Moses & Curio & The Table For Four

Moses and Curio and the Table for Four



 

The old Bronco came to a halt on a dark parking deck on Poydras Street.  The driver of the Bronco could not help but smile to himself as he turned the key to kill the motor.  It was the exact location where he parked the day he and his lady first met.  He thought all his life that such a notion of romantically sanctifying some trivial date or place was only a custom for teenaged girls.  Yet as he looked at the same view he had seen through the filter of the far different life of not even two years before, he knew he shared, if only for a childish instant, that wistful glee of young lovers who marked every significant location and time in their love’s beginnings.

Wondering suddenly if he was getting sentimental in his old age, he looked over at her as she drummed her fingers on the arm rest.  She was far from gleeful.  Reading her face even with her facing away from him, he sighed and remembered that the day he so blithely held in the giddy reverence had in fact led to the outright threat of sudden death toward which he and his beloved walked hand-in-hand.

Her black hair was worn long that month.  Her stylist Kyle folded in some diffused stripes of auburn into her tresses for the occasion of their trip to her hometown, the first in a long while.  Her hair was piled high in a coil.  Dressed to kill in a sleek, low-cut blood-red Valentino knock-off, she was chewing the ever-loving hell out of some Wrigley’s.  Her pout omnipresent, she only stared out the window, but he could not help but think she did so beautifully.

Their ride over from her cottage in Thibodaux was silent, save for the radio.  Normally effusive and bubbly when she rode together with him somewhere, she merely chewed her gum with her arms folded and stared as the rice fields of Hwy 90 rolled by and dissolved into the setting sun behind them.  When she did make a sound, it was the rustling of her purse as she repeatedly checked both her tiny .380 pistol and her composed face in a compact mirror.

            “Now look.  Everything’s going to be just fine.”  Moses Holliday lit a Winston and scratched his stubbly chin.

            “Who are you trying to convince?  Me or you?”  Sitting next to him, Curio Phelonie checked her face for the final time in the rearview mirror of his Bronco and etched her lips with a careful scrape of her fingernail.  “I ain’t nervous.”

            “Glad one of us ain’t then.”  He whispered and leaned forward to check the cylinder of the snub-nosed .357 he was wearing hidden, holstered in his old Justin boots. 

            “Jesus!  You bring a big enough gun?”  Curio asked.

            “Pete’s big ass rates something with some punch, I reckon.” He held up a halting hand as he saw her wide-eyed expression, "Not that I think it'll come down to that, mind you.  You know how I am about preparation."  Moses winked at her.  “It’s just a different situation this time for me and them.  Chance favors the prepared man, as the saying goes.”

            She looked at him a long time.  The normally unflappable Texan was gritting his teeth.  She could see the tightness in his jaw as he stared the rounds in the breech of the pistol.

“Shit,” she swallowed hard.  “Now, I’m nervous.”

            “I’m not that nervous.  I just don’t think a man should a-go to dinner with armed men without his own armament.  Even his running buddies when they’re the kinda’ runnin’ buddies I run with.”

            “You really think they would whack you and me sitting in the middle of Emeril’s?”

            “Nope.  I do not think they would whack you and me,” He closed the cylinder and seated the pistol in its holster, “sitting in the middle of Emeril’s.”  He fixed his pants leg over his boot and got out of the Bronco. 

“But I do think,” he adjusted the dagger hidden in the waistband of his pants beneath his shirt, “we would be shot before we made it from the door to the truck outside of Emeril's.”

            “Why go there then?” Curio glared at him.  “If this is so damned dangerous, why in the hell are we going there?  You put it that way, I say fuck this shit.  Fuck this shit right in its ass.  What the hell, Moses?  If they are that weird about you and me then I say blow 'em way the hell off and let's go get some damned Chinese.  Far off, like as in China.  I say let’s grab up some of those tidy little cash bundles you keep tellin’ me you got hid all over God's green acre and get the fuck outta’ Dodge.  This is crazy.”

            “Because I ain’t that nervous.  They are my friends, after all.”

            “You mean your gangster-ass friends.  The friends that might have us shot, Moses?  I mean, shit.  You got enough enemies with just the fuckin’ cops that are probably after us, you really need your friends doing you the same way?”

            “Relax.  We’re gonna’ sort it all out.  It won’t be a problem, I promise.”

“You promise.  They…they I ain’t so sure about.  I think it’s dumb.  I shoulda’ never went public with them like I did.  You was right.  I was a dumbass.”

“On the contrary, it may as well been for the best.  You handled it well and they weren’t in no position to do anything but go about their business.  It gave them time to chill out, get clear of the job, and it gave them time to reflect and for me to talk to them under better conditions.  I could kick you right in your cute ass for doing what you did, but it might’ve been the best play we had for when I told them aboutcha’.  And I woulda’ had to tell them about you at some point.  So it is what it is.  And what it is, is just fine.”

“Man, I’m way more nervous about meeting them than I ever was working for them like we was.  Dammit, man.  You sure about this for real?”

“I am.  You’ve been in on enough jobs to make them realize you’re okay.  The shit went down so fast that night you met ‘em, I ain’t have the time to explain about you to them in the detail that was probably needed.  But tonight, I’ma let them meet you under better circumstances and it'll be settled.”  He walked around and they met in front of the Bronco.

It’ll be settled alright… Curio thought dourly.  With us dumped in Barataria Bay all nice and quietly.

“Look at you.”  Moses clasped her by the arms and stood back to admire her.  Smiling, he pecked her softly on the forehead.  “Who couldn’t like you?”

            “Gangster sons of bitches who see hot women every day and could give a shit about one more.” She frowned and looked away.  “That’s who.”

            “You probably are correct ninety-nine percent of the time, baby.”  He held her hand and led her toward the exit of the parking deck.  “But, you are my lady and they’re a-gonna’ by goddamned get used to me having you around.”

            “Around is one thing,” Curio struggled into her heels as they exited the parking deck onto Poydras Street.  “What about me working with you?  They gonna’ be cool with me on that?”

            “Yes, they will.  You’re already in it all the way up to your rack.”  He waved down a taxi.  “Which looks great in that dress by the way.”

            “Behold the glory of the headlights.”  She muttered as he opened the door. 

Nothing about their walking into the clutches of two mobsters seemed rational to her.  For nearly two years, Moses kept her a secret from his employers.  Her rash decision to intercede in a job that the Fontenot brothers were personally involved alongside Moses put her squarely in the sight of the mobsters.  Their hurry to leave the scene of a multiple murder had probably saved her life and Moses’ as well.

Now she and Moses were being invited to share a dinner table with two extremely paranoid and violent men, if Moses’ description was to be believed.

            “They are glorious.”  Moses slid in beside her.  He took a look at the blank expression on the Haitian driver’s face.  “Emeril’s, please.”  The driver nodded with a smile and the cab rolled.

            Curio laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s been a while since we shared a cab in the French Quarter.”

            “Yeah, we got to stop meeting up this way.”

            “Good things happen when we meet this way, I thought.”

            “I wouldn’t argue against that.”

            “You better not.”  She lightly slapped his cheek and laughed.  “You better say every cab ride you take with me fuckin’ rocks.”

            “This one is starting on a better footing than that first one.”

