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She was very
attractive, but it was her relaxed, nonchalant manner that
captured my attention. A good upbringing must have given
her such confidence and faith that all would be taken care
of. Somebody must be watching over her. She sat down on
the bench and waited patiently. What a serene vision to
brighten my afternoon. Something would have to spoil it
because that's the way it was for me.
Sure enough,
a thumping, reverberating sound came in shock waves from
somewhere and kept getting louder. It must have been some
kind of sonar device because the expensive foreign car it
came from stopped right in front of her. The booming waves
rippled the thin sheet metal that wrapped the car like plastic
clingy wrap. Where was this guy when I had kidney stones?
Just lean on the fender and you're stone free.
The thumping
mechanical vibes were of course, graced with angry voices
slurring anti-social messages. Definitely not in keeping
with her philosophy because when the driver spoke to her,
she just cast her eyes in another direction. His voice was
loud and abusive and after blowing off some steam, he left
a blue cloud of burnt rubber for her to remember him by.
She got up and walked down the street away from his keepsake.
Embarrassed,
she cast her eyes around looking for shaming onlookers,
but there wasn't anyone around. In seeming desperation,
she looked up towards my window, but I ducked.
The biker who
lived up on the next corner must have seen vultures circling
above because he decided to get on his hog and join the
parade. I'd seen him many times and always snickered at
the greasy hair and ragged denim vest. Always pretending
he had somethin' goin' on.
Something in
her purse needed attention and she seemed to miss this courting
gem rolling by. He sped off on his 'tuned mayhem' after
discovering the obvious. The mechanical thunder could be
heard for miles. I can't imagine which drug or form of psychosis
gave this guy the idea he had a shot with her.
Even worse, another
car pulled up. A beat up old Ford. A sad, guilty looking
front end sagged abnormally low. Probably from bearing the
heavy weight of its owner's dashed dreams. Its exhaust manifold
produced almost as much noise and smoke as the last two
combined. The motor shook the grayish panes of glass that
held my window frames upright. My favorite clay totem pole
fell right off a narrow shelf and exploded on the floor.
Even spidey couldn't stand it and sought refuge.
She strode over
and into the noisy bucket of bolts and off they went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hate noise.
I don't care where it comes from, I just hate it. But then,
I'm crazy. Cause I was going to the Casino tonight. Can't
figure it out? That's your problem. My problem was that
I had to look good so I made sure there were no stains on
my best shirt. Well, there wasn't many anyway. I gotta stop
eatin' pizza lyin' down.
Our local Casino,
The Sands of Iwo Jima seemed a great place to meet women
and a super place to get lung cancer. I had my comps card,
you know, the card that keeps giving nothin'. Kamikaze Dreams
is my favorite slot machine and it's as loose as some of
the women in here. 3 battleships on bet max will give me
the progressive. I hit on 3 nuclear clouds and the credits
are just makin' a racket, the kind of noise I don't mind.
People are even looking at me, including a familiar young
woman.
She disappeared
behind a group of tourists with big hair. For once, this
bloody machine is paying out and I can't wait till it finishes.
I cashed out quickly and stacked up my plastic cups of dollar
coins.
Of course, there
had to be a lineup of people waiting to cash their winnings
in. Despite the smiling faces behind the bunker windows,
their motto at the Sands was 'no pain no gain' Accordingly,
the coins were made from recycled lead. Some old guy was
next in line to the window before he collapsed. I swear,
the paramedics were slippin some of the slugs into their
pockets when they flipped him onto the stretcher.
I waited patiently
while some primitive part of my brain screamed at my legs
to go for a walkabout. Finally, I cashed in and with my
winnings in hand, I could search for my dream girl. I passed
the nickel slots where heavy, middle aged women sat watching
fruity symbols spin. One almost broke out into a smile as
five twinkies lined up diagonally. They'd have to get a
new cushion on that stool before she'd run out of credits.
I found her.
Thank you God, you are too kind. She was playing the 5 dollar
progressive slots. Another guy was sitting two seats away
looking over at her too. The jackpot turned above. It was
a brand new Jaguar. I sat down beside her slowly, took out
a twenty, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. I did the best
I could and put it in the money slot and prayed it didn't
gag like last time.
