Jojo did his best to lay low. He had a few cigarettes out back, fed the elephants a handful of peanuts, scared the hell out of the clown-phobic caretaker, Earl Berryman, just by looking at him funny. It was all a good distraction, until he knew it was time to get back inside.
“Where the hell have you been?” Gianna asked him when he stepped back in.
She was drinking straight from the bottle of wine. Based on the way she staggered, he could tell she was already trashed.
“Are you drunk already? I told you to pace yourself.”
“I’m fine,” she said as she tripped over her heel.
He held her by the elbow so she could keep her balance.
“It’s an embarrassment. What’s Taffy going to say?”
She avoided the question. “We have to go and greet the guests as they arrive.”
“What?”
“We need to stand outside the church and thank people for coming as they get here. Tina has to as well.” She said Tina in a disgusted tone.
“What are you talking about? We don’t have to do anything like that.”
“Taffy said that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
Jojo hoped he could’ve avoided facing his brother and nephew until at least after the ceremony. If he had to greet every person as they entered, he’d have to stare the man right in the eyes with a stupid smile on his face, pretending that he hadn’t just tried to kill his son. Jojo didn’t know if he could do that. Then he wondered if Jimmy had told anyone else in the family. He could have told half the people coming. What if every single person he greeted knew all about what he’d done?
“Don’t even think about getting out of it,” Gianna said.
Jojo and his wife went outside and took their positions. Miss Tina was already out there.
“How ya doing, Tina?” Jojo said to the madam as they approached her.
Tina smiled and gave him a hug. “Hey, Jojo. Ready for the big day?”
“A father’s never ready to give his daughter away,” Jojo said, fake-laughing.
He was beginning to wonder if his wife didn’t have the right idea. He should’ve been pouring stiff drinks down his throat.
“Hi,” Gianna said to Miss Tina. She waved for a second, looked away from her, and then completely ignored the woman.
As the guests arrived, the three of them shook their hands, thanked them for coming, and had the ushers take them to their seats. Among the first guests was a group of older clown women in low-cut dresses, exposing their marshmallow-white cleavage. They embraced Miss Tina, congratulating her on her son’s marriage.
“Are those prostitutes?” Gianna asked her husband, trying to speak quietly but everyone could hear.
Jojo just nodded and kept the fake smile on his face.
Gianna raised her voice. “Who invited whores? I don’t want a bunch of whores at my daughter’s wedding.”
“Pinky invited them,” Jojo whispered. “He was raised in a brothel, remember? These women are like aunts to him.”
Gianna was fuming. She wouldn’t even look at the women, let alone greet them, as they passed her by.
As members of the Bozo Family arrived, Jojo did his best job to act happy to see them. The clowns all had stern looks in their eyes and shook his hand with a firm grasp. He could swear they all knew what he’d done, but he tried to pretend as though everything were fine.
“Thanks for coming,” he told every single one of them while shaking in his boots.
When his brother arrived, Jojo took the bottle away from his wife and slammed it.
“What’s the big idea?” she asked.
“You had enough,” he said.
Then he tossed the bottle in the bushes.
Don Bozo was carrying the biggest present of any of the guests, so big that his head was covered. If it weren’t for his wide hips Jojo wouldn’t have recognized him.
“Hey, where do I put the presents over here?” his brother said.
When Jojo saw his face, the clown wore a giant smile. He seemed genuinely excited about the wedding, wearing his nicest blue-and-purple-striped tuxedo and oversized yellow bow tie.
“How’s it going, Tommy?” Jojo asked in a meek voice. He pointed at an usher to take the present from him.
“Good, good. Where’s the bride? I want to give this to her personally.”
He seemed to be in an unusually good mood. Jojo didn’t know his brother to be such a good actor. Normally, his emotions were written all over his face.
“Nobody sees her yet,” Jojo said. “Not until after the ceremony.”
“Are you serious? Well, where should I put this then?”
Jojo waved an usher over to come take the present.
“Careful with that,” Don Bozo said to the usher. “There’s kittens in there.”
“Kittens?” Jojo asked.
“Yeah.” His brother nodded excitedly. “I thought Taffy would like them.”
“You got my daughter a box full of kittens for a wedding present?”
“Yeah, who doesn’t want a box full of kittens on their wedding day?”
