by Mike Gomes
“I know that. The same holds true for me. I will have my phone with me always. Just call and I will do everything I can.” Moving in and hugging his friend with a swift pat on the back Falau disregarded the hand out for a shake. “You’re like a brother to me Grady.”
The older man pulled away wiping his eyes with his finger and thumb and turned to the side “I feel the same way.”
Bzzzzzz Bzzzzzzz
The front buzzer called from the first floor breaking the moment.
“Saved by the bell.” said Grady with a smile still trying to hold back the tears as he made his way for the steps going down stairs.
Chapter 3
The familiar creak of the front door opening was a sure sign that the person who rang the buzzer was known to Grady. A smattering of laughter and undecipherable words floated up the stairs causing the big man to try to look down the slight opening from the banisters that wrapped around the numerous floors of the old brownstone Falau called home. Grady’s hand touched the lowest point of the banister on the ground floor. It was followed by a white hand that was right behind. The hand had an overcoat that slid up and revealed a watch that was large and sparkled in the minimal light that the foyer had.
Grady’s heavy feet worked their way back up the wooden steps mixed with the soft sound of dress shoes matching the cadence he set with his movement. Laughter accompanied the two men as they worked their way up the steps floor by floor.
Falau stepped inside the bedroom but stayed close to the door wanting to see who was coming but not wanting to seem too eager. The softness of the bed seemed to envelop him as he positioned himself with his feet up on the bed and crossed. One of the few extravagances that Falau allowed himself after his new-found employment was a bed. It still felt strange for Falau to enter a bed that was placed off the floor. He had spent too many years with a dirty old mattress on the floor without a box spring or fitted sheet on it.
“Look at the man in the lap of luxury.” said the familiar voice of Tyler as he leaned against the door frame.
“Tyler!” called out Falau pulling himself up from the bed and walking across the room to shake the hand of his old friend.
“You moved fast to get back in that bed.” said Grady teasing Falau.
The three men laughed as Grady turned back out the door and aimed himself for the steps. “I will let you boys have some privacy. I never want to know what you two talk about any way. No need for me to be a coconspirator.”
A strong laugh drifted from Tyler’s mouth as Falau felt his heart jump up into his throat. Grady had never mentioned that he thought that Tyler and Falau’s relationship was involved in anything crime related before and he wondered what Tyler thought about it. Falau turned himself on a dime and walked back to the bed and sat down.
“Grady if I don’t see you before I go, Merry Christmas.” called Tyler down the steps.
“Same to you man.” Grady yelled back up the steps.
Walking back into the doorway Tyler slid the overcoat off his shoulders and placed it over the arm of the chair. A blue pinstripe suit fell over Tyler’s body showing the full skill of his tailor. Each part of his body was accentuated for the positive and Tyler looked like he could be walking down a runway at a Paris fashion show rather than standing in a brownstone on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston.
Tyler slid his hands into the pockets of his pants and lifted his foot tapping the suitcase that sat next to the door. “Throwing this thing out or traveling?”
“Did Grady tell you to give me shit about it?” questioned Falau smirking
“No. I have eyes.” said Tyler “You didn’t answer the question.”
“Traveling. I was thinking of having a little vacation. Recharge the batteries before the new year.”
“Sounds nice. Where are you going?” asked Tyler walking to the foot of the bed.
“I have no idea. I am going to go to the airport and see what looks good. Something will jump off the departure board and then I will just get on that plane.”
‘Wow.” said Tyler walking toward two sitting chairs that Falau had set up next to the window. “You’re rolling the dice on selection traveling on Christmas.”
“That’s what makes it so fun!”
“Well, make sure you get lots of rest. We have a back log of jobs.”
“Is that why you are here or were you just coming to wish me a Merry Christmas and hope that I would be cooking a turkey?”
“The turkey sounds great, but you know me and how I am always working.” said Tyler crossing his legs and reaching into the inside coat of his jacket. His hand slid out with two cigars and he motioned with them for Falau to come over. “I had a job, but it is nothing that can’t go to someone else.”
With his feet hitting the floor Falau stood up and rolled his eyes at Tyler’s suggestion that another person would take a job he had earmarked for him. Falau walked with purpose and snatched one of the extended cigars from Tyler’s hand and sat down hard into the chair.
“What’s this? Someone else crap?” asked Falau.
“You’re going on vacation. I’m not going to ask you to put that on hold for a mission for me.”
Falau bit the end of the cigar opening a passage for the air to travel through. “Tell me about the mission.”
“Falau. No.” said Tyler biting the end of his cigar. With his mouth holding the bit of removed cigar, Tyler looked around for a place to discard the unwanted cap in his mouth. “Where do I spit this?”
“Just put it on the window sill.” said Falau spitting the contents of his cigar from his mouth into his hand and then placed it on the window sill.
Tyler followed in kind shaking his hand in disgust. “You spend a ton of money trying to bring this place back to its old glory, but you let me put that nasty chunk of cigar on the window sill. You’re a hard guy to figure Falau.
