Monday, December 30, 2019

Yes, Michael Scott, I'm a little sticious myself

Had a good year of reading in 2019. Plowed through 33 books. Wifey laughed at me because I reluctantly started the 33rd book a couple days ago, intending to finish it in 2020 and maintain the nice round 32; but it was so good I finished it today, thus ending the year with an odd number that will haunt me for months and hopefully is not a bad omen for 2020.

It was good to finish on a high note though, as Larry McMurtry's "Telegraph Days" was a joy to read. He is most famous for writing "Lonesome Dove," which oddly enough, I have never read. But I've read a handful of his other works and they are all great.
The narrator of Larry McMurtry's newest book is spunky Nellie Courtright, twenty-two years old and already wrapping every man in the West around her little finger. When she and her teenage brother Jackson are orphaned, she sweet-talks the local sheriff into hiring Jackson as a deputy, while she takes over the vacant job of town telegrapher. When, by pure blind luck, Jackson shoots down the entire Yazee gang, Nellie is quick to capitalize on his new notoriety by selling reviews to reporters. It seems wherever Nellie is, action is sure to happen, from a love affair with Buffalo Bill to a ringside seat at the O.K. Corral gunfight. Told with charm, humor, and an unparalleled zest for life, Nellie's story is the story of how the West was won.
I gave "Telegraph Days" an 8+ on the Haugenomter scale of 1-10, just because it was such a fun read. Amazonians gave it 3.8 out of 5 and Goodreaders a 3.5. The somewhat lower ratings there are, to my reading of the reviews, due to the fact that there's just so many fun-haters out there. It's not non-fiction, folks. It's not a historical essay. It was a fun romp through history told through the eyes of a spunky 22-year-old woman. The fact that Buffalo Bill couldn't have been with her in 1876 when she met the Earp Brothers, because Bill was in another town, doesn't matter. Or it shouldn't. It wasn't meant to matter. It was meant to be a fun read, and it was.

One line I liked and have found true myself: "It's odd how it can take but a second for things to get out of kilter in this life."'

And this: "Being its first telegraph lady and then its mayor, had helped make me a responsible young woman. I had never been one to suffer fools gladly, but the main thing I learned, in the end, was not to insist on too lofty ideals. If you want to be part of a human community you have to suffer --patiently, if not gladly -- and you must practice civility as best you can. there were normal people, like the McClendon sisters, and great driving fools like Bill Cody, but the tribe of human beings is never likely to be crowded with Aristotles."

If I had to compare myself to another writer, it would be McMurtry. I am definitely the poor-poor-man's version and only aspire to be as good as he is. His books are mostly set in the Old West, but aren't really Westerns. They are more about eccentric characters who just happen to live in the 1800s. They are funny, sad, a little naughty at times, and some real thinkers.

Also, while I was posting chapters of "Pet Teachers" on this blog (I was pleasantly surprised by the number of you fine folks who were reading it) and pimping out my new book, Mustang Lang, I managed to read three other books but didn't find the time to post reviews of them.

They were more of the same I usually read and all good:

"The Confessor" by Daniel Silva filled in a hole I'd missed in the Gabrial Allon series. Gave it an 8 on the Haugenometer.

"Tanner On Ice" by Lawrence Block is from the Evan Tanner series and wasn't among Block's best. Gave it a 6.

"Bloody Genius" by John Sandford is of the Virgil Flowers series and was a fun one to read. Gave it an 8.

Thursday, December 26, 2019

Six books for six kids

Like my great-aunt Nora could always be counted on to give me gloves every Christmas, my kids and their significant others know they'll get a book from me.

I take the job seriously and don't just willy-nilly grab books off the shelf. I try to tailor them to the individual, knowing their reading habits and interests. While I can't take all the credit for having three smart kids and their intelligent counterparts, I like to think my promoting reading in their lives helped some. And science agrees with me. So why stop now?

This year's gifts were the following (all but one interest me):

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson.

But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in tasty chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

While you wait for your morning coffee to brew, for the bus, the train, or a plane to arrive, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry will reveal just what you need to be fluent and ready for the next cosmic headlines: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.

A Death in White Bear Lake: The True Chronicle of an All-American Town by Barry Siegel

In 1962, Jerry Sherwood gave up her newborn son, Dennis, for adoption. Twenty years later, she set out to find him—only to discover he had died before his fourth birthday. The immediate cause was peritonitis, but the coroner had never decided the mode of death, writing “deferred” rather than indicate accident, natural causes, or homicide. This he did even though the autopsy photos showed Dennis covered from head to toe in ugly bruises, his clenched fists and twisted facial expression suggesting he had died writhing in pain.

Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. She demanded to know the truth about her son’s death.

Why did authorities dismiss evidence that marked Dennis as an endangered child? Could Lois Jurgens’s brother, a local police lieutenant, have interfered in the investigation? And most disturbing of all, why had so many people who’d witnessed Lois’s brutal treatment of her children stay silent for so long? Determined to find answers, local detectives and prosecutors rebuilt the case brick by brick, finally exposing the shocking truth behind a nightmare in suburbia.

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible.

How to Have Impossible Conversations by Peter Boghossian

Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay guide you through the straightforward, practical, conversational techniques necessary for every successful conversation -- whether the issue is climate change, religious faith, gender identity, race, poverty, immigration, or gun control. Boghossian and Lindsay teach the subtle art of instilling doubts and opening minds. They cover everything from learning the fundamentals for good conversations to achieving expert-level techniques to deal with hardliners and extremists. This book is the manual everyone needs to foster a climate of civility, connection, and empathy.

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations―a search for the truth that threatens to consume him.

The Rise of a Prairie Statesman: The Life and Times of George McGovern by Thomas Knock

Drawing extensively on McGovern's private papers and scores of in-depth interviews, Knock shows how McGovern's importance to the Democratic Party and American liberalism extended far beyond his 1972 presidential campaign, and how the story of postwar American politics is about more than just the rise of the New Right. He vividly describes McGovern's harrowing missions over Nazi Germany as a B-24 bomber pilot, and reveals how McGovern's combat experiences motivated him to earn a PhD in history and stoked his ambition to run for Congress. When President Kennedy appointed him director of Food for Peace in 1961, McGovern engineered a vast expansion of the program's school lunch initiative that soon was feeding tens of millions of hungry children around the world. As a senator, he delivered his courageous and unrelenting critique of Lyndon Johnson's escalation in Vietnam―a conflict that brought their party to disaster and caused a new generation of Democrats to turn to McGovern for leadership.

Friday, December 20, 2019

My Christmas letter to ya'll

Welcome to the almost annual Haugen Yule/Hanukkah/New Years Letter, where I update you on the family's arrests and goings-on without having to spend money mailing it and deciding who is worthy of receiving it. Do I send it to best friends, the type that will help you bury the body? Good friends? Average friends? People I know but don't really like? People who think I like them but I don't? Well, since you are reading this, you are a really super-good friend (as far you know).

I think on the Haugenometer the Year of 2019 was a stellar 8 out of 10. Amazonians gave it a 4.2 out of 5.

"It sizzled," one reviewer wrote.

So let's get right to it, youngest to oldest, dumbest to smartest, ugliest to prettiest:

* Huckleberry. The Basset Hound added to his limited skill set by teaching himself to pop the lids off empty Gatorade bottles. Might come in handy someday, but can't imagine when. He's still pretty stubborn, self-centered and worthless, except for comedic relief, cuteness and warmth when sitting on your lap (coincidentally pretty much what they say about me).

* Stanley. The Man celebrated his 10th birthday a couple weeks ago. Considering he was diagnosed with cancer two years ago and given 2 weeks to 2 years to live, he's doing well. Actually, very well since we got him on some anti-inflammatory pain-killers three months ago. He's spry as a pup and enjoys jogs, hikes and frankly anything with me (it's nice to be adored so).

* Luke. Junior surprised us all and graduated college. He surprised us even more by graduating a semester early (Dec. 14) and with a GPA approximately 1.0 points higher than his father. (So, yes, he graduated with a 5.0 GPA!) He majored in criminal justice with minors in international affairs and sociology. While taking a full load of internet classes, he spent five months (July-November) on an internship in Georgia where he served with the Secret Service detail for former President Carter. He's on his Christmas Card list even! (It's a lot classier than mine, but smells like boiled peanuts.) Now he's on the job search, not sure where he'll land but if I were a betting man I'd guess the D.C. area.

* Rylee. Fresh off a root canal a couple weeks ago, she is in her third year teaching science to seventh-graders in the bubbly town in Illinois. Hubby Stetson continues to pursue his PhD at the University of Illinois and has already begun enlightening young skulls full of mush there. We made our annual visit in October and had a great time, hitting the Illini-Michigan football game, bowling in the student union and perusing the Jane Adam's Bookstore. They still have their cat and are Green Bay Packer fans.

* Kirk. He and his wife, Julie, live in Minneapolis with their two boys, Cooper and Turner. He's having his best year ever as team leader at US Bank Stadium. We hope to see them in Miami in February. They have a dog and hate the Packers.

* Katie. As West River director for Rep. Dusty Johnson, she has his Rapid City office up and running very well. She will also be his statewide campaign director, as the two-year terms of congressmen allow for little rest on that front. Just when I was getting use to the 4 x 8 election signs taking up room in my garage, they will be gone soon. She continues to hang out in the Keystone area a lot and has taken an interest in gold mining.

