The Big Fix

TOMMY

Jake awoke him at seven. Jake was dressed in a woolen cap, sweat shirt, old pants, a windbreaker, and heavy shoes. He was half asleep himself, Arno having forced him out of bed a few minutes before. It was almost with a feeling of revenge that he shook Tommy, asked, “What you say, Pops, going to hit the road? Or are you too sleepy?”

“Never too sleepy to strengthen my legs,” Tommy said, in a daze, not wanting to show how tired he really felt.

They walked over to the park, then jogged and ran three miles, stopping now and then to shadow-box. It was the first time in a week Tommy had seen Jake on the road and when they stopped to spar for a second, both of them sweating freely, he asked, “Arno have a fight set for you?”

“Who knows? I always keep in shape.”

“Did you tell me you used to fight in New York, that you'd worked out with Basilio and Jordan at the old Still-man's gym?”

“I never told you nothing, Pops,” Jake said coldly. “Let's run.

Tommy said sure and shut up. They were the only pugs out but he could remember when one would see a dozen or more boxers, all guys he knew, running in the park any morning. Or the “old days” when Tommy might take a few close pals up to a training camp, how excited they'd be to hit the road with him, and puffed out after the first quarter of a mile. Tommy even paid their way, had them take off from their jobs. When he once mentioned this to Alvin while gassing over a beer, Hammer had told him, “I'll never understand you pugs; you make a hard dollar but you're always carrying around an entourage of freeloaders, throwing away your money. Why did you do it?”

“You see, it gets lonely in a training camp,” Tommy had tried to explain. “Bobby was much older than me, and my trainer was always telling me what John L. Sullivan had told him. I needed some guys my own age around... talk to, make jokes. No, that wasn't money thrown away.”

Back in the hotel, after they showered, Arno joined them for breakfast, face carefully shaved and powdered, his nose no longer looking like a road-map. He told Tommy, “Guess you came in after I did last night.”

“Running a bed-check on me?”

Arno smiled, his lips almost feminine against the aftershave powder on his face. “I should say not. You know far more about conditioning than I ever will. Any time you feel the need for relaxation, go ahead. If you want a woman, let me know. I'll fix you up.”

Tommy rubbed the wedding ring on his finger. “I have a wife. I saw her last night.”

Jake actually leered as he asked, “Why didn't you tell me? You must have been real pooped this morning.”

“Nothing to tell. I'm feeling fine. Plan to start working out at the big gym today, try to get myself a fight.”

Arno nodded as he spread mint jam on a well buttered piece of toast, then sprinkled dried ginger over it. Watching the ginger sink into the jam, he said, “Tommy, just keep in mind there's no rash. I want you to be ready. By the by, in case anybody around the gym asks, remember, I'm not your manager. Since the fight mob hangs out there, best to also keep my being your... uh... patron quiet. Understand?”

“Sure.”

“Until fake is established we have to keep our deal top secret. Don't even tell your wife. Did you tell her?”

“No. I'm not much of a talker,” Tommy said, ordering more eggs. “May, that's the wife, doesn't ask about boxing. She don't exactly like the game. We been apart for the last couple years. You know how it is.” He turned to Jake. “You married?”

“Me?” Jake grunted with astonishment. “Naw.”

Tommy said, “A leatherpusher shouldn't get hitched until he's done with the ring. Do you have a family, Arno?”

“Not that I recognize. Guess I've knocked up my share of gals. I was married twice. Didn't work out; I was too busy making money. There's too many pretty things floating around for a man to settle down with one of them.”

“May is all the woman I want,” Tommy said, remembering again the heat of her kiss last night, and then the money he had to raise for Shorty. Watching Arno eating, his dainty enjoyment of the food, the fat face above the expensive clothes, Tommy was tempted to ask for a loan of five hundred and forty dollars. But he thought, Might sour Arno on me. I'd seem like a pig. Be different if I'd had a few fights for him, had paid him back a little of what he's laid out.

After breakfast Tommy bought a paper and went to his room to rest and listen to the radio. Arno slipped in and held up a bottle of Irish whiskey. “Thought you'd appreciate this, Tommy. I lucked up on it last night. Ten years old and a hundred proof. Be wasted on a kid like Jake. Figured you might want to take a taste now and then, to relax.”

Tommy thanked him and when Arno left Tommy told himself, “Guy is so good to me I can't ask him for a big bite like five hundred and forty dollars. Use a sip of this now.” He opened the bottle, took a whiff of the rich aroma and stopped the bottle half way to his lips, remembering what Walt had said about being poisoned. Then he said, “Damn, those clowns are spoiling everything for me—even a shot.” He took a small sip of the smoky-tasting liquid, then a good belt and put the bottle away in his dresser.

