"Are you okay?" I ask again a little softer then before.
"Yes, yes I'm okay." She replies with a nod.
"Good." I say, taking a deep breath as I feel the adrenalin wearing off and by body Bergen to shake. "So what's the problem here? Why were you shoved?"
"I..I need gasoline but my husband and I have no more money, no more. He's a hard worker but without his truck running he has..has no..no way to get to his job. It's...it's too far to walk." She stutters as she points off into the distends, and making other hand gestures in an effort to help me understand her. "I've been doing small jobs here and there but.. But I can't make enough for..for anything but food. If you give me gasoline though I can work for you tonight..to repay you. When the sun goes down there will be lots of people here to buy. You..you don't need to pay me money, I just want a little gasoline for my husbands truck." She pleads.
After hearing all she had said to me I could feel my heart breaking for her, I knew I had to help her. So in an effort to confront her I reached out to put my hand on her shoulder but she flinched away from me And I pull my hand back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." I tell her apologetically as I take a few seconds to glare at Mark. "Follow me I'll get you some gasoline."
"But I have no money, you can give it to me after I work for you."
"No you're not working for me. You've been though enough already. It's the least I can do." I say as I walk over to the gasoline tanker only for Mark to jump up to block my path. "Move." I tell him forcibly But he refuses to. "Move it, or lose it...again" I say again only mor threatening this time. "This is coming out of your share Ortiz." He says pressing a finger into my chest and again I feel the urge to punch him but instead I slam him up agents the side of the tanker. "No. This is coming out of Dom's share. So take it up with him." I then let him go and then watch him make his way over to Dom.
"Do you have a gasoline container?" I ask but she only replies with a nod just before running around the side of the tanker. As my eyes shift across the horizon I get an uneasy feeling, almost like someone's watching me. I look over my shoulder and see Dom and the boys.. But not Mark. 'Odd..' I think to myself as I give Dom the "I- know-what-I'm-doing", slash, the "don't-try-and-stop-me" look, just before I turn around to see the young women standing in front of me with a little steel bucket. I shake my head. "Come here I'll get you something that's bigger and with a lid." I waver her over to me and she walks beside me as we approach Dom's car. I pop the trunk and pull out a 10 gallon full container of gasoline. "You need help getting this home? I can drive you to where you need to go." I offer But she shakes her head no. "No I couldn't let you do that but thank you, thank you so much for every thing." She tells me as she wraps her arms around me, giving me a hug, just before she turns around and leave.
After I watch her leave I slowly let myself relax only to feel the pain in my leg come alive once again. I huff and ignore the pain as I walk over to the edge of the oceans shore. Looking around I see this huge flat rock and I wonder over to it and sit down so I can watch the sun fad away into the ocean. I stretch out my hurt leg and take a deep breath.
I have about 2.2 seconds of peace, and then my phone starts ringing. "You've got to be kidding me!" I say to myself angrily as I pick up the phone. "What?!" I demand. "Letty?" The voice on the other end asks. "Speaking, who's this?" Only for the line to go silent. "It's Brian."