For The Least Of These (3 page)

I wiped the sleep out of my eyes.
“Did you get the room?”

“Sort of.
Well, actually, no. Not at the Richland. They claimed they had no vacancies, but I think they thought I wasn’t good enough to stay at their cheesy hotel. They did point me to a courtesy phone and a phonebook, so I called around until I found us a room. Looks like you need one, too. Have you been asleep the whole time or did you pump some gas?”

I had to check the gauge to be sure.
“Yeah. I’ve already pumped the gas and paid for it.” Thank God for pay-at-the-pump gas stations. “So where are we staying? The Grand? Beau Rivage?”

“The
Rest Inn.”

“You’ve got to be kidding…”

“Look on the bright side, Brand. It only costs thirty dollars per night. And we get a view of the Gulf.”

“My bedroom window back home has an extraordinary view of
Perdido Bay. I doubt they can outdo that for thirty dollars. Oh, well. I’m terribly sleepy, so I guess it will do. Where is it?”

“Anxious to get back to that dream, eh?
Maybe you should look at a picture of Rick before you go back to sleep. He really doesn’t look like me at all.”

Alicia pointed me west on Beach Boulevard.
We drove several miles – past the Coliseum and far away from the bright lights of Biloxi. In fact, it became darker and darker as we drove along – a fact I pointed out to Alicia.

“I noticed that too,” she commented.
“But you know we are going west. We’re getting farther and farther away from the sun…”

“The sun doesn’t even come up for another two hours,” I reminded her.

At a street named “Pembroke”, we turned right. Right. The opposite side of the road from the Gulf. Less than a block into Pembroke, we saw a half burned out sign that said “Rest Inn”. The words were twisted so that they resembled a smile. The sign had a familiar look to it. “Isn’t there one of these in Pensacola?” I asked.

“See, see,” Alicia said.
“You were getting upset and it’s a chain…”

“I don’t think two motels constitute a chain.
One of them probably copied the other one – although I can’t imagine who would think the name ‘Rest Inn’ would attract customers.”

“I think the name is sort of cute.
Rest Inn – restin’, get it?” Alicia’s comment didn’t even deserve a response.

The parking lot was tiny.
There were only ten or so parking spots, and all but one was filled. I stopped near the office and went up to register. The door to the office was locked, but there was a bell, so I rang it. I could see inside the office and the décor did not impress me: two black Naugahyde sofas attached together by a cast aluminum Formica-topped table. Even in the dim light I could make out the coffee stains on the table. Suddenly, the door to a back room opened, and a man clothed in only his red-heart-covered boxer shorts appeared. I was startled, and I began plotting my escape as he approached the door. Instead of opening the door, he opened the window on the door and stared out at me through bloodshot eyes. I noticed that he was of Indian descent even before he spoke with his thick accent.

“May I help you?” he inquired.
He scratched at his beard stubble and yawned.

“I need a room.
We called earlier.”

“Oh, yes Mum.
We have one room available. Number 10 at the end. Thirty dollars. Cash only.”

I signed in and paid him, and he handed me the key.
“Check out is 11:00 in the morning. After that, another thirty dollars.” I nodded and turned to go. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him pick up a phone and start dialing.

“Okay, Alicia,” I said as I got back into the car, “We’re in number 10.”

As we pulled up in front of our room, I noticed the door of number 9 opening just a crack.
As we got out, the door opened even farther and I got a good look at the room’s occupant. He was a man of about thirty-five with shoulder length brown hair and a bushy mustache. He was wearing a yellow shirt unbuttoned to the waist, gray slacks, and flip-flops. He moved out of his room so that he was blocking the door to our room. He had a huge, depraved smile plastered on his face. Since I had the key to our room, I was in the front, and I was the one he addressed. “Hello, Baby. Would you like to take a ride on my bed?”

I avoided eye contact, as I said, “No, thank you.
We aren’t interested.” I tried to hide the fact that he was making me intensely nervous. I pushed past him as he continued to ogle me, and he moved out of my way. I quickly unlocked number 10, and Alicia and I rushed inside. I slammed the door as he approached it. As I turned the deadbolt, he began banging on the door with his fist.

“Come on,” he yelled.
“I’ve got twenty dollars for one of you. Come on.”

I turned around and eyed Alicia angrily.
“So this is the wonderful Rest Inn with a Gulf view? That guy thinks we are hookers.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Alicia answered in her best innocuous voice.
Too bad I saw right through it. “He just wants us to become hookers. He doesn’t think we are right now…”

“Thanks for clearing that up for me.”

“Does he really think I would sell my virtue for only twenty dollars?” Alicia asked. She sounded deeply insulted.

“Why not?” I asked.
“You’ve given it away to worse than that.”

Alicia hit me with her purse.
“If you weren’t my best friend…you are such a bitch sometimes.”

“Takes one to know one,” I said playfully.

Alicia broke into a wide smile.
“We’d better get some sleep. Do you think one of us should keep watch?”

“Just make sure the window is locked.
I’d almost like to leave, but I’m afraid to walk past him again. I’m going to the bathroom.”

Inside the bathroom, I could hear our “neighbor”.
“I know you’re in there, Sweet Thang. Daddy’s waiting for you to come on over.” The first thought in my head was the shower scene in “Psycho”. I began searching the walls, looking for a hole that he might be using to watch me. When I satisfied myself that there were no holes, I realized that he was just talking to himself – he had no idea that I was in the bathroom. In fact, he was still talking, but I was no longer able to make out what he was saying. Then from the next room, I heard Alicia say, “Oh, no.”

“What’s the matter?” I asked.
As I came out, I pulled the bathroom door shut, thinking it put distance between that weirdo and us.

