When Tina woke up she thought she was still dreaming. She rolled around a few times on the sofa and felt her tank top sticking to the sofa cushions. She rolled on her belly face down in the sofa cushion then quickly changed positions because the sofa cushion reeked of cigarettes. When she rolled over on her back and opened her eyes her mind raced a mile a minute. There was Vinny standing over her holding a green turtle neck and a baggy pair of jeans. Did Vinny go inside the trailer to fetch these out dated clothes? If he did then why didn't the bomb around her neck go off?
Tina fingered the bomb around her neck and debated whether or not it was real. Vinny hovered over her with an impish look on his face while dangling a green turtle neck and tickling her face with it. Ironically the turtle neck actually smelled like fresh laundry detergent. Vinny sounded excited for some reason.
"I brought you some clothes to wear but first we have to do something before you put them on."
Stricken horror ran through Tina's mind. Last night he made her play that stupid dice game that gambled with people's lives and now what? Tina yawned, turned around, and saw the tie-dye blanket pinned to the wall. She also saw a black tripod with a DVD recorder mounted to it.
Vincent clapped his hands together vigorously like he had just come up with a bright idea.
"Hey guess what? We're going to make a movie!" He said almost jumping up and down.
Tina rolled on her belly and buried her face in the stinky sofa cushion and pretended to go back to sleep. Vinny shook her shoulder and she sat up instantaneously because she didn't like being touched. The site of Vinny frightened Tina when she looked into his hairball eye. His eye was bulging out of his head just like in the movie she once watched where a guy was stuck on mars without his astronaut gear. It was quite evident that Vincent was up all night doing drugs. He held out an arm to help her off the sofa.
"Aw come on, you'll like it. This video is going to your dad."
Vinny led her to a big green Army blanket spread out on the floor adjoining the tie-dye blanket pinned on the wall for a background. Tina sat cross legged on the Army blanket and Vinny handed her a piece of paper which had the things she was supposed to say.
"You're going to read everything on this piece of paper and nothing else or we'll have to start over until you get it right." Said Vinny adjusting the tripod.
In his left hand he was holding a small palm sized tape recorder, the kind reporters use.
"The faster we get this done the faster we can go eat." He said rubbing his belly.
Tina read over the note first before she signaled she was ready. Vincent zoomed in the camera at her and focused on her face." Okay, three,two, one."
Tina cleared her throat and read the note." Hi daddy,I'm doing okay for now but things can get worse if you screw this up. Do not go to the police or any other law officials. It's imperative that the two hundred and ten thousand dollars be strictly in hundred dollar bills. If you go to the police he will not hesitate to kill me. We will be contacting you later with further instructions of how to deliver the money. Don't screw this up and no funny stuff."
When Tina quit talking she could hear strange noises coming out of the tape recorder in Vinny's hand. What on earth was he doing? She watched in bewilderment as Vinny held the tape recorder next to the DVD recorder with a scheming look on his face. He placed an index finger over his lips signaling her to be quiet as the tape recorder made gun fire shooting sounds. She could also hear what sounded like a train passing by. When Vinny was finished he ejected the DVD disc and placed it in a manila envelope.
Tina still sat on the blanket looking bewildered and wondering what the train and shooting sounds were all about. Vinny lit a Newport and then looked up at the rafters and pointed his finger straight up in the air.
"You know I have a 22 semiautomatic rifle up there." Said Vinny still pointing to the roof. Tina shrugged her shoulders like she could care less. Vincent droned on. “Yeah, all those dead birds and squirrels you saw on my lawn get shot with that gun."
Tina finally stood up from the blanket and gazed up at the roof." So what's it doing on the roof then?" She finally asked.
"Oh, I don't personally shoot those birds and squirrels myself. I rigged that gun up to a machine which I plug into my lap top."
Vincent walked over to his work bench and picked up a lap top that had a mini built in joystick and plugged it into some wires that ran up the wall." Check this out." Said Vinny," It's just like a video game." He turned on the LCD screen which showed an image of the yard moving. Vinny spotted a bird in the yard and zoomed in on it.
"You're not going to shoot it are you?" Asked Tina with her jaw dropping.
Vinny eyes glimmered." Of course not. You are." He said holding the lap top in front of her.
Tina took a step back and stared at the bird on the screen.
"Hurry up!" Shouted Vinny." It's soon going to fly away."
Before she could retaliate Vinny grabbed her arm and coerced her to push the button. The gun on the roof fired a shot and the bird flew a foot off the ground and plummeted straight to the ground. Tina turned her head while Vinny remained transfixed to the screen and watched the bird's every move.
The bird danced around in a circle with one wing raised for a while and then suddenly died. Vinny bellowed out a sinister laugh and then asked her if she wanted to play again. Tina crossed her arms and frowned at him in disgust like an upset wife would do. Vinny turned off the lap top and then unplugged it from the wires running up the wall.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Said Vinny putting away the lap top," We gotta give you a make over so I can take you out in public." Vinny dug through his tool chest and pulled out a long pointy pair of shears. Then he dug through the pile of junk on the floor and picked out a box of black hair dye. Tina felt her heart sink to the bottom. She got compliments all the time on her long blond luscious hair and here this scum bag freak of a man thinks he has the right to chop it off. It was like Vinny could read her mind as he walked towards her and pulled out some black lip stick from his pocket. Tina backed up as he walked towards her.
"Oh yeah. Girlfriend. We're gonna convert you into a Gothic chick." Said Vincent coming at her with the lip stick.
Tina knew she had no choice. She was through with pissing him off because he tortured her way too much. Vinny pulled up a folding chair and Tina duteously sat in the chair and pulled her long blond hair behind her shoulders. Vinny snipped the shears a few times next to her ear just to tease her. He yanked the tie-dye blanket down from the wall and wrapped it around her neck. He gleefully hewed away at her hair while whistling a song he used to sing in the Marines.
Tina was still thinking about the bird he shot. She had read in a book once that most serial killers liked to torture animals. Then she started to wonder how many people Vinny killed and if she was going to make it through this alive.
"You're not gonna cry?" Asked Vinny sounding disappointed.
"I've always hated my hair." Lied Tina.
Vinny cut off a lock of hair and tossed it in her lap just to tease her even more. He detected the sarcasm in her voice and knew she was lying. Surprisingly Vinny did a good job of cutting her hair. Another skill he had picked up in prison.
"So is it your turn next?" Joked Tina.
Vinny ran his sausage fingers through his long greasy hair and frowned." Even if I cut my hair I won't look good . Those inmates mutilated my face."
"Sorry to hear that." Said Tina curtailing her smile," I still think you look good." She lied once more.
She didn't know what was making her feel the need to butter him up. Vinny handed her a pocket sized mirror so she could check out her new hairdo. It looked okay to her but she wondered how it would look after he would dye it black.
"You know I used to pick on the Gothic girls at school and now you're going to turn me into one." Said Tina biting her cuticle.
Vinny didn't say anything and started breathing heavy like he was getting ready to convulse. Tina recognized the heavy breathing from before. Like the time he tried to smash his van into a tree yesterday. It was time to stop the incessant chatter and shut up before she would get herself killed. Tina was finally learning.