Autumn Leaves
Chapter 12
Blackmail
XXX
"Man, this is bullshit!"
"What's wrong now?" I glanced over Steve's shoulder to check out what he was reading on my way to the kitchen. There were two papers in his hand - one that was typed all official-like from our boss, and another in scribbled cursive. I had similar envelopes attached to my time card but had yet to read them. They were still folded up in my back pocket. We were at Steve's place while his pop was out. I was raiding his fridge for a change, tired of my own selection of cold cuts and mayo.
"Boss is requiring each of us to pull a shift at the West side DX," he answered.
"Ain't that the one getting robbed all the time?" I asked with some measure of alarm.
"Yeah. Any hood or bastard soc that robs in our side gets caught and dealt with, so they always go over to station 21 to pull a heist. Since Jeremy got shot, no one wants to work there."
"As if that's a surprise." I drawled.
"Well, boss wants.. no, is requiring everybody from each of his other four stations to pull one shift at a time there until he can get the place less robbery friendly. Says here if we don't, we can leave."
I thought about it. One shift... can't be that bad. "Darry'll come hang out when it's our turn, you know that. We can bribe Tim into coming too, if ya want. I'm sure he'd make the sacrifice. Boss pays extra for it too, don't he?"
Steve looked at me, a look of pure hatred on his face. "Yeah, he does. But that ain't the problem." He waved the other piece of paper, the one with the cursive writing.
"Well, what's the problem?" I finished making my turkey sandwich and came over to check it out for myself.
"Seems the guys who held down the fort for us while we were off in Hollis are now wanting to throw us under the bus. They," and he waved the paper again for emphasis, "are insisting we pull all their shifts there or they'll rat us out about being gone for longer than the boss knows."
I took the paper from him, wanting to read it for myself. "You gotta be kidding me. They owed us for those shifts! As many times as Bill had been drunk – no to mention Simon was stoned at least once when I covered for him!"
"Yeah well, how quickly they forget! I doubt Darry'd care to hang out way over there each night after working a full day. Besides, he's got the warehouse gig to do too. Tim ain't gonna give up all those evenings just for us either. Nope, buddy, you and I are on our own, unless you can think of a way of getting out of it."
Looking in his eyes, I could tell he was just as pissed off about the situation as I was, but there really wasn't anything we could do about it.
"How often are we talking about here?" I asked aloud wondering how screwed my life was gonna be.
"All the weekends for a month. Then the other DX's staff will take over." Steve answered, holding the schedule in his hand. Our names were penciled in where Bill, Simon, Hector and the others had been scheduled to work. Instead, they would stay at our station in our place, keeping our station manned too.
"All of them? Every weekend?" I ran my fingers through my hair. "This is it! They'd better never bother me for any more shift swaps. And if we get robbed, I'm going after these guys first," I said, balling the schedule up in my fist in anger, "the robbers last. You hear me?"
He clapped me on my back. "Loud and clear."
XXX
Dinner was boring. I'd made kabobs in the oven with no flair or anything. Just chunks of marinated meat, mushrooms, peppers, and onions. Ponyboy promptly slid all the peppers and onions off his and left them in a pile on his plate, untouched. Why I bothered with his I didn't know. He hates onions and peppers. Just further proof I wasn't paying attention. I found a can of corn in the pantry and heated it, then rounded off the meal with applesauce.
Darry'd bugged Ponyboy about the basketball tryouts for most of dinner. Seems he made the team after all. Darry was stoked about it. I was happy too, but couldn't pull the appropriate amount of enthusiasm that I should have. Even though the season was still a few months away, they had to order the jerseys ahead of time if the player's names were gonna be on them. I'd told them I'd pay for his new uniforms and I would, but I hadn't told them that I was gonna have to spend a few weekends at station 21 to earn the money yet. I knew Darry'd have a problem with it. A big problem.
"Your birthday's this weekend, Sodapop. You ain't working, right?" Darry'd asked as he looked at my schedule on the fridge. It was the older schedule. My new one, the one with my new location, wasn't pinned up yet. For good reason.
"Nope. I'm off. Gonna be working a few extra weekends after it, though." I hinted, but they didn't pick up on the hint.
