Bone in the Throat - Anthony Bourdain [17]
"Listen, Tommy," said Sally, serious all of a sudden, "We need your help on somethin."
"Sally, really—" Tommy started to protest.
Sally raised his palm, "No. Tommy . . . Just listen to me here," he said. "It's gotta be you. It's no big deal. Just a little favor."
"Maaan . . . " said Tommy, shaking his head. He noticed Skinny looking at him intently, one eyebrow raised.
"Don't shake your head," said Sally "Don't shake your head. Look at me. Look at me. It's a little favor. A little one. You just gotta stay a little late at the restaurant tomorrow night."
"My restaurant?" asked Tommy.
"What restaurant you think I'm fuckin' talkin' about?" said Sally. "Yeah, your restaurant. The one I fuckin' got you the job at. Your place. You gotta let us in."
"Who's us'?" asked Ibmmy, worried now.
"Just me and Skin and one other guy. We need a place to talk some business," said Sally.
"Why there? Why not over here? Someplace else?"
"We gotta talk about somethin' in private with a guy. Nothin' bad. Someplace everybody in the fuckin' world ain't gonna know my business. We'll be in, we'll be out. We just gotta talk to the guy a few minutes, show the guy a few things and then we leave. No muss, no fuss."
"This is bad, Sally."
"It's not bad. What's bad? What's fuckin' bad? We just need the place for a few minutes. You just gotta open the doors there."
"What about the porters? There's porters there all night," said Tommy.
"The porters are gonna be callin' in sick tomorrow," said Sally, matter-of-factly.
Startled, Tommy thought for a moment. Skinny was still staring at him. "So Harvey knows about this? This is okay with Harvey?"
"Tommy, Tommy. You don't hafta worry about what Harvey knows and what he don't know. He knows you're with me. You're not gonna be gettin in any trouble with that guy or anythin' like that. Just help us out here, this once, and after, you want, we can go back like it was before."
"I think this really sucks," said Tommy. "This really fuckin sucks."
Sally shrugged. "You gotta do it. That's it."
"I don't gotta do anything," protested Tommy. "I'm not with you guys like that. I got somethin' goin' for me over there, I don't wannit to get all fucked up."
"Sometimes you gotta do somethin'," said Sally.
"You have to do things over there, that's okay. You can't work it out with Harvey? You got somethin' going over there, fine, that's your business. That's you. This is me. I work over there. It's my fuckin' job," said Tommy.
"Well, tomorrow, I'm your fuckin' job," said Sally.
"This sucks," said Tommy. He noticed Skinny exchange glances with Sally.
"You're not gonna get in any trouble. You don't hafta do nothin'.
You just wait aroun' till two-thirty and you let us in the trapdoor. Then you go upstairs, get yourself a cuppa coffee, whatever. That's all you gotta do. Is that so fuckin' much to ask of somebody? Somebody who's family?" Sally shoved a hunk of bread into his calamari sauce and popped it in his mouth.
"It sucks."
"It's a favor," said Sally, still working his jaws on the bread.
"It's a big favor," said Tommy.
Skinny was shaking his head almost imperceptibly now.
"Tommy, what are you fuckin' bitchin' for?" said Sally. "You know you're gonna do it. You gonna have to do the right thing here, you know that, right? I reached out for you one time, Tommy. I got you that fuckin' job you got. You think that Jew dentist give you the job 'cause he likes you? You think he can't hire somebody outta the papers like that? Some French fag who wants the job? I didn't wanna bring it up, but there it is . . . You ain't gonna get in any trouble, that's what's eatin' you. I don't do this thing, it's me that gets in trouble. This is important. It's gotta be done tomorrow. I fuckin' helped you, helped your career, now you gotta help me out. Help out my career. This guy I gotta talk to is gonna be real helpful to my career, you unnerstan'? It's fuckin' that simple."
"Alright," said Tommy. "Alright."
Skinny still looked skeptical.
Sally looked pleased with himself. "Good!" he said. "Now, hows-about somethin'