Saturday, January 5, 2013

chapter 205


word count: 1773

after detective robert simmons, robbery division, and his rookie partner,, timmy lang finished up what had been a most unfruitful interrogation of the two now visually exhausted morman missionaries,, who they surmised had done nothing more serious than being at the wrong place at the wrong time when it came down to their involvement with the princess diana diamond,, he informed the booking sargent that the two of them were free to go..

as was his usual, the booking sargent,, who was never in a hurry to do much of anything,, lollygagged about the desk,, making small talk and eating donuts before he even bothered to start the release paperwork on the two forlorn boys.

meanwhile,, enos and jacob did their best to stay huddled up in a corner of the holding cell nearest the sink/commode combination,, and as far away from the great unwashed as possible,, no longer out of a sense of fear for their lives,, but rather because the air in the cell had become significantly odoriferous since their arrival that afternoon and they were finding it hard to breathe without gagging. 

the once cold austere steel and cement holding cell had fast become crowded, sticky, and humid.. the stench of piss and vomit and anything that may have had the notion to fall in between the two of them,, hung like a green oily cloud that hovered dauntingly just above their heads..

they spoke very little,, but maintained taught eye contact.. and it was evident from the looks that passed between them,, that this would indeed be the last time they found themselves in such a position..

as yet another set of heavy footfalls and the tinkling of keys approached the cell,, the two were caught quite off guard,, when the matron called their names,, and admonished them they were free to go.. anxious to get out of the vapid stench that had come to surround them, ,they silently followed the matron to a changing booth,, where each of them was handed a numerically coded brown paper bag that held what was left of their personal possessions..


the sense of relief they had just begun to allow themselves to feel when the realization that whey were in fact going to be set free quickly turned to utter desperation,, as they realized, that over the course of the previous day’s events they had not only lost track of their suitcases,  but it was evident that their only remaining suits of clothing were their once immaculately pressed missionary black and whites,, and due to lack of proper handling by the disinterested detention department, even  they were wrinkled beyond recognition..

despite the fact that both of them knew only too well that if they were seen by any of their morman brethren,, dressed in the disheveled fashion in which they now found themselves,, they would be sternly reprimanded,, both boys proceeded to dress.. each of them spit shined their shoes with the jail issued jumpsuits,, since that seemed to be the only part of the ensemble they had a chance at salvaging,, and motioned to the waiting matron who’s eyes had remained diverted as they dressed that they were ready to go..

with a brief stop at the release desk to sign some paperwork,, they were sent back into the now dark night,, alone,, quite broke,, and with nowhere in particular to go..

jacob was the first to break the silence.. “there is no way we can board a flight looking like this.. if we arrive at the mission dressed like this, we will be written up and reported for sure..  and that is not how i want to start out my service record..”

“i know.” gloomed enos,, “and we are already more than a day late?? what do ya think we oughtta do??”

jacob dug deep in his pockets,, collecting  up a couple of crumpled dollar bills and some change he had left after the rental of the seedy motel room last night and the ever so fateful cab ride this morning.

“how much money you got??” he asked enos,, who was already following suit and going through his own pockets.. “i got $17.00 and some change…”

“34,35,36,” enos counted aloud. “i got $36.00 and a pocketful of quarters i was gonna use for the video games in the airport.. that’s it.” enos answered solemnly as his mind drifted off to the 20 some odd hour flight they had still faced here and their missionary assignment in indonesia that still lie ahead of them.

“i’m starving.” jacob confessed almost ashamed to mention it,, as if somehow or another hunger was a just form of punishment for all he had put the two of them through over the course of the last two days..

“me too!!” chimed in enos,, as his eyes spied a dairy queen just around the corner at the next intersection,, and his empty stomach began to rumble..

“we could get a little something to eat at that dairy queen and see if we can’t come up with a plan from there..” he offered feebly,, seeing as how he had no better suggestion..

