“I need coffee,” snarled Eddie. “Stop somewhere and howsabout one of you guys get me some.” Although weak in body, Eddie still held sway over his friends.
“Yeah, I need somethin’ too,” John said as he turned off Main Street making for the Qwik Stop. John’s powder blue Reliant rattled as it bounced through a pothole. “Geez, they gotta fix these roads,” he exclaimed.
The road-weary car lurched and swayed, the rear springs had given up the ghost thirty thousand miles ago. Lou and Carl bobbed up and down in the back seat, causing Lou’s fifty-cent cigar to send a shower of ashes down the front of his soiled navy-blue blazer.
“Hey, man!” shouted John, watching Lou’s ash incident through the rearview mirror. “If you can’t smoke that thing without catchin’ the car on fire, why don’t you put it out.” John had real pride in his car, not that it showed in the car’s condition. The only money spent on it was for gas and oil. Even so this was John’s prized possession, he being the only one in the crew with any wheels.
“Ah, leave me alone. It wouldn’t a happened if you knew how to drive right,” retorted Lou, as he carefully brushed the ashes off his jacket. Lou never went out without his blue blazer. It was a sign of sophistication that set him apart from his compadres, who went around in their shirtsleeves, but it also connected Lou to his past when his life was better or at least different than now.
John swerved to the side of the road, screeched to a stop and craned his neck to face Lou in the back seat. “Why don’t you just jump out and walk if you don’t like my driving.”
“No, no. Forget it. Anyhow I just gave you two bucks for gas, so I ain’t walkin’. Let’s go!”
John reacted, “Don’t you give me orders you...”
Eddie, riding shotgun with his back slouched against the door, cut him off in mid-sentence, “Listen, you two old ladies quit crabbin’ and let’s get goin’. The cops are gonna stop if we sit here.” And Eddie didn’t like cops. He didn’t like them because they asked questions like, “Where’re you going?” or “Where have you been?” or “Where do you live?” All of which Eddie didn’t feel comfortable answering.
“Let ‘em stop, I don’t care. I’m sick of takin’ lip from that...” John’s words trailed of into a bitter mumble as he pulled back out on to the road, muttering under his breath something about “ingrates” and “dirty habits”.
“I got no money,” declared Carl as he rifled through his empty pockets. “Somebody gonna buy me some coffee, too?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry Carl. It’s Lou’s turn to buy. Isn’t that right, Lou?” Eddie asked through a malicious grin. Lou grunted an unintelligible response as he stared pensively out the window, wishing he hadn’t said anything to Eddie about the fifty bucks he’d gotten off his ex the day before.
Lou had once been a regular citizen in the community. He’d had a wife, a good job, two kids, two cars and a dog. Lou worked as an “F & I” guy at the local Chrysler dealership. He’d already gotten 15 years seniority under his belt and was in line to move “upstairs” when the next slot opened up. Lou worked late a lot of nights. But he always made a little time available to say goodnight to the kids and to take the dog for a walk.
The job was tough though, trying to keep up with the sales guys who always needed everything yesterday. Then there was the sales manager. It seemed like Lou got a chewing out from him every other day, whenever a loan or lease deal fell through.
‘Hey, what do you want from me,’ Lou would say in his own defense, ‘this guy’s a bum, his credit’s a nightmare.’ The Manager didn’t care about any of that. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to make his sales quota this month because ‘Lou didn’t get the deal done’. No quota means no bonus. No bonus means the Manager and his wife can’t afford that trip to the Caymans. No trip means there’s going to be hell to pay.
The job. It took its toll on Lou. He started to get so uptight by the end of the day that he had to ‘unwind a little’ before he went home. So, Lou had started dropping into the corner bar, Shorty’s Place, after work for a few beers. This helped to put the day’s abuse behind him. Life went on. Before long his kids, Cindy and Lou, Jr., became teenagers. Then Cindy got pregnant a few weeks before her sixteenth birthday and eventually moved in with her boyfriend. He was seventeen and when he heard about the baby he quit school to get a job at the car wash . Five months later he was picked up on domestic violence charges. Cindy came back home, but it didn’t work out. After that Lou started dropping in for a few shots and a beer after work.
Meanwhile, Lou, Jr. had started hanging around with the wrong crowd. He got busted for driving without a license and the cops found a few joints on him. The result was six months probation and say good-bye to that merit scholarship they had all been counting on. Not long after, Lou’s wife Mary was diagnosed with a malignancy in her left breast. This required a radical mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy and most of the money Lou and Mary had managed to put away over the years.
All this proved too much for Lou. He started staying at the bar longer, skipping dinner altogether, preferring to drink his supper. One night Lou hooked up with a bimbo at the bar. Her name was Rose. She was a bar-fly and a regular at Shorty’s. She came on to Lou because he “looked nice”: clean cut, always dressed in a crisp, white shirt and a navy-blue blazer. Lou didn’t get home at all that night.
Somehow Lou patched that up with Mary. She got over it but things were never the same after that. About that time Lou started dropping by the bar for lunch. Six months later Lou was fired from his job. At 52, Lou found himself on the street looking for work.
