Big Yellow Taxi

The ache in Daniel’s lower back pulled him slowly from his pleasant dreams. He rolled over, burying his face into the cushion of the filthy couch he was sleeping on in a vain attempt to get a few more minutes of sleep. He had been dreaming of a woman. He knew it was the same woman he often dreamt of even though he had never seen her face. But his efforts to get back to her were useless. He could already hear his brother’s heavy tread, practically shaking the whole trailer as the man crossed the room to approach him. The next thing Daniel felt was the flimsy blanket he had been sleeping under being unceremoniously yanked away from his body as Marv pelted him in the head with an empty beer can. A swallow of stale beer was left in the can and Daniel wrinkled up his nose at the foul smell of the liquid as it splashed the cushions and his hair. “Get yer fuckin’ ass up!,” Marv hissed at him. Then for good measure, the large man lifted his leg and stomped his boot down on top of Daniel’s already sore lower back. Not really kicking him but just stomping down on him a few times to make sure Daniel got the hint. Marv had things to do today and sitting around in some w***e’s dumpy little trailer and waiting for his brother to wake up was not on the agenda. He also wanted to get the hell out of dodge before the w***e in question got out of the shower. She wasn’t the breakfast cooking type so Marv considered his interactions with her to be well past finished. Daniel swung his arm around blindly behind him, hoping to connect with some part of his brother’s body. But Marv was already well out of smacking range. Sighing an almost silent huff of resignation, Daniel sat up and started stuffing his feet into his boots. There was a hole in the toe of one of his socks and he gripped the fabric with his toes to stop the hole from ripping further. As he pulled his jacket on, Daniel watched his brother as the man methodically and quietly poked through the small decorative metal canisters the woman he slept with kept on top of her fridge. Daniel didn’t have to ask. He knew what the man was doing. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Marv had probably given that poor woman the clap, now he was going to steal from her as well. Daniel knew what that meant. She had been what his brother classified as a ‘lousy lay’. His brother didn’t rob women he intended to try and sleep with again. “Hell yes,” Marv announced, waving a substantial looking wad of money around for Daniel to see before he stuffed the cash into the pocket of his jeans. The sound of the running shower stopped. Marv c****d his head to the side for a moment, then he started gesturing to Daniel that it was time to leave. The two men hurried outside the trailer and down the rickety wooden steps. Once Marv saw that there was only one bike parked outside, he began cursing under his breath. “Told ya not to leave yer bike,” Daniel reminded the man. Marv never listened. Not when he was sober. And definitely not when he was drunk. Daniel glanced nervously behind him, in the direction of the door of the trailer they had just stepped out of. Not that dealing with the law was ever an enjoyable experience but he was probably still a little drunk and not in the mood to deal with the police. “Come’on,” he hissed. Walking over, he swung his leg over and climbed onto his bike. Then he sat there quietly and waited for Marv to climb on behind him. “I ain’t riding b***h on my own damn bike Marv,” Daniel said, cutting off any discussion or argument before the words could even get out of his brother’s mouth. Marv grumbled a few more swear words and kicked the dirt, a bit of driveway dust exploding onto the rounded toe of his well worn black leather boot. But in the end he climbed onto the bike behind his younger brother, just like Daniel knew he would. As far as Daniel was concerned, if Marv didn’t like riding b***h then he should stop getting piss ass drunk and leaving his bike behind. Especially at nasty dive bars. One day it was going to get stolen. Then his brother would end up in jail for sure. For killing whoever stole the one item in the world he seemed to show any attachment to. Daniel tore out of the driveway, the engine of his bike announcing their departure with a loud roar. He was grateful that he remembered where they were and how they got there despite the large quantity of whiskey he had consumed as he sat on the couch and listened to his brother make something other than love to the trailer w***e. The bar was only about ten minutes away. This meant the woman his brother had picked up the night before probably frequented the place since she lived so close. This also meant that Daniel was going to have to add The Duck Inn Waddle Out down on his mental checklist of places they couldn’t ever go back to. Marv climbed off Daniel's bike and pulled the wad of stolen money from the pocket of his jeans. The man had not taken the time to count it back in that woman's trailer, so he counted quietly to himself as he thumbed through the wad. After all these years the man still kept his hair military short. But even at stubble length the grey hairs on the sides of his head caught the morning light. It made Daniel think the same thought that had been creeping into his mind more and more over the last year. We are getting too old to live like this. I’m getting too old to live like this. There has to be more to life. “Over three hundred bucks,” Marv announced, looking more than a little pleased with himself, “that fuckin' butterface didn't look like she had three hundred f*****g bucks did she?”