23 — Idling
October 23, 1938
"Your brother, he saved your life."
"I wasn't gonna go in, Papa."
"Perhaps. But I still believe it only his desire for your safety which led him, unintentionally, to harm you."
Carmine, like he had for years, just smiled and nodded. Renato, in the other chair, made a small huffing noise and shifted.
"Papa, if Carmine is correct, if Dominic may be surrounded by enemies..."
"If that is the case, then I will deal with it. We won't bother Dominic with the matter. He is too sensitive, too naïve, to understand all of this. He has perhaps, chosen friends poorly. I will speak with Arturo Farino and try to develop an understanding."
With that, Don Tamburo smiled at his eldest and third sons, waved them off dismissively, and busied himself with some paperwork. Renato stood, motioning for Carmine to follow him out of the office.
"Much pain?" he asked when they were in the corridor.
"Nah. Listen, Nato..."
"Papa doesn't understand Dom. Not like you and I do. He coddles him. Protects him too much, even from himself."
"Tell me about it."
They made their way downstairs, stopped in the kitchen to say goodbye to Mama, then headed out. Renato opened the car door and even helped Carmine in with a gentle hand on his elbow.
"Want me to drop you by your place? Or you can come have dinner at ours. Marietta's making pot roast."
Carmine smiled.
"Tempting. But..."
"Ah, maybe you wanna just go and rest, huh?"
"Maybe."
"Or maybe," Renato said, steering the car through a left turn, "you wanna go visit some friends. Maybe go down to the Village or somewhere."
His stomach knotting up, Carmine kept silent.
"I know more than you think, little brother," Renato smirked.
"You're like Cousin Francisco, but not in the Church."
"How..."
"I'm the eyes and ears of this family. I gotta know stuff."
"Listen, Nato, I..."
"I don't care, little brother. I mean, I don't understand. I worry about you. But I'm not going to say anything. We all have our crosses to bear."
They drove on through the twilight, and Renato suddenly let out that huffing noise again.
"You wanna tell me the truth?"
"About?"
"About whatever your mysterious source really said. About how Dom's been stupid again."
Another turn, and Renato parked down an alley, then looked at Carmine.
"You wanna tell me why you didn't say something sooner? Like before someone tried to blow Dom up?"
"I didn't... They never mentioned that was gonna happen. Just that Dom's got some... Maybe he's got some bad connections."
Nodding, Renato rested his hands lightly on the wheel.
"Okay. Okay. Listen, little brother, I trust you. I believe you didn't know about Molly Mackie's before it happened."
The hands came off the wheel, and one of them came to rest on the sling supporting Carmine's arm.
"But if anything else happens, and I find out you knew more than you're saying... Well, you're not dumb. You know."
Carmine's eyes met Renato's, burning through the dark.
"I know, Nato. I know."
Posted Oct 24, 2019, 12:32 AM UTC · edited