Fook (13 page)

“Daddy,” Abby’s laugh turned to concern as
she approached her father.

Grabbing his daughter as soon as she was in
arm’s reach, Dustin pulled her close, tickling her sides as screams
of joy poured from the little girl.

“Daddy, stop!” Abby struggled, pleading
through her laughter to be set free until her father did just
that.

After a moment of shared laughs, they both
regained their composure and locked eyes.

“I love you Daddy.”

That statement never got old. From the
moment he’d witnessed her birth, his little girl had become the
most important thing in his life. A relationship with her mother
may not be possible but he knew that he would love and cherish his
daughter forever. “I love you too sweetie,” he reached for his
daughter again, this time taking her in his arms for a hug.

The bell above the door, suddenly sprang to
life.

“Daddy has to work now, so go back in the
back room and watch the rest of your movie,” he released his
embrace as he watch his daughter comply and retreat back into the
storeroom where he’d set up an Elmo tape on the television and VCR
used to give new employees a brief training video.

“Cute little girl,” Derek greeted the clerk
as he returned to his feet, taking his place behind the
register.

Dustin eyed the two men before him.
Unfortunately, the store he worked in was in a somewhat rural and
remote area with some...less than upstanding clientele. The man
commenting on his daughter was dressed in a t-shirt that read
Fall Out Boy
(whatever the hell that was) and a pair of
khaki shorts and for some reason he reeked of trouble. His Asian
friend, however, put Dustin’s mind at ease with his neatly pressed
Polo shirt, Dockers slacks and nerdy glasses.

“What can I do for you boys?” he addressed
the two men in a stern, elder tone, even though they both appeared
not much younger than he.

“Do you have a phone that we can use to call
a taxi?” the ‘Fall Out Boy’ asked with a smile.

“Pay-phone’s outside,” Dustin bluntly
replied.

“I saw that, but we don’t have any change.
Can you break a twenty?”

“Register only opens for paying customers,”
Dustin continued his stern demeanor.

“But we don’t need alcohol. We’re just
looking for a ride.”

“I can’t open this register without a
sale.”

“Like I just said though, we aren’t
interested in buying anything. I just need a dime for the phone,”
Derek’s voice took on a tone of annoyed frustration at the clerk’s
unpleasant personality.

“No booze, no phone,” the clerk matched
Derek’s tone.

“Listen,” Jason jumped in, realizing Derek’s
growing frustration and wishing to avoid a shouting match that
could likely turn into being questioned by the local authorities.
“We’ve been walking for quite a while now and we just need to call
a cab to come pick us up. I’m sure that you can help us out,” he
spoke in as friendly a tone as he could manage.

“No booze, no phone,” the clerk
repeated.

“I’m sure there’s a button on that keyboard
that will open this thing,” Derek, fed up with the man’s
unjustified attitude, leaned across the counter to get a better
look at the register.

“Get the hell back!” the clerk raised his
voice as he reached beneath the counter.

Seeing the man’s hand disappear beneath the
counter for what he could only assume to be a gun, Jason pulled
Derek away from the register.

“Get off me,” Derek protested. “This guys a
lying prick,” he argued as Jason pulled him into a nearby
aisle.

“Daddy?” Abby appeared in the storeroom’s
doorway.

“Go watch your show sweetie,” Dustin
instructed his daughter while keeping his hand firmly around the
.38 below the counter.

Abby did as her father instructed just as
the bell greeted another group of customers.

“I told you girls before, unless you
miraculously aged three years in the last few months, you ain’t
buying shit,” Dustin greeted the familiar group of teen girls.

“Let’s go,” the attractive brunette turned
to the other girls as they headed back out the door. “That
asshole’s working again.”

The bell rang again as the girls exited.

“You’re just friends with everyone aren’t
you?” Derek re-greeted the unpleasant man behind the counter.

“I told you guys, no booze, no pho—”

Placing a bottle of Vodka on the counter,
Derek stopped the clerk mid-sentence.

Dustin just eyed the two men before him.

“If you can manage to pry your fingers from
that shotgun or revolver or whatever you have below the counter…,”
Derek smugly addressed the man, “...we can finalize this
transaction and forget that we ever met."

