The Road to Round Mountain: The Betrayal by

by C. G. Roberts

  “Was going to tell you that we were going to get a pack of smokes, did you need anything”? Yeah he was smiling, “I think you should be safe now, I take it you over heard the news”? “I did, I guess the triplets and the old guy didn’t need her anymore”. He nodded and shoed at me with his hand to say go on, get out of here, which we did.

  We were heading out as four guys dressed in fishing outfits pulled into the parking lot in their Minivan. Guess they

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  needed some fishing licenses. Both Deputies and the three Astoria Police rushed past us and into their cars, I guess my mess required some assistance. The phone inside the Jail was ringing off the hook.

  Gordon stopped and pulled out his wallet only to find dust and the memory of money past. “We need an ATM, I’m out of cash”. “There’s an ATM at the Mini-Mart two blocks

  down”, Jenny stated.

  The ATM was just outside the Mini-Mart. Gordon was doing his business as Jenny and I engaged in another lip lock. Jenny pulled back and smiled, “No electrical zaps this time, I think that maybe when you get worked up your energy starts to surface. We’ll need to work on keeping you relaxed”. I smiled and we started kissing again. “Son of a bitch”, Gordon hollered.

  Jenny and I made our way to the ATM where Gordon was thumping the side of the ATM with his hand. Gordon looked up at us, “My balance shows that there’s money in there but for whatever reason it won’t complete the transaction”, as he continued with his thumping. Jenny offered to try for him and he stepped aside while she tried. I was next to her and I put my hand on the ATM and lights started flashing, different options kept popping up on the screen. After a few seconds money started popping out of the dispenser. Gordon jumped in between us and grabbed the wad of cash. As soon as he took it, more popped out. The Scenario continued as we all were stuffing money in whatever pockets had room left in them. The ATM let out a small spark followed by a tiny trail of smoke. Our work was done here so we decided to high tail it out of there before someone saw us.

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  Gordon stopped and ran into the Mini- Mart.

  That would be the quickest confession on record but I understood. Jenny and I looked about the area hoping that no one was coming up to the ATM. Gordon came back out in less than a minute carrying a carton of Marlboro’s and a smile. “I can afford a carton now” he said with the grin of a seasoned criminal. We went around the corner, popped open a fresh pack and lit up.

  “So how much do you think we got”, Gordon asked? I shrugged as did Jenny, “Does this make me an accomplice”, she asked with a smirk on her face. “I’ll put in a good word for you, I’m tight with the Sheriff”, I replied with an equally smirky grin. We had the satisfied grin of a group that had just enjoyed an overdue smoke combined with new found wealth.

  Looking down the road we could see that the fire at the chevron station was still blazing away and the Deputies were blocking off traffic in both directions of Marine Drive. The flames were not getting any smaller.

  We arrived back at the jail, and the four fishermen were coming out. Three of them went to the van but the last one was staring at me. “You must be Billy”, He asked? I mo-tioned for Jenny and Gordon to head inside, “I guess I must but who are you and how did you know my name”? His fair-ly lengthy blonde hair was being tossed about as the west wind picked up. He smiled, “Your hair gave it away; I take it the lightning did that”? I nodded as he handed me a card. “What’s this”? “A friend of mine asked me to give this to you, and to tell you that you’ll know when the time is right to use it”. I was confused, nothing new there but I asked, “What is it that I will know”? He was walking back to the van but

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  turned slightly back to me and replied, “You’ll know”, he said smiling and got into the van.

  I gave the card a once over, Mindful Inc. was all that was on it, no phone number, no address. I pulled out the Velcro wallet the Sheriff gave me and tucked it safely inside. Inside the jail was utter chaos, Anne was manning the phone at the front counter as the Sheriff was busy switching from line to line on his phone in the office. Every time Anne hung up the phone, it immediately rang again. Jenny sensed her frustration and took over phone duties so she could help the Sheriff in his office with any dispatches since his jaw wasn’t working too well.

