“I was a waitress here when we met,” Pepper said.
The thick-jawed bartender gave her the drink and she took a sip, not making eye contact with Jojo.
“We’ve got to talk,” Jojo said.
He grabbed her by the elbow, but she nudged him away.
She said, “I’ve decided that I’m going to tell your wife about us.”
“What did I say last time?”
“I’m telling her at your daughter’s wedding.”
“Are you nuts?”
He clenched his fist, ready to hit her. But hesitated when he saw Bingo looking at him. He knew how Bingo felt about guys hitting women. If Jojo smacked her up in public, the giant clown would have torn his arms off no matter his rank in the family.
“We went over this. You don’t talk to her. I’m warning you.”
“If you don’t want me to tell her, all you have to do is talk to her first. You’ve got almost a week to get it done.”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“Are you going to kill me just because I want you to be honest with your wife?”
“If I was honest with my wife I wouldn’t have gotten involved with you in the first place.”
“I don’t care. I’m sick of being the other woman.”
“Look, if I tell her now it’ll ruin my daughter’s wedding. How’s she going to feel if I break it off with her mother on what’s supposed to be the happiest day of her life?”
“I don’t care. I’m through waiting.”
“All I’m asking is you give me some more time. I’ll talk to Gianna when Taffy’s on her honeymoon.”
“It’s not good enough, Jojo. Now’s the time.”
“Are you that selfish?”
Pepper stood up and left most of her drink unfinished.
“Tell her by the wedding, or I’m doing it for you.”
Chapter 129
Jojo ran into the bathroom, gasping for air. He wound up his mechanical heart and drank water straight from the faucet.
“You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do?” Jojo’s reflection asked him.
“What choice do I have?” Jojo asked.
His reflection sighed and shook his head. “Just tell Pepper the truth. Tell her you don’t want to be with her anymore. You don’t have to kill her.”
“No, you know what she’s like. She’ll go nuts. I’d rather just have her out of the picture.”
“Why? Because it’s easier?”
“Hey, I warned her. She knows she shouldn’t go and threaten me like that.”
“Well, I guess you won’t have to worry about her feelings once you have Jimmy killed. They can die together.”
Jojo looked at his reflection. His mouth dropped open.
“Say that again?” Jojo asked.
“What?” his reflection said. “That they can die together?”
“Yeah,” Jojo said. “What if they died together?”
His reflection was thrown off. “Hey, I’m supposed to be your clown conscience over here, not the guy helping you out with your sordid plans.”
Jojo was liking the thoughts that were racing through his head. “What if I set up the hit at Pepper’s apartment? They’re friends, right? The Juggler Brothers could take them both out at the same time.”
“And you don’t think that will bring suspicion onto you?”
Jojo wasn’t listening to his reflection anymore. “It can happen during Pinky’s bachelor party. Jimmy hates half clowns, so he won’t be there. But Vinnie will. Jimmy won’t have the blue-nosed bastard to protect him.”
His reflection shook his head. “Killing your nephew at the same time as your son-in-law’s bachelor party. How low can you get?”
“It’ll be perfect,” Jojo said. Then he kissed the mirror. “You’re a genius.”
His reflection wiped the kiss away as the clown ran out of the bathroom to make the necessary preparations.
Chapter 130
It was the night of Pinky Smile’s bachelor party. Vinnie Blue Nose, Captain Spotty, Drips and Zippo Moretti, and even Hats Rizzo were among the clowns who took him out for a night on the town. Uncle Jojo told Beano Moretti to go along so that he could keep an eye on Vinnie for him. The last thing he needed was Vinnie to mess with his plan. Since Beano was the father of two friends of Pinky, and he also had a lot of making up to do for almost getting the kid whacked, the old guy was allowed to come along.
