Disclaimer: I have no ownership over The Black Donnelly's.
The Black Donnellys: Brothers and Girls
Ya know, there's times I really wonder about Tommy Donnelly. Ya see, his brothers... he could focus on them. I mean, the situations might be really hectic and all, but it was usually something he could figure out. Given some decent periods of time, he could pretty much get his brothers out of any hole. Don't get me wrong, alot of it sucked and Tommy really wished things would of gone different. But, ya couldn't deny his smarts. When push came to shove, Tommy would figure it all out and somehow come out on top.
But Jenny Reilly? Well, that's a whole 'nother story.
Let me take ya back a few years. The days were quiet and smooth for the brothers. For the past week, poor Tommy had been busy tryin' to work up the nerve to ask out Jenny. Lemme tell ya, when it came to her... nothin' was too perfect. I remember... I was there. Yep, right there.
"Where'd you come from?" Tommy asks me while he's pacing the floor in front of a mirror. Capping off the whole scene, he's got a piece of paper in his hand. It's folded up, but he peeks at it every so often.
"So, whatcha gonna say to her?" I ask. I can't help it, I get curious about these things.
Tommy gives me one of them looks, ya know? The kind that tells ya not to talk anymore or you could end up with a black eye. Strange, cuz everyone knows how good I am with the ladies. I mean, this one time, I nearly...
"Get on with the story, man." Joey Ice Cream's cellmate says. Joey clears his throat and continues...
Ahem. Anyway, Tommy gives me one of them looks. I shut up and keep quiet. After a deep breath, Tommy recites the line one more time, while reading, "Jenny, I... I think it'd be... great?" . He winces, "Great's not a good word. Uh..." and scratches it out with a pencil.
"TOMMY!" we hear yelling from outside. Both headin' over to the window, we see Kevin waving his arms up and down outside, "Got a few minutes?"
Tommy sighs, groans, and stuffs the paper in his pocket. Once again, it's time to save his brothers out of a jam. Funny part is, Kevin didn't even need to say anything. Tommy instantly knew. Like some kind of telepathy type deal.
Anyway, we're outside now and Tommy's lookin' none too pleased. "What's goin' on?" he asks to his little brother, the expression on his face also none too pleased.
Kevin twiddles his thumbs a bit, he's nervous, "Well, Jimmy..."
"Jimmy," Tommy throws his hands up, then sets them on his hips, "Of course. Tell me, Kevin. What did Jimmy do now?"
"Yeah, Kevin. What did..."
"Joey!"
"Sorry, Tommy."
Kevin starts explaining. Turns out to be a drug run gone bad. Yeah, Jimmy's found himself all too extremely close to the side of a bridge. The dealers are claiming that Jimmy wasted a load of product. Of course, Jimmy denies the accusation. Tempers flare, and now he's being hung upside down from a bridge. Now, if ya can believe that... believe this. They want restitution. Ya know... payback. They want two thousand dollars, an apology from Jimmy and written agreement to never screw them over. Jimmy refuses to apologize cuz he didn't do a damn thing wrong. All he was doing was running the drug from one place to another. Once he makes the drop, he don't have any idea what happens next. As a last ditch effort to get right-side up again, Jimmy has Kevin go get Tommy.
As always, Tommy to the rescue. Kevin leads the way, and Sean, the babyface, is called in for back-up and safety measures. Tommy and Kevin make it to the bridge, Tommy packin' and Kevin with a knife. In hindsight, it probably should of been the other way around but it's not like it matters now anyway.
Tommy walks up cautiously, the gun firmly snugged in the waistband of his jeans. There's three guys and they're all in their 30's. One's even goin' bald. "Can we talk?" Tommy asks, bold yet cautious.
"Hey!" Jimmy laughs out, upside down and staring into the water below, "Ya made it! Kevin, i'm gonna buy you a beer after this!" . Oh, I forgot to mention. Jimmy's arms are tied behind his back and the guy holding him looks like he's getting tired.
One of the guys speaks up, he's wearin' a ballcap, Yankees, "Two thousand dollars."
