunt, pulled it off her finger, and muttered, “This is insane. I can’t believe I’m listening to this bitch.”

  Doreen ignored her and turned her focus back on her brother. She said, “Okay, Georgie. We got a real situation here, and I’ve got a few questions you need to answer.”

  Georgie said, “I don’t owe you anything, Doe. Really, I don’t.”

  Irene slammed the cupboard doors.

  Doreen shot her a look. Irene narrowed her eyes and seemed to be breathing a bit heavy with the tape on her mouth. She gave Doreen the finger.

  “Yeah, you do owe me. See, you’re in my cabin here, a cabin I rent from the owner of this motel, and you’ve gone and dug up my floor and made a mess of things.”

  Georgie smugly responded. “I’ll pay you to get it fixed up just like it was. It’s kind of a dump anyhow. How did you end up here?”

  “Here’s the deal, Georgie. How are you going to pay for the repairs?”

  He nodded towards the metal box. “Duh.”

  Doreen clucked. “I see.”

  Irene finally found the coffee and filled the glass pot with water from the sink.

  Doreen took in a deep breath and sat back in her chair. “You’re still the same old kid, aren’t ya, bro? Twenty-seven and still a kid.”

  “I grew up while I was in the slammer, Doe. I’m not a kid any—”

  Doreen leaned forward in a flash and grabbed him by the front lapels of his black jacket. He went to sit back but did not anticipate her strength. She yanked him close to her face.

  Quietly, she said, “I have been watching you for years. You’re nothing but a two-bit punk. You’ve done nothing but disappoint the family, Georgie. I will give you that you are incredibly talented, but it stops there. You’re inconsiderate. You take what you can get and run, and you think you can come in here and take what, frankly, is not yours.”

  Georgie looked at his sister with wide eyes. Irene stopped what she was doing, but when she tried to come to Georgie, Doreen put out her hand to stop her. She retreated to the counter.

  “So, here’s what’s going to happen. When the coffee is ready …” She peered here at Irene, who quickly turned the coffeemaker on, and continued, “… we are going to discuss, like adults, what your intentions are, were, with this money. Until that time, I will give you a pen and paper, and you will write down your parole officer’s name and phone number.” She released her hold on him, and he sat back, shrugging his shoulders back into his jacket.

  “I don’t have that information on me, Doe.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Back at Irene’s place in Miami.”

  “So, technically, you’re already on the lam, right?”

  “Well, no. I can’t leave the state.”

  “You’re already on the lam. I’m sure you thought you’d get this money and get the hell out of Dodge, is that right?”

  The coffee started percolating. Irene leaned against the counter with her arms crossed tightly against the chest. She cleared her throat and pointed to the tape on her mouth.

  “What?” Doreen asked.

  Irene pointed to her groin. Doreen nodded. “Take off the tape but keep it quiet. The bathroom is around the corner there. If you try anything funny, I’ll have the cops here so fast your ass won’t have time to dry.”

  Irene nodded and yanked off the tape. She muttered, “This is just off the wall.” Then she slammed the bathroom door behind her.

  Doreen said, “Luckily the window is too small for her to get those fuckin’ boobs through. Where didja find this one, anyhow?” Georgie had a reputation for having tough, slightly skeevy, women at his side.

  “We been together about a year or so. I really love her, Doe.”

  “Yeah. So, what are your plans?”

  “We’re going to leave the country.”

  “Just like that, huh?”

  “Yep.”

  “You gotta passport?”

  “Not yet, but we gotta guy who’ll get them for us.”

  Doreen shook her head slowly. “Jesus, Georgie. Don’t you know you’re asking for trouble?”

  “How so? We leave, and no one can find us. We get new IDs, we’re golden.”

  Doreen wanted to cry. She was tired, frustrated, a little nauseated, and ready for this nightmare to be over. She stood and paced. A part of her was fine with Georgie’s plan. It was his life. She could get the kitchen repaired before Lorna’s return. It would be over, and no one would be the wiser.

  Except that Anya and Milton had witnessed the whole thing.

  And Doreen knew Anya.

  Doreen turned to face her brother. “Look. I know you and me haven’t been ver
y close over the years. You went one way with your life, and I went another. And that’s okay. But this. There is so much more here that you don’t know about.”

  Georgie nodded, “Just let us go and no one will be the wiser. Like you said, it’s my life and whatever happens, happens, right?”

