Chapter Fifteen:
Eels
Salem sat behind the counter of Nabootique, polishing mystical stones and waiting for a customer. She looked up from her work to see Vince reading a magazine. She smiled sadly to herself and continued cleaning the shop.
Howard walked into the shop, carrying a bucket and some soap.
"Where have you been?" Vince asked.
"I've been cleaning off the filth on the blinds." Howard replied sounding annoyed.
"What filth?" Vince asked.
"The graffiti that has been getting left there every night for the past week." Salem said, walking around the counter.
"It always says something about Howard licking balls for spare change or something to that affect." She explained, taking the cleaning supplies from Howard and putting them away.
Naboo walked in with Bollo, immediately starting to give Howard a hard time about advertising his business someplace else. Salem held back her laughter from the battle of wits that was taking place, and paid attention as Naboo put them in charge of the shop while he and Bollo went on a holiday.
The trio waved good bye to Naboo and Bollo as the many Shamen took off. Retreating back inside, Salem began to work on keeping the store presentable. She listened as Vince and Howard argued over sales.
"...Salem and I been tagging celebrities, like birds..." Vince babbled on about his invention made for telling people where their favorite celebrities were. Howard arguing back with him over his elbow patches.
"You know, I can out sell the both of you, and make Naboo money." She said, already feeling the challenge between the two coming on.
"Oh yea? And how's that?" They asked. Salem smiled and held a finger over her lips winking.
"That's a secret only I know. You'll just have to watch and learn. So, is it a bet?" She said.
"5 Euros each from the losers." Howard said.
"You're on." Vince replied, the trio shaking hands.
It was near closing time as two incredibly long lines led into Nabootique. One line for celebrities for Vince, and the other line for various little charms from Salem. Vince watched as the men and women flocked to Salems' register.
She leaned over the counter, her breasts, framed by a red halter top, placed just on top of the glass, as she explained a certain charm to a drooling young gentleman. Tight, dark wash, tattered jeans adorned her legs and hugged her at her hips, tucked into black, mid calf healed boots. A silver studded belt help keeping the pants in place. Vince took notice of her matching accessories.
The top earrings were a double cherry design stud, the bottoms were of the same charm, but dangled. Her necklace was a silver chain with the same charm hanging just above her cleavage, and a black beaded bracelet held the same charm as the rest of her jewels. She had made sure her make up brought out all her features, lips painted red, eyes lined perfectly, making them seem bigger.
She glanced over at Vince and smiled and he felt the breath taken out of him. She finished with another customer as Howard began shooing everyone away for closing time, not having made anything, but a phone number for a bigger woman.
"How much did you make?" Vince asked.
"Nothing, and you?" Howard said
"I made 3,000 Euros." Vince said, Salem laughed, holding up and even bigger roll of money.
"That's chump change. I made at least 7,000 Euros in just this past hour." She said smirking. The mens jaws dropped as she collected the rest of her winnings and made her way up the stairs to get ready for the night, leaving them in a stupor.
Vince had gone out for a bit, as Howard began cleaning up the shop. Salem walked down, having changed her shoes for black flats, and the red top for a simple lavender one. An elbow length cropped coat over her shoulders. She smiled and began helping him.
The door flew open as a dark figure made its way into the shop. Salem turned to greet it while Howard tried to run it off. Howard turned around as the figure came into the light. Salem shrank back, seeing the green skinned Hitcher.
Hitcher rambled on about eels, and wanting to bum Howard, before pissing on Howards face and turning his attention to Salem.
"Well, you're a fine one aren't you? Let's have a look." Hitcher said, grabbing Salems' arm and dragging her around the counter. He spun her around, examining her figure.
"Yes, a fine one indeed. If I wasn't a gentleman, I'd have you over the counter, under the tables, on the floors and all the walls over and over again." He said. Salem blushed, and freed herself gently.
"Why haven't you had a go at her?" Hitcher asked, turning his attention back to Howard. Howard shook his head.
"She's more like a sister-" He tried to explain.
"Sister! I'd be going incestuous for her!" Hitcher said, letting one of his hands reach down and rub himself through his pants.
"What business do you have here?" Howard asked, trying to get out of the awkward situation. The Hitcher started his story of being an orphan and being fed eels by a nice lady who use to own the building.
Hitcher broke off the key protector on the piano and began playing the song he use to sing about eels as a kid. The duo watched as a tiny dancer popped out of Hitchers' hat.
