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Brood of a New Age
86.
"You sure you don't want me to call someone to bring you stuff from Hoboken?"
"In spite of everything, I'm a boy, Maria. I don't need a toothbrush or pajamas or anything else for one night."
"Okay," she said meekly, visibly wavering between a sense of responsibility and the urge to go home herself.
Sonny smiled at her in a loving way he never really did with others. He wished Maria were his grandma. Or mom. Or aunt. Anything. She was "family" by way of the syndicate but he wished she had any say in his life outside of this property. Then he wouldn't feel so unwanted all the time. Graziella was lucky to have her, he thought as he balanced the tray up the stairs. On it was a plate of turkey and tomato sandwiches, a bowl of rusks, a pot of tea and two mugs, two bananas and already the remote control because Maria thought Sonny would carry up the small TV from the kitchen and plug it in. The housekeeper walked up the stairs behind him, two pillows and a blanket in her arms.
"And your parents don't have a problem with you being gone overnight?"
Sonny didn't turn around as he spoke but he assumed she could hear the smirk in his voice.
"You and I both know I could stay out every night without it bothering them. Just you calling was more than enough."
Outside Graziella's bedroom door, Sonny stopped and waited for Maria to open it for him.
"And that's not weird to you either? Spending the night in a girl's room... I mean - I'm very grateful to you for offering. Especially now that Graziella is a little sick. I'm just afraid she's going to spend the whole night with that gargoyle cup in the cold garage. And he is so savage and fierce."
Sonny nodded in understanding.
"I'm worried, too," he admitted. "I try to keep her from doing stupid things. I like her even if she is a girl. Even if she's so much younger than me. And about the girl-boy thing ... who, if not me, would be a safe overnight guest for her?"
His look became more serious and if he had his hands free he would have touched Maria's arm to back up his words.
"You know I would never harm her, right?"
Maria looked startled for a moment.
"Sonny. I would never have insinuated that! I -" She laughed out softly and shook her head sadly at the same time. "I never worry about anything because of you. And I can only leave you with her because I know she's ...uhh."
"- is not my type?" added Sonny, grinning broadly.
"Yes. Exactly." Now she raised her arm and cupped his chin between her fingers.
"I trust you. I've known you for years. You're so mature and responsible - more mature than a fourteen-year-old should be, I think - but you're that way because you have to be."
"Because I want to, Maria."
"Someday, many years from now, you will find someone very special. Someone who loves you for who you are. With all the peculiarities. You are caring, thoughtful, gentle and understanding. Honestly, I personally ... wouldn't know what there is not to love about you. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Her eyes had grown moist as she had spoken. And when Sonny looked at her now, smiling benignly because he knew to whom she was alluding, she herself broke up the strangely corny situation.
"Oh!" she groaned, finally letting go of his chin. "You've got stubble already! An almost grown man I coerce into having a pajama party with an eight-year-old. If you weren't the way you are I'd feel immoral."
Sonny chuckled. "I see it less as a pajama party and more as a sick watch. And I get sandwiches and get to watch TV? It's a win-win situation."
She raised her free hand again, this time in mock threat.
"Only harmless movies! If my little girl gets nightmares-."
"No matter what's on TV tonight, she'll have seen worse. But yeah, at most a comedy or romance or something," he said, his smile disappearing the way hers had during his first sentence.
"Maria? What-?"
"I just don't get it," she said softly. "I don't understand why Tony lets her keep that animal. The gargoyles have been causing trouble for the Dracon Syndicate for years. The million Castaway put up for a gargoyle would be at least a tiny compensation. He always pontificates about being a businessman, but this is ... dangerous on so many levels. Graziella has been through so much in the last few weeks. The death of her mama. Her grandma. And now this. You don't seriously think she's going to be allowed to keep this creature. And even if she does, he's too dangerous! Mister Dante said only adults are halfway sane. The Gargoyles ... only grow into the more human attitude as the years go by. This whole thing is going to blow up in Tony and the syndicate's face. Especially if Dino gets wind of it. You know they don't have much love for each other right now. "
"Pretty much everybody knows that. But Graziella wanted him and Tony couldn't say no," said Sonny a little meekly, trying not to say anything wrong.
