Portal sfm, The Brick Part 58

The Brick
Part 58, "Going Underground," by H. Beckstein

His name is Lupari, Aldo Lupari. But people who look for him look for . . . The Brick

The Brick needed to do a lot --- finding the one-armed psychiatrist's real story, and taking vengeance on him were near the top of the list. But first, Brick needed to establish his cover. His first stop, the cemetery.

The gas station bathroom mirror was cracked and fogged but it served its purpose. Examining the stray white hairs in a field of black and the beginnings of wrinkles around his eyes and at the corners of his mouth, Brick guessed he appeared to be about thirty-five. It wasn't a healthy thirty-five, but that would get better. He crossed the street, entered the cemetery, and began to look for small stones with appropriate dates. There were several infants who died about thirty-five years ago and Brick took note of the most promising ones.

After several false-starts, and a couple of botched hospital office break-ins, Aldo Lupari, alias The Brick, and now alias Joseph Albert Cohen, had established his identity complete with a back-entered social security number, tax records, and the like. A hacker at the University of Chicago who owed the Brick several favors, had worked for six weeks setting up the cover.

The hacker did a good job --- he must have because Brick had a decent amount of money in his accounts. It wasn't an obscene sum that would send up flags anyplace. The paper cover was good.

On the bus, the Brick began to listen distractedly to two fellows' heated argument about philosophy. It was an inane argument and Joe turned his attention to other, more important matters. He had to establish a background story to go with his new cover. Brick laid out what he knew of Joseph Albert, the unfortunate infant and his alter-ego.

Joe was an only child. Actually, he did have an older brother who had caused Joe a bit of trouble, but he had cleared that up. When Joe was fourteen, he applied for a social security number, but the office refused to process him. Joe had to finally confront a series of bureaucrats (he had a lot of chutzpah for a fourteen year-old) who told him that Joseph Albert Cohen couldn't get a social security number because he was dead. They even produced a death certificate dated ten months before Joe's birth. Stunned at the news of his own "demise," Joe left the office and told his grandfather about the incident.

Grandfather smiled as Joe recounted his trials. "I know how they could have gotten confused Joey," he explained. "Your mother had a child before you, and she and your father named him Joseph Albert, after me and Opa Joseph. He died only three days after he was born, though. And your mother was so heart- broken that the only way your dad could console her was to give her another boy and name him the same. That's you. Poor Emily was still so sad, though, she died a few months after you were born." Albert sighed, "In any case, I'll help you straighten this whole thing out."

Joe's father died when Joe was about three. The child was entrusted to Albert, his maternal grandfather and only remaining family, save a few distant cousins who had emigrated to Argentina. Albert was a kindly gentleman, comfortable from the sale of his father's business machine company. He took it upon himself to raise and instruct Joey. They travelled extensively, visited museums and galleries, and read and studied together. Joe grew up to have a wide range of interests and great affection for his grandfather as a result of his unorthodox instruction. He never even thought about going to school until Albert died just a year ago.

The most convincing lies are based on truth, a the Brick himself had trouble separating the truth from the lies in his story. The names were all right, and so were the dates. Grandfather Albert was a conglomeration of the grandfatherly men he had met; wire-rimmed spectacles from one, a silver-headed cane from another, bushy white moustache from a third, and so on. It was a pretty good job. With a little effort, Brick could even convince himself that it was all true, and he had the documentation to prove it.

Next time: The Psychiatrist Spills the Beans

Return to Top