“Okay, you’re good with everything?” Mona breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did you have dinner? Mona asked.
“I had a sandwich earlier but I could eat again.”
“You want to go to Mia’s Pizza for pizza and a beer?”
“I can handle that.”
We took Bailey home. I freshened up with a little lipstick and a brush through my hair. Mona brushed her hair straight down and she looked sexy as usual. I gave Bailey a treat and set the alarm.
“Let’s go we have about sixty seconds to lock the door before the alarm goes off .”
We grabbed our bags and we were out the door.
The Saturday night crowd was at Mia’s. I knew a few of the guys. A couple guys dropped by our table and wanted to meet my new friend. I introduced them and Mona didn’t seem interested in any of them.
“Gee, you aren’t your usual friendly self. What’s up with that?” I took a big bite of my pizza slice and looked up over my pizza at Mona for an answer.
“I think I’m in love.” She squirmed in her seat like a little girl hiding something.
I took a gulp of my beer and almost spewed it out of my mouth. “What? Your in love. One ride on a Harley and you’re in love? That’s insane.” I shook my head. “But who am I to say anything? I may not know what love feels like.”
Mona set forward on the edge of her seat. “It’s this feeling you get in the pit of your stomach and it crawls up to your heart. It’s a new feeling for me.”
“Do you think Brad feels the same?”
“No, but if it’s to be he will.”
“Is there a second date?”
“Yes, tomorrow I’m going with him to repo a couple of cars.”
My mouth fell open and my pizza fell out. “You’re going into the repo business?”
“I’m just riding along in the tow truck. If the interrogation is over how about we hit Bill‘s Billiards?”
“Is this something else I don’t know about you?” I’m thinking Mona is probably a pool shark and she gonna hustle some guy.
“Pool, yeah I’ve play a few games. That’s what you do when working in a bar and there aren’t any customers.” She closed the pizza box. “You finished?”
“Am now.” Mona was hyperactive tonight. It must be the ‘in love’ bug biting her butt.
We drove over to Bill’s Billiards. The place was buzzing with the Saturday night crowd. A few bikers with their ole’ ladies. A few guys that probably should be home with their families.
Mona pointed out a pool table where there was no one playing.
“You grabbed the table and I’ll get us a couple of pool sticks.”
I wasn’t sure how to grab a table but I thought setting on it might do the job.
A guy walked past chalking up his stick. “Your butt’s gonna be all blue.”
“What? I jumped off the table and turned to look at my butt.
“Works every time.” He laughed and racked up the balls on my table.
“This is my table.” I said feeling a little stupid. I knew it wasn’t my table but I had dibs on it. I guess he was right I didn’t have my hands on it.
Mona walked over to the guy, pulled her shirt over to show her 38. “You messing with my friend?”
“”No, ma’am. Just getting the table ready for you ladies.” He finished racking the balls. “All yours ma’am.” He did the hands up palms out and backed away.
Mona broke the balls and not one went in the pocket. We played for about a half hour before I finally put the eight ball in the pocket. “All right I beat you.”
“Let’s play another game.” Mona was taking the balls from the end of the table and letting them roll. I took the rack and proceeded to fill the rack with the balls.
“Okay, but I’m warmed up now. You’ll never beat me.” I stroked my stick, chalked the tip end and bounced my stick on the floor.
“Show your stuff girlfriend.”
I laid my stick on the rail, stroked back and forth and gave it all I had hitting the balls. I heard a thump and very few of the balls rolled.
Mona laughed. “We gotta give you some lessons.”
“I don’t see anyone good enough to give lessons around here.” I looked from side to side. “Nope, no one.”
Mona smiled and took her shot. She put a couple of balls in the pocket. I chalked up and took my shot and missed. We play for about fifteen minutes before Mona chalked her stick, blew on the end and took a shot. Dang ball hit one ball then the other and the second ball went in the pocket. I noticed a couple guys watching Mona.
Mona missed and I took my turn. I turned around and the guys at the table next to us wanted to play us.
