Smooth Call

by Ken Kelly

It was 7 in the morning when Earl’s cell phone rang. He looked at the number, trying to identify who was calling but didn’t recognize it.

  “Hello, this is Earl at 7 am,” he said, trying to convey that 7 am was too early to call.

  “This is the guy who hired you to take care of somebody a little while back.”

  Earl recognized the voice of Frank Salucci, the Cool Cad man. “Yeah, I remember.”

  “I have another job for you.”

  “Explain it to me.”

  “It involves the same people. They’ve been out of town for a few days and I want to find out where they are. The guy’s house is in La Jolla, maybe you can find out there.”

  “Alright, it will cost you $900 in advance.”

  “What if you don’t find anything?”

  “No refunds. It’s B&E whether I find anything or not. If I get caught it’s a felony rap. But don’t worry, if the information is there I’ll find it.”

  Earl and Frank arranged a time and place to meet.

  “Are you going to be driving the Cool Cad?”

  Frank was silent for a moment before he said no.

  The first thing Earl did when he got to the house was walk up to the door and ring the bell a number of times. When no one answered he assumed the house was empty but he knew he couldn’t be sure until he got in and looked around. He’d heard of burglars breaking in to find someone who was deaf, or drunk, or in a deep sleep or simply disinclined to answer the door. Still Earl was good with ringing the bell and waiting; he figured it was a 99%er.

  He stepped off the porch and walked around the house looking for an open window. He carried a set of picks but always looked for another way first. If a neighbor spots a stranger at the front door sticking small tools into the lock, he’s going to call 911.

  Earl found an unlocked window if the back of the house. He quickly slid it open and removed the screen which he slid down the inside wall to the floor. Then he hoisted himself up on the window sill and maneuvered his body into the house.

  He landed in a bedroom. He took a quick look around and then went through the rest of the house to make sure he was alone. Then he went back to the living room and over to the telephone, a cordless Panasonic on an end table next to a couch. He pushed a button and heard a meaningless message. The next message was money.

  “Hi Rick, it’s Gloria. The plan is we’re escaping to the Rainbow Gathering right? Call me or come over and we’ll work out the details. Talk to you later.”

  Mission accomplished, Earl thought. Before leaving Earl went through a large desk that was up against the wall. He didn’t find what he was looking for so he checked the end tables near the couch. In the one the phone was resting on he found a number of cell phone bills for Rick Mills. Earl wrote down the number and put it his jacket pocket.

  Earl went back to bedroom and closed the window and then replaced the screen. Back in living room he checked the front window to see that no one was around to watch him exit. Then he walked out the front door, locking it behind him. A moment later he was on his motorcycle, headed to his apartment.

  He got on line and looked up ‘Rainbow Gathering.’ There was a lot of information and Earl took notes as he sifted through it. Then he called Frank Salucci.

  “Hello.”

  “There was a message from the girl on his voice mail. She said, sounds like we’re escaping to the Rainbow Gathering right? Call or come over and will make a plan’.”

  “What’s the Rainbow Gathering?”

  “It’s a get together of hippies, I guess, that happens every year. It lasts for a week or two and ends July 4th. Every year they have it in one of the 48 continental states. This year it’s in California.”

  “Where?”

  “Up on highway 395 near Alturas, not far from the Oregon border. The websites didn’t say exactly where it is, but they say you’d find it once you got up there.”

  “Anything else for my $900?”

  “You wanted to know where they were and now you know. If you wanted more than that you should have said so and I would have charged accordingly.” Earl hung up the phone.

  Frank cradled his phone and thought about what Earl had said. “He’s right,” Frank said to the four walls. “If I can get up to this whatever-the-hell-kind-of- event they’re having and can off the tow truck driver and the girlie-girl that will make the $900 money well spent.”

  He’d call Bobby to see if he wanted to make the trip.

  As soon as Earl got off the phone with Frank he dialed Rick’s number. It didn’t ring, just went immediately to a message. Earl hung up and tried again a half hour later with the same results. Out of range, Earl thought. Folks at the Rainbow Gathering didn’t mind being cut off from their phones apparently.