            “But this one might end up with us in the morgue together.  The first one was destined for us to end up together in bed.”

            “You are oh so morbid, baby.  You’re definitely dressed for bed, not to die.”

            “Should we work out some kind of signal in case things go south?”

            “The only signal you’ll get is the one to run like hell after both of them are shot dead in front of you.  Not that that is going to happen.”

            “You would really do that for me?  Shoot your friends?”

            “You mean if it’s us or them?  That ain’t no choice, Curio.  Baby, I thought I made that clear before.  It’s always us.  I told them that at the time.  I’ve told them that since.  And I’m a-tellin’ them that tonight.”

            “That’s so sweet!  I love you!”

            “You better.  It ain’t every day a man might have to shoot the only friends he’s got.”  He kissed her mouth hard.  “I’m lookin’ forward to this actually.”  He yawned and stretched.  “I’m starvin’ and they’re buying.”

         

         “Mister Fontenot!” Holly the hostess exclaimed as Pete Fontenot walked into Emeril’s restaurant.  A hulking man with a constant tan, he looked every bit the hired muscle goon he was as he walked through the door.  He wore a tweed suit and sunglasses.  His dark hair was shaved close to his scalp and his jaw was perennially clenched shut.

         “Bon soire, Miss Holly.  Fat boy got you working hard at it tonight?”  Pete smiled at the statuesque hostess, who always wore dresses that clung to her like a glove. 

         “Yes, sir.  We got a crowd going tonight, that’s for sure.  Mister Bertrand is already seated.”

         Pete nodded and began looking across the crowd for familiar faces.  A well-dressed couple came in behind him and waited.  Holly motioned him toward the rear-left side on the dining room. 

         “He’s hiding back in your corner.” She smiled.

         “Thank you, Holly.  Give your best to you daddy.”

         “I sure will.  Enjoy your evening.”

         Pete raised an eyebrow.  “I hope I do.”  He said under his breath and walked by himself in the direction she indicated.

         His eyes looked across the darkened tables, seeking threats.

         “I’ll be damned.”  He found one.

         Sitting at a high cocktail table was Randall Jowanski, a Deputy U.S. Attorney with whom the Fontenots and their minions, a collection of assorted criminals known in the local press as the Atchafalaya Mudbugs, were all too familiar.

         Jowanski was sitting with Ellen Prudeaux, his girlfriend and a junior counsel on his staff.  He had obviously seen Pete before Pete saw him.  The couple glared at him as he crossed the room.  For his part, Pete did not look at them directly.  He did however; scratch his temple with his middle finger for them to notice without effort.

         He rounded the corner of a brick partition and there was Bertrand Fontenot seated in the corner next to the open entrance to the kitchen.  Certain he was out of Jowanski’s line of sight, he scooted quickly to Bertrand’s side.

         Bertrand “Grizzly” Fontenot was reading the novel “The Bonfire of the Vanities” while wearing headphones.  He cocked his head as he saw Pete’s expression.

         “What?”  He dropped the book on the table and instinctively scooted his chair back.

         “Fuckin’ Jowanski and his bitch are both sittin’ by da bar.  We gotta’ vamoose, Bertie.  Right damn now!”

         Bertrand nodded and stood up with the help of his cane.  He was missing his right leg from the knee down as a result of combat in Vietnam.

         What I wouldn’t give two have both-a dem legs I was born with raht around times like dis…

         Jamie, the gaunt waiter who had served Bertrand two scotches in ten minutes was by their side in an instant.  “Good evening, Mister Fontenot.  Is there a problem?”

         “We gotta’ get outta’ here, Jamie.”  Bertrand collected his things. “Tell Fat Boy back there to pop open the back door for us, would ‘ya?”  He peeled off two fast hundreds and jammed them in the waiter’s shirt pocket.  “Make it quick.  Tell him Grizzly Fontenot wishes to inspect the back dock and get yo’ ass back here.” 

Other patrons were nudging each other, staring and whispering.  Pete turned his back to his brother and stood staring back at them with his legs and arms slightly spread from his huge torso.  Bertrand fished a pair of sunglasses out of a pocket and got his eyes covered.

         “What time were they supposed to be here?  Nine, right?” He murmured to Pete.

         Pete looked over his shoulder and nodded.  “It was eight-forty when I left the car.”

         “He’s punctual.  We gotta’ git’ gone-a here.”



         “Shit, there’s Pete Fontenot!” Randall Jowanski said before hiding his face behind giant White Russian.  “I wonder where his asshole buddy brother is?”

         Ellen glared at the large man as he walked across the room.  “They’ve got a table for two in the asshole section in the back probably.”

         Randall saw Pete give him the finger.  “Yeah, fuck you, too, fat ass.  Your time’s coming.” He grumbled.

         “Speaking of.  You had any movement on the insider lately?” Ellen dipped a brie-covered bread stick in a ramekin of basil-chipotle oleo and chewed at it.

         “The tweaker?  He’s a pretty random dude.  I’ll be surprised if he drops anything significant.” Jowanski took a long drink of the cocktail. “But, you never know. He’s certainly in the position to get me something nice if he don’t get himself whacked in the process.  Them two bastards have been cleaning a lot of house lately.”

         “How exactly do they do that so much without someone squealing on them, I wonder?” Ellen said in a low voice, more to herself than him.  “Those little fishies they got running around have gotta’ know they’re only one finger snap away from disappearing.  Ii don’t see how they can willingly work like that.  Look at the boiler room bullshit we have to deal with from D.C. and all we have to worry about is getting fired.  They fuck up, they have got to know they’re walking a plank for that asshole.”

         “Those assholes pay pretty good and the guys they get to work for them nowadays pretty much always know the score.  It isn’t like they’re newcomers to the game around here, you know.  That family goes way back, to say the least.  People know who that prick is and they know what he does.”  He sighed as Pete disappeared from view around a corner. “This town doesn’t forget a personality like his much.  If Statley was half a prosecutor he woulda’ had them two taking the juice at Angola by now.  I’ll get them one damned day though.  Everybody fucks up some kind of way eventually.”

         “For a big city, the world sure don’t grow much around here.  That’s for darn sure.”

         “In their circles and ours, it doesn’t.  For a big city, this place can be a very small place at times if you don’t spread yourself beyond the office and the house.  One thing that guy does is dip his fingers into a lot of spaces and slaps a lot of backs in circles you wouldn’t think he’d be interested in.  This town has always had diversity in its blood.  Maybe that’s why we don’t get anywhere with it around here.  We’re too bland.”

         Ellen forced herself to stab at a spinach salad, smiling at her boyfriend.  He was an ambitious man.  Working with him on the stacks of cases the recently departed U.S. Attorney left behind for the next man up was taking its toll on her physically as of late.  She ate very little, drank too much, and was forced to dote on the pretentious federal prosecutor’s whims on command.  He was a rising star in the Justice Department and the newly inaugurated Administration was already knocking on his door with inquiries about his intentions.

The word on Ellen Prudeaux spread rapidly around the office.  She was an ice queen who carried Jowanski’s water for him in the vainglorious expectation of attaining a position of importance at some point sooner rather than later.  She could hide nothing about their relationship from the sharp eyes and ears of the ladies in the office.  The secret was a poorly kept one eventually.  As a result, the women scorned subtly and the men ignored her since she was taken.  Aside from Randall and her extended family, she had very little life beyond the office. 

