“I can’t,” she began to cry again. “I can’t talk to the Police. I just can’t.”
“Ma’am, please,” Jack laid a hand gently on her shoulder.
“No!” she screamed, slapping his hand away and leaping off the stool, cringing back from Jack as if he were something from a nightmare.
The stool that Goldilocks had been sitting on clattered to the floor, echoing into what Jack realized was the silence her shout had caused as the entire kitchen crew stopped what they were doing to see what the trouble was.
“Everything okay, Jack,” Mike asked, drying his hands on his apron as he approached cautiously, a look of concern on his face.
“Yeah, everything’s great,” Jack said, pulling the stool from the floor and placing it upright. “The young lady and I were just having a conversation and she got a little excited. Isn’t that right, Miss …”
“Goldilocks,” she said, hugging herself and shivering. “Call me Goldilocks.”
CHAPTER FOUR
HE WAS KNOWN AS the Beast, and yet he was by far one of the most attractive men in the known world. His chestnut brown hair blew about in the breeze. Despite its length – which hung to the shoulders – his hair never obscured his vision nor kept anyone from seeing his striking face, which somehow managed to be both smooth and rugged at the same time. His eyes, the piercing blue of glass cleaner, had been known to make Clint Eastwood weep with just a look. He walked with an athletic grace that would make a panther green with envy and his smile could make Cleopatra rise from the dead.
The Beast dressed in an expensive dark brown suit and tie. The jacket he’d left behind due to the sword that rode upon his back. The sword, a katana, was an ancient blade with a rich history. The sword, like its bearer, has seen more than its fair share of combat and has spilled blood on three continents. Along with the sword, a revolver that looked too big to believe rode snuggly in a holster under his left arm. There were surely other weapons hidden about his person, but only those with the determination to give up breathing for a living ever got the chance to see them.
The man known as the Beast is – among other things – a warrior, a tracker, and a hunter. His keen, tactical mind had the reputation to be as cold and unfeeling as the bitter Arctic nights, and it has always been a well-known fact that he is at his happiest only among blood, death, devastation, war, and horror. He is an army unto himself. He has toppled governments and ended revolutions. He has abducted queens and defended presidents. In the most general of senses, the Beast is the one man you don’t want to mess with, and he was now in the town of Grimmelton, Kansas for only one purpose: To find Goldilocks.
The Beast stood in the middle of Walter Road, gazing at the structure that was the Brick House Gas and Groceries. He sniffed the air curiously, ignoring the cars that honked as they sped past him, missing him by inches. Goldilocks had been here. He had followed her trail through the parking lot and up to the squat little store. He stopped to sniff the air again. He could sense that Goldilocks had entered the store. He could also sense that she hadn’t stayed long. He needed to determine what she had been doing in the Brick House Gas and Groceries and where she had gone from here. Her scent leaving the store had already started to fade, which meant she left fast. He knew the direction, but it would speed the process up somewhat if he also knew the destination. The Beast would need to see if the clerk knew anything. And if the clerk wasn’t willing to talk … well, they always talked in the end.
The entire front of the store was glass so the Beast paused, standing off to the side of the entrance, and scanned the interior. The lot was empty of cars, but he wanted to make sure that he would be alone with the clerk. An electronic ping sounded in the store as he walked in through the double glass doors and went directly to the counter where a pig stood. The pig had his back to the counter and appeared to be crying softy.
“You got a restroom in this place?” he asked.
“In the back,” the pig replied without turning around.
The Beast did a quick check of the restrooms and found them unoccupied. Then he returned to the pig at the counter.
“You alone in here?” he asked.
“What?” the pig turned and looked up at him.
The two stood staring at each other for a moment. The Beast pulled a pack of Lucky Strike non-filtered cigarettes from his pocket, shook one out, plucked it into his mouth, and lit it with a Zippo he produced from another pocket.
“There’s no smoking in the store,” the pig said before blowing his nose.
“Where’s the girl?” the Beast asked.
“You can’t smoke in the store.”
The Beast smiled. Of all the things for the pig to be concerned about, his gun and sword to name but two, the pig was worried about secondhand smoke. But, no one had ever said he wasn’t reasonable, so he threw the cigarette to the floor and ground it out with his boot. He continued to smile as he pulled the pistol, pointed it at the pig’s face, and thumbed back the hammer.
“I’m in no mood for killing today,” he said, his voice like gravel being drug across a road of sandpaper. “Why don’t you just tell me what the girl wanted, and where she went, otherwise I’m eating bacon tonight.”
The pig froze.
“Hey, pig,” he said. “I’m talking to you.”
Colin just stood there, transfixed, staring down the barrel of the revolver. Colin couldn’t speak. A deep fear of death had caused his body to go rigid and his mind to escape to a better place.
“Piggy-piggy!” the Beast yelled.
Colin was immobile.
The Beast began to regret pulling the gun. He had no intention of shooting this pig. No, that would draw too much attention. But typically, when he pulled a gun on someone, they tended to talk. Actually, in most cases, they wound up telling him more than he needed. The pig, on the other hand, wasn’t playing ball.
