Earlier that day, at Lakewood Elementary, the final bell rang as a throng of students rushed out to freedom for the rest of their afternoon. Among them was Buster Baxter, who made his way to his locker, off-loading his books and cramming them in with a mess of graded assignments and various food wrappers. Buster saw George Lundgren, he was surrounded by a group of admirers, girls of various ages in their grade and above all the way to middle school. 'Man, I wonder how George got so popular, maybe he bought one of those girl magnets they keep talking about on t.v.', Buster had thought to himself.
Buster spotted Arthur running down the hall, "Hey Arthur! Do you want to hang out.", but it was too late, Arthur was in a hurry somewhere and ignored Buster's shoutings. Buster wondered what could have been so important that his best friend would flake on him. Buster turned his attention back to George as each of the girls with him were carrying everything around for him. As Buster slammed his locker shut an envelope floated down at his feet.
"That's strange, I don't remember my locker being a mailbox.", Buster examined it closely, he saw there was only his name scrawled across the surface in various letters from clippings of a magazine. He brought the envelope to his nose and sniffed it, "It doesn't smell like coupons." Buster opened it up and found a typed note that read:
Detective Baxter, your services are needed. Meet me in the Sugar Bowl for your next assignment in ten minutes. DO NOT BE LATE.
Buster stared at the note, he wondered if he should get back into the game. Money was tight around his belt, but deep down he knew he didn't do it for the money, maybe Mike Hammer, but Buster didn't have enough money to buy any books by Mickey Spillane yet. Buster could smell something fishy about this case and he knew it wasn't just Mrs. McGrady's Tuna Fish Casserole. He took out his fedora and adorned it once again knowing that this seemed like a case he could not walk away from.
The Sugar Bowl was lively that day, even on the weekdays kids could find the time for a milkshake or soda to cool their heads from the worries of the encroaching adult responsibilities that swung down like a hammer onto their imaginations. Kids from all around Elwood city littered every inch of the shop, this was their watering hole and everyone knew of the unspoken hierarchy of the jungle.
Buster was the lone rabbit sitting at the bar nursing a chocolate shake, watching anyone coming in or out, trying to make out the potential client that left him the note in his locker. It was a real jamboree until a pack of alpha predators walked through the front door.
The Tough Customers, the meanest pack of animals at Lakewood Elementary and they were only in the fourth grade. Buster was familiar with them, in his line a work, trouble was only a few spelling mistakes away from the Tough Customers. You couldn't spell 'maimed' without it.
Binky Barnes was their heavy and Buster's classmate, he was a little slow, which was why he got held back one year, but Binky was a wrecking ball, slow at the start, but when he got going there was nothing in his way to stop him from demolishing you. He was true to his breed, a smiling baby when he's friendly, but even a case of acid reflux could be a Nagasaki level of destruction for the poor bastard who crossed his path. Buster heard of a rumor that he managed to get free of an assault charge because the Judge couldn't look him in the eye.
Right beside him was Rattles, he was the defacto leader of the operation and always clad in a leather jacket and red baseball cap. If this circus had a ringleader it was Rattles, Buster never interacted with him personally, but from what he heard around the Greek chorus, he was the last person you wanted to mess with. Rattles wasn't the smartest of the bunch, but he was unpredictable, which made it hard to get anything over his head, he was the one person who you could really say is the dangerous one.
Every group had a Fredo and Slink was theirs, not the brightest bulb, nor the smoothest jar of Skippy™. "Hey Carl, give me a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake!", Buster salivated at the thought of combining the two. Slink was just lazy, more of the person who went along with the smartest person in the room or by his definition of the smartest, the person who sounded the most articulate to him. Always second-guessing himself, whenever anyone would ask him something, he'd ask the same question twice just to confirm that's exactly what the person asked him. If you needed a supporting character to a protagonist of a story, then Slink was the foil, because of how malleable he was.
The final member was someone Buster knew too well, Molly MacDonald. She was trouble the first time Buster laid eyes upon her. Molly was the most dangerous one of them all, not only was she tough, but she was the real brains of the operation, there wasn't a plan nor a punishment as cruel that she couldn't devise. Outside of the nickel and diming she did with the group, they were just the lackeys and Molly was the Lady Macbeth who held a firm grasp on the power she wielded over them. The only reason she didn't lead the Tough Customers was of her own need to blend within the crowd like a wallflower growing it's vines and wrapping itself around your throat when you least expect it. Molly was the one person that held that house of cards together, but outside of that group she was in an entire class of trouble, namely her role in corrupting his best friend Arthur. It nearly took the fourth and third grade class to nip that friendship in the bud, but from that relationship did Buster see Molly in a new light. Even beyond what Arthur had told him about Molly, he knew that she was smart enough to blend in with the crowd, because a lone wolf doesn't survive for long without the pack.
The room got quiet as the Tough Customers as more people took notice of their presence. Carl handed Buster his chocolate peanut butter shake, but before he could take his first sip a hand grabbed the shake from his lips. Buster continued to suck air as he saw Molly holding his shake, "Well what do we have here, looks like a baby is sitting in my seat. You know what that means."
Molly shoved her hand into Buster's pockets, yanking out what little money he had left after the first shake, "It's like Monopoly, you land on my space and I get to collect money from you."
All eyes turned to Carl, the only adult in the room, he shook his head and just murmured something about checking the back for more maraschino cherries. The Tough Customers continued to hassle Buster as Rattles chimed in, "You're just gonna let some little third grader sit in your seat and not do anything Mol?"
Molly turned back to Rattles and eyeballed him for a beat, "Oh don't worry, this kid just got enough money for a bus ticket to a world of pain."
This wasn't the first time Buster got to know the taste of concrete intimately, not just in his line of work, but in Lakewood Elementary when you cross paths with The Tough Customers, you pray that the ground you're going to have to kiss is dirt.
Buster dusted himself off and thought, 'When is this Steve gonna show up, gettin a little greased just sitting around."
Just then the door to the Sugar Bowl opened up and Jenna Morgan appeared with Buster's hat in hand. "Thanks Doll."
In her other hand she handed Buster an envelope, it had the same lettering of the note he received earlier that day. Jenna turned around to leave, but Buster grabbed her hand.
"Don't bother asking me who I got this from, I was just told to give it to you.", Jenna said.
"Slobber up Kitty Kat, who's making you playing fetch in the dog park?", Buster asked in his best Bogie impression. Jenna nervously looked around and shook Buster's hand away as she walked down the street.
Buster knew it was no use to ask any further question and just opened this next envelope, it was hefty than the last one and longer, but still had the same type as the last message:
Dear Detective,
I have called you here to discuss the terms of a job, I'd like for you to accept the task of following someone for me day and night. If you choose to accept you would be paid handsomely, but in the unfortunate event that you would not accept this job, I am afraid some measures need to be taken for your cooperation. Enclosed in the envelope are some pictures for you to see.
Buster found a couple of Polaroids, as he laid his eyes upon them he eyes widened in fear.
I have your rotten food collection under my care, and it would be unfortunate to see your possession's lost in a fire. So in short this isn't a offer , this is a order. Find out whatever you can about this person and all your things will be returned to you.
Sincerely, MPU.
P.S , a picture of your assignment is attached at the bottom.
P.S.S, If you don't believe the pictures, empty out the rest of the envelope.
He emptied the rest of the envelope onto his hand. A collection of black, as he leaned in and smelt it Buster recognized it immediately. "6 month old PB&J…."
Buster crushed the ash with his hands as he looked at the polaroid of the person he was supposed to follow, she was the same person threw him out of the Sugar Bowl.
It was Molly MacDonald.