* Nancy. Wifey had a great year. She found a job and boss she greatly enjoys at Nelson Chiropractic in RC. She is a certified Chiropractic Assistant now, so she can take care of the pain in the neck she causes me. I kid, I kid. For fun she enjoys riding the new Peloton bike I bought her for Christmas. She also enjoys live music and we hit everything from Neon Trees to Halestorm to Charley Pride. She managed a trip to Jacksonville to hang out with some relaticks and to visit Luke early on his southern stay.

* Me. Still working for The Whip and just finished my 15th year with the best boss ever, besides the time I was self-employed. Otherwise I mostly read, write and grow tomatoes. The tomato crop was average by my standards, but better than a lot of others I heard from, as crazy wet, cool weather wreaked havoc across the state. I published a novel recently. "Mustang Lang" is available in paperback and e-book form on Amazon. Check it out. Support struggling artists. Also, this Fall, I made a long-desired trip to Savannah, where Junior came over from Americus, GA, and we did the town for a long weekend. It was a great time.

For 2020, I foresee a late winter trip to Florida in our future. Not going this year made the winter excruciatingly long. Waiting to see where Luke lands as well, as that will be good for another road trip. Otherwise Nancy and I will be staying put for the most part with Stan and Huck and the rabbits, Hank and Waylon, and the nine fish. Our dog-sitter went off to college at MIT in Boston, so that hampers our travels as I antagonize the wife by not allowing my dogs to be kenneled. The moral to that story is to pick dumber dog sitters who don't go anywhere in life.

Here's hoping your 2020 is fun, happy, prosperous and safe. If it's not, keep it to yourself, because I'm really not interested in listening to other people's problems.

Monday, December 16, 2019

A glimpse of Mustang Lang

A couple excerpts  of my new novel "Mustang Lang" to give you a little look at the man:

When they give you that name, you’ve got to dress the part, cowboy or not. My six-foot-four hefty build was augmented by the two-inch heels of my six-hundred-dollar Tony Lama ostrich boots. They are round-toed and color of peanut brittle. My Levi’s were held up by an alligator belt. My turquoise long-sleeved shirt was layered with a nifty brown, lambskin vest. A lot of animals gave their lives for me to look this good, including the beaver for my black cowboy hat. Undoing Noah’s good work on the arc seemed to be my calling.

***

I’d always sensed a little disdain from my father that he needed a hired hand while having a perfectly able-bodied son living fifty yards away. Anna tells me I read too much into the thoughts of my Pops, since he’s never voiced any disappointment in me. But sons do that. I could solve the mystery of who really killed JFK and probably feel like I’d still let him down because I hadn’t helped him vaccinate calves that morning instead.


Sunday, December 15, 2019

BOOM! My new book, Mustang Lang, is now available

My newest novel "Mustang Lang" is now available at Amazon in paperback or ebook form - pick your poison.

In a nutshell, Mustang has a PhD in French, but lives in a guest house on his parents' ranch near Belle Fourche where he was raised. He's not much of a rancher though, only helps his dad when needed. His fulltime job and passion is as a private detective, where he picks up most of his work from his longtime girlfriend, who is a local defense attorney.

One day he is approached by the purveyor of a call-girl operation. Ruby wants him to track down her high-end call-girl, Sara Kay, who has gone missing. A day later, an obnoxious cattle baron from Texas approaches Mustang to find a girl as well. Turns out it is Sara Kay, too. So Mustang double-dips on them and begins the search.

Once he finds her (spoiler alert) he begins to doubt the motives of those looking to find her and assists Sara Kay in keeping her hidden.

Sara Kay is a major player in the book and details how she got into the profession and the series of events that led to her being a wanted woman.

In the book, stuff happens. Hookers will hook, detectives will detect, as both find themselves in various jams along the way.

One problem I had was choosing the genre. It's not a romance, though both characters have romance and problems with it. It's not a murder mystery, though there is a dead guy who may or may not have been murdered. It's not a smut novel, though there's a couple PG scenes and some language unfit for members of the clergy, unless they're Catholic.

So let's call it an adventure and leave it at that.

I also had trouble deciding on a title. It just as easily could have been called "Sara Kay" as "Mustang Lang," but I like to rhyme, most of the time. It was even called "Murder. Period." for a short time until I decided that didn't really fit, though it's kind of funny as you will see at the end. It was also "Love Travels" for a brief period, of which you'll see why at the end too. "Mustang Lang" seemed to be the most all-encompassing without giving an incorrect allusion to it being some kind of book it's not.

So it's "Mustang Lang." It's not an opus. You should be able to knock it out in three or four days.

It's also very reasonably priced. Remember, Kindle Unlimited subscribers get the ebook version for free. It doesn't get much better than that unless I paid you to read it, but I haven't gotten that desperate yet.

If you like it, please leave a review at Amazon, as they tell me people really rely on those things. If you don't like it, don't bother.

Thanks again for supporting your independent authors (even if they've sold out to Amazon).

Here are some other Haugen classics to put in your cart in case you missed them:

Runaway Trane Paperback edition Ebook editions
Bags of Bodies Kindle edition
Bags of Rock Kindle edition
Joshua's Ladder/Amy's Ladder Paperback edition
Joshua's Ladder Ebook editions
Amy's Ladder Ebook editions
Zoo Falls Kindle edition






Friday, December 13, 2019

Pet Teachers - The Saturday Epilogue

THE SATURDAY EPILOGUE

Candy and Buster sat in lawn chairs outside the motor home and watched the sun set over the lake. She had her top off to "let the little girls breath.”
“Is the kid going to be able to breast feed with those piercings?” Buster asked.
“Probably, but I ain’t going to breast feed anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t want him to starve,” she laughed.
“Did you say ‘him’?”
“Just a feeling. Mother’s tuition.”
“You gonna stop smoking?”
“Do I need to?”
“That’s what they say. Bad for the baby.”
“Then I probably will,” she said, snuffing out her Marlboro in the grass.
“And what about drinking?”
“You mean booze?”
“Yeah. Bad too.”
“Okay, I’ll stick to beer,” she said, sipping a Bud.
“I think they consider beer to be booze too.”
“Jeez are you going to be ragging on me for seven more months?”
“Just looking out for Junior.”
“Then, I suppose,” and she tossed the half full beer to Buster.
“And I hear lots of sex is really good for the woman’s health,” he smiled.
“Now you’re just making shit up,” she said.
“Figured I was on a roll.”
“Well, I guess if I’m not going to be drinking or smoking I gotta find something else to do with my time.” And she took him by the hand and led him inside.
As she shut the door, she hung a sign on the door handle. “If the RV is rocking, don’t come knocking.”

**

With Rose off working and shopping all day, Reuben used his Saturday to tend to the roses he’d been neglecting of late and to run some errands. He returned home just in time for supper, which was also at 6:00 on the dot.
He opened the kitchen door and lifted his nose to drink in the smell of fried chicken. The bucket of KFC on the table caught him off guard as Rose wasn’t the fast-food chicken type. He was caught more off guard when Rose beckoned him from the living room: “We’re in here.”
The “we” surprised him. More so when the “we” turned out to be Rose and Slug sitting on the couch drinking iced tea.
Reuben gave her an apprehensive peck on the cheek and Slug a hearty handshake.
“Slug, you’re out?”
“Thanks to your lovely bride here,” he growled in his nicest growl.
Reuben looked at Rose and with his hands at his side, opened his palms and shrugged his shoulders to signify “what the heck?”
“Sit down Reuben,” she said. “We need to talk.”
Slug gave him a reassuring nod and Reuben sat on the edge of the recliner across the room from them and flashbacked to his collegiate day-of-reckoning with Dean Alma. His usual ice-coolness was beginning to drip down his armpits.
“Reuben, you know I love you,” she began. “You’ve been the best husband a woman could have. You’re kind to me, you’ve provided well for us, you’ve loved me, doted on me and treated me like a queen. That’s why over the past several years, I’ve looked the other way when you’ve taken imaginary classes and pretended to take up new hobbies; while I knew full well what you were really doing. I always had full confidence in your ability to pull these things off. But you aren’t the only smart one in this family.
She paused to take a sip of tea. Slug gave him another “hang in there” nod.
“As such, I became aware that this last motorcycle stunt of yours seemed to have you in a delicate pickle with the Black Lords. So, given my particular friendship with Mr. Slug, I thought it might benefit you to have our friend back on his home turf to keep things from getting out of hand.”
Then she offered an open hand to Slug to take it from there.
“So she drove to Denver this morning and bailed me out. We got here about five minutes before you.”
“That’s why we are having KFC tonight. I’m sorry,” Rose said.
Slug continued: “While I’m not happy my top two lieutenants are going to be spending the next couple decades in prison, I am glad to know that they weren’t as loyal to me as I thought they were. It was better for me to find out under these circumstances than under other circumstances later that might’ve had more dire effects on me and the Lords.”
“So we’re good?” Reuben said, looking at Slug, then Rose, not sure whom to address first.
“We’re good,” Slug said. “You got nothing to worry about from my boys.”
“And we’re golden,” Rose said endearingly. “I only ask if you have future summer plans like this that you are more open with me about them so I don’t have to resort to my other means.”
Not wanting to ask what her “other means” were, though he was racking his brain as to what they might be, he concurred. “I promise.”
“Can we kill that chicken now?” Slug asked.
“Let’s kill the chicken,” Rose said. And the trio retreated to the kitchen.

