The Pike_Right To Remain Silent

by Erik Schubach

  His toothy grin belied his complaints, and I chided, “Feelin' obligated to do the grumpy old man routine?”

  He snorted. “I like you O'Brien, straight talk.”

  I chuckled at him and raised my glass, he raised his then we sat back to sip on our lemonade. He kept glancing sideways at me, and I sighed and set my glass down to turned my full attention to him. A smile quirked at the corner of his mouth.

  He was no addle minded senior, and he didn't bring out the lemonade to thank me. Something had him troubled. I waited patiently as he gathered his thoughts, then he cocked his head and then asked, “You like her?”

  I knew who 'her' was. I nodded carefully, and he chuckled once. “The world is certainly changing. We have to change along with it or be left behind on the starting line.”

  I muttered with a smile, “Dear Lord, I thought I got away from racing euphemisms when I moved out.”

  He gave me a toothy grin, then got a little serious as he reached into the pocket of his light jacket and tossed an envelope to me. “She's good people, and her brother is not a bad guy. Complete idiot, but a good kid.”

  He settled into his chair. “I knew the kids wouldn't make rent after hearing about the robbery. I'm fine with that, we've all hit rough patches, and I'm not hurting for the rent money... but Johnny gave me that this morning. Two month's rent in cash. That's more than he could make at the scrapyard.”

  He shrugged as I looked into the envelope to see a stack of bills. He said, “I don't know if he had cash stashed for emergencies, but I found it a little unsettling. The boy needs to steer clear of trouble.”

  I understood his concern, and I handed the envelope back to him and nodded once. “Let's hope he just had this stashed away like you said.”

  I was about to ask why he was bringing it up to me if he wasn't sure the cash was obtained illicitly, but I got it. I was a police officer, and I was showing interest in Johnny's sister. It had the potential to become an explosive situation. I wondered if I needed to ask Johnny a few questions then exhaled in exasperation. Come on, drop the cop, Dani. Then I offered, “Thanks for the heads up, Sparkplug.”

  He nodded, waving it away. “De nada.”

  Then he hopped up a little too spryly and clapped his hands together once and said, “Now then, let's take a look at your project to win over Maddie's heart.”

  I started to deny, “I'm not...” I trailed off and then pointed at him as he made his way down the steps, again more spryly than he was moving last night. “You're an evil old man. And playing it up. You're not as feeble as you want people to believe.”

  He shrugged and held the garage door open for me. “A man needs to have hobbies.” Then he stooped slightly and started moving slower, and I snorted.

  He shook his head at the parts I had laid out systematically, like an exploded view of the wheel and asked, “You know what you're doing here?”

  I chuckled and offered, “Not in the least.”

  His voice was full of humor as he said in resignation, “What we do for women.”

  That was a statement I could get behind. We were just a couple of fools. He picked up the offending spoke and examined the sheared off dowel. “I'm sure two grease monkeys can come up with something.”

  I nodded at him and grinned at the old coot, and we went to work boring out the dowel, and another one I inadvertently split when disassembling the wheel. I found myself chuckling when he said, “Worst case scenario, she can roll her cart around on that bastardized franken-frame you butchered together. Didn't little Jake teach you how to weld? It almost hurt looking at it.”

  I muttered, “Don't you need to go rub Ben Gay on something?”

  We shared a grin then got down to business.

  Chapter 7 – A New Start?

  As Johnny drove us to the Pike, I smiled over the fact that I was able to fluster Dani with my aborted kiss. I still couldn't believe I had kissed a cop. Three times. And I was reveling in the victory of my tease.

  She was helping me out for no apparent reason, and she didn't freak out when I... showed her. If anything, the look she gave me before she touched my head, had heated up the place.

  I shivered at the delicious memory of her caressing my head.

  She looked amazing in that tight shirt and jeans today. Was she trying to seduce me? If so, I hated myself a little, because it was working. I noticed my hand had absently drifted up to my lips as I thought about just how good her lips felt on mine. Eww, cop lips... I chuckled.

  John glanced over, apparently done giving me the silent treatment over befriending a police officer... with a cute butt. “What's so funny?”

