Scotch And Smoke

Downtown - Boston, Massachusetts

Attorney Roscoe Enos was leaning back in his office chair with his feet on his desk. A fat cigar burned in a chunky brown glass ashtray, and a sweating glass of cheap blended scotch sat next to it. If he were in a bar, there would also be a cold beer to round the trio out, but Roscoe abstained because he was at work.

It was starting to get dark outside.

Roscoe watched a TV reporter doing a live shot from the gate at Fort Devens, where Roscoe's only client, Dennis Mendocino, is held.

The reporter, a woman whose pro-nouns were listed on the screen as she and her, is a perfect blend of races to the point that you could not tell what race she is.  

This made her a natural candidate for television work, and Roscoe thought if she was, at the very least, a good reporter, she would soon be associated with a national news network. 

Her look is gold if she can appeal to every racial demographic.

Roscoe listened as she spoke about Dennis Mendocino, who she said wants to be called "The Love Machine." This was the sole purpose of this report, and Roscoe's new firm arranged for it by giving one local television station an exclusive.

Tomorrow, the story will spread to print and online news stories. Roscoe did not know how media consumers would perceive it. Would they think this was humor or a serious story? 

A team at the new firm would read every comment left on social media and the comments sections of all news outlets that picked up the piece. The station that was given the exclusive guaranteed the use of the hashtags #serialkiller and #lovemachine.

Roscoe thought that Sasha Teville-Johnson's delivery was perfect. With clear lines, she covered the Who, What, and Where with an even voice, excellent diction, and a steady hand on the mic, which had an oversized station logo on it. Her look into the camera was as constant and as directed; she did not mention the moniker of "Mixtape Killer." 

She was perfect for firing the first shot in an exciting war of Cease And Desist letters for any news organization that referred to Mendocino as the Mixtape Killer.

The limpdicks and work from homers at the firm were ready to pounce on transgressors.

Personally, Roscoe thought that Mendocino was wrong about his choice of nicknames. In his mind, Mixtape Killer was better copy.

Mendocino, however, paid the bill and was the boss even if he was behind bars.

The billable hours continued.

Roscoe laughed, took a sip of scotch, and then drew on his cigar. He then said, "Fuck It," and pulled a cold beer out of the mini-fridge.

Tomorrow, he will meet Wallace Hughes, FBI, at their field office in Chelsea. Roscoe thought of this and started laughing out loud about how things had changed in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

An old joke from the 1940s involves a man and a woman on a date; he asks her, "What would you like to do?" She replies, "Kiss me where it stinks." So the man drove her to Chelsea. 

Chelsea was an aromatic blend of Tanneries, meat processing plants, and other smokestacks. 

Chelsea is now famous for a rib restaurant and the FBI compound that covers the New England Region.

Two law firm workers will go to HR and demand "Work From Home Status" tomorrow because they can smell cigar smoke in the office.

Mr. Enos ruffled feathers. It was a specialty of his.

North Shore

I walked with Eve and Tango parallel to the shoreline when Eve stopped and said, "This is the house." "What do you think?" I looked at it and had to say, "It's beautiful, but can we afford it?"

Eve placed one finger on my lip and gave me a southern "Shush." "Remember, this is my project."

"I placed a down payment on it." "I can afford to buy it on my own."

"Can we buy it together?" 

"I'm pretty sure we have the whole thing covered." "Remember our little savings account under the deck," I said

"Yes, but we cannot account for that yet."

Evie is a smart cookie. "Can we play Hi-Lo?" I asked.

"Sure"

"First of all, how much did you put down?" I asked her.

"$450,000.00"

I laughed and choked a bit at the same time. "You do know the cost of our current home, right?"

She said, "That will be your office, Allston."

I thought about this a second and said, "Okay, Hi-Lo, with a deposit of $450,000.00." "$600,000.00?."

"Higher," Eve said

I started thinking that I was in range and fired my second guess "$650,000.00."

Eve said, "You don't know the neighborhood you live in; Higher."

A few more guesses later, we are at 1.25 million. "It's an excellent school system, Allston, and it's close to where we are now, which is what we decided." "Tango will appreciate that."

Of course, she brought Baby Dunkachino and Tango into the mix to tug on my good nature.

"How much do you need?"

"Well, I figured you could add to the deposit, and then we can get a mortgage for the rest."

"How about I add $800,000 to the down payment, and we move in?"

"You can do that?"

"I can."

"I think I need a bigger engagement ring, Allston."

We both started laughing.

The last two years have been very good for my business.