by Bill H Myers
When they were safely stored away, I asked Erin, “What next?”
She shrugged. “We found Waldo. The three paintings he gave me will more than cover what he owes me. So from here on, it's your show. Whatever you want to do is fine with me.”
I decided we should go back to the motorhome and check on Bob. While there, I'd call Marissa and let her know I'd found Waldo and that, so far, Mad Dog's guys hadn't gotten to him. But I suspected they would soon.
We pulled into our site at Anastasia and saw that the tent campers who had been next to us when we left that morning had moved on. For the moment at least, we had no neighbors. That would probably change as we got closer to the weekend. But we’d be gone by then. Our reservation was only good for two more days.
Inside the RV, Bob was lounging on the couch, licking his paws. He looked pretty contented. I figured he'd either just eaten or pooped. I went back to check his bowls and could tell by the smell that he'd just made a deposit in his litter box.
Being a big cat, he doesn't poop out raisin-sized nuggets. He drops the big ones. In the clumping litter I use, they end up being tennis ball sized.
I grabbed the litter scoop from under the counter and one of the plastic bags I saved when I bought food. Getting down on my knees, I started cleaning his box. When I felt warm breath on my back, I figured it was Erin checking in on me.
It wasn't. It was Bob. He was making sure I got the job done to his satisfaction. He likes a clean box and likes to watch when I scoop out his leavings.
After taking the bag of poop out to the roadside trash bin, I came back in to find both Erin and Bob on the couch. He was sitting in her lap and she was petting him.
“Looks like he's got you trained.”
She nodded. “I think he has.”
I grabbed my phone off the counter and said, “I've got to make a call. I'll be right back.”
Back in the bedroom with the door closed, I punched in the number for Marissa’s burner phone. She answered on the third ring and asked, “Have you found him?”
I told her we had and he was safe for the moment. I also told her he’d spent all the money he'd borrowed, and he didn't have any way to pay it back.
The bad news was that two of Mad Dog's goons were in town looking for him. They wouldn't be happy when they learned he didn't have any money.
After hearing my report, Marissa said, “Anything you can do to get him out of this mess, do it. But not if it means you getting hurt or using your own money to pay off his loan. Waldo got himself into this, and if he hadn't involved his mother, I'd let Mad Dog's men teach him a lesson.”
She ended the call by saying, “Call me when things change one way or another.”
When I went back into the living room, Bob was still sitting in Erin's lap. She had her phone out and was saying, “Okay, I'll come get it. Thanks.”
She ended the call and said, “That was the repair shop. My car is ready. We need to pick it up today before they close at five.”
I checked the time and saw that it was nearly four. “I can go as soon as you're ready.”
I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and handed one to Erin. She twisted off the top, took a sip and said. “If we leave now, we might beat rush hour traffic.”
I didn't think a small town like Saint Augustine had a rush hour, but it did. Probably mostly tourists heading back to their hotel rooms after a day of viewing the sights. With the traffic, it took us fifteen minutes to get to the small auto repair shop where Erin had left her car. It was located well south of old town, a few blocks west of the Walmart Super Center we had visited earlier.
There were several cars in the shop’s lot. A few classics, including a nice fifty-seven Chevy and a sixty-four low rider. There were a few newer cars as well, including a Volvo station wagon and a late model Mercedes. The outside of the shop looked clean, the building looked well kept, and the cars they were working on looked to be the kind that people with money would own.
Seeing the classics and the late model luxury cars, I wondered which one was Erin's. She had gone inside to pay and told me to wait in Raif's car. I guessed I’d soon find out which car was hers.
A few minutes later, she came out of the shop’s office carrying a receipt and car keys. She walked to the side of the building and climbed into a teal-green Ford Focus wagon. After getting it started, she pulled over to where I was parked and said, “Follow me back to the RV. We'll leave Raif's car there and go get dinner in mine.”
It sounded like a good plan to me.
Fifteen minutes later, we reached the gate at the park. Because Erin's car didn't have a sticker showing she was a registered camper, she had to purchase a day pass. Good for two days.
With the park pass taped to the inside left corner of her windshield, the ranger waved us through. When we got to the RV, Erin stayed in her car as I pulled into our site and parked Raif's.
It'd been less than an hour since we left the RV, and I didn't feel the need to check on Bob. He had plenty of food, a clean litter box, and plenty of places to sleep. He'd be fine, so I didn’t go in.
When I slid into the passenger seat of Erin's car, she was smiling. “I missed having my own car. It's nice to have it back.”
Then she asked, “Where do you want to eat dinner?”
I shrugged. “You know this town better than I do; you choose.”
We ended up eating at the Mellow Mushroom, the place I had gotten takeout the first night I'd been with Erin.
This time, we had a sit-down meal. For starters, we each ordered their house salad, and for our main course, we went with a thin crust buffalo chicken pizza.
Our food was brought out quickly. The salads first and a few minutes later our pizza. We ate, enjoying the laid-back atmosphere as well as each other's company.
When we finished, Erin suggested we cruise by Waldo's to make sure he hadn't gone crazy with the money I’d given him. Knowing how he had quickly gone through the fifty thousand he had borrowed from Mad Dog, it wouldn't have been a surprise if he'd already blown through the fifteen hundred he'd gotten from me.
