“Is he in?”
The men nodded and I breathed a sigh of relief. It is not
easy to catch the Godfather on one of his days in the office.
I was patted down to make sure I was not carrying any
weapons and escorted through a dark hallway. The bodyguards stepped away and
motioned for me to open the door. This was it. This was the big moment. This
was the meeting that I had arranged for what seemed like my entire career. A
moment with the Godfather was a moment that could make or break you as a
person, much less a journalist.
I took a deep breath and swung the door open. The swivel
chair behind the oak desk turned slowly – maybe the word is majestically? The
large, older man gave me a look I could not describe. It was one that read my
soul but also seemed unamused at being disturbed.
“How can I help you?” The Italian accent floated across the
room.
“Well, yes … um, thank you for getting me in to see you. I
was just wondering … if you would be so kind as to tell me … I mean …” I was
embarrassed at how I was handling myself.
“I do not have all day. Please get it out.”
“Of course. Yes, I need to know what you know about Sita.”
There. I had spit out a question that had ravaged my mind for weeks.
The Godfather chuckled slowly. “They always want to know.
Most of the time they are much too afraid to publish what I tell them.”
“I promise I will publish this!” I said, way too eager for
my own liking.
“Now, kid. Do not get ahead of yourself. You have not even
heard what I have to say yet.”
I leaned back in my chair, cheeks red from embarrassment.
“Sita was running an establishment behind Ram’s back. She
had a gambling business going. Although, no one understands why she had it. It
did not seem that her and Ram were losing money. If they were, it was certainly
covered up really well. Anyway, since Ram was away at all of these battles, he
never realized what Sita was doing. Until the one day that he decided to
surprise her at home two days early. He found Sita hiding money behind a brick.
They got into a huge fight. I do not know if Sita was the one who left or if
Ram forced her to leave. Whatever happened resulted in Sita out of the home and
Ram covering up a huge scandal. I mean, what would the papers have to say about
such a story?”
The real question is if you are going to publish it.”
I sat stunned in my chair. Who would have known that Sita
was leading one of the biggest gambling rings? Also why had the story not been
told? I felt like several reporters would have a great day publishing this. I
was going to publish it.
Little did I know what obstacles I was about to face in
getting this story to the press.
 |
| Godfather |
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is coming from a retelling of Sita. It
makes it difficult to do that retell of a retelling. So, I decided to go with
an idea I had earlier about the Washerman in the original story and how he
reminded me of the Godfather. I kept similar plot structure in the story, but
spun it so the Godfather was a good guy and gave the reporter her needed
information. If I were to continue, I would introduce the Washerman and his men
as they attempt to keep the true story of Sita from getting out into the
public. I really do not want to give important parts of the book away. I will
say that what happened to Sita was not related to her running a gambling
operation behind Ram’s back. That just came to me since I was already writing
about the Godfather. I highly recommend that everyone watches the Godfather and
reads this book. That would be a really fun time. The original story comes from
Samhita Arni’s The Missing Queen (2014).
