The Inn

by D. R. Mather

  “Oh, nothing much, my entire family was murdered in my kids’ bedroom. My wife, the twins she was carrying, my son and daughter – you know, the usual stuff.”

  “SHIT, I had no idea. I’m so sorry Kevin, you were good at your job, and you were a good man for as much as I knew you, you even showed it again today. I saw how you weren’t going to take ’leave it as it is’ for an answer. I also noticed you were the only one bringing up the possibility of people being killed. None of those guys gave a shit about that. Kevin, please take it, please, for me.”

  Kevin took it and shook the engineer’s hand, “Thank you so very much.” He turned and left.

  The engineer stood there watching as Kevin left the site. “What a fucking waste,” he said and then headed back into the building.

  Kevin pulled into a restaurant parking lot and sat there. He took the money out of his pocket and counted it; seven hundred and forty three dollars. He leaned onto his steering wheel and cried for the better part of an hour. He had a total now, after the day’s labor, of over eight hundred and ninety bucks. Kevin checked himself over and decided he was not quite looking nice enough to eat inside the restaurant, so he got out and ordered some food to go. After he ate in his van, he drove off to the local chain store and bought an air mattress for the van. Until then, he was sleeping on a carpet he’d put on the floor of the van a few years ago. Carpet over steel didn’t do a lot, Kevin could attest to that. He found a nice place in a camping ground area and set up camp. It cost him forty bucks for the night, but it had a water connection and it came with a complimentary stack of fire wood for the pit. There was a public bathroom just a minute walk from the site, so that worked out fine as well.

  Kevin was setting up and putting some of the wood in the pit. He looked around and found some dry small wood around the many pine trees too. He could use that to get it started. Then he went for something that was no longer there. Kevin stood there and tried to think, ’Exactly when did I give up smoking?’ He realized for the first time that he couldn’t even remember when he last had a cigarette. Months ago? He really didn’t remember.

  “Shit, no lighter,” Kevin’s cigarettes and lighter always had their very own home, in his shirt pocket. Now it was gone, who knows where? He searched the van, hoping to find an old lighter, but nothing turned up.

  “Well double shit.” He headed over to the next site to see about some matches and found a nice young couple sitting along their own fire. “I’m sorry to bother you but I seem to be out of matches, could you maybe help?”

  The young lady waved a cute little finger wave at Kevin and he waved back. She had a pretty smile.

  The man jumped up and said, “I can do better than a match.” He reached into the edge of the fire and took out a nicely burning, foot and a half long stick, “Here you go man, enjoy the beautiful night!”

  “Thanks so much to both of you.”

  “You’re most welcome sir,” the young lady said. Kevin did something he hadn’t done in a very long time; he smiled at them.

  As he walked back to his site he only had one thought, ‘She looks like a young Mary.’

  The fire was burning bright an hour later and Kevin was sitting on the ground as he didn’t have a chair. Next to him sat an as yet unopened bottle of whiskey. He fought the urge tonight even though he didn’t know why he should. Maybe something told him from deep inside that he had got it with the men’s hard earned money. Funny, he’d never thought that before. Why now?

  Another two hours later and the fire had burned down, it was mostly embers now, and the bottle was still sealed. Kevin finally seceded to get some sleep, the whiskey would be there in the morning, and he could actually be happy to know he still had a full bottle for tomorrow. Kevin didn’t know that the bottle of whiskey would never be opened by him.

  He jumped in the van and headed to the back, laid down and just let his mind wander. As Kevin started to drift off to sleep he thought he smelt mint…

  Kevin sat up in his motel bed. He hated that dream, and it was full of everything that was wrong with this world and maybe a bit of what could be good. It left him bitter, lost and lonely in his heart. His thoughts changed quickly to Judy, which made it all go away. Kevin looked at his watch on the bedside table.

  “Na, 4 a.m. is a little too soon to call.”

