Begin again

Peter had been walking back to his hotel. Mia would be waiting.  They would shower, have dinner, see a show, and begin again.  He had promised her a loving, more attentive change and though she had seemed reluctant at first, they were making headway; slowly.  He was excited and happy for summer and spending it with Mia.  He loved her.  Enraptured by the ocean view, the people rushing by smelling of powdered sugar, malt vinegar and sunscreen, he almost missed the opportunity to be a good Samaritan.  He should have.


  The tourista's  thick dark hair was as shiny as the grease settling on the slices cooling under the red heat lamps.  His pink and and purple stripped shirt draped over his khaki palm frond covered Bermudas.  The man intending to buy pizza, crossed  the boardwalk, pausing briefly to study a dozing homeless man by the trashcans. He kicked at him with disdain and commented to no one in particular


"Garbage you are, mah man." and continued on to the pizza kiosk.


He pulled a bulging money clip from his pocket and slicked his hair back, grinning too widely at the clerk


"Accept 100's?"


"No. See the sign?"


"Oh yeah. Right, right." he almost snorted. He looked up again.


"Fifties?"


The clerk rolled his eyes. "Tens, fives and ones are better."


"Sure." the man glancing side to side.


"Four fifty."


The man slid a fifty across the counter and began to beat a rhythm on the counter with his manicured, lightly glossed fingertips.


"Dude. Really?" the clerk gawked. Sighing heavily, he counted out the change and pushed it back.


The man raised his hands, raking the bills like he'd just won a game of craps.  He stuffed his wallet and turned his attention to his floppy Sicilian, tearing at it hungrily.  It only took three steps for the money to break free from the ugly shorts, plunking to the ground.


The bum started at the noise, zeroing in on the wad of cash waving from the boards. Almost immediately, he wiped his crusted face as if salivating, raised up and began to hunch-crawl quickly toward it.  Peter saw him and began to race the homeless man.


Peter scooped it up, proudly holding the bills high above his head, calling after the tourista


"Oh Geez! Hey Buddy!  Sir? SIR?"


The bum stood tall, removing from his stained grimy sweatshirt a gun and a badge beginning to scream as he raced along the boards.


"Police! Freeze"


Peter smiled and began to speak. "Oh great..."


"SHUT IT!" the dirty man growled snapping the wallet.


The tourista came back grinning thickly


"Wha? Wait.. I want to return his wall..."


"I said SHUT it!" growled the grubby man.


Tourista stepped in to Peter's personal space. "Nobody near me but you. Hmmm.. Just you. Bad news for you Buddy." .  He thumped Pete's forehead with the wallet and burped in the innocent man's face.  Pete winced away from the acrid garlic and tomato breeze wafting at him.  


Quickly, he was snared under the arms and maneuvered down the boards to a waiting car. People stared and pointed. Tucked in the back, all three began to drive with Peter continuing to proclaim a simple misunderstanding.


"Look. Jail is full of innocent men" Grubby said lazily


"Check the tapes from the shop owners." Peter pleaded.


The two men in the front snorted. "This ain't a A&E crime show" Tourista laughed.  Grubby drove them out of the city.  "Now shut it."


Peter felt the pang of fear boil down low in his belly.  Slowly, he pulled at the handle but it was locked with no latch.  He was trapped.  This sparked more protest.  Tourista had had enough.  Whipping around, he said in a thick sweet tone; "I'll help you understand what I mean EXACTLY Peter, when I say shut it." and connected the butt of his gun with Pete's head.  Stars were sharp and hot behind his eyes.  Then Peter was gulped by darkness. 


He woke on an old stained mattress wreaking of ammonia and mold.  His head was screaming inside his skull.


"Hello Precious." Grubby smiled.


Peter furrowed his brow and studied his new accommodations.  "What's going on?"


Grubby cut some pepperoni with a knife and ate it.  His lips were shiny.  "Well, Precious. You are going to have the worst last day of your life."


"Why?" Pete asked sitting up and hugging his knees.


Grubby sat and looked at Pete as if he had just sprouted wings. "You don't think I'm that dumb do you?"


"I don't know. I don't know anything. I don't understa...."


A bored sigh escaped Grubby and he stood.  "I'm not paid to help you understand Precious." He pulled his gun and leveled it at Peter's head pulling the trigger.  The vacationing man died smelling hot pennies and peppered sausage.  He was dismembered and removed from the dingy warehouse.  His disposal would take time, but they had plenty of it. 


Mia paced nervously in the lobby of the hotel.  She asked the concierge every ten or fifteen minutes if he had any messages for her.  She used her cell phone to dial countless times. Nothing. Peter had simply disappeared.  A new batch of tears smeared down her cheeks.  At last, a man in a ratty coat approached the front desk.  Mia rushed him, grabbing at his coat and spinning him. 


 "Where is he? Is he all right?" Her fingers clutched his arm tightly.  


"Perhaps we could step into another room..." he began, turning to the kid behind the counter who pointed them toward an empty conference room.  


Mia permitted herself to be shuffled off.  The man closed the door and stepped over to the tearing woman.  He pulled out a chair and motioned her to join him.  He got two pops from a table and poured them. He paced around the small dimly lit room, pausing at the window to watch people enjoying their vacations.  Returning to her, he folded his hands thoughtfully, glancing around trying to pull the words from the air. Drinking heavily from the can, he turned to her. 


"I'm afraid..." he said quietly.


Mia bowed her head.


"My brother will need five thousand more."


"I see. Why?"


"It will take longer to dispose of his body than anticipated." Grubby shrugged, cleaning darkness from under his nails and wiping it on his jeans. "So what do you think?"


"Your brother is greedy." but she leaned forward and pulled on his shaggy beard.  "But I THINK.." and she leaned in to brush her mouth lightly against his; not kissing him but feeling the shape of his mouth against hers. "I think THIS has to go. " Then she kissed him fully.  


Grubby pawed at her, hungrily tugging at her skirt. 


She giggled, pushing him away. "Not yet. We have to wait. Remember?"  


Sighing with frustration and disappointment, he swiped his mouth treasuring the taste of her kiss and smell of her near him.


"Then we can be together. " he smiled.  "Can't wait."


She winked and watched him walk away.  She looked up at the clock, and grinned to herself thinking he would be about half way home when the poison kicked in.  Then he would have a "stroke". She caught the eye of a man heading in to the bar.  She smiled demurely and waited for him to approach her. Mia was looking forward to beginning again. And again...and again...




This one took me a while to hammer out.  I twisted around too many times and got lost. Ha. Nothing new for me, as you know. ; ) I like it, but would have enjoyed it to be a little less rushed and developing more for the characters; Mia especially. Regardless, I hope you liked it. I'm glad you stopped by.  Enjoy the beginning of your week because it is one step closer to its end.