. Daniel didn't figure the question merited a response. And the woman's face hadn't been that bad. Her teeth were another story. Most of them had been missing. The teeth she had left looked like they were covered in fungus. Watching his brother kiss that woman's meth mouth had turned Daniel's stomach. And that had been under the dim lighting in the bar. Getting under the brighter lights inside her trailer had not improved her appearance. Daniel imagined that her breath must have smelled like dirt and old turkey. The sun was shining bright in the sky. It was warm out, but not overwhelmingly hot. Not yet anyway. Daniel was thinking he wanted to go home. Take a quick shower to wash the wet dog stink of that trailer couch off himself. Then he might head out to the lake and do some fishing. Maybe even do a little rabbit hunting on the way back depending on how many fish he caught. His perfect plan for the day was starting to slowly develop in his mind as the sun soaked into the small bits of skin his leather riding jacket left exposed. But Marv was already digging through the saddlebags on the side of his bike. As soon as Daniel saw him whip out his cell phone he knew his simple plans for the day were about to get thrown out the window. He uttered a silent prayer. Let it be dead. But there was no such luck. Daniel muttered to himself that he should have known better. Marv had a large wad of cash in his pocket. So of course he was going to want to buy drugs. A lot of drugs. Even if the phone had been dead that wouldn’t have stopped the man. Now Daniel was going to have to spend the next few days making sure Marv sold the drugs instead of doing them all himself. There would be no fishing. No rabbit hunting. He would be lucky if he even got a shower. A few cryptic phone calls later and Daniel was reluctantly swinging his leg back over his bike. He fired up the engine and followed his brother out of the parking lot. As the two men drove, their surroundings changed. Trash littering the front yards of trailer lots changed into manicured lawns in front of cute little houses with matching mailboxes out front. It wasn't until they pulled up into the small parking lot that Daniel recognized where they were. A large hand painted sign hung just a few car lengths away that read ‘Chester Street Farmer's Market’. “Watch my bike,” Marv ordered as he swung himself off the bike and headed towards the bustle of activity inside the large market. Daniel smiled a little to himself. He was happy to wait in the parking lot. But there was no need. This was not the type of place where someone was going to tamper with either of their bikes. The blonde mom hauling her children from her minivan looked more concerned that Daniel or his brother might tamper with her. She stared at Daniel as she pressed the lock button on her keyfob two times more than was necessary to lock the vehicle. Given their current location, Daniel sighed and let some of his tension go. The man Marv met here only sold weed. And unlike harder drugs, Marv wouldn't be able to smoke up an entire bag of that stuff in one night. So that meant the two men might actually have some money left when he got done. Daniel hoped maybe they could pay to have their power turned back on. They still had water, but the gas had been turned off several weeks ago. He was sick of taking ice cold showers. Daniel had been to this market a few times before. Always to meet the same man Marv was meeting now. But Daniel had always waited in the parking lot. Crowded places full of uppity rich old ladies, screaming kids, and weird hippies weren't really his thing. But today his stomach was growling, reminding him he hadn't had anything to eat for breakfast. The night before he had drunk his dinner. In the row of vendors Daniel could see from the parking lot, there was a small cart selling those big soft pretzels with the chunky salt on top. The smell of good coffee was drifting out from somewhere inside and Daniel was sure he could find whoever was selling it if he followed his nose. Marv’s instructions to stay with the bikes still hung in the air, but the protests from Daniel’s stomach were louder. It was getting hotter, so Daniel slid his jacket off and laid it over the seat of his bike. Then he pulled his wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open to see what was left inside after the previous night's excursions. There was still a ten left. And a few loose ones. That was enough to at least buy him some coffee and a pretzel. He could hit up Marv's thieving ass later when he needed to gas up his bike. Daniel started off in the direction he had seen the paranoid minivan lady go, dragging her children along behind her. He knew where the pretzel cart was, so he headed there first. As he walked, Daniel took in his surroundings. He hadn't had any idea how many different types of items were being sold in this market. Lots of people were selling fresh produce, which is what he would have guessed would be sold at a farmer’s market. But there were also baked goods and handmade