Chapter X:
Patricia Watts walked into the garage of the Fever house. A black 2001 Saturn sat in the garage. The engine was running, slowly filling the room up with carbon dioxide.
Watts walked to the trunk, opened it and smiled, James, who was beaten, bruised and gagged, looked up at the woman and screamed.
"No one can hear you." Patricia said, she removed the gag.
"Where's my parents?" James asked.
"Your parents are dead." Patricia replied with a hinting smile.
"No they're not, you're lying!"
Patricia nodded, "Yes, but not for long." She closed the trunk, walked over the garage door, opened it, and got into the car.
She pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.
"Hello?" The receiving end said.
Patricia smiled, "You know what to do." She said, hanging up the phone, getting the driver's seat and speeding towards the nearest parking garage.
Don Ontario sped through the streets of downtown. The traffic light turned red, giving everyone a moment to breathe.
"How do we know where James is?" Ontario said.
"No se," Panchito said, "just start looking I guess."
The light turned green, slowly, Ontario drove through the streets, looking for any sign of movement in trunks. A busted light, a dent, an open one. Anything. As they searched the downtown main streets and side streets and everything in between, Skye started to cry.
"Please be alright James." she whispered in between tears.
"He's alright ma'am," Don said, "if anything happens to him, I'll going to kill those motherfuckers."
"I'll second that." Panchito replied, he then looked at the woman who desperately wanted to check every single trunk in the city.
"You have to have hope." the rooster said.
"What good is hope if you can't see it?" Skye asked.
"That's why it's called hope, you can't see it, you just have to believe that you can. Hope is always there, you just have to find it." Panchito answered.
"Oh really, can you give me a map?"
Panchito smiled, as he pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number, did some rapid Spanish and hung up.
"Who did you call?" Skye asked.
"A friend of mine," Panchito said, "he's going to help us."
"Where is he, matter of fact, who is he?"
Panchito just laughed to himself. That was all the answer he gave her.
Connor meanwhile, stirred in the backseat. He opened his eyes and saw Skye sitting next to him. He sat up. "What's going on?" Connor asked.
"James has been kidnapped." Skye answered, "We're trying to find him."
"Kidnapped," Connor looked down at his feet, "by who?"
"Patricia Watts." Panchito answered.
"Patricia, are you sure?" Connor asked. Panchito nodded. Connor sighed, "Well, I'm sorry." Connor said, he looked out the window, a parking garage was nearby. "Pull into that garage Don." Connor continued.
Don Ontario made his way in, paid the fee and starting driving up.
"What do you want me to do boss?" Don asked.
"Go to the roof." Connor said. Don nodded and continued. As Don made his way up, he pulled out his phone and texted a message to a certain number. Very quickly the receiver of the message responded back. Connor looked down at his phone and smiled, almost wolf like. Panchito looked back at him for a moment, and grew a bit uneasy at this smile, he quickly turned back around and tried his best to ignore it. He said nothing.
On the roof was Patricia Watts, for she took the back roads rather intentionally to this parking lot. She got out of the car, opened the trunk and forced James to his feet on the asphalt.
"Look around James," Patricia said, pulling out a Beretta M9, a military issued pistol, "this is the world you got yourself into." She moved to the front of the kid and removed the gag.
"Why are you doing this to me?" James said, "What did I do to you?" He asked.
"Simple honey," Patricia said in a sarcastic sweet voice. "You're obsolete."
"You didn't really answer my question ma'am." James said. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Well aren't you precocious." Patricia said in annoyance. "Alright, I'm doing this because I can't have people like you around. People who believe in creativity, people who give other people ideas. Ideas are bad for the world. Don't you know that?"
"Apparently not." James said with a smile.
Patricia loaded the Beretta just as Don pulled up onto the roof. Patricia smiled. "Oh look, it seems that we have company."
Don stopped the car and quickly got out. "James," he said calmly, "don't move okay."
James nodded. Panchito exited the car.
"Senora!" He called with all the fury he could muster, "let the niño go, it's me you want."
Patricia nodded and aimed the pistol at James' head. "Yes, you are what I want Panchito, but I also want him," she did a weird nasal noise, that a crazy person would do in a comedy film. "looks like I can have both."
"Let go of my son you bitch!" Skye screamed.
Patricia smiled big and large as she slowly but surely walked towards the edge of the parking and leaned James over the edge, placing his head towards the ground. Panchito followed them, pistols out, ready to fire, intent on killing this crazy insane person and ending this family's grief.
