Soul Hostage

by Jeffrey Littorno

  “Fishes and loaves?” Joey’s voice pulled me back to Smart-Price. “Well, Lou, I don’t know nothin’ about any o’ that. I just know this grub’s gonna be good. Are you gonna pay up, Thomas?”

  My mind was still a little foggy with thoughts of Sunday school and the shock of finding the money in my wallet so it took me a few seconds to react to Joey’s question. “Uh, yeah… I will.” I handed the entire contents of the wallet to the dark-haired young woman.

  She smiled at me as if I was a small child and said, “Okay, we might have some extra here.” She shuffled slowly through the bills and smiled at me before she lowered her head and began slowly counting out loud, “One, two, three, four, five twenty dollar bills. That makes one hundred dollars. One, two, three, four, five twenty dollar bills. Two hundred dollars. One, two, three, four, five twenty dollar bills. Three hundred dollars. Here’s another twenty and a five and one dollar. For a total of three hundred twenty-six dollars!” She handed me back the remainder of the money I had given her, which I shoved back in my wallet without counting. “Have you got thirty-eight cents?” She watched me with a huge smile like she already knew the answer to her question.

  I started to answer I did not have any change but then I patted my pockets and felt a lump which had not been there before. The eyes of my companions as well as the pregnant checker focused on me as I reached into my pocket to withdraw the contents. I did not even check to see what I had before handing the coins to the checker. Somehow I got the distinct sense that the coins would add up to thirty-eight cents.

  “Great! Thirty-eight cents exactly.” She announced as one of the dark blue vests appeared and began shoving the groceries in white plastic bags.

  Joey lifted to the bags into the shopping cart all the while keeping his leering expression fixed on the young woman.

  “Well, take good care of that boy.” Louis said as he nudged Joey toward the door.

  The dark-haired checker looked straight at the old man. For just a second, I caught a glimpse of the same disturbing, disgusting glow I had seen around Stoaffer when I first set eyes on him. Except this time, the light did not just come from him. At its brightest point, the light almost burst from the woman’s bulging stomach.

  The checker laughed nervously and replied, “I will. I will take good care of him.”

  I trailed behind Louis who trailed behind Joey as we left the store.

  When the coolness of the night hit my face, I realized that we had not bought any beer for the teenagers in the parking lot. “We have to go back.” I said as I turned back to the store.

  “Whadda you talkin’ about, Thomas?” Joey barked at me. “We’re gonna go eat.”

  “We forgot to get some beer. They gave us money to buy some beer.”

  “Yes, they did.” Louis commented.

  “Fuck ‘em. I’m hungry.” Joey’s voice was slow and cold. I knew better than to argue with him.

  As we got close to the car, I saw a mass of bodies move out of the shadowy edge of the parking lot. We were loading the groceries into the trunk of the car when the teenagers reached us.

  “Hey, mister, did you get the beer?” The short blond kid asked. His companions stood behind him shuffling around nervously.

  I turned to the teenagers and felt a little sorry for them. “Uh, no we didn’t. Sorry about that.”

  The reaction was clear even in the dark parking lot. The skinny, pale young man was going to cry. I realized that Joey had the beer money and started to ask him for it. Before I got the words out, Joey pushed past me. He stood right in front of the short teen, and for the first time ever, Joey actually seemed tall as he towered over the blond kid.

  “No, we didn’t getchyer fuckin’ beer!” Joey was screaming so close to the kid he must have gotten sprayed with spit from Joey’s mouth. “You little pussies got no biznuss bein’ out at midnight on a Wednesday night! Alla you oughta be home in bed havin’ wet dreams about some cheerleader! Now get the fuck outta here!”

  As Joey turned away from the teenagers and started walking toward the driver’s side of the car, a spark of insanity must have jumped into the skinny, blond kid because he asked, “Where’s our money?” There were murmurs of agreement from the background.