Releasing the revolver, “Twenty-one, fifty,”
Dustin replied after a pause.

“Oh, look,” Derek taunted as he pulled a
twenty from his wallet. “And here’s a couple of his friends,” he
continued obnoxiously as two dollar bills followed.

Reluctantly the clerk’s hand reappeared from
beneath the counter, retrieving the money from the counter and with
the push of a few buttons he added the cash to the open drawer and
tossed two quarters onto the counter, ignoring Derek’s outstretched
palm.

“You keep it,” Derek glanced down at the
spinning coins. “Maybe you could buy some manners.”

With the transaction complete, Jason quickly
swiped the coins and grabbing Derek’s arm, ushered him toward the
door as the bell thanked them for their business.

“Can you believe that asshole?” Derek
complained as they stepped back into the warm, May sun that had
kept watch over them as they’d unsuccessfully searched for a
compassionate motorist.

“So now what?” Jason questioned, making his
way along the sidewalk toward the pay phone. “This thing says it
takes a dime. Do quarters work? I’ve never used one.”

No response.

“Derek?” Turning, Jason realized that Derek
hadn’t heard a word he’d said. He hadn’t even been following him.
Instead, he was standing at the driver’s side window of a tan Volvo
station wagon, laughing and chatting it up with an apparent new
friend. “Typical.”

Making his way toward the car, Jason noticed
that the passengers inside the unattractive, square vehicle were
the three girls and one of them was now holding the bottle of Vodka
that Derek had just purchased from the uncouth clerk.

“Jason, come on,” Derek waved him over.
“Melissa and her friends here have agreed to give us a ride into
town.

“Already on a first name basis with the hot
one…typical,” Jason thought to himself. Another ten minutes and
he’d probably know which ones were on the pill and which ones left
their backdoors unlocked, whatever that mean— Finally getting the
reference, he paused, shaking his head at his deviant friend and
his own cluelessness.

“Come on, hurry up!” Derek shouted again as
he lowered himself into the passenger seat, somehow convincing its
current occupant to move to the back.

Watching the sandy haired girl open the rear
passenger side door and climb into the back with her friend, Jason
suddenly began to sweat as he realized the uncomfortable situation
that he was about to encounter. It wasn’t that he had any fear of
the girls. None of them seemed like crazed serial killers. He did,
however, fear the conversation or uncomfortable lack of one that
would likely take place in that car. He knew exactly how the next
fifteen minutes of his life would go and with every awkward second
he imagined, a new bead of sweat began to form.

“You okay?” ‘Sandy’ asked as Jason squeezed
in beside her, fumbling with the door before successfully pulling
it shut.

“Good,” was all he could manage, realizing
that he’d forgotten the “I’m”.

“Jason, this is Melissa,” Derek motioned to
the driver.

“Hi,” Melissa smiled as she offered a small
wave before returning to the task at hand by putting the car in
reverse.

“And that’s Michelle and...I’m sorry,” Derek
continued the introductions, pausing on the sandy haired one beside
Jason.

“Sandy,” the pretty girl introduced herself
with a bashful smile and southern drawl.

“Really?” Jason thought, trying not to laugh
at the coincidence.

“I love your accent,” Derek continued to lay
on the charm. “Let me guess, South Carolina?”

“Georgia,” the girl corrected.

“I was going to say Georgia. Hey, Jason,
aren’t you from Georgia?”

“No. You know where—“

“—Oh, that’s right. Florida, only a mile
from the Georgia state line. I always screw that one up,” Derek
continued.

Jason just stared in awe of the master at
work.

“Oh really?” Sandy’s shyness melted away as
she turned to Jason. “My family lives only a few miles
north
of the border. That’s so funny. What town?”

Jason froze, both mesmerized and terrified
by the set of baby blues peering up at him.

“Gator...ah...Disney...I mean,” Jason
stumbled.

“Gatora-disna-hachie,” Derek interjected.
“It’s a very small town in what used to be Indian territory. Most
people don’t even know it’s there.”