The clicking of a gun, the firing. Panchito turned around and saw Connor, out of the car, Beretta drawn, Don injured on the pavement. Skye was knocked out.
"I'm sorry that it had to come to this Mr. Pistoles," Connor said, "but it's either you or my son."
"Shoot me." Panchito said immediately. He looked at both of them, "Go on, both of you! You both hate me, both want to see me dead, so why don't you both shoot me and leave the boy out of this. It's a win-win for you."
"Actually Mr. Pistoles," Patricia said, "it's not as you say a 'win-win'."
"What are you talking about?" Connor said. "Yes it is!"
"Actually, Mr. Fever," Patricia said repeating herself, "it isn't. It's more of a win-loss. Yes the rooster will be dead but that means that your son will leave and well, loose ends and everything."
Panchito looked her dead in the eye aiming a pistol at her head, "If you so much as move another inch," he said, "believe me, I will not hesitate to kill you. ¿Me entienden?"
"No." Patricia said with a smile.
Panchito rolled his eyes, "Oh you know what I mean!"
"No I seriously, have no idea what you're saying." Patricia said, "Can we get some subtitles please?"
Panchito sighed deeply as if annoyed and pulled out a Magic Marker that was literally a magic marker from his sleeve and wrote out the English translation. Patricia squinted her eyes and read it. She nodded. "Okay, got it." Panchito nodded quickly, erased the words with his sleeve, put the marker back and resumed his serious composure.
The wind picked up, the world stood at a standstill. From the corner of his eye, Panchito could see Connor moving for the car, as if he were going to do something he always wanted to do. Without looking in their direction and simply relying on instinct and luck to guide the bullet, Panchito fired towards Connor. The bullet hit target, just above Connor's head. James screamed.
"Don't worry James," Panchito said to him, "your Dad's a trooper. He'll be okay.," he aimed his pistols at Patricia, " Just hold still?"
James nodded, "Panchito," he said, "if I don't make it-"
"Don't say that, you're going to be fine." Panchito said as he slowly made his way over to them.
"Patricia," the rooster said, "I know you want to kill me, I don't know why really, but I know that's what you want and that's fine, I'm okay with that, but please, I implore you, don't kill this boy who has done nothing to you!"
"I'm sorry Panchito," Patricia said, "but I can't do that."
"Alright Pontius Pilate," Panchito said, "what do you want me to do?"
"Give up your weapons." Patricia said. Panchito nodded, placed his pistols on the ground and kicked them to the side. "Alright, now what."
"Get on your knees." She commanded, the rooster did so.
She let James go, who ran to the safety of Don's car. Connor looked at his son in a weird way as if he was glad he was alive but still kind of wanting to kill him, but he also saw Panchito and noticed something. Every time James needed him, the rooster was always there. Every. Single. Time. He was just passed out drunk or yelling at him, not being a father figure, not being anything but a complete and total dick.
Connor walked over, looked Patricia in the eye and placed his hand on Panchito's shoulder, who currently had his hands behind his head as if in a hostage situation. The rooster looked up at him and smiled a bit, muttering to himself, "Thank you, Lord."
"Mr. Fever," Patricia said, "what are you doing?"
"I'm resigning my position ma'am, you told me that you were going to see me son to greatness, but when I heard about him missing," he looked down at the rooster, "yeah I'm not that stupid chicken." Panchito laughed to himself, "Then I knew you played me. You used me to get rid of our mutual hatred. Now I don't like this rooster, I personally would love to shoot him in the face, but I'm not going to." He helped Panchito up.
"What are you saying?" Patricia asked.
Panchito turned towards her, "He's saying, fuck you bitch!"
Connor shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, that's about right." He smiled for the first time in life it seemed and looked at his (former) boss, "You can go back to your job now, I quit."
He took a small bow and walked towards the car with Panchito in tow.
"You know," Connor said, "the only reason I saved you was because of James right?"
Panchito smiled, "I got the hint senor," he got into the car, "I'm not that stupid."
Connor picked up Don and sat him in the backseat with Skye and James. Panchito was in the passenger and Connor took the driver seat and was just about to drive off when...bang. The car, as well as the world stopped.
Connor slumped over, looking very reminiscent of the first bullet John F. Kennedy experienced. Panchito turned and saw Patricia aiming for James' head. The rooster instructed him to get low to the ground.
"Come on out!" Patricia shouted. "I'm not finished with you yet!"
