Frank Stalo

Frankie raised his head, “You just made a mistake Andy...a fuckin’ big one.” Andy standing with the empty bottle in his hand, Frankie’s face was dripping in water.  Frankie was in the habit of going to the gym every morning during the week, he felt good doing that and spending time with his acquaintances.  He enjoyed the effect of the steam after a hard work out. Frankie was not huge like Andy, but fit for his job. That morning, as often they were making jokes and Andy took it bad.

Frank had long blond hair and his slim body lean slightly to the left, as if he was leaning into a wall, it made him be different.  He would swing his head constantly to get his long hair out of the way, especially when he was not happy.  He approached Andy, pointed his finger at him and in a low voice said, “You are going to pay for this fucker.” Andy gave him an “I don’t care” look and he continued talking loud with the rest of the guys ignoring Frankie.  That pissed Frankie off even more, he walked to the shower and the steam room to think about his next move. Nothing good was going to come after that mishap...

After completing his ritual, Frankie left the gym and went to his car.  He took a deep breath as soon as he was outside, stretched his arms to enjoy the fresh air from that cold morning, it was sunny but fresh. The black Cadillac was waiting for him in the parking lot. And as soon as he opened the door that characteristic smell of the Cadillac brought him all kinds of memories. It smelled like a mix of heated oil, dust and cigarettes, it was actually a good smell.  He turned on the ignition and drove directly to Andy’s house.  He knocked on the door. He had never been inside the house before.

 The door opened and Helen showed up. She was a taller than the normal woman, in her early 30’s, dark hair and overall good looking.  “Hi, I am Frankie from the gym, Andy asked me to come and pick you up, did he call you?” he said in a friendly voice.

Frankie was attractive, woman never had much resistance to him.  “Andy hasn’t called me, but come in Frankie.” Frank closed the door behind him and grabbed Helen by the hair.  “Listen bitch, you are going to do what I tell you or I will beat the crap out of you,” he said while slapping Helen face furiously.  “Nobody fucks with me and your macho hubby thinks he can, now we are going to see how it goes.” Tears pored from Helen’s eyes and she let out a moan of pain. “Don’t hurt me please, don’t hurt me” she cried. Frankie was holding her by the hair. She was frozen, in shock, very afraid.

“Did you understand what I just said?” asked Frankie in a soft but penetrating voice, “Did you bitch?” She noted with both of her hands covering her mouth. “You and me, we are going to go for a ride, and you are going to behave good like I tell you!” Frankie was shaking her head back and forth for her to understand that he was not joking. “Put your shoes on, we’re going,” said Frankie letting here go.  Helen let go an “Ayyyyyyy....” and quickly obeyed Frankie’s demand and walked out the door to the black Cadillac parked in the driveway. Frankie closed the car door after her and drove away.

Her big dark open eyes were telling how afraid she was. After a while, the car stopped in front of a warehouse in the South part of town, it was an industrial area with few people around. The area was close to the train tracks.  Frankie drove the black Cadillac in and closed the overhanging door.  The warehouse was fairly empty, just a  few old machines around.  He pushed Helen to the stairs that led to the office above.  The room was 20’ by 10’, white, at the end there was a metal desk with a bunch of papers and boxes on top, an old telephone and a screen.  The reclining chair must have been from an auction from the fifties, it was dark wood, with a dark green leather cushion and the back was nailed with round buttons.  On the side there was a couch, green and red fabric, old and dusty.  A couple of shelves with scattered books and boxes completed the office. The place smelled like cigarettes and steel, the lighting was poor but acceptable.

He pushed Helen to the couch and lit a smoke. “What is it that I’m going to do with you?” he said aloud as he dragged into the cigarette. “Your hubby needs a lesson, what do you think?” Helen was speechless, she was petrified.  All her body was shook, she was shivering. “Do we want to hurt your kids?”  “No, no...please leave my kids out of this, you can do anything to me, but leave my kids alone. I’ll ask Andy to apologize to you and we’ll put an end to this and we’ll forget everything.” Helen pale face was looking straight at Frank’s. Frank was trying to find a way to screw Andy up for good.

Frank dialled... “Andy, it’s Frankie...  I need you to go down to Holguin to pick up a box for me.” Andy knew that Frank was involved in drugs. “Fuck you Frankie, you go yourself to get it, I am not your chulis.” There was a pause, “Listen asshole, I am not asking you for a favour, if you want to see your wife in one piece tonight you do what I tell you. From now on you work for me... and yes, you are my chulis...” and he laughed.

“I will text you a picture of your bitch and then you will call me for the address, do you get it?” Frankie texted a picture of Helen laying on the nasty couch to Andy.  He finished the smoke and threw the butt on the floor, he was too lazy to put it out.

Frankie’s phone rang, “Frankie, don’t do anything to my wife, let me talk to her.” Andy’s voice was more submissive than earlier this morning. Frankie passed the phone to Helen, she started crying and slobbering and couldn’t speak, she could only mumble “Andy, Andy” repeatedly.

“Enough!” said Frank, “give me the phone back”. With the phone in his ear Frank said...

“You see Andy what you did, for pretending to be a macho man in the gym, now you are my bitch just like your wife... I told you nobody fucks with Frankie!” The other end was quiet. “Now do you want to see your wife in one piece tonight Andy?” Frankie said in a nice voice. 

“What do you want me to do Frankie? I’ll do anything but don’t touch Helen please!”

“Drive to Holguin and pick up a package for me at 371 Pan de Guadalupe, don’t open the package and don’t do anything that you will regret later, do you understand? Did you get the address?”

“Yes I got it 371 Pan de Guadalupe in Holguin.”

 Andy knew exactly where it was, over the 110 to the Carretera Federal 45 in Mexico. Perhaps it was a 2 hour drive at the most from Chaparral, New Mexico, where his office was. Andy, Helen and the girls enjoyed going down to El Paso on the weekends to try the inexpensive Mexican restaurants and meet the locals. “What is in that package?” Andy asked, “It's the insurance policy for your wife’s health asshole, now quit the chatting and get on the road.  They are expecting you in a couple of hours, you call me when you are back in the States partner.” Frankie laughed. “In the meantime I will get to know your wife a little more fucker! Hurry up and don’t fuck up!”

Frankie sat on the couch next to Helen, “What are we going to do in the meantime cutie?” Helen turned around hiding her face from Frankie, “Nothing... just leave me alone!” she was getting more of a voice Frank noticed.  He grabbed by her hair firmly and turned her face towards him.  Her eyes started letting tears popped out. She was scared. “Now, we are partners, your hubby is helping my business...” he laughed hard. “At what time do we have to pick up your girls from school? Soon is going to be lunch time and I am feeling hungry. You never know what direction your day is going to take... funny... don’t you think?”