The whiskey relaxed him and he stretched out on the bed, thought, The hell with worrying about Arno, more important I get something working on raising Shorty's dough, get May done with the numbers guys.

A horse called Give Me A Break was running in the third race at seven to one. Being strictly a hunch player, Tommy made a note of that. He wished he had asked May what was the number that hung her up. With my Irish luck, it might save us. Little chance of the same number coming out twice in a week, but never tell. Put three bucks on it and we'll have dough to spare. Wonder if there's a phone where she is? But maybe I shouldn't bother her, or those people. Certainly nice the way they agreed to take May in. She'll have it good there, being around kids. And it would upset May if I mentioned the numbers. First time I hit a decent payday, I'll buy a flock of toys for those kids. I...

On the hotel radio an announcer said, “Today is your last chance to enter our big soup contest. Nothing to buy, no jingles to write. Merely send your name and address on the back of a postal card to the Betsy Soup Company, care of this station. All entries must be postmarked by midnight. Remember, first prize is one thousand dollars, with five second prizes of a new home freezer, and hundreds of other prizes. Hurry and send your entry in, you may be the lucky winner.”

Tommy made a note of that, figured even if he won a freezer it could be sold for a few hundred. Then he dozed off. He awoke before noon and headed for the gym. At the desk he bought a card and mailed it to the soup company. Stopping at the Between Rounds, he put five bucks on the horse, to win, and as an afterthought, a dollar on 559. They owed Shorty five hundred and forty dollars and yesterday was the nineteenth day of the month. He felt relieved, now that he had a “few things going” for himself. With the luck of the Irish, he thought, I might be able to pay off this Shorty by the end of the week, or by tonight. I wonder how soon they'll announce the winners in the radio thing?

The gym owner, a loud-mouthed elderly man with a head as bald as an egg, greeted Tommy with, “I never was so surprised in my life as when I got your letter paying up your rent here. I never knew you could write.”

This was greeted with much laughter by the managers, hangers-on, and the few spectators—at seventy-five cents a head. Gym humor usually ran to some clever fellow spitting buckshot around, hot foots, or rubbing somebody down with itching powder. One of the most hysterical moments in gym history had been when a fellow wired the door handle of the phone booth until it was red hot, and then the gym owner had shouted that a certain trainer was wanted on the phone. Even the trainer had laughed while his burnt hand was being bandaged.

But now the laughter sounded lonely in the gym, for there were only a comparative few fans and pugs around. Not like the old days when fifty pugs might be working out before hundreds of fans.

Everybody had heard of Tommy's rich manager, and a blind ex-pug peddling magazines tried to touch Tommy for a buck. Somebody else wanted to sell Tommy a “hot” ring. Tommy said it was all a lot of warmed-over air, he was still his own manager, that he had merely hit an old buddy for a hundred buck loan. But it was fine to be even a mild center of attraction—again. He put his things away in the old wooden locker and undressed. While he was working out on the bags, Alvin Hammer came in and stage-whispered out of the side of his mouth, “You learn anything, old cock?”

“Nothing. Remember, keep mum about my new manager.”

“Of course. I've been trying to contact Walt Steiner all morning, see what he's found out. Be careful, Tommy.”

“Don't worry about me,” Tommy said, humoring the announcer.

Hitting the heavy bag seemed to give him a second wind and he decided to go a few rounds. He went downstairs and sat on the long bench behind the three training rings, kidding with the other pugs. He agreed to spar two rounds with a muscular Puerto Rican lightheavy. Tommy climbed into one of the other rings and shadow-boxed a while, dancing about with five other fighters—each involved in a little ballet of his own, a snorting, macabre dance of shuffling feet on canvas.

The Puerto Rican, who was the current “sensation” of the ring world and managed by one of the “in” boys (whom the fighter had never actually seen—he only knew his manager of record who was fronting for the gangster) was training for a main event in Boston. He was sparring six rounds. Tommy went in for the middle two. The lightheavy was all tan muscles, slow and awkward, although a dangerous puncher. With a head guard and heavy gloves on, Tommy felt he could take chances. “Hell,” he told himself, waiting for the bell, “this boy has only had ten bouts. The way they rush kids these days. I had twenty-seven pro bouts under my belt before I was in a semi-final. And how about the times I used to pay guys five or ten bucks a round to work out with me? Those were the days when...”

