Wayne
Chapter 1
Dave picked up his phone as it rang. "Hello?"
"Yes, who am I speaking with?" a male voice on the other end asked.
"Dave Seville."
"Dave, listen, my name is Wayne Watkins. My boy Wesley works with your boy Simon, I believe, down at the auto shop."
Dave nodded. "Yes."
"Listen, he sold my boy one of them AM/FM cassette decks for his car here awhile back. And my boy got stopped last night for a bad taillight."
"Yeah?" Dave said.
"And they spotted that cassette deck lying in there in his front seat, and they found out that it was stoled."
Dave raised an eyebrow. "My boy sold your son a stolen thing?"
"By God."
"And you're sure it was – I don't believe that's right. But I'll – he's in bed right now."
"By God, it was hotter than a firecracker."
"Well, he didn't have ––"
"They got my boy Wesley incarcerated down there and they need two hundred dollar bail money."
"You're sure – where's he incarcerated at?" Dave asked.
"Down there at the jail," Wayne replied.
"In Flint County?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, Pittsburgh is just north of us, so I thought it might have been Bone County."
"No, he's there in Flint County. They stopped him last night."
"Wait a minute, let me get a pencil ––"
"I need two hundred dollar bail money, and then the fifty dollars your boy Simon cheated him out of that tape deck that was stoled."
"Let me – let me get this information here."
"It's either that or I'm comin' over there and I'm whoopin' his ass."
"You aren't whooping anyone's ass, man!"
"By God, I'll be over there in a New York minute. He sold my boy a stoled cassette deck."
"A stolen cassette deck . . ." Dave shook his head.
"How big a feller is this Simon?"
"He's about six feet."
"Well, that ain't gonna fend me off too much."
"And what is your name?"
"Wayne Watkins. Jeffrey Wayne Watkins. That's W-A-T-K-I-N-S."
"W-A-T-K-I-N-S," Dave repeated, writing it down.
"Yes, sir. I'll be the feller that's P.O.'d when I get there. How do I get to where you're at?"
"How do you get – you're not coming to where I'm at. I'm calling a lawyer."
"Ain't gonna be no lawyer; he got a hot cassette deck ––"
"My son never sold your son a hot cassette deck! He's never been in trouble in his life!"
"Well, by God, he is now!"
"Well, maybe to you he is, but to me he isn't! I'm going to find out what's going on!"
"When's the last time he had his ass whooped?"
"Excuse me, when's the last time he had what?"
"His ass whopped."
"My son's never had his ass whipped."
"Well, that might be the problem then."
"What kind of – hey, listen, you don't call people and talk to them this way! I am his father! I will find out what's going on and I will call you back!" And with that, Dave hung up the phone.