**

Even by Larry’s standards, he was putting on the ritz. He made pasta noodles from scratch, his own Alfredo sauce and Caesar salad. A candle flickered in the middle of the dining room table. His finest China and cloth napkins were set for two. Norah Jones softly warbled through the Bose speakers.
Auburn Thrice showed up at the tick of 7. In a white floral pattern blouse and knee-length pink skirt, she looked like a spokes model for Georgia peaches. Her blonde hair shimmered and her skin seemed illuminated in the setting sun. She looked so angelic Larry almost felt guilty as he opened the door - almost.
“You are heaven on earth,” he said, giving her a soft kiss on the lips.
“Thank you, Laurence, and you’re looking dapper as well.”
He was decked out in black dress pants and bright purple dress shirt, the collar held together by a turquoise Native American-made bolo tie. His usually unruly red hair was slicked back with half a bottle of hair gel.
Larry motioned to the dining table with one arm, the other around her waist. “I threw together some pasta Alfredo, if you’d care to join me?”
“Actually, Laurence, I’ve been thinking about this night all weekend and I’m too excited to eat. I don’t want to offend you, but could we go to your bedroom first and eat later?”
That was about the dumbest question Larry had ever been asked, but didn’t tell her that. Instead, he kept his composure and blew out the candle. “Let me turn down the water. It wasn’t quite ready for the noodles anyway.”
Turning off the stove, he attempted not to appear too eager and nonchalantly led her to his bedroom at the rear of the bungalow.
There too he’d gone all out and washed the purple satin sheets and added a couple throw pillows. He turned on the lights and dimmed them a bit.
Auburn moved to the foot of the bed and turned to face him. She pulled the blouse over her head, somehow barely moving a hair on her head. She reached behind her waist and unclasped her skirt, which floated to the floor like the closing curtain of a Broadway musical. She wore nothing else.
Larry’s mouth fell open as he his eyes moved up and down her nude body. He was transfixed. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful, so perfect, so blonde, so pure. This was the best weekend of his life.
Then a police siren sounded in his driveway. “Whoop, whoop!” was the short signal, not the long police chase type. It was the “I’m here. Pay attention” siren.
Larry’s stomach sank like a guy who hit all the winning lottery numbers but lost his ticket. “Just ignore it,” he said. “Probably at another house.”
“But yours is the only one up here,” said Auburn, who’d somehow dressed even quicker than she’d undressed.
“Stay here. Let me go see what’s up.”
Before he could get to the door, somebody was already knocking. He didn’t need three guesses as to whom.
Larry opened the door and stood firmly in the doorway to prevent entry. It didn’t work. Diedra Deeds busted through him like a bear through a young willow tree. In blue nylon sweatpants and gray “Colorado Buffaloes” sweatshirt she didn’t look as appealing to Larry as she had in the past.
“Hey, Laurence,” she said overlooking the table. “Expecting company?”
A tongue-tied Larry stood mute.
“He has company,” Auburn said from the bedroom door. “Who are you?”
“I see college has put some spunk in the school board president’s daughter,” Diedra said. “I’m Laurence’s girlfriend.”
“No, no, no, no,” Larry sputtered, waving his arms like trying to put out flames.
“I thought I was your girlfriend,” Amber said, arms crossed in the universal sign that meant trouble for a dude.
“She’s lying,” Larry said.
“Oh, that wasn’t you I was sleeping with last week and the weeks before?” Diedra twisted the knife.
“Laurence! Is that true?” Amber said.
“But she’s not my girlfriend, just a friend.”
“With great benefits,” Diedra said.
“And to think, Laurence, I was saving myself for you!” Amber marched to and out the door.
Larry was shell-shocked at his change in fortune.
“Easy come, easy go,” Diedra said. “What’s for supper?”
But Larry wasn’t having any more of it. “Nothing for you.”
“Oh, but Laurence, you know better than anyone what I can do for you on a full stomach.”
“I’ve lost my appetite for food and women,” Larry said. “I’m going celibate.”
“Well you know how to find me,” she said. “And I for damn sure know how to find you. Toodles.”
And then Larry was alone. He sat down at the gorgeous table for two, put his head on an empty plate, and wept real tears that would’ve made the original Laurence Olivier proud.

- THE END -

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Pet Teachers - Chapters 37-39

Chapter 37

“THIS IS THE PART that makes me nervous,” Larry said as he and Reuben weaved between concert-goers. “The deciding factor that lies between us and two-hundred grand each or twenty years in prison is Mr. and Mrs. Ding Dong being able to pull this off.”
“Exciting, isn’t it?” Reuben smiled.
“Not the word I was thinking of,” Larry replied.
About forty-five minutes passed by the time they made it back to their car and drove it around and through thousands of motorcycles until they were able to get within one-hundred yards of the employee gate on the other side of the campground. Fortunately for them, Kid Rock was in no hurry to take the stage, probably doing Lord knows what for pre-concert prep in his bus.
They parked again and moseyed about near the back staff entrance, where a half dozen hired guns in black leather jackets played rent-a-cop. They could see the busses and the back of the stage but were not able to make out Buster among the bustling concert-goers practically surrounding it.
“He’s back there somewhere isn’t he?” Larry groused as they paced in haphazard fashion, trying to look innocent and failing. But, really, if they did look innocent they would have stuck out even more as everybody else in a four-mile radius was probably doing something illegal or had been within the past twenty-four hours.
“He’ll figure out a way back there,” Reuben reassured Larry. “I think he was going to try crawling under the stage. He’s not as dumb as he looks.”
“That’s only because it’s not possible,” Larry added.
A slow rumble then began to emanate from the mountains of speakers and began to build into a crescendo of bass guitar announcing the coming of somebody important. Larry and Reuben couldn’t see him, but somebody had taken the stage and began playing the part of emcee.
“Ladieeeeees and gentlemen!” he bellowed over the bass riff. “From Detroit, Michigan, it’s the baddest-ass mother-fucking pimp in the god-damned nationnnnn! Kid Rock!”
Cannons exploded, flames erupted, guitars blasted and the Kid in bluejeans, wife-beater t-shirt and fedora sprang onto the stage and kicked into a rousing eruption of “Bawitdaba.”
“What’s he saying?” Larry screamed to Reuben.
“Bath water!”
“Bath water? You know this song?”
“No. But it’s what he’s saying.”
“I take it it’s not a Frank Sinatra song.”
“Hardly.”
“Let the show begin,” Larry added.
“Yup,” Reuben said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing Zeke.
Four rings later he picked up. “Ya!” he screamed into the phone.
“Do you see him in the wheelchair?!” Reuben screamed into his.
“Ya!”
“You got Candy?!”
“Ya!”
“See the briefcase?!”
“Ya! Under the chair!”
“Send her over to it. Keep behind her! Have her open it!”
“Don’t screw me!”
“Never! Just leave Buster there and Candy will wheel him out when the concert’s over.”
“Okay! We’re going!”
Since they couldn’t see anything but the back of the stage and a dense layer of smoke lingering around it, Larry and Reuben where at the mercy of the Lords now to unwittingly follow instructions.
Buster had indeed sneaked under the stage and was peering from under the front corner. With sweat dripping into his eyes he was able to make out Candy nudging her way toward the governor in the chair. Zeke was over her shoulder. Buster’s blood boiled at the sight of him.
As she reached the chair he could see her confusion in trying to figure out who was sitting in the chair. Still, she did as told and pulled the briefcase out from underneath. She knelt down behind the chair, fiddled with the latches and opened it. Zeke was trying to get a view but was sandwiched between a gyrating throng of rockers and unable to get a glimpse of its contents.
Candy closed the case and stood. Turning to face Zeke she nodded affirmatively to him and held the briefcase up to her chest with both hands. Zeke reached for it, and she slammed it into his face.
Having to choose between grabbing it or her, and with a bloody nose clouding his thinking, he chose the money. Candy chose to run towards the stage. She hopped up on it. A startled Kid Rock smiled. His bodyguards weren’t so enamored with her. One gave her a shoulder bump and she flew off the side of the stage and into the arms of Buster.
By now, Snake was at Zeke’s side and they both struggled to open the case. Finally succeeding, they were greeted with ten copies of the latest edition of the Rapid City Journal. Net worth: $5. About $99,995 less than they anticipated. Not being big readers, they were pissed. Zeke tipped the wheelchair over backwards. Both hopped on the Governor Formerly Known to Them as Buster and began pummeling him with their fists.
Now Kid Rock may be a bad-ass and his bodyguards doubly bad-asses and they may all appreciate watching a good fight, but nobody, absolutely nobody, is going to beat up a handicapped person in their presence! Seeing this monstrosity of behavior, Kid and three of his ilk leaped from the stage and began wrestling with Zeke and Snake, trying to pull them off their victim, who by now, had become mostly unraveled in the melee.
Other fine citizens untangled the governor from the chair. He was a bloody mess, standing in his Mickey Mouse underwear, bleeding from head to toe. Flash bulbs were flashing, video cameras were videoing and picture-phones were picturing and two nearby co-eds enjoying the last days of summer vacation lifted their tops for a moment of fame. Within five minutes they and the good governor of South Dakota were celebrities on You-Tube.
But the governor still wasn’t being treated like a celebrity among those around him.
On their stomachs with three-hundred-pound lugs sitting on each of them, arms bent groutesqly behind their backs, Zeke and Snake leered at the governor.
“You ain’t Buster!” Zeke screamed.
“Who the fuck are you!?” Snake screamed.
“The gubbenor,” Gov. Arnie McCall stammered between split puffy lips they’d given him.
“Oh, shit,” Zeke managed to eek before his head was stuck back into the dirt and real cops arrived on the scene.

