Road to Respect ~ Sopranos

Chapter 4

Joseph

"Why is there a plate under my bowl?" Joey asked as he lifted up his bowl of soup. "And why the hell is this so expensive? Who pays twenty-four dollars for soup you can get at Walmart?"

Junior wasn't really paying attention to Joey's questions, but Mikey seemed to be enjoying the kid's presence. The kid sat in a fancy chair at a fancy table in a fancy restraint Joey couldn't even pronounce the name of. He was eating fancy soup they most likely got at Walmart that didn't taste right to him. He wore a black turtleneck sweater, nice clean church jeans and nice leather shoes. All and all, Joey felt like a pretentious cunt.

And he was enjoying it.

Junior poured salt over his food and looked at Mikey. "What else did Comley say?"

"Nothing much," Mikey said. "That there was some stuff missing from the truck, but he didn't give a fuck as long as the thing's back, ya know?" He took another bite. "And then he said to tell Tony thank you, and if there's anything Tony needs, you should give him a call."

"Tony?" Junior asks. "Those fucking junkie fucks, they work for Tony, they hijack Comley's truck, I get it back, and old man Comley's thanking Tony?!"

"Tony didn't order them to jack the truck." Joey spoke up. "Brendan did it alone, I saw myself. As for the missing suits, Tony and the rest of the guys took them while Chris and Brendan took the rest along with the truck back today. But Tony didn't order them to do it."

Junior nodded and Mikey cleared his throat. "Well, I think you should've taken care of this Christopher Moltisanti thing the minute it first happened. You should've sent a clear-cut signal: You fuck with Junior Soprano-"

"Take it easy." Junior interrupted. "We're not making a Western here." Joey chuckled and went back to eating his expensive Walmart soup. "Fucking family. I bought his kid a four-hundred-dollar surfboard for his birthday."

Joey cleared his throat to get Junior's attention. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you want me to work with you?"

Junior's smile changed a little. It was now obviously forced, but Joey didn't draw attention to it. "I used to employ your father."

"Employ?" Joey asked. "For... the family?"

"That's right." Junior nodded. "He was a smart kid, strong, did what he was told. But then he got into that shit Brendan's into now. This may come out the wrong way, but you remind me a lot of Romeo, when he was still a good man."

Joey was a little surprised by Junior's words. "Do you know what happened to him?"

Junior nodded slowly. "He did a job, and on that job he did something he regretted."

~~~

"Romeo and I were friends once. Me, him and Jackie once stole... uh... acquired a bunch of ice cream and handed it out to kids in a shitty part of town." Tony explained. "Our father's worked together. Romeo's old man, shit... no idea how Romeo and Joey came from that."

"What do you mean?"

"Antonio was a World War Two veteran. Air Force pilot. Fucking scary ass man." Tony started. "He was this tall guy with a scar down the left side of his face. Fucking muscles for days, I thought he was going to kill me the first time I met him. He never talked, that's why it's hard to think Romeo and Joey came from him, once you get them started, they never shut up." Tony shook his head. "Everyone other than the family hated him."

"Why? You said he was a veteran." The therapist said. "Veterans around that time were loved."

"American veterans were loved." Ton corrected. "Antonio was in Italy, fought for Italy, nearly died for Italy. But Italy turned their back on him, and he came here."