Golden Throat

by James P. Alsphert

  He pulled his gun. “Hand over the capsule or I’ll just do it the crude, violent old-fashioned way ordinary gangsters employ to achieve their goals.”

  There was no longer a reason to withhold the capsule, since by some magic it had been placed in my coat pocket in the nick of time. “Yeah…sure…okay, Ravna. You win. And you also promised me some dough. Here’s your precious golden thing—” I showed him the phony capsule.

  “—of course.” He reached into the breast pocket of his coat and took out an envelope. “Ten thousand for the finder’s fee, but you may not live to spend it, Denning. I hate to be messy and leave tell-tale signs behind me.” He reluctantly handed me the envelope. I took it.

  “Just don’t call me, okay—I really don’t wanna hear from you for a couple of lifetimes at least, you weird fucking alien.”

  I handed him the capsule. He examined it. A knowing smirk went over his face. “Ah….thank you, Denning. You have delivered, at last. Why did your little Chinese virgin give it up so easily? It makes one wonder, doesn’t it?”

  “I think she likes me. Do aliens care whether or not they’re liked?”

  “Perhaps some but not all, just as some of us are aliens, but not what you think or how you perceive us. We look just like you.” He approached me, his face growing taut. “And something I’ve always wanted to do to wipe off your snide, casual attitude, now that we’re even.” He slugged me hard and I hit the floor, stunned. But just then something pushed Ravna from the top of the stairs and he went tumbling down to the bottom where his two goons lay still out cold. I picked myself up and leaned on the railing, looking down at Ravna and his henchmen. He got up and stood swaying at the bottom of the stairwell, looking up at me. “You’re dead, Denning…” he hissed.

  “Aren’t we all…?” I turned and went inside, nursing my chin.

  “You need to select your friends more carefully,” a voice said to me from the back of the room.

  I turned to see the smiling little creature I had come to like. “Toggth! You old disappearing-act son of a gun! Thanks for saving my butt out there….yet again. Obviously you stuck the phony capsule in my pocket at exactly the right moment—just prior to my assured demise.”

  “It was close. Our sacred Lei-tao had barely given the precious to me. But I had been doing some advanced preparations and that’s why I did not greet you earlier. Now all that remains is for the Tone of Creation to be inserted at the right co-ordinances and planetary alignments. Then all shall be restored.”

  “And on that day, Ravna and his weird Order of aliens will wake up to find that the duplicate has disappeared.”

  “Yes, that is the down side. Cable, there are many dangers yet for you to face. Not just Ravna. I sense others seek revenge upon you. Keep an eye on Jack Dragna and his clan. Somehow you threaten him.”

  “Maybe he’s just sore because I got rid of a couple of his henchmen free of charge by throwing them off a fast-moving train.”

  “I will keep watch when I am able. But I also have much to do. So until we meet again, Cable Denning—a most exceptional human being.”

  “Thanks again, Toggth. And say hello to the beautiful and ever-gracious Red Dragon Lady.”

  “She is very strange around you, have you noticed? I have this feeling she is trying to find a way to be human woman enough to mate with you—or as you might say, be sexually intimate with you.”

  “Oh. Yeah, that…well, it’s kind of my fault, Toggth. I talked her into a small human kiss one day. She seemed to like it, so each time we get together the kisses seem to be getting deeper and longer.”

  “That’s precisely what worries me, Cable. She’s not your kind. She’ll throw herself out of cosmic balance if she pursues this playful desire of hers. And it’s simply not the proper station for the honorable Red Dragon Lady, who, once turned angry, can evoke the likes of a demon.”

  “I’ll do my share to prevent that. I’ll try to watch my boundaries better, okay? Human males are like roosters, they wanna mate with every hen in the damn barnyard.” I looked around. I realized I was alone and talking to myself. Toggth was gone.

  Maybe I’d never know the truth about the in-famous Fen de Fuqin, the God of Our Fathers. It goes to show, no one really knows how old something like that was, or where the truth of it actually started to grow into legend. Surely, what I was dealing with had to be pre-Judeo-Christian, and therefore the Bible of the western world was but one stop-off of many, where the original essence got diluted to satisfy a group of men bent on ruling over another group of men.

