by R E Swirsky
***
“I’m going to lay it out very simple for you, Johnny.…”
Both men were seated on the edge of the bed in a hotel room only a few doors down from Nathaniel and Cindy’s room.
“You’ve got no cash, no ID, and no passport.”
Johnny laughed. “And I’m in France. It’s kinda cool, you know.”
“No. It’s not cool. None of this is cool.” He stared hard at Johnny, trying to see if the trust he was sure was there earlier still existed. “You aren’t going anywhere without my help. You understand?”
“Yeah, of course. Where the fuck would I go anyway?”
“I’m serious. You need to stay in this room. I don’t.…”
“What?” Johnny interrupted. “I’ve just spent three fucking days chained to a fucking wall. You expect me to just sit in this fucking room now? Huh?” He leaned over and looked behind Nathaniel’s back. “Where are the chains? You are going to chain me to the bed, aren’t you?”
Johnny just wasn’t understanding the seriousness of the situation. “Maybe I should.”
“I’m kidding, but really—stay in the fucking room? No way.” He shook his head. “I want to at least go for walk. The Eiffel Tower’s only a half a dozen blocks away.” He stood up and gestured grandly with his arms as he walked over and stared out the window. “How can I be here and not at least go see the fucking Eiffel Tower? Huh, Uncle?”
“You heard me. You stay in the room, or I will chain you to the damn bed. You can watch movies, call room service, I don’t care. But you must stay in this room.”
Johnny sat down on the edge of the bed and let himself flop onto his back. “At least this bed is soft.”
“I’ll make arrangements to get you back home. Maybe tomorrow.”
“This sucks. You know that, don’t you?” He glanced at Nathaniel. “I’m in France chained to a fucking wall for nearly three days, and now that I’m free, I’m stuck in this stinky fucking smelly hotel room.” He burst into a laugh, but there was nothing humorous about it.
“The room’s nice. It’s a nice hotel.”
“I don’t want a nice hotel. I want to go outside and do something. Anything.”
“It’s gotta be this way. I’m sorry.” He felt sorry for Johnny, but he couldn’t let his guard down yet.
Nathaniel stood up to leave. “Just keep yourself out of sight. I’ll be back sometime tonight or tomorrow morning with more details.”
Johnny grabbed the remote. “I can have anything I want from room service?” he asked.
“Go crazy,” he replied and left to go find Cindy and the girls.
