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.