Prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12
PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES
13
TREY DIDN’T SAY much to Gio on the way back from Marina’s church service, which he would ditch if he could. He hated those services. It seemed wrong, somehow, all that hootin’ and hollerin’ and yellin’ at Jesus and God like you could command them to do your will. Trey had gone to church his entire childhood until his mother died. He didn’t know if he believed in God or any deity at all, but if he did, he sure as hell wouldn’t expect God to take orders from his kids.
He didn’t know how much longer he could take Scarritt’s bluster, especially since he knew the faith healing was an act and the speaking in tongues was likely drug-induced or, so he had read once, religious ecstasy, which wasn’t too much different from being high.
“What’s up your ass?” Gio asked Trey before he headed upstairs to call an early night. “We got Marina’s parents to let her go to Dot’s Friday night.”
Yeah, that had been a coup—not one he’d wanted to win. “It ain’t a good idea for me to go, which I tried to tell you before you got all lawyerly with Scarritt.”
Gio was silent for a few seconds. “Oh. Albright.”
“Yeah,” Trey drawled snidely. “An’ Boss Tom’s bean counters. ‘Gene Luke’ ain’t gonna register if you mind your accent. ‘Trey Dunham,’ on the other hand, will.”
“You could have said you were busy right up front, not let me get that deep. You want to go, don’t you?”
“No, but Marina does an’ her parents won’t let her. Prolly the only chance she’ll ever have.”
“And you want to give her what she wants.”
“Givin’ her what she wants is part of the seduction.”
“Mmm hm. Leave early.”
“No, I ain’t showin’ up at all. Family emergency. You can squire Marina ’cuz Dot’s gonna be tied up with her show an’ whatnot. Her parents ain’t gonna know ’cuz Scarritt’s drivin’ her there himself.”
“This is giving me a headache.”
“You stuck me in this corner. It ain’t me Marina wants to go for,” he insisted. “It’s Dot.”
Gio closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Marina’s a sharp cookie. She don’t know how to explain anything in words, but she gets to the heart of it right away and works out the words from there. More or less.”
“She hasn’t made us yet.”
“No, but Scarritt shoulda made me by now. If a conman can’t do it, why should a sheltered preacher’s daughter be able to?”
Gio nodded slowly. “She does have the makings of a good moll.”
Trey’s eyebrow rose. “Noticed that, did you?”
“Any girl who isn’t offended that you might be paying your friend to take care of hers and suggests that you do so if you aren’t already is a girl who doesn’t mind solving a problem any way it needs to be solved.”
“Exactly. And right now, that is the problem an’ you’re gonna cover for me. Keep the story simple ’cuz she notices damn near everything an’ can tell a lie from home plate to the outfield fence. Too many details, she’ll know the story’s got holes even though she can’t put less than two thousand words to it. She’ll stack ’em up in her brain until she has enough clues to work with. Even if she comes to the right conclusion, she won’t believe it.”
“Why?”
“She thinks she’s too homely and stupid to snag a cat.”
“She’s not homely,” Gio mused. “It’s the way she dresses and does her hair. Took me a while to see it.”
“Exactly. Her folks are keepin’ her ugly an’ stupid. It’s just I ain’t never fooled by that. Even if Dot gussied her up, she wouldn’t believe it. She’s got too many people eager to tell her she’s homely an’ stupid. I’m tryin’a fix the stupid part ’cuz her marks’ll be the proof. I can’t do nothin’ about homely.”
“She tells you all that? Just wears her heart and mind out on her sleeve like that?”
“Everybody tells me their problems eventually. Marina needs somebody to talk to who’ll listen and not run over her with theories and suggestions and insistin’ she’s right.”
“Dot.”
Trey nodded. “Just like tryin’a teach her algebra. Dot goes around a problem but never really solves it. Like her collection o’ little boys. ’Stead o’ givin’ ’em the cold shoulder, she flirts with ’em just enough to keep their feelin’s from bein’ hurt.”
“She likes the attention and perqs.”
“She didn’t have no problem tryin’a cut me down to size, but I’m a big dog. She got a tender heart under all that ego an’ cynicism an’ boys her age are just puppies. She ain’t a puppy-kicker.” Trey slid a glance at Gio. “Kinda like you.”
“And Marina’s a lot like you.”
Trey’s mouth twisted bitterly. “That’s givin’ me too much credit.”
“Maybe so.”
“Dot, on the other hand, grew up suspicious of everybody ’cuzza the Extermination Order. Plus, her daddy’s connected. He has a reason to raise a cynical girl.”
Gio snorted. “‘Cynical.’ That’s an understatement. You know she walks around heavy?”
Trey’s head whipped around and his mouth dropped open. “The hell you say!”
“I asked her why her father lets her run wild since she carries the Extermination Order like it’s a badge of honor. She said God’n’Colt would protect her, then showed me her piece to reassure me that I don’t have to worry about her any more than her parents do. And never ever say a word to Marina. Or you. She also wanted to see how I’d react, which Alice said was her way of finding out if I have the stones to handle her.”