Once she was a rising prosecutor in her own right in Tangipahoa Parish.  A foolish, drunken, and very public spectacle had forced her resignation.  At a mixer for Tulane graduates, she met Randall.  He was there as a sympathy date for a fellow alum and he slipped her his number after a few coy words at the buffet table.  Through their independent channels, she checked into him and he checked into her.  Her channels told her she should hook up with him because he was a go-getter.  His channels told him he should date her because she was a come-get-her.  The acquaintance was further made and for four years, they kept a relationship publicly platonic at work and deviant as hell away from prying eyes.

Randall maintained a fit physique.  He played racquetball, softball, and golfed with the other members of his clique.  He was a well-tanned schmoozer, a fearless debater, and a raffish eye-winker to all the ladies who knew him.  She was beginning to show the puffy face of a drinker and middle-age was spreading its frump across her body.  Terrified she was running out of time with him, she was on a crash diet of raw greens, Jane Fonda workouts, and vodka stirred into her green tea. 

That night they were having a quiet dinner after an unusually contentious meeting with two FBI agents who botched a forced-entry narcotics arrest some three years before.  The Fifth Circuit was due to rule on an appeal from the man convicted after the arrest.  New evidence revealed by a surprise witness cast some doubt on the agents’ stories and generally made a mess of the conviction.  Though Jowanski had not brought the case before the court, he was tasked with saving the conviction.  He was certain he had failed to do so.

“I wonder what them two talk about.” Randall slurped again.  “This place ain’t some Gambino pizzeria for them to be talking code words.”

“Get a wiretap and find out.” Ellen shrugged smugly.  Getting an eavesdropping bug near the Fontenots had been an exercise in futility for months.  Occasionally an informant had been found amongst the syndicate known as the Atchafalaya Mudbugs.  A few usable tidbits of information had been gleaned from the turncoats.  Most of the information had only pointed them at people who dealt with the Fontenots, never at the Fontenots themselves. 

Twice, it was discovered that the information was leaked deliberately to Jowanski to be used to take out Grizzly Fontenot’s enemies.  More ominously, one rat disappeared soon after he spoke to them only once about a purported Jamaican cocaine connection.

“One day.  One day.  One day.” Slumping in his seat, Randall stared through the restaurant’s boisterous crowd at the brick wall that obscured his sight of the Fontenot brothers.  “If only I could see behind that damned wall.”  A whimsical notion hit him and he jumped from his chair.  Ellen looked at him strangely.

“You sit on a nail?”

“I’m just wondering if they’ve got someone we need to see behind that wall.”  He wiped his mouth with his napkin and strode toward them.  “Sit tight, baby.”

Ellen watched him, laughing at his moxie.  He could be incredibly spontaneous.

Randall made his way through the maze of diners and servers and slipped around the corner.  There was no one sitting there.  A thin waiter was placing an empty cocktail glass on a tray.  He nodded as Randall walked up to him.

“Good evening, Mister Jowanski.”

Randall squinted at him.  “Do I know you?”

“No sir.  But Mister Fontenot said you would probably come to see him and he begs your pardon.” The waiter produced a folded slip of paper.  Jowanski noticed it had been ripped from the server’s pad from which he used to write down orders.  “He asked that I give you this.  I hasten to say what he told me to tell you, though.”

Randall Jowanski laughed to himself.  “It won’t offend me.  Go ahead.”

“He said, and I quote, ‘Your bitch adds a new dimension to the term service animal and you should get one of those harnesses blind people use to lead her around on when you go out to eat in a public place.’”  The server gulped and looked nervously.

“He’s a hoot, ain’t he?” Chuckling, Jowanski opened the paper.  Two outlines of hands flipping him the bird had been hastily sketched. 

“I guess one fuck off wasn’t enough was it?” was written under it.



Moses and Curio got out of the cab a half-block up from the restaurant.  Standing up and stretching their legs, the couple took two steps toward the front door but Moses halted her mid-stride.  Another fare jumped at the chance and took their cab away. 

The Fontenots were riding up the street in Pete’s black Cadillac sedan toward them.  Slowly.  He could see Grizzly in the passenger seat, leaning towards the glass and raising his hands.  Curio, having only seen the brothers once, did not react as fast as he.

“What?” She looked around, inquisitively.

“I’ll be damned.” Moses placed himself between her and the supposed field of fire.  The passenger window began to drop.  He dropped to his knee and yanked up his pants.  Taking a cue finally, Curio jammed her hand into her purse and immediately came out with her tiny Beretta pistol.  She dropped down to a knee beside Moses, her eyes locked on the creeping Caddy with the window dropping ominously.  A drive-by intended for her was a sight she had seen before.

Grizzly Fontenot hooted out the window, “Hey derrr, Tex!”  He threw a paper airplane at them and the car roared by. 

“Jesus.”  Moses caught his breath.  His heart was pounding.  Curio quickly stashed her pistol and grabbed the airplane.

“Those motherfuckers have got some nerve.” She grumbled, her own heart beating fast as the adrenaline coursed through her veins. 

“You have no idea.” Moses exhaled through his nose slowly and stood up.  He lit a quick Winston with a hand that uncharacteristically shook.  “Carefree sons of bitches, I swear.”

“It says there’s a Fed in there and we need to meet at the Crescent City Brewhouse.”  She read.  “I never been in there.  Is it any good?”

“It’s New Orleans.  Of course it is.  That’s over on Decatur Street, ain’t it?”

“Yep.  I smelled it a whole buncha’ times but I never went in.”  She folded up the airplane and hid it in her purse.  She looked at him with a smirk.  “You really thought they were about to pop us, didn’t you?” She looked around for witnesses to her brandishing the pistol.  One old bum was looking at her through hazy eyes from across the street. 

“They’re damned lucky.  It’d been a shame to pop their asses over an airplane.”

“You think there’s a Fed in there for real or they just fuckin’ around?”

“There’s probably a Fed in there.  The place is popular.  Them two, though.  They’re a squirrelly pair.  They draw cops like flies at the most suck-ass of times.  Wouldn’t surprise me at all if they had some G-man’s retirement bris in there tonight.”

“Shit.  Let’s go then.”  They walked up toward Poydras Street.

“Damn, I’m hungry as hell now.” He mumbled. 

Moses clenched his teeth, trying to hide his fear of the minor glitch.  For the first time, he had been truly scared of his employers’ whimsical notions about who lived and who died under their set of rules.  Seeing that window dropping, knowing they could have been involved in a fatal shootout at the hands of his only friends…it suddenly hit him full-on in the face.  Breathing deeply and silently to calm himself, he held her hand in his and walked, merely nodding and grunting as she chirped non-stop about random instances from her former life stumbling aimlessly through the very streets they were treading.   

They hit the front door to the restaurant.  Moses dropped his cigarette on the sidewalk and steadied himself to face his friends.  Any ideas about a calm and lively introduction to his fiery and beautiful confidant, and thus vicariously, theirs, ended when he saw that slow Cadillac easing toward him.  Grizzly’s face seemed cheerful enough as he flipped the airplane out of the window and Moses could not see Pete’s very well.  But he knew the two men could smile through anything, even his death, if need be. 