Chapter 38

BUSTER CARRIED Candy in his arms, not because she was injured but because he wanted to. He jogged through the makeshift parking lot behind the stage, zig-zagging between the pimped out busses of the rock stars and semi trailers of their less-affluent roadies. He made it through the back entryway, now unguarded because all the security detail had been dispatched to the ruckus at the front of the stage.
Crossing the dirt road he saw the always punctual Reuben sitting behind the wheel of the get-away car, Larry in the passenger seat and the back door swung open and inviting. Buster set Candy inside and she scootched to the middle. He plopped in next to her.
“Howdy, sunshine,” Larry said.
“Up yours, Larry,” she said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” he grinned.
“Boy, am I glad to see you guys,” Buster said.
“You’re all sweaty and smelly,” Larry added.
“You’re no petunia,” Buster said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Larry grinned again.
Candy cuffed him on the back of the head, but he knew sometimes there is a price to pay for a good one-liner and accepted it.
As the car kicked up dust, Reuben said: “You done good Buster. You too Candy.”
“What the hell took you guys so long to rescue me?” Candy asked.
“We’re thieves, not commandos,” Reuben said. “They treat you okay?”
Buster seethed, waiting for the answer – a wrong one would have sent him over the edge.
“Not as good as my Buster does, but they didn’t hurt me,” she said.
Buster breathed a little easier, but still steamed.
“Where to from here?” Buster said.
“The Mine Shaft,” Reuben said. “Where else?”
“Good. I could use a beer or twelve,” Buster added.
“Heard from Selma?” Candy asked.
“She’s got the motorcycles and should be near Sioux Falls by now,” Reuben said. “She said she would call when she delivered the goods.”
“Are you sure these Black Lords won’t rat us out?” Candy said.
“I’m sure.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because they know we would then tell the cops they kidnapped you,” Reuben explained. “Then they will have to explain how they trained us to ride the motorcycles, which makes them accomplices to kidnapping the governor too. So they’d get two counts of kidnapping instead of one. But there is probably a bigger reason they won’t narc on us.”
“What’s that?” Buster asked.
“Mostly because they don’t want to be known as rat finks, PLUS they betrayed Slug. They’re probably safer in jail.”
“Wow, you thought of everything,” Candy said, perhaps the first compliment she had ever paid anyone.
“That’s my job,” Reuben said, proudly.

Chapter 39

“School starts in two weeks you know,” Larry said, sipping a beer at the Mine Shaft.
“Yep,” Reuben said. “After this, it will make those little monsters seem almost bearable.”
“How about you, Larry. I hear you are single again.”
“Yes, but I hear the VA hospital in Hot Springs just hired ten new nurses.”
“Well that ought to get you through the first semester anyway,” Buster said.
“And you, Buster?” Reuben said. “Anything special you’re going to do with this payday?”
“Gonna add on to the house – a rec room with flat screen TV and another bedroom.”
“Why?” Larry asked.
“The baby’s room.”
“Huh?” Reuben grunted, almost dropping his beer.
“Yep. I wasn’t going to tell you guys until this was over, but before we came out here Candy went to see an optician. She’s pregnant!”
“Congratulations!” Larry and Reuben said in concert, lifting their beers.
“When she due?”
“March 17. Saint Patrick’s Day.”
“Maybe it’ll be a leprechaun,” Larry grinned.
“Maybe he’ll come out with a golf club and kick your ass,” Buster was quick to retort.
“I guess that’ll take you out of action for any jobs next summer,” Reuben said.
“Think we’ll have something?” Larry asked.
“Nothing for sure, but it’ll give me something to think about during study halls.”
“Like what?” Buster asked.
“I don’t know. Nothing for sure, but I hear there might be something popping at the Corn Palace in Mitchell - supposedly a Smithsonian tour including the original Declaration of Independence.”
“I’ll bring the butter,” Larry chirped.
“I bet you will,” Reuben said. “I bet you will.”

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Pet Teachers - Chapters 34-36

Chapter 34

“SO WHAT DO WE do with the governor for 12 hours?” Larry asked.
“We get him a bite to eat, pick up a few more supplies and take a nap,” Reuben said.
“Can I have a beer yet?” Buster whined.
“Sorry, big guy,” Reuben said. “Gotta hold on for a few more hours. Your work has just begun.”
“If all goes as planned,” Larry added, “we’ll have you back here before closing time.”
“Good. There’s a keg in the back with my name it.”
“I’m sure it’ll need rescuing, just after you rescue the little missus,” Reuben said.
“Boy, I bet she is gonna be pissed off,” Buster said, shuddering a bit.
“She’s always pissed off,” Larry added. “This time she finally has a reason.”
“Speaking of that,” Reuben said. “Let’s go check on the governor, get him something to drink and I’m sure he needs a bathroom break. Hate for him to foul my trunk.”
“I just hate the thought of a governor fouling himself, period!” Buster said.
“This is definitely a conversation I never thought I’d be having,” Larry concluded. “Where is this endeavor going to take place?”
“Let’s go to the Quick Mart,” Reuben said. “We’ll get him a big cup of iced tea and a straw. I don’t think we dare feed him. He’ll get hungry but he won’t starve. Then we’ll stop out in the woods for him to drink and whiz.”
Reuben laid a twenty dollar bill on the table and after a two-fingered wave to Shorty they strolled out the way they had come in. Larry rapped on the trunk of the car. The governor responded with a: “Hmphhhh grrrr gaaaak” which they interpreted to mean: “I’m still here.”
They picked up some junk food, all eight packages of the gauze bandage wrap they had on hand, and a couple Super Gulps at the Quick Mart and Reuben steered the car toward the interstate.
“Thought we were going into the backwoods?” Buster said.
“We will,” Reuben said, “but I want to get one errand out of the way. We need a wheelchair.”
“Where the hell we gonna get one of those?” Larry asked.
“Been considering that,” Reuben said. “Thinking the hospital in Spearfish always has a couple sitting outside their emergency room entrance. We’ll do a quick snatch and grab and then take a potty break.”
Fifteen minutes later they were in Spearfish and parked half a block from the hospital. After waiting to make sure of no passers-by Larry hopped out and moseyed along the sidewalk to the emergency room entrance. The bill of Buster’s baseball cap tilted over his eyes and with the car out of sight of any potential video cameras, he kept his head down and nonchalantly nabbed a wheelchair sitting near the handicap ramp, just like Reuben had predicted.
But the ring-leader had not predicted the white Dodge minivan squealing around the corner and  screeching to a stop just as Larry stepped off the curb.
A twenty-something string-bean of a man in running shorts and tank top jumped out of the van. His face was flushed and he was awfully excited. “My wife’s having a baby! My wife’s having a baby! Can I have that wheelchair!?”
Larry kept his head down. “Sorry Bud. My mom’s having a heart attack. Get the one up there!” He pointed to another wheelchair up near the dock where they unloaded ambulances.
The man looked even more confused, but thankfully followed orders and hurdled up to the dock.
Larry didn’t look back and picked up the pace, finally reaching the awaiting Cadillac. He folded up the chair, tossed it in the backseat and hopped in the back.
“Jeesh! Nothing ever goes as planned!” he grumped to the twosome in front.
“Tell me about it,” Reuben said, gunning the engine.

Chapter 35

OUTSIDE OF SPEARFISH Reuben found a gravel road into the forest and pulled off to the side once the trees blocked them from view of the highway.
“Remember, no names, and let’s get him out of the trunk,” Reuben said.
“Alright Zeke!” Buster said obnoxiously loud.
The governor didn’t put up much of a struggle exiting the trunk. He knew now his hero act had backfired, was soaked with sweat from a combination of heat and fear and wondered what they had in store for him now.
“Gotta pee?” Buster asked.
He nodded in the affirmative. With bandanas over his eyes and mouth and hands tied behind his back, the three teachers stared at each other, all wondering the same thing: “How we going to do this?”
Reuben pointed at Larry: “Unzip him.”
“Why me?”
“Because he can’t,” Reuben answered.
“No way,” Larry beckoned the courage to say.
“Oh jeez,” Reuben said. “I’ll do it.”
Both hands on his shoulders, Reuben steered the governor next to the ditch. He reached around, unbuckled his belt, unzipped his Wranglers and pulled down his shorts and boxers.
“Go here,” Reuben ordered.
Everybody turned away in embarrassment.
“Did you see his underwear?” Buster whispered to Larry.
“No. Tried not to look.”
“He’s got Mickey Mouse underwear.”
“And you’re surprised?” Larry said.
When the whizzing stopped, Reuben turned back around, pulled up the shorts and walked the governor back to the car, where Larry waited with the iced tea. He pulled up the bandana enough to slip a straw in and the governor took the opportunity to let out a wimpy squeal: “Help.”
Larry shoved the rag back in and asked: “Do you want a drink or not?”
The governor nodded affirmatively and they tried one more time. This time the governor took several long draws on the straw before Larry pulled it away and shoved the rag back in.
“That was the toughest part of the entire day,” Larry said after getting the governor back in the trunk and slamming the hood.
“Then we’ll be okay,” Reuben opined.

