On the Grift

by Steve Shadow

  CHAPTER 18

  We lay spent and wet with sweat. Louisa got up and put her robe back on. She went to the kitchen for more drinks. I staggered off to the bathroom and tried to clean up a little. As I was getting dressed I looked in the mirror and wondered who the man was I was staring at. I had finally got what I had lusted after. A plan had been put in place and all my wishing and wanting was going to be realized and yet all I felt was fear and trepidation. As screwed up as my life had been, from the beginning to now, at least I always felt I had some control. Now it felt as if I was speeding down a hill with no brakes. I shivered as I faced myself. I had to snap out of it. But I knew I was beaten. I felt like crying. I could not fathom what was happening to me. I felt like those shell shocked troops at the end of the war. I took another long look in the mirror, shook my head and left the bathroom.

  Louisa was seated back in the lounge chair with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She motioned for me to have a seat and pointed to the drink she had made for me.

  “Well, that was a nice unexpected pleasure. Must have been a welcome change from, what do you call her, Mobes? We got a while to wait for her and Max to get back. Meanwhile I got a busy schedule and I want to make the most of what time I got left here. I need your help. I know you ain’t into it much, but considering we are partners now, I don’t think it’s too much to ask for some back-up. It ain’t much, just what you did before. You just hang around and look tough. Of course, some opportunities may come up that you might want to join in on. It would mean more money. You got no idea what a bunch of sick shits these assholes are. Some of the stuff they want done is beyond screwy. Just think of it as a job. It’s like being in a movie; you’re only acting. What do you say?”

  I sat, bent in defeat. I felt like that man I had seen in a movie last year. It was about a carnival guy who sank so low he became a geek, a guy who bites heads off chickens. It was as low as you could get in the carnival world. “Sure, Louisa, whatever you want.”

  Now that she had what she wanted she told me she had a lot of things to do and to come and get her the next evening at nine. She gave me a rundown on her clients for the week and what type of stuff they wanted. I took it all in and just nodded. I almost felt as if I was not there. It seemed as if I was hovering overhead somewhere watching her talk to some detached part of me. I wondered if I was going off the deep end. I finally left her place and went back to the apartment. I got into bed and stared at the shadows flittering across the ceiling. She was everything I could have ever imagined in my wildest sexual fantasies and yet all I felt was hollow. In the end I must have fallen asleep. When I awoke the sheets were all twisted and I was a damp, fetid mess.

  CHAPTER 19

  The week went by in a blur. I had never seen, let alone imagined, what manner of perversions existed in this world. I went through the motions and blanked my mind. I let Louisa talk me into joining in on some of her client’s sick wishes. She was tireless and relentless in her work. Her hatred of men was something to behold. Compared to what I saw that week, being a criminal seemed a much more normal life. I felt dirty all week and took incessant showers. My skin still crawled.

  Mobes returned on the 30th. I picked her up at Union Station and she was all giddy and thrilled to see me. It took all my powers to appear happy and to ask her about her holiday. She clung to me all the way home and spent half the night babbling about Christmas and her mother and a bunch of other crap. I just kept nodding my head in response to her blather.

  As we had planned, Louisa came over and asked us to go to the Aragon ballroom for the next night’s New Years Eve festivities. She thought it was a good idea to get the plan moving as soon as possible. She had briefed Max about all the details, and he, like me, was totally in her thrall. Of course, Mobes was all excited and spent the day getting all dolled up.

  Just as I now saw Louisa in a different light, the same seemed to be happening with Mobes. She was still a fat, little, ugly fool. However, she had been nothing but good to me and I would be glad when the scam was over. I never wanted to see any of these people again. I was as sick of myself as I was of them.

  The evening went off without a hitch. We had dinner and Louisa and Max were perfect in their roles. I forced myself to smile and act as if I was having a great time. Max, who I knew only in passing, proved to be a charmer with a slick line. I figured he could be a good con man if he wasn’t so soft and weak. The dancing and the celebration were a real thrill for Mobes. We looked like Mutt and Jeff on the dance floor. I could rest my chin on her head but she was having a great time. After a few dances we switched partners for a slow ballad and I found myself eye to eye with Louisa. Dancing with her was a strange experience. Knowing what I did about her kept me rigid as I held her in my arms. She said nothing but held me powerless with her knowing stare.