Wiping his brow with a sleeve, he bent over and positioned his pant’s leg at the top of his boot to ensure a far faster draw.  The move seemed to him the mark of a ridiculously paranoid man, but he did it nevertheless.

“Are y’all with the Fontenot party?” The high school-aged hostess in her blue oxford shirt and khaki slacks asked as they walked to the host stand.

“Yes ma’am.” Moses surveyed the scene.  Curio bounced in place.  She had to pee.

“Right this way!” The hostess smiled and led them to and up the stairs.  The upstairs level was devoid of patrons, except the two Fontenots seated at the farthest table away from the stairway.  Curio only noticed they were sitting closest to the restroom.

The hostess left them at the top pf the stairs.  “I’ll send the waiter up to y’all!  Enjoy your evening!”

“Let’s hope so.” Moses nodded at her as the young lady walked down the stairs.  The couple walked to them.

Pete stood up as the couple approached.  Curio remembered faintly how tall and large he was from their first meeting but to see him standing in the middle of a room under better lighting and without a man to be killed at her feet made her appreciate his stature that much more.  The man was massive.

Grizzly Fontenot jammed a long silver-tipped cane on the floor and pushed himself up out of his chair.

“Y’all sit down!” Curio waved them down. “I ain’t that much of a lady for all that courteous bullshit.”  Grizzly chuckled and slunk back into his seat.  He smiled broadly at his friend and the new lady.  Pete sternly wore his mug and eased into his chair to take a pull from a mug of dark ale.

“I’m Curio by the way!” She beamed and waved as she grabbed her crotch through her skirt.  “I’ll be back.  I’m about to piss all over myself.” She held up a hand to them to beg pardon and rushed by them.

“Fellers.” Moses dropped into a chair across from them.  “Who was the Fed?”

“None other than Jowanski himself.” Grizzly said.

“With his bitch.” Pete added.

“They see you?”

“Yeah.  Dat’s why we bailed like we did.  Bad enough we’re seen together.  You add in yo’ lady and it’s just a mess if dat sumbitch got a lookachew.” Grizzly sipped from a glass of scotch.  “You lookin’ fit, boy.  Yo’ girl must do some cookin’.”

“We both cook.”

Both Fontenots erupted in laughter. 

“Jesus, Tex,” Grizzly wiped a tear from his eye, “You done turned us fo’ a serious fuckin’ loop when we done seen yo’ got yo’sef a lil cute cheri to keep yo’ dick clean fo’ you.  Now you cookin’ with her?  What you cookin’, boy?  You makin’ a casserole in between cleanin’ Cletus and buryin’ cash?”

“I made brownies with her last week.”  More laughter.  “With a shitload of pot in them.  And after we ate them, I also licked some whipped cream and strawberry compote offa’ both her and a lady friend she met over at a hotel bar in Houston.  So if you think I’m Ozzie and she’s Harriet, y’all ain’t quite on the money with that.”

Pete looked at Moses, a slight smile instead of the wide grin now on his face.  “She into all dat lip-smackin’, eh?  Boy dem women seem to all be eatin’ wool deez days.  Dem strippers at the club ain’t chased a dick in months lately.”

“When she feels the need and the opportunity arises, we indulge.” Moses winked at them.  “Yay me!”

“Dat’s a keeper.” Grizzly said.  “I take it you reckon you gotta’ keep her now, huh?”

“You could say she kinda’ grew on me.  I reckon I’ll keep her.”

“Well.  It’s not all dat cut and dried, Tex.” Pete said.

Moses Holliday glared at his old friend but smiled sarcastically as he said, “Yeah, Pete.  It is.”

She was standing between the brothers as he said that.  Laying a hand on a shoulder of the brothers, she startled them.  Pete reared back to hit his assailant.

“Easy, Big Love.” Curio giggled at him.  “I was just going to say thank you for inviting us to have dinner with y’all.”

Grizzly Fontenot relaxed and looked over his friend Moses.  Smiling, he said, “Yo’ girl is like the meanest of farts, boy.  Silent and deadly.”

“You ain’t got a clue, monsieur.” Curio Phelonie glared at her employer with the coldest, sexiest eyes he had ever seen.  With a wink and a sly smile she pecked her lips on both of the Fontenots’ cheeks.  “Bon soire, mon amis.” She whispered breathlessly and walked around to sit next to her man.

“So you two are still on da fence about lil ole me?” She sat down and hung her purse on the chair. 

“Let’s just say we’ve reviewed your application but the interview is eighty percent of the hiring process.” Grizzly said.

They all got quiet as a lady server came by to get orders.  Moses figured the Fontenots had paid the management to keep the upstairs all for themselves and for them to be disturbed as little as possible.  He was correct.

When the server brought up some drinks and left, Pete pulled out a folded sheet of paper from inside his jacket pocket.

“Whatcha’ got there?” Curio asked.

Pete unfolded the paper and held it up to read.  He looked at her over the top of the page. “You, cheri.  Your application for employment.”

“I’m not on a paper.” She smiled. “I don’t exist.”

“Lemarie Curio Leblanc?  Oh you exist, ma’am.  You can be called whatever Tex likes to fuckin’ call you, lil cheri.  But officially dat’s your name and dat fo’ sho’ gonna’ be whose name dat done gonna’ be arrested someday for a capital murder linked to the reputed mobsters Bertrand and Peter Fontenot.  Der ain’t gonna’ be no cute ass Curio Phel-lon-ie in the paper with some mug shot.  Der’s only gonna’ be a Lemarie Curio Leblanc.  And who is she?”

“She’s a dead girl.”

“No, she’s sittin’ in front of us.  She dat lil’ strippah mama’s accident from out in Elysian Fields.” Pete read from the paper.  “Da one who bounced around between three Catholic schools and six public schools until she dropped completely off the roles in the middle of the ninth grade.  She’s da girl listed as a person of interest in eight theft of services and one credit card fraud even doh she was only a teenager.  And dem are jess what I could find still on da books in da juvenile files.  And trust me, dem ain’t easy to get into.”

“I had a charmed life back then.”

“You call runnin’ around from fleabag hotel to hotel charmed?  No wonder you could be charmed by Moses.  He lived in his share of dem.”

“Those were the days, weren’t they?” Moses winked at the brothers.  They had all lived in such places from time to time during the street war days.

Curio poked her tongue in her cheek.  “It was nicer when Mama was fuckin’ somebody who had an apartment, but a shitty hotel was good enough most times.  I live a lot better now thanks to Moses.”

“You got an aunt still livin’.”

“Yeah.”

“Talk to her much?”

“Not since I met Moses.  I’ve toyed with the idea of callin’ her and lettin’ her know I’m alive but I figure it’d be too rough on her.  She wasn’t doin’ too good last time I saw her.  I really don’t know if it’s better to let her wonder and worry or just wonder until she passes.  Frankly, I haven’t gave her much thought.  Me and her didn’t see eye to eye on much.”

“So you got no ties to nobody den.” Grizzly said.

“I got ties to one man.  I got business with two more.  If you’ll let me work.”