He had to try something different, so the Beast put his gun away.
“Look here, buddy-boy. I’m putting my gun away, okay. I’m not going to shoot you, I just need you to answer a question or two.”
Colin didn’t blink.
The Beast sighed and looked around for anything that might help. That’s when he noticed a small set of thick wire shelves full of candy bars and single serve bags of potato chips. They were within reach, so he snatched a bag of chips and threw it at Colin.
The bag bounced harmlessly off of the top of Colin’s head.
The Beast grabbed up a candy bar, a hefty and dense Chunky bar, which was less of a bar, and more of a solid square paperweight with sharp corners. He flicked it at Colin like a throwing star. It too bounced off the pig’s head with no apparent harm.
The Beast swore. Colin remained a statue. The Beast began scooping up chips and candy bars and hurling them at the pig. Colin was resolute.
This continued for a full ten minutes – the Beast yelling obscenities and pelting Colin with candy bars and bags of potato chips – Colin standing stock-still as candy bars and bags of potato chips bounced harmlessly off of him.
At one point during this ten minute tirade, a customer walked into the store, stopping just inside the threshold as she caught sight of poor Colin and the desperately handsome, candy-throwing, maniac. The customer was Laura Hood, a woman in her early twenties who wore a bright red hoodie, and had come to the store simply to buy some medicine for her grandmother, who lay in bed at home with a nasty head cold. Miss Hood couldn’t quite compute the scene before her as she watched the most beautiful man she’d ever seen pelt Colin Pig with various items found on the shelves around him. Her confusion lasted but only a moment, and it became quickly obvious that the Brick House Gas and Groceries may not be the place she wanted to
be at the moment. So, she turned and strode from the store, remembering that one of the seven dwarves – Doc, probably – had recently opened a 24-hour pharmacy just on the other side of town. She rode quickly away on her little red scooter, the drama she’d witnessed in the Brick House fleeing from her brain as she left our tale, never to return.
Not long after Laura Hood fled, the Beast determined that he would either have to shoot the pig or try a different tactic. He couldn’t get anything out of a dead pig, so shooting him was out of the question. And he needed what information the pig had. The Beast had easily tracked Goldilocks to the store, and he could see, sense actually, that she left. He could sense her right up to a certain point in the parking lot, where her trail just simply disappeared right where a pair of burnt tire tracks started. She obviously got into a car. He couldn’t sense a trail once they were in an automobile.
So the Beast slapped Colin hard across the face.
“Ow!” Colin said, bringing a hand up to cradle his cheek.
“Look, friend. I do apologize. I’m afraid I’ve behaved horribly. I’ve been rude, I’ve made a mess of your store, and I assaulted you, but I need some information and I believe that you’re the only one that has it,” the Beast managed to sound contrite. “I’ll tell you what. How about I pick all this up, then you and I can have a little talk? I just need to know where the girl went.”
“The g-g-girl?” Colin stammered.
“That’s right. Blonde. Smoking hot. Maybe a little manipulative?”
“Goldilocks,” Colin started to come out of it.
“That’s the girl.”
“The witch stole my baby.”
“I’m sorry?” Confusion showed on the Beast’s face, this was quite unexpected.
“She stole my baby.”
“She actually stole your baby? Your, uh … piglet?”
“No, my car. The witch stole my car.”
“Ah, okay. Your car. You said she stole your baby and I thought – well, it doesn’t matter. Which way did she go?”
“East. She took my car east, toward Griswold House,” Colin had begun to weep again.
“Rest easy, son. I’ll find her, and your baby.”
“You really mean it, mister?”
“You bet your curly tail I do.”
The Beast left Colin alone with the mess. Sure, he said he’d help the pig clean the place up, but he was the Beast … and beasts lie.
CHAPTER FIVE
ALL DANNY COULD THINK of as he strolled down Walter Road with his mom and dad was gum. He not only wanted gum, he needed gum.
Everyone had always told Danny Griswold that he was a good kid. Teachers, relatives, other kids at school, and all the nice people that worked in his house seemed to genuinely like Danny, which was good, because Danny genuinely liked them right back. Danny was in the 5th grade, and while he flourished academically, he had a few social issues. Danny’s mom and dad have told him, on more than one occasion, that Danny’s social issues weren’t really his fault. They told him that he had autism. Actually, they would clarify that while he had autism, he was “high functioning”. Danny wasn’t sure what that meant. When his mom and dad would talk about Danny and his autism and being “high functioning” he would often picture himself working with his Lego bricks somewhere up in a tree or on the top of the house because he just figured that you had to be somewhere up high to be high functioning.
Danny has also been told that he is a “sensory seeker”, which he knows is just a fancy way of saying that he likes to chew on stuff. He chews on his clothes, his hands, his toys, pretty much anything that is handy and within reach. His mom and dad have talked to him over and over about chewing on stuff. He’s put holes in his clothes, he’s chewed his fingers till they’ve bled, and he’s bitten his toys into complete uselessness.