It was almost dark when we reached the Die Inn. The parking lot was empty. Waldo's car was gone. So were all the water jugs he had been filling from the fountain. Maybe he had taken them into town in search of gullible tourists willing to fork over a ten-spot for a jug of water.
If he had, good for him. At least he'd be trying to generate income. It was a start. But it wasn’t much and he'd have a long way to go.
Since his car wasn't in the lot, Erin kept going south on A1A. About six miles later, she pulled into a strip mall across from a row of high rise condos. She parked in front of the Island Ice Cream Cafe and asked, “You in the mood for ice cream?”
I hadn't really been thinking about it, but if Erin was having some, so would I. She ordered a cup of almond praline and I went with the maple walnut. After I paid, we sat at the table closest to the window and watched the traffic go by as we enjoyed our cool confections.
When we were done, we got back into her car and headed north. On the way, I looked for Waldo's car in the parking lots of the small motels we passed. He had said he was staying in one but didn't tell us the name.
If his next-door neighbor, the one who had sold him Xanax, was selling drugs from his room, the place probably wouldn't be much better than the Die Inn. Except for the part about it having electricity and running water.
I checked all the lots on my side of the road and didn't see his car. When we passed the Die Inn, it wasn't there either. I should have been worried about it, but I wasn't. I'd told him about the trouble he'd be in if Mad Dog's guys found him. If he didn't want to listen to my warning, that was up to him.
Chapter Fifty-Four
That evening, Erin and I watched a movie on Netflix before going to bed. She said I could sleep with her as long as I followed the same rules she had given me the night before. No spooning, no touching, nothing of a sexual nature. We were in bed to sleep. N
othing more.
I didn't like the rules, but I was going to abide by them. I didn’t want to spend the night on the couch. It was made for sitting, not sleeping.
The next morning, I woke with Erin's arm over my chest, holding me tight against her warm body. She wasn't moaning like she had been the previous morning, but she was breathing deeply. I could feel her hot breath on the back of my neck.
Since we'd already found Waldo and didn't need to get up early, there was no reason for us not to sleep in. We stayed in bed for another hour. I was wide awake, needed to pee and was hungry. But I wasn't going to get up. Not until she woke and explained how her arm had somehow gotten around my chest.
Unfortunately, that never happened and it was Bob's fault. While she was still sleeping, he jumped up on the bed and made his presence known by tapping her ear with his paw. It didn't take many to get her attention.
She rolled over away from me, saw Bob and whispered, “Is it time for some petting?”
He didn't answer, but if she had asked me, my answer would have been a definite “Yes.”
With the spell broken, I rolled out of bed and took care of my morning business. When I went up front, I was surprised to see it was a little after nine. The day was moving along, leaving us behind.
Erin soon joined me, rubbing her eyes with one hand and trying to tame her bedhead with the other. She squinted at the bright light streaming in through the skylight and said, “Turn that thing off. It's too early to have the lights on.”
I tried not to laugh but couldn't hold back. “Erin, I can’t turn it off. It’s the sun. Get dressed and I'll take you to breakfast.”
She shook her head. “I'll stay here. You go get it for me. Egg biscuit and a Coke. No Cheese.”
Without waiting to see if I was going to agree to her request, she turned and wobbled back to the bedroom. Since I was hungry too and breakfast from McDonald's was the quick and easy way to get fed, I decided to go get it.
Erin’s car was parked behind Raif's, blocking it in and there was no way I was going to ask her to move it. So I found her keys on the kitchen counter, locked the RV behind me, and headed to Micky D's.
When I got back with the food, Erin was sitting at the kitchen table waiting. She looked like she had showered and changed into clean clothes. I needed to do the same, but it would have to wait until after I ate.
While we were eating, she asked if I slept well and I told her I had. I asked her the same, and she said, “Not really. Sometime during the night, my side of the bed got hot. I didn't want to get up, so I just lay there. Hot and sweaty.”
I smiled. “Yeah, I know. You were plenty sweaty this morning when you had your arm wrapped around me.
“Maybe tonight you should sleep naked. You'd be cooler that way.”
She smiled and said, “That's not going to happen. We're both keeping our clothes on. Those are the rules.”
Disappointed with her answer, but not surprised, I took a shower and got ready for the day.
An hour later, riding in Erin's Ford wagon, we pulled into the Die Inn parking lot. There were several official-looking cars already there. Three men in long pants and ties stood in front of the fountain. One of the men was holding a clipboard.
Behind them, the door to guest room three opened, and a man with a camera came out. He checked his camera then walked over to room number four and went in.
To me, it looked like police investigating a crime scene. The only thing missing was yellow crime tape and the coroner's wagon. Maybe they'd already cleared the scene.
Erin and I were in shorts and tees, and to the officials standing near the fountain, we probably looked like nosy neighbors wanting to see what was going on.
But that didn't stop us. We got out and walked to the man holding the clipboard. He saw us coming and nodded. Before he could tell us to leave, I asked, “Where's Waldo?”
