The burly man returned with two energy mixed vodka drinks
that were so strong the taste of vodka was all Johnny could taste. But he drank
it quickly was further enamored with the woman as she made no excuses or
apologies for drinking liquor the first thing in the morning. His mother introduced the burly
man as Rooskie and then motioned him away back to his position out of ear-shot
of their conversation but close enough to get to him quickly if necessary. But
Johnny had no plans to attack this beautiful woman before him that this
wonderful feeling continued to grow from.
She told him her name was for now Tatiana since that worked well with
being with Rooskie and immigrant healers she said tended to be more
believable with the gullible public.
She never told Johnny her real name he thought as she went through describing
different scams she had with different names and personas for each. He admired
that and saw brilliance in having different names to engage in different methods
to take money from stupid people.
As the woman spoke to Johnny she could see that, this frail
man, her son, seemed to have taken after her without her even being in his
life, which amused her. He was
definitely on the opposite side of things then his father just like she was and
this pleased her as she knew this would definitely benefit her. His body type clearly took after her as
well since he was petite and small like a woman and not like his father. He was a tad violent she thought but
just like Rooskie that was a benefit in her line of business much more than it
was a detriment. As the time
passed she enjoyed herself as she told Johnny about how she relished her
criminal successes and a life of no work.
It made her feel smarter than all the dumb schmucks in the world and this
thought always excited her.
She began considering what the two of them could do together
and thus stopped talking about her own life and asked Johnny about his to use
this information to devise the perfect plan. At first she began to feel contempt for him as he described
his life growing up full of privilege; a reality she always wished she had
experienced. But when he described his life after that privilege ended the
feelings of contempt lessened and she became focused again when he began describing
how he would dress as a woman to increase his profits in prostituting himself
and to get women to take him in and support him that she thought would be useful.
As he went on and told her about the recording he had made and the music
industry’s response she suddenly realized the perfect scam that could catapult
them to musical riches and possibly even fame for Johnny that she could continue
to ride the financial coattails of. She could see his anger and need for revenge
as he spoke and reveled in it and knew that he would never falter in any plan
being executed to its end; an essential element to any scam. She had taken on
partners before that midstream started getting cold feet and questioning the
right and wrong of things which almost got her nabbed by law enforcement each
time. But she could see
Johnny was made of the right stuff, as his admiration of her was evident.
Hours passed and several drinks later the beach started to
fill with people and Rooskie began to look out of place with his t-shirt and
jeans this far into the sand. The woman told him that she would take him to her
place for now but he couldn’t stay there for long and just long enough for them
to get their scam down so they could execute it. She explained that she had no
interest in providing him a free place to live and she was surely not intending
on taking him in and supporting him. She also told him that if they lived
together it was easier to get pinched and once the scam was in place they would
have to live publicly like they didn’t know each other.
She further explained that if he wanted to even stay for the
short time she was going to allow it that he needed to stay focused on learning
the scam but she told him she would keep it simple so there would be no
forgetting. She also told him that he would need to buy his own food and if
that meant he needed to prostitute to get the money so be it until their scam
was in place and perfected.
Johnny was fine with everything she said as this was the
life he was used to living. He was
excited at the prospect of living a life running various scams against all the
stupid people in the world. He
also had hope that this woman who was his goddess could devise the perfect plan
of revenge against the music industry idiots who had denied him the rock god
status he deserved for his “My Universe” recording. Once again Johnny followed just behind her leaving the beach
stumbling briefly from the liquor haze as he went.
They arrived at the old van again and the Rooskie got behind
the wheel and motioned for Johnny to sit in the front passenger seat as he
entered the van. His mother sat again on the seat bench behind them as she had
last night when it was just her and Johnny. It frustrated Johnny not to be able
to keep his gaze on her and he found himself turning around constantly to look
at her again even though no one spoke as they drove. She just looked back at
him and smirked and each time she did his feeling for her grew ever stronger;
he was drunk by it.
After awhile they reached the Hollywood area and a small
house that was a typical Spanish style home with its washed out off white color
and red tile roof on a street off of Hollywood Blvd. The van pulled onto the
cracked concrete driveway and pulled all the way into the back of the house
where it could not be seen from the street. Rooskie jumped out and went into
the house quickly unlatching the back door as if he was late for an important
meeting. Johnny and the woman
walked in behind him with Johnny walking in first and by the time they stepped
into the house Rooskie had already disappeared somewhere he could not be seen.
Johnny’s heart raced for a moment as he considered he might have walked into a
trap now that he was inside the house imagining the Rooskie coming out with a silencer
to kill him but he looked back at the woman and felt instantly at ease again.
This was his goddess and clearly this was his mother as only a goddess could
have him and he knew he was a god.