"Bull!" Jimmy spits, face turning red, "I was only runnin' a thousand worth. Tommy, don't believe 'em."
Tommy braces his hand and looks over the edge to see his brother. Now, instinct is inside his head screaming at him. Instinct is telling him to act now. Instinct is daring him to pull the gun out and fill all three of these dudes with led. But, Tommy's smart. He might take risks from time to time, but they're always calculated. " Jimmy," Tommy starts calmly, "What did we discuss about you bein' in the drug business?"
"That it was a bad idea, I know. Can we save the speech until later? Just get me outta this!"
Tommy crosses his arms, looking the men in their eyes, "How can we work this out?"
"Two thousand dollars, an apology and a written agreement."
"Plan on sayin' you're sorry, Jimmy?" Tommy asks, a smirk creepin' across his lips. An idea was working in his mind. Surprise them. Works almost every time. Hit 'em when they least expect it. Some people claim the best offense is a great defense? Not in a situation like this.
Tommy takes a deep breath, he's got an idea. Say they got money in the trunk of their car. Lay down a small beating and take it from there. Too bad, Kevin decides to go Rambo and sticks a knife in one guy's back and then punches out the guy holdin' Jimmy. "KEVIN!" Tommy roars, barely catching Jimmy in time. He brings him over, ducks a punch and knocks the third guy down with a sharp jab. Then Tommy takes out his gun and i'm wonderin' now why there ain't more people on the bridge at this time of day.
"Whoah, whoah," they all put their hands up as Kevin nervously goes through their pockets and clothing, snatching their weapons away like a pro.
"You'll have your money in three weeks." Tommy says, much to the dismay of his brother, "You bug us at all and you don't get spit." . One of the goons spits a wad, Tommy shoots him in the big toe.
The guy sobs like a baby and goes as far as to say that Jimmy don't have to pay nothin' now. They call it even as long as they stay out of each other's way.
Couple minutes later, the losers stumble off feelin' pretty low about themselves. Jimmy's smilin' away, Tommy's giving Kevin a stern talkin' to about how he jumped the gun... so to speak. "Man," Jimmy's still smilin', "I gotta hand it to you guys on that one."
Tommy turns shaprly, surprising the crap outta Jimmy, and holds him over the edge of the bridge. "Jimmy, I swear to God, i'll drop you right now if you don't promise to stay away from drugs!"
"JESUS! TOMMY!"
"Tommy, don't kill Jimmy!" Kevin exclaims, trying to pull Jimmy up.
Tommy loosens his grip ever so slightly and Jimmy slips down about an inch, "Jimmy? I'm tellin ya, I ain't that strong enough to be doin' somethin' like this!"
"OK! OK! NOMORE DRUG BUSINESS!"
Tommy brings him back to the safe side and Jimmy gives him a shove. The three brothers start walkin' to the car, Sean waitin' for 'em in the backseat, "I'm serious, Jimmy. I don't want you gettin' into drugs."
Jimmy shrugs, a smile on his face, "What? Ya don't trust me?"
Tommy gives him a playful smack across the head and smiles too. After that, he starts walkin' away from the car, "Hey, where you going?" Sean asks, peeking his pretty boy head out the window.
Tommy shrugs, the smile still on his face because he's thinking about Jenny Reilly, "Nowhere, just gonna grab somethin' to eat."
"What?" Jimmy asks, waving his hand, "C'mon, we'll all go together."
Actually, this is somethin' Tommy wants to do alone. So, he stops for a second and thinks it over. On second thought, maybe it'd be better if his brothers were with him. Not right beside, but maybe in the background? He's thinking it could turn out to be a good idea. Tommy gets in and it's time to eat.
Jenny's restraunt...
I'm just callin' it Jenny's restraunt. Cuz, to be honest, I can't remember what it's really called. I should, but I don't for some reason. Anyway, we all pile in...
"Wait? You were with them the whole time?"
Yeah. So, we all pile in and Kevin cocks a brow at me, "Joey?"
"What?" I ask.
