Chapter 8
The Dixon Curse was in rare form. Everything that could have gone wrong did and then some, all happening to Daryl. First, he spilled the coffee he had picked up for drink on the way. Scalding hot coffee in his lap, which meant he sat on a wet seat for two hours. Then when he got to the bar, Merle wasn't there. After looking all over for him, Daryl finally asked the bartender and found out that Merle had been hauled off to jail. He was drunk and when he caused a scene with several patrons, he wouldn't leave when asked to. He apologized to the bartender for his brother being "a fuckin' idiot" and asked for directions to the police station.
Daryl walked out of the bar furious. This trip just got a hell of lot more complicated. It was no longer a simple pick up, now he had to get Merle out of jail. That could mean bail or a fine. Daryl pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He had just about a hundred dollars. That's all he had left until Mack paid him for this week. He didn't know if it would be enough.
He called Merle every foul name he could think of on the trip over to the jail. Why couldn't anything go right for him? Why did Merle have to fuck up everything for him? Whether it was intentional or not, his timing was always the absolute worst.
Daryl parked outside of the Dentonville police station. This was a small town and it could go two ways – easy or hard. Daryl knew this was going to go hard just like everything else that day. He got out of the pickup and slowly walked in to find out what the situation was. He was expecting the worse and he was right.
The officer at the desk told him that Merle was originally charged with public intoxication and disturbing the peace, but the bar wasn't going to press any charges so it as being dropped down to a simply public intoxication charge. That came with a one hundred dollar fine. Merle would be released upon payment.
Daryl pulled out his wallet and had ninety dollars. He was ten short. Where the hell was he going to get ten bucks? "Is there a pawn shop around here?" he asked the officer.
"About two blocks down on the right, called Denton Pawn. Can't miss it."
On the way back to the pickup, Daryl did a quick inventory on what he could pawn. He needed only ten bucks. He had his watch and his phone. He had only gotten the phone after starting at Mack's so he really didn't want to part with it. That left his watch, which he knew wasn't worth much, but he didn't need much.
He drove down the street and found the pawn shop. He went inside and saw that it was no different than any other one he'd been in, just shelves and shelves of crap that people had to get rid of. The clerk was working with a guy that was looking at jewelry so Daryl had to wait…and wait and wait.
Finally it was his turn. He told the guy he was looking to pawn his watch. He handed it over and the clerk looked at it and offered ten dollars. Daryl asked for twenty and they settled on fifteen. He had five extra bucks.
By the time he got back to the police station it was going on ten o'clock at night. There was a new officer at the desk. Daryl explained that he was there to pay the fine for Merle Dixon.
"You need to come back Monday when the town clerk is in," the officer said.
"The other officer didn't tell me that before. Man, we're not local, there ain't anythin' we can do?" Daryl asked frustrated.
"Sorry, only Sylvia collects fines and she isn't back until Monday."
"What time?" Daryl was getting angrier by the minute. His day was getting worse and worse.
"Seven o'clock." The officer moved away from the desk to answer the phone.
Daryl went back out to his truck and slammed the door. He had to figure out what to do next. He crossed his arms on the steering wheel and rested his forehead on them. He could drive home, spend the weekend with Emma and be back first thing Monday morning. With any luck he'd only be maybe thirty minutes late for work. He sat back and looked at his fuel gauge. He had less than a half a tank. If he went home, he wouldn't have the gas to get back and if he waited until he got paid by Mack, he couldn't get Merle out until Tuesday. As much as he was pissed off at his brother, he couldn't leave him in jail an extra day.
The only choice he had was to hang out here until Monday morning. He had only five dollars to live on and no place to stay. He would be living in his truck…again, thanks to Merle. He pulled out his phone to call Emma, but stopped. He didn't have her number or even know her last name. She would wonder what happened to him and he had no way to tell her.
Now he had to find a place to park for the night, without wasting any gas. In a small town that was harder than it sounded. There were less places to hide his truck as the police would be on the lookout for strange vehicles. Daryl started the truck and drove off hating his life.
Monday morning didn't come fast enough. Daryl was tired from not sleeping for two nights and he was hungry as the five dollars he had didn't go far. He was also out of cigarettes and that had him on edge. Daryl arrived at the police station early to find out where the clerk's office was. Luckily, it was in the same building, so he was standing outside the door waiting for her when she arrived.
He had the fine paid with his last one hundred dollars and went to collect his brother. When Merle finally came out twenty minutes later, he looked in better shape than Daryl was. At least he had a place to sleep and meals, Daryl had nothing.
Merle didn't say anything until they got into the pickup. "Thanks brother, but what took you so long?"
Daryl turned and looked at his older brother. He was furious. "What took me so long? You make me drive two hours to pick your sorry ass up and I get here and find out that you couldn't keep your fuckin' drunk mouth shut and got yourself arrested. I had to spend my last dime including hocking my watch to pay the fine in which I find out that the clerk isn't around on weekends so I had to sleep in my truck for two fuckin' nights with no food! Next time don't get arrested in a half-ass small town, better yet asshole…don't get arrested…period!"
For once Merle kept his mouth shut. He could sense that he may have pushed Daryl too far, but what good was having a brother if he didn't get you out of jams?
Daryl started up the truck. "Do not say a word to me at all or you can walk home. " He hated his brother right then. Why did Merle do the things he did? He never thought on how anything he did affected him and he never cared. Daryl was coming to the end if his rope with Merle. Brother or not, he had to get his shit together.
"But…"
"What the fuck did I just say? Shut up! You completely ruined my weekend, I got no money now and I'm gonna be late for work. Do not say one fuckin' word!" Daryl yelled. Merle never got it. He was a grown ass man and he needed to start acting like it. Daryl was completely fed up with him.
Daryl drove as fast as he dared and arrived back at the trailer by nine thirty. He had called Mack earlier to ask if he could come in at ten, instead of nine and Mack said that was fine.
Merle put his hand on the door handle, but turned to Daryl before opening it. He could tell that Daryl was different about this, that he was really upset with him. He had seen Daryl pissed at him, but this was different. Merle got out of the truck without saying anything.
Daryl wouldn't look at Merle, he just kept staring straight ahead. Once the door closed he backed out and headed to work, but not before noticing that Emma's car was gone. He hoped to be able to see her after work. He had to let her know what happened and why he didn't come back.
Besides being late, his work day went great even though he was exhausted. Mack was impressed on the amount of business he did on his own, not to mention how clean the shop looked. Daryl kept busy doing some easy repair jobs and five o'clock came fast enough. Normally Daryl worked three to four days a week, depending on the amount of work there was to do. Mack was giving him Wednesday off, but at least he was getting four days.
Just before he left for the day, Mack paid him for last week. It was good to have cash again. Daryl hated the helpless feeling he always had when he didn't have any money. When he pulled in he noticed that Emma still wasn't home and Merle's bike was gone. "Thank God," he thought. He still wasn't in the mood to deal with him.
Daryl ate the fast food he had picked up on the way home. He only had something to eat on Saturday, so he had gone without eating all Sunday and most of Monday. He was starving.
