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This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop

Hosted by Denise

Tom and I are writing a Serial Six Sentence Story: ‘…of Heroes and the MisUnderstood‘. (If you’re just starting, this link will provide the whole story.)

(when last we saw Lou Caesare… here)

Prompt word:

SLIDE

“Lou?” The slightest hint of muzak filled the interrogatory void like the nectar of a Venus flytrap, barely masking the clittering of manicured nails dancing over a keyboard somewhere in a highrise office building overlooking Lake Michigan;

“Anya,” a softening of his characteristic growl was Lou’s concession to Diane Tierney who sat across the booth from him, her role shifting from executive to auditor.

“How darling, you’re calling me on a landline,” the woman’s voice was self-confidence personified, with a delicate lilt of humor that put most callers into a lesser state of alert; opposite the owner of the Bottom of the Sea Strip Club and Lounge, Diane leaned across the table in an effort to hear the far-half of the phone conversation;

“And, I’ll bet my private phone number that it’s one of those black desk-phones, from, like those old movies where everyone wore hats and talked too much,” her laughter would bring a smile to babies and nightmares to toddlers.

“What the fuck are you talking about,” Lou remembered why he so enjoyed the old phones, with their solid, dumbbell-shaped handsets so well-suited to slamming into it’s cradle and achieving a satisfying sense of finality; but the discipline and self-will that allowed him to rise in the underworld was never far away; business always came first and was rarely ever personal.

Diane Tierney felt her phone vibrate, followed by an unfamiliar ringtone, a clip from a song by Dove Cameron; staring down at the screen, the hostess of the Bottom of the Sea banished the frown trying to claim her face and, instead, smiled,

“Anya, I must say, you are as impressive as Ian described, but enough about you, my boss has a…request.”

Across the booth, Lou Caesare receded into a cloud of cigar smoke, letting himself slide into his natural persona, that of an apex predator in a world of plenty.

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