Uncle Jojo was at The Doughnut in the center of town. The Doughnut was an old tourist spot that was a doughnut-shaped mini mall that had different shops on each level, only most of the shops had long gone out of business so the place was mostly deserted. The doughnut shop on the top level was still in business, though, because it had the best view of Little Bigtop. People still liked to go there, have some doughnuts and coffee while taking in the circusy scenery. The Doughnut had a good view into Pepper’s apartment. He could see her in there, parading across the window in her underwear while playing some trashy street clown music. Jojo wondered if she had any self-respect at all.
Uncle Jojo took a few deep breaths, trying to build up all the acting skills he could muster, then called Jimmy Bozo.
“Yeah, what the fuck do you want?” Jimmy asked.
Jojo was supposed to act upset, but when he heard Jimmy’s disrespectful tone he got upset in another way. “That’s how you answer your phone?”
Jimmy didn’t respond. Based on the cries and rustling sounds on the other line, his nephew was obviously kicking somebody’s teeth in.
“Who is this?” Jimmy asked. Then kicked the poor schmuck again.
“Your uncle. Who do you think it is?”
“Uncle Jojo?” The kid sounded surprised to hear from him. It wasn’t often that he got a call from the underboss. “What’s going on?”
Then Jojo got into acting mode. “It’s Pepper. You got to go see her.”
“Huh? What’s up with Pepper?”
Jojo sighed loudly into the phone. “I broke it off with her last night. She didn’t take it too well.”
“Last night? I was with her last night. She didn’t say anything about you breaking up with her. She was celebrating because she said you were finally going to leave your wife.”
Jojo broke character again. “She what? That little…” Then he shook off the thought and got back into character. “It was really late at night. I called her and told her I changed my mind about my wife and that I couldn’t see her anymore.”
“Seriously? She’s going to be pissed. I’d get out of town if I were you.”
“That’s the thing,” Jojo said. “She’s gone nuts. I think she’s going to kill herself. She just said she was going to take a bunch of pills.”
Jimmy laughed into the phone. “She always says that. It’s not like she’d do it.”
“I think she did it this time.”
“Well, why don’t you do something about it?”
Jojo was getting frustrated with having to come up with more lies. “I can’t do that. That’s what she wants me to do. She’ll take it as a sign that I want to get back together with her. It has to be you.”
“Well, fine. I’ll give her a call and make sure she’s all right.”
Jojo raised his voice. “Don’t call, just go over there!”
“I’m busy,” Jimmy said.
“What the hell are you busy with?”
“Tony Jingles didn’t pay up, so I’m collecting what he owes from his face.” A thud and a moan echoed through the phone as Jimmy kicked the guy again. “With interest.”
“Don’t you have guys to do that for you? You’re a capo for chrissake.”
“Yeah, but I enjoy it.”
Jojo wanted to strangle him through the phone. “Are you going to check on Pepper or not? She’s probably dead by now.”
“Fine,” Jimmy said. “Just give me a few minutes. I’m almost finished.”
“Hurry it up. If she dies it’s on you.”
; “Yeah, whatever.” Then Jimmy hung up.
After that call, Jojo couldn’t wait to see his nephew whacked. The kid was a pain in the ass and deserved everything he had coming to him.
Jojo called up the number he had for the Juggler Brothers.
“Is it all set?” Jean Dupont said the second he answered.
“He’s on his way,” Jojo said. “You in position?”
“Yes, we’re ready.”
“Don’t leave any witnesses.”
Then he hung up. All Jojo had to do was sit back, eat some jelly doughnuts, and watch the show.
Chapter 131
“What the hell happened to you?” Uncle Jojo asked Jimmy as he picked him up from school.
The kid had a bloody nose and his clothes were muddy and torn. Jimmy was in the sixth grade then. He was a much different clown when he was a kid than he was as an adult. He still had the short temper and foul mood back then, but he was kind of a wimp. He didn’t have a lot of friends and got picked on a lot.
Jimmy dodged the question. “Where’s my dad?”
“He couldn’t pick you up today. He’s busy.”
