by Noel Beddoe
‘Sure. That’s the sort of person he is; watches a bad thing get done just for the buzz of it.’
‘Abdul takes the fall, keeps his mouth shut about who the ones with him was, an’ one of them was the kid with a big mouth, connected to this very heavy family.’
‘You got it. Then the family arranges a really bad thing happen to Abdul, there in jail, which is their way of saying to him, “Don’t tell. Don’t you tell who was with you.”’
‘Then Abdul gets out, mistrial, gets bail.’
‘Sure, and see, now the thing done to Abdul has turned out against the family, because now they think Abdul will do anything not to go back in. And this is my part, not anything this kid has said – if Abdul gives up names to cut a deal, the kids he talks about know an awful lot about what the family has done, and this kid, the nephew doing the talking, he clearly ain’t no hero. Maybe he’s gonna give up some of the treasured secrets, to get a deal from the coppers.’
‘Seems a reason to kill the nephew.’
‘Ah, come on, Feizel, do the thinking. The sister’s boy! Think. He gets whacked, what do the heavy boys hear from the kid’s grandmother? What does the kid’s mother do? Something like that, you can let out this whole force no one’s going to control. Better to bring out someone from the home country, arrange it so they don’t know his name, know nothing about him, he knows nothing about them. Abdul gets whacked, the shooter’s gone, no one can make a connection with anyone. All over. Perfect crime. They don’t got to worry about the Abdul thing no more.’
‘But now this kid gets drunk …’
‘Drunk on American whisky, which he don’t hold too well.’
‘… an’ tells people in a nightclub what his uncles have done for him.’
‘Sure. Not once. Three, four times he does this talking and there’s people can’t believe their ears. Thinks he can trust them, though I’m sure he wakes up next morning and wonders, “What the fuck have I done?” Big-man-drunk, see. That’s part of it.’
‘An’ you say this is cos he’s weak?’
‘My read. He wants people to think he’s this hard man, dangerous hard-ass. Which, in fact, he’s not. So he boasts to people, about this thing’s been done: this is the stuff he knows about; these are the circles he moves in. There’s stuff happens in his life other people couldn’t know a thing about, he’s so dangerous.’
‘But you won’t name him.’
‘Not my place,’ Vincenzo says primly, and looks across at the young woman who’s made the purchase, which she holds aloft. Vincenzo nods, to show he’s pleased. ‘So, the perfect crime now is not so perfect. See, someone always knows something. I was thinking this just the other morning. I got a call and had to go somewhere. This is two a.m. Not too much petrol in the tank so I dropped into the all-nighter at the bottom of the hill to fill up. As I drive away, I’m thinking, “That kid who served me, now he knows that sometimes I have to go out in the middle of the night. He knows it’s unexpected because I didn’t fill the tank the day before.” Someone always knows something, no matter how perfect your preparation is.’
There’s a disturbance. An Asian lady walking the thoroughfare between the retail fish-selling bays has had a plastic bag burst. Fruit and vegetables roll along the cement. At once Vincenzo is up, he’s reassuring her smilingly, retrieving the rolled-away merchandise, he’s at the counter of a fish seller, pointing, discussing, getting fresh plastic carriers. And, watching, this is what Feizel notices – at no stage does the woollen sweater around Vincenzo’s shoulders shift a centimetre from its perfect placement.
When the older man returns, Feizel says, ‘Yeah, that was pretty nice.’
The young lady, Vincenzo’s companion, is sitting with her shopping some distance away, well out of earshot.
‘Ah,’ Vincenzo says, and gives a smile. ‘Poor lady, all upset. What you gonna do? Now. You up for this shipment, these pills? More money. Lots more money. See, we make this stuff ourselves. Don’t have to grow it, don’t have to ship it, not so many mouths along a chain got to be fed.’
‘And these get used by kids, young kids?’
‘Sure. It’s not like the weed, the guy home from work, the joint outside on the verandah, calm himself down, feel relaxed for his evening. This is for kids want to feel excited, dance all night, talk to their friends about what outlaws they are.’
‘Sure.’
‘You got the people to handle it? I hear you had some problems.’
‘Well, we did. I lost someone, actually, kid worked over in Berkeley. He got knocked around and dropped out of the scene.’
