The Roar of The Dauntless: The Beginning

by Dale Leavitt

  A senior woman came into the store looking for Engineered hardwood flooring. A handyman that was noticed inside the warehouse from time to time was with her showing her everything she would need. The handyman was referred to her by a friend that had also had similar flooring installed. The woman asked for an estimate from Jason for all the products needed and then decided to purchase everything needed to complete the job.

  Her handyman, whose name was Carl, told her he would pick the product up for her the day the renovation was going to start, which was two days later. Jason warned that the product must sit in the house for approximately three days before install. Carl then yelled at Jason, telling him he knew what he was doing.

  Now, anyone that has installed engineered hardwood flooring knows that you must leave the product in the house for a few days before installation so that the wood can acclimate to the temperature in the room as it expands and contracts with temperature changes. Even with Jason’s warning, Carl decides to pick the product up the same day; it was supposed to be installed.

  Two days after Carl had installed the flooring it had already started to buckle. Once installed the engineered hardwood expanded, pushing against the walls that caused the center and other areas of the floor to rise. Carl was feeling the pressure of having to re-install the flooring.

  He came into the store yelling and screaming at Jason’s managers, saying no one had told him that the wood needed to acclimate before installation. Jason calmly explained how to fix the issue before a more serious problem arose, but it would have to be re-installed. Not liking this answer, Carl pleaded with the managers that the store had sold his customer faulty merchandise and that the store should fix the issue. Not getting anywhere with the managers Carl left the store, not a happy camper.

  Jason happened to see Carl before he left, returning all of the underlayment he had sold to the senior woman for the installation. A red flag immediately went off in Jason’s head as some low-life construction guys do this. They will do faulty work and not use everything for the job, returning items, is a quick way for them to put extra money in their pocket.

  A few days had passed with no word or sighting of Carl. It looked like he got the problem fixed. That will turn out not to be the case. Once again, Carl came in the store yelling and screaming that his customer was sold defective merchandise. Carl was making such a big stink that we needed to replace his flooring; he was so loud that the managers almost did exactly that, until Jason pulled them aside and informed them on what he had witnessed Carl doing days earlier.

  Management then decided to send someone out to look at the floor and quickly realized that the engineered wood had been installed directly over concrete without the underlayment or moisture barrier. Not only will the company not cover the product but, the manufacturer will also turn a blind eye due to being installed improperly. Of course after hearing that Carl disappears and the senior woman will have to fend for herself on getting the floor re-installed.

  These kinds of situations where people are taken advantage of, happen way too often. Jason could forget about this as it is not his problem. Not this day, not the new Jason. He remembers from past orders that he has Carl's information stored in the computer. He mutters to himself, should I just give this info to the senior woman and let her handle it with the police? The answer to that question is no. Jason wrote down the info and decided to do a little digging himself.

  After work, Jason decides to swing by the address he had on file for the handyman Carl. Unsure of his actual intentions as of yet, this will be more like a reconnaissance mission. Making it to his destination which is Carl’s house, he notices a group of four people sitting outside on the porch drinking beer. Looks to be, one woman and three men, Carl is among them. Now that he knows that he does reside here and still unsure what his intentions are, Jason decides to go home and call it a night.

  After a good night's rest, Jason has come up with the plan of trying to catch Carl while he is out, to confront him. This project will entail some surveillance which will only work on his days off, over the weekend.

  The weekend arrives, and Jason loads a few things in the car in case he needed them. Like food, a phone charger and although he does not plan to use it, his pistol. Jason finds a good lookout spot, just down the street, where Carl’s house can be seen without obstruction. He bunkers down and plans to be there awhile. Within one hour of his arrival, Carl emerges from his home with a small toolbox in his hand. He throws the toolbox in his white minivan and hops in the front. The van then takes off, and Jason follows from a distance.

  It is not long before the van comes to a stop at the local convenience store down the street. Carl is too lazy to pull his vehicle in the regular parking spots and leaves his car on the curb, next to the gas pumps. He goes inside to get a pastry for breakfast and some hot coffee.

  Jason pulls in at one of the gas pumps where Carl has to pass him to get back to his vehicle. As Carl emerges from the convenience store Jason's heart starts to pound, and the adrenaline is starting to kick in. Carl reaches the side of Jason's car just out of view of the store and Jason walks up to him, cutting Carl’s path to his vehicle.

  Jason says “Hey” loudly which startles Carl and says “you know that little old lady you installed flooring for, had spent all of her money on that job you screwed up?” Carl replies swiftly, by saying, “I did not screw anything up.” The denial makes Jason even more enraged and raises his voice stating that all he needed to do was reinstall the flooring correctly.

  Carl being the inconsiderate kind of person he is walked right up to Jason with no fear in his eyes and said: “look I installed her floor, the job was completed, so I moved on.”