Jimmy crawled into his uncle’s car. “He’s always busy…”
It was a hard time for the kid. His mother died recently. And for months after his mother’s death, his father shut himself off, burying himself in his work. Uncle Jojo had to look after the kid for his brother on far more occasions than he could count. He didn’t know much about raising kids back then. His daughter was just a baby at the time and he still had a lot to learn about being a father.
As Jojo pulled out of the school parking lot, he returned to the topic. “So what happened?”
It took Jimmy a few minutes before he could answer. “The other kids jumped me.”
Jojo yelled, “For what?”
By the tone of his uncle’s voice, Jimmy thought he was mad at him for it.
“Because I’m a clown,” Jimmy said in a soft voice.
There weren’t many clown kids back then. Jimmy was one of the first hundred clowns born in the whole country. Even in Little Bigtop, most of the kids were vanilla. Jojo’s nephew was the only clown in his class.
“And you just took it?”
“There were too many of them.”
“So? You’re a Bozo. Bozos are supposed to be tough. What would your father say?”
Jimmy shrugged.
Jojo turned the car around and went in the other direction.
“Where are we going?” Jimmy asked.
“To the park,” Jojo said. “I’m teaching you how to fight.”
Uncle Jojo took Jimmy to the park and walked him away from the playground, away from the clowns who were juggling and hula-hooping in the grass, so they could have a bit of privacy.
“I already know how to fight,” Jimmy said.
“We’ll see about that.” His uncle put him in position across from him and raised his fists. “Show me what you got.”
Jimmy was too embarrassed to do anything but stand there.
“Come on,” Jojo said. “Hit me.”
“No…,” Jimmy said.
But his uncle wouldn’t let him get out of it.
“What, are you a wimp?” Jojo asked, shoving the eleven-year-old clown. “Are you going to let people push you around your whole life?”
Jojo wouldn’t quit shoving the kid until Jimmy got flustered.
“Are you going to cry now?” Jojo asked. “Go ahead and cry, you pansy. You call yourself a Bozo?”
Then Jimmy snapped. He ran at his uncle, swinging his fists. Jojo punched him in the stomach and the kid fell to the ground.
“Come on, I barely even touched you,” Jojo told his wheezing nephew.
“You hit me!” Jimmy cried, surprised his own uncle would’ve thrown a punch at him.
“What? You expected a slap on the wrist? I’m trying to toughen you up here. This is a real fight. Now get on your feet.”
Jimmy got back on his feet and charged his uncle, throwing fists at his stomach. His uncle just blocked every punch. Then he hit him in the face and the kid was on the ground again.
“I’m only using a quarter of my strength here,” Jojo said. “Stop being such a wimp.”
Jimmy tried again with a similar result.
“You know what your problem is?” Jojo asked. “You don’t use your brain. You don’t block. You don’t duck and move. You’re all offense with no defense, and your offense is wild and sloppy.”
He helped his nephew to his feet and looked him in the eyes.
“In a fight, you use your head, not your heart. Don’t let your emotions control your movements.”
Jojo showed his nephew how to hold up his fists.
“Once you learn how to block, I’ll teach you some combo moves,” Jojo said.
He spent the next two hours training his nephew to be a brawler. Then he took him out for ice cream. As they sat at the table in the ice cream shop, Jimmy wouldn’t speak to him. He was more upset with his uncle than he was with the kids who beat him up.
“I’m sorry for being rough with you,” Jojo said. “But I did what I had to do. It’s a rough city out there and people are going to be a lot rougher with you than I just was. You’ll thank me later.”
Jimmy shoved a spoonful of pistachio ice cream between his red lips.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Jojo asked, swirling the strawberry sauce and rocky road ice cream together with his spoon.
Jimmy wouldn’t respond for a moment, but Jojo was patient.
“I want to work with my dad,” Jimmy said.
Jojo laughed. “You what? Do you even know what your dad does for a living?”