  “No. Well, yes and no. There are two witnesses. And they are very close with the owner of the motel.”

  “Well, where is the owner?”

  “She’s out of town. I’m in charge when she’s out of town.”

  “So, tell your Mexican pals to keep it quiet.”

  “It doesn’t work that way.”

  Irene emerged from the bathroom. She entered the room and said, “Let’s just get the money and get the hell out of here, Georgie. Your sister can’t keep us here.”

  “Come on, Doe.”

  Doreen studied her brother. For a moment she felt her resolve dissolve. He was a stranger, yet there were so many familiarities to their lives. A part of her wanted to reach out and pull him in, rehabilitate him. Another part wanted him to act on his desire to leave the country, never to be heard from again. Her life was going along so well—the garage, her relationship, her new friends. She was putting down roots. And she didn’t want those roots jeopardized by her non-law-abiding brother.

  But then again, there was a large stash of money. Lots of it, tax free. And Anya and Milton had witnessed the whole thing. It wasn’t merely between her and her brother.

  Doreen sat down again. “We gotta figure this out. There is no way I can keep this from the owner. There is more history here than you know about, Georgie. More than you can imagine.”

  Georgie seemed to soften. “Look Doe, whatever that is, it doesn’t involve us. Maybe you could tell your Mexican friends that we split up the money, took our share, and left.”

  “Look, I need to think.”

  “So…think! We’ll help you clean up and take off! No harm, no foul.”

  Doreen looked up at him. She was amazed. “You really think it’s all right to come in here, make a fuckin’ mess, take something that might not be yours, and then leave? With me holding the bag? Is that how you think this should go down?”

  “Well.”

  Doreen stood up again, “Well, nothin’! When you decided to start your little crime spree adventures, Vinnie did everything he could to keep you out of jail. But you went along as if no one or nothing else mattered. You didn’t care who you hurt.”

  “What are you talkin’ about, Doe?”

  “Your life! Our life!”

  “Our life was doomed from the get-go. Let’s not forget that!”

  “Yeah, it was. But why couldn’t you stay out of trouble?”

  Georgie stopped and looked at his sister. “You know, maybe you had it a little easier than me. Maybe everyone liked you better because you’re smarter than me. Maybe—”

  Doreen cut him off, “Do you have any idea how talented you are?”

  “Yeah, sure! And where the fuck did that get me? Huh, Doe?”

  “You could have—”

  Georgie cut her off. “Have what? What did that get me?”

  Doreen nodded and sighed. “I know.”

  Doreen thought about all the times her father called him a sissy, a pussy. Not a real man. Just because he was good at art.

  She said, “You know, you could use the money to go back to school.”

  Irene laughed, “Oh brother. And will that do?”

  Doreen shot her a withering glare. “Shut it.”

  Georgie said, “Sure. Go back to school. For what?”

  “Learn how to do your art the right way, the honest way.”

  Georgie chuckled, “With dirty money. Yeah. That makes sense.”

  “Well it’s no different than runnin’ all over the world like a big shot. The money’s gonna run out. Then what?”

  Irene said, “We are planning on getting jobs.”

  Doreen turned to face her, “Oh, I see. That’s brilliant. Your boyfriend has a record. How the hell is he going to get out of the country? How the hell is he going to get a legal passport? And what makes you think the state of Florida isn’t going to hunt him down? He’s evading parole.”

  “There are people who can get us what we need.”

  Doreen shook her head and looked at her brother. “Don’t do this, Georgie. Don’t do this. You’ve got to stop somewhere.”

  For a moment, there wasn’t a sound in the room aside from them breathing.

  “Why, look who finally cares!” Georgie mumbled.

  Doreen leaned forward, “I do care. You’re family. Granted you’ve put some good wedges all around, but we’re family.”

  “So, let me get this right. You think you did things right, right? So, you finished high school and then when you turned eighteen you got your money and you were outta there. On your big-assed bike. Just roamin’ the countryside. Did you work? Did you get a job?”

  “I worked a little. But that’s not the point. I never did anything that got my ass thrown in prison.”

  Georgie snorted. “So what?”

  “Yeah, what makes you so high and mighty?” Irene asked. “I work hard for my money.”

  “All I’m sayin’ here, Georgie, is that maybe you have a chance here. An opportunity to make things right.”

