sidney screamed, i almost did. there was this bear staring straight at
us, with a sawn off shot gun in his hand.
"just turn around and slowly walk back to the room where you
came from," he said. we didn't argue. bear hit me in the back
with the barrel of the gun as we entered the motel room.
"hey!" i said.
"shut up, or i'll blow your spinal column away!" he said.
"who are you anyway?" i asked.
"captain nicely," he answered. god, was he two hundred
pounds of ugliness.
"carlee."
"it's ok honey, it's ok." bear made us sit on a bed, then
he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. he dialed
"got 'um, miss boling. no, no problem. yes, wait just a
minute. hand me your purse miss," he said to me. he rummaged
through it and said, "mccord, carlee, yes, no, the boy is with
her. no unharmed, twenty six or seven, wait, ok, twenty seven. will
do." he put the phone back into his shirt pocket.
"now, do you care to explain," i said.
"we wait," bear said.
"we're at a disadvantage, captain nicely, you know us but we
don't know you."
"that works for me," bear said. "my boss will be
over soon. my instructions are to see that you stay right here."
he pointed the shot gun at me. sidney wiggled up closer to me. bear
watched, but didn't do anything. half an hour passed. the door opened,
and this lady, girl, walked in. bear jumped to his feet. she was over
six foot tall and skinny. her hair was very blonde and cropped short,
her face contained at least three horrible scars, one went down her
left eye, part of the brow was missing, it continued to her chin, she
appeared to have a contact lens in that eye. her blue eyes were
piercing. sidney hugged me tightly around the waist, she was scaring
him.
"kidnapping is a crime, miss mccord," she said.
"i've comitted no crime, ma'me, sidney came with me of his own
accord and the person seeing after him seemed relieved."
"she wasn't when she called my office," the tall lady
said.
"must have changed her mind then," i answered, with an
obvious bit of sarcasm. my phone rang. "may i answer that?"
bear looked at skinny. she nodded.
"hello."
"carlee, you're late," came the voice of pork over the
phone.
"i know that sir," i replied.
"you're not alone are you?"
"no."
"is sysco there?"
"i think so."
"shit, be nice girl, i'll be there as soon as i can, be nice,
she's a hit man, lady." i hung up.
"how soon before your back up arrives, miss mccord?" she
asked.
"soon, miss boling," i answered.
"i will make my conversation as brief as yours on the phone.
the people who work for me are protected by security, so are their
families. the word we got was that you snatched the boy, if this is
disputable in your mind, i'm sorry, we're taking the boy and we
strongly suggest that you get out of town."
she meant it.
"no!" sidney yelled. "i'm staying with carlee."
"you don't work for me kid and you don't have any choices,"
sysco said.
"they don't treat me good, lady, i'm staying."
"that will be up to your dad, son. now, come with me."
sidney ran straight for the bathroom, closed and locked the door.
"shit!" hollared bear.
"it's ok louis, just go out to my car and bring in the tools!"
she shouted. "and you, you sit your ass back on the bed, mccord!"
louis burst out the door, and burst back in backwards quicker than he
had left. he landed against the wall and fell to the floor.
"what in the goddamn hell is going on in here!!" pork pie
shouted. louis bounded off the floor and grabbed his shot gun. pork
pie kicked it out of his hands and it landed about eleven feet to his
right. he knocked sysco over with his right hand, she landed on the
bed with me. louis reached for his left pants leg.
"watch his hand pork!!" i yelled.
"push him carlee, push him!!" he hollared. my foot
recoiled to his back leg, and he tumbled over to the floor. pork
reached down and retrieved a pistol for louis's leg holster, pointed
it at him and held him at bay.
"you're making a big mistake, anderson," sysco said.
"no asshole, you've made one, fuckin' with my friend," he
replied.
"carlee!!" sidney yelled.
"it's alright baby, it's alright," i told him. sysco
stood, towering over pork.
"this ain't your business, pork pie," she said.
"fuck you sysco, goddamn you, get on the horn and get that
son-of-a-bitch sypes back here as soon as possible."
"no, he's got work to do."
"look, you motherfucker, i'll have him towed back if i have
to, it's my truck. and get that ugly bastard out of here before i
shoot him," he added. "i mean it sysco!"
"go on louis, i can handle this," she said, as she
motioned him out.
"miss bolin, i can......."
"just go louis, call terry and tell him what happened, tell
him everything's alright. now go."
"no louis, you tell him to turn my fuckin' truck around and
make it back here as quick as he can, he's fired."
"you can't fire him pork pie, he works for me."
"and you work for me!" he shouted.
"i rent from you, you contemptuous old bastard, i rent your
trucks."
"if you had room for another scar on your face sysco, i'd make
one goddamnit, you did rent my trucks. now get 'em all back to me by
noon tomorrow. find yourself some other trucks.! i mean it sysco!"
he added.
"now pork pie," she smiled. "look man, we offer
security to our guys, that's all. terry's old lady called us and said
that his kid had been snatched, we just did what we promised the guys,
how the hell did i know she was your friend." her voice softened.
