Marahon 05 – Tiara

Chapter 6: Ditching Cycil and the 1920’s Mafias

Francis

                “Don’t go anywhere, and don’t leave the twins alone. I’m just going to put this money in my bank account” Cycil says as he exits the van, carrying his back pack.

I groan as I walk to the bed we would be sharing. It took up more space than I imagined, if it were smaller I could have fit a TV in here.

Then again the kitchen takes up more space than the bed. I lay on the bed, looking up to the ceiling and wondering if I could convince Cycil to go to a bar.

‘Is it wise to take two 8 year old into a bar?’ I thought.

“Pete look, there’s an Oz park near here” Marjorie says excitedly. I lift my head to look at Marjorie sitting with her twin on the couch we place behind the passenger seat.

I can almost see Arthur in the driver’s seat staring out looking lost in thought. He looks so down after whatever Cycil told him.

“Why do you like the Wizard of Oz anyway? I thought kids like Avengers and Disney things like that” Arthur asks staring at the road absent minded.

“It’s the first movie we’ve ever seen when we arrived at the Orphanage, brings back memories” Marjorie says. I shrug, when I was 8 I liked Batman the Dark Knight Rises. But then again I used to love that show just because I sneaked into the theatre.

‘The first time too’ I thought reminiscing. Suddenly a something to mind and it slowly turns into a plan. Arthur needs to loosen up, the twins wants to see the Oz park thing and Cycil is gone.

I cackle happily.

“Cycil should have never left me alone!!” I thought out loud, gaining the twins attention, good.

“Say why don’t you go ask Cycil if you guys can go there? It’s not that far off, right?” I ask. Peter narrow his eyes, he is onto me, I know he would, but Marjorie on the other hand.

“That’s a good idea, come on Peter” Marjorie says grabbing her brother’s hand and opening the door. That brought Arthur back.

“Twins!! Where are you going?!! KIDS” Arthur yells as they run out, he opens the van door to follow but I interrupted.

“I’ll go with them to Cycil. Don’t worry about it” I yell jumping out the car following the twins behind. They run into the building safely. I jog to the clear door to see in. There is Cycil and the twins. I smirk before jogging back to the car. I pull out my phone texting Cycil that were going to get a drink.

I know Cycil rarely uses his phone, especially if the twins are with him. I open van passenger door and got in, strapping the seatbelt into place and looking at Arthur.

He looks at me confused and suspicious. I grin.

“Let’s go get a drink.”

. . . . . . . . . .

                “So unfair that you can’t buy beer before you’re 21” I say as I walk back to Arthur, carrying a six pack of coca cola.

Once we found a tavern I realized that I don’t have any connections in Chicago, meaning I can’t just walk into a bar and ask for a beer like how I usually do in Waterloo.

Arthur hums from where he sits on the sidewalk, staring at the pavement, looking like he is contemplating life. I shot him a confused look before sitting down beside him.

I grab one can a hands it to him. Arthur took it numbly before continuing to look at the pavement floor.

“Okay what did Cycil drop on you this time?” I ask drinking. Arthur looks at me tiredly. It surprises me how much Cycil can influence us, Arthur was fine this morning and now he is like this under 7 hours.

“Nothing just thinking about stuff. Didn’t buy beer?” he asks. I scoff before taking a sip.

“Nah, don’t know who I could buy it off of. But no changing the subject. Cycil can be like that and we both know it, dumping all our troubles into our hand and saying fix it. He got tired of your excuses Rain” I tell him smirking. Arthur growl before mumbling something.

I put salt into a wound that won’t heal that easily, but if that’ll make him start fixing it then I’m all up for rubbing more.

“I don’t see why the both of you are so invested in this. I see nothing wrong, I’ve lived like this for years now remember? Besides I’m just waiting for George to kick me out of my house”

I groan, rolling my eyes.

“Hey I’m not that invested. Just saying you should follow Cycil’s advice, whatever that is. I didn’t eavesdrop so I don’t even know what you’re even so down about” I told him. All I know is that it involves his step father, who is actually nice.

“Cycil wants me to try and make amends with my step-father, or at least try to” Arthur says biting his bottom lip.

“Well why don’t ya?” I ask, drinking the rest of my drink.

“He has better things to do, my younger-“

“Oh be selfish for once. Your sibling can wait a little” I tell him, grabbing a new drink.

Arthur looks at me pointedly before sighing.

I shake my head. I’m not his best friend, I’m barely his friend at all, but I know him well enough to know he isn’t gonna listen to me now.

I just hope I made a dent at least.

“Hey, did you know there was a mafia gang here in the 1910’s? Apparently rose into power at 1920, led by some guy name Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. There’s a tour about all of it. Wanna see if we sneak into their houses?” I ask. Arthur looks at me weirdly before nodding. I cackle before throwing my can away.

