by Paul O'Brien
“However, I would like you to know that the date is set for October 5th 1972 – and will be chaired and presided over by Senator Hilary J. Tenenbaum who will be representing the state of New York.”
Danno scribbled down the date and slid the pad to Ricky. “Can I ask you one question in relation to this matter?”
“Of course.”
“Is it he or you running the show in relation to this matter?”
“It's the Senator with my full support as...”
Danno hung up and dialed another number. Proctor answered immediately, “Hello?”
Danno smiled. “How did you know I was going to be ringing you this morning?”
Proctor lied. “I didn't.”
Danno was feeling in full control, like a master pulling the levers. “Listen carefully; we're going to have our match on September 30th 1972. Just under a year from now.”
Proctor didn't answer. In fact, Danno wasn't even sure he still had a line. “You still there?”
“Yeah, I'm here,” Proctor muttered into the phone.
“You heard me, you prick. September 30th, Shea Stadium. New York City.”
Proctor very calmly responded, “You don't want to leave me waiting that long, Danno. It's like you're trying to get out of this or something.”
“Listen to me, it's already a done deal.”
Danno hung up. Ricky was slightly shocked, but majorly impressed. “You're going to Shea a week before the hearings?”
Danno didn't want to answer Ricky directly, so he just smiled knowingly and nodded. He was all for letting Ricky in, but only some of the way, until he figured out how all this was going to go down.
“He sounded pretty hot,” Ricky said.
“If you think that's bad, wait till you hear him when he finds out he's not getting the belt.”
Ricky could hardly contain the feeling that some measure of justice was about to be served. “You're not giving him the strap?”
Danno again played safe and shook his head. “Now, you go and do your bit and I'll figure out what other pieces we need to pull this off.”
Ricky stood up and smiled proudly at Danno. “Yes, boss.”
November 26th 1971. New York.
“Dad, look at me.” Luke called to his father as he ran around in a circle for the fiftieth time.
Lenny's family room was usually a sanctuary to him when he came off the road. The couch was fat and comfortable, the stream of hot meals were consistent. He usually loved being home.
“Dad?”
Lenny loved his son, but watching him run in a circle and think it was impressive just made him want to smash his own face through the glass coffee table.
“Dad? Look.”
Lenny tried to smile. He just couldn't. “That's great, champ.”
Luke picked up his coat and put it on backward to cover his face. “Dad. Look at me.” Luke ran around in a circle again. “Look, Dad.”
Lenny rose and walked into the kitchen. He could still hear his son in the other room. “Look. Look, Dad.”
Dear God in heaven. Please fucking kill me right now.
“Dad?” Luke came running into the kitchen.
Lenny could feel himself reaching bubbling point.
“Dad?”
“What?” Lenny seethed.
His son was taken aback. “There's someone at the door.”
Lenny felt like a shit-for-brains – or worse - like his own father. “I'm sorry, son.” He patted his little boy on his head and went to see a large man's silhouette behind his front door screen.
“Hello?” Lenny said as he approached.
“Lenny?” Danno replied. “That you?”
Lenny hurried and opened the door. “Hey, boss.”
Lenny was surprised by the strength of the sunshine outside. It had been a while since they saw each other and its brightness blinded him slightly.
“Come in,” Lenny offered.
Danno politely turned down the invitation to enter with a wave of his rolled-up cap. “I called to the house you were living in last time when... Anyway, the lady there told me where to find you.”
“That's my Mom.”
Danno seemed preoccupied. “Eh...”
“Are you sure you don't want to come in?” Lenny caught a glimpse of Luke looking around the kitchen door with his coat on his head.
“If it's all the same, I'll manage here.” Danno said.
Bree pulled into their driveway with their other young son in the back. Her impending arrival into the conversation seemed to make Danno even shiftier. “Are you wanting to get a sandwich or something?” Danno asked.
“Sure. I'll just... one sec.” Lenny briskly walked to their car and took his son from the back, while Bree scraped together the shopping that escaped from the brown bags.
“What does he want?” she whispered through the car at Lenny on the other side.
Lenny shrugged and took James Henry in his arms.
“Tell him you don't want to work there no more, Lenny. Tell him we're going to set up our own business.”
“Doing what?” Lenny asked.
Bree couldn't answer yet. She'd been narrowing in on some new ideas but didn't have anything concrete.
Lenny took their son into the house. Bree followed with some bags.
“Hello, missus,” Danno said to Bree as she passed.
“Fuck you,” she replied and disappeared into the house, closing the door with a bang behind her.
Lenny quickly opened the door and slid out through the crack. “Women's troubles.”
“You should get her some valium. It worked a treat for Mrs. Garland.”
Lenny nodded.
“Do you want to drive?” Danno asked, holding out his keys.
“Yes,” Lenny said emphatically. Maybe a little too empathically.
“I just meant to the sandwich place or whatever.”
Lenny was immediately crushed and also embarrassed by his eagerness. “Yeah, that's what I meant.”
Lenny walked ahead down his driveway and cursed his desperation in his head.
“Lenny?”
