Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20A | 20B | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25-26 | 27 | 28-29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35-36 | 37 | 38A | 38B
PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
38-C
(Please note: This is a long-ass chapter, with yet more answered questions. I’ve split it in four [yes, four] parts.)
“What do you mean what happened. The girl’s pregnant. What’d you think happened?”
Albright took a deep breath. “She doesn’t remember any of it.”
Trey scowled. “I was there. It happened. I got cats in here all the time, swear they weren’t in the Great War, then get drunk and spill their dirty little secrets. I’ll allow as how I wouldn’a thought Marina’d take that tack.”
“Liz thinks she was drugged.”
It took a few shocked seconds for Trey to get through that. “Drugged?” he croaked.
“We’ve fostered many girls in the past couple of years who don’t know how they got pregnant. Liz gives them the lecture and they say, ‘He did that to me.’ Marina swears she never did that with you and the mechanics made her ill. Marina’s been running with Dot since first grade, so Liz’s sure she’s telling the truth. There are gaps of time in her very detailed and boring diary, but a couple of very telling dreams.”
Trey dug into his eyeballs. “God almighty,” he whispered. “That explains that.” Trey was ashamed to feel utter and complete relief that Marina was only Hyde when she was high. No high, no Hyde.
“Explains what?”
“I … knew,” Trey began slowly, “something was wrong with Marina. That first time. She was, uh … ”
Albright held up a hand. “Don’t want to know.”
Trey shook his head. “Not where I’m going. She was, uh … carefree. Yeah. That. Carefree. She was laughing without blushing and— Not flirty, but not quite herself. More herself, or what I thought was wantin’a get out of her. I thought she was finally comfortable with me, ready to cut loose but still be a good girl like Dot. Breezy, Gio says. You know. Now, Dot apparently knew somethin’ was wrong, but not in time and she ain’t savvy enough about bad people to suspect anything like that anyway.”
“I suppose.”
“I didn’t have any plans to seduce Marina that afternoon. She looked at me like I was dinner so I kissed her. She kissed me back. I was surprised, pushed my luck a little and there it was. The next day, she’s back to her own self, shy, blushing, which I figured she would be, so I didn’t say anything about it.”
Albright’s brow wrinkled. “Uh … Was she asleep at any point in time while you were together?”
The question surprised Trey. “Not … before. She did zonk out after, but lotsa folks do that. Why?”
“She sleepwalks. Talks in her sleep. The first few times it happened at our house, we thought she was awake, but she didn’t remember. One night, she stood up in bed and recited the Gettysburg Address. We talked to her, but she didn’t acknowledge our existence, then laid back down and closed her eyes. That’s when we knew she was never awake, didn’t remember.”
Trey blinked in disbelief. “I … don’t know what to say. If she was drowsy before we did the deed, she didn’t act like it. Not the first time, not the two times after, both of which she instigated. She surprised me both times. Then she’s shy the next day, blushing at the slightest tease and whatnot, same as always. I decided I wasn’t gonna grill her about why or how she felt or anything. I was just gonna thank my lucky stars I had a clear path to the speak. After the third time, I’m done. I can’t do it anymore ’cuz I got no good options gettin’ out of it. But she was not asleep until she was worn out.”
“That’s when Gio broke up with Dot?”
Trey nodded. “I decided to start easing out of Marina’s life. Didn’t wanna burn my bridges. But I’m shamed to admit, I did not like that Marina. I wouldn’t’a married that one.”
Albright’s eyes narrowed.
“But I also wouldn’t’a courted her long enough to do the deed an’ I ain’t givin’ a girl like that sweet tea without her permission. Oh, hell, I wouldn’t give it to anybody I wanted to fuck.”
“Sweet tea?”
“You know I keep gigolos, right?” Trey asked abruptly. “Main clientele is men. Gio ’fess up to that too?”
Albright nodded tightly.
“They use an aphrodisiac that keeps ’em hard and goin’ all night long. They have to, to fuck some of the people they do. Lot stronger’n Spanish fly. I keep a sharp eye on ’em because some people can’t leave it alone once they’ve had it and I can’t have my earners strung out on it. The girls use it when they have certain clients coming in. ’Sides which, nobody in my whorehouse will fuck anybody who’s loaded up on coke or sweet tea. Job’s hard enough without bein’ behind the eight-ball like that.”