  And something as beautiful and simple as the wisdoms from the Cave of the Seven Truths? Where could that have possibly come from? To give dignity to the individual as well as the whole of creation, and that we chose to come here from other planets, solar systems or dimensions—and that this was the dream, and one day we will return because we’re not native here. When you really stopped to think about those revelations that Lei-tao allowed me to witness on that day in the ‘Cave’, it was pretty astounding. That fortunate day not so very long ago.

  Cops Come on Sale Saturday Nights

  As Mario and I finished up duty the next evening, we were greeted by a couple of plainclothesmen in our locker room that I’d never seen before. One of them said, “Mr. Angelo? As soon as you’ve changed, will you report to Captain O’Malley upstairs?”

  Mario and I looked at each other. “What for?” Mario mumbled, taking his uniform off. “I ain’t got nothin’ to do with you guys upstairs. In fact, you guys don’t even know what us downstairs guys do.”

  “As soon as you’ve changed, Officer Angelo.”

  “Tomorrow, guys. I’m beat and I gotta go home to my son’s birthday party.”

  Then one of the officers took out a pair of handcuffs. “I’m afraid this can’t wait, Mr. Angelo.” I wanted to interfere but the other guy took out a gun and held it on me. “Now, if you’ll pardon us.”

  They took Mario, mandating me not to follow. I showered, got dressed and went flying up to the second floor and stormed O’Malley’s office. He wasn’t in, but his assistant said to check down the hall at Room #218. There was no lettering on the door, just the number, so I opened it. There sat O’Malley with Joe Lorena! “Sorry to bust in on you like this, guys. I’m looking for Mario Angelo. Some plain clothes goons brought him up about twenty minutes ago.”

  “Mr. Denning,” Joe Lorena said. “I’m glad you’re here actually. Please come and sit with us.” O’Malley, who was a fat, dark-haired Irishman with squinty blue eyes didn’t say anything. “This is a matter that does not concern you, but rather your fellow officer, Mr. Angelo.”

  “Yeah, I gathered that. Matter…what matter? What kind of a ‘police matter’ could a hard-working, family-loving guy like Mario possibly have? And yeah, I think it does concern me. I’m his best friend.”

  “He’s been steppin’ outta line,” O’Malley answered, looking like he’d rather be at the fights than sitting in that chair.

  “To put it bluntly, Officer Denning,” Joe said, carefully measuring his words and keeping as formal as he possibly could, “your compatriot increasingly defies local police protocol in regard to certain establishments here in the city—namely, the well-established institutions of horse racing, gambling ships and the speak easy trade.”

  “Not to mention the crooks you have downtown. I speak up against law enforcement policy all the time—so what? I don’t get it. If anything, I’m meaner than Mario when it comes to that. I hate the double-standard crap that goes on under the table. It’s just as corrupt on this side of the table as it is on yours, Lorena.” I looked at both of the men. “You know it, I know it—and so does Mario.”

  “But you haven’t contacted the State District Attorney’s office and bandied around some names and incriminatin’ evidence,” O’Malley said.

  “Son-of-a-bitch, Mario’s done that? Why hasn’t he told me?”

  “Well, perhaps you’ve been elsewhe
re of late, Mr. Denning. You know, special leaves of absence and assignments for the department?” Joe Lorena winked at me. He knew…

  “Yeah, I guess. But that still doesn’t explain—”

  “—I wouldn’t go no further, lad, if I were you,” O’Malley spoke up. “Just leave it alone. Get outta here before I find a reason to put you in the clink!”

  I looked at Joe. He nodded at me, urging me to agree with O’Malley and leave. “So where’s Mario now?”

  “He’s being held…pending collection of more evidence,” Joe said. Yeah, and I knew the kind of evidence these guys would come up with. Once they decided that someone was going over for nosin’ around too much, they’d trump up the charges to make it look like treason and espionage all wrapped up in one.

  Saying no more, I left and went down to the basement where the holding cells were…like cold, depressing, dimly lit walkways. I knew the cop at the desk and told him to direct me to Mario. I found him sitting in an isolated cell, his head buried in his hands. “Hey, pal.” He looked up. “You okay? Those bastards didn’t work you over or anything, did they?”

