TKO (29 page)

“Hey, Duff.” Just my luck that Sam would be the first guy to greet me when I came through the clinic’s door. “Did you hear about the Polack who confronted the ventriloquist about making Polack jokes?”

“Good morning, Sam. It’s good to be back,” I said.

“He goes up to the ventriloquist and says ‘I’m sick of you making fun of my people and now I’m going to kick the shit out of you.’ And you know what the ventriloquist says, Duff?”

“No, Sam.”

“He says, ‘Hey Buddy, relax. It’s just an act.’ And you know what the Polack says, Duff?”

“No, Sam.”

“He says, ‘I wasn’t talking to you. I’m talking to that little asshole on your knee.’” Sam laughed extra hard all the way back to his cubicle.

I went to see Trina while at the same time trying to avoid Claudia, which wasn’t easy to do because Trina’s desk was just outside Claudia’s office.

“Hey, Duff, welcome back.” Trina’s smile was precious.

“Hey, Trina, thanks. Hey, I’m waiting for a fax. Did anything—” Claudia interrupted before I could finish.

“Duffy, I didn’t know you were in. The instructions in your letter were clear about you meeting with me before talking to anyone else in the clinic,” she said.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry, Claudia. I—” She interrupted me again.

“Please go to your desk and get your keys.”

“Uh, doesn’t all the shit that happened count for anything?”

“Duffy, the events that occur outside of this office have nothing to do with your performance and your behavior in this office. Get your keys and meet me in my office immediately.” She finished it off with a glare and a smile.

I headed off to my desk without looking at Trina whose head was down, looking at her blotter. She sniffled as I walked away.

I got my keys out of my desk and headed into Claudia’s den of power. Losing the job was one thing, but losing to Claudia was another. I could find another job, but I couldn’t take letting her win. I sat in her office and she had a series of forms and statements for me to sign acknowledging that I was given several warnings for “inappropriate behavior” and that I full well knew the consequences. There were forms about insurance cancellation and about taking clinic property when I was leaving. She also had a form about a private security guard to come in to escort me out.

I looked at all the forms in front of me and took my time reading them and asking stupid questions to slow things down. Claudia sat with her hands folded, glaring the whole time with her Starsky-do seeming to expand by the second. Twenty, thirty minutes went by, and I decided not to prolong the inevitable; I picked up the termination notice to sign off on it.

“You know something, Claudia? You may not believe this, but I care about the people who come here. I may not follow the rules, but I care about the people,” I said.

“Rules are important, Duffy, and you don’t follow them,” she said.

“What’s the use,” I said, mostly under my breath, and I picked up the pen.

“Claudia, you have a fax,” Trina said from the doorway.

“I’m busy, Trina,” she said.

“I think this is important,” Trina said, and she walked in and handed the fax to Claudia. She flashed me a wink as she headed back to her desk.

I put the pen down and studied Claudia’s face.

“Oh, I don’t believe this,” she said, continuing to read. “Are you kidding me? I won’t allow this! Oh, the nerve!” she said. She placed the paper down on her desk.

“You must think you’re pretty cute,” she said.

“Well, I’ve been told—”

“Shut up and get out of my office, now!” The Michelin Woman’s face went bright red.

“Uh—” was all that came out of my mouth.

Claudia handed, actually threw, the fax at me and snorted out her nose.

It was on Dr. Manny Pacquoa’s stationery. It read:

Please be advised that Duffy Dombrowski has been under my care for the last six weeks with the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. His condition is such that he requires full temporary disability. This diagnosis was rendered six weeks ago, and it has come to my attention that Mr. Dombrowski was still attending work during that period. Because of his disability any disciplinary action taken against him cannot be enforced. He must be given full pay, and it is my recommendation that his leave be extended four weeks for him to deal with the stress he has been under. Please be advised that this diagnosis is on file with the New York State Labor Department and has been approved.

Sincerely,

Manuel Pacquoa, MD

“I don’t care what this says. I’m firing you,” Claudia said.

“Now Claudia, you know you can’t do that. Have some sympathy for us PTSD sufferers,” I said.

“Just watch me.”

“You know, Claudia, rules are important and you must follow them,” I said, and I couldn’t help but feel a smile spread over my face.

“Get out and go home, now!” she said. Her bright red face clashed with her purple polyester blouse.

“What about—?”

“I said go home!”

I walked past Trina, who smiled, winked, and started whistling “Hound Dog.”

I left but I didn’t go home. Instead, I headed to the Y and I let Elvis bring me there with “Follow That Dream.”
I wrapped my hands, threw my gear bag over my shoulder, and headed down to the gym.

Smitty had a young middleweight in the ring and he was working the recoil drill. There was no one else in the gym. The bell sounded and Smitty directed the middleweight to the ropes for three rounds of work.

“Duff, in the ring,” Smitty said. I climbed through the second and third rope.

“You ready to work today?” Smitty said.

“Yeah, I’m ready to work,” I said.

Smitty took me through the same workout he’d been taking me through all my life. It felt automatic, like it should, and it felt good to sweat and get the heart rate up again. Ten rounds of drills later, Smitty called it a day and asked me if I’d be in tomorrow.

“Yeah,” I said.

“I got a phone call last week about a show in Rochester. Guy’s 10 and 14 and he’s from Erie,” Smitty said.

“I’m in,” I said.

“Good,” Smitty said. “I’ll make the call.”

I headed up the stairs to the showers and coming down the stairs at the same time was Billy Cramer. He had on gray sweats and a white T-shirt.