“Hey Tiffany, these guys want to play teams. You think we can beat them?”
My truthful thought was, no but I grinned and said. “Of course we can.” I almost choked on my words.
The guy with the big mouth racked the balls.
“Go ahead you ladies go first.” He said stepping back from the table.
“Sure, I’ll go first” Mona stepped up to the table and gave it a good shot. The rack of balls was scattered around the table. She took a couple of shots making the first shot and missing on the second shot.
“It’s your turn” Mona pointed at the guy chalking up his stick.
He ran about four balls off the table. Looked over at Mona and grinned.
I was nervous. I put my best face forward and took a shot and missed the dang cue ball. The other guy took his turn and put one in and then missed. We played four games each winning two with the other guy putting the eight ball in causing himself to loose one of the two games..
“Mona, how about you and I playing off the tie. And to make it interesting lets play for money.
“Play for money, you think I’m crazy?” Mona turned and walked away.
“What’s a little twenty?” He grinned at Mona and then at his friend.
Mona strutted over to the arrogant guy. “I think I can rattle you enough to beat you. I say fifty bucks.”
“Mona, you’re gonna lose your money. This guy’s good.”
“You don’t have any faith in me?” Mona flipped her hair over her shoulder.
“I’ve seen you play and I’ve seen this guy play. You don’t have a chance.”
I put my stick in the wall rack and set back to watch Mona loose her fifty bucks.
They flipped for who was going to break the rack. The guy won. He chalked up his stick, leaned over the table and broke the rack of balls. Balls flew all over the table with two balls falling in the pocket.
“Looks like I’ve got the little one.” He proudly said as he walked around the table.
“I already had that figured out.” Mona grinned and stepped back from the table.
He put two more balls in the pocket and missed on his third shot.
“So, that’s all you have?” Mona chalked up walked around the table eyeing each ball.
She took her first shot off another ball and the ball dropped in the pocket. She strutted around the table a couple of times, stretched her double ’D’s’ over the table and sank another ball. She stood up, looked over at the guy.
“That was a lucky shot.” He nudged his friend.
Mona took another shot and missed. “It’s all yours. This will be your last turn do it now or never.” Mona stepped back for the man to have plenty room.
He looked the table over well. Took his aim and missed. “Dang! How’d I miss that?”
Mona walked around the table, took aim on the first ball, it dropped in the pocket, took aim again and again.
“Well, lady you blocked your self with the seven ball. Looks like you are going to eat your words.”
“Get my fifty bucks on the table.” Mona called the corner pocket, aimed, jumped the seven ball and sank the eight ball in the corner pocket.
“Damn, lady you hustled me. Where’d you learn to play like that?” Mona picked up her fifty dollar bill, sashayed over to th
e wall rack hung up her stick and smiled back at the guy standing with his mouth open.
“Mona, I didn’t know you could shoot pool. Well, I mean good. I can shoot pool but I’m not good at it.” I followed Mona out of Bill’s Billiards.
“We should do this more often. I enjoyed watching you hustle that guy. He was such a smart ass challenging us girls.”
I stopped in front of Mona’s apartment. Mona got out of the Honda and leaned her head through the passenger window. “You wanna come in for a while? I could make some cocoa.”
“I think I’ve had enough fun for tonight. I need to get some rest. Thanks for the invite and by the way I had a lot of fun tonight. You’re fun to hang with.” I dropped the Honda in gear and slowly drove toward home. I looked in my rear view and Mona was standing on the sidewalk waving me home. This time she wasn’t standing on the street homeless.
