Dollar Runaways

Chapter 8: Trust

I SPENT THE last half-hour before lunch helping Consetta make a salad, and then carried the bowls and plates into the dining room for her to set next to the serving area. She'd apparently made a chili con carne (Texas Chili) for lunch that day along with fresh jalapeño cornbread. As all of the hands came in for lunch and I was given lots of compliments on my pretty apron by them. I showed Annie my new boots and she 'awed' about them too. I really hated pretending to be younger, since this was all really embarrassing, but we couldn't afford someone to decide I wasn't a little girl.

I heard Gloria eventually say to Hank, "Amber will join up with you this afternoon to help with the fence check. I have a few forms I still need her to fill out before I let her do too much more."

"Sounds great, hope to see you out there!" Hank said to Mom.

I was helping Consetta with dishes again when Gloria came up, "Ashley, Consetta can finish those, your sister, you, and I need to talk about some things."

"Okay," I said, "Sorry," I told Consetta.

"Mija, no worries. And I expect you to go spend some time playing with those pretty dollies this afternoon!"

"Okay," I said with a warm smile.

I followed Gloria out of the kitchen and into her office that was located towards the front of the house. Mom was already sitting down in a chair next to an older gentleman. Gloria pushed up another chair on the other side of my mother. She made sure the door was shut and locked before she returned to her chair across the large desk.

"Roger, thank you for coming." Gloria started, "I need your help with something, and I've managed to convince these ladies to trust you."

He looked questioningly at Mom and I, "What is it I can do for you?"

"Well, honestly we're not sure," Mom started. "I guess let me go ahead and introduce ourselves and tell you everything going on..." Mom chewed on her lower lip, clearly having trouble trusting anyone, "My name is Megan Franchino, I'm thirty-seven, and this is my... Son... Anthony Franchino."

"Your son?!?" He did a double take and looked at me.

Mom nodded, "He'll be eleven in four weeks."

"This sounds like some story..."

"It is sir. I married my husband, Raimondo, fifteen years ago right out of college..." Mom proceeded to talk about the abuse that began about five years ago, "At first it was just a shove now and then, then it moved to slaps, and the last year or so it's been full on punching..." Mom had tears in her eyes and I could tell that this was really hard for her. I reached over and grabbed her hand next to me and held it. "About six months ago he started going after Tony too. In the last couple weeks, I was sure he was going to end up killing me."

"You think it would ramp up like that?" Roger asked.

Mom nodded, "Yes, because of the reason for all of the secrecy. My husband's family is all, well... Family. Mafia."

The light dawned on Roger as he looked back at me and seemed to grasp the situation. "So, you're really worried he'll find you, even all this way?"

"Yes sir," Mom said.

"This is an awful long way away from Columbus..."

"I know, but any closer and I'm sure he'd find us. Even here I'm not sure we're safe."

"Why?"

Mom asked him if he'd heard of the dollar store chain the family owned, and he nodded. "The family owns all of those and uses them as a front for their business. They obviously have a few other fronts too, but that's their main one. Drugs, guns, anything illegal are pretty easy for them to ship around the country as legitimate shipments."