The Pike_Right To Remain Silent

by Erik Schubach

  She looked so unsure of herself. I took her in again, really examining her. Her thick eyeliner I suspected was anything but, now that I looked at her perfect lashes, they had to be falsies. I had to stop myself from reaching out to caress the smooth skin on her head. It was kind of hot. I paused. “An autoimmune disorder?”

  Before I could voice my concern, she shook her head, still refusing to look up at me. “No, my health is fine, my immune system just has some sort of short circuit and attacks my hair follicles.”

  I said in relief, “That's good.” I realized I truly was relieved. I smiled a little as I looked her over again. Ah, fuck it. I reached out and caressed her head when she didn't pull back. It was smooth as silk and so very warm.

  She whipped her head up to look at me, eyes wide in surprise and confusion. I shrugged and said while squinting one eye, “I think it's kind of sexy.”

  I couldn't read her expression, but she didn't move back. I brushed the backs of my fingertips along her head and ran them down her neck, seeing gooseflesh racing along her skin, and took a chance. I leaned down, and her eyes widened again as I gave her a whispering kiss on the lips. My pulse was racing, and heat was rising from inside.

  She blinked and blushed, and I smiled smugly. Well, would you look at that? I finally shut her up. I turned and started toward the door, leaving her standing there. “See you tomorrow, Maddie.”

  I closed my eyes and berated myself as I got into Courtney. I'm possibly the most awkward person on the planet. Why the hell did I kiss her? I glanced up from where I was staring at my hands on the steering wheel and saw her holding onto the edge of the door as she watched me.

  I started the truck and started backing out, my headlights illuminating the woman I found even more fascinating now. Just great, I'm infatuated with her. Conflict of interest much? Belying my inner conflict, I found myself smiling hugely as she waved bashfully from her hip. I waved back and headed west, away from Sunset Hill.

  My smile grew as I drove when I realized that Maddie had not pulled back when I kissed her. I was most of the way home when I thought of something I meant to follow up on. When I pulled into the carport of my apartment complex, I pulled out my laptop and requested the files on the other recent robberies and other corresponding calls that occurred around the same time in the Market.

  I almost skipped up the covered stairs to my third-floor apartment. I had burned the afternoon, and part of my evening helping Madelyn and didn't regret a moment of it. Even if I blew it, I got to meet Sparkplug Laurey, win-win.

  I hung my head and smiled at myself as I muttered, “And you volunteered your day off to attempt something you don't even know if you can do... idiot.”

  I hesitated at a thought and exhaled at my less than smooth moves, looked at her information on my notepad. I dialed her number as I stripped out of my uniform to don a pair of sweat pants and a fresh tank top to sleep in.

  She answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

  I blushed and said in embarrassment, “Hi, it's O'Brien. I forgot to ask when you headed off to Pike Place in the morning, I assume it is before opening bell? I'll need to get into your garage to work on the wheel.”

  She hesitated then she responded in that sarcastic tone I was really liking from her, “Well you'd have known if you hadn't just kissed me and ran off like a coward.”

  I heard Johnny in the background asking almost angrily, “She did what?”

  She covered the phone, but I heard her growling out, “Shut up, sit down, and watch TV or something.” Then she was back. “I take off at eight to make sure I'm set up for the opening bell.”

  I said cockily, “Got it, see you before then.” Then I hung up before she could slip in a last word. Ha!

  I slid into my couch and turned on the TV I had sitting on the top of an old moving box. I looked around my spartan living room, with all the boxes of my things still packed away in them from my move a few months back. I really needed to get some furniture or something.

  Hey, I have my bed and my couch, what more does a girl need? The SPD was my home now.

  My phone started ringing, I stared at it for a moment. Madelyn Stone showed up on the caller ID, and I shook my head, of course calling her gave her my number. I answered, “Yeeeeees?”

  She sounded amused. “You've really done enough, you don't have to. But thank you for today, it kept my mind off the robbery. Now go to bed.” She hung up.