“We ain’t sold on a woman doin’ what y’all do.  As a rule, we don’t go for dat shit.  Moses has been a good worker and a good friend ‘cuz he knows da rules.” Griz said.

“I know dem rules, too.  Dem rules have been pounded in my head more ways than I can count.  I accept them.”

“Let’s say you decide one day dat dis here ole Texan is just a selfish ass prick and you go you know what?  Fuck him,” Grizzly nodded innocently, “Or, hypothetically speakin’, you find out ya’ boy done got two mo’ lil ladies set up on da side.  And man, you turn fifteen shades of pissed off.  You go to cussin’ and throwin’ his shit out dat door.  You sayin’ fuck it, fuck him…and fuck all a dem one night all drunk as a skunk.  You say, hey, I’m outta’ dis life.  You say, bullshit on him and every sorry coonass he knows or ever done knowed.  You hole up in a motel and get loaded up on Bartles & Jaymes.”

“Oh, you sell me short.  I’m gettin’ loaded up on coke and Stoli if I’m mad like that.” She folded her arms and sniffled at the insult.  It was typical of older men, even Moses to be patronizing to her.

“Yeah, well fuckin’ good for you.” Grizzly scowled at her. “You load up on vodka and get yo’self busted for a drunk and disorderly and den dey run da prints of dem lil ole fingers of yours and booyah!  Dem hogs walk you from a drunk tank into a quiet room with a little ole tablelamp and dey gotta’ stack of papers dey done got faxed from four homicide locations.  Dey say, look right cheer, honeypie,” Grizzly straightened his posture officiously. “We seem to have a slight problem of yo’ prints bein’ found on a piece of broke glass at dis residence where a homicide took place.  Care to explain dat fo dis po’ dumb officer?  And you say, boy oh boy, have I gots one helluva story to tell you lil piggies about deez sorry sumbitches I used to work fo’.  See, what had happened was.” Grizzly shrugged. 

“That ain’t gonna’ happen.” She said simply. “I told you.  I know the rules.”

Moses only looked at Pete as she spoke.  Pete was not convinced.

“In a perfect world, you are quite correct.  In our world that’s extremely correct as well.  But fo’ a whole diffurnt set of reasons.” Pete said.

“So I’ll be killed if I talk.” She shrugged. “You think I don’t know dat about y’all?  I do.  Look,” she leaned in across the table, stabbing her finger on the tablecloth as she spoke.  “Y’all probably think Moses has gone ape shit crazy having me around with him.  Shit, y’all might be right.  But I’ve been in a several jobs with him.  Me and him are together and we were together for a long time before I started goin’ with him on jobs.  Moses ain’t never sugar-coated a fucking thing from me.  He told me if we’re ever caught, we’re dead.”

“He did, did he?” Pete looked at Moses.

“You two probably think I let her in on this thing half-assed drunk after some tequila bender.” Moses said.  “Trust me, I let her in on the job the night I met her after only a half-assed beer bender.”  Curio laughed at that and shrugged.

“I can be a cheap drunk sometimes.”

“It took her basically beggin’ me to let her work with me for damn near a year before I give in and let her in.  She’s been at it a year now, roughly. 

“How many jobs?” Pete asked.

“Five countin’ Tupelo.”

The Fontenots look at each other.  They were clearly uncomfortable with that knowledge.

“Which ones?”

“The last five, you paid for.  I skipped her on a few before that while she was training with me but she coulda’ gone on them too.  But when your weed thing needed handlin’ that’s when I brought her in.”

“He popped my cherry in Paducah.” Curio folded her arms.  “Much more fun than the real cherry, I might add.”

“Fun?” Pete shook his head.  “Dis ain’t fun we do, lil girl!” He barked at her.  His face was steadily reddening as he listened to the young woman so flippantly speak of her killing on their orders.  He pointed at Moses.  “Your goddamned fun could get us all killed!  Now Moses, you and us, we ain’t never had no beef.  But dis bullshit raht cheer”  Man…” He lost his words for a moment and settled for a swallow of beer.  Calmed, he scratched his nose, his voice more measured. 

“You done dis shit all kids of wrong by us, Tex.  It ain’t your job to bring along yo’ fuckin’ snatch while you work fo’ us, man!  For Christ sake, Moses!  Shit!  You knew you was wrong fo’ it and dat be why you fuckin’ hid it from us knowin’ we would have a hissy about it.”

“I did.” Moses nodded. “I knew one day I would tell y’all about her.  Damned if I could think of a good way to do it.  I coulda’ whipped her ass for doin’ what she done but she’s my partner in all aspects of life and here we are.  Y’all know me.  I ain’t prone to frivolity.”

“You ain’t prone to a lot of shit, Tex.” Grizzly said.

“Look Heavy D.” Curio pointed at Pete.  Her own dander was raised.  “I might be his snatch to y’all and all?  But I’m also his motherfucking backup on these fucking suicide missions y’all send him on every fuckin’ time some dipshit upsets your delicate constitutions.  Some bitch calls you her baby daddy?”  She pointed at Pete.  His eyes widened.  Grizzly looked at him, surprised.  “Moses, kill dat bitch!  Y’all got a house full of dope-dealin’ niggers?  Hey, Moses, kick in dat door and kick dey ass, boy.  My fat ass and my one-legged ass brother got ya’ back, right?  Two fuckin’ skinheads hole up in their goddamned race war bunker with real live goddamned minefield and booby traps all over the place?  Hey, Moses, go pop dem two assholes for us.  But hey, we don’t care how you do it, just get it done…Tex ole buddy.  And when you get back, if you get back, here’s some folding cash and some worn-out old slut dat done been run through by half of Metairie and all of the Fifth Ward to keep your dick from wantin’ something nicer.  You know what?  I say fuck that.”

“You never told us dat about Therioux and Dickie Calico.”  Grizzly looked at Moses.  “What in da hell she spoutin’ off about a minefield?”

“They had that shitass little hole in the ground surrounded by pipe bombs.” Moses folded his arms.  “We had one bastard of a time a-gettin’ to ‘em.  Took damn near two days on our bellies to work through that booby-trap bullshit.”

“I broke a nail.” Curio shrugged.  “And oh yeah, his little fuckin’ snatch was the one who managed to get that red-headed bastard to stick up his head long enough for Moses to shoot him.”

“Behold the power of headlights.” Moses chuckled and winked at her.

“Tits, you mean?” Pete was befuddled.  He was keen on reading press clippings and paying for the inside scoop of jobs Moses did for them just to stay ahead of potential complications.

Curio looked at him like he was an idiot.  She pulled the front of her dress down.  She was wearing a half-cup bra and she managed to get her fingers in it as well and her breasts spilled from it.  The Fontenots gaped at them.  Quick as a whip, she had her .380 aimed at them.

“No matter how many y’all see, they never get old, do they?” She smirked and put the gun away before they had time to get alarmed too much. 

“Damn if he didn’t look just like they just did when I pulled them out for him!” She nudged at Moses and laughed with him.

Moses laughed at their surprise.  “When I saw Dickie’s mouth drop open when he realized she was standing beside him with her titties floppin’ out,” he wiped a tear, still chuckling as the brothers looked at each other,” “I damned near couldn’t make the shot from laughin’ at him.” He kept laughing as they kept staring at her.

