The Mob Gave Me a Week to Leave, So I Took Over Dorchester novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Car Wash
The drivers stood in a line in the Southampton Street yard on Saturday noon, with their caps in their hands.
The trucks behind them had been washed that morning, every one, and the chrome shone in the cold sun.
Irena stood at the end of the line in her church black, holding a round loaf of rye on a white cloth.
A small dish of salt sat on top of it.
Marek stood beside me with one hand resting at the small of my back.
It lay there warm and broad and plain in front of all of them, and none of them looked at it, and all of them saw.
"Mrs. Cullinane," said the oldest driver, stepping forward. "We hauled for the Cullinane chair thirty years. We will haul for whoever the widow says."
"Thank you."
"We don't say it with words only. You take the bread."
Irena held out the loaf.
I did not look at her face, and I tore off a piece and dipped it in the salt and ate it.
It was dense and sour and good.
One by one the drivers came up, and each broke a piece, and each said, "For the widow."
When the last one had eaten, I turned to the oldest driver.
He was the gray man with the broad scarred hands who had asked me at Sunday dinner what the widow wanted from the Poles.
"The Kubiak seat is empty," I said. "I need a man for it who won't flinch."
He looked at Marek.
"It's hers to give," Marek said. "I laid it down."
"Then I'm asking," I said. "Tomorrow night, in the back room of the Hibernian Hall. Three of five."
The oldest driver put on his cap.
He took it off again.
"I've never sat in a hall in my life," he said. "I'll sit where you put me."
"Then sit in my seat for a day," I said, "and I'll tell you where to put your feet."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Mob Gave Me a Week to Leave, So I Took Over Dorchester are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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