“You deal it?”
“’Course I do. I deal everything if it’ll make me a buck. My dope’s premium shit. Not cut with nothin’, like my booze ain’t doctored rubbin’ alcohol or watered down with tobacco spit.”
“Do you have anybody who might have done it?”
He had at least a dozen people who thought it was a good idea, including one of his tenants. He had thirteen whores who used it and kept it in their rooms. However, Trey couldn’t think of one who’d have had the opportunity, and said so.
“Have you used it?”
“I tried it. Didn’t do anything different for me, upped the dose, still didn’t, upped it again, still didn’t but my heart was thumping outta my chest, couldn’t breathe, scared the shit outta me, so I figured it just didn’t work on me. Nothin’ does. Can’t even get properly drunk. But I see it here, almost always couples or they’re putting it in their own drinks ’cuz a cat’s not gonna dope his girl up if he can’t go as long as she can. Or they snort it like cocaine. Put it on their food like salt. What’s good about it is they get all relaxed and happy ’stead o’ gettin’ loud and mad or cryin’ and passed out, like on booze. So even if they’re not rarin’ to go, they’re still good company.”
Albright’s mouth pursed. “Do people who use it remember anything in the morning?”
“Hell, I don’t know, but if I’s a whore, I wouldn’t wanna remember that shit, either.” Trey made a note to ask as soon as possible. “Look, Albright. You and I both know she’s a bit tetched in the head. Standin’ up in bed at three o’clock in the mornin’ reciting the Gettysburg Address, for God’s sake. That’s pure lunatic. Maybe it tripped something upstairs.”
He shrugged his concession.
“But I swear on whoever I value’s grave, which I don’t, so take that for what it’s worth, I did feel like something was off, but I did not drug her.”
“I believe you,” Albright muttered. “Gio said you weren’t as happy about owning the speak as you should be and you were moping around.”
Trey shrugged.
“Why didn’t you tell TJ to suck eggs? He would’ve kept his promise to let you continue on.”
“I should’ve, goddammit!” Trey pounded the table. “I was thinking, what if something happens that shifts power Lazia’s way, tryin’a clever myself out of a trap, but instead I chose the wrong thing, which is normal. But you know what? I didn’t choose the speak over Marina. Hell, the threat of torchin’ it woulda made me stop and think about it first, but then he went an’ threatened Gio. I chose Gio and my people over Marina. I knew she’d wind up in a decent situation after all the hullabaloo died down but I didn’t make a deal with Marina. I made one with my people. It boiled down to this: If Boss Tom was still my employer, I couldn’t guarantee things would stay the same.”
Albright looked shocked. “You would’ve taken Marina over the speak in other circumstances?”
“Yes,” Trey shot back. “And I should have! I shouldn’t’a taken the bet in the first place, but I have made every bone-headed move I could possibly make since Boss Tom stuck me here to keep it limpin’ along. Now, if I’d’a known she was drugged, it wouldn’t’a happened. I don’t take kindly to customers tryin’a force themselves on my whores, so I sure as hell ain’t gonna rape a girl, and drugging her’s the same thing. I will admit that I was surprised by Marina’s behavior and probably shoulda thought that through, but I didn’t, same way I haven’t thought through any other goddamned decision I’ve made. An’ hell if I don’t feel like a chump now too.”
Albright gave him a gallic shrug.
They were quiet for a long time while they nursed their drinks, and Trey ordered up a steak for the bishop.
“I’m curious,” Trey said when Albright’s food came and he dug in without so much as a thanks. “What’d your wife do to get Scarritt run outta town?”
“My wife was part of that congregation long before Scarritt was hired, before she joined our church, so she left a couple of friends behind, then her friends left when Scarritt was hired. She went to them, laid it out raw. They told their husbands. Things snowballed. Rumors and secrets came out.”
“Scarritt’s women?”
“Named names, but better than that. Marina is the Scarritts’ grandchild.”
38C
If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.
Chapter 38C
Bra size territory.
OK…ok…ok… I’ll read.
