Chapter 17 - It's the Small Things That Can Kill You! - Ghosts and Choices

 Chapter 17 – Ghosts and Choices

Joey carefully watched Clara as she locked her bicycle to a park picnic table. Then he held the door for us while we got into the back seat of the gray Ford sedan. He slid into the front seat next to Sal.

Joey grinned at Sal. “Let’s take the scenic route over to Happy Meadows, my good man.”

“This is rural area. We are in the middle of a park. It’s all scenic Joey.”

“Then drive around town until I finish telling this story.” He put his left arm over the front seat and looked back at us. “Buckle up for safety everybody.”

I started to laugh a bit. I suppose the thought of a safety-conscious professional killer was just incongruent enough to trigger my anxiety. Clara shot a disapproving look in my direction.

“This is a ghost story but also a tale about choices. One of ghosts was named James Cody and was somewhat of a pariah in your small town for years. Now, I don’t know if this first part is true or not, but I like to belief it is."

"I believe that there is life after death and that death is a great equalizer. Being a ghost means a lot of things but mostly it means that you ran out of choices. No takebacks. While we are alive, the possibility for change exists. Death is the doorway that ends that possibility."

"I didn’t know James Cody until I sort of became a ghost myself and then was reborn. My real name is unimportant for the purpose of this story. I grew up in an orphanage until the age of eight. Shortly after I turned eight, the orphanage I lived at burnt to the ground. There were only three survivors. A janitor, a supervisor who was off duty that night and me. All my past, my identification records were lost."

"It just so happened that this took place in Tony Accardo’s old neighborhood. I was placed in the orphanage when I was quite young and was never told who my real parents were. Truth be told, I don’t think anybody at the time cared much about my personal health and welfare. The orphanage was part of a private business. The administration and the city of Chicago were more concerned with the issue of what to do with me. I felt as if I never really had much of a life up to that point. It had ended abruptly. I had no past, no identity and I believed that there was no future.

Tony Accardo had a plan for me, however. Frank’s driver Guido and his wife Maria adopted me. I was literally given to Frank to be groomed into what I am today. I had very little say so in this matter. I was small for my age but also bright. Not what most people would call 'intellectually gifted’…but what some would call ‘clever’."

"Tony and my adoptive parents saw to my education. They bought me tutors. I can speak five languages. I can also pick a most locks in less than ten seconds. One of my tutors, Harold Flanders, was an escape artist. Frank taught me about guns and weaponry. Oh, and he was very good at reading people. He taught me a lot of, well, what you might call applied psychology…and also the Code."

“About the Code. An important part of this tale was that I was never a ‘citizen’. I was born into a life of crime. I can’t remember much about my old life because there wasn’t much at all to remember. After Tony and the organization took me, my life was wrapped up in the extended Accardo family. I played with other children whose parent’s belonged to the organization and as a young man only socialized with my own kind. At the age of thirty-five I became what is known as a ‘Made Man’ The status was significant. It granted me protection and respect. Also, the opportunity to participate fully in the organization. Once I made that choice, I did it with the realization it was my last one. There are no more options. You belong to the organization. Nobody leaves the organization alive.”     

Clara snorted “Sounds like you had more advantages than I ever had. You have choices, you just refuse to recognize them.”  

“I can understand how you might see it differently. But that is how it is for not only me but also Sal here and Frank, for that matter. More about Frank in a bit. Permit me to backtrack to James Cody.”

“James Cody was a social pariah. He spent most of his teen years using various recreational drugs, racing street cars, skipping school and worrying his parents. His two closest friends became local cops, Phil Jennings and Tucker Davidson. Phil and Tucker enrolled in a community college after high school, got married and had families. They both went on and graduated from a state police academy and returned home to serve-and-protect.”

“Cody, however, barely finished high school, lingering an extra year to repeat some course before graduation. He enlisted in the United States Marines before the draft got him. In the Marines he was trained to be a sniper and sent over to Southeast Asia for his first and last tour of duty. He was dishonorably discharged after returning from Viet Nam. The reasons were hazy but I found out they related to possession and sales of narcotics about a year later, after he got back to the states. Then he trespassed into my world."

“Cody began gambling. I don’t know if you realize that the Accardo organization diversified away from drugs and into gambling and prostitution several years ago. Cody began betting on the outcome of professional sports games and losing…badly. He borrowed money from everyone dumb enough to lend it to him. It all would have probably somehow straightened out over time except for one unfortunate turn of events. Can you guess what that was?”