Chapter 36

THE DAY DRAGGED ON but with a long nap under their belts and nightfall having finally arrived, the teachers headed back to unfriendly territory and followed the slow snaking of cars into a pasture turned make-shift parking lot east of Sturgis. The Buffalo Chip was an infamous campground in a nearby pasture whose nightly concerts were legendary for debauchery, beer and rock and roll – all the things that make life worth living.
The teachers had transferred the governor into the back seat, and with the aroma of Mary Jane wafting through the open windows, they wrapped his head and hands in white bandages, leaving a small slit for his eyes and nose. He might get mistaken for the Governor of Transylvania, but never of South Dakota.
With the opening act of .38 Special playing in the background, they set him in the wheelchair and bound his feet with more gauze, making certain to tie them to the chair itself just in case he got a sudden urge to make another hero’s dash, though it would most likely be to a food stand than toward a policeman.
Reuben, who had locked the cash in the car trunk, set the briefcase beneath the governor’s seat behind his ankles. It was now filled with newspapers and a piece of white paper marked in large black print with: “Run behind stage!”
Approaching the gate, they flashed their passes they had purchased during their meanders of the day and were safely inside the venue. As they stopped to survey the surroundings, Buster was enthralled with a spectacle nearby. A gaggle of fifteen tough biker dudes were hooting and hollering and hoisting cameras as they encouraged every woman coming through the gate to lift their shirts in a show of solidarity to Eros, the Greek god of lust, love and intercourse. Most ladies obliged, much to Buster’s delight, but a few refused and were showered with boos, beer and other less mature derogatory comments.
Larry, steering the wheelchair for now, was careful to keep out of the way of wandering camera lenses as all three teachers kept the heads down and caps low – though Buster couldn’t help an occasional peek.
With the crowd cheering for an encore, they began making their way through the cigarette-lighter waving throngs of people toward the stage. Hitting a roadblock every once in a while, Reuben would holler: “Excuse us. We need to get him to the handicapped section!”
Then the crowd would part and take a couple seconds to ogle the burn victim in the chair while Larry muttered: “Thank you. Thank you. God bless you.”
The rock group returned for a rousing rendition of “Wild-eyed Southern Boys” and the teachers managed to move toward the front with nary a notice from others more enamored with beer and boobs than three dopes pushing a wheelchair.
By the time the music ended and roadies were busy rearranging the stage, the mummified governor was front and center. Reuben looked at Buster and Larry and motioned for them to huddle up behind the chair. Reuben said to Buster: “You know what to do. Play it cool. When Candy opens the briefcase and reads the paper, be back there watching, grab her and scram. We’ll have the car waiting at the employee gate.”
“Gotchas,” Buster said.
“And, don’t take this wrong, but Candy CAN read can’t she?”
“Of course,” Buster said, offended, but only for a second as the girl to his right lifted her bikini top and shook her goods.
“Then good luck,” Reuben said, grabbing Larry by the elbow and retreating to where they’d come.

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Pet Teachers - Chapters 31-33

Chapter 31

THE FIRST LEG of the annual ride wound uphill about three miles on a highway going west out of Sturgis. The three teachers were now settled in about halfway up the hill – locked and loaded.
Reuben and Larry sat on the rear bumper of a white USPS truck they’d borrowed earlier in the day from the parking lot of the Sturgis Post Office. In all the hullabaloo of the forthcoming stamp celebration nobody had paid attention to the two men in Postal Service-looking uniforms fiddling around with the truck. And nobody bothered them as they hot-wired it and drove out of town.
Now pulled off onto the shoulder of the road, Reuben and Larry slid open the rear door and rigged a pair of 2x8 planks to form a makeshift ramp into the back. A good eight-foot high and wide and 14 feet deep, there was plenty of room to park at least a half dozen nice motorcycles – if a person had a hankering to do, which they did – without fear of scratching the chrome.
An old Forest Service dirt road intersected the highway just a couple hundred yards down from them. That’s where Buster was stationed behind the wheel of a long logging truck he had similarly borrowed from a nearby sawmill. It was just far enough off the highway to not be overly noticeable and among enough trees so as to not appear out of the ordinary if it were noticed.
Larry sipped a Diet Coke and Reuben a spicy V-8 as they listened to the muffled sound of dignitaries speaking sweet nothings into a microphone in town below. They couldn’t make out what they were saying but weren’t concerned that they were missing out on any great enlightenment.
The ceremony droned on for about 45 minutes before a sustained applause signified its conclusion. The sound of belching Harley’s shaking off the morning dew began to arise from Sturgis as more and more bikers kicked their hogs to life.
Reuben had a pair of binoculars set to his eyes. He would be able to see the first riders as they came around a curve a half mile down the hill. That incline, combined with the amateur riding status of those leading the way, would make for a slow procession of what was usually about two hundred motorcycles. That played well in the teachers’ plan.
Earlier reconnaissance had confirmed what Reuben thought and that was that the governor and mayor would be leading the snakelike procession, followed by the four collectors’ motorcycles. The vintage bikes were not intended to make the entire tour through the hills, only the first leg to show that not only were the cycles old but they were operable even in their senior status. Behind them would be the less important people and tourists, just along for the ride so they could say they had done it. “Whoop-de-do,” Reuben thought.
As the rumbling grew louder, Reuben kept his binocs set on the road. When the first cycle appeared around the bend, he gave Larry a nod.
Larry, still in his USPS uniform, pulled his Sturgis Rally baseball cap down to his ears with his hair stuffed inside the cap, and he pulled a red bandana from around his neck and up and over his nose – looking like Jesse James readying for the approaching stagecoach.
Larry walked down the road, past Buster in the logging truck off to his side and waited along the shoulder as the motorcycles approached. He bent over like he was tying his shoe. The cycles drew nearer and he peeked up as the first two approached. He assumed it was the governor and mayor, then two more pairs followed closely behind them. He gave them a quick wave as if to say “move along, nothing to see here.”
As soon as the vintage bikes got past him, he jumped into the middle of the driving lane and began waving his arms wildly and screamed: “Stop! There’s been an accident! Stop! An accident!” Since the bikes were traveling only about 30 miles per hour, those behind were able to stop without causing a real accident. Larry kept waving and hollering as the six previous cycles continued on, oblivious to what was happening behind them.
When enough space separated the small group from the remaining throng, Buster torqued the logging truck into gear and pulled across the road, perfectly blocking it from any Harley rider being able to cross without going down into the ditch – like any self-respecting Harley rider would ever do that.
A similarly-bandana-sporting Buster leaped from the truck with double-barrel shotgun in hand. Larry was tight on his heels as the twosome raced up the hill to the awaiting USPS truck. Reuben, doing his own version of the wave, was bringing the first group of riders to a halt. He grabbed his own shotgun from the back of the truck and began barking orders from beneath his kerchief.
“Get off your bikes! Get off them now and lay on the ground!” But the mayor wasn’t a very good listener, as many of his city councilmen would attest. He hopped off his motorcycle alright and set the kickstand, but instead of lying down, he sprinted into the woods and over a hill.
The alarmed riders of the antique cycles were pretty much scared spitless and followed orders much better.
Buster tossed his shotgun to Reuben who caught it so as to have a weapon in each fist. Buster hopped on the 1918 Cleveland, revived it to life and effortlessly drove it up the ramp and into the truck-bed, while Larry began to do the same with the 1965 Harley-Davidson.
It was two down and two to go, but the dense Governor continued to sit on his newer borrowed bike and even revved it in antagonistic fervor with a smirk on his face. Reuben continued to scream and threaten him with the guns just feet away, but old Arnie wasn’t proving to be the wimpy wallflower Selma had led them to believe.
Buster jumped back down and drove the 1940 Indian into the truck, with Larry right behind on the vintage 1970 Chopper. The four cycle-less riders huddled together, cursing South Dakota hospitality, while the Governor and Reuben exchanged shouts and gas.
With everybody finally out of the truck-bed and the cycles inside, Larry started to run around to the passenger side of the cab and climbed in. Reuben had had enough and hollered “Screw it! We got what we need!” Nobody wanted the governor’s rented ride anyway. He ran around to the driver’s side, tossed the shotguns behind the seat and hopped in behind the wheel, waiting for Buster to conclude his final duty and throw down the ramps and slide the back door shut. But it wasn’t that easy for Buster.
As he grabbed at the first plank, Gov. McCall menacingly revved his cycle again, let loose the clutch and shot up the ramp into the rear of the truck. Buster was stunned, perplexed and just generally at a complete loss for ideas as the truck continued to idle.
So he said what Reuben had said: “Screw it!” He kicked down the planks, pulled down the door, locked the lever, ran around to the front and leaped in next to Larry – with four motorcycles securely in the back, give or take one.
“Yee haw!” Larry screamed, slapping the middle of the dashboard as Reuben throttled the truck up to speed on its way to their escape route. “I can’t believe how well that went! Just according to plan!”
Reuben turned and grinned at him as Buster sat stone-faced.
“I don’t get what that stupid governor was trying to prove,” Reuben said, shaking his head. “There I was staring him down with two 12-gauges in his face and he’s just revving his bike like a teenager at a drag race. What the hell was he thinking?”
“I guess you could ask him,” Buster muttered.
“What?” Larry asked.
“You can ask him. He’s in the back.”
Reuben almost slammed on the brakes but resisted the urge at the last second.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Well, he kinda slipped past me.”
“He slipped past you!?” Larry screamed.
“Yes. He flew up the ramp before I could close the gate.”
Reuben as stunned. “So you mean to tell me we have five bikes and the governor of South Dakota in the back of the truck?”
“Yup,” Buster croaked.
Driving along in dead silence for a few minutes, the three teachers gave new meaning to what Native Americans of old termed “pale faces.”