Trey was ashamed to feel utter and complete relief that Marina was only Hyde when she was high. No high, no Hyde.
“Explains what?”
“I … knew,” Trey began slowly, “something was wrong with Marina. That first time. She was, uh … ”
Yep. That’s why when it came out Marina was drugged I said, “You should have seen that coming.”
However, Trey couldn’t think of one who’d have had the opportunity, and said so.
So… whoever used it has some brains.
Gio would’ve had the best opportunity.
“But I swear on whoever I value’s grave, which I don’t, so take that for what it’s worth, I did feel like something was off, but I did not drug her.”
“I believe you,” Albright muttered. “Gio said you weren’t as happy about owning the speak as you should be and you were moping around.”
I believe Trey too. I think he actually liked Marina, which seems odd given his character. And yeah, I get it, it’s the trope and the genre so he’s supposed to. But I can see him getting feelings for her given what else I’ve seen about him.
I don’t think it’ll spoil anything if I say yes, he really does.
Heh, nope.
No, you won’t spoil anything.
“Scarritt’s women?”
“Named names, but better than that. Marina is the Scarritts’ grandchild.”
Interesting.
I remember saying something along the lines of Scarrit cuckolding the wrong guy. I think I said it was Boss Tom. Wrong person, right idea.
Yep, but I try to limit what I say so as not to spoil anything. However, I had to rush to my (anti)hero’s honor when it was thought he drugged Marina.
Yeah, I don’t see how he actually survived ripping off a bootlegger/boss. His death could’ve been accomplished quietly enough.
I will just say that going by urban legends, biographies, and what old (now dead) people who knew Boss Tom personally told me about him, I was pretty sure he’d rather go the scenic route around the problem just to keep that voting bloc. I could be wrong, and in any other machine boss, I wouldn’t have done that, but Boss Tom was a bit of a oddity. Example: One time, Roosevelt called him up a little after 9:00 p.m. Boss Tom’s bedtime was 9:00 p.m. Boss Tom told his wife to take a message and have him call back the next day.
Wait… Boss Tom is a real person? Huh.
Oh yes. There are still ripples of KC’s reality that come directly from him. Example: The Kansas City Police Department is the only PD in the nation that is under state control, and it got put under state control because Boss Tom used it as his personal thug patrol. Also, KC has always weathered economic downturn a bit better than other places, which can be traced to Boss Tom not allowing Prohibition to get in his way. So here we are, 100 years later and you can still feel his influence in material ways if you know the history and what to look for.
Reminds me of a later version of Boss Tweed.
Men like that were pretty common in machine politics.
How beholden was Truman to Boss Tom’s machine?
Not at all. Truman always maintained he and Tom were good friends, but nothing more, politically speaking. However, he never turned his back on Tom, even when pressed. He didn’t pull any strings to get Tom out of trouble, but he also wouldn’t denounce his friendship with him.
“Haberdasher to the Mob”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pendergast
Fair enough, I was forgetting that he had illegitimate political interests as well as his business ones.
thanks Mojeaux!
I’ll toss this OT out, then enjoy a video.
NH former state rep arrested for child porn charges
A former New Hampshire state representative and the nation’s first transgender-identifying state lawmaker was arrested by police this week and charged for allegedly distributing child pornography.
Stacie Marie Laughton, a Democrat who previously resigned twice from the New Hampshire state house, is now facing four counts of distributing sexually explicit images of children. Laughton was born Barry Charles Laughton, Jr.
Nashua Police Department public information officer Sgt. John Cinelli said that police were called to respond to a juvenile incident on Tuesday and were then told that the former lawmaker had been distributing explicit images. On Thursday, police searched Laughton’s house and arrested him.
The words “transgender “ and “first” aren’t getting along very well. See also, first transgender person to be banned from the White House.
Got no home trainin’.
The kid’s college orientation isn’t going too well. She says all the people here are weird. Especially the undergrads showing them around. They all say their pronouns and are too excited.
I remember the “too excited” part but the pronoun thing is so sad. We fought wars so we didn’t have to smile and nod our way through obvious bullshit but here we are.
It’s a culture shock. I’ve actually seen worse. But we’re from a small conservative town, she’s more of a country girl.