“Yeah?” Lenny answered, not ready to turn around.
“Luscious?”
Lenny stopped and turned.
“I came here to offer you your old job back. I was just going to do it in a burger joint or something.”
“No, thanks,” Bree said from the open window upstairs.
Lenny looked up but couldn't see where his wife was eavesdropping from. “You came to ask me back, boss?”
“Yeah.”
“Deal.”
Danno was a little surprised by how easy the offer went. “Okay.”
“Except,” Lenny continued. “I want in.”
Danno wondered if he was going to be negotiating with Lenny and Bree. “Can we?” Danno moved away from the house down to the end of the pathway. Lenny followed him.
“In what?” Danno wondered.
“In. I want in. You know. In. I want to get in there with the wrestlers. Referee or something.”
Danno thought about it. “You want in?”
Lenny nodded. He wanted his boss to see maturity in his response. Danno took out a cigar, chomped and spat out the end. He watched Lenny closely and waited to see if he would fill the quiet with something further.
“You know the guy that took over from you nearly got killed? No one else in my crew wants to do it. That's why I'm here.”
“I'll take it.”
Danno lit and puffed. “You sure?”
“I am – if you break me in.”
Danno could see a change in Lenny. A change he liked. If he'd only shown these balls before, he would have been smartened up to the business before now. “I'll break you in, Lenny. But not now. I'm in the middle of something now that's going to take all my time. But you have my word, when this piece of business concludes, you will be one of my top guys.”
Lenny didn't hesitate. “Deal.” Danno Garland's word was money in the bank t
o Lenny. They both shook hands at the end of Lenny's pathway.
It just didn't feel right to Bree. There was something wrong about the whole wrestling business that just didn't sit well with her.
She was right.
November 27th 1971. New Orleans.
Lenny and Ricky sat up at the bar, waiting in silence. Ricky had the newspaper cutout that Danno gave him and referenced it whenever the door opened and a new male customer walked in.
“Who we waiting on?” Lenny asked.
Ricky didn't answer. He instead pulled his baseball cap down further like he was going deeper undercover.
Anytime Ricky moved his hands, Lenny was expecting a slap in the chops. He tried to act like it was nothing, but his wife knew different. It was not very manly, but Lenny had a hard time leaving the house after Ricky slapped him around. Bree knew it. And Lenny knew that she knew it.
No matter how small or skinny or out of the fighting world you're supposed to be, every man struggles to live with himself after a beating.
“Move,” Ricky gruffly ordered, trying to look over Lenny's shoulder.
Lenny submissively leaned more into the bar. He was only drinking soda. He wanted to make sure he rang home on time. The first full day back at work and he wanted to show Bree that things had changed since the last time.
Ricky's patience grew thin with Lenny. “Here,” he said, moving from his seat. “You sit there.”
Lenny and Ricky swapped.
“I heard about what happened to Folsom in Florida. How is he? Did you hear?”
“He lost his place. He had to move his family back to his folk’s place in Atlanta.”
“That's rough.”
“If you can't work, you can't earn. Simple as that.”
“And Ginny?”
The door of the bar opened and Ricky became very interested in the man who entered and sat at the bar. He covertly checked the picture from the newspaper clipping and seemed happy that he'd found a match.
The man at the corner of the bar was small in stature and seemed gentle enough in the way he tried to seek the bartender’s attention. He wore a large cross around his neck and nametag on his chest. He waved away the lingering bar smoke from his face when he thought no one was looking.
“Who's that?” Lenny leaned in and asked.
“I have to apologize to you, Lenny,” Rick replied. “I'm not the sort of man that whips on another man like I did with you.”
Lenny was surprised at the response. “It's... I... deserved it. Big mouth.”
Ricky slid his arm under the bar for Lenny to shake. “The boss says you're good, then I trust him.”
“Thank you, Ricky.”
Both men shook hands.
Ricky fixed his cap. “Wait here.” He strolled down along the bar and his movement made the man at the corner of the bar wary.
“How you doing?” Ricky asked him.
The man looked way more nervous than just a regular guy with nothing on his mind. Ricky put out his hand. “Ricky Plick.”
“Sean...”
“Peak, right?” Ricky said.
Sean seemed bewildered as to how a stranger would know that.
“It's on your chest. Can I buy you a drink, Sean?” Ricky asked.
Sean didn't seem so keen. Ricky huddled up beside him, anyway, and caught the bartender’s eye. He ordered two bottles of beer and lit himself a cigarette.
“Do you want me to put that on your room, sir?” the bartender asked.
Both Ricky and Sean answered 'yes' at the same time.
“Are you staying here too?” Ricky asked Sean.
“It's just a conference.” Sean nervously asked, “Do I know you?”
Ricky swiveled his seat around, “Not yet, but I could use your contacts to do some business if you're interested?”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
May 11th 1972. New York.
Lenny inched Ade Schiller through the traffic, leaving JFK International. “How was your flight, Mrs. Schiller?”
Ade was freshening up her face in the back of the car. “The Great White Way to New York, is what they say now?”