jewelry. Signs for a local hog farm caught his eye. Three men were selling what looked to be some very high quality meats and Daniel suddenly found himself wishing he had more than thirteen bucks to his name. Nice thick pork chops cooked up on the grill sounded a lot better than a hot pretzel and coffee. Saliva started to pool in the corners of his mouth. He wiped his lips on the back of his hand. “Free sample?,” the man selling the pork offered once he saw Daniel's eyes were focused on the meat he had cooking on the small grill off to the side of the booth. Daniel shrugged and stepped forward. The man pulled a chunk of sausage off the grill and wrapped it up in a small piece of butcher paper and few napkins, warning Daniel that the meat was hot and letting him know they were having a sale on their fresh ground pork sausage links. Daniel blew on the small chunk of meat and headed towards the pretzel cart. Once he handed over two dollar bills he was presented with a large pretzel that was also going to need to cool off a little before he bit into it. He held the food in one hand, shading his eyes with the other as he tried to figure out where the smell of coffee was coming from. Without warning, the food was suddenly snatched from his grasp. Daniel spun, looking to pummel the food thief. He stopped when he realized the offender was a large tan colored puppy with a black nose. The animal was gobbling down the food as fast as possible, even eating the bit of paper and the napkins that the sausage had been wrapped in. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh or cry. Maybe both. His stomach let out one last whining growl as the puppy licked the last bit of sausage grease off the cement. “I'm so sorry.” The words came with a hand placed lightly on the bare skin of Daniel's upper arm. He almost jerked away from the contact until he realized the person touching him was an attractive young woman that was looking so embarrassed she almost seemed ready to cry. “Oh Lily,” the woman sighed, grabbing what was left of the leash that had been hooked to the naughty puppy's collar. The woman wrapped the broken end of the leash around her hand a few times to keep the puppy from running off again. “I'm so sorry,” she repeated, touching Daniel's arm again and giving him an apologetic smile, “Let me buy you another pretzel.” Since the woman was standing so close to him, Daniel took the time to look her over. She was tall for a girl, only about an inch or two shorter than him. But her slender build made her appear smaller. Her hair was extremely long and dark, the front braided back to keep it from falling into her face. A few more braids hung down from the underside of her hair and Daniel smiled when he noticed she had turkey feathers twined into them. He had always liked the look of the feathers from that particular bird. They were more colorful than one would imagine they might be. Back at the crappy trailer he shared with his brother, he had a long stand of them hanging across the window in his room. The woman had a long patterned dress on, the sort that tied around her neck and left most of her back bare. Her shoulders and the bridge of her nose were pink from the sun. While there were no other visible markings on her body, the hand that was still resting on Daniel's arm was covered in an intricate pattern of tattoos. Daniel had a trained eye and he took notice of all these small details, but the woman's most obvious feature were the freckles that were scattered over her entire body, covering every inch of visible skin. “Don't worry about it Rowan,” the man behind the pretzel cart told the woman that was touching Daniel, “It's on me.” The young man fished another pretzel with a long pair of silver tongs and stuffed it into a paper wrapper before handing the treat over to Daniel. The woman removed her hand from Daniel's arm and gave the man behind the pretzel cart a big friendly smile. Her teeth were small and white, but not perfectly even. The eyetooth in the corner stuck out a little, which somehow added to her appearance instead of taking away from it. The man behind the cart must have shared Daniel's opinion of her smile because he smiled back, looking at the woman in a way that made it obvious he would be happy to give away all the pretzels he was selling if it would buy him some alone time with her. Daniel was torn between being irritated with the man for interrupting the conversation he was hoping to have with this strange woman and being grateful that he had somehow been able to learn what her name was without having to ask. Rowan. If he remembered right it was the name of a type of tree. Rowan thanked the pretzel man. Then as quickly as she had appeared, the woman was gone. Pulling her puppy along with her, she disappeared into the crowded market. Daniel forgot about the pretzel in his hand as he watched her go, wishing he had been able to think of some way to strike up a conversation. He had never been quick on his feet when it came to women. Especially women as pretty as that one had been. Daniel’s first instinct was to chase after her. But he quickly changed his mind. A girl that sweet probably wouldn't be interested in a dirty biker like him. He did head in the direction she had taken, but he told himself he was only looking for coffee and nothing else.