  When the clock struck midnight and the noise began Mobes pulled me down for a long kiss. Then she kissed Louisa and Max. She was beaming and all flushed. I had never seen anyone so happy. The three of us looked at each other in silence. After the celebration began to die down we went next door to the Normandie for a nightcap and that is when Max began to lay out the con. He was good at it and Louisa played the wide-eyed wife who was thrilled at his financial prowess. She told Mobes all about the house they were going to build in Winnetka, on the north shore, now that they were going to be rich. They laid it on fairly thick, but were careful not to go overboard. Around two in the morning we called it a night and took a cab back to the apartment.

  I said nothing at all about the evening and waited until Mobes brought up the subject of Max and his money making plans. I fed her the usual line about wanting to settle down and how well we got along and a load of other crap. I mentioned how good it would be to pay off her mothers place and to afford a full time nurse for her. I even brought up the restaurant idea again. I told her that it would be great to open it in a small town like the one she was from and get out of the big city. She ate it up like candy. I stressed that it was her money but that I was going to invest every cent I had with Max. I then hinted that maybe she did not have enough to make it worth Max’s while.. She didn’t say anything about that. In the end she wanted to sleep on it.

  On New Year’s Day we were just lazing about the apartment, when Louisa, right on schedule , asked Mobes to come over to her place to help her in picking out designs for the new house. I had to hand it to Louisa, she had every angle figured.

  Mobes returned from Louisa’s all in a dither. She was so excited her words were running together.

  “Oh, Kevin, this is great. I was a little doubtful about Max’s investment talk but now I see it’s for real. Louisa said we can get in on the ground floor before every one knows about it. She said we stand to make more than the people who come later. What do you think?”

  “I think I am going to sink every red cent I got into this. I can smell that food cooking in our new place. We’ll be on Easy Street, doll. This could mean a whole new start and a chance to get out of this damn city.”

  The next day she went to the bank. I had told Mobes that when I gave up my apartment on the North side I had put all my stuff in storage. She never questioned anything and when I showed her a dummy check for 15 grand, my part of the investment, she smiled and opened her bag. She showed me a cashier’s check for 21 grand and took our checks and went over to Louisa’s.

  The rest of the plan went off like clockwork. Now that we were going to be in the money Mobes quit her job so we could spend some time at her Mother’s farm. We went down to Normal. I met her mother and aunt. They all looked like sisters. Her family was so happy she had landed a man that they were easy to con and did not ask many questions.. We spent a lot of time looking around for restaurant locations while she showed me her favorite spots from her pitiful days of growing up in Hicksville. I was a nervous wreck and felt like a rat in a trap. I tried my best to appear interested but all I could think of was Louisa and the money. Finally after 2 weeks I couldn
’t wait any longer. I was getting jumpier than a horse addict looking for a fix. I called the number Louisa had given me. I could not wait until we got back to Chicago to get in touch with them.

  CHAPTER 20

  “Hello,” Louisa said. “Can I help you?”

  “It’s me. I’m going nuts down here. Is every thing OK up there?”

  “Sure, don’t worry. It’s all set, just do as we planned when you come back and we’ll be waiting. You know where we are. It’s only two more days and we’ll be on our way. Now you two enjoy your little honeymoon and stay calm. Now that you got a taste of the straight life in hometown, USA, you sure you don’t want to just settle down and be a husband and daddy? Me and Max could just roll by and drop the loot on our way out West.”

  “You got to be kidding. This is pure hell.”

  There was silence on her end. “OK, then,” She finally said. “I’ll see you in 3 days.”

  She hung up the phone but I felt no more relieved than before. I was afraid that when I called no one would answer. So maybe I had misjudged her. Maybe just this once everything would work out right.

  I stumbled through the next 48 hours in a nervous funk. We finally said our goodbye’s and rode the train back to Chicago. When we got back to the apartment, Mobes went next door but, of course, no one was home. She didn’t think anything of it and did not get upset until later that night when she still had no response to her knocking.

  “I wonder where Louisa and Max are. They knew we were returning today.”

  “Hey, don’t fret over it, doll. Why don’t you move over here and we can fool around a little. We couldn’t do anything at your mother’s place, what with your aunt next door and me in another room.”

  The last thing in the world I wanted was sex with Mobes, but I thought I better take her mind off things until the morning. I finally coaxed her into bed and managed to give her a thorough screwing which put her out like a light.

