please don't do this,” joey pleaded.
“please don’t do this? why shouldn’t i do whatever i want to you, you snivelling, whimpering little piece of human garbage? after what you did to me? after the way you betrayed me, me and and the whole organization - the organization that has taken years to build? huh?”
“please - i beg of you - don’t do this. give me one more chance - one more chance and i will do anything.”
“anything, huh? what do you think, eddie? should i give this shmuck another chance?”
“it’s all the same to me, al. you can give him another chance, or ten more chances, as far as i am concerned.”
“all right, then, i will give him another chance. but if he fucks up it will be on you.”
“hey, hey - i didn’t say anything about that - “
“ha, ha. just kidding. it won’t be on you, but i want you to drive this schmuck to where he has to go.”
eddie shrugged. “whatever.”
al reached into his desk and took out a little red envelope. it looked like the kind of envelope a birthday card or a christmas card would be mailed in. he showed the envelope to joey.
“all right, loser. i want you to personally deliver this envelope to the door of the place eddie will take you. make sure somebody answers the door and hand it them, you think you can handle that?”
“sure. al, sure. you can count on me.”
“spare me. just do it.”
“and where am i taking him?” eddie asked.
al took out his phone. “i’ll text you the sddress.”
“all right.” eddie nodded to joey. “let’s go.”
al gave joey the red envelope. there was nothing written on the outside of it and it was sealed tight.
they got into eddie’s black toyota and eddie, after consulting his phone with al’s directions, drove up to the north side.
they passed the city line and entered the leafy green suburbs. neither of them spoke.
the area and the houses were nicer, nicer than joey had ever seen in his life except on tv and in the movies.
eddie drove down a really small little curved side street with lots of big trees.
they stopped in front of a house.
the house was not that big. there were tables set up on the lawn, and children were sitting at the tables or just running around. it looked like they were having a birthday party or something.
eddie drove off!
joey took a deep breath and approached the house. the children did not seem to pay any attention to him.
he rang the doorbell. after about twelve seconds, when he was just about to ring again, the door opened and a young woman appeared. she was wearing a maid’s uniform, just like in the movies.
joey showed her the red envelope. “i -uh - have this for … for…”
the maid gave him a big smile. “oh, of course! won’t you come in, please.”
joey followed her inside and she closed the door behind him.
he was never seen again.
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