“Well, Mr. Garland is really looking forward to your company tomorrow after you get settled.”
“How is Mr. Moneybags? I hear he's having to deal with a lot of shit from that asshole in Florida.”
Lenny concentrated on finding the smallest opportunity between the Buick and the Mack truck in front of him. “I wouldn't know about those things, I'm afraid. The word is, though, that Proctor hasn't even been heard from since the boss gave him what for over the match in Shea.”
“Really?” Ade seemed intrigued.
“Not a single word.”
Lenny popped the cigarette lighter and handed it back to Ade who duly lit up.
“How did Danno know I was coming out here?” she asked.
Lenny shrugged at his boss' mystical ways.
In truth, it was more than likely a wrestler from her territory said something in passing about them not working this week ‘cause their boss was coming to New York. This, of course, was overheard by his tag-team partner, who was a brother of the ring announcer in LA, who met with Ricky last week to see about working some towns with them while his brother finished up a messy divorce in Jersey.
Either that, or a crystal ball.
Danno reached into the safe behind the large painting of his father in his bedroom. He quietly unloaded some stacks of cash into a waiting rucksack. Time was ticking and he needed to get out of his house without alerting Annie as to what he was doing.
He counted the money and threw in another two thousand just to be sure. With every passing day, he could see the old man coming through in him. Their faces were practically the same. The older Danno got, the bigger his nose grew and the less his hair did.
The painting of his old man was starting to look more and more like a mirror. There was no way that Danno was going to end up the same way he did, though.
He threw the bag over his shoulder and tiptoed to the window to see if Annie was out front.
“Dan?” Annie was standing in the doorway.
Danno thought about dropping the rucksack and sliding it under the bed. It was too late. “Do you always creep around like a cat in this house?”
“Where are you going?” she asked him.
Danno walked past his wife and continued for the stairs. “Out.”
“What's in the bag?”
Danno stopped himself on the top step. What was he doing? He turned around and could see that Annie was left behind somewhere else. “I'm sorry.”
“It's okay.”
“No, I don't mean about today. I mean in general. I'm sorry.” Danno dropped the rucksack and hugged his wife. “I'm wrapped up in this thing and I don't even know where we stand.”
Annie wasn't sure either. They were certainly two people who shared the same big house, and two people who sat across the table from each other, sometimes in that same big house, but she wasn't sure, either.
“Is all of this nearly over?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“And are we going to win?”
Danno nodded on her shoulder. “Yeah,” he said softly into her ear. He wasn't sure, either.
Annie broke from his embrace and fixed his tie. “You should let me in, Dan. I'm not one of the Boys.”
“I know.” Danno checked his watch again. Still nothing from Oscar. “Do you want to do something?”
Annie gave him 'the look’.
“No, not that. Can I bring you out for a late lunch? I'd like to do that. I have to go on business for a few days and I'd like to spend some time in your company before I go.”
It was on the tip of Annie's tongue to decline. She wasn't feeling that attractive or energetic.
“Will you come with me?” Danno asked. “I want to be seen out with my beautiful wife.”
Danno and Annie sat at the best table in New York. Ricky Plick, a struggling Ginny Ortiz, Wild Ted Berry and midg
et wrestler, Tiny Thunder, joined them.
“And then I said to him, if it tastes good on one end, it can't taste bad at the other,” Wild Ted finished with a laugh. The whole table laughed along with him. Except Annie.
“Sorry, Mrs. Garland,” Wild Ted said when he noticed her discomfort. “I should remember my manners more around a lady.”
“What? No. I've got a few shit jokes of my own,” Annie replied to utter shock. “Well, now, we're all uncomfortable,” she continued after several long seconds of silence.
“I guess we are,” Danno said, letting his troops know that it was okay to laugh. Ricky got up and excused himself from the table and walked to the hallway by the restrooms. He dialed the payphone.
“Hello?” Lenny asked, swinging in Danno's office chair.
“It's me, did you get Ade to the hotel okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” Lenny answered a bit more seriously.
“Okay, listen. The boss wants you to go to his place now and collect a rucksack that is at the top of his stairs.”
“Well, I...”
“He tells me there's exactly ninety two grand in it, Lenny. Make sure it arrives back with the exact same money in it. Do you hear me?”
“Wait. What?”
Ricky leaned back and looked to make sure the full party was still at the table. “You hear me, Lenny? You know where he keeps the spare key. Get the money and put it somewhere safe until he needs it.”
Lenny wasn't comfortable with two sides of this job. He didn't want to enter his boss' place when no one was there, and he certainly didn't want to be responsible for that amount of cash.
“You're looking for a leg up in the business? Well, this is the start,” Ricky said.
He was right. “Okay, I can do that. I'll hide it in my garage or something.”
Ricky hung up.
August 4th 1972. New York.
“Nice house,” Proctor said as he appeared from behind the tree that sat right on Danno's driveway.
Danno dropped his house keys with the fright. “What the fuck, Proctor?”
Proctor laughed at getting his desired result. “Here, let me get those for you,” he said as he bent in front of Danno to retrieve the keys.