"Good. Make sure it stays that way." Darry and Ponyboy exchanged smiles. Again, I wanted to share the enthusiasm, but worry about station 21 and it's reputation bothered me.
"Not a problem. What's planned? Where you guys taking me?"
"Not a chance." Darry said. "You just be here dressed to go out and have some fun. We'll take care of the rest."
"Well, I know if Pony's in on it, there's ain't gonna be a stop at a strip club." I smiled, trying to keep up appearances.
"Soda!" Darry baritoned in protest. I shrugged with a smirk.
They bantered back and forth about school and the upcoming report card season and eventually dinner was done. Pony'd taken the dishes in and started in on cleaning the kitchen, turning on the radio to levels not permitting regular conversation. I grabbed the keys and tapped Darry on the arm, motioning to the door for him to follow. He did.
"Whassup?" He asked as I popped the truck's hood to look around. If Pony got suspicious of us both being out here, I wanted a good, plausible explanation for it.
"You said there was a pinging." I pulled out the oil dipstick, examining it. It needed more, but would be okay for now.
"No I didn't." He answered.
I looked at him hard in the eyes. "Yeah, you did." It was a statement. A dark, demanding statement. Understanding filtered in.
"Oh right. A pinging." He leaned against the open engine compartment. "What's going on?"
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You working at the warehouse next weekend?"
He thought about it. "You mean the weekend after this one? Yeah, why?"
"I have to work, too."
He nodded slowly. "Okay... and the problem with that is ... what? You've worked plenty of weekends before."
"Yeah, well not like this. Boss has me going to station 21. The one out on the West side by the freeway."
He thought about it. His eyebrows furrowed. "The one that got robbed?"
I nodded. "No choice in the matter. It's 'work it' or 'find a new job'."
His turn for a deep breath. I put the dipstick back in and checked the radiator fluids.
Darry's jaw tightened. "I can call out. No problem."
"Yeah, there's a problem. The assholes I work with bailed on me. They have me and Steve working all their weekends for a month out there, to settle our debts for when we were in Hollis. If I don't go, they'll rat me and Steve out for being gone all that time. I'll still get fired. We both will."
"But you only missed ... what? Three days of work? Maybe four? Why the entire month?"
He'd forgotten. "Steve and I had them punch in under our cards. They didn't get paid for that time. We did. Oh, we gave them some dough in thanks, but they owed us though. We shouldn't have to do this, but they have a paper trail to prove we weren't there." I slid the cap back on the radiator and moved to the antifreeze.
"Soda, you really think your boss wasn't aware you weren't there? I mean, c'mon!"
I smirked. "That boss of ours only cares that cars are fixed and customers are happy. Bozo the clown could punch in and he wouldn't care. However, once this gets done, it'll be done. All debts paid. I ain't got a choice, Darry. I'm screwed."
Darry combed his hair with his fingers, finally locking his hands behind his neck.
"I can't call out every weekend. I'll lose my job. I'll talk with Tim. See what can be done. When do you start there again?"
"Next weekend. From noon till close. Should be all locked up by nine."
"I don't like it, Soda. Not one bit." His voice was thick with concern.
I closed the hood. "I ain't all that keen to the idea either, but like I said. I either work it or find another job. Ain't nobody gonna pay me what I make now, so I gotta do it. And Darry," I looked toward the house.
"Yeah?"
"Keep this between us. Pony don't need to know. I don't want him down there, out by that station. Send him to the movies or the library. Have Two-Bit keep him busy. Something.... I just...."
"Don't worry, Soda. I don't want him there either. Hell, I don't want you there, but I understand - you gotta do what you gotta do. You better be careful, Pepsi. Watch your six."
"I will." I wiped my hands on a rag and came back in the house. Pony was finishing the kitchen, the place as spotless as ever.
"So what kinda cake do you want? Chocolate or double chocolate?" Pony asked with a grin.
"Surprise me, why doncha?" I answered trying my best to fake an authentic grin. If he made it, I already knew it would be Death By Chocolate. There wasn't enough milk to tame the sweetness. Try as I might, cake wasn't exactly on my mind.
Darry's eyes got my attention and he nodded slightly. We both felt the same way.
Ponyboy was the last person either of us wanted down there.
XXX
Calla Lily Rose