Panchito looked back at her, giving her the ultimate Kubrick stare. He slowly opened the door, aimed his pistol and shot. The bullet went straight into Patricia's torso, shattering the heart and exiting through the back. It was glorious. She fell gracefully and like the fallen angel she was, hit the pavement hard.
Panchito twirled his pistol in two revelations, put it back in his holster and said. "That's for messing with my family you bitch." He then slammed the car door, removed Connor's from the driver's seat into the trunk and drove off.
Later that night, Panchito fixed dinner. It was a specialty of his. Mexican Hamburgers, which was basically like a regular hamburger but with Panchito's homemade salsa, cheese, and spices, along with sides of corn, peas, and mashed potatoes, it was a pretty nice meal. Don was invited too and for once, the world made sense. There was no alcohol, no beatings, no kidnappings, no FBI, no government, nothing but a family and a rooster.
The next day, with Panchito's help, Skye, James, and Don painted the house, bought a new Blu-Ray player, and a new television.
The day after Connor's funeral, which was Friday, June 25th, exactly two weeks after he had met James, Panchito Pistoles left.
Leaving a note, promising that he would come back soon but that he had to take care of some business elsewhere, this is on what Panchito said:
To the Fevers:
The past few weeks have been interesting. That's all I really have to say about that.
I want to let you all know that I'm leaving for a few months to go do some work in South Sudan, that place could really use a lot of hope right now.
I also wanted to thank you all for believing in me and I wanted to tell you specifically why I came here in the first place. Originally, my goal was to save myself. For the cartoons of yesteryear were fading away and disappearing forever. So ever since I got fired from Disney I've been travelling around from bar to bar, town to town looking for a place to call home. I finally came across your house and saw James, I saw a certain spark in his eye, a glimmer of hope for me. I said to myself, 'If there's one person who can help me, it's that kid right there.' So I started showing up here. You might say that you know the rest of it, and for the most part you do, but let me tell you something changed in me the day I first met him (James). I saw how broken you all were and realized how selfish I was being to ask people to help fix me when they can't even fix themselves. So I decided to help you. I hope I managed to do some good.
As I got to know you guys better, I started thinking to myself how fitting a certain song was that I was currently practicing on the piano. It's called "Passenger" and it's about a man confessing his love for a woman. One of the lyrics goes like this: "All that you want, is standing right in front of you, all that you need is love." I figured that's on what you guys needed too.
We all make mistakes, I'm no saint, but love is one of those unconditional emotions that can be given without thought simply because it is necessary. Without it, where would we go, what would we do?
As far as personality is concerned, Connor wasn't the best person in the world, I never thought he was a bad person, just a bit confused. He proved me right in the parking lot that day. I know he would've been so proud of you all. I just thought you might want to know that he loved you, even though it didn't seem like it, he was only doing what he thought was best for you, which is on what any good father or husband should do.
Oh, and James, you said that you played baseball right? Let me know when the season starts up again next year, I would love to be assistant coach. Who knows, we might go all the way! Ha! Wouldn't that be something?
To Senora Skye, I think you should consider going to AA meetings (for real this time) and Don Ontario is a good man, you should keep him around. I like him.
Oh and Mal's number and address is on the fridge, James asked me once how I knew his name, and I didn't really answer him. Now he knows why.
In one of the kitchen drawers there is a disc, put it in the DVD player.
"Do you where you're heart is, do you think you can find it? Did you trade it for something, somewhere, better just to have it. Do you know where your love, do you think that you lost it? You felt it so strong but nothing's turned out how you want it. Well bless my soul, you're a lonely soul, cause you won't let go, of anything you hold! Well all I need, is the air I breathe, and a place to rest my head. Do you know what your fate is and are you trying to shake, you're doing your best dance, your best look, praying that you'll make it. Well bless my soul, you're a lonely soul, cause you won't let go, of anything you hold! Say all I need, is the air I breathe, and a place to rest my head." - One Republic, (Say) All I Need
Thanks for giving me a pillow. (You should look up the song, it's beautiful, teary eyed moment writing this by the way)
Anyway, see you around.
Your Friend and Faithful Caballero,
Panchito Pistoles
James read the note first and immediately ran to the fridge and called the number.
"Mal?" James asked.
"James, is that you?" A voice answered.
"Yeah," James said almost crying, knowing that it was his brother, "how did you survive?"
Mal laughed, "Let's just say that I know a guy with a trick or two up his sleeve."
