fiction

A New Chance – Chapter V

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Home for Thanksgiving

            The next morning, Chance sat on the edge of his bed. He had taken the sheets off and put them in a pile on the floor.  His bag was packed and he was ready for Andy to take him to the Child Services. 

            To his great surprise, it wasn’t Andy that came down it was Marabeth.  To add to his shock, she invited him to stay with them for a while.  The Lucas-Simpsons would become his foster family if that was all right with him.  He assured her it was all right with him.  The rest of the day he felt like he was in some kind of alternate universe or something.  This could not be happening to him.  Especially after getting JJ in a fight last night.  He didn’t take Marabeth or Andy to be the joking kind and if this was a joke it was cruel.  But neither one said it was a joke.  In fact, the next day, Marabeth took him to the school to register.

            Even after he started school a week later, he waited for the other shoe to drop.  One week became two which became a month.  And that shoe never dropped. He exceled in all his courses except public speaking.  That was his lowest grade with a steady B.

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A New Chance – Chapter IV

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More Trouble

            Marabeth didn’t exactly sleep well that night.  She tossed and turned for most of it until her body overcome with exhaustion finally fell into a deep sleep.  Andy, however, other than wakening slightly with his wife’s movements, slept annoyingly well.  He was already out of bed when Marabeth woke up to the smell of bacon cooking.  That seemed unusual for their household even on a Saturday so she made her way slowly to the kitchen.  When she walked in, she saw Chance with a spatula in hand standing at the stove while Andy sat on a stool at the island talking to him.

            She didn’t catch the whole conversation but she heard Chance say he didn’t want to find his mom before Andy saw her standing at the doorway.  “Morning,” he said.  “Chance is fixing us some breakfast this morning,” he stood up to get another plate.

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A New Chance – Chapter III

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The Lawyer’s Family

            Chance wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not.  This had to be a dream and any moment he was going to wake up cold and uncomfortable under the overpass. He expected to wake up when the guard came to get him out of his cell.  Surely, he was about to wake up when he saw Andy waiting for him.  Instead of waking up, he climbed into Andy’s Ford and they left the detention center together.  He finally convinced himself he wasn’t dreaming and fully awake but he waited for the catch.  If it was real, there was going to be a catch.  This was not how things worked out for Chance Bell.  Maybe Andy was taking him home to work?  Maybe Chance was going to work out his debt in some form of labor?  That made the most sense to him.

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A New Chance – Chapter II

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The Lawyer

            Chance walked into the visitors’ room in the jail and looked around.  He was about to meet his court appointed lawyer.  But he didn’t expect much.  The tables were all full of inmates and their visitors.  He saw one with a young man hunched over paperwork.  But the man looked too young to be a lawyer.  Chance looked around the room again.

            The man at the table looked up and made eye contact with Chance.  He stood up and extended his hand.  “Chance Bell?”

            Chance quickly sized the man up.  The lawyer was a couple inches shorter than Chance and Chance was only 5’9”.  He wore a tweed jacket over a plaid shirt and his tie looked like it might have been purchased from some kind of bargain store.  Instead of nice slacks he wore jeans.  “Figures,” Chance sighed under his breath.

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A New Chance – Chapter I

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Trouble

            Chance Bell knew he was in over his head.  The situation had escalated so high though he didn’t think there was any way out.  But that was life for him.  Just a series of falling in at the wrong place or wrong time and being overcome with consequences.  If there was a different way to live life he would love to live it.  Every day seemed to bring him a new obstacle to figure out how to out maneuver.  Why would tonight be any different?

            The late August moon had risen and thankfully was full.  That provided some light for him to make his way down the dark alley.  He would have preferred a bit more light to see by.  Of course there were no street lamps above.  In this part of town, they had all been broken any time they were replaced.  Eventually, they stopped being replaced.

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The Drifting Tumbleweed

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Chapter V: Tyee and Lawrence and Eddy and Gil

In all of his 61-years on the Earth, Tony Twomoons could probably count on one hand all the times he felt truly surprised by events. This was about to be one of those times.

He just witnessed that both Larry and Eddy were still alive and received what he felt as personal confirmation about both of their innocence. Not only that, he had just shifted his focus to his boss as a leading suspect. His mind couldn’t settle on which to think about first. But then the front door to the bar flew open and several law enforcement came forcefully into the bar. About a half-second latter, another intimidating group came in from the kitchen where they had made their entrance through the back door.

A tall man with slicked black hair and wore a jacket that said FBI flashed a badge quickly. “This place is now considered a crime scene,” his voice boomed even though the bar had grown quiet quickly at their presence. “Please vacate the premises immediately.”

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The Drifting Tumbleweed

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Chapter IV: Gil Sanderson

Tony arrived home after his shift to a dark house and his wife in bed. Which told him that yes, Sheila was still mad he chose to go into work every night instead of hiding out at home. He fixed himself a quick bite to eat while mulling over the events of the night.

As he reviewed what he knew, he felt pretty certain Larry or Eddy would be the next victim. Maybe both. While neither one seemed too drunk when they left the bar he couldn’t figure out why they would leave together. Why would a guy like Larry choose to hang out with Eddy – Eddy? That made no sense. No one in town willingly hung out with Eddy.

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The Drifting Tumbleweed

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Chapter III: Eddy Edwards

Tony was so focused on Larry that he wasn’t paying attention to Eddy’s incessant chatter. But that was fairly typical. Eddy liked to talk and while he seldom found an audience, in The Drifting Tumbleweed no one made him stop. They just tuned him out. One time on a slow winter night, Tony started closing up a little early. Eddy was the only customer in the bar and started telling a story about his military days which was his favorite topic. Tony went to the back and did his nightly closing routine of closing everything down. It took at least fifteen minutes. When he came back, Eddy was still engaged in his story. Tony didn’t think Eddy even noticed he wasn’t in the room for a good portion of the the story.

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The Drifting Tumbleweed

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Chapter II: Larry Dowd

It should probably be mentioned at this point, that Tony Twomoons did not, in fact, wish anyone any harm. Ever. His personal mantra aligned with ‘live and let live’. But that was the problem in the area at the moment. Not all the people were being allowed to live, were they? Someone had taken it upon themselves and started robbing other people of the most precious gift – the gift of life. For whatever reason, the fact that the victims had all been up to this point Native American and not white like the stranger that walked into the bar did not factor into Tony’s quick succession of thoughts. He also couldn’t explain why he naturally assumed the stranger would be another victim and not the killer. All Tony knew is when the stranger walked into the bar, Tony thought the blond-well-coiffed man with the popped up collar would be a victim not a perpetrator.

The stranger didn’t exactly do anything to change Tony’s mind either.

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