  I dropped my hand and looked out over the city as we drove, “Oh, nothing. Just thinking.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “About your cop friend?”

  I exhaled and rolled my eyes at his snippy comment,. “Her name is Danielle, and no. Just about recent events.”

  I turned my full attention to him and asked, “I really think we can do this, Boxcar. I was worried by the robbery, a setback for sure, but now...” I looked back into the bed of the truck at my leaning cart and grinned. It was awkward, like she got whenever we were alone.

  I shrugged. “I'll talk with Mr. L tonight about paying him as soon as I can make up the loss. I have most of the rent.”

  His grip tightened on the wheel a bit, and he said without looking at me, “Don't worry about that. I brought the rent envelope down and made up the rest to square us up with him this morning.”

  I hesitated, he didn't get paid until the end of the week, and we would use that money for gas and food for the next couple weeks. There was a knot in the pit of my stomach as I asked carefully, “Where did you come up with the hundred and fifty dollars we were short?”

  He didn't look at me as I studied his face. He shrugged. “I got a bonus at the scrapyard for trucking the scrap brass to the recycling plant. Ten percent of the haul. I was going to use it to get us a television for your birthday. I figured it would serve us better by keeping us from being thrown out to the curb.”

  I paused a heartbeat then asked, “Bradley gives you bonuses for hauling?”

  He snapped sharply, “What? You think I stole the money?”

  I backpedaled quickly, my face burning in embarrassment. “No, I didn't say that. I was just surprised they'd do that at a junkyard.”

  He corrected, “Scrapyard. And he pays commission on any sales, and he sees recycling runs as sales since we use our own trucks for the hauling.”

  That... made a bit of sense. And it was generous of the owner to share profits with his crew.

  I felt like complete dirt. I was so used to the shady characters, like Mark and Jim, who he hung out with before. And I had started getting that bad vibe before he explained. I had to trust him, or I was no better than everyone we knew in Portland who looked at Johnny with distrust in their eyes. One mistake shouldn't erase all the good a person has done.

  I placed a hand on his arm and said, “I just want this new life here in Seattle to work out for us.” He nodded and glanced over, hurt in his eyes. Yup, that's me, grade A ball of shit.

  Then he smirked as he turned back to the road. “At least my eyelashes aren't on crooked.”

  What? And Dani had seen me like that? I quickly pulled down the sun visor and looked into the mirror there. My false lashes were perfectly in place, and I backhanded his shoulder. “Ass.”

  He laughed, and the sound of it washed away the cloud of misery I had induced in the cab of the truck, and I laughed with him. Brothers, what can ya do?

  As we pulled up alongside the Main Arcade of the Market to unload my cart, he screwed up his face. “I thought you hated your red wigs.”

  I shrugged and reached up to twist my fingers in the red hair. “I don't know, it's sort of growing on me.” Not to mention a certain hard body had mentioned red hair was her weakness. Oh dear lord, I had subconsciously picked this wig this morning for her, hadn't I? I was hopeless.

 
I was pulled back to the conversation as he said with a sly grin, “No it's not.”

  I parried as we got out and dropped the tailgate, “You're an ass.”

  He just grinned as I pulled the boards out as he hopped up to back the cart down the improvised ramp. “True statement of fact, it's better than being a...”

  I held a finger up. “Don't finish that sentence if you don't want to be walking funny all day, Boxcar.”

  He slid the boards back into the bed and closed the tailgate as he let out a familiar tease. “Whatever Magoo.” I was thirteen when I finally found out what that meant. He had been comparing me to this bald guy who was half blind in an old cartoon, Mr. Magoo.

  I gave him a wave and a smile as he hopped into our truck and waved out the window as he drove off to work. I smiled to myself. He picked up this job a couple days after we arrived in Seattle and I was proud of him.

  He's always been antsy, and this was the longest he had kept a job before moving on before. He was trying so hard here. I chuckled as I wondered if my brother had finally grown up.

  I pushed my cart past the fishmongers to where people were gathering for the opening bell ceremony. They always had new merchants or sometimes celebrities ring in the new day with a hand bell then the loud market bell would ring out afterwards. I kind of got addicted to it.

