Reverse Metamorphosis book one of the Irrevocable Change trilogy (14 page)

And what about Anna? Until Jimmy’s death she
had been the mother of a friend; a person who symbolized parental
authority over her children. She projected a persona of being
beautiful, kind, generous, well mannered and impeccably attired.
But as he reviewed incidents during the years he had known her, he
recognized a coldness in her manner he had overlooked, or maybe had
not wanted to see. In some instances he now recalled, she was
ruthless. He remembered several times when she had responded in
Jimmy’s defense, although Jimmy was clearly in the wrong. She
attacked a wronged child or adult with a fierceness he now
recognized to be excessive and unwarranted.

At the hospital the night Tony was shot, Anna
had not given him the opportunity to decide his own involvement in
the matter. The role of avenger had been thrust upon him with no
options. She had assumed, correctly, he would do as he was told.
During the following weeks of planning she had repeatedly checked
the progress of his planning with very subtle and discreet
inquiries. So subtle and discreet at the time he was not aware it
was she, as much as he, who had directed the planning. If she had
enlisted an older experienced gang member, such as Joey, to assist
her, she would not have been allowed the control she could maintain
over a young inexperienced person like himself. Her dealings with
the mob bosses was another indicator of her ability to manipulate
others; taking control even where she seemed to be out numbered and
without recognized authority. He wondered briefly if Joey was the
person responsible for passing his name up the mob hierarchy.

He glanced across the car to Anna. She had
reclined the back rest of the leather seat and dozed off. He
wondered if her trip to his bed last night was a true ‘thank you’,
or merely an assurance he would be in her debt in the future if
another need arose. He decided whatever her motive had been she was
a good lay. Maybe he was getting too melancholy for his own good;
he turned his attention back to his driving and continued the trip
in silence.

When they entered Tony’s hospital room he was
sitting up in bed, propped up by half a dozen pillows. The
television was tuned to a Chicago station and the evening news was
on. A young blonde reporter in her early twenties was just
finishing a piece on the previous night's gangland shootings. In a
high pitched whining voice she stated she was horrified the police
still allowed such things to happen in her city. Anna went to Tony,
gave him a hug and a kiss, and motioned for Clay to turn the
television off. Clay turned to the guard and motioned for him to
move out into the hallway.

Anna sat on the edge of Tony’s bed and held
his left hand. Clay pulled a chair up next to the bed and sat down
as he nodded an acknowledgement to Tony.

Tony slid his left hand out of Anna’s grasp
and extended it to Clay. As the two men clasp hands in trust and
friendship Tony said “I’ve been watching your handiwork on TV all
day; the stations keep cutting in with special reports to update
and give more details on the hit. It was quite a show. The fire
bombs were an original touch; no fingerprints and very few clues
left. Hell, they can’t even identify the bodies. Thanks kid, I owe
you again. Now, when are you going to stop being so stubborn and
let me start repaying you for all you’ve done for me?”

“You don’t owe me for anything Tony. I helped
my friends because there was a need and friends take care of each
other. I’m positive a time will come when I’ll need help and you’ll
come to my aid.” Clay was thinking to himself, even though Anna
felt she had paid him in full, her contribution had just been a
damn good down payment. She obviously put a much higher value on a
piece of her unfaithful ass than he did.

“Enough, you two,” Anna spoke up, “Clay,
please leave us alone for twenty minutes or so. I have a lot of
issues to discuss with Tony before the kids get here.”

Tony motioned for Anna to lean closer and
asked, “Is everything under control with Ricarddi and the other
bosses?”

“Yes, they reacted as I thought they would;
upset but caught off balance by my attitude toward them. Being a
woman has certain advantages when dealing with those old
loons.”

“Be careful Anna, those old guys are in
control; one word from them and people can disappear in a
heartbeat; you know how it is.”