I ran to the van first, Arthur running behind.

“Oh and a piece of advice from an Orphan, take any chance you have at fixing a relationship or making new one, you don’t know when you’re gonna need it” I say looking back.

. . . . . . . . . .

        “Ok so from what I can see this Chicago Outfit is an Italian- American organized crime syndicate. Which is pretty much just a bunch of criminals planning on doing crime. They date back to the 1910’s but rose to power at the 1920‘s. They’re also a part of the American Mafia, I think, and they originated in South Side, Chicago.

 “They’re boss is two guys name Johnny Torrio and Al Capone. Which is a pretty cool name” I tell Arthur as we drove around town. He hums as he continues to drive.

“Johnny brought Al Capone along with his cousins to Chicago in the late 1919’s from New York to help with business” I told him.

That reminds me of the ackup incident, where we had to suddenly run from one end of Waterloo to the other because of Mephito getting into trouble. And Arthur didn’t have a driver’s licence back then.

“And get this, at the year 1921 Johnny Torrio had brokered a deal with all the city’s major gangs to share the city’s Prohibition wealth by dividing the city into territories that each gang had a piece of.

“That’s like what we do too back home right? There’s the orphaned territory where Maphisto’s gang hangs out at, the Wealth where that one gang is helping the cops and the neutral where you live. Our little parts of the little pars of Waterloo” I say.

The gangs near our place started growing only a few years back. Cycil took charge right away with the help of a few other higher kids and now we have “districts,” as we like to call them.

“Waterloo will toughen you up to your chore” Arthur says. I laugh looking out the window. I was raised in the bad part of the city, with a crime rate of 33.56 it’s hard for a kid.

‘But I found Old Man at least. Pity to those who didn’t find anyone’ I thought.

“Keep spewing up fact Fran. I don’t know where to go here” Arthur says as he turns another corner.

I look into my phone and grin.

“Wanna go to a residential high rise?”

“What?”

“At 1923, Al Capone established his headquarters at the Lexington Hotel, at the corner of east 22nd Street Cermak Road. Unfortunately the hotel was demolish in 1995, replaced by a unit residential high rise called “The Lex” that was completed in 2012. Wanna go there?” I ask. Arthur looks at me oddly before shrugging.

“Tell me where to go.”

. . . . . . . . . .

                When we made it to the Lex we discovered that everyone is a bit stressed that day. There were a few kids arguing near the building and Arthur was spacing out again.

“You know they’re gonna get killed if they don’t be careful” I told him pointing at the kids. Arthur looks to the side before humming.

I look at the Lex, a grand hotel that was also the headquarters of a Mafia gang once stood here. I decided to look things up in Wikipedia, maybe something wll be of interest.

‘Johnny Torrio died of cardiovascular disease. Something about his heart.

‘Jan. 12, 1925 – North Side Gang members Hymie Weiss, George Moran and Vincent “Schemer” Drucci followed the limousines that Al Capone and Johnny Torrio were riding in to a restaurant, at south 55th Street and west State Street. Both limousines were fired on in a hail of gunfire, but neither Capone, nor Torrio were hurt. However, Torrio’s chauffeur and dog were killed in the attack.

‘Poor dog’ I thought, as I read through Wikipedia, going to 2010’s.

“Feb. 27, 2013 – Mob enforcer Mario Rainone was found guilty by a federal jury on a charge of a felon in the possession of a firearm. Because he is a habitual criminal, he faces at least 15 years in prison. He was to be sentenced June 5, 2013. The man could very well still be alive” I told Arthur.

I waited for him to hum or nod, but he stays silent, looking out towards the street. I turn to look out, following his gaze back to the kids. Pushing each other around the road and laughing. I roll my eyes.

Back in Waterloo Arthur would watch over the kids outside the shop, or below Cycil’s apartment or at the orphanage.

“Dude this isn’t Waterloo, Chicago’s not that violent right?” I ask him. Arthur nods but doesn’t look away. I let him be, deciding to read more about the recent news.

“Hey the gang is sti-“

“That Bastard!!!” Arthur yell opening the van door and going out. I look at him before turning to the kids again. There’s a man there, with a bottle of something in one hand and one of the kids wrist in his other.

“Damn it!” I curse opening the van door and crossing the streets. That man is clearly drunk.

‘Thank God Chicago has an open container law, I can send this man to jail’ I thought. I never sent anyone to jail before, this should be fun.

My eyes widen as I see Arthur confronting the man.

“ARTHUR!!!”

Desember 5, 2019Januari 3, 2020 by tiaramediarto Categories: marathon-05 1 Komentar