Read Online The Last Collection by Seymour Blicker - Free Book Online Page B

she knows dat what I do isn’t exactly kosher. I mean, de kid’s not dumb. She’s a smart kid . . . an a good kid. . . . Anyway, like I say, I started tinking about alla dese tings. Dey boddered me . . . a lot. I mean, de kid’s twenny already. Any day she could come home an tell me she’s getting married. I mean, I don even know why I started tinking dese tings. I jus did. Like I was tinking, I’m getting old. Okay, I could live ta be a hunnert an ten, but I could also pop off like next week. You know? Look at de guys we know. Dere popping off like flies. Right?”
    Big Moishie nodded.
    â€œSo whad did I do wid my life so far? I asked myself. I mean, I was tinking dat I wanna do someting different. Someting good. Ta give, not ta take. You know what I mean, Moishie?
    â€œYeah, I know,” Big Moishie replied.
    â€œI mean, money I don need. I got enough so I don hafta worry. I could sit on my ass for de nex fifty years jus on de intrest. I’m not a big spender. I was tinking I’d like ta have time ta travel wid de family, ta be closer wid dem. Ta do someting good. De more I tot about it, de more depressed I got. It was making me crazy. Dats why I wen away to de Concord. . . . Maybe you noticed I didn look so hot at de time.”
    â€œI noticed,” Big Moishie replied with a wry smile on his face.
    â€œI had ta tink it out. Ta look at it like from all sides. Ta figger out what ta do. Anyway, I knew I wanted ta get out. I figgered I would come back an discuss it wid you an maybe we could get inta someting legit . . . tagedder like. Anyway, I was tinking, tinking, tinking. It was like driving me crazy because I didn know what else I could do if I got out. Also maybe I figgered you weren’t gonna give up dis business so after twenny-two years I would be on my own. I was mixed up. But, anyways, after a few days I decided for sure dat I was gonna get out. Like I felt I jus couldn cut it no more wid gaffing and wid shylocking. I jus couldn.
    â€œSo den jus when it looks like I made up my mind, I meet Saltpeter in de bar. I tell you, Moishe, like I didn have even de slightest notion ta ace dis yotz; but de minute he opened his mout, it was like I saw red. I wanted ta take him. I wanted ta squeeze him like a liddle bug. I didn even care about de scratch we would make. I jus wanted ta break him because he was a mooch. De more he talked, de more I hated him. I couldn figger it out. I started ta wonder why I hated dis guy so much. After all, what’d he want? Money. De same as everybody. Dats what I wanted too. Anyway . . . I set em up in spite of de fact dat I kept tinking dis is not what I should be doing.
    â€œDen when I got back ta town, I started tinking it over again. I decided dat if I really wanted ta get out, ta make a new start, den I shouldn do dis ting. Den he calls me an de minute I heard his voice again, I wanted ta break him. Dats when I filled you in on him an we started ta set up de office wid Lemay.”
    Big Moishie nodded and dragged on his cigar.
    â€œDen I started tinking about when I was coming up. I wanted ta make it. I woulda done anyting. Even t’day I would do anyting if I was broke. If I was broke, I wouldn have such fancy tots about going legit. If I needed de scratch, if I was choked, I wouldn give it a seccun tot. His money would already be in our bank. Dats when it hit me. I like saw someting in him dat made me realize dat in my own way, I was a mooch too; dat maybe everybody was a mooch in dere own way. De only difference between me an him was maybe dat I could control myself a liddle better.
    â€œDen I tot, but maybe I’m really even more of a mooch den him because look what I did ta make it. I went into a business dat was dangerous. I was ready ta risk my life ta make it. Anyway, I knew dat inside me dere was dat same mooch like in Saltpeter, an I didn like it. An whatever I didn like in me, I