Chapter 32

  REUBEN HAD FIGURED they would only have ten minutes tops to switch vehicles before every local yocal with a tin badge would descend on the area looking for postal trucks. So he had scouted out a backwoods Forest Service road that was closed to the general public. It was just ahead on the right. Waiting a quarter mile up the path would be Selma. “Boy was she in for a surprise,” he thought to himself.
He punched in her number on his cell phone to give her a heads up and about two minutes to calm down before they arrived. She was waiting with his car for the boys to escape in and a cattle truck she had borrowed from the University. Fortunately, most all the SDSU faculty had Commercial Drivers Licenses. Heck, it was practically a hiring requirement.
The gang intended to transfer the bikes to her non-descript truck and she was going to drive it to Sioux Falls for delivery to her buyer coming up from Sioux City. The extra passenger posed a new problem for everybody, so it was on to Plan C. They hadn’t had a Plan C, so Reuben just thought it up on the fly.
Selma answered on the first ring, panicked already because the phone call had not been in Plan A or Plan B.
“What’s wrong?” were the first words out of her mouth.
“I have some good news and some bad news,” Reuben said.
“What is it?” she exhaled.
“We have the bikes and are just turning onto your road now.”
“And the bad news?”
“Your ex-husband decided to join us.”
The stone-cold silence caused Reuben to wonder if she had hung up on him again. She had not. She was just catching her breathe for a good scream: “What the hell are you talking about!?”
He told her the story as the Postal Service truck approached and told her to stay out of sight until he gave her the thumbs up and not to speak so as to give away her identity.
Reuben rehearsed the others as well: “And who are you Buster?”
“I’m Zeke.”
“And you Larry?”
“I’m Snake.”
“And for Christ’s sake don’t say my name. “I’m just Bub.”
“Okay, Bub,” Buster practiced.
They stopped the vehicle and jumped out. “Zeke, you open the trunk of my car. We’ll tackle the governor and throw him in there for now. Then we’ll transfer the Harleys.”
The three teachers pulled up their bandanas again and stood at the back of the USPS truck. Reuben gave Larry the high sign to open the door.
No sooner did Larry slide the door up than the governor revved his Harley to life and came flying out on a wheelie ala Evil Kneivel. The back tire hit the ground and Buster dove at the Governor, tackling him hard and sending the motorcycle spinning into the trees. But Buster was the pancake and the Governor was the griddle. It would have made Buster’s high school football coach proud. Sprawled on the ground, Buster laid on the governor’s back and pushed his face into the pine needles covering the forest floor – just because he could.
In a risky move, Reuben pulled off his own bandana and tied it around the governor’s eye, without him getting a peek at his perpetrators. Buster did the same with his and quickly hog-tied the governor’s hands behind his back and stuffed another in his mouth. They pulled him up and carried him under his arm pits to the waiting car. This was certainly no way to treat the good governor, but, frankly, he hadn’t been a very good one anyway.
Dropping him in the trunk and slamming down the lid on the white 1978 Cadillac, both spoke loud enough to penetrate the warm metal.
“Good job, Zeke!”
“Thanks, Bub!”
“Alright, Snake, let’s unload those bikes.”
While Buster and Larry rode the bikes down another make-shift ramp and up another into Selma’s truck, Reuben looked inside the Caddy to see Selma lying down on the front seat. He waved her out and held a finger to his lips to remind her not to speak.
It was killing her not to rip loose with a string of profanities, but she obliged and quietly followed him further up the road out of ear shot of the kidnapped governor.
“Don’t worry,” Reuben finally half-whispered to her as her eyes shot poisoned arrows at him. “I have a plan.”
“What is it?”
He told it to her and added: “Just finish your job and we’ll get this all taken care of.”
“And he’ll look like a fool, won’t he?” she asked with an evil grin.
“He will.”
“I can live with that,” Selma added.
“I bet you can. Oh, and do you have our money?”
“It’s in the backseat.”
They walked back just as Larry was driving the last hog into the cattle truck. Larry was the only one appreciating the irony.
Reuben opened the back door of the Cadillac and pulled out an SDSU athletic bag.
“Nice touch,” he said.
She smiled.
He unzipped it and looked at the stacks of rubber-banded Benjamins. “Nice touch indeed.”
They shook hands and she waved at Buster and Larry as she climbed in the truck.
The teachers hopped in the Caddy and followed her out the main road. She headed east. They left the USPS truck where it was and went west to Deadwood for a sit-down and beer.
Chapter 33

THEY PARKED IN THE ALLEY behind the Mine Shaft in case the Governor decided to get cranky, though they suspected correctly that by now he would just be content to live and work on his breathing.
Shorty saw them come in the back door and was Johnny-on-the-Spot with three beers and whiskey shots. “How’s your day been?” he asked the trio.
“Every day is Christmas,” Reuben said. “And how long have we been here in case anyone asks?”
“Oh, I’d say since I opened at 9 or so,” Shorty answered.
Reuben handed him twenty $100 bills. “You’ve always been an observant one,” he smiled.
“It pays to pay attention to details,” Shorty said, shoving the greenbacks into the pocket of his overalls and returning to his station behind the bar.
“Okay boys,” Reuben began. “Before you pepper me with questions, I have to make a call. Listen closely and you might learn something.”
They would not admit it to him, but Larry and Buster had total faith in Reuben’s off-the-cuff plans. They knew Reuben always had contingency plans that went from B to Z, so they watched and listened intently as he pulled a phone number from his wallet and dialed.
Though they only heard his side, the conversation went like: “Is this Zeke?”
“Who wants to know?”
“Your motorcycle trainees. You got something we want.”
“And do you have what we want?”
“A hundred thousand of ‘em,” Reuben said.
“That’ll work.” Zeke didn’t haggle this time. Obviously, Candy was getting on their nerves too. Heck, if they waited a few days, the Lords might pay THEM to take her back. “I’m listening.”
“Who is playing at the Buffalo Chip tonight?” Reuben asked already knowing the answer.
“Kid Rock. Why?”
“When he takes the stage there will be a man in a wheelchair at the front of the stage. He’ll have your money with him in a gym bag. You walk with Candy and go over to him and have her open the bag to show you what’s inside. Then you take the bag and leave the girl.”
“Who’s in the wheelchair?” Zeke asked.
“Buster got the short end of the straw.”
“But why’s he in a wheelchair?”
“He had another mishap with another motorcycle. The bike survived, but he’s got road rash from his toes to his nose.”
“So why don’t you come?”
“It’s his wife you took. He wouldn’t have it any other way. Besides, he happens to be Kid Rock’s biggest fan.”
“Okay, but he better not cause any problems.”
“He can barely walk. He won’t.” And Reuben hung up.
“Did they take the bait?” Larry asked.
“As Buster would say: Hook, line and sinker.”
“But I’m guessing there’s more to the story than what you gave him,” Larry said.
“Yep,” and, in his best Paul Harvey impersonation, he told them the rest of the story.