“Goddammit,” Trey whispered, running his hand down his mouth. “I shoulda thought’a that. Only she don’t know that ain’t the only reason her daddy’d load her down. We are.”
“I’d rather be hogtied and beaten to death by a crowd of Black Hand soldiers than get shot by an annoyed sixteen-year-old girl—”
Trey barked a laugh.
“—but if she thinks I’m interested in her church, she won’t look past that.”
“That was pure genius.”
“Pure luck.”
Trey glanced at Gio. “You buy all that shit?”
“Oh, hell no. The dancing’ll be sticky.”
“I suggest you learn the Lindy Hop then. Don’t look good, your girl havin’ a dance partner that’s not you even if everybody does know he’s queer as a three-dollar bill.”
Gio growled as they both headed up the stairs. “You really like Marina, don’t you? Genuinely.”
Trey thought for a few seconds. “Yeah,” he finally said, half surprised. “Yeah, I do.”
“Would you marry her if you could without losing this place?”
“I wouldn’t know yet in any case,” he said matter-of-factly, “but it don’t matter ’cuz it ain’t never gonna happen.”
“Except it’s not just about the bet anymore.”
“Let’s just say,” he muttered as he headed to the bathroom to take a long, hot bath. “I’d’a rather paid cash for this place ’cuz I got a feeling it’s gonna cost me a whole lot more’n sixty large.”
13
If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.
First
You fell into my trap, you scoundrel.
Second place is first loser. So you have that going for you.
I’ve never been called a scoundrel before. I rather like it.
You probably also enjoy being defecated on like Odell Beckham Jr.
I’m really liking all four of our main characters. What a fun story.
What is the “Extermination Order”?
Order 66.
Mormons tried to Californicate Missouri and people wanted to get rid of them,
I figured, but who ordered it and who followed it?
You know, you could always do like I did and use your favorite search engine to get more details.
I want Mo’ to explain it to me!!!!
Fine.
/heads off to DDG
Holy shit, it wasn’t rescinded until 1976! I wonder if anyone, long after the fact but before 1976, killed a Mormon and used the order as a defense.
/heads back to the internet
But the order was given over 90 years prior to this story. The Mormons wouldn’t have returned to Missouri if anyone thought it was still in effect.
My bad. I’m working. It’s Friday night in an ER somewhere in Florida, you know.
Yes, the order was given way before this story, but there have never not been Mormons in Missouri since it was given. It’s just a bad law and people didn’t follow it.
Friday + Florida + ER = 🩸🩸🩸
Yeah, I’ve been reading how the asshat that gave it even had to leave Missouri in shame only a few years later. Not that no Mormons were hurt because of it though. Humans can be such fucks.
But, I guess my question is; is this poetic license, or were Mormons still jittery about it in the ’20s? I hope I’m not asking for a spoiler!
I honestly am not sure if they were still jittery in the 1920s, but take it as poetic license, as the jitteriness is a bit necessary to the politics of the story.
Got it. Thanks!
Nauvoo IL sez “hi”
Mr. Mojeaux and I got married in Nauvoo.
I wasn’t familiar with Nauvoo before I read The Expanse, so I will always think of it as a generation ship with Moroni as a bowsprit.
I thought naming the ship Nauvoo was very clever and let me know someone had done their homework right.
I had to look that up too.
Crazy stuff.
too homely and too stupid to snag a cat??
I’ve never heard that expression before. Made me snort-laugh.
I tried to include as much period-appropriate slang as I could without making it gaudy.
TIL “perq”. The pedant side of me will be in his bunk.
Now there’s two amateurs psychologists psychoanalyzing 2 teenage girls. Good luck with that. And we learn that Dot’s packin’ some heat. Good luck with that.
Thanks, Mo, I’m getting curiouser and curiouser. The two boys are beginning to sound like good guys a little down on their luck, working the gin mill.
Two conmen breaking down their marks. 😉
I don’t know about good, but maybe … not completely evil. LOL
On topic!
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/unfinisheddensecanine
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/MxeJG/88503de68d3b6953da661d52c06baeec3131170b.jpg
NSFW.
https://archive.ph/q4ym6/9d5800f2838925ac107d1add581ba2314b7f39eb.jpg
NSFW.
https://i.imgur.com/EFE6795.gifv
NSFW.
She’s starting to shake…
It’s good to know she’s a professional.
Those are quite on the upswing of things
Trump has a better swing.
President Biden out for a round of golf in Saint Croix today
More footage
I share your brain, apparently. That was instantly my thought.
Lol
The new talking point on Trump’s taxes – we don’t know if he did anything illegal because the IRS never audited him!
And they’ve dragged Michael Cohen out of whatever hole he’s been hiding in.
There is no way on God’s green earth that the IRS never audited Trump.