The house was dark when I arrived home. “Dang, I forgot to leave the porch light on.” I said aloud. No one can hear me but I sometimes find myself talking to the wind. I pushed the garage door fob and the door slowly crawled up. I pulled the Honda into the garage and looked in my rear view. I caught my heart in my throat. The Jeep was parked at the end of my drive way. Just as I looked he turned his lights off. I immediately pushed the fob lowering the garage door. What am I going to do. I have to go out the side door and walk into the house. He could be lurking outside my door. He could have a gun, a knife anything. He could have rape and murder on his mind. He could be the massage murderer. My thoughts were running wild. What am I going to do? I noticed the small window at the rear of the garage. I could climb out the window and run to my parents house. Better idea, call Randy he will have someone here in a snap. I dug in my bag for my phone. No phone. I must have left it on the counter. My heart is doing summersaults. The window is my only option. I pushed a box under the window, opened the window and dang it squeaked. I hoped he hadn’t heard the squeak. I tossed my bag out the window. Whoops! My Glock is in my bag. I put one leg over the window sill and let my leg slip toward the ground outside. I pulled my other leg over the window sill. I couldn’t touch the ground. I was hanging in mid air twisting and turning every way possible before falling on my butt in the middle of a rose bush. Silent screams…many silent screams. I pulled myself up and started to wipe off my pants when the thorns poked me. I have thorns in my butt, my hands and my legs. I grabbed my bag and ran down the alley toward my folks house. I got to the house ran around to the front just as the Jeep drove past. I kept my eye on the Jeep into the distance until the tail lights faded in the distance. I could wake my folks but that would be rude since the Jeep is gone. I chose to go home. I walked home pulling at my pants. With every step another thorn poked me. I fished my keys from the bottom of my bag and entered the house, turned off the alarm and immediately reset it. Bailey was pacing needing to hike and poop. I turned off the alarm and let him out.
“You do your job and get back here, pronto.” I’m sure Bailey knew exactly what I told him. And of course he will heed my orders. What I really hope is he comes back before I get in the tub to soak out the thorns.
I pulled my jeans off to the sound of a woman yelling ouch. The thorns had pricked my legs and as the jeans came off so did the thorns from my legs. I took off my shirt. It was bloody and ripped. I ran a tub of water to soak my wounds and my pride. I wrapped a towel around my body and waited for Bailey to return. There was a scratch at the door. I looked out and Bailey was ready to come inside. I turned the alarm off, unlocked the door and reset the alarm. Bailey ran straight to bed. I dropped the towel at the side of the tub and put one foot in to test the water. It was a little hot. I turned on the cold water and swished the water with my foot. In a couple minutes the water was warm and good for soaking. I stepped into the tub slid down to my chin and soaked. Rings of blood floated on top of the water. “Yuk! I can’t set in this nasty water.” I got out of the tub and stepped in the shower to rinse off. I ran my hands across my body and found numerous thorns. I took a couple of Excedrin for the pain. For the remainder of the night I tweezed thorns from my body and extremities. I rubbed an antibiotic salve over the wounds. At about five the next morning I put on my new pajamas and crawled into bed with Bailey who had taken his side out of the middle.
I kept hearing this ding dong. The ice cream truck, no can’t be, it’s my alarm clock, no can’t be…it’s the dang door bell. Who would be visiting at this hour? I found my robe at the end of the bed. I put my arms in the sleeves and tied the sash as I opened the door. “Hayden, what are you doing here?” I stepped back for him to enter.
“Just thought you might have some lunch with me. What happened to you? Your face is red and prickled.”
“And so are my arms and legs. I fell into a rose bush last night.” I opened my robe to expose my legs and pulled the sleeves up to show Hayden my piercing.
“You poor darling. How’d you fall into a rose bush?”
“I didn’t want to worry you but I have a stalker. Someone in a Jeep is always around. Last night when I pulled in the garage he parked across my driveway. I put the garage door down and started to call Randy but I couldn’t find my phone. I had left it on the counter. Anyway, long story short. You need to have the gardener remove the rose bush from under the garage window. I’m sure it’s destroyed anyway.”
“I feel really bad.” Hayden looked at the floor.
“It’s not your fault. I remember your dad planting the rose bush. He said, no one will be crawling in this window. Guess he didn’t think about crawling out.” I giggled . “Clumsy me.”