Jenny greets us and it's like an angel is singing in Tommy's ears, "Hey guys."
The place is empty and Jenny's there with a smile on her face. She's cleaning off the counter. We all sit down, asking for the usuals. Tommy don't sit down at first, he whispers somethin' to Jenny, "Hey, could I talk to you for a second?"
She gives him a nod and the rest of us are too busy talkin' it up about the day's event to notice. Tommy and Jenny head to the end of the counter. By the way, don't ask me how I know what they said. To be honest, i'm not entirely sure myself. But, nevertheless, they're at the end...
"So, umm... I was thinkin' that..." Tommy's nervous. You know, itchy everywhere, palms sweating, mind spinning around inside the skull.
Jenny smirks and Tommy almost melts right there. "Are you ok, Tommy? Just spit it out. It's me... Jenny."
Yeah, you, Jenny. That's the freakin' problem! Little known fact, Jenny was sweet on Tommy. Always had been, but the two never really had the chemistry or whatever to get themselves together. So, you could imagine our surprise and shock when some distinguished lookin' guy walks into the place with a briefcase.
"Hey!" Jenny smiles, "Have a seat. I'll introduce you to everyone." . She gives Tommy her attention, he silently gestures with his head towards the new guy, "Don't laugh, but i'm dating a teacher."
The frog forms in Tommy's throat and his heart sinks to the floor. After all this time, after all these years that he worked up the courage? All for nothing? His thoughts scramble, he's desperately searching for anything to say, "That's... nice."
Jenny smiles and Tommy's heart starts feeling like something was trying to dry it out like a wet cloth. Twist... turn. He sniffles, passes it off as a sniff and tries to hold back a few tears that are threatening to escape. Jenny seems worried and puts a hand on Tommy's forehead, "You feel alright? Tommy, you're feverish."
It feels good. Like heaven's touch. Not that I know what that feels like, but all the same. Tommy's eyes close and he just lets the sensation wash over him like rain. See? I can be romantic when I wanna.
"You think it's safe to tell a cell-mate that you're romantic when ya wanna be?"
Ahem, as I was saying. It sucked, the romantics were makin' me sick! But, for poor Tommy, the sensation was just too good. As much as he loved it, he hated it. I mentioned heaven's touch. Well, when her delicate hand left his forehead, it made Tommy feel like he had been given a peek of Heaven but was ripped away and thrown back to the ground.
He tried to think of somethin' to say, some way to cover this up and not look like a fool. He put a fake smile on, "I kinda... forgot what I was gonna say." and scratched the back of his head.
Jenny crossed her arms and gave a little laugh, "Tommy Donnelly, sometimes I wonder about you."
As for the rest of the afternoon? Tommy ate lunch with us and we all met Jenny's boyfriend. Turns out, he was a school teacher. Little did we all know where that would lead. After we finished eatin', we said our daily goodbyes and split ways. Out front, Tommy crumpled up the piece of paper from his pocket and tossed it into a trash can. As luck would have it, he missed and the breeze took it back to the front of the restraunt.
"Kevin," Tommy looks to his younger brother as we're all walkin' away, "Don't pull a knife like that again, you hear me?"
Get this. Here's the kicker. That night, Jenny closes up shop. Since it's a nice night, she takes a few minutes to sit out front just enjoying the night air. She looks down and there's the crumpled paper. Not knowing what it is, she picks up Tommy's piece of paper, curiousity gettin' the best of her. Some of the words are erased and scratched, but Jenny read it anyway...
"Jenny, I think it'd be great if we got together. You know, we've known each other so long and everything. I think it'd be a good idea. God, this isn't going to work. She's gonna think i'm a freak. Why am I still writing?"
Jenny Reilly flashes a sad look, now realizing why Tommy was so damn nervous earlier. With a sigh, she knows it could be a bad idea in the long run, but she folds the paper and sticks it in her pocket. Little known fact, Jenny isn't sweet on Tommy anymore. She might not admit it, but she flat out loves him.
And that's what scares her today. It's the fact that she loves Tommy Donnelly.
The End