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STRANGE TIMES FOR SAMCRO: Secrets Can Kill
Chapter 2 WOOF! WOOF!
Author's Note—Understanding what's going on with Clay. Clay is under the influence of mushrooms. He thinks everything he sees and hears is real—just like everyone does. This is told from Clay's point of view. That's why you don't know what's real and what isn't. Also, since you are inside Clay's head, you see what he thinks of his SOA brothers.
Every member of SAMCRO turned to stare at Clay. He knew each one of them was trying to find something to use to prove he was under the influence of the mushrooms and was, at least temporarily, unfit to lead SAMCRO.
"See? I'm not drooling or acting crazy. There's not a damned thing wrong with me. Chuckie, you must have gotten a bad batch. Good luck getting your money back from the Wahewa."
As Clay looked at Chuckie, he just realized that Chuckie looked like a Boston terrier. He was even wearing black pants and a white shirt—the same colors as a Boston terrier. He had the same small compact body, slicked back hair and shiny dark eyes.
"You don't feel anything?"
"I don't feel a thing," Clay said. He looked under the table, trying to find Gemma. "Where the hell did Gemma go?"
"She's not here," Bobby said.
Clay knew from the tone of Bobby's voice that he was questioning his sanity. He would just love to be SAMCRO president, now that Jax was out of the club. Clay knew he had to hold himself together and get through this meeting.
"I want the clubhouse cleared. Members only. No after church party. That's your job, Chuckie. Shut the doors behind you."
Chuckie shut the doors behind him.
"What the hell are you doing?" Clay demanded.
"You said to shut the doors."
"Idiot."
"He meant that you are supposed to leave and then shut the doors," Jax said.
Chuckie barked an apology and whined as he shut the doors.
"Now where were we?" Clay asked. He knew exactly where they were, he just wanted to say the words and savor them. "That's right. We were taking a vote, right Jax? You're finally getting that vote you've been waiting for all meeting. Your turn, Chibs. Yes or no. Should Jax meet Mr. Mayhem?"
Chibs eyes were bright with unshed tears.
"I . . . I . . . Jackie, I'm just not ready for my brother to become a sister. And I know SAMCRO can't have a member turn into a woman," Chibs said. In times of stress, his Scots accent got thicker and harder to understand.
Bobby was trying to do a translation in sign language. He was hampered by the fact he didn't know sign language. The blue beads in his hair pitched in to help by clicking a Morse code translation of Chibs' words, but no one in SAMCRO knew Morse code.
"Speak clearer. We can't understand what the hell you're saying," Clay ordered. "And Bobby if you don't shut those beads the hell up, I'm gonna rip them out of your hair."
"They aren't that loud."
"Shut them the hell up," Clay said.
Bobby whispered softly to his beads. They calmed down and went silent.
"Jackie boy, I don't think you should become a woman," Chibs said speaking very slowly.
Jax chewed his bubble gum thoughtfully, staring off into space.
"Tara's not very enthusiastic about me becoming a woman," Jax admitted. "She's especially not happy about me getting my dick whacked off."
A collective shudder went through the men at the idea of losing the most important part of being a member of SAMCRO.
"So don't do it," Piney rumbled.
All of the guys except Clay urged Jax to change his mind.
"I didn't realize you guys wouldn't be supportive. We're brothers," Jax said.
"We support you when you're a brother," Chibs said.
"Why don't you just think about it and then we can revisit, readdress and remeet about it," Bobby said.
"I only thought about becoming a woman for five minutes. Tara says I'm too impulsive sometimes. I probably should think about it a little more. Say in six months, I'll think about it some more—take maybe ten minutes or maybe even an hour and really think it through. Well, now that I'm not going to be a woman anytime soon, I want back in SAMCRO."
They all looked at Clay.
"If we allow you back in SAMCRO, there's no dressing like a chick or wearing make-up or any of that stuff."
"Can I wear lip balm?" Jax asked.
"As long as it's colorless."
"OK. It's good to be back, man," Jax said.
