THUGLIT Issue Two

THUGLIT Issue Two Read Free

Book: THUGLIT Issue Two Read Free
Author: Justin Porter
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under his bed then walked to the living room. Junior and Mel still snored. He yanked the pillow from under Junior’s head. It sounded like a melon when it hit the wooden arm.
    “What the shit?” He rolled to the side, rubbing his head. Mel snorted and dropped a forearm over her face.
    “Wake her.”
    “Huh?”
    Sal flicked Junior in the purple splash just below his eye. He howled and Mel startled upright.
    “I said, wake her.” Sal smiled.
    They sat up, pulling together like magnetic opposites, both rubbing their arms in contrasting directions.
    “You guys have anywhere to go?”
    Mel looked at Junior, who cocked his head at his dad.
    “Anywhere other than here, I mean.”
    “Mel’s parents,” Junior started, then stopped. Mel brushed his leg, as if to say go on. “Mel’s parents live over on the shore, past Easton. Got a chicken farm or something out there.”
    “Goats,” Mel said. “They raise goats.”
    Sal nodded. “I’ve always liked goats. I wanted to raise some when I was little but your Granddad said they weren’t city animals.”
    “They’re not,” Mel said.
    Junior and Sal looked at each other.
    “Anyway, you’re going to go out there, work the land and get yourselves together. Don’t come back to Baltimore for a while.” Sal let the necklace dangle from his left hand. “Get yourselves clean and start over somewhere else. Richmond, maybe.”
    Junior pointed at the necklace, asked what it was.
    “Your Granddad gave me this when I started working for the post office. His father wore it on the ship over to America, gave it to Dad before he left for Okinawa.” Sal kneeled down and coiled the necklace in Junior’s palm. “I’m giving it to you.”
    Junior looked at it like it was snake that might strike. “So it’s, like, old?”
    “It’s not worth anything. Not to anyone who isn’t a Bleaker.”
    Scooping the chain with his thumb, Junior let it pendulum before his eyes.
    Sal stood and patted his shoulder. “Get some sleep tonight.”
    They looked from the necklace to Sal.
    “You’re coming to work with me tomorrow.”
     
    “You sure you don’t want to do this alone?” Junior glanced back and forth between Mel and his dad, maybe confirming something, maybe searching for some exit in the alleyway. Across the street, he could see a young couple with a stroller chatting with Ari inside the deli.
    Sal double-checked his Sig again, pulled the Shatner Halloween mask over his face then motioned for Junior to do the same.
    “Just remember,” Sal said. “Those are real bullets in there.”
    “Yeah. I know.” Junior waved the gun around, trying to feign nonchalance but Sal could see the tremor in his hand. The couple waved goodbye, wheeling their baby outside and down the sidewalk.
    “You wanted to be in.” He chambers a round. “You’re in.”
    They rounded the corner to the sidewalk, Sal shouldering open the door with Junior following.
    Ari threw his hands in the air, his shocked yelp stifling itself.
    Sal shoved the gun in his face, keeping Ari docile while he walked around the counter, then nodded at the register. With a surprisingly steady hand, Ari pressed a button and the till sprung open. His hand went back in the air.
    Junior came to the register, scooped out bills from the slots and tossed them into a brown paper bag while Sal kept Ari covered. The man was no liar. He kept himself calm and chose family over money. Sal admired him for that and hoped that Ari would understand his motivation, were the situations reversed. On the wooden counter beside Ari sat a chunk of what looked to be cow, a cleaver sunk into the chopping surface by the tip.
    Sal looked up, saw Junior heading toward the back.
    “No.”
    “What about the safe?” Junior turned and continued walking.
    “Get back here. Now.”
    Ari cocked his head. “Salvatore?”
    Junior froze. Sal swallowed.
    “You rob me?”
    “Hands up.”
    Ari’s hands sunk like deflated balloons. “You are one of them? You

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