  Mario got up and came over to the bars. “No, Cable, but I’m not okay. Thanks for coming. I couldn’t take it anymore. Right here, within the force. It’s like a disease.”

  “Well, it is a disease, old friend. Power, money and sex kinda make the world go around.”

  “Someone has to stand up, Cable. By the time Prohibition ends, we won’t know the difference between the crooks and the legislature.”

  “It’s already that way, Mario. Gangsters even wear uniforms…haven’t you noticed? They don’t want Prohibition to end—just yet, as I see it. Too much profit being made by too many. And when they legalize booze, keep your eye on the bouncing ball—just who owns it and who gets left out?”

  “It’s too late for me, Cable. I know you don’t believe in heroes the way I do, pal. But you gotta be who you gotta be. Just like that day when you licked me in the junkyard. You coulda punched me to death, like they were yelling for you to do. But you didn’t. Because you were being the decent guy you really are.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe my knuckles were just sore. Here I thought I was the one with all the guts, spilling ‘em all over downtown, making a fuss to help untangle the corruption. But you, Mario, goin’ way up over their heads—did you do it?—I mean, contact the State District Attorney?”

  “Yep. I thought if I went higher up, the locals couldn’t get at me so easy. I’m hoping a letter I sent two days ago with a whole new batch of connections, including O’Malley’s bein’ on the take in at least six bordellos and four speak easy clubs.”

  “Mistake, Mario. You can’t go head-to-head with these guys. They’re smart. They got big brains like Joe Lorena dictating policy from the top of the deck to the goons like Dragna and O’Malley. And so on down the ladder. It’s gotta be more subtle. Why in the hell didn’t you talk to me first, pal? For God’s sake, we grew up together—you know you can trust me to go with you to the end of the line, you stupid cop chump.”

  “You weren’t around, Cable. You’ve been gone more than you’ve been on the force lately, remember? And I needed to get the ball rolling. If we don’t begin stopping this shit now, my kids’ll grow up in a fuckin’ sewer of goons on both sides of the law.”

  “As I said, it’s already that way, Mario—what’s gonna change it? You and me can bitch and stomp our feet up and down all we want, we can assassinate them accidently on purpose in the streets, send letters of evidence to the State District Attorney until the sky falls down—what’s gonna change, huh? I ask you that. We’ve been out there in the trenches long enough, Mario—it’s gotta come from the people, grassroots—then maybe the Feds will step in and clean up the whole mess. But it’s the same in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Frisco—money’s the name of the game, buddy—not law and order. And you can kiss the justice system good-bye in the same breath. Judges are paid off just like seals in a circus—throw ‘em enough fresh fish and they’ll clap their hands right there in front of you, barking a happy sound and twisting the words from a law book no layman can read.”

  “I don’t know, Cable. You know me. I’m stubborn. There have got to be other cops who feel like I do. Why don’t they step forward?”

  “Maybe they will. In the meantime, they’ve got you as their poster boy of the month. Do you want me to call and tell Elena and the folks?”

  “Yeah, that’d be great, Cable, thanks. And shit, I’m missing Danny’s second birthday party tonight.”

  I left with a bitter taste in my mouth. When I got home I called Mario’s wife Rosalie Elena and told her. She was distressed but said she wasn’t that surprised because lately Mario had been obsessed with bringing down the Los Angeles Police Department like Tom Mix standing high on Tony’s saddle, firing both six-guns at the bad guys.

  Then I called Honey and told her I’d come see her tonight. She was delighted. I didn’t mention anything about Mario but told her I’d see her later tonight and we could go home together. Then I cranked the phone on the wall to ask for Adora’s number. I knew this would be one of the hardest tasks ever put to me. How do you tell a dame you’re still nuts about that you can’t see her anymore—or worse, someone who loves you so completely you almost stop breathing thinking about it? Elisa answered and summoned her daughter to the phone.

  “I cannot believe. Is this el chico qué me gusta mucho?”

  “Sure is, beautiful. Can you see me tonight? I’d love to take you for a drink or something.”