James smiled, turned around and saw Mal in the living room, standing there, looking a bit older, but otherwise the same. Scars were noticeable but James didn't care- he ran to him, embraced, and cried.
Unbeknownst to James, Mal had already put in Panchito's disc and it started playing. It was Panchito, playing and singing a song, and it was fitting for the occasion.
Skye walked down stairs and poured herself a morning cup of coffee, for she had already knew about Mal and made her reconciliations. Don walked down the stairs after that and saw the two boys, smiled, and watched.
Panchito began his heart song. Not a heartbreak song, but a heart song, which happier than the breaking one and is more hopeful of future encounters with the person singing it.
Six on the second hand to New Year's Resolutions, and there's just no question, what this man should do. Take all the time lost, all the day that I cost, take what I took and give it back to you.
As he sang the chorus, Panchito rather intentionally looked at the camera that he had placed and smiled as if his heart was in the right place, singing the right song, and that morally, he did the right thing and not only saved James, but an entire family, and an ideal, which he figured, they may not believe in it yet, but at least they know what it is.
All this time we were waiting for each other, all this time I was waiting for you, we got all these words can't waste them on another so I'm straight in a straight line running back to you.
I don't know what day it is, I had to check the paper, I don't know the city but it isn't home. You say I'm lucky, to love something that loves me, but I'm torn as I could wherever I roam here me say,
All this time we were waiting for each other, all this time I was waiting for you, we got all these words can't waste them on another so I'm straight in a straight line running back to you. Yeah, oh running back to you. Oh, running back to you.
Yeah!
Oh, ever drop so far, ever drop so far, to get back where you are.
All this time we were waiting for each other, all this time I was waiting for you, we got all this love can't waste it on another so I'm straight in a straight line running back to you.
I'm straight in a straight line running back to you.
I'm straight in a straight line running back to you.
Frankly, Panchito feared that he would eventually be destroyed or killed when the family was sick or forgot about him. But that didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was that he got to share a moment, granted a premeditated moment, but a moment nonetheless with the family that he imagined would accept him back once he returned.
Skye watched the video standing from the kitchen doorway and smiled when Panchito turned the camera around and started filming the wall, which had a projector screen, a projector, which was playing cartoons. An hour later, when the reel was over, Panchito stopped filming and put the camera away as soon as James walked barefooted through the house wearing the baseball shirt.
"James, could you please get the cat clock from the basement?" His mother asked.
James looked the piano, noticing that it looked like someone had been playing it rather recently. The piano was prepared to play, the keys were showing and the top was up, revealing the inner workings. "Strange," James said, walking over to the instrument, "this piano never gets used." He pulled the cover over the piano keys and put the top down. "I wonder who was playing it." A draft. The window next to the piano was open.
James closed it.
Fin
Dedicated to:
Joaquin Garay (1911-1990)
Original Voice Actor to Panchito Pistoles
Author's Note: The Disney character in this story, Panchito Pistoles, was partly inspired by me in the sense that I believe that it is important for the cartoons of the Golden Age of American Animation to be shared as pieces of American History that continue to shape the way we look at entertainment and the world, as well as the arts, which play an important part of the creative and inspirational process.
All of the songs and lyrics mentioned in these story are the property of the artists and their respected companies.
Panchito Pistoles is the property of The Walt Disney Company and it's affiliates (I am not one of it's affiliates).
If anything I hope that what you've gained from this is an appreciation for what you have, and hopefully the desire to seek and discover your own creative imagination and ambitions.
I do plan sometime in the future to make this a short film.
All the Best,
Nothing Really Specific
I hope you guys stick around with me (and if you're looking for more Disney stuff, I have a few and TheNewIdea has some good ones too).
More Stories with Panchito Pistoles (by me):
Panchito (Season One)
The City of Angels (Dedicated to Children's Hospitals)
Gun Rising (work in progress)
Panchito: The Screenplay (If I were to make a movie with Panchito, it would be this)
A Western Bar Scene
Finding Charlie Brown
Origin (also dedicated to J. Garay, he is a central character, work in progress)
Comedy Central Presents: Panchito and Puss (crossover comedy sketch between Panchito Pistoles and Puss in Boots in which they do a Comedy Central like routine- M for a reason, read at your own discretion- you have been warned)
Call It What You Want (crossover Panchito and Puss in Boots comedy sketch in which they roast each other on the David Letterman Show- M for a reason, read at your own discretion- you have been warned)