I have much to be thankful for, but today, I thought I’d share with you what Tommy is thankful for, in my third Cassie O’Malley Mystery, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Murder (Originally published in a hardcover edition by Five Star in 2009. Currently available in paperback, ebook and audiobook editions from Crossroad Press).
Tommy mentally made a list of the things he was thankful for this year.
His ex-wife was hassling him for money he didn’t have, but she would just have to wait her turn. Greta was annoying, but she wasn’t especially dangerous. On the other hand, Tommy’s bookie was less annoying than Greta, but was capable of causing him real pain. And as bad as the Macks could be, neither of them measured up to the danger that was his current girlfriend. Bobbie was withholding sex until he completed anger management class. And how does that make you feel?, they asked him that first night in class. Like hittin’ something, he told them. His health was bad in indeterminate ways and his medical coverage had been cancelled. His bank account was a joke. Tommy was six months behind in child support. The state of New Jersey had suspended his driver’s license. At least he had a job at the mall, now that the holiday was here.
Tommy looked at the bottle of turkey and gravy soda in the fridge and shuddered at the possibilities. He put a Swanson hungry man turkey dinner in the microwave and turned on the television, flipping back and forth between the parade and ESPN. He tried to put a bet down on the Detroit Lions game, but his bookie had cut him off. Happy Thanksgiving.
His boy, Tommy Junior, fifteen and a sophomore in high school, was somewhere in the long line of marching bands in the Macy’s parade. Tommy had forgotten about the parade until his ex-wife called. A trombone should be easy to spot, he told himself, but Tommy couldn’t find Tommy Junior on TV that morning. He did, however, see a couple of decent marching bands and all the really good balloons… Kermit the Frog, SpongeBob SquarePants, Garfield, Al Roker.
And, of course, at the end of the parade, Tommy watched Santa Claus arrive at Herald Square. Santa’s arrival marked the official start of the Christmas season, a month of peace, of brotherhood, of good will, and, for Tommy, a month to show his girlfriend he could manage his anger, to show the Macks he could pay his debts thanks to a month working as a department store Santa at the Mall of New Jersey.
Tommy watched the football game. With no action on the games, he found that football didn’t hold his interest anymore. He re-considered the bottle of turkey and gravy soda, mixing it, one part soda and two parts Jack Daniels. Tommy lit a Newport and fell asleep in front of the television.
Jeff Markowitz 