  Earl thought about Rick Mills and how he and his buddies had him that night outside the bar. They could have beat him bad, or turned him over to the cops, or both. But Mills let him go. Hardly seemed to think about it, just cut him loose. Now his call to Frank put Mills and his girl in harm’s way. Earl needed the money, but he couldn’t leave it like this. He had to warn them, and as much as he wished there was another way, he knew there wasn’t. He’d have to drive up and tell them in person. Admit he’d tracked them down for Frank and that Frank would probably soon be on his way to get them. That way Earl would have his $900 and Rick and Gloria would be forewarned. A win, win… sort of. Earl hoped they’d see it that way.

  Earl went to a closet and pulled out a Wal Mart map book of North America. The book needed eight pages to cover California, and after Earl established his route he pulled out two of the eight pages, folded them, and put them in his jacket along with a toothbrush and a small Mag flashlight. Then he strapped a sleeping bag on the back seat, pulled on his helmet, and roared off toward highway 15 on his aging BMW.

  He stopped for gas and a hamburger in Temecula and caught the 395 near Hesperia. Not long after he drove by the east end of Edwards Air Force Base. By the time he reached Independence Earl ached and was tired. He pulled out his map and saw there was a road into a camping area. It couldn’t be too far ahead.

  Earl wasn’t interested in checking in to a campsite, he was only going to be there a few hours. So when he found the turn-off he rode his bike a hundred yards in then took a narrow trail to the left which he followed for 25 or 30 yards. He stopped there and parked the bike then unhooked his sleeping bag and found a level spot. After shinning his flashlight around to make sure he wasn’t sharing the area with anyone or anything else, he rolled out his sleeping bag, climbed in, and fell asleep.

  It was just starting to get light when Earl woke up. He felt surprisingly well rested and was back on the road in fifteen minutes. He stopped for a quick breakfast in Bishop and while he was eating he checked the mileage chart on the map. Alturas was 385 miles away. He figured he could make it by the middle of the afternoon if he pushed it. He might make it there and back to San Diego before Salucci started the trip. He hoped so.

  Earl pulled into the first gas station he saw in Alturas. While he was gassing up two women in an old VW bug pulled up next to him. The one in the passenger seat got the gas pumping and the driver got out and leaned against the car. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, medium height with dreadlocked chestnut brown hair. She was wearing a purple vest, unbuttoned enough to make Earl, after an initial eyeful, force himself not to gawk. Her skirt, which hung on her hips and fell to her knees, was tie-dyed with lots of red, yellow and blue. She wore black lace-up boots that went up to just below her knee. The whole effect, Earl thought, was hot and lovely.

  “Are you headed for the Rainbow Gathering?”

  She smiled. “Where else would we be headed, you know, from here?”

  “Right. Let me rephrase the question. Can you tell me how to get there?”

  “Sure, you got a map?”

  Earl pulled out his map and unfolded it on the seat of his motorcycle. The
girl walked over and put her finger on Alturas. “Leave Alturas on the 299 and start looking at roads to your right. See these grey lines going up toward the Modoc National Forest, there’s probably a lot more of them than are on this map. Try and see where the Rainbow types are going. Sometimes they have guides that will direct you. Don’t ask directions from the locals, they might send you to Sacramento or over a cliff.”

  “Hey thanks, that was helpful. Maybe I’ll see you up there.”

  “Maybe. What’s you name?”

  “Earl. What’s yours?”

  “Mystery.”

  Mystery, thought Earl. What kind of a name was that? He decided not to ask, to be a little mysterious himself. Get her wondering why he was the one in a hundred who didn’t ask about her unusual name.

  “Thanks for your help, Mystery.” Earl gave her a soft smile, delivered mostly with his eyes, then started up the BMW and roared out of the station.

  When Mystery got back in the VW her friend, Meg, said, “Who was the cute motorcycle dude?”

