I was starting to read this book when I got a call from my brother Gino aka Serpico (we call him that because that’s who he looks like). His air conditioning isn’t working, and Jersey is cooking. He asked if he could sleep on my couch for a couple of nights. Since he’s Narco, he wouldn’t be around much. He keeps weird hours, so I said yes, as long as he brought the pizza.
Serpico would have the apartment to himself because I was going out with some girlfriends for the evening, but a girl’s got to eat before she goes dancing. I was in a little tank top, daisy dukes, with my hair in hot rollers. Right after I got off the phone with Serpico, my buzzer rang, and it was cute cop, Officer Javier. He was in the area and decided to stop by. The problem I couldn’t buzz him in, because the heat has fried the door release. So I stepped out into the hall to go down stars and let him in. I’m still holding a knife, I was going to use to make a salad to go with the pizza. My neighbor, Mrs. Gore was in the hall struggling to take her little dog Dimples out. She has to use a walker . So I volunteered to take Dimples out while I let Officer Javier in, forgetting I was barely dressed and still in rollers. Well, something spooked Dimples, because he made a run for the stairwell, and shot downstairs. I ran down the stairs with the knife in hand in pursuit of Dimples. When I got to the front door, I tried to grab him as he snapped and barked at me. The front door opened as tenant came in, and Dimples took advantage of the opportunity and escaped out the front, with me following, holding the big fat knife.
I shot past Officer Javier who gave chase behind me, as Dimples ran up the street like a mugger with a purse. Dimples, me and Officer Javier ran past Serpico who put down the pizza and fell into line behind us, yelling at me. I yelled back running with my all, waving the knife. Then a cop car passed us, made a Uie, and the two cops jumped out and started to run after us, yelling to stop. Officer Javier yelled out, he wasn’t in pursuit, but helping someone catch a dog.
Dimples, ran past the local grocery store, where Mrs. Park stepped out, yelling in Korean, and slapped me with a cucumber right across the kisser. I fell, still holding the knife as Mrs. Park beat the hell out of me, screaming. Dimples shot out into the street, dodging cars, and narrowly missed, avoiding creating a major traffic accident. Officer Javier scooped Dimples up, before he became road kill, while Serpico, wrestled the cucumber out of Mrs. Parks hand, and I lay on the sidewalk still clutching my knife, my rollers falling out of my hair. I found myself looking up at two cops, with hands on the hilt of their weapons, ready to arrest me over chasing a dog, while holding a knife. Oh, Dio ha la pietà. Penso che voglia morire.
Officer Javier after a lot of yelling at the officers and my brother’s over reaction to the situation, explained I was chasing a dog, not trying to turn it into chopped liver, which at that time, I was very tempted.
Dimples was returned to Mrs. Gore, Officer Javier went back to patrol, (I’m sure he won’t stop by again, considering how I met him and what just happened). The two officers lectured me about running down a street with a big knife. Serpico, helped me up, got me home, and had to order out for another pizza, because the one he put down disappeared. He’s a good brother he helped me clean up my scrapes, made an ice pack for my bruised knee. I spent the night at home with salad, pizza, Serpico, no dancing and finished A Mississippi Moolight.
Oh, but I digress, as I said I started reading this book right about the time all this happened. So with my knee packed, my brother snoring loudly on the couch, (it’s no wonder he’s single), I dove into this delightful read. Ms. Johnson drew me into Mississippi with this thriller about old wives tales, superstitions and a curse that makes a man take drastic action in the form of kidnapping Hazel Starling, weds her and impregnates her, to end the curse. She flees to California to escape, but the daughter she gives birth too, is a very special girl. This is a funny tale, with twists and turns as it moves between two very different worlds, Mississippi and California. Zeke and Hazel distracted me from my bruised knee, very bruised ego and a snoring brother.
I gave it a #7, bitch’n enough to hide in the broom closet to finish it, which I did on my break at work, only to be discovered by P.I Sean.
No comments:
Post a Comment