  “I like the ‘something’ I think better than just a drink, eh?” she laughed in her sexy little way.

  “Well, I can’t stay. I promised I’d ride Honey home tonight after she sings. My partner Mario’s in jail for being an honest cop. That’s also something I’ve got to deal with.”

  “Oh, lo siento, querido. When can you come?”

  “How about now?”

  “I get ready, mi amor. Pronto!”

  She hung up and I felt like a heel. Not one stitch of this thing did I have my heart into. Yet I knew the only way Honey and I would have a decent chance, was for me to toe the line. If Adora had come just a few months earlier in my life, maybe before I met Honey, I think I would’ve spent my life with her. I don’t know, just a feeling. Guys get feelings, then push them under the rug so the rest of the world doesn’t get to see. Then if someone does, they deny it.

  She was waiting for me at the front door to Todo el Mundo. She looked stunning, one of those naturally beautiful women you can’t stop looking at because the beauty changes every minute, yet somehow stays the same. She was wearing a lovely tan, wide-pleated skirt with a light-yellow blouse decorated with sand-dollar shells. She wore an amber necklace and white low-heels with an off-white scarf over her shoulders. “God, but you’re beautiful, Adora. Don’t ever let me stop looking at you, kid,” I said as I embraced her.

  “Where we walk esta noche? Tengo hambre…can we get a ‘snack’, as you say—maybe at El Tenemos?

  We walked four blocks to a cafeteria, the kind that bustled all the time with people and noise. But the food was good. We found a place by a stuffed peacock, which stood on the separator between two booths. We talked, laughed, ate and afterward I lit up a Lucky Strike and looked at the young woman I was about to ask to leave my life. But for once Cable Denning’s words had no starting place, no way to get from point A to point B and still be honest with himself. So I started with the truth. Adora was quietly finishing her red gelatin desert. “Happy now?” I asked, searching out her eyes.

  “Muy, Querido.” Then she finished, wiped her mouth with her napkin and took a deep breath. “I come to la vida, I greet my life, when I am with you, mi amor. I miss you so. You have many stories to tell—but only tell me what you wish. The rest is no importante, eh?”

  I steeled myself. “Well, Adora. What I really came for tonight was to tell you I can’t see you anymore.” Her eyes froze onto mine. “Whi
le we were at the Hearst Castle, Honey and I decided—well, decided to tie the knot—you know, get married next December.”

  Her eyes misted but she remained erect, proud, sitting upright in her seat. “Sí, mi amor, I am listening…”

  “I don’t even know how to say this, Adora. I mean, I care about Honey a hell of a lot—but I don’t love you any less—maybe even more sometimes. Yet I can’t have two women floating around in my life, one a wife, one a mistress—”

  “—por qué no, señor? Like I tell your Mamma, ‘for always and always I love him… I will be your esposa segunda, secreta, huh?”

  I was touched so much that I bit my lip to keep the tears away. “I couldn’t live like that, Adora…bouncing back and forth—”

  “—you do now,” she answered me, putting a lie to any of my pretenses.

  I ground out my cigarette in the ashtray. “Yeah, maybe I do at that. But Honey wants kids, you know, a nice house somewhere, the times are booming and all—I don’t have to tell you what it costs—and me, with a cop’s wages. I’m even thinking of quitting the force to become a private dick.”

  “A private what?”

  “A private dick—remember? a licensed detective who works for himself.”

  She laughed. “Sí…I remember okay, but it does not mean what you say—it is what you give me cuando estoy caliente—when I am on fire for you.”

  I snickered. “Yes, that, too, Adora."

  “Sí. So, ahora, you are going to leave me?” She asked in that straight matter-of-fact voice which essentially always crippled me. “And is this to be…por siempre—forever? And never again I shall look upon your beautiful, handsome face, querido? If this is true, mi amor, how come I do not see it in your eyes?”

  Now she was making my eyes mist. “Because it isn’t there, Adora. It’s so damn hard. I just can’t do it.” I looked down at the table. “I just plain ol’ can’t do it! But on the other hand, if I don’t I’ll spend my life being banged from pillar to post—could you live like that?”