16 Jan Photo Story – Kiko

The no-good fella.

It was another night and Claire could hear someone banging on her house door. In the background, she heard her mother yelling at her father to not answer the door. It was a loud argument and one noisy scene that she drowned with the noise of her vinyl music player. She clapped and snapped her fingers to the music, in an attempt to submerge herself away from it all. Claire didn’t want to be part of her reality. She just couldn’t handle the bullying at school and then her family problems.

As it turns out, Claire’s father apparently owed money to the local neighborhood mobster – Marty “The piper” Jenser. Everybody knew who he was. Always parking his big Cadillac in the middle of the street just because he could, leaning on the hood as he smoked with his other buddies. Marty had his hands in a couple of places where he often has some sort of royalty paid to him. A mobster. A lousy, no-good mobster. That’s what Marty was.

Earlier that year, things were not going well for Claire’s father. It seemed things were going pretty bad when he decided to walk outside and approach Marty and ask him for some help with money he needed for his mortgage. It seemed like he was about to lose his home. To Marty, it was another opportunity to make money on interest… but first, it was an opportunity to make fun of Claire’s father and his looks.

“Well, well, well, McKensie. You look fabulous! Ha! Ha! Ha! Where did you get that tie, huh? Geeze, McKensie, you’re pathetic. “ – Marty said.

Marty immediately pulled Claire’s father by grabbing him by his tie; a move that paused the humor that was in flare, to which Marty heeded to McKensie.

“Listen up, McKensie. I’m going to give you the money and in 40 days you are going to pay it back with 150% interest, you hear me?”

Claire and her family were all staring through a window, trying to be discrete and avoid being seen. Claire’s mother cried uncontrollably, as she could not see her husband hackled by a mobster for needing the money. She did not agree with his idea of going over there and asking for “help.”

Claire continued to watch in anger, as she saw this fella humiliate her father. His father returned and eventually did what he could to pay Marty back. But his time was up and he just didn’t have enough to finish that interest.

I seemed like Marty wasn’t satisfied with his 135% return on investment. As he continued to harass Claire’s father for the 15% he was missing… Often saying he was charging interest on that debt and that every day he would at one more number to it.

Claire tried going to the police to report the problem, but they all said they couldn’t do anything since Marty hadn’t technically broken the law, and there wasn’t any evidence of such delinquencies. It was a case no one wanted to touch. After all, many of the police officers also lived in the same community. So they preferred not to get their families involved in what didn’t concerned them.

Claire grew desperate by the hour, but eventually,she gave up.

Every now and then, one of Marty’s guys would come over and bang loudly at their door. After refusing to open, they would trash the outside of the house. Often breaking windows and denting their cars.

One day, as Claire walked home from school, she turned the corner and saw Marty’s gang parked close to her house. She decided to avoid them by taking a shortcut through the neighborhood backyards, only to stumble with Marty himself who just so happened to be taking a piss in one of the houses side-yards.

Claire quickly pretended like she didn’t see anything, only to feel a yank on her arm and find herself next to the devil himself.

“What do we have here? Did you liked what you saw? Want a closer look? He! He! Wait… I know you. You seem familiar.” – Marty whispered.

Almost immediately, one of Marty’s men shouted who she was. Marty couldn’t be happier to have stumbled upon such a treat. He started questioning Claire, as he pulled her towards his pelvis, in a harassing move of dominance. Claire tried to squirm away, but it was useless.

“Oh, yeehaw! We have a wild one!” – Marty shouted.

Claire started screaming in desperation; a move that successfully brought the attention of other neighbors who started peeking through their windows.

Marty desisted and whispered: “Too bad you have the genes of that loser father of yours. But if you come by again, I won’t be as forgiving next time, baby girl.”

Claire buttoned up her blouse and ran to her house in anger as she cried in frustration. She felt helpless. She wanted to kill Marty. If only she had a gun.

As Claire looked around for weapons, she became blinded by her fury. She wasn’t reasoning anymore. She immediately got up and grabbed the biggest pot she could find and went outside towards Marty, who was laughing hysterically at another joke one of his fellas had made. In an extension of the joke, Marty started mimicking the scene that was being told, in an attempt to expand on what he found funny. But everyone was too focused to see Claire coming. Not the neighbors, though. Everyone was watching – and I mean, everyone.

Claire walked passed Marty’s men as if she was invisible. Eventually stopping in front of Marty whose eyes were shut as he laughed so hard. When Marty opened his eyes, his laugh started to doze off, but it was too late – Claire must’ve swung that pot like she was possessed by Baby Ruth’s himself – striking Marty in his left temple. Marty dropped like a brick as his men tendered to him. One of them moved back to retaliate against Claire as shots rang out. It was the police who’ve been called to the scene by a neighbor – and they’ve had enough.

Marty and their gang were put away for embezzlement and corruption. Never to be heard again.