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The Wheel of Fortune

Allan Onik

    Joey waited in the diner. He sipped some stale coffee and took a bite of some lemon meringue pie. He checked his watch. It read 3:00 a.m. He slicked back his black hair and adjusted his suit tie. The door to the diner swung open.
    “Pauli,” Joey said, “I’ve been waiting for you.”
    Pauli sat in front of him. He was short and fat and wore a red Italian suit. The waitress walked to the table. “I’ll take a coffee and a jelly donut,” Pauli said. The waitress took his menu and walked away.
    “So, what’s the story? What’s Tony say?” Joey’s face was beaded with sweat.
    “I told Tony not to fuck with these Chinese. They have no scruples. They’d sell their own mothers to the highest bidder.”
    “Tony says war is coming,” Pauli said, “The Red Dragons are animals.”
    “How is our firepower? And how many men? Do the Feds know about this?”
    “We have Ballester Molina .45s, Glock 17 Gen4s, And Steyr GBs as handguns. We have Mag-7 shotguns, MP 38 submachine guns, M15 grenades, bats and crowbars. We also have two machetes,” Pauli said. “We have 50 soldiers, 20 made men, and 3 bosses. No info on the Feds. Our sources dried up.”
    “What do you think’s happening to us?” Joey asked, “It seems just yesterday we were the most profitable family in the city.”
    “But if we don’t win out,” Pauli said, “the other four families will think we are weak, and work together to crush us. They’ll leave our wives and children without husbands and fathers, and desecrate our family. They’ll go for Tony last.”

    The agent put the black and white photo of the Asian man on the white board. Next to the picture was a similar style photo of an overweight Italian man. He took a red magic marker and drew a line between them. The agent spoke to a full audience in the room. “These are bosses of two of the most powerful crime families in the city. The Asian, Su Chen—leader of the infamous Red Dragon gang. The Italian, Tony Struetto—leader of the Struetto Family of the Five Families. The two families are about to go to war over competing drug turf for the sale of cocaine. Both gangs are heavily manned and heavily armed. They attain their arms on the black market and could be considered military equipped. The Red Dragons are known for their brutality, and have been operating loan sharking, prostitution, and drug rings out of China Town. The Struettos have control of the city’s waste disposal system, practice extortion, and also operate drug rings. The war will happen any time within the next two weeks. The site will look like a small battlefield.”
    Someone in the room raised their hand. “What do we do?”
    “The Bureau has decided to let them kill each other. It saves us from having to prosecute them.”

    The waitress put a Porterhouse steak in front of Tony. She put a large sushi in front of Su. Outside the glass windows, the two Bosses could see their men shooting, stabbing, hacking, beating, and detonating each other with grenades.
    “Whoever loses should get to take a cyanide capsule,” Tony said.
    “No no no!” Su smiled, “sleeping pills are much more comfortable than cyanide!”
    “So it’s decided then, the loser gets to take sleeping pills and his family gets to move to Miami.”
    “A promise!” Su said.
    Su took a sip of some Sake. Tony took a sip of some Merlot. A Red Dragon’s dismembered arm flew against the window and streaked blood. A Stretto got downed by Uzi fire.
    “Have you ever heard of Tarot?” Su asked.
    “Oh yeah, that’s that game used for psychic readings, right?”
    “Yes,” Su said, “I have practiced it myself a little, though I am not very talented with it. I don’t possess the consciousness it requires to fully utilize and understand the cards. But there’s one card that seems to resonate with me right now. It keeps popping up when I’m given a reading.” Su placed a Tarot card on the table.
    “The Wheel of Fortune,” Tony said, “What’s it mean?”
    “It is the card for us now,” Su said, “it represents the coming or going of power, or the entering or leaving of good times. It means that all things come in cycles. There are dark times and there are good times. There are prosperous times and there are poor times. One of us will die today, and one of us will greatly increase our power. It all turns with the mysterious Wheel in the Sky. Neither of us can control the Wheel, only God knows the outcome. You cannot resist The Wheel of Fortune; it will crush you if you do. You must go with the flow.”
    “Interesting,” Tony said. He savored his steak and a butler lit up his cigar.
    “The fighting will be over soon,” Su said, “lets both relax.” The window shades were put down through the sound of a man screaming. A grenade detonated.

    When the sound of fighting ended, the two men smiled. “You see this Jackal-headed Demon at the bottom of the Wheel?” Su pointed to the card.
    “Yes,” Tony said.
    “That is Anubis. He is to remind you that although dark times are a part of the struggle, divinity is always with you.”
    Six bruised and bloody Red Dragons with Uzis entered the restaurant.
    “Now,” Su asked, “would you like to take your medicine with some cognac?”

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