  Things finally slowed down after a couple of hours. The Deputies came back in smelling of soot and ashes. During all of this madness Anne still managed to order food for everyone which we didn’t know about until a delivery guy came thru the door. Subway to the rescue with three big bags filled with assorted sandwiches, chips and cookies. Gordon went up to the delivery guy and told Anne, “I got this”, as he pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket. “Goodness Gordon, what did you do, rob an ATM”, Anne asked in astonishment of the amount of bills he had in his hand?

  Gordon paid the guy as Jenny and I walked up to him. I had my hand out and he knew what I had in mind. He fished out the rest of the bills, Jenny did the same and the three of us went into the Sheriff’s office. I two fisted the pile of bills on the Sheriff’s desk, as I dug out what I had crammed in my pockets. He looked up at me in amazement, but after I had told him what had happened he actually started to laugh. Jenny helped him straighten out the bills and the Sheriff

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  pulled an envelope out of his desk drawer and tucked away the money inside and placed it the drawer.

  The Sheriff had asked that I stay in the office with him as he asked that Jenny and Gordon go ahead and eat and that I would be out shortly. They left the office and headed for the bags of food at the front counter.

  The Sheriff hung his head for a moment. I was clueless as to why he wanted to talk just to me. He brought his head back up, met my eyes and motioned for me to sit down which I did. “This isn’t an easy thing for me Billy, but after all the phone calls, pressure from the political cronies in town, that I’m being forced to make you leave town”. My jaw dropped open at the news; I didn’t know what to say, but managed to squeak out, “Leave town, why”? He looked towards the window then back at me, “Preliminary totals from the damage caused by you has been put at over 3.5 million dollars, and that was before the chevron explosion. I have to explain to a lot of people what happened, and frankly there’s no way to do that without lying through my teeth. These people that I’m referring to are the ones that hold my job in their back pocket and I’m not ready to retire just yet; close but not yet. Bottom line Billy is that they want you out of town by noon tomorrow, or it’s my ass”.

  “I sort of understand I guess but I don’t understand what they want me to do exactly”? “What they want is for you to leave town, they don’t care where you go as long as it’s not here; they consider you too dangerous to be living here, and even though you help saved my chaps, I have to agree with them”. What a sock to the gut, I may have set some shit on fire and some bad guys got killed, but I thought I was

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  helping. I hung my head and covered my face with my hands.

  Looking back up at the sheriff, he could see that my eyes were a little red, “I’m sorry as I can be Billy, but that’s how it has to be”, as he opened his desk drawer and pulled out the envelope of money that we gave him from the newly malfunctioning ATM. “Here, you’ll need money”, as he handed me the envelope. “I can’t take this, I made the ATM malfunction”….. “Take it, I had them check the transactions on it, and Gordon’s card never went through, so technically it wasn’t fraud or theft, Just a glitch”, as he winked at me and waited for me to take the envelope.

  “There’s just over two thousand in there, so make sure that you put that in the wallet I gave you and zip up the top of it. I hate like hell that it has to be like this Billy, but my hands are tied. Tomorrow you and I will drive to the 101 highway where the town ends and I’ll have to let you out there”. “Can Gordon and Jenny go with us”, I asked? “Absolutely, now go get some grub”. I wasn’t hungry since he told me the news, speaking of
which, how would I break this to Jenny.

  I decided to do it now before I chickened out. I told her

  what the Sheriff had said and she tossed down her sandwich

  and ran into my arms. I didn’t want her to let go since I didn’t know the next time I would be able to see her again; although I knew it wouldn’t be in this town. While tightly holding on to Jenny, I could see the pained look on the Sheriff’s face as he stood at his office door.