She looked down at them. “Thanks, ladies.  That will be all.”

Curio put her breasts away and got her dress fixed back.  Indignant, she pointed at the ground and glowered at Pete Fontenot.  “We had to belly crawl for almost two days through fucking ant beds, piles of old dog shit, some badass briars and a real nice yellow jacket nest just to get up to the pipe bombs, Big Love.  And then we had get around all the stupid ass little punji pits those two had all around their little bullshit Hitler bunker.  When you send him to do what you need done?  Let me tell you, he’s waaay underpaid for all dat kinda’ bullshit.  Way underpaid.”

“Punji pits?” Grizzly asked. “Dey done seen Platoon too much, you reckon?”

“Must have.” Moses sipped his whiskey.  “I think they got bored and thought it would be somethin’ fun to do.  They were kids, after all.”

“Mean ass damn kids.” Grizzly noted. “Just like dey mean ass goddamned daddy.”

“I recall him, too.” Moses winked. 

“Dat oughta’ near ‘bout clear out dat nest of sorry sumbitches.  Ain’t none a-dem left but a few of dey women.  And half a-dem got babies and strung out on da toot out in dat fucked-up trailer park dey called a compound on da news.  It nevah ceases to amaze me dat some speed-freakin’ trailer trash goes from da’ usual rednecks to white supremacists just ‘cuz dey got a Rebel flag hangin’ on dey trucks.”

“They also had nooses hangin’ from trees and swastikas all over the place, boss.” Curio said.

Grizzly Fontenot dismissed the notion with a wave.  “Dey jess tryin’ to keep dem blacks from tryin’ to rob them and fuck dey women.  Half a dem skanky cunts in dat place could care less whether da next pecker they take a hold of is Magic or Larry.  It’s all a farce and now all dem papers are reportin’ about dat nasty ass place like its Joe Mengele’s dayspa and cathouse.  Dey so fuckin’ stupid up in New York, dey believe it.  Da only white power dem ig’nant motherfuckahs need to have shoulda come from a toothbrush.  Dem white chiclets done turned mostly licorice color in dey mouth.”  He looked at Moses.  “Punji pits, really?” 

“God’s honest.”  Moses raised his hand to swear it.  “I gotta’ say though, they built them black powder bombs pretty good, too.  It took a helluva long time to work through those.  It was pucker-tight work, amigo.  We had to move at night and only usin’ the moon to see.  Warn’t easy.”

“Black powder ain’t hard to rig.  You know dat.”  Pete said.

“If they were any good, we would be dead.  But they weren’t.  End of story.” Moses shrugged.

“And you went in with him on dis work, you sayin’?” Grizzly asked Curio.  She was checking her nails as Moses spoke.  She cut her dark eyes up at him.  “You ain’t had no problem doin’ dat shit with him?”

“It was the job you gave him.  Same as any other.”

“You coulda’ got shot and Tex woulda’ had to deal with you instead of finishing business.”

“That’s a possibility, sure.”  She smiled. “I reckon the risk is less than the reward and since it’s us takin’ it, it’s how we roll.  If I was hit, I would make sure he didn’t have to worry about gettin’ me outta there.  Again, I know the rules.  Same as him.”

“What happens when dat flips da other way around?” Pete asked.  “Moses is a capable man.  He done run a many a man to ground fo’ us.  He never needed no partner before.”

“Moses warn’t never forty and I ain’t never met her before, Pete.”  Moses said.  You ain’t really seen how well she takes to the job.  I run a many a man into a hole in my day.  Diggin’ a few of them out warn’t the easiest thing by myself.”

  “Aha!” She interjected.  “Only this time he had me, his fuckin’ snatch.” She smirked at Pete.  “And it was me that flushed that one up outta’ that hole he was in with the twins here.”  She squeezed her bosom. “I guess that other one was a faggot ‘cuz he dove back in through the door faster than I could get a shot at him or we wouldn’t have had to burn up your product to get him.  Sorry about that by the way, boss.  It couldn’t be helped.”

“I’ll write it off on my insurance.” Grizzly shrugged.  “If y’all couldn’t get him out dat hole, it best dat da product got torched, actually.  I can’t help but get ten kinds of pissed off thinkin’ ‘bout all my product sittin’ in an evidence locker at a cop corral.  Jess sittin’ locked up in a cage up in der fo’ some dirty fuck with a shield to come grab himself a piece of and go make him some scratch on da side.  I swear dey only try to bust ole Fontenot cuz’ dey know he’ll be replaced in time.  Dey still get der pay offa my labor.”

Pete shared his brother’s opinion.  “Dey let us take all da risk and bust our asses if we don’t shave dem a slice.  Den if we don’t keep our ducks in a row, somethin’ breaks on us from some prick in a suit in some Justice office and den dey gotta’ come pick us up.  But boy, dey love doin’ dat shit.  Dey jess love shortin’ dat dope weight when dey log it.  And we be sittin’ in a cell blowing money on lawyers ‘cuz a-dat.”

“Serious fuckin’ job hazard, ain’t it?  You could just be used car salesmen and rip people off legally, you know.”  Curio shrugged and opened a pack of saltines.  “Where in the hell do they do the cooking in this place?  Slidell?”

“I read Therioux was burned alive.” Pete said.  “That’d be how all my fuckin’ dope went poof den?”

Moses nodded at Curio and folded his arms.  “I dumped four gallons of kerosene in the air hole of that bunker he was in and she flipped the match.”

“Yeah his little fuckin’ snatch who just lives to get pounded by men and play with her Easy-Bake oven from time to time did that.” Curio glared at Pete.  “You could smell the fried mountain oysters pretty quick coming out of that smokestack.”

“And you got no problem doing this?” Grizzly asked her.  He scratched his eyebrow and noticed a server bringing the entrees up the stairs.  “Dey musta’ heard you, cheri.  Supper’s comin’ up.”

“Yummy!” Curio shook in her seat, happy as a lark.  “I’m starving!”

The server laid out their spread and the four killers dove in.  They were well into their plates when Pete, his mouth full of bowtie pasta and sautéed mussels, watched Curio eating.

“I figure a tiny little thing like you’d be pickin’ at a salad.  You knockin’ out dat hog like a women possessed.”

Curio paused, mid-gnaw on a spare rib.  “You got a problem with a coonass woman who eats, Big Love? We ain’t that rare down in deez parts, ya’ know.” She sniffled and returned to her potato salad.

Pete patted his huge belly.  “Naw, lil cheri.  But look at you and Tex.  Fit as a fiddle.  Y’all don’t eat dat much, do you?”

“No, Pete.” Curio fellated the rib bone.  She put on the show just long enough to get him lax and then flicked the thick bone suddenly at him.  It bounced on his chest and down into his pasta bowl.  “We eat good.  But we just fuck all our calories away.”

“Gotta’ keep the cardio rate in check at my age.” Moses winked at Grizzly.  Pete chuckled and sipped his beer.

“How you two meet, dare I ask?” Bertrand asked.  He was merrily indulging in a plate of fried catfish

“He gave me a twenty to blow him.”  Curio said.