  “Just a guy who’ll be in love with me before we leave the Gathering.”

  “Is that right?” said Meg, and then a moment later she added dramatically, “I have a dream!”

  Earl followed Mystery’s directions out of town and came up on a small bus a few miles up the 299. He was about to pass it when it turned right on a dirt road. Earl got a good look at it when it turned and saw that the bus, like Mystery’s skirt, was a multicolored affair. He could see a half a dozen serious hippies through the windows so he dropped down onto the dirt road and followed them, staying back 60 to 80 yards to avoid their dust.

  After driving on the dirt road for what seemed like a long time Earl began to wonder if the bus was lost, so it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise when a minute later the driver turned into the entrance of the Rainbow Gathering. The bus stopped and the driver leaned out the window and began talking to a large bearded guy who seemed to be manning the entrance. Earl decided to save time and went around the bus on the right.

  Earl parked and used his hands to beat some of the dust from his clothes. He unhooked his sleeping bag and remembered he had a mesh bag in the storage compartment of the motorcycle. He retrieved it and got it around the sleeping bag, making it an easy carry. He saw some of the bus hippies headed up a trail. He started after them and tried to get in search and rescue mode. Actually, Earl thought, it was more of a search and inform mission; they were going to have to rescue themselves.

  Earl saw a guy walking toward him who looked like he knew his way around. He gave a tentative wave and the guy stopped and stepped off the trail. When Earl approached him he was hit by the unmistakable smell of marijuana. There was nothing to do but ask the questions he needed answers to. If the guy turned out to be an incoherent pot head he’d move on and try someone else.

  He explained he was looking for a friend but had no idea where he was. The guy, who seemed surprisingly clear headed, said there were 18 to 20,000 people at the Gathering but finding somebody wasn’t as hard as it sounds because sooner or later everyone hangs at the kitchens, the main meadow, the trading circle, the Granola Funk Theater or the drum circle. The guy explained where all those places were and Earl thanked him.

  “My name is Hugger” the guy said as they were about to go their separate ways.

  Earl stuck out his hand and said, “I’m Earl.”

  They shook hands and Hugger said, “Don’t worry, you’ll find the guy you’re looking for. When you do let me know and we can smoke a celebratory joint together.”

  Earl didn’t think that would happen but he said, “Sounds like a plan.”

  As he continued walking the trail he was encouraged by Hugger’s belief that he’d hook up with Mills and his girl, which Earl hadn’t mentioned since he didn’t know her or what she looked like. Hugger seemed like a nice guy even if he was a pot head with a weird name. It was a day for weird names, he thought, thinking of Mystery.

  A little further up the trail a woman said, “Welcome home,” as she passed him.

  Earl, wanting to be polite, called back, “Thanks,” but he had no idea what the woman meant. He was a long way from home and figured everybody else was too, and when they all left the only home boys would be the squirrels and raccoons.

  He kept following the trail, scanning everyone hoping to find Rick. He noticed a lot of people taking a trail to the right so he followed along, looking ahead to see where they were going. There was an entrance/exit of sorts up ahead, two trees about 4 feet apart. Earl followed along through the two trees and found himself in the trading circle. The traders sat on the ground in front of their goods, one next to the other, in a large circle that began and ended at the two trees. Those interested could walk around the circle and trade if they saw anything they liked, and then leave without having to retrace their steps. Money wasn’t a medium used – it was trading only in the circle.

  Earl started moving along, giving a quick look at what was available: homemade jewelry, camping equipment, knives and hatchets, novels, and didgeridoos, a horn made from PVC that the trader demonstrated, producing a deep harmonious sound. Then Earl caught himself; he wasn’t on a shopping excursion, he was here to find a couple whose lives were in danger because he’d found out where they’d be and sold that information to a thug who was determined to kill them.

  Earl’s stomach hurt at the thought. Suddenly he was extremely tired, more tired than he could ever remember being. He knew he had to keep looking. He had to find them and then he could rest.