“I am going to confuse you some more by telling you to light up this cigar right here and right now.”
“Inside your bedroom? Should we open the window, or do you just want your bed to smell like an ashtray?”
“Just smoke away my friend and tell me more about this job you came to tell me about.”
Tyler pulled a silver lighter from his pocket and flipped the top open. A nimble thumb snapped at the wheel spinning it sharply and gun fighting the flame. Reaching across the opening Tyler held the lighter without a sign of a tremble in his hand. The big man leaned in and placed the end of the cigar into the flame and puffed, sharply pulling the flame into the end of it. Satisfied that it was lit Falau pulled back and settled comfortably in the chair while letting out a steady stream of smoke from his mouth.
Tyler pulled the lighter to his cigar and lit it in the same manner that Falau did and took a long drag off the cigar that had a hint of an apple taste to it. “I am not telling you shit.”
“What?”
“I am not telling you anything.” said Tyler taking another puff from the cigar and attempting to blow out a smoke ring.
“Come on, Tyler. If you came here to tell me about a job, then tell me about the job.”
“You were ready to take your show on the road until I came here. Now you want to know about a job I might have for you. No way. You need to go on vacation.”
“I can go after the job. It will give me a little spending money.”
“No way, my friend.” said Tyler inspecting his carnage twisting and turning it in front of his eyes. “I have others that I can call on.”
“Like who? Gabriella?”
“What is with this jealousy between you two? She acts the same way about you.” said Tyler uncrossing his legs and leaning toward Falau. “I thought you two got along.”
“We do. There is just a competitive spirit that comes up in each of us when we are together. Great for missions, bad for friendships.”
“Well, no need to worry about her. She is MIA like most of the time. I was thinking of trying someone new for this mission. Maybe Wyatt Houston.”
“From what you tell me about this guy, he was all out in every way.” said Tyler raising his eyebrows and shifting his attention from the cigar to his friend.
“He is. He is a tough guy, but he works for the Russian mob. I don’t think he is the kind of guy we want to be getting mixed up with.”
“I did some research on him after you guys dealt with him in London. He is a freelancer.”
“You’re taking a chance with this guy.”
“Well, the job is a collection of funds, so I can keep him from knowing about the System and I can get a feel for what he can do.”
“A collections mission? Come on man, it sounds like child’s play. I could have the thing done in a week and be back here and on a plane, off to a vacation.”
“No way, Falau. Houston will get this one. You go and have a good time.”
“Sure, it will be a hell of a good time knowing that I left money on the table with a simple mission.”
“Well, let me give you a little gift for Christmas and maybe that will make up for missing out on the mission.” Letting his hand reach back into his jacket pocket he fished in it as he held the cigar between his teeth. Stretching his fingers, he removed a small clear tube that looked like it could be used to hold a single cigarette. He held it between his fingers and extended it to Falau grunting out the words Merry Christmas with the cigar still in his mouth.
“Thanks. I think.” said Falau taking the cigar. “What is it? A joint?”
“Ya, Falau, I want to smoke some weed with my newly sober friend.” said Tyler rolling his eyes hard and shaking his head. “See that little stick in there. You drop that into your drink before the plane takes off and the flight will go by without a care in the world. I know how you hate flying and if you took the mission I was going to give it to you, but this works just as well.”
“That’s a really thoughtful gift. The one thing about taking a trip that bothered me was the flight. Nothing addictive right?”
“Right. Nothing that could risk you being sober. The stick will just dissolve in any drink but if it is alcohol it will just taste like a chunk of shit.”
“Nice touch.”
“I thought so. In every other drink it will have no taste. In ten minutes you will start to feel tired and then you will drift off to sleep before takeoff. Cool thing is that when you start to land your ears naturally pop. Well that will start the process of you waking up slowly.”
“You never cease to amaze me.”
“It’s just what I do old friend. Just what I do!”
Chapter 4
Entrance into the basement of the church no longer brought on a feeling of dread deep down in Falau’s soul. The door swung open in a familiar and soothing way that can only be developed after dozens of times doing the same thing.
The big man stepped into the basement as the meeting for Alcoholics Anonymous was coming to a start. Being on time was never his strong suit in getting to the meetings. He felt that being there at all was a big enough task considering the depths he had come from to get to this point in his life.
The basement always looked the same, wide open with a low ceiling. The room was used as a cafeteria and auditorium for the small catholic school that sat attached to the back of the church. The basement had taken on a smell of vomit and sawdust due to the constant problem of the kids passing illnesses to one another all winter long. The floor of the basement was just the target that got hit the most often. Some sick kid finishing off their lunch and then right back up it would come hitting the floor of the poorly ventilated cafeteria. A toss of a few handfuls of sawdust on to the vomit and the custodian would clean the floor but never quite get the smell out no matter how hard he tried.