  I smirked and dialed back, she answered without a word, and I said tongue in cheek, “Says you,” and hung up.

  I chuckled in triumph as I got some Rocky Road ice cream from the freezer, and a spoon. Then sat down and ignored the ringing phone. I muttered to the device, “Ha, last word.”

  Then it stopped ringing and buzzed at an incoming text from her, “Yes, I did. Just now. You were sitting right there on the line when I said it.”

  The woman was beyond funny, and I absently wondered about her saying she couldn't grow any body hair. Did that mean... everywhere? I smiled at myself, I'm such a pervert. Then licked some ice cream off the spoon and settled in for Jeopardy and the news.

  I blurted out, “What is Argentina?” to the television, as I grabbed my cell and texted an emoji sticking its tongue out to Madelyn.

  ***

  I found myself in a good mood as I pulled into Maddie's the next morning at seven. She was sitting on the bottom stair-like she was waiting for me.

  She smiled as I hopped out of the truck and walked toward her. Was she checking me out? She nodded and said, “Jeans, I approve.”

  I was distracted by the red hair under the hybrid cavalier style hat she wore, good lord, red hair on Maddie was... I swallowed. Wait, had she worn the red wig for me? I blinked as I attempted not to drool. Say something idiot. “You do, do you?”

  She ignored my grin and held up her cell. “Always have to have the last word, don't you?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  She cocked an eyebrow that was expertly drawn in red this time to match the hair. “See?”

  I grinned as sat next to her bumping her over a bit. Our legs were touching, and I could feel the warmth of her seeping into me, a contrast to the crisp morning air. “Pot and kettle, Mads, pot, and kettle.”

  She chuckled and stood, and reached out to grab my hands to pull me toward the garage door. “We could be at this all day, Dani.” She hesitated half way to the door to lace her fingers in mine, that bashful look on her face that did all sorts of things to me, including chasing away the chill of the air. She got a half smirk as she stared at my left hand in hers. Ok, now I was blushing.

  Before I could comment or form a coherent sentence, she pulled me into the garage and released me to flick on the lights. I glanced around, and my heart sank when I saw a fresh sheet of fabric with the beginnings of another piece of artwork hanging on the line where the mural had been. She must have been testing more dyes last night.

  It almost physically hurt, knowing she was just going to tear it into strips like it was nothing but scrap, and that impossible piece of art would be lost to the world. She followed my eyes and then moved quickly over to her favorite spot by her sketchpad and retrieved a bundle of fabric.

  She stepped over and offered it to me without making eye contact, saying. “I don't have any way to repay you for what you're doing for us. You liked this, Dani, take it.”

  I looked down at the fabric and unrolled it a bit, and the smile that grew on my face threatened to split it wide open. It was the mural. I shook my head. “No, Maddie, this is a work of art, I couldn't.”

  She finally locked eyes with me, her hazel eyes threatened to swallow me whole as she crossed her arms expectantly. I didn't know what to say I nodded then leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

  She looked far too pleased with herself, and the blush on her cheeks looked divine as she said smugly, “Good. I didn't want to have to get grumpy with you.”

  I chuckled and sauntered. “Oh dear lord, anything but be
ing mauled by a little koala bear.”

  She narrowed one eye and shook her head. “You are such an odd woman. A koala bear? Really? I don't even know how to take that.”

  I defended my observation. “What? Koala bears are cuter than kittens. I mean, they aren't really bears, but marsupials like a kangaroo, and carry their young in a pouch. And they are fuzzy. How can anything get much cuter?”

  She was now staring down at her wringing hands as she ground her heel on the floor. I closed my eyes. I chastised myself internally realizing I was harping about how cute she was. Just shut up now, Danielle. Fix it, now.

  I looked around, I wasn't used to being so unsure of myself. I felt out of control when I was around her, when I was so used to structure and uniformity in my life. Managing every moment of my day. I stepped up to her and lifted a hand hesitantly, then cupped her cheek. She stiffened and then leaned into it, closing her eyes.