  In the next instant, Joey was moving back toward the kid. The teen tried to back up quickly from the approaching man, but he got tripped up in his baggy pants and ended up on his back. He found himself staring up into a snarling face. Now, Joey’s right hand held something. My stomach fell as I realized he was holding the Glock. The other teenagers scattered at the sight of the gun. Joey was quiet and still for a moment as he leaned over the kid on the ground. I wondered if the kid knew he was staring death in the face. The pure terror in his eyes answered my question. Then Joey had the pistol pressed to the trembling boy’s face just to the right of his nose. Without say anything, he kept pressing the gun harder into the kid’s face until it looked sure to break through the skin and into the skull. The scene was ended by the sound of Stoaffer’s voice.

  “Joey, I hate to interrupt, but I think you have made your point. Besides, you are about to get wet.” Louis nodded toward the snaking streams of yellow fluid flowing from the kid’s crotch along the pavement toward Joey’s shoes.

  Joey glanced down at the pavement and came back to his senses. “Oh shit!” he yelled and made a show of dancing out of the path of the piss stream.

  We left the kid on the ground trembling in a puddle of his own piss as we drove away.

  Chapter 10

  The ride back to our new home was pretty loud.

  “Well, Joey, I think you may have made teetotalers of the whole bunch!” Louis exclaimed.

  Joey roared, “Didja see the little shit squirming around on the ground?”

  “I don’t know about shit but I saw a lot of piss run-ning down his leg!” My reply resulted in a new round of laughter. Even as I enjoyed the laughter, an image of the blond kid’s face with pure terror in his eyes flashed in front of me. Suddenly, things did not seem so funny anymore. I glanced over at Joey and saw the same snarling face that the kid saw. The wild laughter contin-ued and I joined in simply out of the desire to stay part of our little gang.

  Before I knew it, we were pulling up in front of the abandoned house which had become our home. I could not tell you how we got there. It was a little after midnight. The street seemed even darker and deader if that was possible.

  Joey popped out of the car and ran around the back to grab groceries out of the trunk. Of course, the old Chevy did not have a trunk release lever inside the car, so I pulled the keys out of the ignition and twisted to get out of the car. As I did, Stoaffer’s voice from the back seat stopped me.

  “Don’t get out of the car, Thomas,” he said with a quiet but powerful voice. “You have no reason to continue down this path. He is going to take you down the wrong road. You could simply start the car and leave him behind without ever looking back.”

  Looking up to see Stoaffer’s face in the rearview mirror, I half-expected to see that he was grinning mischievously at his suggestion of running off and leaving Joey. Instead, I found a solemn, weary face.

  I smiled back and said, “Louis, I can’t just abandon him. The two of us have been through thick and thin.”

  “Thick on trouble and thin on the good times, I would imagine,” the old man commented without emotion.

  I opened my mouth to comment. Before I could make a sound, a bang on the truck signaled Joey was tired of waiting. I started to turn around to look at Louis but decided against it and got out of the car.

  “Thanks fer showin’ up! I was beginnin’ to think you forgot about me!” Joey said sarcastically.

  Something about Stoaffer’s weariness and his desire to abandon him made me suddenly happy to have Joey around. “Oh, how could I ever forget you, my little psychotic friend?”

  At my words, Joey tensed up like he was enraged. He stomped over to stand right in front of me. Waving the Glock in the air, he sa
id, “How ‘bout if yer little psychotic friend shoves this fuckin’ Glock down yer throat?”

  I stared at him for a minute as if considering his question and then said, “How ‘bout no?”

  Joey reacted to my words by charging to within inches of me. We stood still like that for ten or twenty seconds before we burst out laughing. We both turned to see Stoaffer leaning against the car watching us with disapproval.

  “Boys,” he said shaking his head. “Maybe the two of you can play grab ass later. Right now, we should go in the house and discuss why we are here.” He marched up the driveway and into the house.

  Joey and I stood grinning at each other for a few seconds before following him.