Chairs formed rows and the meeting had been drawing more people just the way Dave said it would at this time of the year. People wanting to stay sober for the holidays or people that had long been sober looking for that extra support as the stress levels rose. No matter what the reason, people were there and like most alcoholics, they filled the chairs from the last row first and then moved forward. The only few seats left were scattered in the first row.
The big man elected not to deal with the walk to the front of the room and sliding in a front seat convincing himself that the group was called Alcoholics Anonymous after all and that charging to the front of the room would not be very anonymous. Smiling at what Dave liked to call alcoholic thinking Falau could see he was just trying to fool himself to make things easier on himself.
Walking over to the coffee he grabbed the box of Joe from Dunkin’ Donuts off the table and tilted it. The group had moved up in the world by getting rid of the old metal coffee maker and springing for something that had taste other than metal. Sugar and cream had already been spilled on the table and nobody had taken the time to clean it up. Falau grabbed a napkin and started to wipe down the table while realizing that he saw the group as his own and that he was part of it. At no time before this moment had he ever even thought to clean up the mess that the newcomers had made. He was becoming invested and a small twinge pulled at him from deep inside stirring his flight reflex. Getting too close was not a good thing in his history.
Tossing the napkin into the trash and leaning back against the wall the hot coffee burned the tip of his tongue slightly. He blew on it causing a ripple in the black liquid that shimmered in from the fluorescent lights off the ceiling.
The big man looked to his friend and sponsor Dave standing in front of the group and giving the same speech he gave at the beginning of every meeting for the sake of anyone that was new. He told them he was happy they came and how they were always welcome at the meeting. He let them know the group met seven days a week at the same time and the same place. He told them that the group could help, and it didn’t matter if you were one day clean or twenty years clean, that support was the thing that helped keep you clean. Falau felt like he could have recited the speech by heart after being at the meeting every day for the last thirty days. Dave suggested thirty meetings in thirty days and he did just that and it worked. He stayed sober.
“We have a few people that have some milestones to celebrate tonight and this time they will not do it with drinking.” said Dave trying to get a laugh from the group but instead only got a few people shifting themselves in their chairs. “All these years sober and running this group and you would think by now that I would have learned that AA is not the place to try out jokes.”
Falau choked on his sip of coffee struck by amusement from Dave’s joke. Only the regulars of the meeting could understand Dave’s desire to get a laugh at the meeting and how he only ever received the cold of breathing and sighs. Dave’s eyes looked to the side seeing the big man against the wall and he smiled at getting him to laugh for the first time.
“At least that’s one person!” exclaimed Dave raising his hand into the air in achievement. “And the man with the laughter is one of the people with this as a special night.”
Pulling himself from the cold hard cement wall Falau stood up stiff and placed his coffee on the table next to him. Knowing the drill from seeing it numerous times before he was filled with pride for what was about to come.
“I would like him to come forward and anyone else that has finished thirty days sober today.” said Dave beaming with pride.
Falau walked to the front of the room and noticed he was alone. Reaching into his pocket Dave pulled a small chip from his pocket and placed it in the hand of his friend while shaking the other one. “Congratulations”.
Turning away Falau felt there would be more than the smattering of applause and more of a recognition from his sponsor than just a handshake and a smile. An emptiness filled him causing doubt and questioning the achievement of the thirty days sober. The desire to drink jumped up at once and his hand reached down to feel the flask he kept in his front pocket only to find it was not there. For the first time in years Michael Fal
au was without a flask and a drink now when he needed it.
The meeting rolled on for another thirty minutes with a few people getting up to tell their story something that Falau had yet to do with the group. From the size of the group the big man felt there would have been more, but most, like him, were just there to watch tonight. The meeting was called to a close and half the room went straight for the door while the other half aimed for the donuts.
Shaking hands and exchanging smiles Dave worked his way through old friends until he got to Falau still leaning against the wall.
“How goes it?” he asked with a smile.
“It goes well.” smirked Falau still feeling slighted by the chip giving ceremony.
The happy expression on Dave’s face turned to one of being quizzical and then of understanding.
“Hey, you know I can’t make a big deal out of any one person with the chips. That would just bring on some jealousy.”
“I am not the jealous type.” said Falau realizing the position that Dave was in and what he had to do for the good of the group.
“Well, so you know, I am damn proud of you. Thirty days is hard to do but it is just the start. You keep that chip in your pocket for the next few months. Keep it where you used to keep the flask.”
“How did you know I didn’t have the flask?”
“I told you before, I can see it a mile away. I did it myself.”
Falau let out a slight laugh and looked to the floor. “Thanks for all your help over the last month. It means a lot. I could not have done it without you.”
“I am glad I could help but you did the work. Don’t short change yourself.”
“I wanted to stop in tonight to tell you I am going on a vacation. No drinking!” said Falau beating Dave to the punch. “I am just going to relax and go read a good book and take in some sun.”
“That sounds great. Think you’re ready for that?”
