Jun 16, 2016




“Then maybe . . . Wait a minute. February? Is it Vinnie Calerone?” 

“Yes. Do you know him?” 

“Yeah. Knew him when we were kids. My ma's friendly with his. When he heard I moved back, he came to see me. I service his Mercedes. He said he was getting married in February, said he'd get me an invite.” 

“Were you close?” 

“Not especially.” He glanced at her, then decided to finish it out. “He was getting the shit beat out of him back in the day. It looked to me like he'd have held his own one-on-one, but there were two of them. I evened the odds. And I was right. He held his own. Vinnie's wearing a zoot suit.” His grin spread with easy humor. “I can actually see that.”

“You got into a fight for him?” 

“Not for him, especially. It was more the two-against-one deal. Beating somebody up because he's gay is ignorant. Ganging up to do it? That's cheap. Anyway, it only took a few minutes.This is the place.”


Happy Ever After


_______________





Orlando skyline, photo by Bill Dickinson (as permitted for use on Wikipedia)




Orlando nightclub shooting: 49 lives cut short