I put on a pot of coffee and we set down at the table.
I jumped up. “Want some toast?” I put a couple slices of wheat bread in the toaster. Pushed down the button. “It’ll pop up in a jiffy.”
The drips from the coffee maker was the only sound for a moment. The toast popped up. I got the Cheez Whiz from the cupboard, a knife from the drawer and inserted the knife in the jar and brought out a big hunk of Cheez Whiz. “This is enough for both pieces of toast.”
I smeared the Cheez Whiz on each slice of bread and handed Hayden a slice.
“Do you remember when we shared Cheez Whiz sandwiches when we were kids?”
“You made some sloppy sandwiches. I did a lot of licking my fingers and the edges of the bread with the Cheez Whiz oozing.”
Hayden took a big bite. “Guess this means we aren’t on for lunch.”
“I’m sorry but I don’t feel up to going out. People will think I couldn’t decide where to get my piercing or think I got carried away with it.” I laughed and Hayden joined in on the laughing.
The coffee pot buzzer went off and I poured us a cup of coffee. I handed Hayden his coffee and swigged on mine while I walked to the table and set down across the table from him.
“Oh this is good.” I took another swig and set it on the table. I picked up my Cheez Whiz toast and took a big bite. I reached across the table and took Hayden’s hand. “You’re a good friend.”
THIRTY-THREE
I checked my rear view mirror and saw Marty Martin riding my bumper. I pulled my Honda to the curb and he flew past me. I accelerated in hot pursuit of him. We drove the surface streets going up and down the city blocks. Marty turned into a cul de sac and I pulled straight at his drivers door ready to T-Bone him. I could see the whites of his eyes. Marty started to take off and I hit the side of his maroon Chrysler with my bumper jamming his door. He crawled across the seat and jumped from the Chrysler. He ran behind Conway Lumber Yard. I took my Glock from my waist and fired a shot in the air. Marty ran between stacks of lumber. We were was running through a maze of boards stacked higher than my five feet seven. He climbed up on a stack of plywood. I followed and he jumped to the ground, bounced off a pile of insulation and fled. I couldn’t get down from the stack of plywood as swiftly as I climbed up. The last I saw Marty he was high tailing it down the street waving me a big bird.
A red Dodge Power Stroke was parked in front of
Peterson’s Bail Bonds office when I arrived at work. I walked in the office and looked around. Linda was setting in her usual chair at the desk. The aroma of coffee lingered in the office and the donut box had been opened.
“Does Peewee have someone in his office?” I chose a jelly donut and began licking my fingers.
“Yeah, it’s Charley our new employee.”
“So, looks like she drives a big red Dodge Power Stroke.” I took a sip of coffee and walked over to the window and took a look. “That rig will be good for hauling in ‘no shows’.
Peewee’s office door swung open and out walked Charley dressed in black Bermuda shorts and a camouflage shirt. Her forty inch waist was belted with a black belt and shiny buckle, her ankle high laced up boots are topped off with black socks. Her cuffs were hanging from her back pant loop and her gun attached to her waist in a holster on hr right hip and on her left side in a holster was a stun gun. She looked like a damn bounty hunter. She and Mona sure beat me when it comes to the bounty hunter look. She had a file in her hand Peewee had given her.
“Who are you going after?” I asked her looking over her uniform.
“Billy Bob. Seems he was a ‘no show’.”
“Billy Bob is a tall drink of water with curly red hair tousled all over his head.
You’ll probably find him at his garage over on Pine Street.” I told Charley.
“Well, thanks Tiffany, I appreciate your help.” Charley took a look at her file flipping through the pages.
“This guys got a lot of ‘no shows’ on record.”
“Yeah, he is a good mechanic but he’s always ripping someone off. They get into a fight over the inflated bill. Fists start swinging and someone calls the police and Billy Bob won’t heed the officers advice and he’s hauled off to jail.”
“Thanks for the info. I’ll get right over there.” Charley seemed anxious to haul in her first official ‘no show‘.
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