She acknowledged
my presence with a smile. There was little pretentiousness
as she played her game and won a little. Ding, ding, ding
and she was happy to win. No inhibition and lots of freely
expressed emotion right there for all to see. Such a natural
beauty, I stared hypnotically, till the guy to the right
of me started coughin' and hackin' like he was dyin'. Somethin'
wanted to get out of him bad, I'm tellin ya. The guy actually
hit three bars on the middle payline and wins. He collected
his fortune and then staggered off down the aisle looking
for another machine that would accept him. There was even
a trail of caked mud falling off of his shoes. You'd never
see that in a Vegas movie.
I returned to
the beautiful side of life.
"You seem to be doing alright tonight" I blurted
out almost choking on the last syllable like that dead man
walking guy.
"Well, this is the first time I've won at these slot
machines. Usually it takes my money quickly. But when it
pays, that's when it's all worth it" she said.
"Ya, you have to pay your dues here before you hit
big" I responded while looking over my shoulder somewhere.
She looked at me intently and asked "Do you come here
often?"
"No not really" I lied. "There's just something
about taking a chance and trying for the big win once in
a while. "
She noticed the slight stains on my shirt and returned to
face her machine again. "I'd like to win a car."
She said it as though I might not be the answer to her dreams.
You know, you
shouldn't read a book by its cover, but that's as far I
got. So I showed her I had a little savior faire ala 007.
"Oh, it's a Jaguar X9A, an elegant piece of machinery,
74 valves, 5 on the floor, the latest electronic fuel injection,
but really they're all the same. They get you from A to
B."
"Well, I'd like to get from A to B without the bus."
she responded.
Right away I saw dark shadows pursuing her as she got out
of the dirty city bus. Alone she faced a dangerous night
walk amongst drug dealers and rapists. The bus driver looking
back as though she'd never be seen again. I felt a wave
of sympathy coming over me.
"Maybe you'll
win it tonight"
She laughed, "That would be wonderful, but I know how
likely that is."
"Hey, I just won a bundle a little while ago"
She lit up. "Really! How much?"
"Oh, about 700 bucks" I said loud enough to interrupt
play on the aisle.
"Oh, my God, you're so lucky." She glowed. "How
would you like to play some table games?"
I stared at her beautiful eyes for a cursory millisecond
and said, "Yes." Which games do you like?"
She thought for a moment, "I like roulette. It seems
so sophisticated and you get to choose your lucky numbers"
"Ya, you choose your fate." I said. You can see
I'm not too good with words.
The table was
surrounded by people who looked like they had some cash
to spare and I felt out of place. There was no sense though
that she was a stranger to the group. They parted, making
room for her to buy her chips and place them. Her straight,
clean, shining hair was beautiful in the florescent light.
Maybe that's why she was visible from the others around
here.
I bought 500
dollars in chips and laid 300 on the 1st dozen. I worried
she might think I was cheap, putting a piddling 300 on the
line. The ball spun forever and she smiled at my sensible
bet. It hopped and bobbled and then bopped and hobbled and
kept going abnormally long as if to give everyone second
thoughts about their bets. Everyone fidgeted until that
wicked ball finally rested on the seven. I won. 2 to 1 payout!
Incredible, I'm actually having good luck. The waitress
gave me another beer.
She asked me
what my name was.
I tilted my head and said with a sly smile, "Burns.
Jerry Burns."
She coughed and with her own wry smile said, "Well,
Mr. Burns my name is, Fluenza, Anita Fluenza"
I was visibly disappointed. My dream girl sounded like some
disease. Now I understand the cough.
"I'm so glad to meet someone like you here Anita. You
know I really need to go to the washroom. Could you play
my chips for me?" I begged.
"Oh…. Ah, yes of course. Any favorite numbers?"
"No, not really, you make the decision and I'll just
live with it. Go ahead, I trust you." I said.
"Okay, don't be long" she said to the roulette
guy.
The washrooms
were on the other side of the casino so I walked quickly.
I had to go so bad and I wasn't sure if I could make it.
I was sweating buckets and starting to walk kind of funny,
in a little bit of a hunch. An old lady in a wheel chair
thought I was disabled and motioned with her one good arm
for her nurse to give me assistance. The nurse was preoccupied
with the old lady's oxygen bottle though and didn't give
me any notice.
