be a big boy for Mama?”
“I’ll try.”
“Trying’s not good enough. Here they are. Now RUN!”
She set me down, and I raced for the door. As I pulled it open, I looked back and saw two beefy security guards knock my mother to the ground and twist her arms behind her back. I was terrified, but I did exactly as I was told. I ran, and ran, and kept on running until I found a Burger King and scrambled inside. I pulled out the emergency quarter hidden in my shoe, climbed on a pile of booster seats, and dialed the only telephone number I knew by heart.
But somehow I blew it. I’m not sure if I got the number wrong, or if my little fingers were shaking so badly I pressed the wrong button by accident. All I know is that the person who answered the phone wasn’t Grandpa Patsy, and I hung up.
Now what am I supposed to do? I wondered. I had no other money, my mother was in custody, and there was a stolen bracelet in my pants. I thought about sneaking up on some old lady and stealing her pocketbook, but even old ladies were bigger than me. Think, I told myself. There has to be something you can do. Then I remembered the fountain back at the mall. Not only was it filled with hundreds of dimes and quarters, but it was right across from the Mrs. Field’s cookie stand. I could scoop up some change, call Grandpa Patsy, and still have money left over for a cookie. It was the first plan I had ever thought of, and I felt like a criminal mastermind.
Or I did until my plan backfired. I don’t know what happened, but one moment I was reaching for a big juicy quarter, and the next I was falling headfirst into the fountain. The water tasted like oven cleaner, and my eyes burned like someone had doused them with chili powder. It was easily the worst thing that had ever happened to me, and by the time I crawled out of the fountain two mall cops were waiting for me.
“Where’s your mother, little boy?” the first one asked.
I knew I wasn’t supposed to tell them, but I didn’t know what else to do. I was four years old, drenched, alone, and scared.
“Macy’s,” I whimpered.
The police were there when I arrived and when they pulled the gold bracelet from my jeans I thought they were going to kiss me. Talk about perfect timing, they were about to release my mother for lack of evidence, but thanks to me, they now had everything they needed to arrest us for shoplifting. Or at least arrest my mother, because you can’t arrest a four-year-old—although that didn’t stop them from slapping handcuffs on my wrists and marching me out the door where a photographer for Newsday was waiting to capture my shame for the next day’s paper. Our next stop was the Seventh Precinct where my mother was charged with Petit Larceny, and I got to play Go Fish with a lady detective because the cops didn’t know what else to do with me.
Aunt Marie had to bail us out because Uncle Wonderful was in prison for mail fraud and Grandpa Patsy was highly allergic to police stations. But Grandpa Patsy was there when we got home, and he was nice enough to hold me down while my mother spanked me until her hand went numb.
“You stupid shit!” she shrieked. “You stupid little shit!”
“This is for your own good, Skipper,” Grandpa Patsy whispered in my ear. “Nobody likes a rat, and the sooner you learn that the better. Now say it.”
“Nobody likes a rat!” I cried.
“Again.”
“Nobody. Likes. A. Rat.”
“Good. Now never forget it.”
20
MR. DENUNSIO’S IDEA TO ACCESS FAT NICKY’S HOUSE VIA the canals was a good one. Nobody would be expecting that. A boat? Maybe. But a lone swimmer on an icy December night? Not in a million years. Still, the plan was not without its challenges. First off, I’d have to find a wet suit in December. Not totally impossible, but the selection would be limited, and I’d have to pay for it with cash. I’d also need a car and a gun, but my biggest problem was finding a partner. Vinny was the obvious choice, the main reason being I didn’t know anyone else. The Vinster wasn’t the smartest criminal on the South Shore, but with his shaved head, tattoos, and nervous eyes he certainly