The one-night stands with Rose got to be a regular thing. From there it went from bad to worse. In time Lou lost it all. Mary filed for divorce, she and Lou, Jr. moved into an apartment of their own. Neither Lou nor Mary had heard from their daughter for over a year. Rose dumped Lou when he went broke. Lou’s dog died peacefully of old age unaware of the trouble that had beset the family.
The Reliant pulled in to the Qwik Stop and rattled to a stop. Four doors swung open all at once and our heroes, through various exertions and contortions, emerged and came to semi-erect standing posture along side the car.
“Oh, look at that,” said Carl as he noticed a young girl, 16 or 17 years of age, making her way out of the store. “Man, I’d like piece of that.”
“Why don’t you just go over there and get some, Carl-boy?” said John.
“Yeah, maybe I will. I wondered how much she wants.” replied Carl.
“More than you got, pal. Maybe Lou’s got a shot though. How ‘bout it, Lou.” sneered Eddie.
Carl interrupted, “Mmmm. She’s so sweet and clean. I tell you I’d like to...”
“You guys make me sick.” Lou interrupted. “She’s a kid. You oughta be ashamed. Besides, what’s she want with a bunch a broken down old men like us,” Lou said as he spit some cigar tobacco on to the pavement.
Carl replied, “Lou, you don’t know s---. Girls today’ll do it for a few bucks and think nothin’ of it. I bet she’s done it plenty.”
“Aw, come on. Let’s get some coffee,” said Eddie. And with that the he made his way towards the store.
The girl at the register glanced at up as Eddie came through the door. She became a little nervous when she saw him. He had a scare-crow appearance. Tall, gaunt, his hair matted and greasy, his shoulders slouched. Eddie had a five-day growth of whiskers on his face and his skin looked gray. He walked, or rather hobbled, with a tentative, awkward gait. His shirt and pants were wrinkled and filthy from many days of wear in the hot weather. His eyes were sunken in their sockets, but active, glancing nervously from side to side. Eddie noticed her stare. The cashier turned her head away quickly when their eyes met.
Carl came in right behind. He looked healthier, but Carl had a threatening, unwholesome appearance. The kind of character that mothers would watch carefully if he appeared anywhere near there kids. Carl’s clothes were ill-fitting and soiled. Not as bad as Eddie’s, but not much better. Carl’s face and hair was cleaner too. But, his face was puffy with dark circles under his blood shot eyes, and his nose had that bar-fly purplish tint. Carl didn’t notice the cashier looking at him. He was staring at her breasts, following them as the girl moved around behind the counter. He continued to gawk, undeterred by her awareness of his openly lustful gaze.
“Did you see the boobies on her?” he said to Eddie as they walked towards the coffee machine.
“Yeah, I sure did.” said Eddie.
The cashier stepped in to the back room where her shift partner was checking in the day’s stock delivery. “Hey, Jimmy. How about coming out front for a few minutes,” she said.
“Sure, Kim,” Jimmy said as he looked up from his work and got up to follow her out. He didn’t need any further explanation. This wasn’t an unusual request. The Qwik Stop was a half block away from the bus station and right off the highway exit ramp. They had a lot of unsavory clientele.
By this time Carl and Eddie had permeated the store with their stench. Jimmy glanced at Kim and rolled his eyes. Carl watched the clerks walk back behind the counter, his eyes locked back on Kim’s chest.
John was still outside fiddling with the rubber on the driver’s side windshield wiper. It was worn out, split and kept slipping out of the blade. He carefully refitted the rubber in the blade. Then he secured the ends with a piece of duct tape from a roll that he always carried in the glove box.
Lou had made his way around to the restroom on the side of the building. Finding it locked he relieved himself in the parking lot next to the dumpster. He zipped up and came back around the front of the store wiping his hand on the seat of his trousers.
“Good afternoon, my dear,” Lou said to the cashier as he came in. “Thanks for the use of your restroom.” Jimmy and Kim both glanced over at the men’s room key hanging by the counter, turned to each other and shrugged. The restroom door was kept locked and swung closed automatically after use.
“Hey, Lou. Get me a sweet roll with my coffee. OK?” said Carl.
“No. Just coffee,” said Lou, standing his ground.
Eddie had poured his coffee and was busy dumping sugar packets into it. There were four empty packets on the counter and he was emptying three more into his cup.
“Boy, you sure have a sweet tooth,” said Lou to Eddie.
“Yeah, I guess.”
John came into the store. He looked around and walked over refrigerator to pick out an iced tea. Carl stood by the check-out counter sipping and staring. Kim crossed her arms in front of her as Jimmy stepped over to the register. A crooked smile came to Carl’s lips as he watched Kim cover herself.
“That’s eighty-nine cents,” Jimmy said to Carl.
“Hunh?” said Carl looking up at him and noticing him for the first time.
The coffee. It’s eighty-nine cents.”
“He’s payin’,” Carl said stabbing a thumb in Lou’s direction. Lou was still pouring his cup.
“Yeah, that’s right’,” said Lou. “I’ve got ‘em all. Three coffees and an iced tea.”
Jimmy rang it up. “That comes to three sixty-seven,” he said.
“There you are,” Lou said as he handed the cashier four crumpled one-dollar bills. “Keep the change.”
“Yeah, honey. Keep the change,” Carl said staring leeringly at Kim.
© 1998 Craig C. Roberts.
