Chapter 3
That winter things continued in routine contentment. Routine contentment was: Graverobbing, selling, arguing between myself and the Graverobber, and talking to Amber (mostly about her countless surgeries), trying to learn how to cook a decent meal. In this way I and Graverobber were lucky to have been aquatinted with Little Sparrow. He took on responsibilities that neither the Graverobber nor I had the capability to know at that time. I had never needed to know how to cook with my father around and the Graverobber never needed to cook because the food he would scavenge from the street never needed to be heated. Thus we came to know Little Sparrow as a pocket Merlin. He was always filled with great knowledge about fashion for me, paying bills and all that and he also did it in the most eccentric ways to. I was so impressed by Little Sparrow although I suspected the Graverobber was most likely envious of this. Although who could know when he was so hard to read most of the time?
By the end of November the Graverobber and I thought of ourselves as truly educated about the ways of life. It was then that Little Sparrow decided to become more educated about the Largo family. The Largo's fascinated him. In spite of our warnings and explanations it drew him as moon drew water, but drew him no nearer than the alleyway of the Geneco's company building. There he would stand with other Scalpel sluts who most likely had just had surgery, his arm around any random chick, staring and wondering at the Geneco's building.
It was a huge building that had the effect of looming over you and I hated to think what went on in there. I suspected that Little Sparrow's previous occupation of being a journalist is where he got his inquisitive nature, that or he just wanted to write a story about the Largo's and come out of retirement, although he knew I was friends with Amber Sweet so if that was what he wanted I was sure she would give him a good story about Luigi and Pavi Largo. She hated them as much as I did. So did most of the city as when the plant life froze over in the winter, they would say it was because Luigi Largo had breathed on them. Any rape and murder that was done in this city was either the work of Luigi or Pavi. The misery of the Largo family began many years before I was born. The Largo's lived large and elaborately. According to Amber, when she was younger the Largo boys despised each other so much that their arguments were so loud and brutal; once in a rage of anger Luigi Largo stabbed Pavi clean through his arm with a fork. And thus Pavi's first surgery was on his right arm and most likely built on from there and so did Luigi Largo's temper.
Sometimes I would see Luigi Largo walk down the street opposite me and I would thank my lucky bugs that he would never see or recognize me on these occasions.
The Graverobber once said 'Luigi really was the fucking meanest guy that the lord ever blew breath into.' Amber and I were more than surprised when he stated this as he never commented on the ways of other people, just observed them (mostly from the shadows).
The more Graverobber, Amber and I told Little Sparrow about the Largo brothers, the more he wanted to know, the longer he would stand in that alleyway looking up at Geneco's and wonder.
'What do you think he does in there?' he would murmur on his Zydrate high. 'I have never seen either of the Largo brother's.'
Graverobber said, 'they both come out alright, when its pitch dark. Take women that are in debt to Geneco's building and then who knows what happens to them when they are in there. All anyone knows is that they never leave those castle walls again.'
'We should try to make them came out.' Said Little Sparrow as Graverobber would put his Z gun away. 'I'd like to see them for myself.'
Graverobber said if he wanted to get himself killed all he had to do was knock cheerily on their front door. It was a sure way of getting yourself killed. That and not keeping up with your payments.