  As he straightened up he saw a woman standing in front of a display of small unfinished wood carvings. The trader stood up like a shop keeper might if a dignitary or celebrity entered his place of business. He held out a wood carving in each hand and she looked at them while he looked at her. It was almost impossible not to.

  Earl moved subtlety forward for a better view. The girl was about 20 with natural red hair worn up. She wore a sarong that started under her belly button and fell to her knees. It was gathered at her right hip and tied so it left her leg uncovered. Her feet were in cork shoes held on with green ribbons that tied around her ankles.

  She didn’t wear a top of any kind and her breasts, which were large but not overly so, looked natural to Earl; natural and truly magnificent. He moved a little closer and feigned an interest in a tattered sock hat on the ground before him. The girl turned toward him and caught his eye. She smiled and he smiled back, using every ounce of will power he possessed to keep his eyes from falling to her beautiful breasts.

  He knew she understood his dilemma but was surprised when she solved it for him by looking up in a tree behind him at a woodpecker, or an owl, or some other bird that wasn’t there. Earl didn’t want to gape and drool so he took a medium length look that he hoped would stay in his mind’s eye for a long time. And then, just as the beautiful girl dropped her head, a line came to him. He didn’t know if it was from a song, a poem, a movie, or something he’d heard someone say, but as they walked towards one another he motioned to her and put his hand on the side of his month. She leaned her ear toward him and he whispered into it.

  She looked at him smiled. “I’m glad you think so,” she said, and continued walking toward the two trees that were 4 feet apart.

  Rick Mills and Gloria Hesselgrave, like most of the people close enough to see, had been watching the beautiful and entertaining redhead. As she walked toward the exit, Gloria said, “Did you notice how calm she stayed? That can’t be easy when you’re in a crowd with next to nothing on and a rack like hers.”

  “It looked to me like she was enjoying herself.”

  “Yeah, she obviously didn’t mind the attention.”

  “Maybe she was practicing for a centerfold shoot.”

  “Could be. She certainly had the qualifications.”

  Earl couldn’t believe it. He’d been at the Gathering less than an hour and had found who he was looking for
at the first of the places Hugger told him to look.

  “Rick Mills?” he said.

  “Ah, yeah?”

  “Do you recognize me?”

  Rick squinted for a minute and said, “You’re the guy who just whispered something to the topless redhead. How do you know my name?”

  “I got it when Frank Salucci hired me and another guy to work you over in the Gas Lamp.”

  “Ah, yeah, now I remember. You’re name is Ernie, right?”

  “Earl.”

  “So what brings you here Earl?” said Gloria. “It doesn’t appear that anyone’s with you so it’s probably not to beat us up.”

  “Yesterday Salucci hired me to find out where you were.”

  “And it looks like you have.”

  “Yeah, Salucci told me that you,” he pointed his chin at Rick,”hadn’t been in your house for a couple of days. So I went over and climbed in through a back window. I played the phone messages and there was one from you,” he indicated Gloria, “that talked about the both of you going to the Rainbow Gathering.”

  “I used your computer to Google the Rainbow Gathering and found out what it was and that it was in Northern California this year. On July 4th people gather together in a big circle, or concentric circles, depending on the number of people involved, and chant ‘Ommm’ for a couple of hours while meditating for peace. After that most people go home but a few stay to clean up the site and get it back to where it’s supposed to be, ecologically speaking.

  “I called Salucci and told him that, plus filled him in on the types of people he’d probably run into. Then I called you, Rick, but I couldn’t get through so I motorcycled up here to warn you.”

  It was silent for a minute so Earl decided to explain what he could during the lull. “The reason I took the job was for the money, which I needed.”

  “How much did he pay you?” asked Gloria.

  “$900. I don’t feel good about it but I did it. I figured if I didn’t take the job Salucci would get someone else to do it and they, most likely, wouldn’t have warned you. It sounds like Salucci is going to keep coming until he gets you, or until you get him. Since you know he’s coming you can wait and meet him, or you can take off and live to fight another day.

