ATONEMENT (28 page)

“Go put on a suit
, comb your
hair and I’ll take you.”

Sal
whooped in
excite
ment then
he dashed out the bedroom shrieking, “Yippee
, I’m going with dad
!”

Alfonzo chortled, turned from the mirror and
playfully snatched his daughter off the bed right
before her umpteenth jump
and lifted her high above his head. He swirled her around until she became dizzy then brought the small face close to his mouth, kissed it and said, “You sweetness are staying with Anita, I can’t have you terrorizing everyone in the office they’ll quit.”

She smiled, “Do it again daddy.”

A one track mind is what the girl had, He swirled her around several times until Anita caught him.

“Okay…Allie…
Alfonzo
no mas
!
”

“
Anita
m
uy
loco
.”
Alfonzo teased circling his finger near his head and pointing to the woman in the doorway.

This made Allie laugh harder and she held onto his neck, mimicking his actions.

“
Muy
loco
…
muy
loco
.”

“Okay, enough. Come here
nina
.
”

“
Anita
m
uy
loco
,
mu
y
loco
.”
Allie sang as Alfonzo put her down to the floor.

He laughed at Anita’
s stricken face

The stern woman was not amused,
“I hope you happy. Now
,
she
’ll be
bad all day.”

“She’s two, what
do
you e
x
pect
?”

“Stop teaching her bad things!” Anita chastised, “When
Selange come
s
home,
I
tell her what you teach
Aldonza
. Call me crazy, eh I show you crazy!”

Alfonzo squint, the smile gone. Anita was pissed at him and it wasn’t about his daughter. “
Lo que
hago
?
Seriously, w
hat did I do?”

She took the girl’s hand and stood there glaring at him, “You behav
e
bad
ly
again. You learn
nada
last time. I sick
watching;
now I tell you stop
!”
She spun around with his daughter and marched away.

Alfonzo blinked, wow. Anita was tripping
.
Tonight she’d prepare a crappy meal to serve as punishment. He and Sal were eating
out
,
for sure!

He tugged on his cuffs then went to collect his son. Sal was
ready;
he actually did
a
pretty good job, except his shirt clashed with the suit. Purple and brown, horrendous
match
. He looked in the boy’s closet, took out a cream shirt, “You did
well
, but this color shirt is more pleasing on the eyes. Women…I mean girls like when boys match.” He was fibbing, of course
,
because girls at Sal’
s
age didn’t give a crap about clothes or boys. “And I like it
.
”

Sal shrugged and changed without debate th
en they were out the h
ouse.

                                     
***

Alfonzo was glad he brought Sal alo
ng for the day. It was cool having him in the
boardroom;
he was getting a
n invaluable education on the workings of a corporation. 

The boy sat attentively,
hands folded, listening to the
company
’s
strategies, dividends, their objectives, salaries and other company matters
, like the recent law suit filed by
the injured worker who claimed there was improper
and
inadequate safety equipment
the day of his accident
.
Ching-ching
;
a tort
.
Worker’s compensation covered injured workers yet did not prevent an injured worker from suing his employer for negligence. The men argued whether to settle ou
t of court, avoid a trial and the costly legal fees. Alfonzo scoffed, “He’s suing for one million dollars. What
’ll
we offer him, fifty thousand? Hell no, the attorney will believe he has us running scared. We go to
court;
the burden of proof is on the worker. We prove otherwise.”

“What if someone testifies on his behalf?”

“Like
who
?”

“Another worker
or
ambulance personnel.”

“My money’s on they’re not.”

The men nodded. They were shrewd businessmen. They were aware of Alfonzo
’s
ties to organized crime and at times like these his connections were more effective than tossing around money. A talk is all they needed. A bribe
, well once again, that’s still cash they were reluctant to part with
,
unless absolutely necessary. 

When the
meeting ended
his son leaned over and asked, “Why
was
that man picking his nose
all the time
?”

Alfonzo
chuckled;
Jack Linton was the man Sal was referring to. He suffered from allergies and poor manners. Alfonzo overlooked these and other quirks but kids did not. “He always thinks his nose is itching.”

“It’s nasty. That’s how you spread germs. At home mom and Anita always make us wash our hands, even at school we have to wash our hands, a lot.”

Alfonzo’s eyebrow
arched
, “Yeah, you should.”

The secretary came in with a McDonald’s bag and a
n
order of bistec encebellao, tostones and
a bottle of mabi. She sat the food in front of them. “
Here’s your food gentleman
.
”

Sal grinned from ear to ear. Fast food wasn’t allowed in their home, Selange’s rules but today the boy deserved a treat. Besides, they’d work it off playing
soccer or boxing.

“Thanks Georgina,” Alfonzo said to the bleach
ed
blonde
secretary. The
woman dressed in
her usual style of eye-catching attire. Today it was
a form fitting
Giliano
dress, high heels
and thin blazer.
Alfonzo had no complaints about her
attire;
it was professional and gave his male client’s visuals. Besides, she was
excellent
at her job
. Three years in and she hadn’t missed a beat.

Sal
’s
smile
hadn’t faded
, either
. The boy
had a crush on Georgina, although she was thirty years his senior
and
married
with four kids.
“Gracias
Georgie
.”

Oh yeah and he got to call her
Georgie
!

“No
prob
l
ema
.
If you need anything else
senor
Sal let me know
,
”
she said then winked
her false eyelash
at him and the boys cheeks flushed crimson
.

Alfonzo
snickered;
the woman was shameless for encouraging the boy when he didn’t have a chance in hell.

When she stepped out and closed the door, Sal spun around excitedly, “She’s
so
nice.”

“Um,
yes
she is.”
Alfonzo commented as he
whipped out his cell. Sal copied his actions and Alfonzo smirked
.

Alfonzo text
his wife
, to tell her how much he loved her then thumbed through the messages. He glanced over at his son, the boy was
actually
texting somebody
. No shit!
“So who
are
you texting?”

“Mom.”

“Yeah,
I text
her,
too
.”

“Did she text you back?”

“Not yet.”

“Oh, ‘cause she text me, see.”

Alfonzo
’s body
leaned
toward the boy and he read the screen which Sal conveniently held up to his face. Sure enough, Selange replied to her son, ‘luv u can’t wait 4 u to get here,
xoxo
.’ There was even a cute little happy face.