At the bell, as he turned to face the other pug, Tommy saw Bobby Becker enter the gym. Tommy was still feeling high, with the energy of his second wind and the memory of licking Big Burt last night. And he was only going two rounds—so he gave them everything. He danced around his bigger opponent, ducking and bobbing, even dropped his hands to his sides for a moment and slipped punch after punch of the lightheavy. Then Tommy's fast left began to jab and hook, and he put different combinations of rights and lefts together with expert ease.

They were mostly light blows, all for show. The Puerto Rican bulled Tommy to the ropes where Irish didn't try to tie up his far stronger opponent, merely covered up with his hands. Then he slipped his right around the other's waist, as if clinching... and deftly spun the heavier boxer around and clipped him on the jaw with a smart left hook at the bell.

Tommy walked around the ring slowly, knowing he was breathing too hard. The Puerto Rican's handler, while rubbing vaseline on the fighter's face, snarled, “Whatcha doing, Cork, playing it cute?”

The fighter said in broken English, “Be quiet. The little one's speed is good for me,” and playfully jabbed Tommy on the behind.

Tommy waved at Bobby and glancing at the Negro and Puerto Rican pugs waiting to spar, he thought, with some satisfaction, I'm the last of the Irish pugs around. That's good, means all the Irish luck will be for me.

In the second round Tommy began picking off punches in mid-air, countering time and again with his right. He was starting to tire and a stomach poke shook him up slightly. For a few seconds he took it easy and at the bell he caught his younger and heavier opponent with a solid right to the jaw, neatly crossing it over the other's clumsy left jab. They touched gloves and Tommy wished him luck in his fight, jumped out of the ring. He held out his hands and Bobby Becker untied the heavy gloves. Tommy put a towel around his shoulders and walked about, swinging his arms, throwing punches in the air, as he cooled off. Becker told him, “You looked like your old self in there. You tired?”

“Naw, I could have gone another six rounds with him. He's slow.”

“What's this I hear about you got a manager, suddenly?”

“You heard tutti-frutti air. I got a rich sucker giving me eating money. You going to be around, Bobby? I want to make some talk with you after I shower.”

Bobby adjusted the glasses on his big nose. “I'll be around. And the answer is no. I ain't got any fights for you.”

“I'm rested up, you saw me in there. Listen, if I'm anything like my old self you know I can take any guys my weight boxing today. How about another cellar four-rounder? Give me a chance to make it up to the fans for the way I stunk up the joint the last time.”

“G'wan, take your shower, you stink of sweat now,” Bobby said, but it wasn't a growl and Tommy felt he might get something.

A half hour later when he walked out of the locker room, Becker was having a thick salami sandwich and coffee at the lunch counter, listening to the counterman saying it wasn't worth his while to stay open any longer. Becker said, “The whole racket is just one prolonged funeral today. Dying slowly...” He stopped on seeing Tommy, removed his fancy glasses to get a better look. “You look sharp, Irish. You certainly fell into something. Who is this mark?”

“Forget him. I'll let you buy me some orange juice,” Tommy said, combing his thin red hair. Shaking the water off the comb, he asked, “How about a fight, Bobby?”

“Well... Okay, I should have my head examined. You got the stand-by fight next week.” Becker pulled a contract from his pocket. “Sign. Usual—twenty-five if you don't go on, sixty bucks if you do. And look, don't sell no blood or get stinko on me.”

Tommy took a pen from Becker's breast pocket, signed the contract. “You'll see, I'm on my way back to the top.”

“All I can see is I'm nuts.”

“Bobby, I'm rested. I been eating fine, put on two pounds. Why last night I flattened a heavyweight.”

“Wasn't any bouts on last night.”

Tommy told him about May and Big Burt and Bobby's fat face went pale. Tommy finished, ”... so I put the fear of God smack into him. He'll leave May alone. You should of seen how I pasted...”

“You fool, you put your foot in it!” Becker said in a hoarse whisper. “Now this Big... guy... has to settle with you or May!”

“It'll be a lot of hours before he'll have to do anything. You don't understand, I scared him off us.”

“Oh, you dope! You beat him up in a public place, before plenty of people. If you'd done it in an alley, he could forget about it. Now it's all over the market!”

“That's what I wanted—everybody to know I'd squared the bet. After I tell him things are okay, then I couldn't let him call May names and...”

“Tommy, you got a head thick as the Blarney Stone!” Bobby said, throwing his sandwich into a trash can. “Already, you've rained my appetite. You'd better get May out of town, way out. And you go too!”