"Yes!" the housekeeper answered quietly because they were standing right outside the room of the person in wanted the little gargoyle. "Graziella wanted the little gargoyle. She may have prevented him from being shot with her intervention. I don't think she was aware of the situation. She is so innocent after all. But her joy over supposedly getting a gargoyle. She was almost insane with happiness. Yet we had this conversation at the zoo just two weeks ago. And now - because of her - this little gargoyle, who actually ... well, should be with his pack, is about to wake up in a cramped cage. Surely she couldn't want that? That's worse than being killed right away. Even if this is a little wild beast that followed Mister Dante because it wanted to see what house a strange gargoyle would go into. His only options now are a long imprisonment, being shot, or being sold to the highest bidder if Tony remembers, despite being a happy father, that money is basically the most important thing to him. That will break the child's heart. And Graziella has no idea that she has brought a poor stupid creature to a terrible fate. Shooting him on the spot would have been more merciful.
"Maria?"
"Yes?" She lifted her gaze where she had been looking at the ground all this time. If she had looked Sonny in the eyes while talking, she would not have been able to say what had been weighing so heavily on her mind. The boy's face was strangely neutral - all at once he seemed to be in a hurry and nodded toward the door handle.
"The tray is getting heavy even for me. Will you open for me?"
"Oh. Oh, yes, of course. Sorry."
Maria opened quietly, peering into the half-dark room. Graziella's figure lay sunk in the blankets.
Sonny quietly walked into the room and set the tray down on the dresser while Maria turned on the bedside lamp, from which she guessed the yellow light would not wake her girl if she was really sound asleep. Most children were like that. She had also given her one of her child pain pills and something to reduce fever even though she had only had an oral temperature of 100F. Better safe than sorry.
"Make sure she drinks. And at least make her eat the banana.
"All right, Maria. Don't worry about it. Bossgirl and I will be fine."
Maria shot him a scowl while putting the pillows and the blanket down on the chair in front of the vanity table.
"I don't like it when you use that gangster slang."
"Bossgirl?"
"Yeah. Like she's going to ... follow in Tony's footsteps tomorrow."
"Like a girl would become a gangster boss. A lot would have to happen for Dino or Tony to let her take over. And there's Antoinette, after all. But you can't protect her from this world. She lives in it. And it will become normal for her just like it's normal for you and me," Sonny whispered.
"I know but ... I wish I could." Maria took a deep breath and looked at the sleeping girl. She didn't notice the way Sonny glanced at the window. He hadn't noticed that the sun had already set. He had hoped he would have more time.
"Go home, Maria," he whispered more gruffly than he meant to. The adult didn't seem to notice. She nodded.
"Okay ... uhh, two rooms down is a guest room. Mister Dante has his suits there but there's a bed in there that he doesn't use, of course. You can pull the mattress over here and put it on the floor.
"You got it. Great," Sonny said, giving her his please-go-away smile.
And finally, after a few more indecisive strange moments, Maria really left. Three minutes later, Sonny heard the front door slam shut.
Sighing, he turned to the bed.
"Graziella? Are you awake?"
A low grumble came from the depths of her pillow and blanket nest. His little boss peeled out. She had been sleeping in her day clothes and looked wrinkled from hair tips to socks.
"I'm awake," she mumbled sleepily. "How's Nashville?"
"Before Maria got me in her clutches, his statue was doing fine. Better than me after five hours on the hard floor or chair in there," Sonny grumbled.
Graziella gasped as she realized the sun had already set.
"It's already dark! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"Well, I had to talk Maria into it first. She wanted to spend the night here. I had to convince her first that I was enough. What are you going to do now?"
"We have to rescue Nashville."
"I was afraid you were going to say something like that. How are we going to do that? Alessio couldn't get the lock on the cage open. We can't get it open without the key or a lot of poking around with the proper lock pins either. And then he's still wearing the shock collar."
Graziella looked at him for a moment without understanding.