“Only when I pulled it out and she saw it for the first time, she gave me a fifty back.”  Moses laughed.  The Fontenots giggled.

“Actually, we met over on Bourbon.” She spoke and shoveled potato salad.  “I was out having a few drinks minding my own business and the next thing I know, I’ve got a fucked–up hangover and I’m gettin’ deep-dicked by some kickass redneck hit man at some swamp shack out in Houma.”  She looked at Moses.  “That about right?”

         “Sums it up better than I could.”  Moses was cutting up a rare teriyaki ribeye.

         “You just see some cute lil ole girlie and bring her into da fold like dat?  Please tell me you ain’t got a habit of dat.” Grizzly said.

         “What can I say?  I’ve got a kinky thing about snatchin’ strange women off the street and taking them to the house so I can tell them what I do and kill them.  Boy them gators ain’t complaining.  They been eatin’ good on them gals I’ve had to let go.”  He looked at Curio.  “Sorry you had to find out like this, baby.  They actin’ like they don’t know that, but really they kinda’ like to beat each other off when I kill them bitches and throw ‘em in the bayou.”

         “Yeah, like that’s gonna’ happen.”  She laughed at the notion and took a sip of her house lambic.  “Better hope that don’t reach the papers.  Incestuous fag gangsters who like to watch old hayseeds from Texas kill fallen young women after he gives them the fuckin’ of their young lives.  I can just see that on Hard Copy.”

          “As if.”  Pete chuckled.  He looked at Bertrand.  “I gotta’ say for da record, baby bro.  Dat’s some damned woman he done met.”

        “One of a kind, gentlemen.”  Moses agreed.  There was a hidden resignation in Grizzly’s tone he did not like for some reason.  “Come on, now.  Did you two really think I would just drag some random skank out to the house and let her in the fold?  Worse yet, bring her on jobs, without her being some kind of special?  Check her out,” he sized her between his hands, “ain’t she everything a man like me could hope for?”

        Grizzly looked at Curio.  He propped up on an elbow and scratched at his neck with his hand while forking up pieces of baked yam with the other.  At that angle, with his long black hair falling in front of his face, she could have sworn he looked like De Niro in Angel Heart.  She reminded herself that De Niro was Lucifer in that movie.

“You know, of course, ain’t none of dis thing we do good for our health, raht?  It ain’t nevah got no fairy tale ending, little girl.  Yo’ Prince Charming der, he one of my oldest friends in dis world.  I do damned near anything fo’ him and he damn near do anything fo’ me.  He know da rules and dat’s da only reason we sittin’ here like old biddies gabbin’ ‘bout deez things like we doin’.  My first inclination, unfortunately, is to retire you both.”

He ate a piece of fish after he dipped it in tartar sauce.  The couple only listened. 

         “Now we all good friends around nyah.” He chewed and spoke to Curio, “’Cept you, of course.  It would pain me greatly to do all dat harm to him and you, ‘specially after I done met you.  You one crazy little minx.  Wilder den a buttermilk fart and twice as wet for him, I be a-bettin’.”

“Niagara Falls could take a tip from her after a job.”  Moses said.  His hand eased under the table and pulled up her skirt.  She kept a knife lashed to her thigh out of habit and had done so since she began living alone on the streets not so far from where they now sat.   

His hand dragged up to the scabbard.

           The blade was missing from it.  His hand came sharply up and back to his steak knife.

           “I’m sho’.  I’m sho.’”  Bertrand placed both of his hands on the table’s edge. 

         Right where he can pick up the gun he probably has in his lap, thought Moses. 

His eyes darted between the two brothers.  Curio sat very still.  He could sense her muscles tensing.  One hand was missing by her side.  The other stabbed at broccoli covered in cheddar cheese. 

        “You sayin’ we can’t be friendly?” Curio’s eyes closed into a wickedly calm squint.  “I really hoped we could be.”

        Moses clasped her around her shoulders.  “We’re friends.  You can put the blade away.”

        “I can?” She never took her eyes off of Pete Fontenot.  He was again scowling at her.  Her hand came up and she jammed the knife into the wooden table.  “I better fucking can!  Or Shakespeare pissin’ and cryin’ about some woman scorned is about to be the fuckin’ understatement of all time up in this shitty fuckin’ restaurant!”  She stood up and pulled the knife free.

        “Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Holster that shiv, you dumbass!”  Grizzly’s eyes got wide.  He made shooing motions.  Pete was caught with one hand holding a fork and the other holding a mussel shell open to facilitate dragging out the meat.

        “I think we all gettin’ friendly now, right?” She growled.  Moses bit his lip.  He could not be for certain that she was not in the right to be defensive.  His eyes continued to what for the tell-tale subtlety of one of the brothers’ unseen hands working into a firing position.

Her gesture with the knife put in her far more immediate danger than he guessed she realized.  Killing Moses and Curio in such a public place was never an option until she brandished a weapon.  Now they could do so legally.  Somewhat. 

Moses began to panic.  He never let it on, but a shudder ran down his spine as he realized she was serious…and the brothers could be as well.

        “We’re all friendly, baby.”  He laughed and tried to pull her into her chair.  His hand tightened on his steak knife.

        “I ain’t too goddamned convinced of that, Moses.  With all due respect, baby.”

        “Sit down, goddammit!” Pete bellowed.  “You get pinched in here, we all got problems.  Our’s will be more easily solved den yoze, mon cheri.  Put dat toothpick back ‘tween yo’ legs where it belongs.”

        Grizzly stared angrily at Moses. 

        “Sit down.  They ain’t a-doin’ shit.  It’s okay.”  Moses physically pulled her down into her chair.  Her face was flushed.  He knew the look.  There was no fear, only the unnatural excitement he knew she was seeping under her skirt as she readied for action, coupled with the desire to protect them both.

The Fontenots had no idea how hair-trigger paranoid she probably was at that instant.  Their assumption that he could stop her from leaping across that table and laying them open all the way down to the neck-bone was vastly over-estimated.

        “You want my fucking blessing on dis…dis…” Grizzly waved his hand at them. “Dis whatevah da fuck y’all think it is?  Nevah.  Nevah!  Do no stupid shit like dat again.” He pointed at her. 

           She was still on edge, her eyes burning at Pete.  Pete’s still demeanor seemed far more menacing than his brother’s.  “What da fuck, Moses?  You ain’t teach her discretion, I see?  What in da hell, Tex?”

        Moses took the knife from her hand and cut his steak with it.  “Can you blame her?” He shrugged and ate a piece of beef he skewered with her blade.  “We’re both a little nervous about this bullshit you two think you needed to bring us to.  This whole idea is stupid.  You bring us out…never mind out somewhere where Randall Jowanski is liquoring up his cock warmer for a few minutes of passion and eight hours of snoring later, I bet…” He sipped from a water glass.

“But out here where she’s supposed to interview for a job she’s already been a-doin’.  Way I see it, it ain’t serving none of us any good sittin’ and sippin’ where anybody who knows who y’all are can drop a dime on me and her.  You want to know about the danger she poses?  You want to negate risk, as Pete likes to call it?  Then eat up, drink up and let’s go someplace where I don’t feel like the ref who gets hit by a chair in a goddamned wrestling ring sittin’ here like this.”

