"Where is he?" asked Cherry Bomb
Valentine dressed all in black with only the slight shadow of her cleavage
showing.
"In his car, I assume," whispered Jacqueline Bloom also dressed in black, which is usual for a Gun Bearer.
Cherry and Jacquie sat next to each
other in the front row. The sky was a bright blue with only a few puffs of
white cloud hanging high. A slight breeze kicked up. Black cars covered the
cemetery road. People dressed in black, some Gun Bearers, and some strippers, all
walked toward Jacquie, Cherry, and the casket of Katherine "Kitten Kaboodle"
Jameson.
"Why is he..." started Cherry.
"He won't come out until the funeral is
about to start. He won't want to talk to the other Gun Bearers. He probably
won't even want to talk to me."
"Simon Refing won't want to talk to you?
You two were partners, and more importantly you two are friends. Don't get all
depressed on me Jacquie, now is not the time," said Cherry putting her hand on
Jacquie's leg.
Jacquie looked at Cherry's hand on his
leg, "A funeral isn't the time to be depressed? When is a good time to be
depressed?"
Cherry took a second to think, "After
sex is the only legitimate time to be depressed."
"Why is that?" asked Jacquie.
"It's the only time you can be sad if it
was good and if it was bad."
"True, I guess," said Jacquie looking
forward but still talking to Cherry.
"It was Simon who found her," said
Cherry also looking forward.
"Yeah, I know. Fucking gut wrenching.
You hear what he did?"
"You talking about Congressman Vasquez?
I thought that was just a rumor."
"The Syndicate doesn't have rumors,"
said Jacquie with an irritated tone in his voice. "Any information that gets
passed immediately gets filtered for bullshit, it's the real deal. Simon
cleared Vasquez's name. He probably did it because of Kitten, but I don't know.
In any case he's royally fucked now. Here comes Lorenzo," said Jacquie pointing
with a head nod to Lorenzo El Scorcho, a fellow Gun Bearer. Lorenzo ignored Jacquie
and Cherry and sat five rows back. "How come he isn't trying to sniff your
panties anymore?"
"Oh thanks for that awesome visual,
ass!" replied Cherry. "I cut him loose. I don't need a fucking Gun Bearer
watchdog. I'm the head of the strip club I can take care of myself."
"You clear that with Gillingham?" asked
Jacquie.
"He's the one that ordered it. Lorenzo's
off my ass. I'm on my own. If I can't hack it then I'll get knocked off, or
raped, or both. I'll be fine."
Jacquie tried to conceal his concern but
nothing he did could escape Cherry.
"Here comes Jason Madinger with three of
your top money makers," said Jacquie looking behind him. A barely twenty-one
year old kid came up the hill wearing the same kind of suit as Jacquie but with
noticeable alterations. His black belt was studded, his pants sagged low, his
shirt was un-tucked, and his hair was cut in five different lengths around his
head. Trailing Jason were three of the Damsel's girls wearing tight fitting low
cut black dresses in honor of Kitten Kaboodle.
After Jason Madinger arrived Long Barrel
Darrel showed up and sat on the other side of Jacquie. Lee Fook the Lotus Wolf
arrived quietly but caused a great deal of whisper. Most of the Gun Bearers in
attendance had never met Fook and only some had ever seen him. Jacquie wondered
why he was there.
The priest arrived and took his place at
the head of the casket. As he parted the Bible to begin the ceremony Simon
appeared out of the corner of Jacquie's eye. For a brief second Jacquie thought
Simon was headed toward the front and he tried to whisper for LBD to move down,
but Simon suddenly stopped. He ended up sitting next to Lee Fook. The two men
exchanged glances but said not a word to each other. The people that noticed
this bizarre encounter began whispering to the people who did not catch it.
The whisper was so loud that when the
priest was ready to begin he started with, "Please remain silent in memory of
Katherine."
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