You and the Horse an Alternate Plot Line

by Voyager Tip

What if McCormick actually did manage to get a job after Hardcastle threw him out? How would they have gotten back together? Would Hardcastle's superior attitude on the phone have hurt Mark's pride, preventing him from returning? This starts after their fight, with Mark already having found a job.

2. The Problem

Ch 2 The Problem

An hour later, Mark sat alone in the dingy breakroom staring at the two water filter boxes. He'd just looked up the information on the merchandise invoice. It was hard to believe that each box was worth $3,000, but that's what the manifest had said. He couldn't believe it was correct, but he'd checked every single invoice and they all said the same thing. This whole enterprise just couldn't be legal.

He wished he could talk it over with the judge. If there was something going down, they could tackle this case together and bring these guys, whoever they were, to justice.

But, without Hardcastle, he was just a guy who was broke. A guy who needed a job and who couldn't afford to lose it, even with his second job out at the track.

The job at Saugus was working out as well as could be expected he supposed. He was a kind of jack of all trades out at the track. Some days he worked in a pit crew, other times as a mechanic, and he'd even done clean up after the track closed last week. He had thought that it would be good to be close to the action, in case he heard of anyone who needed a driver, but it hadn't worked out that way, not yet anyway. The reality was that Mark worked all day at the track and all evening at the warehouse and made enough money to pay for his rent and food, with some left over for fun, but no time to have any fun and no one to have it with either.

He also knew that if he should get seriously hurt or sick, both of his employers would give him his walking papers immediately. The reality was that, sure, he could get by without Hardcastle's help, but maybe the judge had been right about how tough it would be.

Well, one thing was for sure, he couldn't continue to work here. Whatever this was, it had to be illegal. Maybe he could convince Hardcastle to tackle this case with him. It would mean admitting to the old donkey that he'd rather live with him than on his own, but, maybe that wouldn't be too bad. After all it was true. Maybe with 3 weeks of separation behind them, Hardcastle would be willing to forgive and forget.