Page 34 of Finding Parker

“The fuck,” halfway across the kitchen floor, Paulie stopped and stared at Vincent.

“Dude. Seriously? You think there’s spaceships and shit flying around? Really?” Vincent rolled his eyes and continued to chop the celery.

“I know there is. If you don’t think so, it just shows how fucking stupid you are,” Paulie said as he spit into the trash can.

Paulie hadn’t done anything all morning. He always seemed to find a way to spend all of his time doing nothing, and actually worked harder to make sure he wasn’t doing what was expected of him. Typically, Vincent and I picked up the slack. As frustrating as it was, there wasn’t much I could do or say about it. As I listened to the two of them argue, I continued to cut up the chicken we were going to use in the wild rice soup listed on this evening’s menu.

“Dude, you know if Tony sees that, he’s gonna be pissed. He said to stop that shit,” Vincent hesitated and waited for Paulie to respond.

“Fuck Tony, he’s my pops brother. It’s not like he’s gonna actually do something about me chewing tobacco,” Paulie snapped, “and just so you know, he believes in aliens.”

Paulie paused as he walked toward the sink and turned to face Vincent.

“All I’m saying is if you think that life just stops here on earth, you’re one shallow assed dude. If it can live here, it can live in other places. C’mon, Vinny,” Paulie whined.

“Dude. There’s no oxygen or anything on other planets. And nothing to eat or anything. No food. And there ain’t any fucking gravity either,” Vincent shook his head and began chopping the celery again.

“Victoria? What do you think?” Paulie turned to face me and waited for a response.

I didn’t care for participating in discussions with Paulie and Vincent. There was never a simple conversation between them. It was always an argument, and generally it began with Paulie trying to force his belief down his friend Vincent’s throat. I continued cutting the chicken, and responded without looking up.

“I don’t know that I truly believe one way or another, Paulie. I’m open-minded. I wouldn’t be surprised either way,” I said flatly.

“See? Victoria believes in them,” Paulie shouted, pointing my direction.

“That’s not what she said, dude. Give up. Tony’s gonna be…”

Vincent didn’t finish his sentence when Tony stormed into the kitchen.

“What the fuck are you dip-shits doing? I said the soup had to be done before lunch. How the fuck am I going to serve that shit this afternoon if it isn’t done before fucking lunch?” he stood in the threshold of the door with his hands on his hips.

“Betsie what’s her fuck is coming in here tonight. I told you we had to have this shit ready. How the fuck is she going to review the restaurant if there’s no fuckin’ soup? I fucking told you,” Tony growled.

Clearly, he had a conversation with Paulie earlier and Vincent and I weren’t part of it.

“They were arguing about dumb shit, uncle Tony. I told them we were behind. I told ‘em that chic was coming to review the restaurant. They’ve been dicking off all morning,” Paulie complained.

The hair on the back of my neck rose as Paulie stood in front of Tony and lied about having spoken to Vincent and I. Staring down at the knife I held, I continued to quietly work and wait for this to end. Eventually, Tony would walk out angry, and we’d continue to make progress against the dinner deadline.

“So what’s so fucking important you’d rather be jacking your gob than working, Vicky?” Tony turned and asked.

Desperately, I wanted to explain to Tony what a complete piece of shit his nephew was. I wanted to tell him he spit tobacco in the trash can again. I wanted to convey how Paulie believed in spaceships and thought aliens were going to abduct people on some predetermined day in the month of May next year. Truth be known, Tony probably believed it too. As my jaw tightened, I looked up from my work and glanced around the kitchen.

“Nothing, Tony. Just trying to finish with the chicken,” I smiled.

“Oh really? So, you callin’ Paulie a liar?” Tony asked.

“No sir,” I breathed.

“So you were dicking around all morning instead of working?” he walked through the doorway and into the kitchen as he spoke.

“No sir,” I responded.

“So Paulie’s lying?” he asked.

I pursed my lips and clenched the knife in my hand. Slowly, I drew a breath through my nose and exhaled before I began to speak.

“I…” as I attempted to speak, Tony interrupted me.