  I said just above a whisper, “Sorry. I babble when I'm nervous.”

  She just nodded into my hand then opened her eyes and looked up at me. I couldn't decipher the look, but it just beckoned to me, and I leaned down and gave her a ghost of a kiss on the lips. Then straightened and walked away toward the wagon wheels with a smirk on my face as she called out, “You did it again! You kissed me then walked away. I don't know how to process that.”

  I said as I heard her hustling after me, “Not my problem.”

  I turned back to her just to find her right there. She reached up and pulled me down to her lips with a hand on the back of my neck. Someone had turned the temperature in the garage up about a thousand degrees, and my arousal spiked to an almost painful level as I melted into the kiss.

  Then she turned as was gone, heading toward the door. I squeaked out in a gasp, “Hey.”

  She chuckled and peeked back around the edge of the door and said with a purr, “Now you know what its like... cop.”

  She... I... but...

  Then I slowly smiled as I reached up to touch my lips. I could still taste her on them. I spun in place, hope in my heart. And started looking at the broken wheel. I glanced up and snorted when I saw her cart. True to her word, she had a fabric skirt attached to the base of the cart, hiding the monstrosity I had concocted beneath it.

  I went about examining the hub closely then the loose spoke. I saw how the pegs slotted into each spoke and then balked. If I was seeing it right, then all the spokes had to be fitted together simultaneously. I had to disassemble the entire thing to fix it. But then how did the spokes slide into the outer rim, what was it called? A felloes? I saw the seams of the sections and sighed. I sure as hell bit off more than I could chew.

  I absently wondered if it would have been easier for me to just purchase a new wheel for her. Like I had an extra four hundred or so just sitting around. I'm still catching up on my own finances after my own move. I'm in better shape than Mads and Johnny, but I'm not in that great of shape yet.

  I shook the thought out of my head and exhaled. I loved working with my hands, and this whole entire thing was like a grand adventure for me... with a sharp-tongued princess at the end of the journey.

  So, how to begin? I grinned at myself and pulled out my cell. Well, I guess now was as good a time as any to learn another semi-useless skill. Then I went about Googling how to build a wagon wheel and went about some video learning.

  I got totally engrossed in watching the fascinating process and was startled by the door opening. I exhaled and glanced over to see Johnny stepping through the side door, glaring at me, and a certain lady with her red hair of the day right behind him.

  She smiled at me and hit the button to raise the garage door by their truck. I started moving over when Johnny dropped the tailgate, and they started pulling boards out of the bed to lay down as a makeshift ramp. He held a stopping hand out. “We got this.”

  Madelyn growled out, “Johnny, be civil.” Then she looked over at me as he grabbed the handles on the cart and started pushing it up the ramps to settle the cart into the bed of the truck and tied it down with a rope. She said, “Sorry about that. Boxcar has no tact sometimes.”

  I waved it off and asked, “Boxcar? You called him that last night too.”

  He snapped out a warning, “Maddie!”

  But undeterred, she took a step closer and confided in me to the man's displeasure. “Well before CPS spirited us away from our junky of a mother, John was eight then, I was five. He had this grand plan that he was going to run away and live a life free of the drama of our house.”

  She looked sort of sad at that, and Johnny just jumped into the driver's seat of the truck to try to rush her by starting it.

  I hadn't known her mother was a junky, she didn't talk much about her youth the prior night.

  Then she glanced at him, love in her eyes, but with a mischievous look that I saw in all siblings. It must be a universal trait. “He had packed everything he would need into his school backpack. I was pretty scared that he was going to leave me, I wasn't as brave as him. When I asked where he'd live, he said he'd live in a boxcar, like the hobos we saw in the cartoons. I was bawling when he snuck out.”

  Then she smirked toward the truck, and he revved the engine to drown her out, the truck burping out blueish grey smoke as it burned oil.

  She spoke louder to be heard over the truck, with a smile now, “I waved at him as he left. I was so scared I'd never see him again. Until I saw him again. We waved at each other when he passed the house. Then again, and again, and again, until mom got back from wherever she had scored some drugs and yelled at him to get back in the house.”

