Author Note: ….oh look….a longer chapter…..times running out….we are nearly there dear readers….don't hate Hyde too much for being….well….Hyde!
xXx
Chapter 06 – Destination Fatso Burger
6:15 PM
Hyde pointed to the street, "You go to Fatso Burger and I'll go to that Korean market on Fifth. Leo likes this stuff called Kimchi."
Eric felt his heart stutter for a second and nodded, "Okay, whoever gets Leo comes back here first."
Hyde grabbed some bills from the register and closed the drawer. "That's the plan man. See ya soon!"
xXx
Wheezing slightly, Eric stopped and leaned against the plate glass window of Stacy's Place dress shoes. He wiped his forehead with back of his hand. When did it get so hot? Man, it was only minutes to Fatso Burgers from Grooves, but it was taking forever to get there now. Yeah, dumbass….when you're driving the Vista Cruiser it is!
He glanced out at the street listening for the sound of rumbling motorcycles and hearing only the standard Point Place traffic. Eric pushed of the window with sole of his shoe.
Click. Tick. Tap.
He walked along the sidewalk looking in store windows and that annoying click-tick-tap kept following him. What the hell was that sound? Eric's attention was momentarily diverted when he saw a free bumper sticker sign at Danny's Gas station. It was the ever popular – Gas Grass or Ass…Nobody rides for free! He had wanted one of those for a long time.
"Hey kid!" Danny Kinson waved at Eric from the office. "How's old Red?"
Eric grinned at the old man that always saved a Tootsie Pop for him and Laurie whenever Dad filled up the Vista Cruiser with gasoline. It felt good to get in out of the sun. "Dad's grouchy as ever. I'll let him know you asked about him. Hey, can I get one of those free stickers?" The office smelled vaguely of oil and rust.
Danny smiled and pushed a pile of assorted bumper stickers across the scarred and faded work desk. "Sure kid. Where's your ride? Do you need some work done on it?"
Eric shook his head, "Nah…I left it at Grooves. I'm kinda hoofing while I look for a friend."
The old mechanic wiped his face with a clean oil rag, "Anybody I know?"
Eric paused to think about a way to explain "how "he was friends with Leo especially when he and Hyde were out on a stash run! Then he had an Aha! moment. Leo was a member of the Lodge! At least he remembered that much. "Yeah, it's Leo – from the Lodge…you know, he's a friend of my dad and Mr. Pinciotti?"
Danny scratched his stubbly chin and nodded. "Chingwake – Leo….yeah, I know him. He's a good guy." He picked up a pack of cinnamon toothpicks and pulled one out before offering the pack to Eric. Eric shook his head so Danny shrugged and slipped the thin flavored stick between his front teeth. "I'm trying to quit smoking." He explained.
"So…have you seen Leo?" Eric asked almost impatiently.
The old man nodded, "Yeah, he stopped by for a minute to get some matches and headed off towards Fatso Burger."
Eric had high hopes. "Really? How long ago?"
Riffling through the receipts on his desk, Danny worked the toothpick to the side of his mouth. "I'm guessing here, but it was about….maybe, no… it had to be while I was working on Hansen's carburetor…twenty minutes ago?"
Eric grinned, grabbed his free bumper sticker and nearly ran out the glassed office, "Thanks man, I'll have my dad call you!"
xXx
Click.
Tick.
Tap.
Dammit! There it was again. Eric whirled around expecting some stupid little kid to be following him or playing some weird Kelso-like trick. The concrete sidewalk was like a footpath through an old ghost town. He was the only person in town walking. Man, if he only had a couple of cool guns like Marshal Dillon on Gunsmoke. Eric laughed as he imagined himself in Dodge City and Kelso was his deputy Festus.
"Marshall! Marshall! Miss Kitty says that there's some cattle thievery going on at the Long Branch Saloon. Doncha think ya outta reckon with em?" Festus/Kelso had a little hitch in his giddy-up today.
Eric AKA Matt Dillon tugged on the reins of his magnificent steed and trotted near to the spot where Festus was dancing in place. "Thievery you say?" The Marshall questioned with a lifted brow.
Festus took off his felt hat and waved it towards the end of the street where the largest building in all of Dodge City welcomed the town. Miss Kitty, the tall leggy, beautiful red head that ran the saloon, was one of Marshal Dillon's most favorite people. If only she wasn't "loose"….and if only he wasn't the "sheriff".
Arms akimbo, Festus exclaimed, "Four of em! They came storming in to town riding on the biggest horses I ever saw. Bigger 'n yours Marshall Dillon! All snorting 'n sweating 'n frothing at the mouth!"