“He lost big! So much money that he couldn’t pay it back?” I volunteered

“Well, not exactly. But close. That came later. No, he won a rather large bet. Enough to pay back people he owed.”

“Huh?”  My face was completely blank.

“Jaxon, I totally understand your confusion. Sometimes winning is worse luck than losing for a gambler. He or she becomes addicted to the adrenaline rush of 'winning'. Let me explain. James Cody won just enough money to earn a reputation as a 'big shot' and a successful gambler. It was the type of attention and identity he craved. It brought him into contact with Johnny Labarge, a bookie for the Accardo organization. The considerable amount of money he won from a long-shot professional football bet allowed James to make several other bets that coincidently also paid off. Now my organization knew and recognized him. All of this was legal at this point, because betting on some types of professional sports is legal in Nevada and the state and federal government receive a share of Cody's winnings. We have other forms of betting run by Tony’s organization, however.

As James slipped further into the life of a gambler Labarge informed me that he had started betting on local sports and placing bets that the state and federal government knew nothing about. Point of interest, our organization is no longer centered in Chicago. It is now in Las Vegas and Reno where almost anything goes. You can establish a betting line on anything, even local small-time sporting events if you have the right connections and there is enough interest. James tried to do this with his two cop friends, Jennings and Davidson. The three of them were horrible at it and collectively lost a lot of money. What was worse was that they tried to influence the outcome of a mob-controlled line of betting on the Warriors vs the Tigers game.

In my business, when you owe a couple of hundred dollars to Tony Accardo’s people and can’t pay, you get a visit from someone like Salvator. When I met Cody, he was already recovering from a leg injury.”

“Wow! This is just like the movies!” I said leaning forward towards Sal. “Did you do it?”

“Joey, please! The kid is sucking up all my air here.” Sal remarked curtly.

“Down boy.” Clara commanded. She even grabbed me by the collar.

“Jax, what we have here is a don’t ask, don’t tell situation. Capeesh? Like I said before, if you owe a couple of hundred and can’t pay up, you meet someone like Sal. Now…if you owe a couple of thousand and can’t pay, or if you try to fix a game that we have money on, you meet someone like me.”

In this tale, James Cody was rapidly running out of choices. He was in a state of desperation. He and his cop friends had placed a large illegal bet locally on a small-town baseball championship game. They were hoping to win enough money to pay back Tony’s organization before somebody like me showed up first to square up the prior debt.  They intended to collect on a ridiculous long shot wager they had recently placed on the game.  That’s why I was sent. Because the bet was so crazy and ill-reasoned that it made no sense to us in Nevada. I was sent to make certain fair play ensued. Hilarious! For the first time in my life, I was on the side of fair play! 

“I don’t understand. Who or what did they bet on? A bigger score spread at the end? Did they be against the Warriors? The Warriors won! I didn’t see any signs of cheating.” Clara was confused.

“That’s because I was there and there was no cheating on game night. Cody and company had placed a long shot bet that the game wouldn’t take place at all! That it would have to be rescheduled. Generally, that would involve something like 'An Act of God'... A tornado or earthquake or really awful storm. But the weather was perfect that week for a baseball game!" When they made the bet, I'm thinking that they misinterpreted the change in the weather you had here. The rain didn't start to fall until the day after the game. But that is just a guess. Additionally, there was some loose talk about the Warrior's having some kind of 'mojo' or secret weapon. Something about their catcher?

"Danny, yeah that part makes sense, sort of." I thought aloud.

"What is the deal with this Danny guy?" Joey looked perplexed.

"He's the luckiest person I've ever met. I mean, yes, he is like a mojo...the team's rabbit's foot. If you knew him, you would think he was a bit spooky. It's like his entire life is charmed." I stated emphatically. 

"Really? What does he do besides play baseball?

"He is a fry cook at my dad's diner.

Joey snorted with laughter. "Well, there were some spooky things that happened that evening. So, I'll try to keep an open mind about him."

"Back to James and his two cop buddies. The weather was dry and sunny that day. There was zero chance of the game being called off because of weather. Early that morning, the three of them made other arrangements to stop the game entirely. The plan was insane from the git go. Had I not been there that night, the game would have been cancelled. There would have also been many injuries and possibly deaths."