The Malleys (983 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: The_Malleys
Rating: 1.76 on 26 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Axolotl (View user info) at 2006-04-26 10:33:27 EDT
Outside of one of the larger schools, in a large and affluent town of northern New Jersey, the sun was still warm and streaming on a late September day. As late-leaving students made their way away from the front doors, a man stepped out of a black Lexus in the parking lot.
John Malley had a square, angular face, and windswept brown hair that whipped around his temples as he made his way up the front steps. In a dress shirt and acid-washed jeans, once-proud muscles bulging from his short sleeves, he looked dangerous, but inside he was wracked.
It was the start of the school year, and already his son was in trouble. The school lobby was warm and welcoming, but John Malley entered hesitantly into the principal's office. He looked nervously around the room as he walked onto the carpeted floor of the domain of Principal Rodriguez.
"Mr. Malley," said a woman's clipped voice, as John entered through the door. John saw a strict, short-haired blond woman sitting behind an oak desk, her hands folded. Sitting on one of the chairs in front of the desk was Nick Malley, seventeen, looking like a martyr. He had ear-length brown hair, and a face shaped like his father's; jagged and firm-jawed.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Rodriguez," greeted John Malley, sitting down next to his son and shooting a cold glance at him. Mrs. Rodriguez said nothing, simply staring at the two.
"You look very alike," she said, after a short silence.
"I understand there was a problem with my son today?" Malley asked. Nick twitched slightly, but didn't move.
"Your son," the principal began, with an air of patronization. "Has been actively engaging in trouble. He's collected a group of other students around him, and they've been causing a small amount of trouble in the school, and with its students."
John exhaled audibly. Nick bit his lip and looked away from the principal.
"He's set up a small hierarchy within the school," the principal continued. "Their actions have been minor - exploiting freshmen and the ignorant, coercive measures, and the like - but one of his so-called underlings tried to bribe a teacher for lenient grades today, and your son's organization became apparent."
"I see," breathed John Malley uncomfortably. "That's...that's something."
"Your son has talent for persuading others to extort lunch money, and the like," the principal said. "I can see a future in politics for him, but not if he continues like this."
Malley shot a cold look at his son, who turned away, cracking his jaw.
"Everyone involved will be immediately suspended for a period of one week," Principal Rodriguez continued crisply. "I advise you to speak with your son. His intelligence and talents can be used in better ways. He's disappointed me beyond belief."
"I know how it is...all these video games, Grand Theft Auto and stuff around today, these boys fancy themselves criminals," Malley said, nervously scratching his neck.
"Keep him under control, Mr. Malley," Rodriguez said icily. "You're the parent here, not the Playstation. Go."
Malley looked at Nick, still biting his lip and looking away into space, and said, "Nick, you wanna say something?"
"I'm sorry for what I did," Nick said slowly. "I'll stop the organization."
"Thank you," Malley said. Rodriguez nodded and waved them out.
* * *
John Malley, forty-four, knew how to keep his temper under control. His stressful job warranted a healthy lack of emotion, but now he was beyond anger.
"What were you thinking?" Malley hissed in the car on the way home, driving through Ridgewood's streets. The medieval-looking Ridgewood High School with its high clock towers and large grounds along the sides of the creek looked picturesque in the afternoon September sun as Malley's car passed by.
"She's making too big a deal over it," Nick said in a low voice. "It wasn't anything big."
"It sure sounds big!" shouted Malley, merging dangerously through the traffic. "Suspended for a week? What do you think your mother is going to say?"
"I didn't even do anything!" Nick replied. "Brad was being a dumbass. He slipped a hundred-dollar bill to our physics teacher and slapped her on the ass."
"It doesn't matter! I'm sure you egged him on!"
"I didn't!"
"Where the f...hell did he get a hundred from?" Malley asked.
"He was..." Nick said, his voice wavering.
"Don't lie to me, boy."
"I don't know. I didn't approve of it. He was offering freshmen protection," Nick replied, his voice even.
"Protection from who?"
"Well...himself. If the freshman didn't pay, he'd have his ass kicked, or his bookbag skinned or some stupid thing. Only ten dollars, but he was good at it. It added up."
