"Relax, hah?" Augie examined a chunk of snot on his pinky.

"I ain't fuckin' around wit' you, you guinea prick." Malfie lightly touched his high cheekbones. His face was getting red. He took another step toward Augie. "You touch me, I'll tear your heart out."

Augie affected a yawn. He knew he could break Malfie in two, but he was an easygoing guy who enjoyed razzing excitable people. Malfie was crazy and had no sense of humor. "See ya, Malfie." Augie flicked the snot off his finger and strolled away.

"I'll kill that motherfucker." Malfie's eyes were buzzing with rage as he pointed a quivering finger at Stony.

Malfie had Stony pulling wire at a furious pace the rest of the morning. There was no more conversation. Malfie stormed around the pipes muttering incoherently, occasionally barking orders at Stony.

At noon, the electricians returned to the shanty to pick up their lunches. Stony got ready to go to the traffic island with his father and some of the other guys.

"Malfie, you comin'?" he forced a friendly tone.

Malfie ignored him, roughly shouldering his way through a half-dozen electricians loitering around the shanty door. He walked rapidly to a beat-up old pink Cadillac parked by the entrance to the site. A young Puerto Rican girl sat in the passenger seat. Malfie got in on the driver's side, slammed the door and screeched onto the Parkway.

"That's the last we'll see a him today," Artie La Russo bitched, watching the Cadillac disappear. "That fucker bastard pulls that on me one more time I'll have him on unemployment so fast." The electricians knew Artie was talking out of his ass. He was afraid of Malfie and said that every time Malfie took off in the middle of the day.

"That fuckin' kid's ready for the couch," Tommy said.

"Let's eat!" said Augie.

25

"TOMORROW'S it, baby, I put in my time." Stony tore off his greasy T-shirt and unlaced his boots. "I'm a free man."

Tommy hovered over him, ballooning with desperation. "You're really goin' back there?"

"Look, you said two weeks, and two weeks you got." Stony pulled off one boot with a grunt.

"You're really walkin' out on me, huh?"

"Aw, Pop!" Stony tossed the boot under the bed. "Gimme a break, hah? We had a deal." He got to work on the second boot.

"You know. Stones, you really fuckin' disappoint me."

"Well, don't make the feeling mutual."

Tommy lunged at Stony, cracked him across the mouth. Stony flew back on the bed, his hand to his bleeding mouth. Tommy towered over him, his huge hands shaking with rage. When the stinging jolt subsided, Stony felt cool. Twenty-twenty vision. "Thanks a lot, Pop." He licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. "You just made everything a lot easier."

***

"I'm quittin', Chub." Stony had developed the habit in the last few hours of gingerly touching the bloody crust on his mouth. "I just don't wanna do it."