  He got up and did his morning ritual: peeing, shaving (YUCK), teeth brushing and shower. An hour later and Kevin was sitting in a chair. He had nothing to do, he was waiting for instructions. At six on the dot, he dialed the Inn. Kevin half expected it, Judy answered; she had been answering for the past two days when Kevin called.

  “Hello, Colburn Inn, may I help you?”

  “Hi sexy, want to do that pants thing to me again?”

  “KEVIN!!!!!”

  “Hi honey pie, how are you holding up?”

  “Oh, you know, hanging in there.”

  Kevin remembered his dream, “We all say that don’t we, until we are in fact NOT hanging in there, then no one seems to notice. Do you know just how much I love you Judy?”

  “Aha, I do, and do you know how much I love you too?”

  Kevin smiled. Hearing that warmed him to his core, “Yes I do know baby.”

  Most of the phone call got rather personal after that. By the time they’d gone and heated themselves up to roaring fire level, Kevin realized this wasn’t the time.

  “Okay honey, we have to cool it a bit for now okay?”

  “Oh poop,” said Judy.

  ”You’re the best honey,” laughed Kevin. “Listen, is Cindy around?”

  “I believe she’s out shoveling with everyone. We got a nice big storm out here last night, did you know?”

  “Yes honey, I did. I was watching the TV here and saw the forecast for your area on the national weather report. Hey, Cindy isn’t shoveling is she?”

  “Oh god no, she’s playing boss though. She got a nice shovel full from Roland about a half hour ago, everyone was having a blast in the snow. They are ‘supposed’ to be doing walk ways and up against the garage. I wish you were here for it.”

  “But honey, I found out you don’t like snow shoved down your back, remember?”

  “Kevin, if you were here now I’d take my shirt off and let you rub it all over me,” Judy was giggling now.

  “Oh lord kiddo, I’m pretty sure you’d change your mind and right quick too. Listen, did the special delivery show up yet?”

  “Ah, nope, but Will says he got a call last night. The ‘special package’ as you call it, should be here sometime today. Are you gonna tell your Judy pie what it is?”

  Kevin snickered, “Nope, only Will has any idea, and his lips are sealed. You’re just gonna have to find out with the rest of them. Honey, remember, don’t get too excited now, and tell everyone except Cindy and Roland not to as well, this is a special ‘Cindy and Roland’ thing, okay?”

  “Oh sure, no problem, but can’t I get excited for them?”

  “Of course you can baby, all you want to. Light up that ball of fire for both of them if you feel the need. I know for a fact they won’t mind.” Judy was giggling again, so Kevin continued, “I’m so glad to hear you giggling, that’s the Judy I fell in love with.”

  Judy suddenly stopped being silly. “Kevin, when are you coming home?”

  “I’m not sure honey. I’m sitting here with nothing to do right now. I’m waiting for instructions, that’s about it. If it doesn’t come in the next half hour, I’m going to a little diner down the road to eat breakfast.”

  Judy was a lot more somber now. “Well I think they know what they’re doing, just please, PLEASE be safe for me okay?”

  “I will honey. I love you so much. Bye-bye baby.”

  “Bye-bye my love,” and she hung up, walked over into the living room and sat. She began to think about Kevin then moved on to think about her past.

  This was all so new to Judy; she’d never really been in love before. She was sent to snob schools which she’d absolu
tely hated for the entire twelve years. She was a girl with an amazing personality, yet she’d mostly kept to herself during that time. She’d had a few friends, but it was easy for them to leave Judy behind when it was ‘fun’ time. Judy was an embarrassment to her parents. She would break out into these moods where she couldn’t sit still and was always dancing around a room or telling jokes to the visitors at her parents’ mansion. Her mother and father were never going to get accepted into high society with Judy acting like that. They eventually sent her to a school for gifted children, mostly because her test scores kept coming out VERY high. Judy actually bordered on genius through all of her testing. They just needed to get control of that ‘super Judy’ they had around the house. Her mother had long ago decided Judy was going to be a proper ‘lady’ even if she had to beat it into her. After all, Judy’s mother knew what young ladies of high society did; they sat quietly with their hands folded in their laps. Judy’s mother couldn’t get this thought out of her mind. The only problem they were having, was that Judy just couldn’t do that. Judy did her final years in high school inside the cold block walls of the ‘special school’ as she called it.

