This is one of my #FridayFlash fiction stories. Each Friday, members of the #FridayFlash group on Twitter write fictional stories of 1,000 words or less and share them. Join in the fun!
This flash fiction is part of a series called Twisted Family Bonds (follow the link to read from the beginning). It is a mixture of light and dark humor written in the soap opera episodic style about the happenings in the Kaszinov family, who live on a family compound in the Hungarian countryside near Budapest. Russian mafia members have family lives, too, they just behave a little differently, or do they?
Previously in Mafia Rehab…Inna, the Hungarian Child Welfare worker began an evaluation on the Kaszinov family to assure they had an appropriate home before their daughter Tasha returned their children. Tasha brought Inna to the Kaszinov family compound during a wild party celebrating their freedom from indictment. Viktor drugged Inna’s wine and they all cleaned up the house. However, still Inna court-ordered them to attend a Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment (MAFIA) rehab support group.
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Episode 4 of 6: Ouch!
Let’s have ’em all, empty those pockets! No one is going in until you have been searched and pass the metal detectors.” Inna was supervising the security checkpoint at the child welfare office building. This was the first meeting of her new Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment (MAFIA) rehab support group. As the newly appointed head of the organized crime unit of the Budapest Child Welfare division, Inna was anxious to try new methods to turn these people into better parents.
“Take it easy!” Alena scowled at the security guards firmly patting her down in every crease of her sixty-five year old body. “Grusha, Nadya, get over here.”
“Gladly.” Alena’s sisters giggled and flirted with the security guard who began touching them everywhere.
“Those are family heirlooms, I expect everything returned in perfect condition!” Viktor growled as he placed his guns and knives in the tray. He walked resolutely through the metal detector and extinguished his cigar on the floor. Viktor glanced at the security checkpoint on the opposite side of the atrium. His fiercest rival, Rudolf Zabrovsky and his Family members were just beginning to check their weapons. Viktor secretly motioned to his Boys standing near the entrance. Viktor whispered to each family member as they passed the security point. They moved quickly to the meeting room on the first floor.
Viktor entered the large dimly lit room and stood by the window as his wife, Alena, her sisters and all their adult children found seats near the back. As Viktor sat down near the exit, the Zabrovsky Family came clamoring into the room until they laid eyes on the Kaszinov Family. They fell silent. Rudolf Zabrovsky stopped dead. His son whispered in his ear and they both walked to the opposite side of the room. Viktor sat filing his nails refusing to acknowledge Rudolf Zabrovsky’s presence. The two men had not seen each other for over ten years, but their Families were deeply entwined in fierce competition for the Hungarian territory.
On the chalkboard in the front of the room, someone had erased, Mothers And Fathers Impaired Attachment and wrote in its place, Mothers And Fathers Insultingly Annoyed. The room echoed with shuffling and silence.
Inna boldly entered the room with three other nervous adults. She went to the chalkboard and erased what was written. “Welcome to the first meeting of the MAFIA rehab support group.” She slyly smiled and introduced the other instructors.
“You are all here to learn how to be more nurturing, caring and attentive parents. I commend your willingness to have parents and grandparents attend these meetings together.” The sly smile erupted again. She knew they were court-ordered to attend under the threat of prison time.
Viktor was now sitting still as a stone, only his eyes moved. The Kaszinov women were nervously shifting in their chairs. The young men were watching for cues from Viktor.
“A family is the group of people you trust. It is the parent’s responsibility to lead the family. Here you will learn new ways to care for each other.” Inna turned the lights off and closed the shades to start a slide presentation.
Viktor silently rose from his seat and motioned for the women of his family to leave. They shuffled out as Viktor shot a red laser beam out the window near the Zabovsky Family. Gun shots showered that side of the room. The closed blinds crashed to the floor and light flooded the scene. The instructors tried to reach the emergency security button. Members of the Zabrovsky Family rushed the door and pushed to get out. The instructors and the several Zabrovsky men were trapped in the front of the room crawling on the floor to dodge the bullets.
The Kaszinov women smiled as they escaped unharmed into the hall, but they were grabbed by several Zabrovsky women. Old and young were pulling hair, tripping and kicking each other in a rumble.
Viktor rushed out the door before the stampede, but a bloody arm grabbed him. “You son of a bitch!” Rudolf’s deep raspy voice meant nothing to Viktor. The two Family bosses had a long gruesome history. Rudolf lunged at Viktor, slamming him into the railing of the stairs leading to the basement.
Viktor was leaning backwards grabbing Rudolf by the neck. “You goddamn fool! Did you really think we would let you just walk out of here after what you did to my Family?”
Viktor pushed Rudolf and he began falling towards the stairs. Rudolf kicked Viktor’s legs as he was falling and both men tumbled, fighting their way down a steep flight of concrete stairs. They groaned and swore vengeance as the sharp edges of the stairs gouged into their ribs as they rolled. Their bones cracked and heads crunched as they repeatedly hit the concrete. By the time they fell to the bottom, the world went black for Viktor and Rudolf.
Police and several ambulances arrived on the scene and teams loaded up victims and perpetrators. The women from both Families had scratches, lacerations and bruises. Inna only suffered minor injuries, but her instructors were gravely injured. Several men were carried on stretchers with blood oozing from various appendages.
Later that night, Viktor awoke in his hospital bed feeling excruciating pain. Surprised to find he was placed in a double room, he painfully tried to take a deep breath in order to scream for a nurse. He stopped cold when he noticed the man in the next bed. Rudolf Zabrovsky.
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