Monday, December 9, 2019

Pet Teachers - Chapters 28-30

Chapter 28

REUBEN WASN’T USUALLY one to strike out on his own when it came to the teachers’ special projects, but he’d made an exception with Larry’s approval. He’d asked Shorty to arrange a one-on-one sit-down with Zeke the Candy stealer on Wednesday night at the Shaft.
Reuben and Larry considered checking out the local tattoo shops for a lead on Candy’s where-abouts but with one on every corner for a twenty mile radius during the Rally, it seemed a long shot. Besides, they knew who had her. So Reuben moved to his own Plan B.
The primary reason to fly solo was he thought it best to keep Buster as far away from Zeke as possible. Buster was mad enough to do something stupid and sometimes just stupid enough to mess things up without an emotional stimuli prompting him.
The secondary reason was to take a shot at reasoning with the new acting leader of the Black Lords, or, if nothing else, just to get inside his head a little bit and see what if anything was clunking around in there besides used carbuerators.
So it was at 8 p.m. that Reuben sat at his table picking at the label of his Old Mil bottle when the Zekester plopped down in the chair across from him. Reuben was in a tan windbreaker and Nike visor, looking like he’d just come off the golf course, though he’d never in his life been so bored as to actually wander onto one. Though Zeke, looking like he’d just got off a 24-hour shift at Jiffy Lube, made a ruckus getting comfortable, Reuben still hadn’t even lifted his eyes off his beer.
Finally, Reuben’s eyes looked up but his head didn’t move. He wasn’t the least bit of an intimidating figure, but when Reuben got that look about him he could be downright creepy. It’s how Norman Bates looked at his mother.
“I got some disturbing news last night,” Reuben spoke softly so that Zeke had to lean in to listen.
“Your wife pregnant?” Zeke smirked.
Reuben lifted his head for that, his eyes glared and he pounded a fist on the table. Quieter, yet more sternly, he said: “You mention my wife again and I will empty my .45 into those fish painted on your chest.”
It’s about as irate as you will ever find Reuben, and even gang leaders take notice ... well, at least smart ones.
“They’re serpents,” one of the not-so-smart ones corrected.
“So what do you think you’re doing with my friend’s wife? Are you too ugly and smelly to get your own?” Reuben was really pushing the envelope with the thug.
“Listen old man,” said Zeke, who’d been put on edge a bit but not easily intimidated. “We aren’t going to hurt her. We just want a piece of the action.”
“Does Slug know about your idiotic idea?”
“It seems he’s gonna be out of commission for a while, so I’m calling the shots now.”
“That’s too bad,” Reuben said, “for you and for the operation he built. I thought he’d have made a better choice for a successor.”
“I made the choice,” Zeke snarled.
“Figures,” Reuben said. “So what do you want for her?”
“Half of whatever you’re doing.”
“Half of what we’re doing is not as much as you might think it is.”
“I have reason to believe you’ve been involved in some pretty rich schemes in the past,” Zeke said.
Reuben glanced over at Shorty, his prime suspect behind the bar.
“Well this isn’t one of them.”
“How much?”
“500 grand,” Reuben lied.
“For each of us?”
“Total – 250 each, even if I did agree which I’m not inclined to do.”
“Then maybe we’ll make the girl gone for good.”
“And so will you be,” Reuben said between gritted teeth.
“I’ll take my chances against some school teachers.”
“Brains will beat brawn every time,” Reuben reminded.
“Huh?”
“Besides, we’ve always operated on the risk-reward theory. Those who take the risk, get the reward. But you aren’t risking anything. Only threatening.”
“We could help then,” Zeke said.
Reuben leaned back, crossed his arms and pondered the idea – for a full second.
“No,” he shot back. “You are an idiot. We don’t need to start a parade of ‘em.”
“So why did you invite me here?”
“To get you out of a jam,” Reuben said.
“I am in a jam?” Zeke said with an emphasis on the “I.”
“Yes, you are. Gimme the girl and we’ll let bygones be bygones.”
“You’ll see her when we get the 250 grand.”
“Then be gone.”

Chapter 29

THE WEEK WAS flying by quickly, and it was 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night, mere hours before the launch of Operation Harley. “Let me ask you a question,” Larry said to Reuben from their table in the Mine Shaft, while Buster sat sullenly across from them.
“Shoot,” Reuben said, slowly twirling his index finger over the lip of his beer bottle.
“You ever cheated on Rose?”
“Nope,” Reuben said.
“Honestly?”
“Honestly. I’ve cheated on exams. I’ve cheated on cards, on my taxes and even on my driver’s test, but never on Rose.”
“Why not?” Larry asked, genuinely interested in the novelty of chivalry.
“Because I promised her I wouldn’t.”
“As simple as that?”
“Yup,” Reuben affirmed. “Life’s difficult enough without making your gal angry at you. I try to do everything I can to keep her happy, especially considering marrying me made her name Rose Rose. Why, you got a problem?”
“Ah, no. Nothing to worry about.”
Reuben cast him a skeptical eye but didn’t push it. “Good. We have enough on our plate without an extra helping of steamed girlfriend.”
“I have a question,” Buster piped up after an unusual quiet spell which had been par for the course for him over the past couple days.
“You’re awake!” Larry said.
“What’s your question?” Reuben asked.
“How the hell did you cheat on your driver’s test?”
“Simple. I paid the guy next to me 20 bucks to fill in the answers on my written test while he did his own too.”
“But you’re the smartest guy I know,” Buster said. “Why did you even need him to take it for you?”
“It was my way of stickin’ it to The Man.”
“Here! Here!” Larry exclaimed, raising his glass. “Here’s to sticking it to The Man!”
Reuben clinked his bottle to Larry’s glass and Buster shoved his coffee mug into the midst sloshing hot java over the table.”
Larry swore. “Way to go Buster.”
“Hey, it’s your guys’ fault for making me drink coffee for the past two days.”
“It’s our service to society,” Larry said.
“Besides, we need you to be of sound mind for tomorrow,” Reuben added.
“Or as sound as it gets,” Larry chimed, and Buster flipped him off.
“So everyone’s set for the morning?” Reuben asked.
Both nodded affirmatively.
“Ok then. We’ll see everyone at their posts at 9. Let’s get us some Harleys.”
“And Candy,” Buster said.
“And Candy,” Reuben sighed.

Chapter 30

THE CROWD BEGAN to gather about 8:30 on Friday morning in and around a big party tent set up outside the Sturgis Community Center. It contained about as eclectic of a mix of people as you’d ever seen brought together – as only a good old-fashioned motorcycle rally can. They shared only one thing in common, a love of motorcycles.
There were rich bankers and lawyers hob-knobbing with the real bad-asses, the 1 percenters of society, who were there to admire the shiny cycles of yesteryear that gave birth to their love of hogs, leather and anti-social behavior. There were postal workers decked in blue, highway patrolmen packing heat, rent-a-cops packing spare tires around their midsections, a couple U.S. Senators flanked by the Department of Interior Secretary. A couple of undercover ATF agents mingled in the crowd, forcing smiles, trying to act like they were having fun.
  The Sturgis mayor was on hand to emcee the festivities, and the governor was the last to show, his bike having been trailered in and unloaded by a pair of aides in the nearby parking lot. The governor would lead the first leg of the ride after the new stamps were unveiled with the likenesses of the antique bikes, which were all proudly on display at the front of the tent near the VIP stage.
Other dignitaries would ride a short portion of the trip on the vintage bikes. Nobody really recognized these dignitaries as dignitaries except for the dignitaries. We’re talking suits from the Postal Service in Washington, D.C., and aides to actual dignitaries in D.C. Nobody cared who they were. People were more interested in the motorcycles, some even more so than others.
All four bikes were shined with a lover’s touch. All were mint condition - exquisite fare for the two-wheeled set. The Cleveland was a single-cyclinder,2.5 horsepower motor, with advertisements back in that day claiming it could get 75 miles per gallon and reach the lofty speed of 40 miles per hour. The Indian was a deluxe, four-cylinder from the Indian motorcycle brand known as the Four. It was infamous in the 1940s for its trademark design of skirted fenders that partially covered the wheels. The 1965 Harley featured a push-button electric starter, fiberglass saddlebags, whitewall tires and tons of chrome. The chopper was famous for its stripped down design, stretched frame, raised handlebars and long forks to the front wheel. All were also drivable, even for amateurs.
Reuben’s original plan called for a pretty significant role to be played by Candy. In retrospect he recognized it was a rare major mistake in tactical planning on his part, over estimating her reliability. She was charged with causing a diversion, a large noisy one a block away – probably starting a fight or shooting off some M-80s. That would have required the attention of all the badge-wearing visitors to the ceremony. As they were to rush to the scene, Reuben and the boys were to rush the motorcycles into a nearby postal truck and drive away in victory – another blow struck to The Man. But that would’ve been too easy. That’ll teach him to ever trust somebody named Candy.
So it was on to Plan B, which he thought sounded more fun anyway. And isn’t that what life is all about?

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Pet Teachers - Chapters 24-27

Chapter 24

AS MORE OF A tradition than any particular reverence toward the Sabbath day, Shorty never turned on the bar lights in the Mine Shaft’s windows on Sunday, but everyone who needed to know knew he opened at noon. Of course, Rueben and Larry knew and arrived five minutes apart at the table in the back. The clunking and clanging in the men’s room signaled to them that Shorty was obliviously cleaning toilets and they patiently waited his return.
“Think Buster’s coming?” Larry asked.
“Said he would,” Reuben replied.
“So, like I said, think Buster’s coming?”
“Who knows.”
“Think we need to call this off?”
“Nah.”
Shorty finally shuffled past steering the metal mop bucket with the protruding mop handle.
“Morning Shorty,” Larry said.
“It’s afternoon,” he said. “Beers?”
“We ain’t here for your sparkling personality,” Larry replied.
“Kiss off.”
“See how you are,” Larry added. “Gonna wash your hands?”
“In your beer.”
“Lovely.”
Shorty poured two frosty mugs and brought them over.
“You two looking for someone?” he asked with a smirk on his face.
Surprised at the comment, Reuben looked up from his intent gaze at his bar napkin.
Shorty took some glee in the rare occasion of catching Reuben off guard and smiled.
“You know something we don’t?” Reuben asked.
“Every day.”
“Spill it,” Larry snapped.
Shorty looked around the otherwise empty bar. Seeing no lurking ears, or even bodies, he put his hands on the table and spoke in a hushed tone anyway.
“The Black Lords have her.”
“What?” Reuben said, wrinkling his forehead.
“How do you know?” Larry asked.
“They told me to tell you.”
“Why would Slug have her?”
“He doesn’t. Slug has been detained in Denver. Probably for a while unless he makes big bail. Zeke’s in charge now.”
“The guy with the lizards?” Larry asked.
“Serpents. Yes. Seems your buddy pissed him off.”
“So what are they doing with her?” Reuben asked, perturbed.
“They know you’re up to something and they want half,” Shorty explained.
“Shit,” Larry said. “That damn Buster.”
“And if we don’t agree?” Reuben asked.
“I assume the girl doesn’t return. No big loss if you ask me.”
“Did we?” Larry grumped.
Shorty shrugged and shuffled back behind the bar to dry some glasses and let the boys think.
Relatively unfazed considering the turn of events, Reuben scratched his chin and said: “It’s darn near biblical.”
“How so?” Larry asked.
“The Lords taketh and the Lords giveth away.”
“More like we giveth – half!” Larry snorted. “Hardly seems worth doing now.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Reuben grinned. “It’s just a little more of challenge. Now we steal the four motorcycles, one broad and then stick it all up ol’ Zeke’s tailpipe.”
“You’re a greedy old bastard aren’t you.”
“And vindictive as hell,” Reuben added.
“One man’s vices are another man’s virtues,” Larry said.
“Then call me virtuous as hell.”
“That’s what I’ve always liked about you pal.”