  After high school, Judy pretty much stayed at home. Her friends moved on to college, but Judy didn’t want to go. Her father made Judy do some of his company’s ‘special’ paperwork at home. He set up a small room with all the office things you might expect to see. As Judy began to work day after day, month after month, year after year, the brilliant flower that was her soul began to wilt. When Judy was twenty-five, she was having a particularly blue day when she heard some people talking down in the drawing room. Judy headed downstairs to see who was in the house. When she turned the corner into the drawing room she saw several men, her father and her mother. Her mother walked over to her and with a stern look of ‘behave yourself’ in her eyes, she introduced Judy to everyone.

  “Judy, this is Mr. so and so….and Mr. so and so…”

  Judy looked at the men and said, “Hi, yeah, I know those names daddy, these are the men who are on the board right?”

  “That’s right Judy, good memory.”

  “Well I should remember them. I’m the one who helped bury all that money they FUCKED the taxpayers out of!” She looked at each one of them and continued, “You’re all fucking pigs that should be sent to slaughter by the hard working taxpayers of this country!” Then Judy started to spit at them. He mother bolted to her, grabbed her, and then yanked her extremely hard, causing Judy to fall to the floor. Her father came over to her, lifted her up, brought her over to the stairs and threw her directly into them.

  “GET THE HELL UP TO YOU ROOM AND STAY THERE NOW!!”

  Judy picked herself up and climbed the steps, holding her ribs as she went.

  Two weeks later and the Morrison’s ‘Judy ‘problem was behind them, and Judy had set up residence at the Colburn Inn. It took over three years to get some of the old Judy back. Now it was all back, and everyone couldn’t be happier.

  ***

  Kevin decided to get breakfast. He found the diner down the street and had a seat at the counter. As he waited for his order, he began to wonder what Judy was talking about, “When have I done enough to be released from this hell? What did I do so bad in life that I should deserve to see all of this suffering?” As he ate his over-easy eggs and corned beef hash he suddenly stopped, fork half way to his mouth. “What, do I attract trouble?” He felt the man coming in from outside first, and then he saw him in his head. Not his actual face, but the best damn silhouette you could ever imagine; it might just as well have been a picture. He was walking into the diner right now. Kevin knew he was going to sit at the counter, they always did. He thought, ‘Christ, it should be part of basic police training by now. PERP WILL ALWAYS SIT AT COUNTER…etc…etc…maybe they can even have a print done of women screaming and pulling their children away as a man sitting at a lunch counter is in mid-swing, brandishing a gun. A poster from the fifties would be perfect.’

  Kevin felt the man. He was very nervous, he was not good at this, in fact, this was his first time. And just like that, Kevin got it all from the guy. Hard times, he was out of money, he hadn’t eaten in four days, lost his apartment; you name the problems. It drove him to this. Kevin glanced slyly to his left and the guy’s hand was in his coat.

  “Shit, he’s going to try a bluff. This guy isn’t even armed.”

  Kevin took out his wallet, opened it, and took out the cash, half expecting it to be enough to only cover his meal. He counted it out very close to himself, looked up at the ceiling and said softly, “Really?” He turned to the man on his left and placed his hand on the guy’s shoulder.

  “Hey pal, don’t do what I know you’re going to try. You didn’t scope the place out did you? There are two cops sitting in a booth over at the back.”

  The man turned slowly and saw the two cops talking in the booth. Kevin handed the man what was in his hand but kept one for himself. He stood and told the waitress, “This will more than cover me and whatever my friend here is getting.” He handed her a hundred dollar bill. “You keep the rest.”

