Quagmire: Day 4

Word Count: 24,010

Summary of Events:

Jesse had gotten up early and had just finished playing one of his morning rounds of cards when his mother screaming at a nightmare woke everyone up and Jesse actually had to fire a shot out the window with his pistol to get her to wake up. Jesse then went and turned in his article for the evening edition of the Tribune before going to meet with the gangster again . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Gathering his lips, Jesse shifted his jaw. The gangster had approached him from the south, so it would probably be best to wait around at the corner where the gangster had taken him anyways.

Making his way there, Jesse found the gangster waiting for him.

"Ah, Mooner, you're here," he said, startling. "How are things going?"

"Good," Jesse replied.

"Did you get the shipment?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did," Jesse lied.

"So what did they have to say?" he asked.

"Not much," Jesse lied. "Mostly just that it was a pleasure doing business with us."

"Nothing about when they'll come around again?" he asked.

"No," Jesse replied. "They didn't."

"You're supposed to ask," he said.

"Oh," Jesse said. "I'm sorry."

"You know for next time kid," he said, reaching into his coat. "For now, here's your share of the profit."

He drew out another bottle and a wad of cash.

"This is mine?" Jesse asked.

"To keep and use however you need," he replied. "What did you think it was?"

"Well, I wasn't sure, so I didn't do anything with it," Jesse replied.

"Oh," he said, then laughed. "I guess I didn't tell you what it was for because I was running late."

Jesse nodded.

"Well you know now, so use it and enjoy it," he said. "Same time next week kid?"

Jesse nodded.
"Aright, I'll see you then kid," he said.

Jesse stayed where he was and watched the gangster hobble away. Once the gangster was gone Jesse looked down at the money and the bottle in his hands.

So this was someone else's share of the profits, but he was getting it because of the mistake.

Pocketing the bills, and the bottle, Jesse started homeward again. He didn't think it would be a good idea to use too much of the money, and he wasn't sure about whether or not he should drink the liquor — more out of fear of getting caught by Ma or Rose than anything else.

Jesse didn't think he'd be able to pull off this charade for terribly long, too; being as apparently the person he was mistaken for was supposed to be in charge of something rather important, and, eventually, his lies were going to be found out for what they were.

Besides, he wasn't sure about what he could make up and get away with; if he just threw dates around then the gangsters would go to places not necessarily at the right time and then get mad at him for throwing around false dates.

Now, as he was thinking about it, Jesse felt like keeping up the charade actually wasn't the smartest of moves; however, being as he'd done it, he really had no other choice than to continue on with it."