I was half expecting him to tell me that he was dead or in the hospital having been badly beaten. But instead he said, “He's in the office.”
When I turned to go there, the first thing I noticed was the lights. They were on. Not just a lantern but real lights. I wanted to find out why.
Entering, I saw Waldo sitting in the chair behind the check-in counter with a stack of papers on the desk in front of him. I noticed that the room wasn't hot like it had been the day before. The air conditioning was on.
Waldo saw us coming and stood. He walked up to the counter and said, “Guess what.”
I couldn't think of any reason the electricity would be back on and the parking lot filled with county officials so I shrugged and said, “I don't know. Divine intervention?”
Waldo nodded. “It seems that way. I was filling jugs at the fountain when the first car rolled up. A guy got out and said he was from the county. Said they were looking for a facility where they could place single mothers that were homeless.
“They had checked around and found that this place was empty. After inspecting the rooms he said the county would pay me seven hundred a month for each room. They'd also pay to get the utilities turned on and keep them on.
“And they promised to put new beds, carpet, and TVs in all the rooms.
“I couldn't believe it. They were in a hurry and didn't want to waste time. He said they had single moms sleeping in cars with their kids. They needed a place to stay and the county wanted to help.
“All I had to do was to sign a contract, and they'd take care of the rest. They even said I could move into the apartment behind the manager's office and live there rent-free.
“So I said, ‘Yes,’ and within the hour this place was swarming with people. Two men from the power company, another from water and sewer, and two guys with cameras shooting photos of the rooms so they'd know what needed to be done to get them ready.
“They told me they'd be updating everything in the coming week, and people would be moving in soon after.”
He grinned and said, “Can you believe it?”
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have. I knew Florida was serious about helping with the homeless problem. They had recently passed legislation to speed up the flow of state and federal funding to get those with young children off the street.
But seeing the money flow in Waldo's direction, especially that quickly, was hard to believe.
Still, if the county could use the empty motel rooms to provide a safe place for single mothers and their children, I was wholeheartedly for it.
Chapter Fifty-Five
I was happy for Waldo. Somehow, his investment in the Paradise Inn looked like it was going to pay off. He still had the Mad Dog problem and that wouldn't be as easy to resolve.
Erin congratulated him on his good fortune and we went back out into the parking lot. It was starting to warm up and I suggested we visit old town before it got too hot. We could walk the streets then go to the pirate museum to cool off.
She thought it was a good idea but said that, since she had her own car, we should take Raif's back to him so as not to leave him without a set of wheels. He needed a way to go somewhere if Fay got on his nerves.
We headed back to our campsite, picked up his car, and then, with me following Erin, headed to Raif's. On the way, I remembered what he had said about bringing the car back with a full tank; I checked the gas gauge. The needle was just about E. It was nearly empty.
I flagged Erin down at the first stop sign and let her know I needed to get gas. She nodded and said, “I figured you would. I’ll stop at Pump and Munch. You can fill it there.”
Ten minutes later, I was standing near the back of Raif's car, pumping gas. When it was full, I stepped back to Erin's car, which was near the pump behind me, and filled her tank as well. If I was going to be riding around with her, the least I could do was pay for gas.
With the tanks in both cars topped off, we headed to Raif's. Erin led the way, I followed.
After going by the office, I slowed to see if the site I had paid for was still vacant. It
was. That was a good thing because I needed to be out of my site at Anastasia by noon the following day.
When we reached Raif's, Erin parked on the street. The same baby-blue Subaru, the one I figured belonged to Fay, was already parked in the drive. I pulled up behind it.
As soon as I got the car parked, Raif came outside to greet us. He looked at Erin and asked, “You still hanging around with that bum? I thought you had better taste in men.”
She nodded. “I do, but sometimes you can't be choosy.”
They were both smiling, waiting for me to say something. I didn’t disappoint. “You're right; she can do better than me. As long he isn't bothered by her snoring.”
Raif laughed. Erin had been bunking in his place for a few months and there was no doubt he knew what I was talking about. She snored. Sometimes loudly.
She was shaking her head. “I don't snore. And Walker, if it bothers you, you can sleep on the couch tonight.”
Raif said, “Ooh, burn.”
He pointed to his car and asked, “You fill it up?”
I nodded a yes.
“Good. How’s it running?”
It was a question most men will ask after letting someone else drive their car. Especially a special car like Raif’s.
I gave him the answer he wanted to hear. “It runs like a new one. A really nice ride. Erin got it up to eighty and it didn't miss a beat.”
He turned to her and asked, “Have you been hot-rodding my car again? I warned you, next time you get a ticket I'm not going to take care of it.”
She shook her head. “You know he's kidding, right? We never left town, I never got it up to eighty. I know how much you care about that car, so I drove like a little old lady. Slow and sure.”
He nodded and changed the subject. “So, did you find Waldo yet?”
The question was directed at both of us. Erin answered first. “Yes, we found him. He bought a run-down motel on A1A south. The Die Inn.”
Raif shook his head. “So they found someone foolish enough to buy that place. I sure hope he didn't pay too much. I don't much care for Waldo but would hate to see him get in over his head with that thing.”