  Jenny abruptly let go, checked her watch and said, “I’ll be back shortly”, and gave me a quick kiss. Late lunch or din-ner didn’t set well on my stomach. My headache was coming

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  back with a vengeance, with my mind racing over being displaced twice in a week. Where would I go, what would I do for money, and I doubt that I would get away with that ATM trick for very long? I needed a place to stay and more importantly, I needed Jenny. Everyone was quiet as the Sheriff filled his wife and staff about his decision which brought tears to Anne’s eyes.

  Gordon and I went outside and smoked in silence. The

  late afternoon haze was starting to set in as high clouds blocked the sun the sun from view. The wind started to pick up as well; a sure sign that more rain was on the way. “So where are you going to go”, Gordon timidly asked? “I don’t have a clue; I mean it’s not like something you plan for, I guess I’ll see where the road takes me”. “Do you think you’ll ever come back”? I flicked the ash off of my smoke and replied, “I doubt that it will be anytime soon from what the Sheriff had to say”. “Sucks the big one”, Gordon replied. “I don’t’ know if I’ll get the chance later, but I wanted to thank you for being a friend, not just one that would sit by you at lunch, but one who put his own life on the line. I’ll never forget that, and it’s nice to know that someone has your back”, I countered. Gordon ran over and hugged me and almost put his cigarette out in my ear. Well, what are friends for?

  He let go of the hug and stepped back to light another smoke and said, “Did Jenny say where she was going, she flew out of here so fast I couldn’t tell which direction she

  was going”? “No, but she said she would be back, I’m hoping

  anyway”, as I looked down towards the end of the street.

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  48

  we hAd been sitting in the Sheriff’s office for about an hour when the Sheriff’s wife, Anne came through the swinging gate holding a couple of packages in each hand. I don’t even remember her leaving. The phone calls had pretty much died of f except for a few town officials confirming that I’ll be gone in the morning. That did not improve my mood any.

  Anne came in the Sheriff’s office and handed me the

  bags she was carrying. “What’s this”, I inquired? “Just some stuff you’ll need on the road since you’re being banished from town”, as she gave the Sheriff a hateful sneer. The Sheriff sheepishly looked up at his wife but did not reply. I opened the first bag and it had a large backpack. It felt a little heavy for a backpack, and upon opening I found out why. There was a pair of sneakers, similar to what I have on plus two pair of jeans. Wow, that was nice as I looked up at Anne as she smiles at me, “Go on, and open the others”. I did as instructed and found some tee shirts and socks in one bag. The next one had underwear which I must have blushed over as

  Anne said, “We all need them, and so don’t get modest now”. I smiled at her then opened another bag which had a rain-proof jacket in it, a must have in the Pacific Northwest. The last one was deceptively light as I opened it and tears almost immediately started flowing down my cheeks. It was photo album, not just any album, but the one my parents had, with pictures of me as a baby and all the way up to my seventeenth

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  birthday; plus plenty of photos of my parents. This was the best gift I ever got.

  “I don’t know what to say, except thank you”, as I wiped some excess tears from my face. One of your neighbors saw it in your back yard along with some other things, but fortunately, this was intact and I thought you would need this”. Gordon grabbed my back pack and opened it up, took the ill-gotten carton of cigarettes and poured them all into back pack except for one. “I’ll keep this one, I can always get more”, he said with a grin. The Sheriff joined in as he opened his desk drawer and pulled out a two pack of disposable lighters and then pulled out an old knife in a sheath that snaps to your belt. “Here, you’ll need the lighters, but I hope you don’t need this as he pointed to the knife. Be careful, it is extremely sharp”. I noticed that his eyes were red as well but he hid it by not making eye contact; the old softy.

  Faces were drying, smiles were growing and the animosity towards me was not evident in The Sheriff’s office. It was almost 6:00 PM and the Sheriff was rapping things up as he and Anne were going to head home shortly. I was looking over the knife the Sheriff had given me when Jenny came strolling through the office door with a small bag. I got up and ran to her and gave her a kiss that I didn’t think I was possible of giving. It must have been okay as Jenny kept kissing me back. “Get a room”, Gordon chimed in.