Clay rose from the chair and Anna moved over
to sit in it as he left the room. The guards outside in the
corridor provided directions to the cafeteria and said the food was
decent. At the elevator he stood waiting for the car to take him
down past the entrance level to the service areas. When the lighted
switch signaled the car was approaching his floor he stepped
forward to board as soon as the doors opened. As a space was
opening between the two stainless steel doors he was greeted by the
vision of a stunningly beautiful young lady. Long black hair, green
eyes, a dark smooth complexion; tall for a woman, wrapped in a
tailored black business suit. He stood there with his mouth open,
blocking her from exiting the car.

She smiled and offered a greeting upon
recognizing the friend of her deceased brother. “Clay! Hi, I
haven’t seen you since I was home over two years ago. How are
you?”

“I’m fine, and I can see you are too. My God,
you’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you.” He could
see by the blush on her cheeks he was embarrassing her with his
babbling and tried to change the subject. “I just left your Mom and
Dad; we just got here and Anna asked to be alone for a little
while. I’m headed to the cafeteria; will you join me for something
to eat or drink?”

“Yes” Adriana replied, “I am a bit
hungry.”

He entered the elevator, pushed the button
for the basement level, and the car began its decent.

“This ordeal has been hard on Mother and I’m
sure she needs more time with Father than she'll get with John,
Meredith and I here to visit. On the telephone she said Father is
doing well and she expects him to be released soon to return home.”
She hesitated before continuing, “I picked up a paper at the
airport when I arrived and saw an article about a huge gang related
killing in Chicago. Does it have anything to do with the danger to
us visiting being over?”

The elevator car doors opened and they
exited, following the directions Clay had been given to the
cafeteria.

Clay looked at Adrianna and answered her,
“Yes, it was related to your father’s injuries.”

Inside the cafeteria they got in line behind
three hospital employees. They each picked out food items, putting
them on a stainless steel tray. As Clay paid for the meal she found
a table away from the few other people in the dining area.

Before starting to eat, Adrianna said off
handedly to no one in particular, “John will have a cow when he
sees the paper and ties the headlines to Father. He abhors the
violence inherent in the family business.” Then looking up at Clay
she continued to speak “Why are you here? Are you working with
Father?”

Clay had taken several bites from his plate
and held his finger up to signal a pause, before shaking his head
and answering. “No Annie, I ‘m not in the business.” He hadn’t
addressed her by her nickname in years; it just slipped out; but it
sounded so good when he heard it aloud. She had always just been
Jimmy’s older sister; someone for younger boys to taunt and pick at
just because they were boys and she was there.

She smiled, “I haven’t been called Annie
since I left home. You and Jimmy were the only people Mother would
allow to call me by a nickname. I remember always throwing
something at one of you when it was used, but secretly I liked the
sound of it. Mother insisted I use my ‘proper name’ with everyone
else. I always thought it wasn’t fair when John was little they
called him Johnny and James was always Jimmy. I guess John and
James are too formal to be names of gang leaders. ” She smiled
again, then shrugged and said “We had better finish eating and go
up to Father’s room and hope John and Meredith haven’t already
arrived. Maybe with help from the two of us Mother can defuse the
situation and prevent a family breakup. John can be such a
twit.”

When the two of them got to Tony’s room, they
learned John had not arrived yet. Clay had bought a large cup of
iced tea and a muffin for Anna, who after greeting, hugging and
kissing her daughter began to eat. Adrianna and Tony talked about
his wounds and his recovery while Clay listened and looked on.

After another thirty minutes had passed there
was a light knock on the door. It opened part way and a young man’s
head extended around the doors edge. “Is it safe to come in?” John
and Meredith had finally made their appearance.

John wore dark blue tailored trousers, a
yellow golf shirt and cordovan colored penny loafers. He stood back
and held the door open for Meredith to make her entrance wearing a
yellow sun dress and white leather heels. She walked straight and
stood tall with head held high and shoulders back carrying a large
brightly patterned cloth bag from her right shoulder. Both appeared
to be models for one of the top fashion magazines. Meredith’s
blonde hair was full and cut to shoulder length. Her medium tan was
an indication of the many hours the natural blond spent lying in
the sun beside a pool.