"Why don't you dance with her Howard?" Hitcher said. Howard stood there in a trance, Salem waving her hand around his eyes and snapping.
"Now it's just us, love." Hitcher said, approaching the girl and grabbing her, taking her into the middle of the floor and positioning them for a waltz. Hitcher moved with her gracefully across the floor, while the piano magically played a tune.
Howard snapped out of his daze with a scream, causing Hitcher to release his hold on Salem and twirl her towards Howard. Howard pushed her behind him, while the hitcher got close to them, stating how he would protect them for 1,000 Euros.
"Salem, do you still have your money." He asked. The girl shook her head.
"It's not pay day yet, and Naboo has to authorize several things before I'm allowed to take money." She said. Howard went back into a trance, muttering about eels over and over again.
Vince walked through the door, seeing Howard standing in his trance and Salem trying desperately to get ahold of Naboo. He broke Howard out of his trance.
"Vince, do you still have your money from this evening?" Howard asked.
"No, I spent it all." Vince replied.
"It was 3,000 Euros. What could you have possibly spent it on?" Howard asked in disbelief. Salem looked at the new ring Vince held up.
"We're doomed. We need to leave town." Howard said. Salem ignored the babbling of the pair and tried to call Naboo once more.
"Well, call Naboo... See if he can help." Vince suggested.
"I've tried, there's no answer. And Salem has been trying for hours now." Howard said, motioning to Salem hanging up the phone again, a defeated look on her face.
"Let me try and call." Vince said. Vince picked up the phone and dialed. No answer came. The men started arguing over running away or staying and fighting, while Salem started thinking of other ways to get the money.
"How are we going to get that much money in a matter of hours?" Howard asked. Salem approached the pair, holding a small card in her hands.
"There is one way..." She said, handing the card to Howard.
"No, no, definitely not." Howard replied.
The trio stood on the dock, in a more shady part of town. Vince went over the plan of a fake mugging once again.
"Get the money up front." He told Howard.
"This better go perfect." He retorted. Salem and Vince hid in the shadows around the corner. They heard the woman approach Howard. The woman began talking dirty to Howard and Salem covered her ears. Vince looked over and tapped her on the shoulder.
"There's no way you haven't heard things like that before." Vince said.
"Well, yes, but it's a bit different when you hear it said to someone who's like family to you." She said with a smile. Vince smiled back as she plugged her ears once more.
"Ok, I've got the money." Howard said, panic evident in his voice. Vince had snuck off to tag one of the more popular celebrities, while Salem had her ears covered still.
"There, we got the money." Howard said, spreading the money across the counter top. Hitcher walked into the shop.
"Do I need to get my eels out again?" He asked.
"No,no. We've got your 1,000 Euros right here." Howard said nervously. Hitcher gave a creepy smile, and began to eye Salem up and down once again. Vince watched the green mans eyes, and pushed her behind him gently.
"And you? How about another dance?" Hitcher asked her.
"No, thank you." She said, shaking her head. Hitcher flew off the handle at that, going on about killing them all anyway, when the lady from earlier showed up in the doorway with a gun. She fired it at Hitcher, dropping him to the ground and inviting Howard to run away with her. Howard told her he would catch up with her later.
The woman waved good bye and left. Hitcher stood back onto his feet, digging out a flint infused elbow patch that had stopped the bullet from killing him.
"You saved my life." Hitcher said, with gratitude. He told them he would let them all live, and started rambling about how they probably weren't interested in the same things he was.
"Is it really that dark?" Howard asked, making Hitcher turn around.
"Yea, you could hang out with us sometime. We'd make one hell of a team." Vince continued.
"Play that song about eels from earlier." Salem said. Hitcher sat down and began to play, the trio showing up with random instruments. They all began to play a mix of old and new together.
Vince was grabbing his bag, talking about going to a ski lodge with one of his friends, Naboo and Bollo arriving back shortly before. He wasn't paying attention and grabbed the bag from the bottom, spilling out several cans of spray paint.
"You little shit." Howard said, looking at the paint.
"It's not what you think." Vince tried to explain, but took off running from the enraged man. Salem laughed at the sight as they ran out of the shop.
"Weren't you the one tagging the store front?" Naboo asked her. She nodded still laughing. Naboo gave a chuckle while shaking his head.