Chapter 8

After leaving Sofia I went immediately to my bank and withdrew $1,500 for her and her blood sucking son and daughter. As I looked at my receipt when I left I realized there was very little left of the $10,000 cheque I’d deposited just a few hours ago. It made me feel like I wasn’t very rich anymore. In fact, I felt like I was damn near broke again but then I thought of all the money I’d be getting tomorrow morning when I presented Tom with his long lost family, so I decided to splurge on a nice meal in my favorite restaurant.

I had finished a steak sandwich and was sitting back drinking an ice cold beer when I got the scare of my life.

It was Uncle Wally on the phone again.

“You find Tom’s family yet?” he asked.

“If not, you’d better make it quick because Tom has had another heart attack. He says he was right at death’s door but the doctor managed to pull him through but he looks terrible. Just sits there in his chair and barely moves. The nurses even have to help him when he has to go to the bathroom so I don’t think he’s got much time to live.”

I felt chilled to the bone at my uncle’s announcement. NO, ... NO, it couldn’t be happening to me now, not when I was so close to getting my hands on that money. To have that old son of a bitch kick the bucket was unthinkable. He just couldn’t go now. He had to wait at least until tomorrow morning when I delivered his family and got my cheque. After that, the old bastard could drop dead whenever he wanted and I really wouldn’t give a shit. He just had to hang on until then because I was really counting on it. I figured it would help set a lot of things straight with me.

“Look, you can tell Tom the good news. That I found them.”

“Yup, all three of them,” I replied to Uncle Wally’s interruption.

“You can also tell him they were so anxious to finally see him that they wanted to go to Edmonton this evening but they got no transportation. Of course, the kind of guy I am, I offered to drive them but I’d kind of tied up right now. Tomorrow morning’s the best I can do so you be sure and tell old Tom to try and hang on until then. That way he can die happily knowing he’s made peace with his family.”

“Oh, that’ll be great news for Tom. He’s looking so bad, kind of like death warmed over you know, but this’ll cheer him right up, I’m sure.” Uncle Wally replied.

“I’m gonna go tell him right now,” he promised.

After he hung up I was so worried about old Tom that I ordered another beer, then another one just to calm my nerves. After that I decided I’d better leave before I started drinking real seriously to drown my sorrows. Then I thought of calling Susan to cry on her shoulder but I knew where that would lead to so I just headed for home. I spent the remainder of the night trying to sleep but I spent most it pacing the floor cursing Tom’s usurious family or praying Tom would survive the night.

The morning couldn’t come quick enough for me. I was up early, sipping on a hot cup of coffee and raring to go. Then finally when 8 a.m. arrived I decided that it was a decent enough hour so I called Sofia.

“Oh, Jay, it’s a little early don’t you think? I thought you said you were gonna pick us up about 9 or so?’ she sleepily replied after her phone rang several times.

“Yeah, but it’s become an emergency. I just heard that old Tom has had another heart attack and this time he may not last long. So we’d better head out right now. After all, you wouldn’t want the old guy to pass away before you see him again, would you?”

There was dead silence on the phone and I could just picture the old bag trying to decide whether that was true or not.

Finally I took matters into my own hands.

“Look, if you and Roger and Annie want your $500 then you’d better hope he survives until we get there because if I don’t collect then neither do you. You understand?”

“Okay,” she said. “Come on over and pick us up at my place. I’ll call my kids and tell them to get over here immediately so we’ll be waiting for you. How long you gonna be?”

“About a half hour and you’d better be ready,” I said.

Moments after hanging up I was out my door and headed to my Charger. As I walked around my mini van I thought of taking it because it had lots of room for four of us. Then I changed my mind. I didn’t care if a couple of those money grabbers had to crawl into the back seat and be a little uncomfortable all the way to Edmonton. It’s what they deserve after shaking me down. Besides, the Charger is much faster and once I hit the highway I intend to really let it unwind. We just have to get there before Tom dies.

In less than the promised 30 minutes I pulled up in front of Sofia’s house and I was hoping and praying they’d all be ready to go. Thank God they were. There was a beat up old Chev sedan parked in front of the house that I assumed was Roger’s. Damn thing needs a lot more brakes I mused as I waited impatiently for Sofia and her family to come out of her house.

Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long. No sooner had I stopped behind the junker than they came out of the house but they weren’t hurrying fast enough for me. Don’t they realize what kind of dire situation we’re in? Basically it was no alive and kicking Tom meant no money. I sighed in exasperation as Sofia even took the time to stop and double check her door to make it was properly locked.

Then they were crowded around my car and discussing how they were all gonna fit in my Charger. You see despite it being a full sized car, it’s more of a sports model than anything else so my back seat doesn’t have all that much leg room.

I was in such a hurry I jumped out threw a couple of their bags in the trunk then began directing traffic.

I saw that Roger was a small, weasel-looking guy with a scruffy beard, long unkempt hair and clothes that looked like he’d been sleeping in them for a week. I immediately told him to get into the back seat. Then because his mother looked to be the next shortest I had her get in beside him. That left Annie to ride in the front with me. She was taller than both her mother and brother and I thought she might look real pretty if she dressed better. But all she was wearing was a badly fitting top and a pair of unflattering pants and sandals.

Also, I could see that she wore almost no make up. It’s almost as if she was deliberately trying to look as unattractive as possible. Then I remembered that her mother had mentioned a recent divorce and I chalked it all to that.

As soon as everybody was in, I raced around to the driver’s door and got in.

“Buckle everybody,” I announced like an airline pilot.

“Since poor old Tom is near death I’m going to make this trip as quick as possible so just sit back and enjoy the ride. We’ll be there in no time and before Tom passes,” I promised.

“Hold it, hold it. Aren’t you forgetting something,” Roger piped up from the rear seat.

I turned around and asked, “what?” “Come on now, you know we don’t have much time to fool around.”

“This ain’t fooling around. It’s a little matter of the money you promised. We talked it over this morning while waiting for you and decided nobody’s going anywhere ‘till you pay us like you promised yesterday,” Roger calmly announced.

Fuck, I knew there was a reason I’d taken an instant dislike to him. The little bastard was bound and determined to screw me out of some money and there was nothing I could do about it. I needed the whole family in Edmonton this morning or I wouldn’t get my money. Well, the one consolation was the fact that what he was shaking me down for was a pittance in comparison to what I’d be getting.

I sighed in resignation and reached into the inside pocket of my jacket. I pulled out the $1500 I’d taken from the bank yesterday and quickly began to count it out to Annie. As soon as I hit $500 I turned around and counted out another $500 each to Sofia and Roger. Of course he immediately grabbed his share and counted it out slowly again, too fucking slow as far as I was concerned. What the hell, it was like he didn’t trust me or something.