  “WOW, really? Thank you so much!”

  Kevin smiled at the man and left. He felt a lot better than he did when he went in there. He got in his car and left.

  The man came out an hour later after stuffing himself with a good breakfast and walked to his car, climbed in and left, twenty-five thousand dollars richer. This one wasn’t Kevin’s call it seems; the Beings’ decided this one on their own.

  ***

  Kevin sat in his chair again, not knowing why he had to wait. He wasn’t close to getting pissed, but the edge was growing. He was about to have a cigarette when he smelled mint.

  “Hello Kevin.”

  “Hello back. That took forever now, didn’t it?”

  “I am sorry Kevin, we were distracted when we found out about your new friend, the one you just met at the diner, and we knew he was going to be killed by a cop with a rather itchy trigger finger. We couldn’t allow that to happen. That man will eventually have a son, his son is going to discover a cure for three types of common cancer in his lifetime.”

  “So why didn’t you just tell me yesterday? I could have gone and found him and settled this then.”

  “Contrary to what you may think my good friend, we can’t see everything; we knew very strongly that he was contemplating doing something, but we didn’t know what or if he would follow through. So you could say that because you were both in the same motel that we would let him decide before we intervened.”

  “Wait, he’s here now?”

  “No Kevin, he left to go get his ‘shit’ back together, as you would say.”

  ”So if that wasn’t the mission, what exactly is the mission?”

  The voice gave Kevin the information that he’d been waiting for, and the conversation ended.

  ’Finally,’ thought Kevin, ’some real work with the big boys, the REALLY big boys it seems.’

  Kevin pulled into the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse and drove up to a set of doors. For some reason, the ‘voice’ had told Kevin these particular doors. That was a first; they didn’t usually give directions on how to do a job, so why give them now? He was supposed to lie low and hide at all times until, and this was the really weird part, after three men had left. Then he had to do what he had to do. As Kevin entered, his mind began to wonder if someone had lost a few screws somewhere. Kevin came around a corner and heard people talking. There were at least four or five of them. He moved silently because he was also told not to count on his powers to help him much. As he got to another door, he peaked around the corner. He saw a big pile of wooden crates between him and the men, so he crawled over to them and listened.

  “How much each, man?”

  “Four grand a piece. Ammo will cost you more – two hundred a box.”

  “Shit, that’s highway robbery man! What about a discount for getting, say, thirty weapons?”

  The other man took hi
s partner over to a corner, talked the deal over, and then they walked back.

  “Tell you what, three grand a piece if you buy thirty, and same with the ammo, buy thirty boxes and I’ll do them at one fifty a box.”

  “My friend, you have yourself a deal.” The guy could be seen shaking the man’s hand.

  Kevin couldn’t tell who the weapons dealers went off to talk to though, all he could see of the buyers were their legs under a semi-truck. Now that they’d moved into the open, the two dealers were blocking the three men.

  “Mind if we take a look at the merchandise first man?”

  “Just a minute on that request son, not without our backs being watched.”

  The man made a call on a two-way he pulled from his coat pocket. One minute later, four men came in from another door far off to Kevin’s left. They had on vests and were armed with M-16s as well as full military battle gear. Kevin sank behind the boxes blocking his view and held his breath. He then breathed out and rose a tiny bit again so he could see. The two dealers went over to the two semis that were sitting side by side and each opened the back of a truck. Both trailers were stuffed solid with weapons and ammo.

  “Hey now, that’s what I’m talking about, yeah!”

  As the buyers moved under one of the lights, Kevin got his first view of them. He almost lost it then and there.

  Kevin slid down onto his ass and said, “SHIT, it can’t be.”

  He knew what he saw though. Stan, Mark and…… He got up, looked again, and then slid back down.

  “BENNY! It can’t be, I dispatched him!!!!” Kevin went back up and watched.