Yellow Mama E zine

BRUNCH AT MICKEY’S

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by Roy Dorman

 

         “Ya still got that derringer I gave ya for Christmas one year?”

         “Jeez, Pops.  Don’t even think about it.”

         “Just bring it.”

         Johnny Perna was picking up his eighty-five-year-old father from the nursing home and taking him out for Sunday brunch.

          Since his stroke ten years ago had left his face partially paralyzed, Anthony Perna hadn’t wanted to go out in public. 

         He’d always been a proud man.

         Mickey’s Tavern has been serving a Sunday brunch for almost sixty years. Back in the day, many of Chicago’s nefarious types attended.

        Mickey’s had a rule: No guns on Sunday morning. If you had a beef with someone, you waited until Monday to settle it. Or at least until Sunday night.

       George “The Greek” Alexandrou sat at the table he’d claimed forty years ago.  He’d been sitting by himself, without his henchmen for protection, for the last dozen years. He no longer needed them. He was semi-retired from the rackets. 

       And at Mickey’s on Sunday morning, “rules is rules,” as old Mickey used to say. 

       George looked up when he saw Anthony and Johnny come in. He was puzzled.

       They walked up to his table and stood between him and the door.

        “My Anna told me you raped her,” Anthony said, without even a “How ya doin’.”

        “Ah, that was sixty years ago, Tony. Before you even knew her. Anyhow, she’s dead, ya dummy.”

        “She was still my Anna,” Anthony said, taking the derringer from his jacket pocket and shooting a surprised George in the forehead.

        “Mr. Perna! You know the tradition! You can’t shoot people in here on Sunday!” yelled Mickey’s manager, Maddie Sullivan.

         “But I did, didn’t I? Rules that ain’t my own rules don’t mean much to me anymore.”

THE END

 

        Roy Dorman is retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Benefits Office and has been a voracious reader for over 65 years. At the prompting of an old high school friend, himself a retired English teacher, Roy is now a voracious writer. He has had flash fiction and poetry published in Black Petals, Bewildering Stories, One Sentence Poems, Yellow Mama, Drunk Monkeys, Literally Stories, Dark Dossier, The Rye Whiskey Review, Near to the Knuckle, Theme of Absence, Shotgun Honey, Punk Noir, The Yard, and a number of other online and print journals. Unweaving a Tangled Web, published by Hekate Publishing, is his first novel.

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        Sean O’Keefe is an artist and writer living in Roselle Park, NJ. Sean attended Syracuse University where he earned his BFA in Illustration. After graduation, Sean moved to New York City where he spent time working in restaurants and galleries while pursuing various artistic opportunities. After the birth of his children, Sean and family move to Roselle Park in 2015. He actively participates in exhibitions and art fairs around  New Jersey, and is continuing to develop his voice as a writer. His work can be found online at www.justseanart.com and @justseanart on Instagram.