  “Sure, right in your world, but not in mine. What am I going to learn at school, huh? I’ve already got the talent.”

  “But it’s raw talent. If you go through the right channels, you could take it to the moon!”

  “What are you talkin’ about, right channels?”

  Doreen took in a deep breath and let it out. “Look, if you go back to school, the state would be on your side. They’d see you as rehabilitated. You don’t have to keep on running, Georgie. It’s going to catch up with you and you know it. It’d be a matter of time until you get caught. Then what?”

  “And you’re such a big authority on all this? When did you ever stop runnin’?”

  The question stopped Doreen in her tracks. How was she going to explain all this to her brother? How was that going to work?

  She took a deep breath then let it out. “Look. Do whatever you want, Georgie. I can’t stop you.”

  Irene piped in. “She’s right. Let’s take the money and get back on the road. We can make Miami by mid-morning.”

  Georgie stood up, “Yep. You’re right, Reenie. Let’s get the money and go.”

  Doreen sat still. She had no fight left in her.

  She watched as Georgie tried, but failed, to shove the dirt and wood into some sort of organized pile with his foot.

  Irene picked up the metal box containing the money and said, “Let’s get a move on it, Georgie. C’mon.”

  Georgie looked at his sister, a flicker of something in his eyes.

  Doreen asked, “What?”

  He sighed, shook his head then said, “Nothin’.”

  Doreen wasn’t sure if it was the glory of her surrender or something deeper and less accessible.

  She watched them leave the cabin without another word.

  The refrigerator clicked on. Doreen snorted. “At least they had the brains to keep it plugged in.”

  She sighed deeply and assessed the mess in her kitchen.

  Her throat was thick, her heart heavy.

  She walked to the wall phone, picked up the receiver, punched in 9-1, and stopped, returning the receiver to its cradle, thereby ending the attempted call.

  “Ah God.” Sobs wracked her chest. Tears ran freely. She grabbed a kitchen towel and howled into it.

  As Doreen buried her face in the towel Anya entered the cabin and went directly to her. “Oh, mi dios! Miss Doreen, come!” She held her arms open. Doreen fell into them.

  Anya cooed. “Now, now. That’s right. Let it all out now. That’s right.”

  Doreen sobbed until she had nothing else to give. She backed up, blew her nose into the dish towel, and sat down heavily in a chair.

  Anya took the dish towel a
nd tossed it into the sink. She grabbed a mug, poured coffee into it, and pulled another chair around to face Doreen. “Let’s talk about this, no?”

  Doreen nodded and whispered, “Yeah. You know, it wasn’t enough that my grandfather, mister big Mafia kingpin, killed those men,” she scowled, “and buried the bodies on the property. But now this?”

  Anya cooed, “I know I know. But this is all in the past, and thankfully, Miss Lorna. Let us explain how we all knew about it and wanted to get it out in the open, once and for all.”

  Doreen hung her head. “I’m just …”

  Anya changed the subject. “I saw your brother and his lady friend leave. Did they take the money?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you call the policia?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t you think you should?”

  Doreen cleared her throat. “No. It’s his life. It’s not like he robbed a bank. If the officials want him bad enough, they’ll find him.” She added with a sigh. “I don’t want anything to with it, or him.”

  Anya nodded. “You want some coffee?”

  “Something stronger.”

  She stood, walked into her little living room and opened a small cabinet.

  “I need this right now.” Doreen unscrewed the cap on the bourbon bottle and took a swig.

  Anya whistled, “Ah, good. Take another sip now.”

  Doreen sat down heavily. “I can’t believe this.” She took another pull. “I mean, my fuckin’ family just keeps oozing up outta the woodwork.”

  Anya nodded, “Yes, miss. Again a few feet in the dirt.”

  Doreen chuckled. “Yeah, we like to bury things.”

  “This is true,” Anya agreed.

  “What the hell. I mean, look at this mess!”

  Anya said, “We can fix like new, if not better.”

  “Lorna comes back in two days. What the hell am I going to tell her?” Doreen looked at Anya. “She’s going to tell me to pack my bags.”

  “You think?”

  “Why wouldn’t she? Huh? She’s already dealt with crime on her property because of my screwed-up family and now …”

  Anya cocked her head, sipped her coffee. “Well, not really a crime. No one has been killed. Just a box of money.”