  We finally quit kissing, not by choice, but I think we were making the others a little uncomfortable. A jail is not a place where you would normally partake in some innocent necking. She joined me on the Sheriff’s couch and handed me the bag she was carrying in. I opened the bag and pulled out

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  some fancy phone to which I immediately handed it to Jenny, “what wrong, don’t you like it”? “No it’s great but I didn’t want to fry it, you know”, as I pointed to my fingers. “Silly, here look, it’s got one of those heavy duty rubber protective cases that construction people use. I also think it should be Billy proof as well”.

  “I don’t get it, why did you get me a phone”? “How else am I going to be able to keep track of my sweetie”? Sweetie, I almost melted; I still don’t know what I did to deserve her. Jenny spent the better part of an hour showing me how it worked since I’ve never had one before. There

  was two things she showed me called Apps, one of which would show my current location no matter where I was. The other was more of an acknowledgement thing, that when I pressed the button, she would receive a notification that I was okay. She said that it would not run the battery down as fast doing this so we can keep in contact, plus she wanted me to call her once a week, after I had a chance to charge the phone. I was feeling better.

  The Sheriff and his wife took off for the evening, only Deputy Dave remained to remind the public that they were still open for business. Gordon Jenny and I took our turns in the shower, which was a good thing since I didn’t know when my next shower might happen. We went out and smoked some, talked some, Jenny said that the hospital had given her the week off due to what happened to her.

  It was getting late and Jenny and I decided that the couch would be our bed for the night as Gordon opted for the small bed in the back room. Once we got settled on the couch we kissed, we cuddled and held on to each other in

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  hopes that we would not have to let go. Reality was that we would have to come tomorrow. But for tonight we would enjoy being in each other’s arms. The comfort that she brought me made sleep come easy.

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  49

  we were All pretty quiet the next morning as we knew there wasn’t much time left. The Sherif f came in about

  8:00 am and said his good morning to Malory and a late goodnight to Dave as he was finally able to leave. The Sherif came into his office where Gordon, Jenny and I were sitting and not talking much, his face looked less puffy than the night before, but you could tell he was in pain. “Let’s go get some breakfast”, as he motioned for us to follow. Gordon had headed for the patrol car but the Sheriff offered, “No car Gordon it’s just around the corner.”

  Just a block down to
the left of the jail was in fact a diner. You would never know that is was, since it was just an old brick two story building that I thought was empty. There was no name just a small neon sign in the window that read, ‘Diner’. Inside was not what you expect from a shabby looking old building, it was spotless and although small with a counter with four stools, there were six tables scattered about all of them would seat four.

  The Sheriff picked the middle table as an older man with a spotless white apron appeared from the back. “Walt”, he greeted. “Dale”, the Sheriff replied. The gray haired pro-prietor laid down menus and asked, “Coffee”? We shook our heads in agreement as the Sheriff replied, “Four Dale”.

  Surprisingly enough I was starving, and asked the Sheriff, “Is this what they call the last meal”, as I gave the

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  Sheriff a smirk? “It’s the least I can do Billy, and just re-member this crap going on was not my idea”. “I know, it’s just been a real bizarre week”. “Thanks a lot”, as Jenny play-fully smacked my shoulder.

  The owner came out with four coffees and what I’m

  guessing was his wife brought a tray with four plates heaping full and smelled heavenly. Gordon chimed in, “we didn’t even order yet”, he stated in a confused manner. “They only serve one breakfast and trust me when I say once you eat it, you’ll always remember it”.

  The Sheriff was right on in his assessment of the breakfast. Each plate had three pancakes, four slices of bacon, three eggs scrambled with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top, two big biscuits with a small bowl of gravy on the side, and hash browns. It was a feast to say the least. We mainly ate in silence with the occasional, “damn this is good”, popping out a few times.