“Oh, yeah, I think I’ve heard of it,” Sandy
responded, wrinkling her nose as either a sign of confusion or in
response to the smoke bellowing up beside her as Jason went down in
flames.

“So, where to?” Melissa questioned as she
paused at a stop sign.

“You girls ever been to M.I.T.?” Derek
asked.

“What’s Mit?” Michelle spoke for the first
time since being introduced.

Glancing over at the cute redhead, Jason now
knew who would be Derek’s primary target. It was no secret that he
preferred blondes, but he was also lazy, so stupid was usually an
easier option. On occasion the two went hand in hand, but not as
frequently as the stereotype would have one believe.

“You have an amazing smile,” Derek focused
his attention on Michelle, even though she wasn’t currently
smiling.

“See?” Jason spoke softly, confirming his
prediction to himself.

“See what?” Sandy asked, still confused.

This time he didn’t respond, afraid that if
he spoke he’d just utter another stupid Florida landmark.

“We’re college students, in Boston,” Derek
continued to address the girls as a whole. “M.I.T. is where we
go.”

“Don’t you have to be pretty smart to get
into there,” Melissa asked as she drove.

“Well, yeah I guess so. I mean, don’t get me
wrong, I’m no genius but my friend here is.”

“Well at least that wasn’t a complete lie
this time,” Jason thought. He had tested well into the genius range
in high school, but that wasn’t typically something that played
well with the ladies, at least not the ones their age.

“Really?” Sandy’s interest peeked, her stare
intensifying and inducing more perspiration from her back seat
neighbor. “I think I took one of those I.Q. thingies last year in
my sophomore year. At least that’s what everyone said it was. They
didn't come right out and tell us. I just remember it being really
hard.”

“Oh, yeah? What college do you go to?” Derek
continued to carry the conversation, well aware that his terrified
friend couldn’t.

“Oh we don’t go to college. We’re still in
high school; Silver Lake. You know it?”

“Yeah, I think a couple of guys in our dorm
went to school there,” Derek continued the lies.

Jason could see the excitement in Derek’s
eyes at the news that they were surrounded by high school chicks.
This news only made Jason more uncomfortable. Not only would he
have to explain to the police who he was and why his license said
that he had just been born, but he was probably also going to have
to help Derek fight off three angry fathers and possible statutory
rape charges as well, if this conversation ended where he figured
it would.

“Don and Paul. I think they went to Silver
Lake,” Derek continued. “Isn’t that right, Jason?”

He didn’t answer, his mind incapacitated by
thoughts of the under aged teens around him and the risks that went
along with Derek hooking up with even one, let alone all three of
them. They weren’t supposed to be there. They weren’t supposed to
exist in this time and every interaction that they had with a
person from this time was a previously nonexistent ripple in the
space time continuum. God forbid Derek slip one by the goalie with
someone from the past. He’d be a father before he was even born.
That
had
to be somehow devastating to the future. They had
to be careful. Moreover, he had to keep Derek under control.

“Earth to Jason,” Derek waved his hand in
front of Jason’s face.

“Herpes,” Jason muttered, his thoughts of
how to stop Derek slipping past his lips.

“Ew,” Michelle responded from the other side
of the car.

“What?” Derek looked at Jason in shock.

Already committed, Jason continued his
unvetted plan. “We forgot your medicine back at your girlfriend’s
house.

Derek was horrified. Each of the girl’s
faces went blank as they all turned their attention to the nearest
window, avoiding eye contact with their new passengers. Derek just
stared at Jason with a look of confused anger before facing forward
in his seat, convinced that the conversation was over.

FOURTEEN

“Is it bath time? Yes it is. It’s bath time!”
Jennifer leaned over little Oliver as she unbuttoned his
onesie.

Oliver just stared up at his mother. She was
sure that he had no clue what was coming, since this was to be his
first bath since leaving the hospital. His excited smile hadn’t
come from seeing the little blue chair in the kitchen nor had it
come from the few drops of water that his mother had splashed on
his legs. His focus was on the long strands of his mother’s hair,
that swayed back and forth above him.

Reaching for the source of his fascination,
Oliver’s fingertips brushed through the end of his mother’s long
hair, sending his legs into a frenzy of excitement.