Sundays you never saw Tommy. We thought he was shaking off the partying from the weekend. It made sense; we all stayed in bed Sundays as Mom’s gravy wafted in the air. We’d eat like animals, watch whatever games were on and get ready for clubbing that night. However, Tommy never made it out on Sundays and you couldn’t reach him at home. We believed he was paying the price for over doing it; make that, way over doing the drinking, coke, ludes and whatever else he consumed.
He wasn’t around much in the early part of the week, claiming he was occupied with his dad. As time went by he began to confide in me, believing I’d offer sound advice and keep it confidential.
On Friday I had gotten tickets for the Yanks World Series game for Sunday night. Tommy was huge Yankee fan and I expected a whooping response. Hopping into his smoke filled car, I cranked a window open as he pulled away. A Bee Gees was blaring and I lowered the volume,
“It’s your lucky day bro!”
“You gotta tip?”
“Better than that.” I waved the tickets in front of his face. “Sunday night, Yankee Stadium, a little game is going on and we’re gonna be there!”
He drew on a cigarette and exhaled slowly, “Can’t make it man.”
“What? It’s the World Series.”
“No can do. Close that window my hairs gonna get fucked up.”
“Yo Skins, it’s those seats on the dugout man, it’s gonna be unreal.”
He was stone faced. Puzzled, I pushed,
“You’re joking right? You want me to ask Red?”
“Hey man, believe me I fuckin’ wanna go but I got shit to do.”
“What the heck you gotta do that can’t wait till Monday?”
He flicked his cigarette butt out the window, “Listen, what you think I do every Sunday?”
“The way you party? Nursing a serious hangover!”
He snickered, “Yeah, that too but I’ve been helping my old man out.”
I didn’t say anything as it confirmed he was up to something.
“Anyway, change the fucking subject, I’ll tell ya about it sometime.”
“No prob bro, whenever you’re ready, just do me a favor and watch your ass.”
“Yeah, and do me a favor, don’t invite Red, he’s a Met fan!”
We headed to Port Richmond’s outdoor basketball courts where we’d been playing in round robin tournaments since junior high. Though no one on our team was close to six foot, we could all shoot the shit out of the hoop and were competitive.
“Nice game Spence.”
“Spence?”
“Yeah, you were chucking the three pointers like Spencer Hayward!”
Now I could look forward to being called Spence for a few weeks, “I thought that kid wasn’t getting back up, man he hit hard.”
“Yeah well, I gave him a little help on the way down.” He opened his trunk and flipped the lid on a cooler.
I grabbed a juice but Tommy popped a beer and took a long draw.
“How the hell you drink that now?
He belched, “Beer really quenches your thirst; you should try it.”
“Is Joey back from Boca?”
“Supposed to get in later.”
“Good, he was at Uncle Sam’s when we met those broads from Islip. They said they’re coming to the island tonight. Told ‘em we’d meet them at Hadar; it’s the closest to the bridge for them.”
“You’re a real goodie two shoes, Spence!”
“Come on let’s hit the road. I wanna shower and get ready.”
“Yeah, I’m got to get my nails done and walk Grease.”
Like a lot of the street guys, Tommy always had his finger nails manicured and polished with a low gloss, an attempt at distancing themselves from how they earned a buck.
“How she doing with the training?”
“Almost there. She’s really something. She listens to me.”
Tommy made a u-turn across the double line into a Shell station, “I gotta gas up.”
The attendant came over, “What’s it gonna be?”
“Fill it, hi-test.”
After a minute or so another car pulled into the station and Tommy said, “How much the pump say?”
“Twenty bucks and change.”
Tommy looked over at the attendant getting orders from the other car, put the car in drive and screeched away.
“What the fuck you doing man?”
I looked back and the gas pump was spewing gas as we pulled away.
“Holy shit! You’re fucking nuts you know that?”
Tommy had a big grin on his face, “That towel head don’t know what hit him.”
“You’re crazy you know, one of these days you’re gonna get arrested.”
He burst out laughing and I joined in.
You just never knew what the day would bring with him, it made it fun but the second thoughts were getting more prominent with every episode. Tommy had no apparent limits and I knew one day he wouldn’t be able to walk on water, I just had to be sure I wasn’t in drowning distance.
Another u-turn, “Where you going now?”
“That’s Rocco’s, Tess’s favorite bakery; I wanna pick up some sesame cookies for her.”
Tommy had a weird habit of calling his mother by her first name. I considered it disrespectful and always called her Mrs. A. I don’t know when it started but it had to originate with his father who seemed to despise his wife.
He pulled up to my house,
“What time you want me to pick you up?”
“Uhm, I’ll meet you there around ten. I, uh, got to take a ride with my dad.” I had to make sure I took my own car.