  I was confused, and she made a circling motion with her finger. “You see, we weren't allowed to cross the street alone. So he had just circled the block endlessly, his dreams of roaming the country in a boxcar, free of mom, dashed by one of the only rules our mother had to protect us. And he was terrified of breaking any of her rules. She'd lock us in our rooms without dinner if we broke a rule.”

  I was torn as she shrugged a shoulder at the story, and started playing with her hands nervously. On the one hand, it was heartbreaking, on the other, it was pretty funny. I could see John circling the block and waving each time he passed the house, Maddie's face pressed against the window.

  Johnny stopped revving the truck. “If you're done embarrassing me, you're going to be late for opening bell if we don't get moving.”

  She waved him off then she stepped up to me into my personal space and looked up bashfully. I couldn't help but smile. She looked up with hopeful eyes. “Thank you so much for this. You're a lifesaver, Dani.” Then she leaned up and brought her lips just an inch from mine, I could feel the heat radiating off of her, and I went to close the gap, but she just spun away and actually skipped to the truck.

  I just stood there in my aborted arousal and blurted out, “You tease!”

  She giggled and shot me a smile that I would throw myself in front of a runaway train for as she opened the passenger door. Then she looked down a bit, keeping her eyes on me. “See you tonight?”

  I sighed and nodded, I'm sure I'd be there on all my off hours for some time if the wagon wheel were as complex as the ones in the tutorials. What had I gotten myself into? This just brought her smile back with a vengeance. I took a step toward the truck, then called out through the open driver's side window, “Drive safe.”

  Johnny held a middle finger out the window and swirled it around as he said, “Have a day... cop.”

  I had to chuckle at his bitterness. I don't know why he has such a hate on for me, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one who got him to shoplift and get caught. But that's how it goes a lot of the time, someone does something stupid, then doesn't want to take responsibility.

  The only thing that made this a little darker was the fact that statistically, the preponderance of those who break the law, will do so again, and a good portion of those keep escalating for the thrill. I prayed John wasn't one of those, Maddie didn't deserve that. She was already taking his
trespasses onto her own shoulders.

  The garage door closed, and then it was silent. I had always been ok with being alone, but the garage seemed extremely empty suddenly. I hugged my shoulders then went back to work, watching videos as I pried the steel ring off the wheel. It was good that a spoke was out, otherwise I would have had to cut it off. They used heat expansion of the metal just to get them on.

  By noon I had the wheel torn completely apart, I was amazed at how complex something I thought was simple, really was. But I was having a blast. This was something new, and I loved learning new skills, almost as much as I loved walking my beat, keeping the community in the Market safe, or reading.

  I thought about heading out for lunch, but my eyes stopped on the lawnmower as I moved to the side door. I looked back at my project then exhaled and grinned at myself. Break time.

  I wheeled the lawnmower out and after a couple tugs on the starter, was trimming the lawn of one of my childhood heroes. Dad and the guys always talked Sparkplug up like he was a mechanical wizard. I don't know how many stories I heard about his exploits and even some misadventures where he got caught weighting the trunks of some stock cars and the like.

  I was just finishing up when Mr. Laurey stepped out onto the front porch with a tray, and he sat in one of the big wicker chairs beside a little wicker table. I wiped the sweat from my brow as I saw he had two glasses on that tray. God bless the man. I smiled, and he waved, and I put the mower away then stepped out to join him on the porch.

  The old guy held up his glass which had condensation beading up on it, promising something cold. “Lemonade, you look like you could use it.”

  I nodded and accepted the other glass and took a deep drink. It was sweet and tart, with a decent pucker power to it. Perfect.

  I nodded my thanks, and he motioned to the other chair, and I sat and just sank into it, taking a load off my feet, as he said in a sly tone, “Much obliged. I'm not as spry as I once was and I dread the lawn now. I keep thinking it would be easier just to pave over the whole damn thing.”