        “Grizzly Fontenot.” Curio said slowly.  “I’ve done five jobs with this here specimen of a man.  Five jobs for y’all.  Some were easy.  Some were hard.  But they got done and I didn’t lose no sleep one night about doing any one of them.  I aim to do as many more as you offer.  And I intend to do them in such a manner that makes him and me a shit-ton of money and gets us both home alive and in love until death do us part.”  She looked at Moses quickly.  “Not that I’m talkin’,” she feigned hiking up a belt and spitting as she intoned like a Texan, “a-gittin’ hitched up or nothin’.” 

         “Just to clarify.” He nodded and winked at Grizzly.  The brothers looked at each other, suddenly amused.

         She looked squarely at Pete.  “He’s happy so I’m happy.  You’re both happy.  The job’s done so whoever gets the contract put on them ain’t too happy, but fuck them, right?  It’s a win-win for all us sorry motherfuckers, ain’t it?”  She folded her arms.  “We agreed?”

         “I agree,” said Moses. “I’ma put in a few pennies in here in the interest of clarifying a few things.  It’s kinda’ so simple I think it needs stating again.”  He held her hand and pulled himself closer to Curio.  “I love this woman here.  I can say that freely and it ain’t no bullshit.  We’ve been together damn near two years now.  I know that was a shock to y’all but the shock’s had time to pass and what I want is y’all to see it for what it is and decide if y’all want me to still work for you.  Working for you from now on means I don’t work alone no more.  Carve it in stone.  It’s doctrine now.  It’s a new rule.”

         “Moses!  Jesus, man…” Pete rubbed his forehead.  Moses waved him off.

           “Now, Pete?  You two known me for forever and a day.  And you know I ain’t prone to a-gittin’ pussy-whipped nor am I keen on doin’ some dumb shit that gets me and y’all busted or killed.  So I guess it needs to be said by me, since I brought her into the fold like I done.  I’m sorry I done it how I done it but I ain’t un-done-ing it.  Me and her are together.  We gonna’ be together and I think seein’ as how she’s a little more than just someone I just told about what I do, she poses no risk to you two hoodlums.”  He made a show of pretending to ponder that for a moment.  “Well maybe a risk to you, Pete.  But only because you would probably hog all the women if we all three all went out together.  She hates competition and she’ll stab you in an eye to win a redhead from you.”

         “You mighty flip about all dis, Tex.” Grizzly said.  His eyes watched Curio.  She had an intensity to her that he found troubling, yet it also was reassuring.  His biggest concern about her was that she may be too wild. 

He knew Moses as only a man of intense self-control.  It was the greatest attribute about the man, given his peculiar employment.  His eyes saw the wildcat Moses was holding by the paw; her fangs were still bared.  His simple holding of her hand was all that was stopping the unleashing of a hell Bertrand could only imagine was ferociously volatile.

Seeing his ability to hold her at bay, and above all else, loving Moses like another brother and not wanting to order the man’s death finally swayed him just as their server came up the stairs.

         “Anyone thinking about dessert?” She asked as she refilled and pre-bussed.

         “We staying for dessert?” Moses Holliday raised his eyebrows at his friends and longtime employers.  Curio Phelonie looked at the pretty server and smiled.  Pete looked at his brother.

Everyone looked at Grizzly Fontenot.  He examined Moses and Curio for a moment.  With a sigh, he made his call.

         “Aw, what da hell!”  Grizzly Fontenot burst out into a laugh. “Something sweet after all dat meat we done chewed on sounds mighty fine, mon cheri.” He rapped on the table.  “And order up a bottle of some champagne.  We gonna’ toast to our friends, old and new.”

        The server left for a dessert menu and the bubbly.



        “Well, that was easy enough.” Moses closed the door for her as they readied to leave the parking deck an hour later.

        “I played it pretty cool, didn’t I?” She smirked. “I think I got drunk on that champagne.” 

        “Cool?” He winced in thought as he got in and shut his door. “That wasn’t exactly Frank and Dean kinda’ cool, but there ain’t no arguing with results.”

        “I thought Pete was gonna’ push me into stabbing his ass.”

        “Pete’s a rag doll.  Grizzly was the one pointing the gun at you the whole time.  Pete’s actually the rational one. He’s the thinker.  Don’t forget that.  Ever.”

“You really put yourself in a sling having me around, don’t you?” She slid over and hugged him.

        “We’d be dead right now if it hadn’t gone as well as it did, baby.” He kissed her.  “But for the record, my love?  I’da died happy.”

        “You are way too sweet to be makin’ a living shooting people, you do know that, right?”  She pushed her lips to his cheek hard to leave her lipstick imprint on it deliberately.

        “Just keep that one to yourself around them, ‘kay?” He winked at her.  “Let’s go home.  I’m full as a tick.”



        “So.  Show’s over, Bertie.” Pete cranked up the Cadillac and drove his brother to pick up his car near Emeril’s.  “We gonna’ move on dem two lovey-dovey death sentences or we gonna’ let dem take us down with dem one sunny day in May at some point.  Tex really done got me all twisted up on dis bullshit a-his.  I can not believe dis da same man we talkin’ about.  Christ almighty he done threw me fo’ a damned loop with dis bullshit.”

        Grizzly looked at his brother and bit his thumb a long while.  Finally as they pulled alongside his gold Cadillac, he folded his arms and decided. 

         “Pete, dis nyah is Moses Holliday we talkin’ about.  He a good friend to you but he done saved my life.  To you, dat was a long time back, but to me, it’s kinda personal in a way you cain’t rahtly understand.  You can’t forget Mama, neither.  Mama ain’t no kinda’ way gonna’ take kindly to us retiring ole Tex on account a-him loving some pretty girl who loves him back.  I don’t know how I’m gonna’ tell her Moses done got a partner.”

“Tell her his gal has got a pair of perkies so pretty dat dey done made a man die once.  She’ll understand dat.”

        “Mama’ll probably tell us to put her to work on her side of the club.” He chuckled.

Pete sighed. “Boy, you know dat girl would fetch a wad a-green that’d gag a whale in some circles.  She gettin’ good at killin’ folks and all, but I bet she missed her callin’ slappin’ around all dem gagged-up fairies in dem whippy rooms.  Boy, I bet she is hell to see workin’ in some leather.”

An abrupt chuckle caught Pete off-guard.  Despite her chastening of him and the fact she was probably two heartbeats and one batted eyelash from killing them both, even he had to admit, there was something about the girl.

“I jess can’t rightly believe she already been workin’ like dat, baby brother.  By God, Moses Lone Wolf-ass Holliday done got himself a partner with perkies.  What’s da world done comin’ to?”

Grizzly chuckled and leaned back in his seat.  “Strange days indeed.”

“It’s probably coming down to a world of hurt, Bertie.  Dat’s all.  Just a world of goddamned hurt, I bet.”  Sighing as Grizzly got out of the car, Pete gritted his teeth.  His brother’s flippant acceptance of Curio based solely on her stamp of approval from Moses was typical of him.  Thinking again of the sexy Curio Phelonie’s moxie and breasts, he filed her away as yet another way for them to all get killed. 

         There were plenty of those, so he let it be.