Cowboy Girl Annie (4 page)

Chapter 7

An old man with gray hair brushing
his shoulders and a long bushy Santa beard, pushed his cart along
the alley. He mumbled to himself and answered himself until he got
even with them.

The loony old man's eyesight must be
poorly, Annie thought when Wild Jim stopped to stare at them
through squinted eyes. He seemed to be trying to figure out if he
knew them.

She felt sorry for the old man,
knowing that he was just barely getting by. “It's Cowboy Girl Annie
and Skinny Jake. How you be, Wild Jim?”

“
Fair. Only fair, but what do you
expect for an old man, says I,” he replied. “How be you,
woman?”

“
I'm middlin'. Just middlin', Annie
replied, not wanting to sound better off than the old
man.

“
You are lucky to be that, says I,”
Wild Jim grumbled. “Ain't you two got nothing better to do except
sit there on the ground doing nothing, says I? You will have plenty
of time to sit when you grow too old to make the rounds. I ought to
know what I'm talking about, says I.”

“
Aw, Wild Jim, we were making the
rounds. We're just taking a break now. Everyone deserves a break
now and then,” Jake excused.

“
Even you, Wild Jim. You want to sit
with us to rest yourself and jaw a spell?” Annie invited, patting
the ground beside her.

The old man grunted his disdain.
“Says I, I ain't got nothing to jaw about that can't be said to you
on the move if you want to come along with me,” declared Wild Jim.
He pushed his cart on past them, mumbling to himself about how lazy
young people were these days.

Annie shook her head as she frowned
at the old man's humped back.

“
What are you thinking, Annie?” Jake
asked.

“
That poor old man reminds me of one
of my ma's garden scarecrows. They would flap in the stiff breezes,
making all sorts of snappy noises which wasn't very affective.
Critters weren't a bit scared. They raided my ma's garden every
night until the vegetables were gone.”

“
That about sizes up Wild Jim all
right. Everyone is so used to him nobody pays any attention to what
he says.” Jake watched the stooped man disappear along the
buildings on the street. “What you got planned for this
afternoon?”

“
The usual rummaging, but first I
need to go by Jerry's Auto Shop. My shopping cart needs fixed,”
Annie told him.

“
Wouldn't have anything to do with
those noisy squeaking noises that's been driving me crazy?” Jake
asked.

“
You got it. My cart has a wheel
stuck. If I'm lucky I might find a pool of grease on the driveway I
can use to lubricate the wheel axle.

Pushing that cart has purely
tuckered me out already this morning. I'm hurting between my
shoulders from all that hard work.” Annie stretched her back to
relieve a kink and her left shoulder joint popped.

“
I haven't got anything pressing
going on. You want me to push the shopping cart over there for
you?” Jake asked.

“
That would be nice, but you don't
have to if you did have something else to do,” Annie
said.

“
Wouldn't have asked if I didn't want
to do it for you,” Jake said, getting to his
feet.

“
Well, let me carry your bag for you.
You don't need to try to hang onto it and push my cart at the same
time,” Annie said, holding her hand out.

Jake handed her the knapsack. Annie
almost lost her grip on it. She hadn't thought about the knapsack
being that heavy. Carrying it was about as hard on her as pushing
her loaded shopping cart.

The sooner she got her cart back in
working order the happier she'd be. “Let's get a move on. Maybe
later, we can go over to the park and rummage for pop cans to
redeem after the tennis match is over.”

After Jake greased the squeaky wheel
on the cart, Annie and Jake headed toward the park. They would have
time to check the trash cans before the evening crowd came to walk
the paths or watch their kids play on the playground
equipment.

Annie was right about the trash cans
being full of pop cans and plastic pop bottles. They made a good
haul.

From there, Jake suggested they head
for a trash can near the picnic tables under the shade trees to
check it out. A Heinz 57 mutt got there first. He was sniffing all
the way around the can. Then he lifted his leg and peed on the can
to mark his territory.

Annie grabbed Jake's arm and shook
her head no. “I never find anything good in that trash can. Let the
dog have his fun.”

They stood back and watched the dog.
Usually, Annie had a reason for not bothering to look in the cans
near the picnic tables. Nothing to find other than Kentucky Fried
Chicken bones or Hardy's catsup and mustard smeared hamburger
wrappers left from family picnics.

Even if she was curious to find out
if a pop can was hidden among the trash, she wasn't about trespass
on that dog's finds. It was a smart idea to not upset that large
dog. He looked like he could rile up easy if she bothered what he
felt was his territory. She knew she wouldn't like getting dog
bit.

Like the pro he was, the dog bounced
on the trash can to knock it over. The lid flew off and rolled away
like a giant silver Frisbee on the unlevel grade. Out of the can
spilled soiled paper plates and Styrofoam glasses among the
rumpled, fast food sacks and empty salad boxes.

The dog's inquisitive nose jiggled
like a rabbit's as he stuck his head in the trash can. His tail
wiggled frantically when he found something that pleased him. He
backed out with half a pizza he'd snatched and raced off to
somewhere known only to him. No way did he intend to share his find
with another mongrel.

Annie put her hands on her hips and
stamped her right cowboy boot. She was thoroughly disgusted with
herself. “Don't that beat all, Jake? We just lost pizza for our
supper. I just never figure to find anything in that trash can but
trash. Wouldn't you know even the dogs are better scavengers than
me?”

“
Ah, don't take it so hard, Cowboy
Girl Annie. How were we to know someone would throw away that much
pizza?” Jake consoled.