"You inconvenienced everyone this day, me having to go get you like you were a five-year-old in nursery school," John Malley said angrily. "I have to go do some business in Hackensack as soon as we get home, I don't even get to eat dinner. Insane..."
"What kind of business?" asked Nick calmly.
"Just...me, Brecher, O'Duinen and someone else are going to be negotiating business over shipments with a rival of ours," Malley said a little awkwardly. "It's nothing."
Nick looked out to see that they were pulling to their driveway on Linwood Avenue in Ridgewood, an affluent suburban town in Bergen County, New Jersey. Sighing, he stepped out of his dad's car, and looked at his home.
It was a fairly large, blue house with a red picket pence and three stories of glass windows, a wealthy man's house. Nick grabbed his backpack and walked inside with his dad.
John Malley had a lined face, and looked slightly older than he was, but he kept his weight down with constant jogging. He had sandy brown hair, flecked with grey at the temples, and was built tough, at a hundred and eighty pounds and six feet. He was wearing jeans and a dressy shirt, and Diesel shoes. He ran a hand through his hair, locked the door, and walked into the house.
The living room floor was layered in beige carpet, with an oak coffee table in the center of two expensive couches. An entertainment center was in the corner, and tables with ornaments and heirlooms stood against the lime green walls. As Malley and Nick walked in, they saw Mrs. Ashley Malley sitting on one of the couches drinking coffee with a thick-jawed, blond man.
"Hey John, I was just waiting for you," said the man, standing up and shaking hands with John. Nick recognized him as Michael Brecher, a German-Irish business partner of Malley. "Timmy and Chris are meeting us in Hackensack, it's just us."
"Michael arrived about ten minutes ago, I didn't know how long you'd be out," said Ashley, a woman in her mid-thirties with long, dark hair. She had a hawkish face, like a large elegant bird. "Hello, Nick, glad to see you home..." she directed at her son, tongue firmly in cheek.
"I'm ready, just let me get my documents," John Malley said, jogging upstairs.
"I'll just drop off my stuff," Nick said, taking his backpack and following his dad upstairs.
"You get down here soon, Nick," came his mother's voice from the living room. "Kids today, Michael, they're so much worse than..."
Nick walked in his father's footsteps up through the stairway, whose walls were covered in family photos...John and Ashley's wedding, their children, Nick and Alexis, John with his boss, Jackie Sullivan, uncle Petey and uncle Will...
Nick walked past his parents' room as he went down the hardwood hallway, and paused for a moment at the door. His father was at his briefcase laid out on the bed, loading forty-caliber shells into the clip of a metallic-toned handgun. A crucifix swung at his neck as he clicked the safety on and slid the firearm into a shoulder holster, hiding it under a leather jacket.
"You needed documents," Nick said sarcastically. John Malley didn't look up.
"I need protection. You don't. You're in 12th grade," Malley replied to his son. "Stop acting like a gangster, and get your head in the game."
"You're a hypocrite," Nick spat bitterly, leaving the doorway. Malley sighed, and walked downstairs, cursing his unconscious decision to leave the door open. Michael Brecher was waiting at the door for him.
"Goodbye, Ashley, I'll see you in an hour or so," said Malley, kissing his wife goodbye. Brecher nodded a silent farewell to Ashley.
"Be safe," Ashley said as the pair walked out of the door and toward Brecher's car. Brecher hopped in the driver's seat, and Malley slid into the passenger's. Brecher started the engine, and backed out of the driveway.
They were on the road, and ready for action.
"All right, one of our cop spies told Jackie that Carmine Galantro is expecting an arms shipment by a truck belonging to the Augusto Company," Malley said as they drove down Route 17. "Which leads me to believe that Sylvie Augusto's crew is in control of this job."
"Right, captain," Brecher said, hands on the wheel. "They're some hard bastards. We're not looking to start a war though, are we?"
"No," replied Malley. "This is an in-and-out operation. Jack the truck, and get the hell out. Chris O'Duinen and Tim Clancy are waiting for us there, you said?"
"Yeah. They'll be ready," breathed Brecher. They drove on down Route 17, passing the Barnes and Nobles, and the mall outlets of suburban Jersey.
"Something my son said to me..." Malley said. "He was caught setting up some kind of mob in his school. Harmless stuff, really, but he said that I was a hypocrite because of it."
