Service of Process

02/15/13

Jake hid in his car two houses down from Dominic Salvatore. He was lying in the back seat of his Audi peeking out the back window staring hard at Salvatore’s front door. He was on one of the narrow avenues in the foggy Richmond section of San Francisco, where tiny two-story houses are so close together they nearly touch.

Jake tried serving Salvatore the day before, but, even though there was a pickup truck in the driveway and lights on inside, no one had answered.

“I want that guy served,” his client, attorney Herman Fine, told him. “We need his depo taken ASAP. Go back tomorrow and get him, I don’t care how.”

The deposition subpoena was for a personal injury case to which Salvatore was not a party. A former co-worker of the plaintiff, he was just a potential witness – nothing more. An investigator had attempted a phone interview with the 83-year-old man and found him to be “uncooperative and hostile.”

Jake was known for his tenacity, which was why Herman Fine always used him. He had never failed to complete an order and he had no intention of failing now.

An elderly man wearing a robe and slippers shuffled out the door to the mailbox. Jake jumped up and walked to the old guy brandishing the subpoena.

Salvatore took off running for his front door. Jake followed. He threw the papers on the porch.

“You’ve been served Mr. Salvatore.”

His job done, Jake turned back toward his car.

“Like hell I have!” Salvatore screamed. He followed Jake and threw the subpoena into the middle of the street.

“Fuck you!” he said and flipped Jake the bird with both fingers. “No one fucks with Dominic Salvatore!”

Jake picked up the papers and placed the subpoena under the wiper blades of Salvatore’s truck.

“Like I said, you’ve been served. I suggest you show up at the depo, otherwise you will be held in contempt.”

“You don’t know who you are fucking with you piece of shit.”

“Whatever,” Jake said. “You’ve been served, I’m leaving now.”

Jake again turned to go. Salvatore pulled a knife out of a pocket of his robe and stabbed Jake in the right thigh. Jake went down, his face landing in the gutter in front of the driveway.  Salvatore jumped on his back and put the knife to his throat.

“I made my bones when I was 18 years old,” Salvatore said.

Jake struggled to keep his face out of the dirty water. He was in horrible pain; it felt like a muscle had been completely severed.

“What the fuck are you talking about you crazy old man?”

“That was the first time I killed someone – when I became part of the crew.”

“Jesus!” Jake said, “I’m just a process server, you don’t need to kill me! This isn’t some god damn mafia gang war. It’s just a stupid civil suit. I need an ambulance. Jesus Christ!”

Jake began to feel the knife puncture his skin just before several of Salvatore’s neighbors arrived and pulled him off the process server’s back. Someone helped him up and he leaned against Salvatore’s truck. Blood streamed down his leg and onto his socks and shoes. He heard sirens.

One man had the knife now. Two others were holding onto a struggling Dominic Salvatore, who stared at Jake with a nasty grin.

A police car and an ambulance arrived. The paramedics put Jake on a stretcher. As they wheeled him up and into the vehicle, Salvatore managed to break free. He grabbed the papers from the windshield, and threw them on Jake’s chest.

Jake flung the papers back out onto the street.

One of the policemen cuffed Salvatore while the other picked up the subpoena.

“Do you know who I am?” Salvatore shouted.

“No,” said the officer as he read the front of the document. “Who are you?”

“I’m Dominic Salvatore!”

“Oh, then this must belong to you,” he said and placed the subpoena in the pocket of Salvatore’s robe. “Looks like you’ve been served.”

An enraged Dominic Salvatore saw Jake’s smiling face just before the paramedics shut the back doors of the ambulance and drove away.

~ fin ~

Mike Monson recently moved to Kona, Hawaii, leaving behind his 20-year-career as a paralegal in San Francisco and Modesto, California when his wife was transferred by her employer Costco. He hoped to work part time while continuing his writing passion, but so, far he has lost all four jobs he has managed to get. His work has appeared in Literary Orphans, Shotgun Honey, Flash Fiction Offensive, Yellow Mama, All Due Respect, and in print anthologies from Gutter Books, Near to the Knuckle, and All Due Respect. His book Criminal Love and Other Stories is available on Amazon Kindle. His novella The Scent of New Death will be published sometime in 2014 by Gutter Books. He is the Associate Editor of All Due Respect.

Great story Mike. I love the officer's sense of humor at the end. And while you say most of this story really happened, the storngest part of the story that will resonate with me the most is from the stabbing until the end, the great bits that you got to make up. Very good stuff.
Jonathan Riley
March 01, 2013
Very clever, Mike. Nice writing start to finish.
Patti Nase Abbott
February 20, 2013
Man, I loved it. You never know who you're messing with!
Gareth Spark
February 16, 2013
This one rings true. Excellent.
Chris Rhatigan
February 16, 2013
Jake certainly knows how to go the extra mile and so does your story. Keep'em coming.
R.J. Spears
February 15, 2013
oh, and when the server drove away he saw the guy in his bathrobe reach down with both hands and grab his balls and do this little defiant dance in his direction before then flipping him a double bird.
michaelmonson
February 15, 2013
Thanks everyone for reading. This is based on a true story from one of my cases as a paralegal in SF. It's pretty much all true up until the stabbing. In real life the process server just left the sub in the street and drove off. But the old mob guy did tell our investigator later that day about making his "bones" back when he was a kid and part of a crew and that is why we shouldn't fuck with him.
michaelmonson
February 15, 2013
That's what I call a good story!
Bruce Harris
February 15, 2013
LOL Great story Mike!
Chris Leek
February 15, 2013
You come up with some original stuff, Mike. Good one.
Ryan Sayles
February 15, 2013
Funny. I liked it very much.
Paul Greenberg
February 15, 2013
Unavoidable, like death and taxes.
Tom Pitts
February 15, 2013
nice... always good to read Mr. Monson.
Bill Baber
February 15, 2013
I really enjoy the type of characters you pick to tell these stories. Well done Mike!
Isaac Kirkman
February 15, 2013
Good stuff, Mike!
GiantsFanSince52
February 15, 2013
Gotta love old people.
Mike Miner
February 15, 2013
Welcome back, Mike. Always nice to see your dirty work here.
Dyer Wilk
February 15, 2013

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