The Godfather of Cheese

      Guilt washed over him like a country Contessa being bathed by a handmaiden in a scene from the toile wallpaper in his mother-in-law's guest bathroom.  Had he stayed home, had he not taken the old car, had he not been in traffic, had she not answered the text message, none of this word have happened.
      Even growing up with Jewish guilt hadn't made him comfortable with this feeling, this level of torment, this high level of guilt.  He had always been able to rationalize anything away.  If you were Jon Stewart  smart  and Clint Eastwood cold, very little could affect you.  And Shelby thought he was smart and just a little bit removed from what regular people felt.
      Shelby had  disdain for the general masses, the kind a magician had for the suckers who were wowed by tricks so simple that village idiots were performing them in big cities.  Periodically the disdain was tinged with a fleeting fear that he wasn't as special or smart as his sub conscience bio stated.
      So as he sat and looked at her, tubed up, ghostly, pail, monitored, and barely hanging on, his stomach grabbed him like that German wrestler whose special move was "The Claw," and wouldn't let go.
      Up until the accident, Shelby was one of the luckiest people he knew.  Everything came easy to him and often. 
      Angelique was a perfect example.  They met in a film class at NYU and decided to work together.  He was attracted to her immediately, perhaps the red silk scarf, perhaps, her persona screaming of money, and maybe even the fact that she had deep dark chocolate eyes that looked deeply into his and didn't look away. 
      At their first script meeting on her father's boat off Montauk,  not much work was done, on the script that is.  But as she expertly handled the sails out of the harbor, he handled her and all the questions he had about kissing her soon, melted away.
      There was a film worked on even with most of the script meetings ending in the same physical way.  Their friendship grew and he was even invited to her coming out party. 
      Was this a 19th century Virginia Debutant ball, he asked himself as the valle parked his beat up Buick Regal in between two S Class Mercedes?
  Shelby was glad to get rid of the car.  He was  dressed well in his new brown suit bought with his birthday Banana Republic gift card and  stopped feeling out of place the minute he handed the keys to the parking attendant.
      He had never met any of her family before and she had offhandedly mentioned her family was into cheese.  Well cheese was very good to them.
    The  estate was on the water, the Manse was huge with naked Greek statues spitting water back into the water in which they stood.  It may not have been sanitary, but it did bespeak of wealth.
      The party was outside, on what the butler had described as The Great Lawn.  Central Park had nothing on this greenery. 
        There was a green and white striped tent probably acquired from the circus and the table had enough flora and fauna to hide some Viet Cong  from view.  When he picked up his place card and saw the number one on it, he thought it was a mistake.  He would soon wish it was a mistake.
      Angelique's eye color and intensity was shared by her brothers, but it so didn't work on them.  For all the money, there was no hiding the fact that the 23 year old twins were goons. 
      Shelby sat between them at the head table waiting for Angelique to be presented by the Orchestra leader who incidentally had replaced Guy Lombardo as Mr. New Year's Eve. While everyone waited, the goon brothers stared dramatically at Shelby.  Shelby was happy when their father came over, but thought the kissing of the ring was a bit much.  All that was missing was a horse's head, but the message was clear, he was at a mob party and he was not welcome.
      After a significant pause, the father leaning close in, in perfect Godfather whisper rasp he began,
    "My daughter is the most precious jewel in the world to me."
      "What about us, Pop," chimed in the twins.  Their answer was a slap to both their heads and he continued.
      " Every year since her birth, I give her a diamond, and this year she'll have her twenty first, too bad you won't see that beautiful necklace as she walks into the party, because you've been called away suddenly, and you're to be busy for a long time, or forever, that my boy is up to you."
    "Yeah" added the brothers.
      Was it because he wasn't mob, or because he was Jewish or too young, or because a proper "made man" had been chosen for Angelique at birth, whatever the reason, he was not suitable as a suitor.  Shelby's inner wise guy trumped his fear and he replied,
      " Don, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter's wedding, I mean, debutant ball, And I hope our first child will be a masculine one."
        Just as the goon brothers grabbed him and started shoving him toward the parking area, Angelique came out and before they could make him disappear, she stopped her grand entrance and ran over to the disturbance.
      "Your friend has an emergency and has to leave suddenly."
        "I know your brand of emergency Tino and if he goes, I go."
        The Godfather of cheese, trying to placate her,took her hand and looked pleadingly in her eyes,
          "He's no good for you, you're my little jewel, it's your party, everybody is waiting for you. 
          Without another word, she pushed Tino and Tony out of the way, grabbed Shelby's hand and dragged him to parking lot.
          "Give the guy your ticket and we are out of here."
Shelby fumbled but found the card and just as the "family" reached them, they got into the muffler-less card with Angelique yelling,
        "I've had it up to here with cheese, I've become lactose intolerant."
        They sped off and why she had to answer the text, he'll never know.  She knew it would be from her father.  She looked at it and with all the strength a hot tempered Sicilian could muster, she threw it.  It cracked the windshield, Shelby swerved and even with a series of expert maneuvers, only one mistake negates all the rest. They hit a suddenly appearing tree.
        The blood, the ambulance, her lack of seat belt, the swerve, all seemed a blur until He sat frozen,staring at her struggling to hang on.
    He was literally caught in a race against time.  He needed her forgiveness, but he  also needed to get lost and fast.  Her family would be looking for him He needed  not to be found. 
Shelby took her hand and as if God was a DJ, Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't fear the Reaper" came on the radio and as it ended Angelique smiled looked at him with those chocolate eyes and whispered,
    "I don't, now go."
    He kissed her eyes as they closed and left.
    Shelby hoped she pulled through as he hurriedly packed and left town, and began thinking of new names and how to set up his new identity.  He wouldn't regret getting rid of Shelby, though.  What was his mother thinking.
    Frankly, He thought,
      "I'm taking a chance even writing this story, but as Abe Lincoln said at Gettysburg,
      "The world will little note what I say here." But if the goons are noting, your cheese tastes like chalk.
        Angelique may not have feared the reaper, but Shelby would use that fear to keep "Stayin Alive" in his new life.