[jp] h. jackson brown, jr. quote
NOTE: The conclusion to this, this, this, and this. Sassy is no_substitution and Zee is zee_ali, both used with semi-permission and total love. Gregory Karras is mr_presto and mine to abuse as I see fit. :P
Strive for excellence, not perfection.
==========
The door was always his favorite part.
Normally the doors had bars, he avoided solid in the past. This time, however, solid was his only option. He had to get creative to get this done without relying on his memory…fortunately, the necessary tools were out there.
Crouched on the floor, he smiled as he gave the plastic pick one final twist and heard the snap that preceded both halves of his boot cuff clunking to the floor as they fell away from his ankle. Unlacing his boot, he slipped it off and pulled out the small package hidden inside. Rolling his ankle to shake off the phantom weight and the pain from having a gun cleaning kit digging into his instep for over an hour, he unrolled the muslin wrapping and got to work.
When he finally picked up the key head to attach to the end of the device, he had a slender length of tubing screwed together, topped with a hinged device that would let him insert a key into the padlock outside his door and turn it to release himself. Satisfied it was properly assembled, Tommy moved to the door and stared out through the bars to the cell across the way.
From the opposite wall, he stared at his own reflection across the ages…
* * * * *
“…you can see right there that it’s a narrower door, but it ain’t solid.”
Louis peered at the small framed image and nodded in agreement, reaching out to point to the bars crisscrossing the image of Houdini locked behind them. “No, and the lock’s closer. This one’s nearly a foot from the door, but here in this picture the lock’s right there on the door.”
“Exactly, it’s just a matter of reaching through…” Tommy replied, trailing off as he let his gaze wander to the cell across the way.
“Uh…Lou, could I ask a favor?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Karras.”
“Tommy, please…it’s stupid, sorta, but I just…could I put this here? The picture, in the cell across the way? So when I look out the door I can see it. Just for inspiration…I mean, I’m racing the master, right? It’s like he should be here for it. Him an’ me.”
“Across the way’d be fine. Nothing funny about that.”
Flashing him a grateful smile, Tommy walked across the way and carefully pressed the adhesive back of the frame to the wall in the open cell, making sure it was at just the right level…
…and as he did, he carelessly let a length of thread fall to the floor, following him across the room…
* * * * *
Reaching up to the bars of his cell door, Tommy plucked loose the slip knot he’d tied into that length of thread the night before. Watching the photograph of Houdini breaking out of another cell, he bit his lip as he gave the thread a sharp tug…
It resisted at first, but a second pull caused the picture to fly loose from the frame, leaving him a mirror that reflected the lock on his cell door perfectly.
The execution, however, was far from perfect. Carefully, painstakingly, he maneuvered the key towards the lock as he struggled not to drop the device while making his fingers function in the one and a half inch space between the bars.
He didn’t have a clock, but he could feel the energy rising beyond the jailhouse. He was getting close…too close…
::click::
His heart skipped a beat. Carefully, he pushed…
::clickclack::
“Yes!!” he hissed in triumph as he pushed on the door. He felt the bar resist, then give as the lock clattered harmlessly to the ground.
There was distant noise. He was running out of time.
Walking out of the cell, he tried to resist the urge to cover himself as he entered the main room, feeling brutally exposed as he knelt before the door of the locked cell holding his clothes.
The noise got closer, the time was ticking away…
Yanking the end off his door key device, he slid the thin pole into the lock and tested it. It just might work…it had to work…
Voices outside the door.
::clickclack::
Standing, he wrenched the lock off and the door open as the countdown began.
“…NINE! EIGHT!...”
Grabbing his jeans, he shoved one foot into the first leg.
“…SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!...”
Second leg, damn it pull…
“…FOUR! THREE!...”
He panicked for an instant when he nearly fell in his rush, but caught himself and hopped, yanking them up over his ass and hips.
“…TWO! ONE!”
He zipped his fly just as he heard the outer door open, and buttoned it just as he felt a familiar warm body tackle him from behind.
“Long live the king! WHOO!!”
Laughing, he turned in Sassy’s arms and promptly lifted her off her feet and over his shoulder, spinning her with a whoop of triumph as applause filled the room with a deafening, joyous noise.
“OH EM GEE, PUT ME DOWN DORK!”
Setting her down again, he leaned over and unabashedly kissed her, a chaste and enthusiastic press of lips before embracing her warmly. “Not yet, ain’t done hugging.”
Giggling, Sassy went right along with the hugging until a tiny voice pierced the din in the room.
“Tata! Tata Tata Tata!”