"get the kid out of the bathroom carlee, i need to talk with him,
we need to talk with him."
i got up and knocked on the door. asked sidney to come out. "no
one's going to hurt you baby, it's over, please come out," i
said. the door unlocked and sidney stood, frightened, in the doorway.
"hey kid, sidney, damn good to see you again," pork said.
"hi mr. anderson, good to see you too." sidney ran to
pork pie and hugged him around his big belly. pork pie had on his
regular hat, i wouldn't know him without it. sidney started to cry.
"now, now, goddamnit, i know it's been a hell of a night sid,
being kidnapped and all, but it's ok now."
"carlee didn't kidnap me, mr. anderson, she bought me new
clothes, and boots." he kicked them up for pork to see.
"and damn fine lookin' they are," he smiled. "and
was carlee goin' to take you home with her?" he asked.
"i would like that."
"that wasn't my question kid."
"what the hell is this anyway, pork, if i were going to take
sidney home with me, i wouldn't have stopped at this damn place,"
i responded.
"i know angel, just proving a point."
"for who, your business associate?!" i was angry. "since
when do fucking security people carry sawn of shotguns in the first
place, and if i'd have spit in louis's face, do you think he wouldn't
have shot me?!"
"now baby, calm down," pork said.
"don't you tell me to calm down, pork pie anderson. i'm
perfectly goddamned calm. calmest goodamn person in the goddamn room.
if you're trying to appease this bitch, and if you're trying to piss
me off, you're doing a first rate job."
"business is business miss, and i've known the porker a lot
longer than you have," sysco replied. i was totally confused.
whose side was pork pie on?
"ok, ok, let's get on with this thing, we're scaring sid,"
pork calmly said. "where is sypes, sysco?"
"toledo."
"you call sid's guardian.."
"whore," sidney said.
pork looked at him with an annoyed expression.
"as i was saying, call terry's friend and tell her you got
everything under control, tell her we have a call into terry and the
kid will be staying with me until he gets back."
"that may do, but mavis threatened to call the police if we
couldn't find him."
"so, tell her we've found him, she can talk to him over my
phone," pork pie responded, as if the problem were solved.
"we don't need the police," sysco said. "let's just
drive over there." i picked the shot gun off the floor, and
bolted seven casings from it.
"this is illegal, you know," i said to sysco.
"what ain't," she answered. outside, pork pie was driving
a mini-bus, not a mini-van. "you takin' your show on the road
pork pie?" sysco asked.
"i just came by this, it suits me, it was cheap and
comfortable. now git in, and i don't need any wise cracks." we
drove back to terry's, parked out front and proceeded to the mail
boxes. i knew the box for terry, and buzzed it. nothing. "do it
again baby," pork pie said. still nothing.
"she was here a few hours ago," i said.
"gimme that goddamn shotgun!" pork pie snarled.
"calm down pork," i said. "who your nearest neighbor
sidney?"
"mrs. benson, she lives next to us."
"beverly?" pork asked.
"yes," sidney asnwered. pork pushed mrs. benson's button.
no response.
"what the fuck is this shit!" he hollered. "if that
fuckin' bitch called the cops....we're all in trouble." he glared
at sysco.
"yes?"a feeble female voice answered.
"open up," pork said. "we need to get in the sype's
apartment."
"i can't do that, you'll need to contact the super," she
said.
"by god!!!"
"quit grumbling pork pie, for christ's sake. mrs benson,"
i said, "sidney is with me, and he doesn't have his key, could
you please beam us up?"
"sidney?" she asked.
"please mrs. benson, let us in, we think mavis walked out."
she let us in. "thank you mrs. benson." i said.
"god almighty, it's as hot as a fresh fucked fox in a forest
fire," pork pie said as we entered terry's apartment.
"it smells too," sysco added.
"what in the hell do you pay your drivers anyway sysco?"
"a hell of a lot more than this dump costs," she
answered. sidney looked embarrassed. i hugged him.
"it's ok baby. mr. anderson will get you a new apartment, a
nice one, i promise." sidney smiled.
"nearer the school?" he asked.
"by the school, if we can find one," i answered.
"goddamnit!" yelled pork pie. "pack all this shit
up, right now. sid is gonna come and live with me."
"i want to live with carlee," sidney said.
"well she's welcome too, it's up to her, but you and your dad
can live at one of my places sid. i'll put you through high school and
law school and you can sell drugs for sysco, deal?"
"sidney smiled. "and can i have a new watch?"
"i'll buy you an atomic watch kid."
"bambi?"
"shit, i'll get you one with a picture of god on it if you
want, i know this guy that's got hundreds of them runnin' up both his
arms."
"carlee," sidney stammered. i bent over and hugged him.
"what, baby?" i knew pork pie anderson well enough to
know that these living circumstances rivaled his, when he was growing
up. i didn't know about sysco boling, and really didn't want to. we
packed up all the "shit", as pork pie called it. and filled
the back of pork pie's "pig mobile" as we would later call
it. the nation was secure. for the moment.....
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