  There was an old oak dining table and a few chairs in the dining room next to the kitchen. After a few trips out to the car, we had the table covered with groceries. Of course, with all the food that Joey was stuffing in his mouth, it was surprising that any food made it to the table at all. But the main thing was Joey was happy. And with Joey happy, it was easier for the rest of us to be happy as well. Louis initially tried to keep a stern attitude, but that quickly faded into jokes about the amount of food Joey could put into his stomach before exploding.

  Once we put the food in the cupboards and filled the ice chest, it was about one a.m. Even so, none of us felt like sleeping. Instead we gathered up bits of clothing and whatever else could be found in the living room pile for cushions where we sat leaning against the walls drinking beer.

  The beer had miraculously appeared in one of the grocery bags. As we had been unloading the car, a squeal from Joey had caught my attention. I was reminded of the old nursery rhyme about Jack Horner, but instead of a plum Joey pulled out a brightly-colored 12-pack of beer. And rather than saying anything about being a good boy, Joey grinned like a very bad boy and said, “Oh, no! Looks like we had some beer for our young friends after all!” The discovery sent Joey and Stoaffer off into another round of howling laughter. For me, it only recalled the image of the trembling, terrified teenager.

  I did have to admit that in my experience there were few things more satisfying than sitting around drinking ice cold beer. In my contented state, I felt ready to bring up the reason for our journey. “So, Louis, you mentioned something about discussing why we are here.”

  Any hint of the previous laughter was instantly gone. He stared directly at me and said, “Yes, I did.” Louis glanced over at Joey to find that he was listening before returning his eyes to me. “I have filled you in on the background of my little tale of woe. An unfaithful, conniving wife, a disloyal friend, and an incompetent lawyer. All combined to send me to prison.” The whole thing suddenly struck me as such a clichéd plotline, and I was not completely successful in stifling my snicker. If Stoaffer noticed my reaction, he chose to ignore it and continue, “As I said before, I never expected to leave from inside those prison walls, but then found myself reborn with the purpose of righting the wrong which had been done to me. I dreamed of the day I would confront my… now ex-wife. As odd as it may seem, I never pictured killing her or striking her in any way. The only image in my head was that of Theresa’s frightened face and spark of terror in her eyes.”

  “Sorry to cut in on yer happy mem’ries, Lou,” Joey popped in cheerfully. “I enjoy travellin’ down mem’ry lane as much as anyone. But doncha think we oughta be thinkin’ about exactly what you wanna do to this bitch and how we’re gonna get to yer… our money?”

  Louis was quiet for a moment as he looked at Joey. Once again, his body appeared to sag under the weight of exhaustion, and his voice held the more than a trace of that fatigue as he answered, “Well, it’s really one of those good news - bad news situations. Which do you want first?”

  Joey remarked, “Always the good news first! Right, Thomas?”

  “Sure, I guess.” I answered.

  “Okay, the good news is Theresa never trusted banks,” Louis began, “which means everything should still be with her…uh… in the house.”

  “Sounds very good so far, Lou!” Joey responded with artificial enthusiasm.

  I nodded at Joey. “I want to hear the bad news.”

  “Well, the bad news is that I have no idea whether Theresa is still in the house.”

  Joey replied, “Cheer up, Lou! Even if she ain’t in the house I think I just may be able to help you. We can get in the house ‘n get yer stuff then we can track her down. Mosta my experience is in gettin’ women to shut the hell up, but gettin’ this bitch to tell us about any money of yers she has shouldn’t be no big deal.”

  Stoaffer’s face brightened up at Joey’s comment. “Well, I knew that I could count on you as soon as I saw you in the grocery store. Anyone who could handle those hostages with such skill would certainly have no trouble handling Theresa.”

  The impatience in my voice must have been clear as I said, “I sure hate to break into this wonderful example of male bonding and all, but I am still not hearing any details here. This ex-wife of yours didn’t like banks, so you’re assuming that any money is stashed at home along with the stuff you stashed. But you’re unsure about anything like where she lives or where we can find her right now or where the money she has is.” I grew more irritated as I looked at the blank faces of Stoaffer and Joey before asking, “Am I missing something? Please tell me if I am missing something, because what I have heard so far doesn’t sound like anything even close to a plan.” I took a deep breath, leaned back against the wall, and closed my eyes.

