10- The Turn

10

The Turn

Leroy stood at the desk while the clerk and cute blond woman, named Melissa, took the deed into the back to be verified.  His jaw worked in irritation as the child in line behind him, once again bumped into the back of his leg.

He slowly turned, his face contorted in rage.  Behind him was the remainder of the line in the court house waiting to do whatever business they had come to do.  No one looked happy.

The child running into the back of his leg was a boy, about eight years old.  He was looking up at Leroy and grinning.  It was at this precise moment that Leroy realized that the child was bumping into him on purpose.

Leroy’s eyes shifted to the mother who had seen it all go down and looked like she couldn’t care less.  When he stared at her she stared back angrily and said, “What?”

Leroy briefly thought about reaching out and breaking the woman’s neck, but decided restraint was the smarter play.  Instead, he turned around and continued to wait.

The child bumped into the back of his knee again.

Leroy growled.

Leroy’s phone started buzzing in his pocket, disregarding the clearly marked ‘No Cell Phone’ sign, he took the phone out of his pocket and checked the number.

It was unrecognizable.  His eyes narrowed and he answered it. This caused uproar among the courthouse patrons, who all started griping and moaning at the same time.  Leroy could hear that the voice on the other end was Ernie but he couldn’t make out what he was saying thanks to the near deafening amount of whining going on around him.

Ernie was trying to say something but no matter how hard Leroy tried, he couldn’t make out a word.  Finally, he told Ernie to hold on then shouted, “SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

His deep resounding voice silenced the crowd instantly.  One man, halfway down the line stepped out.  “Hey you can’t talk on your cell phone, ASSHOLE!”

He was a small, skinny, white guy with glasses and was wearing disheveled office room clothes.  Leroy had to give the unimpressive man credit for the balls that took to talk back to him.  Business had to be taken care of, however.  Leroy walked over to the man who managed to stand his ground.

“You can’t do anything to me, so you shut up!”  The very repressed white guy said as he poked Leroy in the chest.

Leroy grabbed his finger and broke it.

The man’s face of steel and rage turned to that of a wounded child.  Instead of the loud scream that Leroy expected, he instead just did this silent open mouth mock yell and stared at his finger before dropping to his knees to hold it.  Tears streamed down his face.

Leroy scanned the rest of the line.  The couple waiting for the marriage license stumbled backward and out of the office.  Everybody else was silent.  Leroy nodded and walked back to the head of the line before bringing the phone to his ear.

The child bumped into the back of his knee again.

“ONE MORE TIME, KID!”  Leroy spun around and yelled at the kid who just grinned back at him.

Leroy went back to the phone still eyeballing the kid.  “Ernie, what’s going on?  Where the fuck are you calling from?”

“Time’s almost up boss, you have to listen.”  Ernie said, obviously talking fast.  “Me and Bert are in jail.”

“Jail?!  What the fuck happened?” Leroy cut him off, confused.

“Just listen, boss.  It’s all a set up.  We have been set up.  Bob had muscle and took us by surprise and…” Ernie was cut short.  The jail had cut the line.  He had run out of time.

Leroy looked unnerved.  Had Bob really pulled one over on him?  Had Leroy really been beaten by some loser gambler?

“Excuse me, sir?”  The cute clerk had returned.

Leroy turned back toward the counter and she smiled.  “There’re no cell phones allowed in here.”

Leroy took a deep breath and gritted his teeth.  “Of course, so is my deed recorded?”

The clerk did this sympathetic pained face.  “About that… I can’t record this.”

Leroy leaned in over the counter, his voice low and almost a growl.  “Why?”

The clerk raised her eyebrow, seemingly un-phased by Leroy’s threatening manner. “Because, it’s not a deed.”

“Looks like a deed to me.” Leroy said, on the verge of exploding.

The clerk’s eyes narrowed.  “You don’t deal with a lot of documents, do you?”

Leroy exhaled loudly.  “You need to file this.”

“This is a copy, not an original document.  You need the original, sir.”  The clerk responded, losing her patience.

Leroy pounded the desk with his fist, startling the clerk and all the people in line, “You’re not listening to me!”

The clerk’s face scrunched up.  “No, you’re not listening.  That is not a deed.  That is a copy, and you are lucky I don’t have you arrested for fraud!  So, with all due respect sir, you can go pound salt!”

The child bumped into the back of his knee again.

“Holy shit, kid!” Leroy spun around and he saw the uniform cops.  Three of them were standing between him and the door.

The cops were at the ready and had their hands on the butts of their pistols.  They were staring at him and moving toward him slowly.

The head cop raised his voice.  “Leroy Simpson, we have a warrant for your arrest for the crimes of extortion and illegal gambling.”

Leroy put his hands out to his sides and knew without a doubt that the game was over. Someone had set him up, and set him up good.  Leroy knew it wasn’t Bob.  Bob couldn’t have pulled this off so smoothly.

Leroy looked down as the cops approached, and saw that damn child grinning at him.

“I told you, kid.”  Leroy said.

Just before the cops got to him, he drove his knee into the kids face and sent him sprawling across the floor.

****

Bob was packing.

When someone takes a vacation or goes out of town for an extended period of time, they pack. Usually in an orderly fashion, they decide what they will need while away and in a neat and orderly fashion they strategically place these items into their luggage.  They would put clothes with clothes, food with food, and their tooth brushes with soap and other bathroom supplies etc. etc.

This was not how Bob was packing.

Bob’s packing came out of a guttural and desperate need to survive.  He believed now that the only way to do this was to run.  He was not sure where he was going to run to, how far, or even for how long.

He had not thought this far ahead.

He just knew that he had to run.  Run until he felt safe.

So, Bob packed as if he was on one of those shopping game shows.  He sprinted through his rooms, a suitcase in one hand, ripping things off hangers and tearing open drawers before shoving them in.

Bob packed hard.

Bob was sweating, he packed so hard.

After three hours of statements and unanswerable questions from the police, they had finally released him.  This was only after accusing him of nearly ten different crimes and interrogating him as to how he had managed to take down the extortionists by himself.

They had questioned him about everything, his debt, where he had gotten money for the restaurant and how he ended up in bed with Leroy.  He had left the restaurant out of it, of course, not wanting to get into more trouble with Savannah.  Instead, he stuck to what he was told and informed the police only of his gambling debt to Leroy and the fact that Leroy had sent Bert and Ernie to collect.

Now, everything was coming down.  He couldn’t take it anymore.  He had gotten caught between two loan sharks and the police.  He had no money, his house was about to be foreclosed upon and someone would claim the restaurant.

It was time to go.

His bag was packed.  He closed it and half zipped it up, his belongings still dangling out the side.  He dropped down next to his bed and reached under for a small lock box.  He popped it open to reveal his last insurance policy.

A small snub nose .38 caliber revolver.

Bob slipped it into the back of his pants then dropped his T-shirt over it, concealing the weapon.  He picked up his suit case, jogged down the stairs and ripped open the door.

Bob then screamed out loud.

Hank was standing in the doorway.  “Going somewhere?”

“No, I mean, I was…” Bob stammered, as Hank stared.

Hank was covered in bruises.  His eye and lip were swollen and somehow this only served to make him more intimidating.  This was enhanced, primarily by the fact that Bob had watched him tear Bert and Ernie to shreds that morning.

“How are you standing?”  Bob asked as part of a knee jerk reaction to Hank’s appearance.

Hank spit a wad of nasty chew onto the porch.  “With my legs.”

Hank reached out and grabbed the back of Bob’s scrawny neck, leading him back to his car.  “Come on, Bob.  It’s time for the victory celebration.”

End episode 10