  I never got to ring the bell because buskers and mobile vendors like me were just considered transient to the market, and not a part of it. I still felt a part of the community here and had grown to love the people here at Pike Place, so I was here for the bell whenever I could be.

  I smiled and waved at Blythe as she walked past with her huge string bass. She was one of the buskers that were at the market every day. She told me that she was inspired by the story of Eliza Montrose in London, how she had wandered Europe, playing all the Jazz clubs as a traveling busker.

  She had decided to model herself after the wayward musician, but the day she landed in Pike Place to make a few bucks to make ends meet in her travels, she fell in love with the place and has been in Seattle for over two years now, playing the market. I had looked up Eliza Montrose and her inconceivable bass, Audrey, after that... and her story had blown me away. You could have worse heroes, and damn could her hero play.

  She waved back and set up on the corner under the clock of the Market Sign. Mobile vendors like me had to change locations every couple hours to give others a chance at some of the busier spots throughout the day. But buskers had to move on to another location in the market every hour.

  Blythe seemed to get the coveted prime location under the clock at the opening bell and noon almost every day. I didn't want to ask how the cute and scrappy girl managed that feat, maybe it was how her rich chocolate skin on her cheeks dimpled when she smiled.

  I exchanged nods of greeting to all the familiar faces. It felt so good that they were seeing me as a familiar face now as well. It was beginning to feel like home instead of feeling like I was in exile in a strange city because of my brother's mistake.

  I glanced over to some giggling I recognized, then smiled when I saw Eve from The Pike heading down the walk with two children who looked to be around eleven or twelve. I blinked, I hadn't pegged her for having kids. Zoey maybe since she had that big honking diamond ring on her finger. Eve seemed too... hyper I guess? To have settled down yet.

  She noticed me as they passed and pulled the giggling urchins to a halt. “Hey Madelyn, good to see you made it today. We were worried. Oh, and I adore that hat!” She glanced at my cart then tilted humorously to match its angle.

  They were worried? But they didn't even know me. I blushed a little and shrugged. “Officer O'Brien made a temporary fix for me while she repairs the wheel.”

  The girl looked as though she was going to spontaneously burst out in song and dance. And after my dealings with her the other day, I saw that as a distinct possibility. She looked as though she wanted to run around hugging kitties as she asked far too innocently, “Really? O'Brien is helping you out?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her, what was she up to? Before I could say anything, she reached back and pulled the two pre-teens up in front of her. They giggled at her antics as she said, “Madelyn, meet the twins, Maxine, and Teddy. My niece and nephew extraordinaire. They help us out on the weekends and when the stinkers aren't in school.”

  I nodded, that made more sense to me, especially since Maxine looked like a miniature version of Zoey, with that dark red hair instead of the lighter red of Eve's. They were both going to be heartbreakers when they grew up.

  Then she continued, “Snaklepusses, this is Madelyn. New-ish to the market.” She looked at Maxine. “You and I need to moth her cart at lunch. She has some amazing accessories we need to get a better look at. I've only drooled at them from afar.”

  I was just grinning at the rapport she had with the kids, and they seemed to adore her. I had a feeling she was the definition of the bad aunt, hopping the kids up on sugar at a carnival and returning them bouncing off the walls to her sister at the end of the day.

  I caught myself grinning at them and said, “I'm pleased to meet you both.”

  Teddy blushed a little and just nodded.

  Maxine just took on a playfully aristocratic air and offered a hand and said in a passable mock British accent, “Not at all, the pleasure is ours.” We shared a chuckle as I inclined my head and shook her hand. The kid was pretty silly and funny. That would serve her well as she grew up.

  Eve grabbed both of their hands and heaved, propelling them ahead of her on the walk as she walked backward and said to me, “We're like a couple hours late. Zoey is gonna kill us for missing morning prep and the early caffeinators... again.” Her grin couldn't possibly show more teeth, it was obvious that being late was no accident as she added, “We gotta get to the Pike. We'll hunt you down at lunch to peruse your wares.”