He was audited in the years prior to running for office, but not during. Which the hacks at places like MSNBC are using to insinuate it was because of pressure applied by Trump. We just don’t know…
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a technically correct, like his returns were reviewed but not formally audited or some shit like that. Or despite supposed policy, no president has been audited for years.
I also bet that releasing similar returns of Pelosi, Biden, or McConnell would not reveal anything shocking. All of those are longtime swamp creatures who know, or have people who know, how to structure their corruption and financial affairs so the dirt doesn’t get on themselves.
Money laundering has been a thing for a long time, and there is no reason to believe that any of these people didn’t engage in it. The days of a second set of books are long past, there was never going to be any smoking gun via Trumps taxes, nor any other politicians. They learned long ago how to cover their tracks.
That’s not even true either. He was audited during that time, but it wasn’t recorded as the special “mandatory audit.”
LOL that was my ridiculous speculation. They can’t be serious.
That’s not quite correct. The IRS did not audit him while Obama’s appointed commissioner was there. The one Trump appointed did initiate an audit per the WSJ. The IRS being the shit show that it is, assigned one agent to conduct the audit. At some point they realized that agent was overwhelmed so they assigned two more. Trump has so many entities reporting income to him, it still wasn’t enough.
What’s more interesting, to me, is we don’t know what occurred under his predecessors. Notwithstanding the law, it’s unknown if the IRS conducted audits on previous presidents.
Annual audits of all congresscritters would be more useful than auditing the president.
Why not both?
Barbara Walters is dead.
Just linked to an article last night where Ted Kennedy reportedly wanted to use her as a mouthpiece for Soviet propaganda to beat Reagan in the ’84 election.
Maybe I’m a decade or so too young, but I never understood how that woman achieved the success she had.
Why? (Just curious; that’s not a challenge.)
She seemed to me to have no personality. Almost robotic. All I knew of her was doing almost tabloid style interviews, and doing her best to make people cry. I never her knew her to do actual news. And yes, the speech impediment, or affect, or whatever.
Now, I was born in ’72. Maybe she was a damn good reporter before I was born and while I was growing up. It’s just that by the time I became aware of her, she didn’t seem to really be doing any “news” of any importance.
Babwa Wawa probably played a big part.
Two for the pwice of one! 😃
hahaha
Baba Wawa never interviewed Richard Roundtree, because she couldn’t say his name.
Right place, right time.
Nothing more than that.
What kind of tree is she in heaven?
TPTB,
I wrote a new thing, hope you like it.
Yay!!! I am on chapter five! I am going to buy a copy.
❣️❣️❣️
Stupid krauts
Changed this
https://www.totalwine.com/spirits/brandy-cognac/eau-de-vie/schladerer-edelkirsch-cherry/p/115618750
to this
https://www.theliquorbarn.com/schladerer-edel-kirsch-750ml/
That sounds like it might be delicious. I see the new version with the stupid label drop 4%. Did the flavor change? What’s it like?
Umlaut Goordvesen died. No more peeing in the batch for an extra 4%.
Dunno. It’s been unavailable in liquor stores around here for a while. Maybe the product change is the cause.
I’m not a fan of kirschwasser but that stuff is more like cherry syrup. I like chambord too. I guess I got too much cough syrup as a kid.
Interesting. On their website it’s down to 21%.
https://schladerer.de/en/product/cherry-liqueur/
It’s Umlaut Goordvesen fault.
Mike, you are welcome. I am the asshole today.
“Today”
🧐
Avatar checks out.
I like the new bottle. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
/basic bitch
One of the unseemly parts of being First is knowing how many people become aroused by your work.
https://youtu.be/mJYtJs_PkKE
That’s a very odd pick up line. Has it ever worked before?
Firsters have very precise and regimented sexual rituals. There are no pick-up lines. There are no relationships. There are only winners and losers.
Zero, of course.
Benedict kicks it, too.
Damn, I was hoping he’d outlast the Commie Pope.
You and me both.
I get to the laundromat at 10 minutes to 6, and there are already two cars parked outside.
Obviously not a Firster
You think I *want* to end up like Bro???
No one know’s what you want.
It’s almost 2023.
God help us.
😕
Mornin, you weirdos.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/allentown-prepares-to-drop-giant-hockey-puck-at-midnight-for-new-years/article_71e1dda6-87ca-11ed-a0e5-1b61ddd240c1.html
We’ve got a giant hockey puck.
What do you have?
It’s not like they’ve got anything else since they closed all the factories down.
https://youtu.be/BHnJp0oyOxs
https://ktla.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/nationworld/headlines/ap-13-bison-dead-after-truck-hits-herd-near-yellowstone-park/
Strike! 🎳
https://nypost.com/2022/12/30/bryan-kohberger-became-aggressive-in-high-school-friend/
Are we blaming the parents or public school teachers?
Why not both?
https://imgur.io/IP73r?r
https://foxillinois.com/news/local/kankakee-judge-rules-portion-of-safe-t-act-unconstitutional#
suh’ fam
whats goody yo