He decided to blow a big celebratory bubble. He added another three pieces of bubblegum to the six he was already chewing.
"What's with you and the gum?" Clay asked.
"I'm trying to give up smoking. It takes a toll on your looks."
Jax began blowing his celebratory bubble. Everyone watched in amazement as the bubble got larger and larger. And then it burst. It didn't just pop; it burrowed itself into Jax's facial hair. Clay was impressed. He'd never seen bubble gum do that before. It had become one with Jax's facial hair.
"No," Jax screamed.
It was too late for screams. The damage was done.
"Jax's back in the MC. Meeting's adjourned," Clay said and banged the gavel.
Clay had other matters to bring up at the meeting, but he couldn't focus. All he could think about was how his club had gone to hell and not in a good way.
He returned to his desk and sat down to think, hoping he could come up with a way to fix his broken club. They had all lost their edge. He was even having problems with Gemma. Since her car accident, she didn't want him anywhere near her.
He had so many problems to fix and it was so hard to think. Now he knew what it must feel like for Juice who always seemed to find thinking hard.
Damn. Clay remembered he was going to accidentally shoot Juice, but he couldn't remember why. He tried to remember. Maybe Juice had been crying and he thought he should give Juice something to really cry about. Or maybe there was some other reason. He decided that he would delay Juice's shooting until he could remember why he'd wanted to do it in the first place or another reason appeared.
"Hey, Clay," Bobby said, poking his head in the door. "We got trouble. Big trouble."
"Is that because Jax can't get the gum out of his hair?" Clay asked.
"No. This is much worse. It's Tig and Juice."
"Figures it would be those two," Clay mumbled. "Anyone dead or arrested?"
"No."
"Then how the hell could it be that bad?"
"I don't know, but Happy went to pick them up in the van."
"Great," Clay said. "This has just been a great day to be alive."
"They're here," Bobby said.
Clay got up and left his office. The men had fanned out in a semi-circle around Tig and Juice. Chuckie was barking, running around in circles, trying to see what was going on.
"Out," Clay ordered, pointing to the kitchen.
Chuckie whined, but did as he was ordered and returned to the kitchen.
Clay nodded with satisfaction. That dog obedience course he took Chuckie to had really paid off. He wasn't jumping on people anymore and he had quit chasing his tail. Maybe that was the solution to SAMCRO's problems—dog obedience classes for everyone!
Over his years as a member of SAMCRO, Clay had seen a lot and faced danger without flinching, but seeing Tig and Juice left him speechless.
"What the hell happened to you guys?" Chibs demanded.
Clay blinked. He was having trouble believing what he was seeing. Maybe those mushrooms were finally kicking in.
Tig, from the tips of his motorcycle boots to the top of his curly hair, was covered in bird excrement, feathers and bits of egg shell. His sleeves were rolled up exposing small bloody wounds. He also had the same wounds on his neck and a few on his face.
Juice was bruised, bloody and completely naked. Happy had given him a black garbage bag to wrap around his waist to lessen a little of Juice's humiliation.
"How the hell did sex with dead girls go so wrong?" Clay demanded.
The answer to this question will set SAMCRO on a race against time to save their charter and SAMCRO's reputation.
Unfortunately for Clay, Zobelle is launching a secret attack on him by lacing his cigars with PCP and LSD. Just when Clay needs to be at the top of his game to lead his club and save it from a very elusive enemy, he will unknowingly be under the influence of mind altering drugs. It's going to be a wild ride for SAMCRO as Clay battles to save his club while being out of his mind.
I will post the next chapter next week. I'm doing short chapters for this story unlike the other story I write Tara's Story. After I got so little reaction from readers after I posted Strange a few weeks ago, I thought about not continuing with the story. Many thanks to the readers who liked Strange and reviewed it. I'd originally intended to post the second chapter a couple of weeks ago, but I've held this chapter trying to decide if I wanted to invest my time telling this story. If you like this story, please let me know and if you hate it, let me know that too so I don't waste my time and I can let this idea go.