Chapter 25

A THUD AT THE DOOR caused Reuben, Larry and Shorty to give it a glance, yet it didn’t open – not right away. But after finally winning the battle with the pesky door handle, Buster stumbled in.
His face was flushed from crying or drinking or both and an Atlanta Braves cap sat askew on his head. He held a nearly empty Jim Beam bottle by the neck. In a red flannel shirt and blue jeans he looked like Paul Bunyan after learning Babe his blue ox had just died.
“Fire up the coffee pot,” Reuben piped up to Shorty. Larry walked over and steered Buster by the shoulders to a chair at their table.
“Hey, you can’t bring a bottle in here,” Shorty hollered over.
“It’s a bar, ain’t it?” Buster babbled back.
“But I sell the booze in here.”
“People bring their own cigarettes in here, don’t they?” Buster argued.
“Well, ya.”
“And you sell cigarettes in here, don’t ya?”
“Well, ya.”
“So, there ya go,” Buster rested his case.
“Pretty good point for a drunk,” Larry agreed.
Shorty just shook his head.
“Did you drive here in this condition?” Reuben asked.
“Took a cab.”
“40 miles?”
“Yup.”
“I assume Candy hasn’t showed up,” Reuben said.
“Nadda,” Buster said, rubbing his face with both hands and beginning to whimper. He pulled it together in a snap, looked up and said: “I need to pee.”
“I just cleaned it!” Shorty hollered, his hearing in better shape than his hairline.
“Just ‘cuz I can’t walk straight doesn’t mean I can’t pee straight!” Buster blurted back, pouring himself out of his chair and sloshing his way to the john.
“Seems to me the two kind of go hand in hand,” Shorty replied.
Then Larry chimed in: “And you’re on your own. I’m not helping you there.”
As the bathroom door closed, Larry whispered to Reuben: “You gonna tell him the news?”
“Been considering that,” Reuben said. “Maybe when he sobers up.”
“Ya, like in November.”
“Don’t see any good coming either way we do it,” Reuben said.
“Story of Buster’s life,” Larry added.
“If we tell him, there’s no telling what he might do,” Reuben said. “And if we don’t tell him, he’s apt to go to the cops.
“Either way, what do we do with him until Friday?
“Maybe he could stay with you,” Reuben offered with a sly grin, anticipating Larry’s dramatic reaction.
“Good God no!” Larry exclaimed with a jump like the boogie man had just leaped out from behind the door. “I’d rather take my chances with the cops.”
Reuben chuckled. “Then let’s give him a couple hours here to get his wits about him, then break the news and see where it leads.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Larry said.
“Then you can drop him off at his camper on your way home.”
“I spoke too soon,” Larry frowned.

Chapter 26

THE BOYS PLAYED some Pinochle (or “tossed some knuck” as they like to say in sunny South Dakota) and switched over from alcohol to caffeine before finally breaking the news to Buster. He was alternately with the span of two minutes angry, relieved, mad some more, relieved again, and then finally resolved himself to Reuben’s longer-range plan for revenge on the Lords.
After all that drama, Larry drove Buster home, while Reuben spent his trek home northward getting screamed at by Selma on his cell phone.
“How the hell did these Black Lords get involved?” she wanted to know, loudly.
“A long story,” Reuben rued, annoyed that he’d felt compelled to call her with an update. “A long story of trust, betrayal and greed.”
“Oh don’t play this off as no big deal, Reuben,” she snapped back.
“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” he said.
“You sound almost gleeful about this turn of events.”
“Well, it does make things more interesting,” he replied.
“Was stealing four vintage motorcycles from the midst of thousands of people, throngs of law enforcement and the governor too boring for you?”
“There’s always surprises in any operation,” he said. “Your mother understood that.”
“Well I’m not as understanding as she was!”
“Obviously,” he mumbled.
There was a long pause before Selma replied. “Okay. I took some deep breaths. I’m calm. I guess I have to trust your judgment on this.”
“Good,” Reuben said.
“But don’t screw it up!” she replied.
Reuben stayed on the line for a while longer even though it had gone silent. He wasn’t sure if Selma had hung up on him or if he’d hit a dead spot in the cell coverage.
“Oh well,” he said, folding the phone shut and tossing it on the seat next to him. “Not everyone can have the patience of a teacher.”

Chapter 27

LARRY HIT THE SWITCH to roll down the windows of his Miata and turned his XM radio to channel 75 – “The Sound of Starbucks.” He needed to clear the air of Ode de Buster after dropping off the oaf at his RV and was still a little steamed at Buster’s parting remark. Slurring and stammering as he spilled out the passenger side door, Buster’d quipped “Thanks for the pretty ride. I never rode in a gay car before.”
Larry had purchased the forest-green Miata as a Christmas present for himself and had since noticed a couple magazine articles that referenced his model as the top car of choice among the homosexual set. The Mini-Cooper was mentioned as their second choice, so Larry took solace in the fact that his personal second pick had been a Hummer. Still, Buster’s comment got under his skin, because he hadn’t realized how common knowledge the gay Miata thing had become. And if a doof like Buster knew, then the whole world must know and probably joked about it behind his back. That’s what really burned him.
So he punched the gas and set the cruise on 95 as he tore south down Highway 79 to Hot Springs. “Gay my ass!” he shouted into the wind as he cranked up the volume to Norah Jones.
Before approaching the turn to Hot Springs, the speed limit drops from 65 to 45. When you’re driving 95 it really doesn’t matter much, except for the size of the fine if you’re caught. And Larry got caught.
Just over the small hill, the sheriff’s car sat. The flashers turned red and a quick burst of the siren caused Larry to emit his own drawn out: “Shittttttt.” He slowed quickly and pulled onto the shoulder of the road. Digging into the glove box for his license, insurance card and registration, he turned back to the window as the flashlight beam nailed him in the eyes.
When, for some reason, it diverted to his crotch area, his eyes had time to adjust and he saw Deidra Deeds outside the car door holding the flashlight with two hands.
“Deidra! What the hell are you doing?” he asked incredulously.
“Denny let me take it for a spin,” she said with an evil grin. “He’s so damn worried I’m going to tell the town about his freaky sexcapades, that he’s letting me do pretty much whatever I want. Heck, I bet I could shoot you right now and he’d look the other way.”
“Nooo,” Larry said, “No need for that.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it you old horny dog. I don’t give a rat’s rear about you, but I wouldn’t want to hurt the feelings of that little Bambi waiting for you at your house.”
“Who’s at my house?” he asked.
“The school board president’s daughter. She’s been there for the past 45 minutes.”
“You’re keeping track?”
“I’m watching you.”
“You are?”
“I am. Remember that, Laurence.”
“I will. Can I go?”
“I’m not the sheriff, dumb ass. I’m just driving his car. And watching you.”
Larry started his car with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
His mind spinning from all the things that could go wrong with Deidra Deeds watching his every move, Larry pulled into his driveway. Sure enough, there sat Auburn Thrice sitting pristinely on his porch swing. With legs crossed and a pretty yellow sun dress accentuating her accentuals, she offered a wave and a smile.
Stepping out of the car he nervously glanced up and down the street for any of the Deeds family members. Seeing none, he loped to Auburn’s side and joined her. They exchanged pecks on the cheek and pleasantries.
She seemed nervous, like she had something important to say, and eventually she divulged.
“Larry, I’ve been thinking,” she said. “Do you know Myrna O’Brien?”
“Your best friend? Of course.”
“You’ll never guess what she did last weekend.”
“What’s that?”
“It.”
“It?”
“Yes. It,” she explained succinctly.
“Oh,” he managed, not quite sure where this was leading.
“So now I’m the only girl from my graduating class who hasn’t done ... it.”
“Oh,” he said, none the wiser. “And?”
“And I’m kinda thinking I might like to also.”
“Ohhhhh,” the bell finally clanged in his brain and he broke into a coy smile, like a psychic had just given him the next day’s winning lottery numbers. “Now?”
But he’d jumped the gun.
“Not now, silly,” she said. “I have to pray on it. But maybe Saturday night, after a romantic dinner and music. I want it perfect.”
“That’s how I’d want it to,” he schmoozed.
“Then it’s a date. Pick me up at 6?”
“I have some business to attend to on Friday night but my Saturday should be wide open.”
“Super duper,” she said. “See you then.”
And she skipped down the sidewalk to her red moped, turning to wave before scooting down the street.
Larry looked at the stars for a bit, mouthed a “thank you” to the heavens and skipped inside for a nightcap and visions of dancing virgins, or at least one in particular.