Mom and Dad, I hear someone in the house says Wracks

It is your Godfather says mom, ask him what he wants.

It is late at night, probably after 12 and the moon is gone for another month Wracks exits the hall, enters the family room, and turns on the light. 

Hello Wracks says the Godfather, how are you tonight

I am fine says the Godfather who dresses in dark clothes and black shined loafers.

I have some business on this side of town says the Godfather.

What kind of business is in the dark after 12 AM says the Wracks?

I have to meet someone says the Godfather.  Just business.  Your grandmother gave me a key to your front door.   She bought your parents this house.   Anything good in the refrigerator so I can make myself a meal.

Yes, says Wracks.   There is some chicken and a baked potato you can have.

Thanks, says the Godfather.   There is something I want you to do.

What is that asks Wracks?

I want you to get married have a career and start a family.  There is no such thing as easy money.   Easy money has strings attached.   Do you understand?

Kapiche says the Wracks

The Godfather smiles sits down and begin to enjoy his meal. 

Don’t do anything your heart tells you is wrong.   Don’t get eyes bigger than your stomach

I won’t says Wracks

You go back to bed.   I have to leave soon and will close up the house.  I hope to see you again.

The Wracks can’t remember if the Godfather came back at night and if he did, he didn’t wake up the house.   His father would get home at 11 PM at night from his second job, smoke a cigarette, and then go to sleep.  Time moves on and Wracks grows up Grandmother moves in and takes his room and he moves in with his brother and gets into fights. 

At his confirmation at the Catholic church where Wracks becomes a soldier of Christ and takes an affirmation of solidarity until death, he saw the Godfather again.   He was sitting in the back of the church with his wife.  He wore a dark worsted suit with a white carnation in the left lapel.  After kneeling in front of the bishop at the altar and kissing his ring, Wracks saw him and he smiled and waved at the Wracks.   His mission was completed; he saw Wracks safely into adulthood.   Soon he would die of a heart attack with his friend in an orchard. A glass of wine, Wracks thought, a glass of wine.

Remember, keep your enemies far away and hold your friends close says the Godfather.

Later on in life, Wracks saw funny movies that got academy awards for best picture and best actor based on his Godfather. They depict him as a violent man cast into a corrupt world, but he has a religious background.  The Godfather was not a big, dark-haired, swarthy gangster with dark skin, rather he is medium height, built like a European with brown hair and freckles. 

The Godfather the Wracks knew was a decent man and a man that taught him the facts of life and the difference between right and wrong.   He was a man who would employ people, convicts, and others that society relegates to the trash can.   He was a man who built an empire and united the families as one.  To all the sacrosanct, holier-than-thou hypocrites and haters that decry anyone who will not make them money, let this serve as an example.   Life is not black or white, it comes in shades of grey.  As lady justice says to Wracks, the balance favors the side of the righteous. 

Wracks is older now and looks back.    The stars are the same but change position in the sky.   Orion the hunter presides over the winter schema in the heavens and gives the Wracks something to look forward to every starry night.  In the central valley in Northern California the nights are cold in the winter but most of the time the atmosphere is clear.   He did not get a chance to teach his children what the Godfather taught him because his wife wouldn’t let him.  Let it be written that the only one in the world who would teach Wracks religion and belief in God was the prince of thieves.  

.

The Wracks has his own bedroom now because he doesn’t get along with his brother the Fonz.  The Fonz periodically hauls off and punches him.   Now he has his own bedroom with an oak framed bed with cotton sheets and a big picture window looking out into the garden.  Late at night the Wracks falls asleep in his bed a long time ago, under the light of the moon, in the little big town of tranquil hills.  Sleep overtakes Wracks and then he awakes to see a face illuminated by a flashlight at the foot of his bed. 

Hello, I am your Godfather Corleone.  I held you in my arms when you were baptized at Saint Monica’s church.  How are you tonight, Wracks.

I am fine says Wracks, what are you doing this late at night.  

I had some business in the neighborhood tonight and I thought I would stop by and say hi.

Your father and mother are asleep and they know I come by from time to time.

I just want to talk to you and tell you a little bit about my life.  

The first thing I want to tell you is there is no such thing as easy money.   All easy money has strings and a person gets entangled in the strings.  Kapiche?

“Kapiche” says the Wracks.

The second thing I want to tell you is to never hit a woman no matter what they do.   They are crazy and hysterical.   

I won’t say Wracks.

The third thing I want to tell you is if anyone shows you a gun, they are planning to shoot you with it and to have nothing to do with them.  “Kapiche”.

“Kapiche” says the Wracks.

Go to church and thank God for every day he gives you here.      I have to get going.   I have some business in town I have to attend to.   Go back to sleep and don’t tell any of your friends what I told you tonight.  He then got out of his chair at the foot of the bed and silently and efficiently left the room until the latch on the door made a subtle click.

This was all I saw of my Godfather because he was a busy man and setting up shop in Las Vegas.  It wasn’t till much later when I was mature and older did, I realize what he really did for a living and what the word “Kapiche” really means.   The Wracks remember the Godfather who came to his first communion at Corpus Christi Church wearing a grey pinstripe suit, a black tie, a white carnation in the lapel of his suit, and hand-brushed black leather slip-on shoes.   He shook the Wracks hand and with the other put a twenty-dollar bill in his front shirt pocket. 

Wracks, wear a red carnation in your lapel while your mother is alive and a white one once she passes away.   Hold your friends close and keep the others as far away as possible, and then he left.