Alicia was standing beside the window.
“Maybe I’m overreacting. Come here and take a look.” As I reached Alicia’s side, she pointed to the window and said, “The lock has been removed. Not broken. Removed with a screwdriver or something. And there is a cement block placed right under the window.”

“A cement block?”
I wondered what a cement block had to do with anything.

“Yes.
Don’t you see? The window is high enough outside that it would be hard to climb into. But someone put a cement block out there. Now it would be easy to climb into the window.” I began to see where Alicia was going with this. I also began to wonder if I had been set up in the beginning. I remembered the desk clerk using the phone as soon as I finished checking in. Who would he be calling at this hour? Maybe he was calling his friend to let him know that a woman was checking into the room next to his.

“What should we do?” I asked Alicia.
“What if he comes in while we are sleeping?”

“We have to get some rest,” Alicia replied.
“And what about tonight? Where are we going to find another room?”

I grabbed my purse.
“I’ll take my chances sleeping in the car. I don’t trust that rube.”

“Huh?”
Alicia looked bewildered. “How do you know his name is Rube?”

“It’s a saying, Alicia.
I don’t know his name. Never mind. Let’s get out of this dump.”

“Are you going to get your money back?”

“No. I think the guy at the desk might be involved.” I paused long enough to share my theory with Alicia. After that, we were both ready to leave. I slowly withdrew the deadbolt – trying to be as silent as possible. I cautiously glanced out of the room and saw that our friend was not in sight. Quicker than either of us had moved in years, we bolted out of the room and into my car. We didn’t bother to look back. I drove until we were once again at the Richland Hotel.

“You know they don’t have a room,” Alicia said.

“Maybe not now, but they might have one for tonight.” I got out and reached for my suede jacket that was lying in the backseat. The first slivers of sun were beginning to illuminate the sky like very dim searchlights. I noticed that it was almost five-forty. By seven, the sun would be peeking over the horizon. I made a mental note that I had now been up for 24 hours.

Once I passed through the heavy glass doors of the Richland, I immediately noticed the striking similarities between Richland and the
Rest Inn: there were none. The floor of the Richland was covered in salmon colored cut pile carpeting. There were two sofas in the lobby. Both were upholstered in black leather and the legs and armrests were of carved mahogany. Leopard print pillows were arranged attractively on each. A pine coffee table, neatly stacked with magazines, sat in front of the sofas. A potted dracaena stood between the two sofas. In a remote corner stood a rubber plant. The wallpaper was bone colored with small white magnolia blossoms widely spaced along a slender trailing vine. There was no Naugahyde in sight and there were no unsightly coffee stains.

A clerk stood at the front desk, but her back was turned towards me.
I took the opportunity to slip down the hallway to find a ladies’ room. Halfway down the hallway I found the restrooms – just opposite the elevators. Inside the ladies’ room, it occurred to me that as long as I had money to pay for a room, the desk clerk shouldn’t send me away. Maybe all the rooms had been taken for Friday night, but surely there would be one available for Saturday. Just as a precaution, I washed my tired face and brushed my hair. I decided that was all I needed to do, and I walked confidently out of the ladies’ room.

As I approached the front desk, the clerk, a young woman in her early twenties, looked up into my eyes.
She had a warm smile and friendly eyes. “May I help you?” she asked in a voice too exuberant for the early hour.

“I’d like to get a room for myself and my friend,” I said.
“We would be staying until tomorrow’s check out time.”

The young girl typed something into a computer on the desk.
“We do have a suite available. It runs two-hundred-sixty-five dollars per night, and I will have to charge you for two nights.”

“I hadn’t really planned on a suite,” I explained, trying to hide my horror over the exorbitant price of the room.

She started to frown slightly.
“I’m afraid that is all we have. You are free to use our house phone to locate another hotel if you like.”

I wasn’t about to go through that again.
“Oh, no. Did I say we wouldn’t take it? Of course not. It’s just that you didn’t say it was on the club level, and I’m not used to staying anywhere else. If a standard suite is all you have, by all means, we’ll take it.”

Her dazzling smile returned, “I’m sorry we don’t have a suite available on our concierge level this time.
Perhaps you would like our reservation number so we will be expecting you on your next visit?” Her sarcasm did not escape me, although it was heavily veiled.

“Thank you so much, dear,” I said as I accepted the key card from her.
She had written the reservation number in red on the front so I wouldn’t miss it. I noticed we were in room 970. I thanked the desk clerk and darted to the front entrance to get Alicia.

Alicia appeared to be dozing.
I opened her door, and she let out a sigh and said, “Rick, Rick?” Then she opened her eyes and added, “You’re not Rick Hartwood.”

“Very funny,” I droned.
“Come on, we’ve got a room.”

“Now?
We can go to our room now?”

“Yes.
And I’m so tired that I won’t even care if there’s a man inside our room. He can do whatever he wants as long as I can sleep while he’s doing it.”

Alicia grabbed her purse.
“Are the rooms expensive?”

“Not really,” I said.
“Two nights cost me almost twice as much as one month’s rent on my house. Not so expensive for a suite.”

“Oh, you got a suite?”

“That was all they had.”

“We aren’t spending your rent money, are we?”

“No, I didn’t really want to spend this much, but it is for Rick Hartwood. So come on, let’s get up there. No sense in letting those beds go to waste.”

The suite wasn’t bad - an end unit on the
ninth floor. The door opened up into a sitting room that housed a comfortable looking beige sofa, several small tables, and a large oak entertainment center. The bathroom was almost the size of my bedroom back home, and the centerpiece was a Jacuzzi bathtub. The two bedrooms were on the right side of the sitting room, and they both contained TV’s and king-sized beds. The bedrooms were larger than any motel room I’d been in before. It was nice, but I still cringed when I thought how much I had paid to stay in it. My only comforting thought was that there were other rooms in this hotel that were even more expensive.