  Wares again? Are we living in a Bogart film and somebody forgot to tell me? I nodded and waved as she turned back to the twins, then she was calling out to a woman farther down the Arcade, walking with a cane toward the Post Street Alley buildings, “Hey, Sparky, wait up!”

  I turned back away when I heard the Market Committee chairwoman announcing the guest opener for the day, “Today we have with us, a local celebrity to ring the opening bell. The woman behind Cornfed Potatoes Studio, and the Heartsong Warriors film franchise, Babette Stevenson!”

  Oh sweet! I love those movies with a capital L. They are so sarcastic and irreverent, and leave you laughing until you feel sick. I didn't know Babette was a local. I watched as the chairwoman stepped aside and a cute curvy redhead stepped up looking embarrassed. She wore a tee that read, “Don't Blink” I had to snort. She was geeky to the core and that sort of fit with how I pictured her in my head.

  I loved that she wasn't a rail thin Barbie type you would expect from Hollywood. Instead, she had a healthy farm girl look to her, and just a little extra weight that gave her an air of warmth and approachability and a little extra oomph to her shy smile. That told me something about the woman that she was bashful like that instead of being cocksure of herself. It made her human to me.

  She got a sly smile on her face as she said, “Well, thanks, Caren.” She gave the crowd a little wave, and a silly forced grin. “Ummm... hi? Sorry, I don't have any words of wisdom or anything, Harvey from the fish market was supposed to ring in the day, and I was called last minute when he had to get to the hospital.”

  She smiled and shared, “His wife went into labor.” Then she squinted an eye accusingly. “Caren just had to call Crystal McKay for a favor, and I happen to owe Crystal a marker or two.” This got rippling laughter up and down the crowd of people around us, did I miss something? This is the second time I had heard about this Crystal woman, and people owing her favors. She shrugged. “So here I am.”

  The chairwoman started counting down from ten on her fingers, and Babbette bounced on her toes, blushed cutely and said, “Well, ummm... go see Heartsong Warrior
s Four, Dark Encore, next week in a theater near you?” She squinted one eye in mock pain. Then watched Caren finish the countdown and raise the hand bell over her head and rang it loud and clear with a huge smile. We all clapped and went into motion, vendors heading to their shops or tables and the loud electric bell rang out.

  The Market was open.

  I paused when I saw another woman taking Babette's hand and lead her away to an antique looking green car. The woman's brunette hair had stark white in it in jagged splotches, just like her face. That was like... no, it couldn't be. Was that... Amber LaLanie? She and Babette Stevenson? Well, they both were superstars in their own right, so maybe it was. And I didn't get an autograph. Sigh.

  I felt a smile blooming on my face as I rolled my cart toward the Triangle Building. I wanted to set up near the Pike. I drew a pretty good crowd, mostly women, with my scarves and hats. The shirts were more for the men and boys that the ladies dragged along. Maybe I could help draw more foot traffic for the Pike, not that they needed it as they were always busy. I just felt I owed the sisters for some reason.

  I unlocked the flaps on the four sides of the cart and swung them up and propped them open with their poles. Then winced. Everything was so hectic yesterday, and I hadn't had a chance to open the cart until now. It was like a fabric bomb had gone off. I shook my head as I muttered to myself, “Of course it's a shambles, Maddie. It collapsed, and then we sloshed it all around when Dani fixed it.”

  I sighed and went about reorganizing and hanging everything neatly on the rows of dowels and making sure my laminated permit was in plain view on one of the flaps. A few minutes later, I was ready for business.

  I patted my shoulder bag, I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. I should have had the cash box secured to the frame so someone couldn't run off with it like that. And now I had our rent money in an envelope for change, and a handful of coins I rummaged from around the apartment. This would have to do until I could get another cash box and secure it, I just hoped I wouldn't run out of change.

  I put on a smile as a woman stepped up to the cart with a couple kids in tow and a man with a camera hanging from his neck. She had a smile of her own as she ran her fingers along a tie-dyed scarf that I ghosted some seagulls onto like they were flying out from between the layers of colors, and diving into another. They were popular this close to the Sound.