Once inside the pub, I look around and almost immediately regret coming in. Besides the woman behind the counter, there are only two people in the shop: a haggard-looking man by the heater in the back, and another in the corner with his dog. Strange, I think to myself this time, maybe I should have brought Jojo. I pick a table by the guy with the dog, hoping we may have something in common. After the slightly distracted woman from the counter takes my order, I would feel bad not buying anything, I turn to the man on my left. I see his cloudy eyes and understand the dog: he's blind. But he's noticed my presence (do I smell? I think back to the last time I showered in the frigid water of my flat), and says "I'm Jacen, how are ya?"
"Fine," I reply, "Loretta." We make small talk for a while about that guy on top of the bank this afternoon who everyone seemed to pay so much more attention to than the escaped convict who was all over the news. Priorities in this place are screwed up. Then I ask him about his dog, which he says he's had a few years now. "I have a dog too," I say, "Jojo, he's an Irish setter." The man raises his eyebrows, not so much in surprise but an expression of disbelief.
"How old is he?" Jacen asks in a low voice. I think for a minute, it's not something that's ever crossed my mind. A small smile crosses the man's face, "don't worry about it," he continues. He easily pushed his chair back and maneuvers his way out of the small restaurant.
I look around, painfully aware that I am now the only paying customer in the pub, and feeling almost as empty as when I came in, save for the brew that's not near as good as it was at home.
I wake up with my back to the well, in the same place I was all day yesterday. I haven't moved yet all day and all night. My head hurts. No coffee. No food. I wonder what woke me, then I hear someone clear their throat again. I mumble some sort of greeting. He tells me he has seen me in the coffee shop before. He wants me to meet him that night, around ten. He has a job for me. I tell him sure, fine, whatever, just point me towards my coffee. I tell him i may be a little off, its hard to read a watch when you're blind. He wants me to wait for him at the well again that night.
ReplyDeleteI wander around the woods, heading back into town. I stop in my basement and shower and change clothes. My radio won't turn on. Another thing broken. I work my way slowly around to the coffee shop. Some crazy person is yelling from the top of the bank. I have no use for banks. I don't keep enough money to even fill my wallet much less a checkbook, besides numbers don't mean much when they're on paper, can't see them. I reach the coffee shop. Get my coffee, and a huge breakfast. Some woman sits near me, she tried to be quiet but all the chairs creak differently. She says her names Loretta something or other. I half pay attention to what she says, worrying about Shadow. In a break in the conversation I get up to leave. I head back to my basement and set the alarm for 9 that night.
The alarm startles me awake. I head out, and over to the well again. Its easier the second time. The path is much rougher than I remember it though. Like its been walked more than it had this morning. I sit down by the well again and wait for the man to come back. There is some creaking in the wood around me. I call out, but no one answers. I wish Shadow were here, she always was enough to scare away people who would bother me, and could smell out the bad ones. I start to stand up when I hear a whooshing behind my ear and I feel something hit me in the temple and everything goes silent.
I wake up to someone splashing water on my face. Its very cold. The voice from that morning tells me to get up. Shoves my hands against a door. It has bars on it. I feel around and there are 2 locks on the door above the handle. He tells me to open it, or ill get hurt again. I hear the sound of wood smacking flesh, over and over while my head tries to fight its way out of the fog it was wrapped in when I got hit. He says to open it again, this time tapping me with the wood thing. I get to work, slipping in my pick gun and torsion wrenches to the first lock. IT goes quickly, the second takes me nearly 3 minutes, and i have to get out my hand picks for it. It is much more difficult than most locks around here. I am afraid, but all I ask for is my money. I want Shadow to be here, she wouldn't have let this happen to me. The second lock clicks open and no sooner I replace my tools than I hear the whooshing sound again. I try to block, bringing up my arms, and it bounces off my elbow, he curses and swings harder right into my temple where the first hit was. I blank again. I wake up in the woods by the well where i was before. And still no Shadow. I wonder why I even tried. I wonder if it was a dream. I stagger home and feel the blood drip from my face as I grimace when my elbow bumps something in the forest. Not a dream then. I get home and crawl into bed without any other thoughts. Tomorrow I will try and find help. Not today, today is lost. Bastard didn't even leave me any money. At least I still have my picks.
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ReplyDeleteIt’s been days. Where is Balboa? He wouldn’t leave on his own. Someone must have abducted him. But who?