‘Yeah, I heard about that too. You’ve handled that problem okay so far.’
Feizel hears the ‘so far’ and at once the conversation is changed for him. He turns towards a fish-selling bay so that Vincenzo will not be able to see his eyes. He sits still, thinking for a while. Still looking away, he says, ‘This kid, this big-mouth kid drinks the whisky, talks about things when he should keep his mouth shut. You’re going to tell me somethin’ else about him? You’re going to tell me somethin’, ain’t ya, give me a way to know more about this kid who’s got the whisky and talkin’ too much?’
‘Oh, well, sure, if you want that, what harm? He lives in Telopea. Drives a big yellow Ford.’
‘Yeah. Geez. An’ don’ I know a lot now. An’ this heavy family done this thing, they doin’ real good, ain’t they, usin’ up lots of space.’ He turns to see Vincenzo watching him closely. ‘An’, what, they got big houses, out there above the harbour? They got houses but you got a unit?’
‘No.’ Vincenzo looks displeased. ‘They live out in the south-west, where their families are. I don’t know what they do with their money. Maybe send it home, to the old country. Maybe they’re going to go back there some day, go back in style.’
‘An’ their old country – it’s not Italy, is it?’
‘No. Oh, they’re not Italian.’
‘Figured that. An’ if I let this slip, this thing I learned from you today, that’d be down on the south coast, eh, long way from you, nothin’ to do wit’ you. An’ would give ’em big grief, that family, maybe break up their whole operation. An’ they’d never have no way to bring it back to you, would they?’
He sees Vincenzo’s charming, confident smile.
‘But, Feizel,’ Vincenzo says, ‘you won’t let anything slip. I know you. I trust you. That’s why I can tell you these things.’
Feizel can’t shift his eyes from the man across from him. The tan, the teeth, the gold, the smile. ‘Sure,’ he says.
‘And now I must go. You’ll collect at the normal place. More money now, your operation’s worth, with this new product. I myself must not keep the lady waiting because she’ll be wanting her lunch.’
He reaches a hand across the table, which Feizel accepts. There’s a warm, trusting handshake. Feizel watches Vincenzo and the glamorous young lady leave the vast hall. He can’t resist watching the sway of the young lady’s buttocks in her tight jeans as she strides confidently on her very high heels out into the carpark. And, for reasons which he can’t begin to understand, he takes great pleasure in the fact that the lovely young lady is a great deal taller than her boyfriend.
Chapter Twenty-three
Jimmy rides up to the surf club carpark, dismounts his pushbike, leans it against some chain fencing. Feizel is inside his old Volvo, looking down at the rolling surface of the sea. Jimmy opens a car door and slides inside. After a while, Feizel says, ‘When you gonna learn to drive? Bit embarrassing, you know. I come to this meeting with my key man, he turns up on a pushbike.’
‘I like it, on the bike. Feel the fresh air, you know, feel the hills beneath ya, where they’re steep, all that shit. Pass someone you know, got time to say hello properly.’
Through the windscreen they watch the weather. There’s low, dark cloud rushing above on a south-e
ast wind. The sea is boiling up, under the wind. Thick, pale green waves roll up with lines of spray across their upper edges, tumble over themselves, burst into foam that runs up onto the beach.
Quietly, Jimmy says, ‘I used to come down here when I was little, come down with my grandfather. He used to walk me down.’ He frowns through the windscreen. ‘When we got down from over the hill we’d get the salt-smell of the air. Used to get the heat-prickle of how the air felt over ya, with the salt in the air, and the humidity in summer. Sort of excitin’, the way it smelled and felt, down on the beach, how the sea sounded, beatin’ in. I’d look at the sea, you know, what it was doin’. We used to search up to see what was up in the little water pools up in the rocks, little fish, crabs, little finch birds in the bushes near where the beach started. Yeah. Was magic to me.’
‘That right? How’s it look to ya now?’
Jimmy sniffs. ‘Now? Looks like skinny line of sand wit’ water on one side, some trees on the other.’
‘There ya go. Somethin’ ya wanted to talk about?’
‘Sure.’
‘Okay. But before we start, what the fuck happen’ to you? God you look terrible. Like you’re dead but no one told ya.’