After Jake and Annie finished going
through the rest of the trash cans, they walked back to the edge of
the park and crossed the street.

Annie got a whiff of fresh fried
doughnuts again as they neared the bakery shop. She wasn't going to
say anything this time, but she stared at the bakery a little too
long. Jake saw the longing look on her face and took it from
there.

“
I'm getting hungry, and I know you
are, too. You just wait here. I'll go in and get us a doughnut
again. We aren't in such a hurry that we can't eat another
doughnut, are we?”

“
Reckon not,” Annie agreed, wishing
she had the pride and resistance to tell Jake not to bother. After
all, he had done enough for her for one day.

As Jake walked away, Annie opened
her mouth but the words wouldn't come out. She really wanted
another doughnut. That sweet tooth of hers was making her a weak
human being. She almost felt guilty for taking advantage of
Jake.

Chapter 8

In minutes, Jake was back and handed
her a white paper sack. “Let's go sit behind the bakery again. That
way we can rest our backs against the wall.”

“
Sounds like a plan to me. My back
needs a lot of resting after how hard I fought that cart today.”
Annie pushed her grocery cart over by the wall, parked it and sat
down by Jake.

She opened the sack and sniffed in
the opening, savoring the delightful smell. “I don't know how I'm
ever going to thank you for treating me so nice. I almost feel like
I died and went to Heaven today, Skinny Jake.

Twice in one day, I've had doughnuts
to eat. The beauty of it is they aren't the hard as a rock ones
from a dumpster but fresh ones. When I woke up this morning, I
never imagined I'd be this lucky today. I don't usually have good
luck.”

“
Sorry about that,” Jake
said.

Annie shrugged. “That's all right.
I'm used to it. Anyway thanks for being so good to me and giving me
all these fresh doughnuts today.”

Jake grinned. “You're welcome.
That's quite the sweet tooth you have, Cowboy Girl
Annie.”

“
Reckon I got a sweet tooth for the
likes of you, Jake, you old softy.” Annie smiled at him as she
brought out the doughnut. She opened her mouth to take a bite and
hesitated. A large shadow loomed over her, blocking the
sunlight.

“
So this is what you're up to today.
Just sitting here on the ground doing nothing. Those doughnuts look
good, you cain't afford to pay for many of those if you don't get
back to work,” said the large man, dominating their personal space.
He had the broad shoulders and the gut of a has been, professional,
football player.

“
What do you want, Big Ed? Get your
say over with and leave. This is a private party,” Annie
barked.

“
Now, now. You ought to be friendlier
than that. I’ve been looking all over creation for the two of you.
Just taking a short cut and lucky me, I find two of the hardest
working rummagers just sitting here like they don't need to work
anymore today.” He glanced at Jake's bulging canvas knapsack and
Annie's shopping cart. “Looks like you've had a good morning on the
hunt anyway.”

“
For your information, that shopping
cart took me days of hunting to fill. That was a lot of hard work
when my old cart has a wheel that keeps freezing up,” Annie replied
in an icy voice.

“
Same here. A lot of work and sweat
went into finding what I got in my knapsack and toting it around
takes a lot of effort,” Jake agreed.

“
I'll repeat, what you want with us,
Big Ed?” Cowboy Girl Annie snapped.

Big Ed lit a cigar and puffed as if
he had all day to answer her. Finally after he blew out a few puffs
of cigar smoke, Big Ed said, “I just wanted to pass some news along
to both of you. I've been telling folks about this protection
business I’ve started.

See, the way it works is, you give
me half of your finds every day, and I keep anyone from stealing
your loot,” Big Ed said casual like as if their joining his
protection business was his way of just doing them a
favor.

“
Besides you that is,” growled Annie.
“Don't sound like much of a deal to me no matter who steals our
loot. Someone else or you.”

Big Ed's face turned beet red as he
glared at her with his fists on his hips.

“
Annie, maybe we best hear Big Ed
out,” hissed Jake, staring at Big Ed's three henchmen giving them
the evil eye. He whispered out of the side of his mouth into her
ear, “Don’t make the big bruiser mad, or he'll set those mean goons
on us.”

Big Ed was still concentrating on
Annie. “I don’t like the sass I just heard from you, woman. I don't
want anymore of your lip.” The big man leaned over and slapped the
doughnut from Annie’s hand to emphasize his point.

Annie watched her fresh, delicious
treat roll away like a miniature, runaway car tire. It sickened her
to see dirt adhere to the sweet white icing, turning the doughnut
gritty black until the pastry hesitated at a dumpster wheel and
fell over.

She bit her lower lip and looked
down. She had to concentrate on her big toe sticking out of the
hole in the end of her cowboy boot to keep Big Ed from seeing the
anger in her eyes.

She could almost suffer anything
from anyone except the loss of a perfectly good doughnut. That big,
crooked galoot had just crossed her imaginary boundary of no good
deeds. She'd get even with him somehow or die trying.

“
Now, Cowboy Girl Annie, seems to me
you don’t have much of a choice so what Jake just advised you was
right. Start listening to what I got to say,” Ed ordered
coldly.

“
Stand up, Jake.” Annie
hissed.

“
Now …. now, Annie, don't do nothing
foolish,” Jake stammered.

Annie took a deep breath to steady
her nerves. For her trouble, she got her lungs filled with the
smell of stale cooking grease coming from the bakery exhaust above
her as she followed the rough wall up with her back.

Once she was on her feet, she
stepped closer to Big Ed. Jake was right behind her, breathing like
a freight train trying to make a steep grade. In fact any closer to
her back and he'd be sticking to her like glue.