"Electroshock ... Does that mean he gets an electric shock when he does something the adults don't like? How do we turn that off."
"Somebody has to have a remote control for that. Like that Rykers guard creep back with Goliath."
"So we need the remote." Graziella slid out of bed. She scurried to her closet and started rummaging around in it, picking out black clothes. When Sonny noticed her starting to change, he turned away. Yes - he liked boys. But he didn't feel comfortable watching a girl change. At least in this respect Graziella was apparently very innocent.
"As long as everyone thinks Nashville is my pet, no one will kill him," she speculated out of his sight. "That buys us some time to figure out where Tony has the remote and the key to the cage. Is he here?"
"Nope. Back at his business. They're not gonna stop just because of what's going on. But I'm sure he'll be back later to check on your gargoyle."
"He's not my gargoyle, gargoyles don't belong to anyone!" said Graziella sharply. He turned to her. Now a black long-sleeved top with a hood, dark jeans, dark sneakers with Velcro. She didn't bother to comb her hair but tied it with a red scrunchie. She looked like she had a lot planned for this night. Like she was dressed for some kind of ... secret agent mission.
"You're sick, Graziella. What are you up to?"
"I'm hardly sick at all. I will search the whole house for it. And if i dont find it, I'll stay up all night if I have to, trying to snatch this key and remote from my dad."
"What if he doesn't even have it? What if MY dad has the remote? Or one of Tony's hundred other employees? What if the key is hidden somewhere?" said Sonny, who had turned to the window. The sky was dark blue - just after sunset. There was a vehicle out there in the yard. That was nothing unusual. But ... had it been there 20 minutes ago? Had he left the door to the garage open earlier? Mister Dante's statue on the garage roof was gone - the last sign that the gargoyle child in the garage was now awake, too.
"We'll worry about everything after we talk to Nash. He needs to know I'm going to rescue him. I'm sure he's scared in the cage. "
"I'm telling you, the cage is the safest place for him. Probably the safest place in the whole city. And the safest place for us ... is in here."
When he turned, Graziella was standing right in front of him, and he backed away despite his size and age as she stared at him with venom-spewing eyes and jabbed her little finger painfully into his belly as if it were a knife.
"He's a kid! Like us. He's the best, nicest, coolest kid in all of New York, probably all of America. And I'm going to save him. If that doesn't suit a big boy like you, then fuck off, Sonny. But if you rat me out you're dead, got it?"
Sonny stared down at her. And just to get her to stop staring at him with those hateful eyes, he nodded. She turned and rubbed the back of her neck. Which was wet with sweat.
A feverish eight-year-old who's not four feet tall just stared me down, Sonny thought, almost finding it funny.
"Here's a tip for your upcoming future as a mob boss. Death threats actually come at the end of other, less final threats. You have to be able to step up and leave room for your victims to use their imagination."
"I'm not going to be a crime boss," Graziella grumbled.
"Well, good to know. Because you'd be way too good at it."
She looked at him briefly with an expression that was neither disapproving nor approving. "Are you in or out?"
Sonny laughed out without really feeling any mirth.
"Am I in or out? You'd die without your right hand."
Graziella's probing cold expression melted so quickly into the warm, affectionately smile that you'd think there were two people in her. Like Jekyll and Hyde, Sonny thought, fleetingly recalling his totally botched book report last semester. But Graziella was not Jekyll and Hyde. She was both of them at the same time. And only idiots or lunatics would incur the wrath of this eight-year-old. In a strange way, Sonny felt something like pride. Pride in standing by her side - even though they could probably die tonight - or get grounded forever.
"Right now, I need to make sure Nash is okay first." She filled a cup with tea, mixing it with some water from her bathroom faucet so it wasn't hot anymore, and took the plate of sandwiches.
"These are for us," Sonny said reproachfully. She looked at him with a smirk.
"If you're in a cage someday, you get all the sandwiches I can find. I think the bananas are okay for you now," she purred and walked out of the room with the cup and plate.
Sonny frowned. "If you weren't eight, I'd swear that line was racist," he muttered, grabbing a banana as he shuffled after her.
Thanks for reading, Q.T.