We have a slice of the populace that very much wants to be aristocrats. [And of course they are far closer to the joke punchline than the old world reality.]
And another slice that wants to serve & worship aristocrats.
Sorry.
Their pronouns make them special and important! Unlike those troglodytes who haven’t figured out that pronouns are the future.
Sorry to be a Friday downer: https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/06/19/tactical-nuclear-weapons-latest-news-from-russia/
The stupid fucks in DC and NATO are determined to kick it into high gear.
I’m sure ole Joe will be along any minute to act tough and say something stupid.
Ponder for a moment that the last nuclear off-ramp from the Cold War, the Kremlin hotline, would be answered by Joe.
Who knew the Enlightenment would end with a mushroom cloud?
Either that or a plague. It’s a toss-up whether plague got there first.
Most of us.
Consider just about any fighter/bomber in the last 80 years or so can carry a nuclear bomb all this means is Russia wants to use a nuclear weapon or thinks it losing the war– if this is true, which I doubt.
But thank god the adults are back in charge.
What I think it means is that the Kremlin has been openly planting stories in various outlets on TV and other media that they will use nukes if pushed. It’s a message to their own people and to our government since we’re not communicating otherwise. This is just one example. You can go to RT for many more, particularly in the last few weeks.
I, for one, take them seriously as Putin hasn’t demonstrated a propensity for idle threats like most in the West.
Mind boggling juggling/drumming
Michael Moschen is the bomb.
I got to see him do that in the 1990s. Great!
I don’t recall ever seeing that guy. What an amazing performance.
For anyone looking for the Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87821224358?pwd=eW55MTRDbDNtQkh2aHd3M1Nmenlzdz09
It’s late…people still rocking or on Nephs?
Thanks, Moj, we’re making some progress.
Have to remember that Harry Truman came from the KC machine and ended up as FDR’s Veep. Chits called in.
The “Senator from Pendergast,” yes. 😜
OT: I may have to stop watching Air Disasters. Someday I may want (or need) to fly commercially again, 😳
Air travel is by far the safest form of long distance travel
So I understand, and the few times I’ve flown on commercial flights, I had no bad experiences and thoroughly enjoyed the trips. (This was long before the current TSA hassles.) I blame the TV show. I think I’ll have to stick with Engineering Disasters instead.
But then you can never cross a bridge either!
Every time I fly and gaze out the window I’m like, “This ain’t right.”
What the fuck?
https://twitter.com/MyLordBebo/status/1672434853801873410
This all has to be fake, right?
It’s Russia. Who knows?
Someone introduce me to Hunter Biden’s accountant.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/06/23/whistleblowers-allege-hunter-biden-deducted-payments-to-prostitutes-from-his-taxes/
Rub and tug qualifies for HSA, right?
My mom twisted her ankle two days ago on her way to Boston and there’s a fracture in her foot. Very unfortunate for her as it’s her first trip here in the last two years. No way she can jump to the 3rd floor of my townhouse on crutches. The couch in the living room downstairs is okay.
I hope mom heals quickly.
Oh, man. Sorry to hear it.
When I broke my leg and was on crutches, I lived in a split level house, so there was no avoiding stairs.
I just sat down on my butt and went step by step up and down using arms and butt getting where I needed.
Maybe she could try that?
Either way, wishing a speedy recovery!
Seems like aging and broken bones come at the same time. Best wishes to your Mom, lots of protein and calcium and hope for the best.
One of the downsides of getting old.
Praying for a fast and complete recovery.
Ahh, rain again this morning, the bees get to sleep in. I’m seeing flowers in my dreams and weeds in the garden when the rain is over.
Mornin Glibs. 😁
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YXwYJyrKK5A
🎶🎶
Morning.
Morning.
Sheep went a little feral grazing last night. Bastards
How bad was the damage? Any broken fences? Or just had to round up the wandering lambs?
It’s sad when sheep go baaad.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ErbKAWueD3g&pp=ygUjU2VydGEgU2hlZXAgdGVhciB0aGUgdGFnIG9mIHRoZSBiZWQ%3D
https://6abc.com/baby-shark-recall-bath-toys-cuts/13419336/
Doo-doo, doo-doo.
I probably shouldn’t laff at the headline.