“alright.. but keep it small.. we are gonna need every cent we have to get a cheap motel room with a phone so we can check on the next available flight,, and a washer and dryer, so we can do something about these clothes before we can go anywhere.. “ jacob instructed him,, as enos just nodded silently in agreement and the two of them headed up the road toward where it joined the crossing highway..

as they approached the dairy queen they were pleasantly surprised to see a dank,, somewhat over run motel situated directly across the four lane highway that ran in front of the dairy queen.. as if in cue the two of them let out a collective sigh..

maybe somebody up there still liked them after all..

***

elliot had found it necessary to escape out the bathroom window,, as his brothers were playing star command in their shared bedroom.. as he landed in the bushes directly below the window,, and scraped his way out of them and onto his feet,, he realized he only had about two dollars to his name.. he wasn’t gonna get very far on two dollars.. he had hoped to go to the game room to pass the time till he was sure his mother would have grown tired of waiting on him to return (she had never been one to be kept waiting) but with only two dollars in his pocket that was no longer an option.. instead he opted to sneak through the backyards of the neighboring houses and head toward the bus stop. worst case scenario,, he could take the bus to the end of the line,, and then play dumb and convince the driver he had missed his stop and therefor had to continue on the round trip until he got back to his designated stop..

“after all,” elliot assured himself,, “no bus driver was gonna just drop some little kid off in the dark in a strange neighborhood just because he missed his stop the first time around..”

it didn’t take long for the number 10 bus to come to his aide.. he boarded,, took a window seat toward the back of the bus,, slouched down in his seat,, so the driver wouldn’t notice him there until it was too late,, and settled in to watching the bright lights as they filtered in through the dirty tinted windows of the dimly illuminated bus..

about ten minutes into the ride,, elliot spied the familiar red and white sign of the dairy queen,, the very dairy queen he and adam had hung out at back in the day when they both found it necessary to hide from their perspective parental units.. without further thought,, he tugged on the bell cord,, and the driver let him off just in front of the well-lit dairy queen. 

as soon s his feet hit the pavement,, he realized he only had one dollar left,, as he had paid the other one to get on the bus.. he knew that was not enough for a hot dog,, or even a small cone for that matter,, but thought to himself maybe the kid at the counter would let him slide if he did his very best dumb little lost kid impression.. what the hell.. it was worth a try.. even if it didn’t work out, he would still have a dollar left over to get himself home when he thought the coast would be clear..

elliot approached the counter sheepishly,, noticing the only other patrons were a couple of guys in rumpled dress clothes munching on hot dogs and a shared bag of chips in the corner.. that suited him just fine.. he wasn’t really in the mood for conversation anyway..

“welcome to dairy queen, “ the pimple faced clerk at the counter greeted him amicably enough. “what can i get for you??”

“i wanna hot dog.. with everything..” elliot said quietly,, making sure to use his most innocent sounding little kid voice..

“ok,” said the clerk as he touched the keypad on the register, “that will be $1.25.”

elliot pulled out his dollar,, and laid it on the counter.. he then proceeded to rumble through his pockets as if he was searching for the additional quarter. “well i know it’s in here somewhere..” he mumbled as he continued to check and recheck the pockets of his loose fitting trousers..

the pimple faced clerk quickly became agitated,, and spoke in a louder than necessary tone of voice. “well you either got it or you don’t. which one is it??” he prodded elliot impatiently…

the tone of his voice did not go unnoticed by the two rumpled mormans as they both turned to see what the commotion was all about..

“it’s just a quarter,” elliot pleaded “can’t ya just give it to me for a dollar?? i’m awful hungry..”

“no i can’t, “ the clearly incensed clerk barked back at him as he slammed the cash drawer closed with a bang.. “now i am gonna have to call my manager for a void!!”

“hey!hey! not so fast there young man,,” enos rang out across the tiny restaurant as he quickly approached the counter.. “here’s the dang quarter.. give the poor kid his hot dog..”

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