Man, if I keep
sweatin' like this I won't have to go by the time I get
there. One of the security guards stopped talking to his
friend and turned his head toward me. With eyes cast downward
yet scanning the immediate floor ahead, he follows me. This
guy must be new to security work. He might as well hang
a sign on his back, Student Detective. Stay Back 50 feet."
I reached the
washrooms, which were adorned with pictures of soldiers
lying on a sandy beach facing barbed wire barriers. There
was blue sky above like a post card and the fancy lettering
at the bottom of one poster that said 'Relax, Enjoy the
Sands.'
Another poster pictured a Japanese pilot looking through
small, squarish glasses with a determined look on his face.
The sign above the urinal said 'you have just proven modern
advertising works.'
I thought about
that Kamikaze guy. "Ya, that's right, you just have
to be determined. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."
I said "YA…. YA! Full speed ahead." Some
guy showed up at the next urinal and looked at me kind of
weird. He said "Ya, Baby."
I just washed
my hands and walked out. "FREAK." I flung back.
I don't know
why, but I was feeling some doubts as to whether I was good
enough for this woman. Maybe she wasn't from a well to do
background, but she was elegant, natural and without vices
and here I was stalking her like some TV psycho. Maybe I
should tell her I saw her outside my place. Confessions
clean the soul don't they?
I arrived back
at the roulette table, but Anita was not there. I asked
the other players where she'd gone. They said she'd left
with a young man. She didn't leave my chips, She Just TOOK
OFF!!
I walked fast
to try and catch them. The cool refreshing night air met
me and I inhaled gratefully. It was quiet outside, aside
from the distant rush of highway traffic. A few faceless
people sat on benches waiting eternally for a ride that
would never come.
I wound my way
through the parked cars looking above them for a site of
her. Only the cold dark night was visible. Then a distant
growing roar of a wreck of a car and I knew who that was.
I started running and almost caught the car speeding out
of the gate. I could hear her laughing, brushing her long
hair back. I think she even saw me.
Unbelievable!
She just took my money and ran off with that guy. I ran
back through the endless zigzagged cars and finally found
mine. I jumped in and set about righting the wrong. I could
see them off in the distance following a country road out
of town, probably heading to the local private airport where
they'd chartered a small aircraft to Mexico. It was pitch
black, but I could see the red taillights every now and
then over the hills. The dust was making it tough to see
anything, but I knew this road anyway.
All of a sudden
something passed by me like I'm standing still. The dust
was too much and I couldn't even see 20 feet ahead. I slowed,
and in a few moments could see clear. Whoever and whatever
it was, he was closing in on Anita and her friend fast.
I kept driving in the dark and occasionally there were a
few lights in the distance to give me direction, but I don't
think I was gaining on them at all. Anita and her partner
were definitely doin' a two-step.
I came to a point
in this road near McKenzie Creek where you had to go south
or west. I got out and looked at the dirt road to see if
I could figure out by the tread marks which route they took.
Ya, like I'm an Indian tracker huntin' buffalo. I just guessed
and took the western route. That's probably how the Indians
got out there.
Bright night
stars were all there was to be seen and the cool night chill
was all you could feel. With a hope and a prayer I headed
west to seek my $1300 fortune.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were lights
ahead and as I drew closer I could see fire. The outline
of a car sitting upside down in the ditch was now visible.
I stopped and looked around and got out to check to see
if anyone was in the car. No one was there. The gas tank
exploded and the roar of the blast whipped over my head,
singed my hair and knocked me to the ground. Now my shirt
was really dirty. Damn!
Another car was
just ahead. It looked like the Porsche I saw outside my
window this afternoon. There was no one around. Continuing
down the road in my car I stopped by a dirt driveway protected
by a gate. Some lights blinked between some swaying branches
of trees about 300 feet away. Following the dirt trail to
a house or something, I could hear sounds inside. "Mine,
not yours" a man yelled.
Out of the distance
a helicopter came in quickly to land in a clearing and several
men jumped out with semi-automatic weapons. It rose again
to light the area up with floodlights I didn't have time
for disbelief, I had to move fast. I dove into a culvert
next to some shack on the property.
The three came
out of the house with their own semi-automatic weapons blazing.