  “My guess is Salucci is probably driving now, will stop for the night and be here tomorrow. Maybe the next day.”

  “Well,” said Rick, “I guess it was a good thing I didn’t press charges that night in the Gas Lamp. If I had you’d be in jail and wouldn’t have been able to drive here and warn us.”

  “I’m extremely thankful you cut me loose. Like I told you at the time, I don’t think most people would have.”

  “Thanks for driving up here and warning us about dear Frank. When are you headed back?”

  “I haven’t decided. I’ve got my sleeping bag, so I might stay, or I might try to drive some tonight and get a motel.”

  Rick put two $100 bills in Earl’s hand. “Here’s some gas and motel money. I still might call you one of these days, if some work comes up. Real work, not the Salucci kind.”

  “I’d appreciate it. And thanks,” he said, holding up the bills.

  He shook hands with Rick and then with Gloria. While Gloria had his hand she asked him, “What did you whisper to the girl?”

  Earl looked away and then looked back, his face slightly red. “I told her, tits like yours can make hearts thunder.”

  Rick and Gloria nodded as if to say ‘hard to argue with that.’

  After Earl left Gloria said, “What are we going to do if Salucci shows up?”

  Rick used his left hand to pull up the left leg of his jeans, exposing the lower half of the holster that held his Beretta… “He shot me once and tried to shoot you. If he comes for us again my plan is to put as many bullets in him as I can.”

  “We could take off, now that we know he’s probably coming.”

  “We could, but if he finds us here, or he finds us somewhere else later on, how do you think this is going to end?”

  Gloria thought for while and then said, “Either he’ll kill us or we’ll kill him. I hate to say it but I don’t see any other way, unless we hire someone to kill him for us.

  “I don’t think we can do that. If Salucci comes for us and we kill him we can plead self defense. If we hire somebody to kill him it will be murder one. We have to take care of it ourselves and this place is as good as any, as long as no one else gets hit.”

  “Yeah,” said Gloria. “There are a lot of people here.”

  When Earl left the trading circle he felt like a weight had been taken off his shoulders. There probably would be a showdown between Frank and Rick and if there was he hoped Rick would get the best of it. But he didn’t want to think about it now. He was tired and dirty and soon he’d be hungry. Riding back to San Diego held no appeal but neither did spending another night sleeping in his clothes. He decided not to think about that either, at least not for awhile. He’d just walk along the trail and zone out a little. Maybe that would help clear his mind and he’d be able to come up with a plan later on.

  The sun was on its way down but there was still plenty of light for now. There were a lot of people coming and going on the trail which was now going through a meadow. Off to the right, a hundred yards up ahead, a number of people were gathered. Earl couldn’t tell what they were doing but figured he’d find out when he got there. A few minutes later he stepped off the trail and walked to the edge of the group.

  “Hey Earl.”

  Earl, surprised to hear someone call his name, turned toward the sound. “Mystery?”

  Mystery was smiling, glad to see him. Meg recognized Earl from the gas station. She walked up and stood next to Mystery. She looked at Earl and he looked at her. She was blonde with curls that fell half way down her neck. She was a little shorter and a little heavier than Mystery, and reminded Earl of an outspoken actor he’d once worked with. She tapped Mystery on her forearm and said, “It’s destiny.”

  “Sorry?” said Earl.

  “Nothing,” said Mystery. “This is Meg, I don’t think you met when we were at the gas station.”

  “Hi Meg.”

  “Earl,” said Meg with a smile and a nod. “Did you come here to eat?”

  “Is that why all these people are here?”

  “Yes,” said Mystery, “it’s one of the Rainbow kitchens. I heard it was pretty good if you like rice and vegetable curry.”

  “I notice everyone has a cup or a bowl. You need one to get served, huh?”

  “Don’t worry,” said Mystery, holding up a large tin cup that looked like it would hold at least a quart, “we can share.”

  * * *

  Chapter 19