“Hey, Billy. What’s up, man?” I said.

“Just heading to the boxing gym for a workout,” he said.

“Not going to the karate room?”

“Inside, Duff. I’m keeping it inside.”

It dawned on me that Billy’s face had cleared up—not a single zit, anywhere.

“Have a good workout,” I said.

“Thanks, Duff,” Billy said, and he went in for his workout with Smitty.

46

Al was happy to
see me back at the Blue and even happier to get his dinner. I cracked open a Schlitz and noticed I was down to my last one. That wasn’t going to get it done and I felt like a night away from AJ’s. I sat on the couch and flipped through the cable deciding how I was going to address the impending Schlitz drought. Al joined me and we sat there watching an A&E special on John Wayne Gacy.

I was about to flip the channel when I heard a knock on the door. I looked through the window and it was Trina. She had a gift-wrapped box with a shiny bow.

“Hey, what’re you doing here?” I said, holding the door open for her.

“I’ve heard that PTSD people need lots of social interaction,” she said.

“How beautiful was that? I thought the Michelin Woman was going to have a shit hemorrhage,” I said.

Al jumped off the couch and up Trina’s legs to say hello. I opened the package and it was a cold twelver of Schlitz.

“Ahh … and just my size,” I said.

She smiled at me and tilted her head in that way that made her hair gently rest on one shoulder. She had on her faded Levis that were tight without being slutty and a white men’s button-down shirt that she left untucked. Her high-heeled boots made her legs seem even longer.

“You cut it pretty close this time, Duff,” she said, taking the beer I handed her.

“Too close,” I said.

Our eyes met and I pulled her close to me. She was tall enough to kiss me without going on tiptoes, but she did have to stretch and I loved the way the small of her back felt in my hands. She closed her eyes and kissed me hard.

I let my hands go under her shirt and I held the small of her back. Her back and abdomen had that wonderful combination of being hard and soft at the same time. Trina ran her hands over my shoulders and across my back as we kissed.

Al slumped off the couch and mumbled something that sounded like a stifled bark. I knew that sound and its prelude to a long barking fit. Unfortunately. Trina knew that sound too. She pulled back from our kiss.

“Duff, I can’t do this if Al’s going to be part of it,” she said.

Al was sitting, quite comfortably, his eyes going back and forth between me and Trina like he was watching tennis. Then he kind of snorted and got up and turned away from us on his way toward the stereo.

Trina and I watched as Al waddled over to the eight-track and sat in front of it. He paused and then nosed in the tape that was sticking out. The tape played “Rock-a-Hula Baby” and Al nosed the program button. It played “Ku-U-I-Po” and he nosed it again. He got the tape to the fourth track and the King kicked in with “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”

Al turned and looked at me and then Trina and then me again. He barked loudly once and headed off to the kitchen.

I swear to God I saw him wink.

Not long after that, Trina and I got lost in the uninterrupted bliss, first on and then off my sofa. My attention was going in and out but at one brief interlude it focused on the lyrics Elvis was crooning. It was the second verse of Al’s favorite.

It had something to do with the sin but more with letting yourself go for love.

THE END

Acknowledgments

Since On the Ropes came out, Duffy and Al have made all sorts of friends, and I want to tell you about a few.

First of all, there’s Wildwood Programs, which provides comprehensive services for people of all ages with developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, and autism. At their gala last year, they auctioned off a chance to have a character named in this book and a woman named Elaine Woroby won. She requested that her husband, Mark, who is the executive director at the Wildwood Foundation, get killed. I work my day job at Wildwood, and I am happy to report that Mark and I remain on good terms. Read more about Wildwood at www.wildwood.edu.

There are also our friends at the Albany Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My friend Mike Noonan is on the board there and he owns a tavern called the Orchard, which bears a striking resemblance to AJ’s (though the conversations at the Orchard aren’t quite as sophisticated as those at AJ’s). Jimmy Carter (not the former president) won the auction at their gala and promptly requested that I rub out Danielle Thomson, his wife. Read about that organization at www.leukemia.org.

The Catie Hoch Foundation is an organization named for a precious little girl who was taken from us much too soon. Gina Peca, her mom, turned the tragedy into something wonderful and started a foundation to help kids going through cancer. Last year, John Snow won an auction and immediately wanted his wife, Terri, executed. Check out this great organization at www.catie
hochfoundation.org.

You might know Teddy Atlas, the ESPN boxing analyst and former trainer to a bunch of world champions. His foundation named for his dad, Dr. Theodore Atlas, does unbelievable things in and around Staten Island. Teddy was nice enough to blurb On the Ropes, and even though he sometimes criticizes my judging when he’s calling a fight, you’ll never hear me complain. I’m proud to have helped out his foundation in whatever small way through Duffy. Read about Teddy’s great work at www.dratlasfoundation.com.

We can’t forget Connie Carter, who won a chance to get killed at Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, the world’s absolute best library event run by Penny Halle with help from Ruth and Jon Jordan. All of these folks are about the best friends a mystery writer can have. Visit the library online at www.ci.muskego.wi.us/library/.

There’s also the New England Basset Hound Rescue, which hosted my very first book signing. This organization rescues and helps out basset hounds just like Al who have been abandoned, abused, and neglected. Last summer I was proud to be among hundreds of Al’s best friends and to give them the proceeds from the book sales. If you’d like a dog every bit as precious as Al, find a basset rescue group and give a hound a home. Aroooo!

Pick out your new best friend at www.newenglandbassethoundrescue.org.