Tranquil Hills is a quiet place with everything going on behind closed doors. In the twentieth century every rich family in the United States owned a house or condominium there and no one ever knew.  The Wracks family was probably the poorest family in Tranquil Hills.   Time passed, and the affluent speculated the real estate until house prices hit one million per suburban residence.   The Wracks can’t afford to live there now and he moved on.   The place remains covered in non-olfactory money in the quietness of strife and desolation.  The best wave on the planet when it is big is fifteen minutes away and the second-best wave in the world in the winter is two hours away by car.  The air is clean, washed by the sea mist and spume and an air conditioner is not needed because the area does not get over ninety degrees in a hot spell.  Beautiful weather, scenic panorama, and access to the best life and sport the world has to offer all in a quaint, non-descript Mediterranean package.   All of this in one place almost like it would be in heaven, or is it so.  

The godfather died of a heart attack after drinking a glass of wine with his closest friend in retirement and the world with Wracks could not be touched until he died.   Then the shit hit the fan and that is another story. 

You are a big boy now Wracks says, Father.   Your mother and I are going out tonight to an official dinner party.  We will be back before twelve o’clock.  We have acquired a babysitter for you and your brother.  By the way where is your brother Fonz?  He is in his room playing with his toys says Wracks and he doesn’t want to be disturbed.   The doorbell rings and Father opens the large hardwood door meant to stop pistol rounds from entering. 

Hello Jimi says dad how are you doing.  

Just fine says Jimi, I am between gigs and I need the money.  When will you be getting back, he asks.

Around twelve o’clock midnight no later says, Father.   This is Wracks my youngest son.   Be sure the Fonz is safe in bed because he likes to escape through the bedroom window.  Wracks can watch television in the family room until nine o’clock then he must go to bed. 

I will watch over him says Jimi.   Can I bring my ax into the house and practice?    Yes, you can says Father, just don’t play to loud the neighbors are very sensitive.  See you soon.

Father and mother exit the house through the back and drive away in a red Ford Granada his employer bought to bring Father Wracker to work.  The Wracks waves goodbye.

What do you watch on television asks Jimi?

Cartoons and kid stuff says Wracks.   I just sit in my grandfather’s green chair, watch and fall asleep.

Do you have any food says Jimi. I am famished.  You don’t get much chance to eat on the road. 

We have bologna and American cheese on white bread says Wracks.  That is what my mother makes me when I go to school.  You can have some too.   It is in the refrigerator in the meat drawer.  Jimi goes and makes himself a sandwich and sits down on the sofa in front of the refrigerator and watches television with Wracks as he eats his meal and has a glass of milk.

Jimi is African American and slightly less than six feet tall and on the slender side.   He wears a tie-died shirt and jeans and leather shoes.   His hair is straight unlike what he has in public.   He either perms it or wears a wig. 

Jimi says, do you have an old belt I could have, my guitar strap broke in the war and I need a new one because I have a gig at the whiskey tomorrow night with my band.

I will get one says Wracks, my father has a lot.   What size do you need?   The bigger the better says Jimi, it has to go around my neck.   Wracks scurries to his father’s room and selects one from the rack in the closet next to the dresser.   It is a tan belt about one inch in width and about forty inches long.

Is this good asks Wracks?

Let me see if it will fit says Jimi.    Let me get my guitar.    He then widens the holes on the belt with a key and slips it over the peg in front and uses the buckle in back to attach to the stud on the back of the guitar.  It works he says.   Thank you very much.

How come you play the guitar upside down asks Wracks

When I was starting out, I couldn’t afford a left-handed guitar so I got used to playing with a right-handed guitar.  He begins to play and the Wracks watches TV

I can hardly hear you play says Wracks.   How can you hear

Most people don’t like the sounds I make so I practice unamplified, says Jimi.   When I am at work, I plug in.  

Will you teach me how to play guitar asks the Wracks?

Its easy, says Jimi.  Just stay on the bars because flat notes sound funny when played loud.   On two strings play a riff, then move five up.   Use distortion to enhance your vibes.   Everyone has their own sound.  Develop you own style.  

I can hardly hear a thing says Wracks. 

When I am at work, I turn it up loud.    That’s enough of a lesson for you, it is time you go to bed.  By the way where is your brother?

He must be hiding, says the Wracks.

“I got to go check on him,” says Jimi.   You wait right here.   He is asleep says Jimi, now it is your turn.

Good night, Jimi, it was nice meeting you.

Thanks for the belt says Jimi.  I have to practice for tomorrow.

Father Wracks head pokes into the bedroom where the Wracks sleeps with the big window and the walls done white on white with a single bed set on a hardwood frame.  

How did you like Jimi?   He is a friend of the family.

He is a nice man and he taught me how to play guitar.

Can we go to the Whiskey and hear him play?

No, you have to be twenty-one years of age to get into the Whiskey.

Don’t get out of hand, says father Wracks.  You have a lot of growing up to do.

Will you have Jimi over again asks Wracks.    He seems very nice.

I don’t know.   He took the job on short notice.  He is a very busy man.

Tell him thank you very much for babysitting says Wracks and good night.

Now today, Wracks is at the end of things and sits in his room with nothing to do.   His child is grown up and another has died of cancer.    With a red Epiphone and a cheap second-hand amp, he replaced the speaker with,  he practices and makes noise and thinks no one will hear.  At the end of things, this is how it happens.  Play a riff on the bars and go up five.     Goodwill to those who endeavor and to all good men.