(no subject)
“Minchia, Billy, I saw a bear,” Carmine called me from a pay phone outside a hotel bar in Northern Ontario. He was on the lamb for some numbers problems, and something to do with chicken wire. Now, he was telling me about a bear.
I wasn’t really paying attention. I had been trying to get ahold of Spiritual the past couple of days, but couldn’t seem to reach him. I wondered if he was on some kind of trip. “Uh huh.”
"Billy, I’m serious here. Five to one I don’t make it back."
Carmine, if history is any indicator, was staying in a secluded shanty near a deserted lake. It was pretty, if you were into that sort of thing.
"Five to one?" I said. “I’d say its more like two to one.”
Carmine couldn’t resist. “I’ll take that action,” he said.
I spit out a pistachio shell. Carmine had just wagered against me as to whether or not he would make it back.Little did I know, there was a black bear out near a telephone pole where he had parked his Vespa. Carmine knew this. He was a shrewd gambler.
“Ok, Billy, it’s a bet,” he said.
“Great,” I said to Carmine, “Talk to you soon,” I said.
“Alright Billy, say hi to your mom for me,” he said.
He hung up, and I put a cup of old coffee in the microwave. Carmine Calamari was mauled by the black bear, and he won the wager. I owed him twenty bucks.