They fired at the helicopter and it listed and crashed into
the ground bursting into flames. Some heavy set man with
scraggly hair rushed out of the cabin like he was Rambo
or somethin', only to get showered by a hail of bullets.
The shadows kept firing at each other until there was no
noise. The fire from the burning helicopter lit an eerie
scene of unearthly quiet. The kind of quiet I don't like.
The commando
training I'd received on TV told me to stay low and crawl
to safety. I ran through the bush and found my car. I was
so glad it started and I just stomped on the gas pedal.
A hail of bullets hit the glass and the trees around me,
but I just kept going out and down the road.
Before long,
there were two car lights behind me coming up fast. I couldn't
out run them, so I turned my lights off and drove off the
road onto a field. The terrain was really rough and shook
the car violently. There was some sort of ravine ahead,
so I just gunned it hoping the lip of the turf would give
me enough lift to get over. The seatbelt cut into me and
I gasped for air. I must have hit the other side of the
ravine. Water running under the car.
Even without
wind, I had to get out and get moving because whoever was
after me would still be there. Running erratically, I tripped
over a rock and fell. A flashlight blinded my eyes and a
voice spoke from behind it.
"Give me
the money and I will let you live." He had a gun pointed
right at me.
"Hey look, I don't have any money. I was just following
that woman who took off with the money I won at the Casino."
I was shaking.
"What… ah, so you knew Anita. She was a wonderful
lover, but she didn't know when to stop." His voice
was foreign. Anita was gone.
"No, I didn't know her, honest. I just met her at the
casino."
He laughed, "Ah yes, well, that is as long as it takes
with Anita. She must have given you the money knowing you
were a sucker."
"She didn't give me anything. I followed them out here
to get my winnings back that she stole."
"Of course. Perhaps you could come back to your car
and we'll take a look. Anita is very resourceful."
We walked back to my car half deep in the stream.
"Open the trunk." I took the keys out of the ignition
and went and opened the trunk. There was a bag in there
that I'd never seen. It felt like bundles of cash and weighed
about 25 pounds.
"Give me that," He said.
I threw the bag at him and ran. He fell back into the stream.
A shot whizzed past my ear and another burned my leg. A
small forest wasn't far away and although he shone the light
on me, his shot still hit some of the trees in the way.
Running was not
my thing even with a good leg and my lungs were heaving.
He'd likely catch me in a short time. I was gonna die out
here at the hands of some greedy underworld character. He
was getting closer so I laid low. The light from the flashlight
hit me and a shot rang out loud. There was no pain, no sensation.
Was I already dead?
The light dropped
to the ground. He was dead.
"Come back
here Jerry." A familiar voice yelled at me. "Come
back, I don't want to hurt you."
I got up and walked back toward her. It was Anita. "What
is going on?"
"You don't need to know. We have to get your car out
of the ravine before the police find it."
"What about all those other people back there?"
I said.
"They're all dead." She said with finality standing
still. "Kind of funny how it's just you and me left.
But you know, when I put the money in your car, I knew that
I'd see you again." Now she was startin' to get scary.
"What money, you mean my 1300 bucks? How many guys
like me did you rip off?" I asked with genuine intrigue.
She laughed hysterically, "Not many Jerry cause I'd
be a busy woman to get this much." She held the trophy
bag high and shone the light on it. She looked like a statue
of liberty holding the American dream in her outstretched
hand.
Another shot
rang out and ripped through her chest. She looked at me
wondering where my gun was, but it wasn't me. She dropped
face first into the ground with a thud. Whoever it was,
he was running. I grabbed the gun and dropped down behind
a small mound. A man ran up, picked up the bag. He shone
his flashlight toward me. "YOU!" he screamed.
I just pulled
the trigger. His body sagged to the ground like an old Ford.
Spidey was eating
again. I saw him having his gourmet feast above the headlines
of the paper. The title read 'Local man solves crime ring.'
I laid back and thought about how incredible it all was.
I bought a new car with the reward.
A gentle Atlantic
breeze blew the curtains on the window. The sound of footsteps
wafted up from the street. Normally I was too lazy to get
up and see who it was and this time was no exception.
by
Gord Collins
Other
short stories by the same writer:
The
Legend and Return to
St. Kitts.
**The views
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or any of its associates.
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