Then Don Bozo laughed and gave his brother a giant hug.
“You’re in a good mood?” Jojo asked.
“You know how much I love weddings, Joe. I’ve been waiting all week for this.”
Then his brother was escorted inside. Jojo couldn’t believe it. That wasn’t what he expected from his brother at all. He wondered if Jimmy’d never told his father about it. Maybe Jimmy’d kept it to himself so that he could go after his uncle without his father getting in the way. If that were the case, Jojo wasn’t as bad off as he thought. The wrath of Jimmy wasn’t going to be as bad as the wrath of his brother.
Ten minutes later, Jimmy Bozo showed up. But he also seemed to be in a good mood. Jojo was relieved at first. Then he noticed who his nephew brought with him. Jimmy’s plus one was Jojo’s mistress, Pepper.
“How’s it going, Uncle Jojo?” Jimmy asked, giving him a hug.
“Hi, Jimmy,” Gianna said, giving her nephew a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
Then Jimmy introduced Pepper to Jojo’s wife, “This is my old friend, Pepper. You remember Pepper from when we were kids, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Gianna said, nodding at Pepper. “It seemed like yesterday that you were just that little green-haired girl playing hopscotch. You’re so grown-up now.”
Pepper gave Gianna a big hug and kissed her on the cheek. “I remember you, too. You always yelled at me for climbing on your car.”
“Oh, yeah!” Gianna laughed.
Hearing his wife and mistress talk like that, Jojo felt like he needed to wind up his heart a few times.
“So, Uncle Jojo…,” Jimmy said, taking his uncle aside.
“Yeah?” Jojo said in a nervous tone. Knowing the impulsive kid, he wouldn’t be surprised if Jimmy stabbed him right then and there.
“About Pepper…,” Jimmy continued, trying to keep his voice down so Gianna didn’t hear. “I went by her place like you asked me to but she didn’t take no pills like you said. She didn’t even remember you broke up with her.”
Jojo didn’t know what else to do but lie. He came up with the best one he could in the moment. Even if Jimmy wouldn’t believe him, he didn’t know how else to respond.
“Did I actually do that?” Jojo asked.
“Yeah, don’t you remember?”
“A little bit…” Jojo faked a laugh. “You know, I was half asleep when I called you. I think I dreamed all that about breaking up with Pepper. Never mix booze with pills.”
Jimmy chuckled. “Yeah, I thought it might have been something like that. She was pretty surprised when I showed up all worried about her for nothing.”
Jojo laughed with him and nodded. He didn’t think Jimmy completely believed him, but it didn’t matter. As long as there was even the slightest bit of doubt, nobody would move against Jojo. All he had to do was deny it up and down. Not Jimmy, not Blue Nose, not even his brother would dare go against Jojo unless they were 100 percent sure he was responsible. And since Jimmy had survived the ordeal, they had no reason to be too sore over it.
Jimmy turned to go inside the church and Jojo breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, one more thing,” Jimmy said, turning back to him.
His nephew pulled a phone from his pocket.
“I found this phone when I was over at Pepper’s. Is it yours?”
Jojo looked back at his wife. He said it loud enough so that she could hear, but she was so busy gossiping with Pepper that she didn’t notice.
“No, it’s not mine,” Jojo said after examining the phone.
“That’s weird,” Jimmy said. “I thought it had to have been yours. It’s got your phone number programmed into it.”
Jimmy opened the phone and handed it to his uncle. Upon closer examination, Jojo saw that the text on the screen was in French. He realized it had to have belonged to Jean Dupont, one of the Juggler Brothers. The phone would’ve kept a record that Jojo was in communication with the Juggler Brothers right before the hit went down. Jimmy was just messing with his uncle. He had definite proof he was behind it all.
“Keep it,” Jimmy said. “Whosever it is, they probably don’t need it no more.”
Jojo just stared at the phone with his mouth open. He couldn’t say anything. If Jimmy had the slightest bit of doubt, his uncle just confirmed it based on the expression on his face.
Pepper followed Jimmy into the church, but on the way she leaned into Jojo’s ear and said, “I’m telling her tonight.”
Then she smiled at him and continued on her way.
Jojo realized he wasn’t going to get away with it. He was one screwed clown.