Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man (The Sinatras of Jericho County Book 1) (19 page)

“He
doesn’t believe I can settle down with one woman, Jenay.
 
He says they’ve heard the news that you were
in town and some at the bank are already laying odds on how long our
relationship will last.”

“Laying
odds?” Jenay asked.

“They’re
betting you’ll leave me within the month.
 
They’re giving us one month only.”

“Actually
three weeks,” Buzz said with a smile, “but who’s counting?
 
I am, actually.
 
I bet big bucks.”

“On
our breakup?” Jenay asked with a smile.

“Unfortunately,
yes ma’am,” Buzz responded.
 
“That’s
 
how we do it in Jericho too.”

“Because
of Charlie’s past?”

“Unfortunately,
yes ma’am.”

Jenay
laughed.
 
“You’re basing it on the odds,
I understand that.”

Buzz
was surprised. “You don’t mind?”

“Why
should I?
 
Charlie’s got a past.
 
I’ve got a past.
 
Every one of God’s children has a past.
 
The key, for all of us, is not repeating it.”

Buzz
nodded.
 
“That’s the key, you’re right
about that.
 
That’s the truth.”

“Anyway,
Buzz,” Charles said as he grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair,
“I’ll pay her a visit.”
 
He began putting
on his jacket.

“Make
it clear to her, Charles, please make it clear to her.
 
She won’t listen to anybody else.
 
She has to get out today, or the sheriff is
going to get her out of there tomorrow.
 
And that will not be pretty.
 
We’ve all forewarned her.
 
Maybe
coming from Big Daddy Sinatra, she’ll get the message.”

Charles
glanced at Jenay when Buzz used that derogatory term.
 
Jenay noticed his glance, but ignored it in
front of Buzz.
 

“Let
me know how it goes,” Buzz said as he was about to leave.
 
“And nice meeting you again, Jenay.
 
I hate losing money, but if it works out for
you and Charles, then I’ll be willing to lose. . .I’ll be willing to . . .
 
Never mind.
 
I hate losing money!”

She
laughed.
 
Buzz left.
 
“He’s a breath of fresh air, Charlie.”

“Yeah,
he is.
 
We’ve been good friends for
years.”

“Your
best friend?”

“If I
had one, I guess so.”
 
Then he looked at
her.
 
“Ready?” he asked.

“Always,”
she said.

Charles
began walking her, with his hand in the small of her back, to the door.
 
“I’ll need to make a quick stop first.”

“To
urge whomever you guys were discussing to leave wherever you guys were
referencing?”

“That’s
right.”
 
Then Charles looked sidelong at
her.
 
“Aren’t you curious?”

“About
what?”

“Why
some people would call me
Big Daddy
Sinatra?”

“Why
it’s because of your penis, of course,” Jenay said as if that was the only
possible answer, and left the office.

Charles,
taken aback, smiled at first, and then laughed a great laugh.
 
“Yeah,” he said as he walked out behind her,
feeling actually pretty good, “that’s it.
 
That’s the reason.”

He
took the scenic route, showing her the beautiful Jericho countryside.
 
He showed her the coastline, and the farms
and the plains, and some of his businesses.
 
He showed her Jericho Mutual, his bank, and Sinatra Motors, his car
dealership.
 
He showed her Sinatra Sails,
his boat rental business, and even his personal sailboat.
 
He showed her rental homes he owned, an old
factory he owned, and even a funeral home he hadn’t been able to unload
yet.
 

She
could understand, on one level, how people could really resent him.
 
It seemed like too much for one man to
own.
 
But on another, more substantive
level, she admired him.
 
He was a smart
and shrewd go-getter.
 
He was the epitome
of the American dream of working smarter, not harder, and going for it.
 
She looked at him and smiled.
 
If he was trying to impress her with the
vastness of his holdings, he had.

But
he kept on driving.
 
He didn’t brag or
explain.
 
It was all self-explanatory to
him.
 
She liked that about Charlie.
 
He never felt a need to prove anything.

His
Jaguar drove down a long, dirt road until it ended at the front porch of a
small, wooden-framed log cabin-style house.
 
An elderly woman was sitting on the porch, and
a handful of kids, from small eight year olds to twelve and thirteen year olds,
were sitting on the steps.

“Wait
here,” Charles said to Jenay as he got out of his car and made his way, walking
around kids, up to the old lady.
 
He kept
the car running, so Jenay pressed down the window on her passenger side of the
car.
 
She was praying this visit wasn’t
about evicting that old woman out of this old house.
 
Charles could be hard, but this, to her,
would be outrageous.

“Hello,
Miss Winifred,” Charles said as he approached.

“Hello,
Big Daddy,” the old lady responded.

“Buzz
told me you wouldn’t listen to him.”

“I
don’t trust him,” the old woman said.
 
She was so wrinkled her skin looked like scales.
 
Jenay figured she had to be at least eighty
or more.
 
What in the world was Charles
thinking?

“The
note came due on this property, Miss Winifred,” Charles said, “and you’re well
aware of that.
 
We’ve sold it from under
you, and the new owners will be taking possession.”

“I
know what y’all did. You don’t have to tell me what y’all money grubbers did.”

“Then
why haven’t you packed up and moved?”