“Yeah, he’s a clownfella,” Jimmy said.
Jojo laughed even harder. “Do you even know what that means?”
“It means nobody messes with him.”
Jojo nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. Nobody messes with your old man.” He took a bite of ice cream. “But why would you want to work with your dad?”
Jimmy shrugged. He wouldn’t make eye contact with him, just staring into his ice cream.
“You can do anything with your life,” Jojo said. “You can be a football player. Wouldn’t you want to be a football player? I remember you used to always love watching football with your dad and me.”
“Clowns aren’t allowed to play football.”
“Who says?” Jojo pointed his spoon at the kid. “Just because there hasn’t been one yet doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future. You could be the first.”
Jimmy shrugged. “I don’t know…”
Jojo lifted Jimmy’s face out of his ice cream. “What don’t you know?”
Jimmy didn’t answer.
“Look, kid. You’re a Bozo and Bozos don’t make excuses. If you think being a clown holds you back, you’re wrong. Being a clown makes you strong. You do whatever you want to do with your life and don’t ever let anything hold you back.”
Then he let go of the kid’s face and let him get back to his ice cream.
“Sorry for being callous,” Jojo said. “You’re my nephew, Jimmy. I just want what’s best for you.”
Chapter 132
The doughnut shop was getting crowded by the time Jimmy Bozo showed up at Pepper’s apartment. Not all of them were tourists, either. Jojo hoped nobody recognized him. The last thing he needed was someone witnessing him so close to the scene of his nephew’s murder.
A call came in on Jojo’s phone.
Before he could say hello, Jean Dupont said, “Where is he? It’s been half an hour and there’s no sign of him. Are you messing with us?”
“He’s on his way up now, ya French moron. Get off the phone!”
Jojo realized he was speaking too loud. All the other people in the doughnut shop looked at him.
When he hung up, Jojo watched his nephew enter the building. He went to bite into a jelly doughnut and bit his own finger instead.
“Damn it,” he yelled, as blood oozed
out of the bite wound.
His phone rang again.
“Yeah, what the fuck do you want?” Jojo asked.
“That’s how you answer your phone?”
It was Don Bozo, his brother.
“Tommy?”
Jojo couldn’t believe his brother called. At that minute, no less. Now, Jojo wasn’t the kind of clown to shake in his boots, but there wasn’t a customer in that doughnut shop who couldn’t see him visibly shaking.
“What’s wrong with you?” his brother asked. “You sound like somebody’s got a piece pointed at your head.”
Jojo’s eyes focused on Jimmy down below as he listened to his brother. Something snapped inside him. He couldn’t even talk.
“No, no…,” Jojo choked out.
The guilt of hearing his brother’s voice as he sent his nephew to certain death hit him hard. He’d never felt such a thing in his life. He had to rip open his shirt and wind up his heart, right in front of everyone in that doughnut shop.
“Look, I wanted to talk to you,” Don Bozo said. “It’s about the gumball factory.”
Jojo could see Jimmy through the stairwell windows, rushing up the stairs, clearly worried about the condition of his old friend.
“Yeah?” Jojo asked.
Through Pepper’s window, he could see six armed guys break through her front door, the two Juggler Brothers riding their unicycles inside, juggling shotguns. They threw Pepper to the floor and aimed their weapons at the front door.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” Don Bozo said. “I feel bad about shutting down your operation without talking to you first. I know it’s a lot of money you’re losing out on.”
The Juggler Brothers rode circles around Pepper, waiting for the Bozo to step through the door.
“Yeah…,” Jojo said, unable to blink as his nephew arrived on Pepper’s floor. “It’s a lot of money.”
“So I’ve decided to make it your call,” Don Bozo said. “If you want to reopen the gumball factory, I’ll be okay with it. You’re the one who’d take the fall for it if Manny Malone raids the place, anyway. I want to caution you against it, but if you think it’s worth the risk who am I to stand in your way?”
ClownFellas Page 36