  Jason says, “that's bullshit; you installed her floor with no underlayment and then had the balls to return it to steal her money. You screwed her over.” Carl told Jason to fuck off and started walking to his van and then sped off from the convenience store.

  Jason still bewildered with this mean-spirited denial and a real lack of sympathy. Not only was he dumbfounded but, was also mad. Jason follows Carl for two more blocks where Carl finally stops, on a deserted street, gets out of his vehicle, opens the back door and grabs a hammer. He starts to approach Jason's car with unknown intent. Jason grabs his gun from his waist and quickly unlatches the safety, he then puts it in his pocket and exits the vehicle.

  As soon as Jason got out, Carl ran towards him with a look that he was going to attack him. Jason reaches into his pocket, pulls out the pistol and without hesitation, fires a round in Carl’s chest.

  With a shot to the heart, this not only dropped Carl immediately but, it also killed him instantly. Jason put his foot on the hammer which is still in Carl’s hand and leaned over to check his vital signs; there was no vital signs. He did not know at the time, but, when he leaned over one of the playing cards he had in his pocket fell out and landed right next to Carl. It was the jack of hearts playing card.

  Chapter 5. Meeting Laura

  Without hesitation, Jason fled the scene thinking to himself what I have done? Saying it loudly over and over again. Should I call the police? Muttering to himself, it was self-defense, or was it? I sought out looking for this guy. If I did not do that, this would not have happened.

  He continues to think about the situation. Well is there anything that would tie me to the scene? Did anyone see me talking to him at the store? Were there any cameras outside at the convenience store? He drove by there slowly and did not see any cameras on the outside of the building. His mind was made up, he was not going to report this, and he was going just to move on.

  Jason spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday just replaying the situation in his mind. The situation is something he would usually not get involved with because he had his family's safety to protect. Later that night while Jason was watching the news, a segment came on appealing to the public to help solve the murder of a local handyman.

  Jason watched intensely, as he was unsure if anyone saw
him. The detective (Mark Timbers) stated that the only piece of evidence left on the scene was a playing card of the jack of hearts. Partial fingerprints did get extracted from the card but, as of now, they have no leads in the case.

  Jason did not know he had dropped the card and this somewhat worried him but, also thought it was pretty cool and said out loud "Haha, I am the Jackass Killer." Seeing this was good news for Jason as he knew that if the police had an idea of who committed the crime, they would not put it out on tv like that.

  Feeling vindicated Jason decides to go for a walk in the city. He remembers being able to do this every weekend with his wife and kids. As Jason was walking down the street, a young man approximately fifteen years old talking to a group of friends all in his age range gets his attention. What got Jason's attention was that the young man sounded like he was preaching. He decided to get closer and listen to the conversation.

  As Jason inched closer, he heard the young black man telling others “not to fall into the big city life trap. Be the person you want to be, not the person everyone expects you to be. If you have a drug-dealing friend who is making it, rest assured he will either be caught by the police or killed by a rival gang member.” The young man finished off by saying follow your dreams, and God will help you along the way.

  The kids walked away, and Jason introduced himself, and asked what his name was?

  The young man said “My name is Tyrell Benson.”

  Jason replied by saying “you are doing a good thing for others. Most young kids will not listen to elders when they preach goodness. They just might listen to you. It only takes one life saved or changed to make it all worthwhile. Keep it up, kid.”

  Jason continued walking down the street, glancing into an Irish restaurant where he noticed a woman working inside. She also noticed him and smiled back at him. He decided to stop there for a drink and some food. Jason made sure to sit at a table where she would be helping him. As she approached his table, she introduced herself as Laura, and Jason then introduced himself.

  As he watched her with others, he notices Laura as an attractive brunette. With shoulder length brown hair that is silky smooth. Although she has a thin frame, her body was proportioned nicely. She also has a little bit of spunk in her as she can take some harassment from her co-workers and give it back as well with a smile.

  As soon as the restaurant started to slow down, Laura sat next to Jason and said: "So what's your story? I can tell something has you down, but at the same time, you are very polite and well mannered?” She is interested in seeing what is bothering Jason. Feeling talkative he proceeds to give her a brief explanation of what recently happened to his family. You can tell by her facial reactions; she had genuine sympathy for this man. Laura told Jason that she would love to talk to him more about things and that she got off in an hour if he wanted to come back. Jason acknowledged with a smile and said he would be back.

  Arriving back at the restaurant with his car about five minutes before Laura gets off. He parks right out front and gets out of the car. He just sits there leaning on the car waiting for her. Once finished, she walks out with a huge smile and says “let's go to get some coffee.” Pointing down the street at a neighborhood coffee shop and the two walk down the street.

  After about an hour of talking, laughing, and getting to know each other. The two decide to exchange phone numbers. She gives him a peck on the cheek and says to call her.

  Jason smiles and gives her a hug saying “Goodbye, I will call soon.”