“Because
I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“That’s
not my problem,” Charles said firmly.
 
“You’ve been given ample time to find another place.
 
More than ample time.
 
You decided not to do so.”

“I’m
not leaving my land.”

“This
isn’t your land.
 
This is my land.
 
Land that I have sold.
 
And you are leaving, even if the Sheriff has
to come on this property and drag you away from here.”

“Ain’t
nobody dragging me away from nowhere!”

“Fine,”
Charles said.
 
“You want to put on a show
for your grands, fine.
 
Do so.
 
Don’t leave of your own volition.
 
Let the Sheriff drag you out.
 
Because you are leaving this place and you’re
either doing it tonight under your own authority, or tomorrow under mine.
 
But you are leaving here.
 
We’ve given you months to find a suitable
alternative and you have chosen to do nothing.”

“This
is my home and I’m keeping my home!”

“This
is not your home!” Charles shot back.
 
“You haven’t paid your rent in six months.
 
We’ve been more than patient with you.
 
Now enough is enough, Miss Winifred.
 
I will not continue to allow this.
 
I’m not a charity and you will not treat me
like one.
 
You get more than enough money
each month, from Jesse’s retirement and from your own social security, to
easily pay that rent.
 
You chose not to
pay it.”

“It’s
too damn high,” Winifred blared. “I’m tired of paying these high rents.”

“There’s
nothing to pay now.
 
You have to leave.”

“I’m
not going anywhere.”

“Fine,”
Charles said and began heading for his car.
 
He was wasting his time.

But
Jenay couldn’t believe it.
 
When he sat
back inside, she looked at him.
 
“You’re
going to evict her?
 
You’re going to just
evict that sweet old lady?”

“Sweet?”
Charles asked, as if Jenay had to be kidding.

And
sure enough, that “sweet” old lady was on her feet now, standing at the porch
rail pointing her cane at Charles.
 
“Rot
in hell, Big Daddy!” she spat out.
 
“Rot
in hell!
 
You’re worse than the worse
devil there!
 
Rot in hell!”
 
Then she looked at Jenay, who was staring
empathically at her.
 
“What are you
looking at motherfucker?” she asked Jenay.

Jenay
was stunned.
 
“Excuse me?”

“You
heard me.
 
What your nigger ass looking
at?
 
My pappy used to string up people
like you, and you looking your nose down at me?
 
I knew Big Daddy was a nigger lover.
 
I knew it all along.
 
He’s got all
their tendencies.
 
Taking people
land.
 
Treating people like dogs.
 
Get your nigger-loving-self off of my
property, Big Daddy, and get off now!”

Charles
stared at Jenay as the old woman continued to rail on and on in their
ears.
 
“Didn’t I tell you about putting
feelings into anything related to business?
 
Didn’t I tell you that, Jenay?”

“Yes,”
Jenay admitted.

“And
roll up that window!” Charles demanded.
 
“Nobody wants to hear that trash!”

Jenay
quickly rolled up the window.
 
She shook
her head.
 
“She seemed so . . .nice.”

“Oh
they’re always nice in the beginning.
 
And then they get cocky.
 
Then
they stop paying rent for some reason that makes sense only in their own
heads.
 
Then they suddenly decide that
they own the place and they have this awesome sense of entitlement.
 
They’re entitled to my land.
 
That’s her.”

Charles
and Jenay looked up on the porch as she continued to rail.
 
Her grands, who were used to her histrionics,
ignored her and continued to do whatever they were doing before she stood
up.
 
Charles never argued with his
tenants, especially over his own property, so he didn’t argue with that old
woman either.
 
He drove away.
 
But his anger was still there.

“Now
I’m the bad guy,” he said as he drove.
 
“Now she’s highly offended that we dare call her out on her mooching and
demand she either pay up or leave.
 
Now,
let her tell it, she doesn’t owe a thing.
 
But that’s the Jericho way.
 
Once
you try to work with these people and give them a break like any human being
would try to do, they want the whole damn thing.”
 
He looked at Jenay.
 
“So what am I supposed to do?”

“Stop
giving them breaks?”

“Yes!”
he yelled as he hit his steering wheel.
 
“Don’t give not one of them a break!
 
They won’t appreciate it.
 
They
won’t think you’re some wonderful, caring person.
 
They will cuss you out and tell you what you
can do with yourself.”

Jenay
looked out of the window.
 
Disheartened.
 
Not that she expected a bed of roses or any
kind of kindness from these strangers in this strange town.
 
But she’d always heard such nice things about
small towns.
 
And Maine was supposed to
be so progressive!
 
She looked at
Charles.

“I
hate to be so hard on you,” Charles said.
 
“But you have got to learn this town if you expect to survive in it.”

“So
you’re telling me there are no good people in Jericho?”

“I’m
telling you there are plenty of good people in Jericho.
 
But none of them owe me back money.
 
The people who owe me are always the
dissipaters.
 
They’re always the people
who want something for nothing.
 
They
have the means to pay, or they would have never gotten the loan.
 
They just don’t have the will.
 
And consider me a terrible person, but I will
not sit up and feel sorry for a man who would rather feed his own desires and
ego, than pay his debts.
 
He can feed
that ego.
 
That’s fine.
 
But not on my dime.”