Marshal Dillon deadpanned, "We're talking about the horses right?"
Ssscccrrreeecccchhhhh!
Click.
Tick.
Tap.
Eric shook the shadowy vestiges of a great fantasy from his mind and started walking faster. Click. Tick. Tap. .Click. Tick. Tap. Eric was running now and the damn noise was still following him. What the hell was it! Clickticktap. Clickticktap. Feeling just this side of panicky, Eric looked back over his shoulder (and not straight ahead) and tripped over his untied shoe.
He landed flat on his ass and the aglet of his shoelace hit the ground with a final click, tick and a tap. Eric almost cried with relief. The sound was only an untied shoelace flapping as he walked and not some biker trying to stalk him or worse kill him! Why am I so freaking paranoid? That's Hyde's job not mine! Still, he rousted himself to a crouch and tied his laces frowning at the enemy aglet that scared him half to death. Stupid shoe!
xXx
"No, I'll say it again more slowly. Have. You. Seen. Leo?" Hyde asked patiently for the fifth time.
"Chinguga yeogieobsneun babo ya." The withered old woman said before she spat something brown on the floor. Hyde jumped back avoiding the spray of phlegm as it splattered on the stain linoleum.
"Uh, yeah, okay….sorry to waste your time." He just really wanted to get out of this dim, dusty market that smelled like garlic laced with rotten fish and cabbage. Beaded curtains parted at the doorway of an egress Hyde hadn't noticed was there. A young teen in a white tee shirt and clean well worn Levi's stepped into the market while eating a steaming bowl of ramen with his chopsticks.
"Eommaga dangsin-eun naega dangsin-eul wihaei namja-ege yaegi halge le-oleul joh-a!" The young boy said. He put his bowl down on the counter and wiped his mouth. "I told my mom that I'll translate for you."
"Yeah?" Hyde asked hopefully, "What did she say before she spit at me?"
The kid grinned, "My mom says that your friend is an idiot and he's not here."
Hyde rocked back on his heels. "Oh." If he had only known that 15 minutes ago his shirt wouldn't be smelling like a fish head right now. "Okay. So….I guess I'll be going man. Good to meet you."
The high school teen leaned across the counter so his mother couldn't hear what he was saying. "I do know that on Saturday nights you can get the best stuff out behind Fatso Burger….knowing Leo….."
Hyde smirked, knowing Leo and knowing exactly what the kid was implying. "Thanks man, I'm heading there now."
"Wait! My name is Shin – but you can all me Steve. I actually have a sample in the back room of what you might be looking for…" Shifty eyes gazed at his mother, but she was busy restocking the freezer with frozen chicken heads. Shin motioned towards the beaded curtain doorway. "You interested?"
Hyde thought What the hell? Leo can wait…..he's a good friend and a sample now….He grinned at the kid, "Sure…let's see what you got back there."
xXx
Finally! The ugly faced clown in the drive-thru hailed to Eric that he had at last arrived at Fatso Burger. Grim reminders of his first job played in his head especially the time his mom delivered soup after her hospital shift late one night. She asked him how the job was going and he had confessed that the polyester uniform was giving him a rash and he was behind on his homework. Why couldn't he have just said he missed Donna and quit that stupid job? Nope, not this guy – not the guy who's mom had to sweep the driveway for him so Red wouldn't be all over his ass.
Eric pulled open the door and a rush of cool greasy smelling air rushed out to greet him. Ahhhh…..bliss. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the smell of French fries and hamburger.
"I said no onions bitch, and I meant NO ONIONS!" A loud meaty fist slammed down on the counter top and Eric's eyelids flew open. Shock registered in the order clerks eyes and she stepped back apologizing profusely. The cheeseburger with onions sailed over her head and landed with a splat on the menu board.
"Get me a damn cheeseburger with no fucking onions or I'm gonna get pissed."
Eric could feel the inside of his stomach clench into a knot. The ambient Fatso Burger atmosphere he walked into seconds ago, had changed into something bad. Something unpalatable and if he had any stones, this was the time to quietly step out and call it a night.
Eric took one step backwards and crashed into a table. Three sets of angry eyeballs turned in his direction and he froze.
He couldn't move.
He was probably going to be dead real soon.
Mommy!
xXx
A/N: I discovered what that little piece of plastic on the end of my shoelace had a name and I was fascinated with the word. Who would have thought that it is somebodies job to make those little end things on your laces. Aglets. Such a cool word and if you didn't have a pair, how would you tie your Reeboks?
Just thought I'd share that little tidbit with you!