"We're businessmen, and we do business," Brecher replied. "At that age, they're thugs. With us...we're men. No offense intended, of course. We live a good life, and take care of our families."
Malley chuckled, and said, "I don't have the heart to punish him, I'll leave that to Ash. He makes me laugh."
"Do you ever get worried doing things like this?"
"Not at all. I started out jacking trucks, so I'm used to danger," Malley said. "You're just a businessman in the wrong kind of business."
"That what this is," Brecher said, checking himself mentally for his gun and clip. "It's all just business."
------
On a second note, anyone who can name this song and artist gets +2s on their lowest rated posts.
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User Reviews
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2006-06-22 14:13:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I am finally getting to these. Awesome
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-05-11 08:12:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The first two weren't very good. I should have done them better.
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-05-11 01:46:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-05-10 05:47:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 18:48:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-04-26 17:12:45 (#)
Ranking: 2
it's very different from what i imagined in my head when i first thought of the idea, but it's good.
at times some of the description felt a bit forced, but it's good.
but gadddamn, i can't wait for malley to fuck up those guinneas good! ;)
----
There will definitely be guinea-fuckings-up...in the next installment, the first death takes place.
I'm organizing these into episodes and seasons, there's six deaths by murder in the first season. Malley's responsible for two of them.
Weep plot spoiler
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-04-26 17:12:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
it's very different from what i imagined in my head when i first thought of the idea, but it's good.
at times some of the description felt a bit forced, but it's good.
but gadddamn, i can't wait for malley to fuck up those guinneas good! ;)
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-04-26 17:00:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You were the originator of the APW and you aren't even adhereing to your suggestion. And this, this is gold on a wednesday. Anyhow, enjoy.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 16:13:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-04-26 15:55:07 (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm only lowering my score because I believe it was you who suggested an APW. Then to top it off, you post something as good as this.
----
What?
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-04-26 15:55:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm only lowering my score because I believe it was you who suggested an APW. Then to top it off, you post something as good as this.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 13:41:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
MyNameIsTim gave me the general idea, I just fleshed out the plot and gave names. I was going to do this a while ago, but I didn't want to seem to be riding on the success of the Sopranos.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2006-04-26 12:59:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The Boy Genius strikes again!
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2006-04-26 12:59:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ace, kid.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 12:27:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
What happened to My Desktop, Best MS Paint and Godman and the Tsunami?
Get rid of this gener1c v1@gr@ and start being offensive.
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2006-04-26 12:21:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
DENIED
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 12:15:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Hello, Mr. Fuckface. I request you start posting good things.
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:58:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
well that didn't make sense
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:57:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
This would be been without the writing
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:15:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:03:53 (#)
Ranking: 2
ah damn I killed it
damnit all to hell
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Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:03:35 (#)
Ranking: 0
I read it, I was entertained.
Was the song Beethoven Sonata No. 9 in E-flat Major?
===
Nope, Cypress Hill Insane in the Brain. I can't post mp3s on my connection, the pipe is too small. No worries about the ratings.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:03:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
ah damn I killed it
damnit all to hell
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:03:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I read it, I was entertained.
Was the song Beethoven Sonata No. 9 in E-flat Major?
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 11:02:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-04-26 10:55:53 (#)
Ranking: 2
I thoroughly enjoyed this. You have a nack or knack however you spell it for telling good stories. Kudo's and a "for he's a jolly good fellow."
--
Thanks, Sicosemen. There's a lot more to it, quite a bit.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-04-26 10:55:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I thoroughly enjoyed this. You have a nack or knack however you spell it for telling good stories. Kudo's and a "for he's a jolly good fellow."
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 10:55:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I will do the
Submitted by Foolproof (user info) at 2006-04-26 10:45:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I ain't reading all of that, but I read some.
So..yeah, +2 because you have yet to let me down.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-04-26 10:41:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Aww...I can't submit mp3 files. I was going to do a song contest with each installment of this series. Hell, I should just record something for Maiorano's contest.
It was Cypress Hill, Insane in the Brain, anyway.
Submitted by The_Cyst_Master (user info) at 2006-04-26 10:36:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
OH NO QUICK REPOST!