‘Not sleepin’ too well. Not sleepin’ at all. Somethin’ happen’. Got it on my mind in a big way.’
‘Anythin’ ya wanna talk about?’
‘Nah. My thing. Live it through.’
‘So …’
‘That stuff we talked about in Queensland, that cousin you got up there … that still goin’?’
Feizel turns to watch his friend. ‘Sure. Last I heard. I can check but I think so, yeah. What, I take it you could be interested now?’
‘Jus’ run me through it again, the way things would be.’
‘He needs a new face can mix in with kids up there. He needs someone the police never seen before. An’ maybe not jus’ the police. So you go in while things is quieter, learn the place, find you way. Then we get to late spring, the place goes mad with school kids turnin’ up, want the gear. This new person knows his way aroun’ by then, got the connections, make lots and lots of money real quick.’
‘An’ if I go, my end?’
‘Bus ticket get ya up there. Get your own flat, back a bit from the highway. Put food in the flat, get ya started. Thousand a week. Then there’s this, which is sort of the point to it all. My cousin sees a chance move up into the plannin’ an’ the gettin’ stuff manufactured, get out of the level he’s at now. Gets the right person, he moves, you do what he’s doin’ now, you’d be off the street. Jim, this is a real big chance to get into a good spot. It’s all about gettin’ someone with brains, someone won’t fold up under a bit of pressure. This is stuff he don’t think he’s got available to him up there just now. He wanted me to go but I carn.’
‘An’ if it don’ work out so well. What then? S’pose them coppers ain’t so stupid like we think, get onta me sellin’ the stuff your cousin’s got. Where I’m at then?’
‘Depends on how much ya got on ya. If is late, ya not got too much, maybe they jus’ gonna get a take on who ya are, say don’t be so naughty. Get ya early, you loaded up … well, maybe could be not so good. Ain’t lyin’ to ya. Chance ya take. Chance we take, down here. Always a chance things can go wrong.’
‘So, what then? Gonna do time in jail?’
‘On the cards with us, way we live, what we do.’
‘What then?’
‘Cousin’s gonna get ya good lawyer.’
‘That help?’
‘Aw, shit. It help alright. Big difference. Not sayin’ he got someone can get you off every time, but good lawyer’s gonna be a help. Then, in your case, you gonna be so sorry what you done, so ’shame’. Carn believe the pain you caused your old mama. Tha’s called expressin’ remorse. Judge gonna write that down, ya expressed remorse, someone gonna look at that when they thinkin’ should they parole ya.’
‘Yeah. Expressin’ remorse.’
‘Then, when ya in, every course there is you gonna sign on for.’
‘Courses?’
‘Yeah. “Pointlessness of crime”, all that sorta shit.’
‘What, ya mean like school?’
‘Well, sorta, but they gonna take it for granted, ya can read or write so they jus’ gonna talk things over with ya. You sit there, look sincere, look like you takin’ it all in. Shit, ya’d be a genius at it.’
‘It come down ta this, what’s the time gonna be like?’
‘Get ta this my cousin’s gonna ask his fren’s, tie ya up with some people inside. Ya Macedonian, so that’s good. No one got nothin’ against the Macedonians. Well, maybe the Greeks do but I dunno there’s too many Greeks in jail. You gonna have you people, maybe play some cards, play some softball, build you body up a little bit. Then, ya get out, all ya had comin’ all that time gonna be waitin’ for ya.’
‘Yeah? How I can be sure ’bout that?’
‘I tol’ him who you are. You come out, he been shittin’ ya, you gonna get angry, go lookin’ for him. He don’ want that. He don’ want that in a really big way.’
‘Okay.’
Jimmy thinks for a while. ‘S’pose I got a girlfriend. What about her?’
‘Jim, you know how we are with women. Any woman of yours, you run inta trouble, care gonna be taken for her, she gonna be treated with respeck, all her needs gonna be met, food for her, bitta money, nice lady comes talks to her. Needs help get back to her own people for a while, tha’s gonna be there.’
Jimmy watches the sea. He says, ‘Sound’s like a plan been thought out.’