ReplyDeleteWait a minute. That woman over there. I have seen her here before, a few days ago. Oh… that’s a mistake. Returning to the scene of the crime. No one ever said that criminals were smart. I have to do something. I have to question her.
She looks scared. All I did was ask her why.
Great. Now she’s running. Come back here, NOW!
It’s still somewhat chilly. I could take or leave the air rushing past my face.
A gunshot?
He stands over me with her blood on his hands. That smirk plastered on his face will stay with me to my dying day.
What happened? Where’d she go?
The door to the laundromat just slammed shut. I missed her? At least I know where she lives now.
What do we have here? The police seem to be arresting someone at The Jaguar. Why are people making such a big deal about this guy?
I have planning to do. I have to find Balboa. But first, I must get to know my enemy. Her movements might give away the location of Balboa.
She will regret the day that she crossed me.
I will find him.
It's Tuesday, the one day of the week I actually enjoy leaving the shop to make the walk through town to the weekly food market. It offers the closest thing to fresh produce this town has ever experienced. It's also the cheapest, at least compared to the overpriced, processed and packaged food offered at the Food Mart, which I only visit out of necessity. My walk to the market consists of taking nearly every turn and every street to get there. I visit the market even on weeks I don't need any fruits or vegetables just so I can make this walk. It's nice, for lack of a better word, to see all the changes that have taken place in the town over the years. It's even more interesting to see what all has stayed the same. Plus, this town is full of hermits. I don't want to burden it with another one. At least not on Tuesdays.
ReplyDeleteMy turn onto Polaski leads me to the crowd forming around the bank. A man I've never seen before is on top of the building, reading Bible scriptures while stumbling through every three syllable word and foreign name. A small, timid woman walks up beside me, amused by the sight. I almost don't recognize her without her dog. She's new here and looks as if she has yet to adjust. Nervously, she tries to make small talk.
"Think he's crazy?"
I shake my head. "Not any crazier than Jesus himself was."
She starts to laugh and then stops abruptly, unsure if I'm joking or not.
"Well I think he must be crazy. Why else would he do such a thing?"
I nod, not wanting to give much thought to the hundreds of reasons a person might "do such a thing."
"Maybe" she continues, "He's that criminal who escaped from the police station. I hear they're all crazy down there."
Before she can say any more, the bank's security guards step outside and push the crowd back. Instead of staying any longer I decide to continue on my way to the market.
This town never fails to amuse me.
After a few months of deliberation, I have decided to take it to the next step with Lu. This bold move is tremendously out of character for me, but after my last relationship I was ready to have some control. It was Tuesday, which meant I only had 5 days to intricately design the "move" I would make on Lu. One idea I had was to make Lu not only lunch on Sunday, but a dessert as well. Then he will immediately interpret my affectionate feelings, and I will let him do the rest of the work. Since most of my brilliant ideas came in the form of food, I decided to go to the food market to spark some more creative genius.
ReplyDeleteI walked outside onto Polaski only to find out the whole road had been closed off due to work on a manhole. That was just silly. I had to walk onto Rouse and through the area behind the church to compensate. Once I got to the food market, I couldn't help but take on my relentless food critic character. It really does bring out the worst in me. Apples, $1 a pound-way too expensive for the condition those "things" were in. Carrots, 25 cents per pound-they appeared to be okay, but for that unreasonably cheap price they had to have been green on the inside. After I had picked up a few things and was about ready to leave, a large dog jumped on me, aiming for the pork I assume. A middle-aged woman who appeared to be the owner, visually embarassed, yelled,
"JoJo, get over here RIGHT NOW!"
Then, turning to me,
"Ma'am, I am so sorry. It is not like him at all to act this way."
Funny, turns out both me and the dog were trying something out of character today. If I didn't feel sorry for her, I would have just walked away to let her know exactly how I felt about that. Who brings a dog to a food market, anyway? Instead, I politely and very much in my public character said,
"Do not worry. We all have our off days."
I started walking back to Jupiter apartments, the long way, glad this what-should-have-been-a-pleasant-trip-to-the-market-turned-massive-ordeal was almost over. Then, from out of nowhere, some loon runs up behind me, grabs my food, and continues running. What was wrong (relatively speaking) with this town today? Was this all a sign that I should wait a few more months until I "make my move" on Lu?