God Is a Comedian

The next day I was at Jenny's dad's diner eating with Tommy. I found it easy to stay with one of my brothers seeing how I was always with them anyway. I just disliked being told to stay with them. I had just finished eating when Frankie walked in. Detective Frank Stein was a long time friend of the family who just happened to be a cop. "Hey," Frankie said as he sat down by Tommy. "I talked to my detective friend and they have a witness for this truck thing. He wants to put Jimmy in a line up. The thing is the witness said that Jimmy had a gun. This was armed robbery, Tommy. And I thing Kevin and Sean were with him." Frankie said, his voice full of concern.

"Why do you think that?" asked Tommy as I turned away and pretended not to listen.

"There were three of them. It doesn't take a genius. Now look Tommy, your father was a good man and because of that I'm doing all I can here. But Jimmy's out of control. I think you should get him some help. Before he takes your other brothers down with him."

"I appreciate it Frankie. Thanks." said Tommy and Frankie left the diner without another word. "Come on, Allie. Let's go." Tommy said as soon as Frankie disappeared around the corner.

Darkness had fallen by the time we reached the bar. Tommy and I opened the unlocked door to find Jimmy laying on the pool table, asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand.

"Well, that's a fire hazard." I said as I took a seat on one of the old black stools by the bar.

Tommy woke Jimmy up by tapping him on the leg. "Uh. Oh hey, Tommy." Jimmy said as he sat up. He blinked a few times for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting in the bar and then proceeded to throw his cigarette to floor when it came in contact with his finger.

Jimmy impatiently put his hands on his hips. "We've gotta talk." He said to a still dazed Jimmy.

"What time is it?" Jimmy said looking around for a clock.

"It's 11:30." Tommy said looking at the clock above the bar.

This woke Jimmy up. "Ah, shit. I gotta be at the drop at twelve. Just give me a minute, Tommy." He said before disappearing into the bathroom.

Tommy just stood there while I messed with the television. A few minutes passed, still Jimmy didn't come out. Tommy finally decided opened the door. I couldn't see Jimmy from where I was sitting so I didn't fully understand why Tommy got so upset.

"Get out of here, Tommy."

"What are you doing?" demanded Tommy. I heard Tommy slap Jimmy's arm and something fall to the floor.

"Damn it, Tommy. That needle was in my arm."

Tommy pulled Jimmy out of the bathroom and threw him the floor. They then started to throw punches and lunge at each other.

"Guys, what the hell? Stop it! Stop it, the both of you!" I yelled, trying to pull them apart.

Kevin came running up from the basement and helped me pull them off of each other. Once they were a part, Tommy said, "Get out! Get your money and get out of here. If you try to take Allie, Kevin or Sean with you, I'll kill you."

"You'll kill me?" Jimmy said before he darted at Tommy, but Kevin caught him before he could do anything.

"If you had that much pain, Jimmy, why don't just jump off of a roof." Tommy said. He then pulled me with him and we walked out the bar. Tommy walked me home but he didn't go up with me. When I asked where he was going he just said that he need to go blow off some stream.

I hadn't even reached our floor when I ran into Sean. "Where are you going?" I asked, wondering if I could tag alone, instead of being confined to the house.

"We're out of ice cream. You can come along if you pay." Sean said jokingly. While I tried to act my age around my older brothers, Sean was the only I could actually act childish with. We've been known to spend an entire night eating junk food and prank calling people.

Unfortunately, we never made it to the ice cream shop which was five blocks south of our apartments. A block away, a familiar black car pulled up. I immediately got deja vu. The passenger window rolled down to once again reveal Nicky Carrillo. "Hey, Sean. You're Sean Donnelly, right?" Nicky said sarcastically as he addressed Sean who was closest to the car.

"Run, Sean!" I yelled as I took off with Sean not far behind. The driver slammed on the gas and followed us. Sean wasn't as fast as me and he was starting to fall behind. Unaware of just how far behind he was, I blindly ran to the next block. When I was safe from any oncoming cars, I glanced over shoulder to see where Sean was. I watched, in shocked horror, as the car quickly turned the corner, blocking Sean's path. With fluid like movement, Nicky and his partner, who was now wielding a wooden baseball bat, exited the car. The first hit awoke me from my passiveness.

I ran back towards the car and my younger brother. I had never been in a fight in my life and had no weapons but my feet never hesitated as I forced myself to run quicker. Nicky was the first one I encountered and his back was to me as his foot again collided with Sean's face. I jumped on his back, desperate to prevent him hurting Sean again. But Nicky easily threw me off. My head bounced off the sidewalk slightly, blurring my vision for a second.

When I regained focus, I kicked out with my right leg, hitting the guy with the bat, in mid-swing, in the back of the knee. This caused him to take his attention off Sean and onto me. Forgetting his bat, he punched me in the face causing my nose to give a loud crack. The adrenalin of the situation kept the pain at bay but I could taste blood in my mouth. Then there was a hard pull on my hair, lifting me off the ground. I whirled my arms and legs around violently, trying to loosen Nicky's grip on me.

But when a strong arm wrapped around my waist and another forced my own arm behind my back, I gave up my physical attack. I started screaming; my voiced shook as I yelled for help. But that didn't last long either for Nicky quickly placed his hand over my mouth. I closed my eyes as tears started to stream down my face for I was unable to bare witnessing my brother's attack any longer. I was practically using Nicky for support to stand. Just when I thought they were going to kill him, Nicky released me and I collapsed to the ground next to my now unconscious brother.

Upon hearing the car speed away and seeing the amount of blood that covered the sidewalk, I resumed my frantic screaming. I cradle Sean's bruised and bloody head in my lap as I continued my incoherent yelling. The tears started to flow faster and stronger and it seemed like forever before my screams for help were answered.

I heard Tommy yelling, but the sound of help never registered in my mind. "Allie! Sean! Kevin go call the cops! Go!" I watched, without really seeing, as Kevin ran to the nearest pay phone.