  After a moment of silence, Stoaffer’s re-energized voice broke in, “I can certainly understand your frustration, Thomas. However, life’s plan doesn’t always present itself to us at once.”

  My head nearly bounced off the wall at his words. “Are you fucking serious? Life’s plan?” A deep breath calmed me down, and I said, “Okay, let’s forget about ‘life’s plan’.” I added finger quotes for emphasis on my sarcasm. “And concentrate on a plan for getting the money and getting the hell out of San Pietro.”

  “I can see his point, Lou,” Joey gave me a look like he was doing me a huge favor by backing me up. “Do we even know where to find Theresa?”

  Stoaffer was quiet for a second with his head tilted down. All of a sudden, his head shot up. He grinned and said, “Well, I have a few ideas about where she is.”

  “You see there, Thomas,” Joey said and looked over at me hopeful that I would be pleased with the response, “Lou, has a few ideas about where this bitch might be!”

  I flashed an insincere smile at Joey and then asked, “Terrific! We might be able to find her… but we have no idea what we’re gonna do after we find her.”

  I grew more irritated as I faced the blank expressions

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Stoaffer as he sprang to his feet. In an instant, he was standing right in front of me. He stood above me glaring down. The fury he struggled to hold inside caused his whole body to tremble like the rattle on a snake. He spat the words from his mouth, “A plan! Is that what concerns you so much, Thomas? What was your plan when you went into that grocery store? How about the plan to steal the principal’s car and cruise? That was a great plan!” Stoaffer sneered at my shock at his mentioned of my high school prank, and my eyes watered at the smell of his rancid-smelling breath. “Sounds to me like none of your plans worked out too well!”

  “Take it easy, Lou,” Joey said with clear concern. “Yer gonna have a stroke or somethin’.”

  I was still trying to figure out how he knew about stealing the high school principal’s car when Stoaffer took a deep breath and then turned away from me. Joey shot me murderous look as he moved next to Louis ready to help if needed.

  I am not quite sure how to describe what happened next. Everything seemed to go faster than possible. In one second, Louis and Joey were standing a couple of yards away from me. Then in the next second before the last sounds of my words were out, Stoaffer’s face pushed to within inches of my nose. His red, wrinkled face with its twisted
smirk took up my entire view.

  My eyes teared up at the stench of his breath as he spoke, “Thomas, I am thrilled by your dedication to success!” His sarcasm was solid and unmistakable, but it faded into a sincere smile. “We arrived at the outline of a basic plan. First, we locate Theresa. Second, my wife and I spend a few intimate moments getting reacquainted. Third, Joey has a revealing conversation with her,” Louis paused to let Joey bask in the pride of having his name mentioned before continuing. “Fourth, we collect my belongings of value. And last but in no way least, we get the hell out of San Pietro.” He moved back from me and watched my reaction.

  “Sounds like a plan to me!” Joey exclaimed. “How ‘bout it, Thomas? We got a plan, right?”

  Once again, I found myself driven along by Joey’s enthusiasm. “Yes, Joey, we got a plan,” I answered and could not keep from smiling. My smile had a short life as it died the instant I caught sight of Stoaffer’s wide grin.

  I was trying to come with some great sarcastic comments to direct at the old man, but everything vanished as soon as he spoke, “So it’s settled! We have a plan!” Louis stared directly into my eyes and continued, “In the morning, we will start with the first step. Always the best place to start! ‘We locate Theresa’. For all we know, she may still be in the old house. We may be worrying unnecessarily about finding her. Having a look at the house where we shared our illusion of wedded bliss would be a good place to start.” At his mention of wedded bliss, Stoaffer’s grin trembled a little.

  I was not trying to be a wet blanket, but certain facts were worth considering. I said, “I don’t know, Louis. You’ve been away for a long time. Do you truly believe she’d stay in the same house?” I looked at Joey for some interest in my question. Instead, I got only a full sigh.