Was walking down to the West End corner from my house, just two blocks up the hill, shoe shine box slung over my shoulder. I was thirteen at the time, still had to make family money, and had already spent two years sitting on a box of wood outside Novack’s Pharmacy. A muggy, late Tuesday morning at the beginning of the second week of August, I had just passed Duval’s Grocery Store, next to the West End Club. Was about fifty feet from where I set up every day. Two of the bookies, Mario and Joe, were standing next to the telephone booth on the corner talking to a couple of guys I’d never seen. Came around the corner of the pharmacy, set the box down, took out the polish and brushes setting them on the left side on the sidewalk, in case Nikki came over. She always sat on the sidewalk to the right. Wasn’t there ten minutes when one of the guys on the corner I didn’t know came over, almost kicked me off the box, and put one of his expensive cordovans on the top of it. He was a pretty big dude, almost as big as Joe, tailored suit, expensive white shirt, silk tie. I had the right polish, brushes, and polishing cloths to fix him up. He asked me how much. I told him fifty cents. Was told to get to it. Just about got the first polish applied to this jerk’s shoes when Nikki came running over from Jonsies. Taking her usual seat next to me, we kind of just smiled and looked at each other. I learned later from Mario that the guy standing on my shoe shine box was a big time bookie from New York, and Joe’s cousin. I knew Joe was my friend, trust is everything with a bookie. The New York guy, standing on my shoe shine box took an instant liking to Nikki; bending over to rub her hair, he told her how much he liked her. She became frightened. I told this guy his shine was done and he didn’t owe me anything. Next thing I knew, Joe was standing next to both me and Nikki. Dropping two five dollar bills on the sidewalk, Joe led his cousin away. Learned later on that the West End wasn’t New York, but if you were a bookie, and wanted to bring it to Bristol, CT, you had to bring a pretty big game.
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 22:00:38 +0000
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