John approached Tony’s bed, nodded an
acknowledgement and simply said, “Father.” Then he turned, gave a
big hug and greetings to Anna, then Adrianna, and shook Clay’s
hand. Meredith performed the same routine, and then moved over to
the side wall where she stood quietly without expression, her hands
clasped in front of her. While Anna, John and Adrianna were making
small talk, Clay stepped over toward Meredith and struck up a
conversation with her.

“Meredith, how have you been? Seems like the
only time we meet is when a tragedy occurs. What have you and John
been up to lately?”

Meredith smiled thinly, and was cool in her
response, “John has been involved in a high visibility corporate
tax case, a dispute between his client and the I. R.S., so he is
gone a lot. You know, back and forth between Washington and New
York. I, on the other hand, have been able to concentrate on my
painting. Next month six of my works will be on display at a
prominent gallery in lower Manhattan, so I will be dreadfully busy.
Neither of us really had the time to drop everything to come today,
but we felt it was our family duty to support Anna in her time of
need.”

Clay said “It’s good to see you again. I hope
to get to talk more to you and John this evening, but right now I
need to tell Tony something.” As he walked over to Tony’s bed he
felt like the temperature must have risen 50 degrees back up to
room temperature. What a cold, snobby, self centered bitch, he
thought.

“Tony, is there any thing I can get for you?”
he asked.

Tony had a dejected look on his face and
shook his head in a negative manner. He didn’t like being ignored
by his son and daughter in law, but didn’t know how to change the
situation, other than to change his whole life and become a monk.
“Naw kid, I’m fine. What I need can’t be had here. So what are your
plans now?”

Sitting on the edge of the bed close to Tony
he replied softly, so the others might not hear clearly, “I’m going
to call the hall and get back to work as soon as they have an
opening for me, and go back to what will now be my usual boring
routine. After the last three weeks, bull riding, skydiving, or
walking on hot coals would all seem tame. But I’ll get used to it
again.”

He smiled and gave Tony a wink, then changed
the subject. “Has the doctor set a date for your release? And will
you be transferred to another hospital or be able to go home?”

“Yesterday morning he said he was considering
letting me go home in two weeks, if I get a private nurse to come
in and check on me every day and change the bandages when
needed”

Anna had been listening to the side
conversation while talking to the children and piped in with “I’ll
pick the nurse big boy; no nurse Good Body for you. She’s going to
be sooooo ugly you’ll be praying to God to get well just so she
won’t come around and touch you.”

They all had a good natured laugh and Tony
countered her with “Like hell you will, I’m gonna hire a big titted
porno star with a girl scout badge in massage to be my nurse.”

John and Meredith exchanged glances and John
rolled his eyes upward signaling his disapproval of the crass
jokes.

By then it was almost eight o’clock; an
electronic bell dinged lightly several times over the loud speaker
system while a voice message announced visiting hours would end in
ten minutes. Everyone bid Tony good night with kiss’s or
handshakes, and the group moved out into the corridor and toward
the elevator. Clay signaled to one of the guards to again take his
position back inside Tony’s room. The guards would remain with Tony
until he returned home.

After leaving the small hospital the group
decided to return to the motel where Anna’s children were booked.
They all agreed they could use a drink before turning in, or
driving back to Chicago.

As the group gathered inside the motel
entrance Meredith stated her dissatisfaction with the quality of
the motel and the entire area as a whole. “Why in the world would
anyone live in a hick town like this? It is totally lacking in
culture; no theater, museums, art galleries, nothing. Not even a
decent hotel; just three road side motels of questionable quality.
There isn’t even a concierge on call to look after one’s personal
needs.” Adrianna, Anna and Clay ignored the remark and smiled at
each other.

Once inside the bar Clay had a chance to
focus on each individual while the Gilianos exchanged personal
remarks. He had maneuvered to get seated between Anna and Adrianna
and across the small table from John and Meredith.