Drawing away from Sassy, Tommy grinned as the crowd parted to let him reach Zee, crouched behind the owner of the voice standing on shaky little legs as her mother held her hands to support her.
“Did you see that?” he beamed, scooping her off her feet and kissing her cheek. “Did you see Daddy?”
“Tata! Tata ki co!”
Cuddling her close, Tommy leaned over to kiss Ziyah as the crowd went in to inspect the cell, holding her as tightly as he did his daughter.
“Oh God…Tommy, your hand!”
“Smashed it on a handcuff, it’s fine.” He soothed, burying his face against her neck for a moment. “You were awesome.”
“Tata!”
“So were you, baby.” He laughed, bouncing May lightly in his arms.
“HA! You planted a key, I knew it!”
Rolling his eyes with a grin, Tommy kissed Zee one more time, deepening it with a heated promise of things to come before he returned May to her and walked back over to his cell, where his father stood holding the castoff cuffs with the key still in the lock.
“Zee actually passed it to me.” He corrected with a smile.
Gregory shook his head, beaming as he moved to embrace Tommy warmly. “My boy, the King of Handcuffs. The King!...”
Hugging his father fiercely, Tommy unashamedly pressed a kiss to the older man’s cheek and whispered in his ear.
“Happy Father’s Day, Pop. Never could’ve gotten here without ya.”
He heard Gregory’s breath hitch before he returned the kiss and let him go, elbowing a nearby spectator to point out ‘my son, Houdini’s heir.’
“Hey!” Tommy finally barked, commanding the room’s attention. “Y’all are welcome to check this out and see what I did, we got footage and I’ll answer any questions, but before I do? I wanna dedicate this show today to all the dads here and around the world! That includes Houdini’s father, Mayer Samuel Weiss, Houdini himself, the father of modern escapology…and my own pops, Greg Karras! Without him, I’d be nothin’. Not a damn thing. Let’s hear it for all of ‘em!”
The crowd erupted again as Zee drew near, with May in her arms. This time, however, the tiny fist attached to his daughter’s arm was clutching a greeting card she was waving eagerly.
“Po’ Tata! Heew.”
Tommy’s throat closed as he accepted the Father’s Day card, scrawled with his name in Zee’s handwriting. Sharing a look with her, he drew a shaky breath and embraced his family one more time.
It was a close call…but he did it. And he’d do it again.
For Carbone, and for them, nothing on earth could hold him prisoner.
Strive for excellence, not perfection.
==========
The door was always his favorite part.
Normally the doors had bars, he avoided solid in the past. This time, however, solid was his only option. He had to get creative to get this done without relying on his memory…fortunately, the necessary tools were out there.
Crouched on the floor, he smiled as he gave the plastic pick one final twist and heard the snap that preceded both halves of his boot cuff clunking to the floor as they fell away from his ankle. Unlacing his boot, he slipped it off and pulled out the small package hidden inside. Rolling his ankle to shake off the phantom weight and the pain from having a gun cleaning kit digging into his instep for over an hour, he unrolled the muslin wrapping and got to work.
When he finally picked up the key head to attach to the end of the device, he had a slender length of tubing screwed together, topped with a hinged device that would let him insert a key into the padlock outside his door and turn it to release himself. Satisfied it was properly assembled, Tommy moved to the door and stared out through the bars to the cell across the way.
From the opposite wall, he stared at his own reflection across the ages…
* * * * *
“…you can see right there that it’s a narrower door, but it ain’t solid.”
Louis peered at the small framed image and nodded in agreement, reaching out to point to the bars crisscrossing the image of Houdini locked behind them. “No, and the lock’s closer. This one’s nearly a foot from the door, but here in this picture the lock’s right there on the door.”
“Exactly, it’s just a matter of reaching through…” Tommy replied, trailing off as he let his gaze wander to the cell across the way.
“Uh…Lou, could I ask a favor?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Karras.”
“Tommy, please…it’s stupid, sorta, but I just…could I put this here? The picture, in the cell across the way? So when I look out the door I can see it. Just for inspiration…I mean, I’m racing the master, right? It’s like he should be here for it. Him an’ me.”
“Across the way’d be fine. Nothing funny about that.”
Flashing him a grateful smile, Tommy walked across the way and carefully pressed the adhesive back of the frame to the wall in the open cell, making sure it was at just the right level…
…and as he did, he carelessly let a length of thread fall to the floor, following him across the room…
* * * * *
Reaching up to the bars of his cell door, Tommy plucked loose the slip knot he’d tied into that length of thread the night before. Watching the photograph of Houdini breaking out of another cell, he bit his lip as he gave the thread a sharp tug…
It resisted at first, but a second pull caused the picture to fly loose from the frame, leaving him a mirror that reflected the lock on his cell door perfectly.
