Two homicide detectives pursue the bomber of a gang boss's beer joint, but they don't hold out much hope that he'll survive long enough for them to haul him in; by Gary Clifton
There are a few rules, you know. Plant a bomb in a beer joint, you're supposed to wait until the place closes. And if you target the livelihood of a mobbed up guy like Tony David Colbacci, a.k.a. Tony Bone, it's a damned fine idea to get some place far away, soon.
Ten or twelve drunks saw this clown carry the sack into the men's john, plant it beneath the urinal, then run like hell. It went off okay - killed two guys outright. One was taking a leak and the bomb blew his right hand through the roof. Guess what was in it? Homicide sent me - I'm Slattery - and Red Harper out, probably because we were tops on the shit list.
We tried to calm Bone down, like water on a grease fire. Twenty interviews with drunks and screwed up dancers created a "who's got the most God awful tattoo" competition, but bupkis on the ID of the bomber. Bone, hell, he knew who and where the guy was before the fire department left.
This dopey, stoned dancer, Flower, told us she'd been doing the guy who was the Prince of Upper Bessarabia. They had a snit and he blew the joint up. "Seems logical to me." Harper rolled his cigar. Flower told us the jerkoff was staying in her apartment.
So Harper and I kicked the door and the sleazy little rat disappeared in a damned hole in the bathroom ceiling and was gone. "You'd behoove yourself to surrender to us, dipshit," I called after him. "Cuz I know a sucker you ain't gonna much like when he finds you." He should have listened.
Then a black powder bomb took down the mayor of Glen City's gazebo. We knew this Prince clown did it, mostly because Flower said he'd called her and bragged he did it. "How the hell did he find the Mayor of Glen City's gazebo and why didn't he blow up, like, the garage or kitchen?" I asked.
"He was gonna blow up the mayor's house and got the wrong damned town... why bomb that geezo thingy? Beats hell outta me."
Yeah, I tossed off a few. At four a.m., Flower called. I'd foolishly given her my cellular number. "Slattery, he's here in my bed if you want the turd," she whispered. "I jes' come home and found him... but he's dead."
So Harper and I got on over there. The little rat was naked and deader than good manners. What Flower hadn't said was he had an iron pipe hammered two feet up his ass. "Suicide, plain and simple," Harper said.
Labels: criminal stories, funny stories, Gary Clifton, very short stories Posted by Charlie Fish at 8:00 AM
it´s a pity it´s so short! but maybe that´s the beauty of it! they don´t write them like that anymore.
A: It depends! The photo on the top right illustrates a very low stack in the Great Lakes region where annual rain fall is less than 30 inches. Logs are laid on pallets to avoid competitor fungi. In regions with more precipitation and higher humidity levels, logs can be elevated higher to give them more air circulation (Low and High Crib Stack).
A: A wire or rod stretched between two fence posts allows the logs to be A-framed and gives good access to all surfaces for mushroom harvesting. Elevate logs to this configuration after spawn run is complete (Fruiting Stack).
A: Logs that have been stacked in an A-frame can remain in that configuration for the summer and be soaked in cold water in 8-10 week intervals to stimulate another big flush. For laying yards with lots of logs and little space, stack the logs in a crib stack between fruitings. Use the low stack for winter storage as well, especially in areas that receive substantial snowfall.
A: Logs that have completed one season of spawn run can be soaked to encourage a big flush at the end of the summer if spawn run is complete. A good indicator is if the logs are starting to fruit on their own. You can start soaking in the spring (Wide Range strains only) after the daytime temperatures have been at least in the 70's for three weeks.
A: Not typically, as the wood is at the ideal moisture content when cut. If you desire to soak the logs, do it a day or two before inoculation. A 24 hour soak is sufficient.
A: Like colonized smaller diameter mushroom logs, totems are best wintered outdoors in a protected location. Cold and windy locations warrant knocking the totems to ground level.