"No read is 100% accurate. Always consider all the possibilities and be open to the chance that you're just flat out wrong."
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Joey was unpacking bags filled with the meat of a chopped up corpse. Chicken breast, chicken thigh, and other body parts were among the items for this delivery. He wiped the sweat from his brow. Things sure deescalated quickly.
"Joey, this is my mother," Angelo introduced.
Joey looked over at this crypt keep...no, this sweet little old lady. "Hello, Mrs. Bellomo."
"Oh, sweetie, please call me Gina." She came over and gave Joey a kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to cook dinner, you two boys just relax."
"Mom, don't trouble yourself," Angelo said.
"What trouble? I insist, won't take long. I'm going to make your favorite chicken parmigiana!" She wore a pleasant smile as she began shuffling around the kitchen.
While she cooked, Joey glanced around the house. It was a typical residence for the area, middle class. He noticed some pictures on the wall and walked over to take a look. Suddenly, he froze.
"...He never smiled in photos, that prick." Angelo spoke.
Joey turned around to see Angelo was standing behind him. "Why is he here?"
Sigh. "Your dad and me came up together."
Gina noticed the photo they were looking at. "Who's that, Dominic?" Her smile became bright. "Such a sweet boy. I haven't seen him in so long. He used to eat with us here all the time. Angelo, invite him here next time you see him huh? Tell him I insisted."
"...Alright, ma." Angelo kept staring at the photo.
'Sweet boy?' Joey had never considered the possibility of the word sweet being used in the same sentence as that man. This is the part where he was supposed to ask more about his dad, but frankly, he wasn't interested. He could go die in a hole somewhere for all he cared.
Angelo took Joey out to the backyard. It was a small area, gated off from adjacent houses with an old picket fence. There was a smell of grass, so plain yet so welcome in a city. Even though he was here for the first time, Joey could still look around and feel that this was a place where memories were made. "You grew up here?" Joey asked.
"Yea...me, my mother..." Angelo looked up at the night sky and saw that as usual, there were no stars in sight. In this city, the sky was so polluted that it completely blocked the earth from the heavens. Still, if you kept your eyes open and stared hard enough, sometimes you could catch a twinkle of something.
"You know when I was growing up, I didn't have much of a father either..." Angelo stated.
...
"Left us when I was a baby. Don't even know what he looks like, never seen a picture or nothin'...Heard from somebody he started a family out west, sellin' cars or something..." He took a deep breath.
"I turned out pretty good though didn't I? Haha." As Angelo went to rub the back of his head, his elbow brushed up against his waist. It accidentally knocked against a black pistol he had tucked into his waistband just under his jacket. It fell on the grass in between them.
...
'Which part of you is pretty good?' Joey thought.
"This is just for paintball. Hahaha..." Angelo picked it up and put it away.
'Who would believe you?'
"...I guess what I was trying to say is...I don't really know how to talk to a kid, give advice, that sort of thing. I ain't never had much of an example to learn from, but...you seem alright to me, better than me and Dom when we were your age anyway."
"Boys, it's ready, come inside!" Gina yelled from the house. Soon, everyone sat down for dinner. It was a delicious, home-cooked meal.
Gina kept asking Joey about his life the entire time. Although there wasn't much of a story, she still listened in rapt attention. Surprisingly to him, Joey didn't find it annoying. He felt that she was sincerely interested and kind. His whole life, he never had any real friends, never met any external family members. Outside of home, it was his first time having a meal in a family atmosphere like this. A rare warmth bloomed in his chest.
After the meal, they bid their goodbyes to Gina, took the ferry, and started their return to the poker club. Currently, they were driving back to Queens.
"Hey kid, it's getting late, I'll take you home. Don't worry about it, just come in tomorrow...I'll double your tips to make up for today." Angelo drove him home, stopping at the front of his house.
"Thanks for the ride." Joey opened the car door.
Angelo leaned over as Joey got out. "Hey...Joey...thanks."
"I'll see you tomorrow."
***
The next day at Angelo's club went as usual. Dealing, playing, dealing, a judo hip throw from Amy, dealing, almost getting drugged, dealing...
"Joey, are you prepared?" Amy asked.
Joey took a step back and looked around for booby traps. "Prepared for what?"
"We're going on poker training camp."
Joey squinted. 'Wtf?'
"Training camp," she repeated.
"I heard you. I just don't understand what you mean. This isn't basketball. We're not a sports team."
"Training camp."
"This is illegal gambling!"
...
"We're going to Splitting Stone casino this weekend. It's upstate, only a few hours drive."
"Don't you have to be 21?"
"No, just 18, for poker and everything else. A decent amount of casinos are like that."
Joey always thought you had to be 21 to go to a casino in the US. At least that was the case in Las Vegas in the movies he watched.
"Isn't it going to be expensive to stay there for the weekend?"
"Not really. Lots of casinos have room deals called poker rates. You can get a cheaper room if you play poker for a minimum number of hours per day. We're going to split a few rooms. You're going. Everyone's going."
'Is she saying I don't have a choice?'
"Make sure you're ready. We need to get you in shape for nationals."
'What nationals? This is illegal gambling damn it!'
Still, Joey imagined it. Bright lights, the sounds of slot machines, and most importantly, new poker challenges. His heart rate started to increase. He already looked forward to this weekend.