  In the morning she tried knocking on their door again but with the same result. She then knocked on another neighbor’s door. They told her that they had seen Louisa and Max move out a few days ago. She came back to the apartment in a panic and got all excited and started crying. I told her to calm down. We had no phone. I told her that I had to go out. She clung to me in wide-eyed fear.

  “Our money, our money! Oh, Kevin, what are we going to do?”

  “You stay here and I’ll be right back. I’m going to drive to the police station and get the cops. Maybe something happened, some emergency. Don’t get crazy, it’ll be OK.” I got her to sit down and take some deep breaths. I assured her again. “It’s probably all a mistake. I’ll get it straightened out. Try and relax, doll.”

  I threw on my coat and headed for the door. I turned and gave her one last look. I had what stuff I wanted in the car. I ran down the steps, through the lobby and out the door.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Between the icy conditions and the traffic it took me an hour to get to the place where she worked. On the way I stopped behind a parking lot and changed the plates on my car with a set I had stolen downstate.

  When I finally got to Louisa’s chamber of horrors, I pulled around to the back door and parked. Another car was there, which I assumed was one they had bought for the getaway.

  I banged on the door for along time and finally Louisa opened it. She was wearing her man’s suit again and it seemed to be splattered with blood.

  “Come in, hurry up.” She turned and I followed her into the dim main room.

  When my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I saw that Max was hanging naked from the restraints she had on an overhead bar. His head was drooping and a pool of blood surrounded his feet.

  “Holy shit,” I said. “What the hell happened?”

  I turned to her and saw she was facing me with a gun in her hand.

  “What the hell is going on?” I was in a state of shock. She was grinning at me with that look of hers. I felt like a lamb facing a mountain lion. “What is this shit, Louisa? What’s with the gun? Where did that come from?”

  “You men are all alike. Max couldn’t handle the truth when I told him what this place was. I filled him in on what I did and he couldn’t deal with it. He wanted to leave, he wanted to leave me. After all I did for him, listening to his whimpering sorry sad-sack tales of woe. He was just a spoiled weak child. Well, I hope he’s happy now. He thought a gun would help him. Well, guess who’s got the gun now? You men are all big and tough when it comes to hurting little girls but when you have to face a real woman, you can’t handle it. He wanted out; he wanted to run back to his shitty family. Well he ain’t running anywhere now.”

  I started to move away from her and quickly realized I couldn’t run from a bullet. I had my car keys in my hand and I threw them at her face. They hit her cheek and she fired the pistol into the air. I ran at her and hit her with my shoulder as we rolled to the floor. I got my hands around her throat and squeezed as hard as I could. She was very strong and nearly threw me off. I kept choking her until I felt her strength begin to ebb. I heard a muffled pop and felt a searing pain in my gut. Another pop and I rolled off her clutching my stomach.

  I lay there holding my insides in while she got up and brushed herself off.

  “You damn little shit. I told you to marry Ethel and you would have had what you wanted. I gave you the chance but you are just like every other man. I’m never wrong; you’re all worthless. Well, now you can lie there and bleed to death. I hate all of you.”

  From the floor I saw her pick up my car keys and stride to the door. She opened it and then turned back to me. She just shook her head, spit on the floor and shut the door behind her.

  I could feel my guts leaking out of me. The pain was unbearable. As tears streamed down my face I thought of poor Mobes sitting and crying in her apartment. But mostly I thought of how this was exactly where I belonged. This was where my whole pointless life had been headed. Now I was the lowest man in the Carny.

  THE END

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Steve Shadow is originally from the North side of Chicago. He spent his early youth mostly wasting time. In due course he morphed into an intellectual street punk, where he stayed one step ahead of the law, while pursuing acting, writing and subtle misdemeanors.

  When the 60s arrived he jumped headfirst into the maelstrom of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Despite these career-killing impediments he managed to obtain advanced degrees while attending both Northwestern and Roosevelt University. After a long stint in the porn biz he headed West to the Esalen Institute, followed by a multi-year sojourn in Carmel, California under the watchful eye of Clint Eastwood.

  An extended return to shady ventures in the Chicago area led once more to a necessary and hasty retreat to the desert Southwest, where he now dwells as an aging hipster and local bon-vivant As he is fond of saying, "The winds of change blow hot and dry. Watch the rear view mirror and stay off the radar."