  A few days pass, and Jason decides he wants to contact Laura. He texts to see when a good time to call would be. Laura replied stating she was getting off work early that night and that he should swing by the restaurant around 9 p.m., to pick her up. Jason responds to her text stating that he will be there. Jason arrives at the time she was getting off but, Laura was not outside.

  He goes in to see if she was still in there and walked into her manager (who was drunk) yelling at her. It seemed like he was yelling at her because she would not stay with him. As soon as the manager noticed Jason, he stopped screaming and went into the back. As she came over with a weak smile, Jason asked if everything was ok? She said that everything was fine and that she would be right out after she got changed.

  When she came out of the door, Jason's jaw nearly hit the floor. She was in a skin-tight mini-skirt and wearing a silk top where you can see right through. Trying to keep his eyes on her face, Jason asked “where do you want to go?”

  She says “I have wanted to go this place down the street all week. I like the band they have there tonight.”

  The two walk over to the club and she grabs his hand as they walk in. You can tell she had forgotten about the altercation at work already as she was very playful, dancing around with Jason, and rubbing all over him. Laura finally coaxes him to the dance floor when a slow song comes on. The two hold each other tightly, they were staring deeply into each other's eyes and temptation does not take long for them to succumb to each other. A long soft kiss was unavoidable, and it changed the mood for both.

  The song ends, and they saunter back to their table. You can tell, that if they could, their clothes would already be off. They order one more drink but, are unable to keep their hands off of each other, kissing and rubbing. This last drink for both of them seemed to disappear within minutes as they are anticipating the inevitable.

  As they arrive at Jason’s house, he picks her up with both arms, to carry her up the steps. After entering the residence, Jason puts Laura down for just enough time for each to take their clothes off. While kissing, he reaches around her, places his hands just under her butt and lifts her up. She wraps her legs around his body, and this is where Jason first penetrates.

  Sauntering back to the bedroom in the same position, unable to separate their lips from one another. Once the bedroom was reached, neither will emerge from there until the next morning.

  After a great night together, the two are not able to talk much as Jason does have to go to work. They share a shower, coffee, and some toast for breakfast before going their separate ways. As they left the house, Jason asked if he would see her this weekend and she replied: “Most definitely.”

  Chapter 6. The Drive By

  After a typical day in retail, which can be somewhat debilitating having to deal with the public, a few of the guys decide to get a few beers and some chow at a local restaurant. Not intended to be an ordinary outing for the guys of being loud, obnoxious, and just plain old crazy. It was just a few guys wanting to get Jason out to make sure he is ok. After a few laughs and some reminiscing of fun with the guys, and Jason’s late wife Julia, everyone must head home to their families.

  As they were paying for the bill, Jason has to make a pit stop and heads towards the restroom. Walking down an aisle full of tables you could not help but notice a couple arguing and getting a little loud. Jason keeps his eyes straight ahead trying not to get involved but, right as he was passing the table of the arguing couple, the guy gets up from the table and bumps into Jason nearly knocking him over.

  Jason looks to the man and apologizes even though it was not his fault. The guy lifts his hand, points his finger towards Jason’s face, saying that this is none of your business and you best go on about your way. Although, he wanted to get involved and felt like punching the guy in the face. Jason thought better of it and just moved on his way to the back where the restroom is located. On the way out of the restroom, he avoided that table by walking over to a different aisle.

  Meeting back up with his friends, they all say their final goodbyes and head about their way. Jason parked on the side of the building, and as he was crossing the driveway to get to his car, he sensed another vehicle coming from his right but, felt it was far enough away for him to cross. He was halfway across the road and heard the car start to speed up as if the vehicle was trying to hit him.

  Jason looks to see if it was one of his friends messing with him but, it was not. It turned out to be the guy t
hat was arguing at the table when he was going to the bathroom. The driver was coming fast, and it looked like he just wanted to scare Jason. Jason yells at the driver as he approached

  “To slow the heck down.”

  Right at this time is when Jason realized it was the guy from inside. It seems a reaction is what the driver was looking for, he slammed the brakes, got out of the car and yelled back at Jason to get the hell out of the road.

  Jason was not about to let this go, as he did inside the restaurant. He started to approach the driver saying; “Apparently, you have a problem with me?” He answers his question himself and says “Now you do have a problem.”

  The driver takes a wild swing at him as soon as he got close enough. Jason grabs him by the hair and begins to pummel the driver with some intense blows. With his long arms, the driver's punches cannot reach Jason. After a series of devastating blows, the driver had enough and collapsed.

  Jason, furious over this guys actions, having trouble understanding why this escalated this far. He just doesn’t understand why people are the way they are. Before, when Jason had a family to care for, people like this would have just been avoided and forgotten. Now, that he does not have a care in the world, people like this can be dealt with accordingly.