That’s what made gum so wonderful. He could chew to his heart’s content and meet that sensory need while he fed his taste buds flavor at the same time. Besides, didn’t four out of five dentists recommend chewing sugar free gum to help promote healthy teeth?
“Dad, don’t forget about the gum?” Danny said as the three bears stepped off of the black top of Walter Road and onto the gravel of the Brick House Gas and Groceries parking lot. “You said we could get some gum?”
“Don’t worry bud,” Burt ruffled the fur on the top of Danny’s head. “Gum is just but a few steps away.”
As the Griswolds walked across the parking lot of the Brick House, Danny found his attention being pulled to a man who had just come out of the store. The man was unmistakably handsome, even Danny could see that, but the man’s extreme attractiveness was not what drew Danny’s attention. It was the sword the man wore on his back.
Without warning, Danny’s father stopped and held his arm out protectively in front of Danny and his mom. Danny knew his dad didn’t like the man with the sword. Danny could feel his dad tense, the muscles in his arm going taut as he stood between his family and what his dad must have felt was a threat to those he held most dear.
“Burt?” his mom asked, trying to move out around him.
“Stay where you’re at, Bea,” his dad said, watching the man warily.
Danny knew the man wasn’t going to hurt him or his mom or dad. He wasn’t sure how he knew, he just did, just as he knew that telling his dad that everything would be okay wouldn’t do any good. Besides, the man with the sword wasn’t even looking in their direction. He just stood there by the entrance to the store, looking up Walter Road, and … sniffing the air. Danny thought that was funny, but before he could laugh, he noticed the man’s hair. Danny was transfixed by it. The man’s hair stirred slightly in the gentle breeze, yet not once did the man’s hair obscure his face. Not even for a second. It was as if the man with the sword kept his hair out of his face by sheer force of will. It was … magical.
But then the man with the sword disappeared. He just seemed to meld into nothingness. One moment the man was there, standing and sniffing the air, and the next moment the man turned slightly to one side, and vanished.
“Cool!” Danny said excitedly. “He’s magic!”
“Um,” was all his dad seemed to be able to muster.
“I’m sure he just walked around to the back of the store,” his mom said, smiling.
“Yeah,” his dad said. “I’m sure that’s where he went.”
“Can we get gum now?” Danny asked, shaking his head. Danny knew what he saw. The man used magic to teleport himself away from the parking lot of the Brick House.
“Sure, pal,” his dad said, laughing. But Danny could tell that his dad’s laugh was a lie. His dad was worried. So was his mom. He could feel it in their hands as they each took one of his.
“It’s okay,” Danny said. “That man doesn’t want to hurt us. He’s just looking for something.”
“Of course he is, pal,” his dad laughed again. “That guy is long gone. Got nothing to do with us.”
Danny just smiled. He knew telling his parents that it was okay wouldn’t do any good, but Danny knew in some sense that it was the parent’s job to worry, so Danny let them worry … just as long as he was able to get some gum.
Yet, his dad didn’t move. He just stood there looking at where the handsome man disappeared.
“Dad?” Danny asked. “Gum?”
“Burt, are you alright?” his mom said.
“Yeah,” his dad said. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he gave a snort of laughter. “I’m fine, let’s get Danny some gum.”
Danny let out a little cheer of joy in his head as the set off through the parking lot.
The first thing the Griswolds found as they walked
into the Brick House Gas and Groceries was the mess. The three bears paused just inside the sliding glass doors and looked with confusion at the candy bars and potato chip bags that were strewn about on the floor before the counter.
That’s when Danny heard the distinct sound of a pig crying and saw Colin Pig behind the counter, his head in his hands, weeping softly.
CHAPTER SIX
BURT HAD ALWAYS BEEN uncomfortable around anyone when they cried. It was just a thing with him. Men, women – regardless of their species – crying just made him want to walk away in the other direction.
Which was why Beatrice was the first to move, going straight to the counter.
Burt, on the other hand, hung back with Danny.
“What’s going on, Dad?” Danny asked, looking from Colin to the mess on the floor. “Why is Colin crying?”
“I don’t know, buddy,” Burt said, taking Danny’s hand and guiding him to the candy bars and potato chip bags. “I don’t know, but your mom will handle it. Why don’t we pick this stuff up for Colin.”
“But, what about my gum?”
“We’ll get your gum, don’t you worry, but we have to straighten up here first.”
“But, I didn’t make this mess. Why do I have to pick it up?” Danny began to get agitated and Burt could sense a meltdown coming on.
“Because, bud, it’s the right thing to do. Don’t you want to help Colin out?”
“Fine!” Danny yelled, and that was the end of it. Crisis averted. Danny was able to stop his meltdown with that one, solitary word and the two quickly got to work cleaning up the mess around them.
Meanwhile, Beatrice had moved over to Colin’s side of the counter and held him, rocking gently back and forth and making soft, soothing, shushing sounds as the pig cried without shame. Burt smiled in a nervous sort of way. The way Colin sounded, Burt thought that if this were a cartoon, great streams of tears would be spraying out of the sides of Colin eyes like small high pressure faucets.
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