The execution, however, was far from perfect. Carefully, painstakingly, he maneuvered the key towards the lock as he struggled not to drop the device while making his fingers function in the one and a half inch space between the bars.
He didn’t have a clock, but he could feel the energy rising beyond the jailhouse. He was getting close…too close…
::click::
His heart skipped a beat. Carefully, he pushed…
::clickclack::
“Yes!!” he hissed in triumph as he pushed on the door. He felt the bar resist, then give as the lock clattered harmlessly to the ground.
There was distant noise. He was running out of time.
Walking out of the cell, he tried to resist the urge to cover himself as he entered the main room, feeling brutally exposed as he knelt before the door of the locked cell holding his clothes.
The noise got closer, the time was ticking away…
Yanking the end off his door key device, he slid the thin pole into the lock and tested it. It just might work…it had to work…
Voices outside the door.
::clickclack::
Standing, he wrenched the lock off and the door open as the countdown began.
“…NINE! EIGHT!...”
Grabbing his jeans, he shoved one foot into the first leg.
“…SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!...”
Second leg, damn it pull…
“…FOUR! THREE!...”
He panicked for an instant when he nearly fell in his rush, but caught himself and hopped, yanking them up over his ass and hips.
“…TWO! ONE!”
He zipped his fly just as he heard the outer door open, and buttoned it just as he felt a familiar warm body tackle him from behind.
“Long live the king! WHOO!!”
Laughing, he turned in Sassy’s arms and promptly lifted her off her feet and over his shoulder, spinning her with a whoop of triumph as applause filled the room with a deafening, joyous noise.
“OH EM GEE, PUT ME DOWN DORK!”
Setting her down again, he leaned over and unabashedly kissed her, a chaste and enthusiastic press of lips before embracing her warmly. “Not yet, ain’t done hugging.”
Giggling, Sassy went right along with the hugging until a tiny voice pierced the din in the room.
“Tata! Tata Tata Tata!”
Drawing away from Sassy, Tommy grinned as the crowd parted to let him reach Zee, crouched behind the owner of the voice standing on shaky little legs as her mother held her hands to support her.
“Did you see that?” he beamed, scooping her off her feet and kissing her cheek. “Did you see Daddy?”
“Tata! Tata ki co!”
Cuddling her close, Tommy leaned over to kiss Ziyah as the crowd went in to inspect the cell, holding her as tightly as he did his daughter.
“Oh God…Tommy, your hand!”
“Smashed it on a handcuff, it’s fine.” He soothed, burying his face against her neck for a moment. “You were awesome.”
“Tata!”
“So were you, baby.” He laughed, bouncing May lightly in his arms.
“HA! You planted a key, I knew it!”
Rolling his eyes with a grin, Tommy kissed Zee one more time, deepening it with a heated promise of things to come before he returned May to her and walked back over to his cell, where his father stood holding the castoff cuffs with the key still in the lock.
“Zee actually passed it to me.” He corrected with a smile.
Gregory shook his head, beaming as he moved to embrace Tommy warmly. “My boy, the King of Handcuffs. The King!...”
Hugging his father fiercely, Tommy unashamedly pressed a kiss to the older man’s cheek and whispered in his ear.
“Happy Father’s Day, Pop. Never could’ve gotten here without ya.”
He heard Gregory’s breath hitch before he returned the kiss and let him go, elbowing a nearby spectator to point out ‘my son, Houdini’s heir.’
“Hey!” Tommy finally barked, commanding the room’s attention. “Y’all are welcome to check this out and see what I did, we got footage and I’ll answer any questions, but before I do? I wanna dedicate this show today to all the dads here and around the world! That includes Houdini’s father, Mayer Samuel Weiss, Houdini himself, the father of modern escapology…and my own pops, Greg Karras! Without him, I’d be nothin’. Not a damn thing. Let’s hear it for all of ‘em!”
The crowd erupted again as Zee drew near, with May in her arms. This time, however, the tiny fist attached to his daughter’s arm was clutching a greeting card she was waving eagerly.
“Po’ Tata! Heew.”
Tommy’s throat closed as he accepted the Father’s Day card, scrawled with his name in Zee’s handwriting. Sharing a look with her, he drew a shaky breath and embraced his family one more time.
It was a close call…but he did it. And he’d do it again.
For Carbone, and for them, nothing on earth could hold him prisoner.