‘Way is gotta be. We gonna hit, some of us, time to time. Gotta hold together, get through these times. Though, let me tell ya, way things are right now, I’d really miss ya if ya went. Not tryin’ to talk ya inta nothin’. Just telling ya the way things would be, if ya hit a problem.’
‘If your cousin hits trouble, you gonna be a part of doin’ this sorta stuff for him?’
‘Yeah, I am. Still, like I say, I’d miss ya. Things tight for me right now.’
‘I’m goin’ anyway, Feizel. Carn stay roun’ here. Too heavy for me.’
‘Yeah? Well, then, this the next best thing for me, have you with family.’
‘An’ if still it’s there an’ I take it, I can be sure is gonna be what you said?’
‘Jim, this my cousin. Been with each other since babies. He tell me this is it, is the way is gonna be.’
‘Make your call. Still there, have him send down a ticket. Give me a coupla days. I’ll go.’
‘Yeah? Big move.’
‘What the fuck. Don’ work out I can always come back.’
When Jimmy gets back home, Piggy is waiting for him on the porch. Jimmy stores the bike, strides up the stairs. The boys sit on the verandah floor, backs against the front wall.
Piggy says, ‘I hear you’re goin’ to Queensland.’
Jimmy stares at Piggy for a long time. Eventually he says, ‘Oh, fuck me.’ He waves a finger in the direction of Warrawong. ‘I’ve just now left talkin’ to Feizel. Even here, even on Cringila Hill, news carn travel that fast.’
‘Yeah, well, maybe I put two an’ two, and now I see I was right. Someone said somethin’ bad happen between you an Lupce out on the harbour, an’ you look terrible.’
‘Thanks a million.’
‘Well, I guess he thought he was talkin’ to people he could trust, but then, you know how people are.’
‘I do.’
‘An’ I knew what Feizel said to ya ’bout Queensland, so I thought, well, maybe this is it, maybe Jimmy’s gonna go back, talk to him.’
‘Yeah?’
‘So. If you go to Queensland, Jim. Can I come?’
Jimmy looks over the Hill, down into the works. He can see people moving, seeming slow. He wonders how often he’ll see this
scene in the future. It comes to him that he knows this world very well, and he feels at once sad, and a little frightened. He says, ‘Pig, true, I don’ see how I can make that work. I gotta find my own way, carn be worryin’ ’bout you. An’ Pig, no disrespeck, certain ways, you stand out, which might not be too good a deal, this new scene I’m goin’ inta. Can get away wit’ that down here where we know the scene. Maybe a bit hard to handle up there in a new place.’
They sit together, looking at different things. After a while, Piggy says, ‘Well, then, somethin’s different. Feizel’s gonna need someone at your level. Put inna word? Put inna word for me?’
‘Sorta the same deal. One thing you hidin’ in a dog kennel, pass out little bags of weed. ’Nother thing you out on the street sellin’. I’m not sayin’ there’s nothin’ fancy ’bout us, Feizel an’ me, cos there ain’t. But there’s gotta be some basic standard.’
Piggy doesn’t meet Jimmy’s gaze.
Jimmy says, ‘Tell ya what. We’re gonna go down, join you up a member at the yacht club.’
‘The yacht club!’
‘Yeah, the junior one, the one for kids wanna learn ta sail. I tell ya what they got in there – they got showers in there. An’ I can imagine, your place, the bathroom, the shape it’s in ain’t too flash.’
‘You got that right.’
‘An’ we gonna go buy you soap an’ hair shampoo. An’ some new shirts an’ jeans. Then you gonna go have showers at the yacht club, wash your hair, put on your new clothes, go in Wollongong, go to an Italian barber in there, opposite Liquorland, got a barber pole an’ everythin’ outside his shop, an’ he gonna give ya an Italian haircut. Things go the way I think, I’m gonna be gone in a coupla days, so we need to move. Then we’ll go talk to Feizel. An’ I’ll stan’ up for ya. See what happens. But, Pig, ya gotta think about this – things can get rough out there. You seen that. You gotta wonder are ya maybe cut out for that stuff.’
‘Thought about that. Maybe there’s a thing I can do about that. Maybe I can help Feizel that way too.’
Jimmy looks at Piggy doubtfully. ‘Oh, well,’ he says. ‘We’ll see.’
