The Minnesota Candidate Read Online Free

say I didn’t warn you,” he whispered.
    “Come on, now,” she replied, innocently, “how
bad could they be?”
    “You have no idea.”
    Shari laughed at that. It would be the last time
she laughed that night.

    Doris Picacello smiled as she watched the
newlyweds walking across the lawn. She had assembled her army, a
platoon of Picacello’s and a squadron of Calizzi’s, dipping all the
way to the bottom of the family well to find them. She counted
heads, they were twenty in number, and already they were wringing
their hands together at what they perceived to be their good
fortune. Doris laughed to herself. They could think whatever they
wanted to think. Besides, why shouldn’t her Tommy share some of his
new-found wealth with his less fortunate family members? There was
obviously plenty of it to go around.
    Doris caught herself smiling, something she
rarely did. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had
been this happy. Unknowingly, Tom and his new wife had dropped her
back into her favorite element, a fight, and she wasn’t about to
let them out of the ring.
    “Are you kidding me?” asked Crazy Steve Calizzi,
her nephew. He was as thin as a toothpick and smelled like a
brewery. “Fat Tommy owns both houses? He knows I live in my car,
doesn’t he?”
    “You’ll have to remind him of that, Stevie,”
said Doris, giving him a wink. “My Tommy is a good boy. I’m sure
he’ll take care of you.”
    “Fat Tommy’s new wife must be a Rockefeller,”
said Marie Picacello, Doris’ sister in-law, an overweight spinster
from way back. “I can’t believe this is happening to our
family.”
    “Amen sister,” said Doris. “Imagine the parties
we’ll have out here.” A group of nearby Picacello’s and Calizzi’s
heard that and they began to whoop and cheer. Doris smiled at them,
triumphantly. She knew her Tommy; the boy had always been a giver.
This was going to be a serious test for him. He had a heart of
gold; at least he did have a heart of gold, thought Doris, until
that wretched woman had stolen it from him. Doris watched the pair
as they approached, still a hundred yards away, but closing. She
wondered what Shari would make of this group. She turned back to
face the cab drivers. “Here they come,” she said, pointing to the
newlyweds as they approached. “They’ll take care of you. And I’ll
be sure they give you all a nice tip.”
    “This is just like Christmas,” said Shifty Sam
Calizzi, a sixty-something cousin of Doris’, whose nickname didn’t
even begin to scratch his tarnished surface. “I get out of the
joint and walk right into this. I can’t believe it, Doris, I just
can’t believe it. Maybe my luck has really changed?”
    “Maybe it has,” agreed Doris. She stepped away
from him and waved at the couple as they drew nearer. She was so
excited. She looked around at the motley group and smiled, even
though she despised each and every one of them. Shifty Sam was a
big-time loser, but he had summed up her feelings, perfectly. Maybe
her luck had finally changed. Life had been so boring since Vince
had passed away. Without someone to bully, to belittle, life had
almost seemed pointless. And while she had had her moments with
Tommy, he was no Vince when it came to doing battle. His father had
known how to dish it out and she had eaten it up and spit it into
his face. She wondered if Shari might be able to fill those
considerable shoes. She certainly hoped so.

    “Why aren’t the cabs leaving?” asked Shari.
“Maybe your family doesn’t plan on staying long. You see, it won’t
be that bad.”
    Tom had been wondering the same thing, but when
he spotted his mother waiting up by the drivers, he began to
suspect the truth. “They’re waiting to be paid,” said Tom. “I’ll
bet you a million dollars.”
    “We can pay them,” said Shari, not missing a
beat. “I’m sure they take plastic.”
    “We’ll be paying them for a round trip. They’re
not staying. Look at