Burned

34

            To say Alfie was nervous wasn't exactly accurate. He was confident in his actions, but it was something he never thought he would do. But it had to be done. He was so tired and it was starting to show.

Tommy turned into the locker room where Alfie was sitting. The Jewish man seemed guarded not that it was unusual. But he sat straight, his hands resting on his cane, shrouded in shadows by his hat and heavy coat. He knew something that Tommy didn't. He'd done something. 

"Yeah, you're like me, Tommy, can't bear to watch a fight that's got so many rules." Alfie heaved a sigh. The two men sat in silence for a moment. The sounds of the fight were muffled. The crowd roaring and shouting along with each blow. "Tommy, imagine that you could not see at all." Alfie glanced over at the Brummie and gestured over his eyes. "That you was born blind." When Tommy didn't speak, he kept on. Maybe the man had learned to let Alfie ramble his way through his words until he was absolutely finished. "Then, one day, you open your eyes and you can see everything in the world. When before you could only hear it or touch it. There it is." He raised his hand like a magician revealing a trick. "The revelation."

Tommy's icy blue eyes remained on him, not able to follow the man's train of thought in the slightest. He could see the very obvious marks that riddled his skin. Whatever it was, Tommy had no clue; it seemed painful and aged the man a great deal.

"I've had one." Alfie nodded and couldn't help but smile a bit. "Teddy. S'got me eyes. The second he opened them, I asked myself...'Alfie, what are you doing?' Really, I mean what are you doing? You've got a beautiful wife and now you've got this little boy. I mean for fuck's sake, little bit can't even hold his own head up on his own. You know, what if I just fucked off to Margate and never went back? Sold everything and just disappeared? Think 'bout how happier Lou would be. Teddy wouldn't ever have to grow up in the smoke of London. Wouldn't ever have to see the shit I've seen."

"Louise had the baby." Tommy didn't ask, merely stated the now obvious fact. He was impressed that Alfie had managed to keep it secret from the rest of the world. 

"She did, yeah." Alfie ran a hand over his mouth. His heart ached to be back with his family. "He'll be eight weeks on Monday. Will be waiting another week before we go to Margate. I need some time." His eyes glazed over a bit as he stared at the wall in front of him. This was only stage-one of his plan. He only had another week or so. "Plus, the Americans are here. Big fucks small, aye? Always been like that. There is a fight out there between big and small. And big fucks small, always." He tapped his cane on the ground and stood up with a grunt. "Right, Margate. Blue skies, heaven." He turned and looked at the other man. "I'll be seeing you soon, Tommy. By the pier."

The Blinder was beyond suspicious at that point. Of course, Alfie Solomons was always up to something but the talk about retirement threw Tommy for a loop. It most likely meant he was going out with a bang. "Stay for the fight, Alfie." His voice was tense and he wanted to test out that theory. The theory that Alfie was going to leave his mark.

"Nah, mate, I already know who wins, don't I?" Alfie held up his glasses. "By the pier, Tommy." He reminded him before heading out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late when he returned to Inglewood. Alfie finished up clearing out the rest of the bakery. Instructing Ollie to dispose of the life he once had. Burning through the empire he'd built over so many years. He didn't regret any bit of it.

There was a light still on upstairs as he expected. Louise sat in bed reading, waiting for her husband to return home. She seemed content and at peace. Completely unaware of the chaos her husband had initiated and the last stand he planned.