“But all I did was get this cruel clown off her back?”

“Tommy, Tommy, you know why cops go all out when another cop is beaten up, or killed? It isn't that they give a damn so much about the particular cop—they can't risk the prestige of the whole force. They can't let anyone get the idea it's okay to take a poke at a cop. With the numbers syndicate it's the same. The reason this Big...”

“Burt.”

“... Big Burt had to whip May was to stop anybody else from thinking they could hold out on the syndicate—to reassure the players the mob don't stand for no crap. It's the same reason they're always careful to pay off promptly: it's the life blood of their business. They got to keep the customers in awe of the syndicate. Okay, so now you've slopped up one of their runners, or bankers, or whatever this Big Burt is. If nothing is done about it, other people will get the idea the syndicate isn't strong, ain't much. A guy that doubts ain't going to play with them. Listen, I know these racket punks. I was... I know!”

“You saying the big-shot goons are out to get me?”

“They have to get somebody. They may not know where to find you, but they'll kill or cripple May. Tommy, listen to me carefully: if I know anything about punks, this Big Burt will be too proud to make it a syndicate matter—yet. He'll try to make a showing for his bosses by settling things himself, first. So what you've done by shellacking him is to put him square on May's back!”

“I only meant to... What can I do now?”

“Get May out of the market district fast. Then you have to even yourself with this joker. Maybe stand still for a beating.”

“They say he's a knife joker, Bobby. I can't stand still for a slicing job.”

“You and May should get out of town fast! Once it becomes a gang matter, they'll know where to find you. I'll lend you trainfare to... where?”

“I can't do that either now.”

Becker took out the contract. “Ill tear this up and...”

“Leave it lay,” Tommy said, slapping Becker's fat shoulder. Walking toward the stairs and the street, Tommy called back, “If I'm dead or cut up by next week, you can always get another boy around here.”

It was the middle of the afternoon as he headed for the markets. Tommy thought, Damn, just when I finally get a break in the ring, something like this has to come up. Bobby was right, I lost my head last night. Like letting a fighter drive you crazy by making cracks about your mother... and you leave yourself open as you come slugging in. I could have let Burt run his fat mouth, in one ear and out... Okay, I didn't. That's over, now I got to make my play and make it fast. God, let my luck still go for me.

Nearing the market district, Tommy walked carefully—he didn't want to meet Big Burt now. He wondered if it would be safe to go to the bar on West Street, or would... “Hey, Cork.”

Tommy jumped as he spun around to see Butch Morris coming out of a wholesale butcher shop, lugging a large cane basket covered with brown paper. Butch crossed the street and held out a thick hand. “Had you pegged wrong, Mr. Cork. I heard what you did last night. I hope it don't start no killings around here, but at least you acted like a ruddy man!”

Tommy shook his head. “I hope not like a dead man. Tell me, have you heard anything about what Big Burt plans to do?”

“I hear after the ambulance doc fixed him up, he yelled he was going to kill you—or May. Of course that could be so much belch-talk. I don't know how the big numbers boys take to all this. I imagine they don't want too much publicity and trouble. Killing is both.”

“Right now I have to worry about Burt, not the big boys. Burt around now?”

“You crazy-brave? You looking for trouble?”

“I don't want to see him. Fact is, I want to know when he generally comes around, so I can avoid him.”

“The markets don't start coming alive 'til night. You won't see Burt about until maybe eight o'clock.”

“Thanks,” Tommy started walking on.

“What you going to do? He's a shiv man.”

“I don't know what I'm going to do, but I got to do it,” Tommy called back.

He trembled a little as he walked into the West Street bar. The place was empty, chairs even stacked on top of tables, except for an old man in a dirty shirt busy washing glasses behind the bar. Tommy asked, “Big Burt around?”

“Nope, far too early for likes of him. He's probably still in the sack. Or at the doc's. You hear what happened to him?” Noticing Tommy's face the old man's shrill voice sank. Then he asked, “You the one?”

“Aha. You going to see Burt today, for sure? Or can you get a message to him?”

“Yes sir.”

“You tell Burt I'll be here at eight tonight. I hear he's still full of fight, still running his blubber lips. Just tell Burt if he wants to talk to me, I'll be here at eight. But I'm busy, so I'll only wait a few minutes for him. And gimme a fast gin. Take one yourself.” Tommy threw a half a buck on the bar.

As he glanced around for a phone, he could feel the cold sweat racing down his sides. Then he thought, No, be silly to phone from here. Well, I've thrown the damn dice, see what my luck turns up when they hit the wall.