God Is a Comedian

The bright lights and blandness of hospital started to give me a headache so I decided to leave and go back to the bar. Still no one was there, but inside of leaving I decided to play a game of pool. I wasn't exactly sure if it was safe yet for me to wonder the streets again. A few minutes Kevin and Tommy came in. Tommy immediately started to search through the cabinets behind the bar. "Dammit. It's all empty." He said slamming the cabinet shut.

"Yea. Jimmy's really letting the bar slide." Kevin said, not looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

"It's a bar. Aren't we supposed to have more than two beers?" Tommy held up the two remaining beers. Jimmy wasn't exactly the best business. The hours depended on when decided to roll out of bed and whether of not there was any alcohol left from my brother's all night drinking parties.

"Why are you worried about it?" I said from over by the pool table. Tommy always seemed to ignore Jimmy's bad managerial skills.

"We're hosting Huey's wake tonight." Tommy said after a moments pause.

"What? Huey died?" I missed the eight ball. Tommy and Kevin just stared at me until it clicked in my mind. "Oh." Along with Sal Minetta, my brothers had also apparently kill Huey Farrell. They knocked off the leaders of both the Italian and Irish mob. Whether he knew it or not, Tommy had just taken over the neighborhood.

"Kate Farrell came by. She wants the wake to be here." Tommy explained.

"Can I remind you that we killed her husband?" Kevin said.

"Shut up, Kevin." Tommy made his way over to the stairs.

"And you said yes to this?" I followed my brothers downstairs.

"She really didn't give me much of a choice. What happen to all the food from the party last week?" Tommy said ignoring Kevin's and mine comments.

"Tommy, when I am going to get a say in things?" Kevin said.

Tommy ignored the question. "There was a ham, meatballs and half a turkey." We went into the storage room where the freezer was. Tommy opened the freezer lid, and then quickly closed it. From the smell that erupted from the white freezer, I guessed the food was rotten. "What the hell is this?" He found the plug to the freezer. "It's unplugged."

"I think Jimmy is using the outlet for his drill. He's building a birdhouse." Kevin pointed to the half way done birdhouse. I couldn't help my giggle a little at the thought of Jimmy building a birdhouse.

"A birdhouse? Beautiful." Tommy said as Jimmy came running down the stairs.

"Where are all my damn guns?" He yelled at Kevin, who was clearly confused at the question and the force Jimmy said it with.

"Why to you need a gun, Jimmy? Did you catch a bird in your birdhouse?" Tommy said.

"At least I can build something. All you can do is screw everything up." Jimmy said during his anger to Tommy.

"You should see what you did to the food, Jimmy." Tommy yelled.

"Why do you need a gun, Jimmy?" I asked as I moved as Jimmy started to throw boxes, looking for his guns.

"Because I gotta kill Dokey. Thanks to our idiot brother, he thinks I killed Huey." Jimmy said eagerly. My heart immediately dropped. Dokey, Huey's younger brother, was not the most level headed or sane person in the world. He's been known to take an ax to someone's leg when he felt their answer was unsatisfactory.

"There's a shotgun here somewhere." Kevin started to help Jimmy look around the room.

"Did you talk to Dokey? What did he say?" Tommy asked.

"I had four guns in here!" Jimmy yelled.

"Yea. I got rid of them."

"You what?" Jimmy continued to search.

"I got rid of them." Tommy repeated.

Jimmy laughed. "No guns. Big shot wants to take over the family and he just got us all killed."

"If Dokey really thought you killed his brother you'd be dead. He's asking everybody. He's fishing, Jimmy."

"Yea. With us he catches something." Jimmy said.

"You were in jail. You got an alibi. What do you got to worry about? You just gotta get suited up, go to the funeral, put a rose on Huey's casket and we're gonna get through this day together. Nobody's gonna be suspicious unless we act suspicious." Tommy said.

Jimmy shook his head. "Did you go to school to get that stupid?"

"Yea, your right, Jimmy. Get a gun. Wave it around as Huey's funeral. Wave it around at his wake. That's really gonna make us look innocent."

"I'm beginning to think that the wake is a bad idea, Tommy." Kevin admitted.

"You two idiots aren't actually going to Huey's wake, are you?" Jimmy asked.

"It's here." I said

"You're lying?" Jimmy looked at me as if I was joking.

"Kate asked to throw it here. I said yes." Tommy admitted.

"You gave away my bar...for Huey's wake?"

"We don't have a choice. It's done." Tommy said.

"You wanna play big man, Tommy? Then go ahead. Now you're gonna get out of my way." Tommy moved and Jimmy went back upstairs.

"You leaving too?" Tommy asked Kevin.

"No. I'll help." Kevin said, still unsure if he really wanted too.

"We have no money, no food, and no booze. What are you gonna do Kevin?" I had money, but Tommy always refused to borrow or even ask to borrow any.

"I'll get the booze." Kevin said sternly.

"How?" Tommy questioned.

"Would you give me a little credit, Tommy. You're not the only who can handle things."

"Okay. Get the booze Kevin. Allie, clean this place up." With that, I was left alone in the
storage room.