by Lila Felix
Ruben was hollering, cursing and throwing the bat he had in his hand toward the car. He was too far behind us to catch up, and it hit with a gentle thump on the street before it went rolling away into the muck lined gutter. He was furious, his face an unhealthy scarlet, while he was drenched with sweat dripping down his light blue button up shirt from the chase he’d given.
Not bad for an out of shape swindler. The sweat stains down the front and on the sides of the blue material made me smirk at him as he slowed down, his hands on his knees as he desperately tried to catch his breath, retching out his lunch instead. His slight potbelly was in the way, the one too many Philly-steak sandwiches he loved so much were doing a number on him right now. I laughed and turned back to the road, giggling to myself as his yells faded and his robust figure disappeared in the kicked up dust cloud swirling around behind us.
“Yeah!” I couldn’t contain my glee. Damn bastard could eat our dust.
“Did you get it?” Audrey’s voice brought me back to the car, shushing my laugh as I watched her face, steady and still. Her hazel eyes focused on the street as she slowed just enough to make the turn onto the highway. The sunset made her eyes glow, like embers flickering against the sun’s last rays. Her face hid the concern that had probably eaten at her while she had waited for me as I conned Ruben out of his money stash. It was now smoothing over with relief, though caution still etched itself across her pretty, youthful face, making her look even younger than she was.
“Yep, got the whole darn thing. Ruben’s shitting bricks now!” I let out my breath, sucking in a deep slow one, still trying to catch my breath from the sprint for my life I had just done.
She nodded. “Good.”
I was the younger one. At nineteen, I’d lived my life recklessly, yet Audrey, at twenty, was decades more mature than I was. She was the well versed one, the one that was always praised by teachers and got the good grades. Me−I was the letdown, the one that never got it right. I was okay with that though. I loved her with every fiber of my being, and I looked up to her, hoping one day my wild streak would fade down and I’d become more like her. She was the good girl. I was the bad one. We balanced each other like a yin and yang. That was the way I liked it. I had hoped it was enough for her too, at least for now.
“Oh, I accidentally set his place on fire too,” I mumbled.
“You what?” Audrey chanced a wide-eyed glance toward me before shifting her shocked face back to the road. The wagon bounced on its worn-down shocks as we jumped over the incline onto the highway, headed toward San Diego. Arizona’s arid desert had shriveled us up, and it was high time we headed to the humidity of the west coast beaches.
“Hey, I ran into his stupid candle set up. He had them all lit up. You know how much he just loves his potpourri and incense. The place smelled like some apple pie convention. Any man who likes candles that much has got to have something wrong with him,” I snickered. Pulling the worn canvas bag onto my lap from the floor where I had dropped it. I yanked at the strings that held the opening shut. Reaching in, I plucked out one of the many thick rolls of bills, squealing from excitement. I’d hit the jackpot. Discovering the safe Ruben kept haphazardly hidden in his apartment was unsecured, he’d made it too easy to rob him blind. The lock was broken from a previous robbery, and he’d neglected to get it fixed but still kept on using the darn thing. Not too smart there, if you ask me. His loss.
“How much do you think was in there?” Audrey asked. Her knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. I was sure she was having a small heart attack even now, being so used to my crazy antics. It wasn’t until we hit the city limits of Flagstaff that she even began to relax. However, the tension in her jaw was still there, making her grind her teeth back and forth, a habit I repeatedly reminded her not to do.
“I don’t know…looks like mostly hundreds and twenties. I think there has to be at least ten…maybe fifteen thousand here.” I smiled, stuffing the bills back into the bag and tucking it under my seat. I slipped down into the soft, worn half-leather, half-weaved canvas seat, which felt more like home to me than any other place had for a long time. It sighed under my weight as I brought my legs up onto the dashboard.
“That’s a chunk of cash you managed to snatch.” Audrey didn’t look my way, but I knew that secretly, she was happy it was a good wad of money. We needed it, badly. Life as a singing duo didn’t always pay the bills on time.
The dusty windows let the last bit of the day’s light through, sending the colors turning into orange and red. The part desert, part forest around us was sparse and filled the horizon with a vastness of endless canyon road and desert land. I loved it with every fiber of my being. Travelling was an acquired taste, and we’d done our fair share and then some of that lately.
I wouldn’t trade any minute of this away for anything else.
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Epilogue
