Necessary Decisions

Chapter 5: Desperate Times

Chapter 5: Desperate Times

Chapter 5

Desperate Times

All night, Lonny fretted over his decision. Sometime between his third or fourth trip to the bathroom, sick to his stomach, he decided he wouldn’t call Willard after all. He’d find work somewhere, even if it meant doing odd jobs or cutting lawns. He’d shovel s**t if he had to.

Dilemma resolved, he finally got to sleep. It was late, maybe five AM when he nodded off, but he got up at six and smiled as he made his way to the kitchen. Looking for a job was as difficult as doing one, or so they said. He hadn’t done it for a long time, so he didn’t remember if the old saying was true. What he did know was that he had to get money before next month’s mortgage payment was due. It would be tough to dig out of this hole, but he was glad he’d decided to do it the right way.

“Good morning, ladies.” He kissed Lucia and rubbed Jada’s head then playfully punched Mars in the arm. “You too, tough guy.”

“Be careful, old man. I’ll take you down.”

“Don’t even think you can come close to that.”

“Ha! Did you see my take-down at the last competition? It had your name all over it.”

Lonny laughed then went to get his coffee.

“Sit down, Dad. I’ll get it,” Jada said.

“This smells like bribery to me.”

“It is bribery. I figure if I make you breakfast every morning and send you out healthy, you’ll be able to find more work in time for the prom.”

Lonny grabbed his coffee and sipped it. “We’ll see. Don’t give up yet.”

“I can quit my lessons,” Mars said. “I can go back later.”

Jada leaned down and hugged him. “Little brother, nothing means more to me than this prom, except seeing my baby bro win competitions. But thanks for offering. You’re the best.”

Lucia brought an omelet to the table and scooped some on each plate. “This is all there is. Enjoy it.”

“Where’s yours?” Lonny asked.

“I’m on a diet.”

Lonny got up and grabbed another plate, scraping half of his onto it. “You’ll eat this, or I’ll throw it away.”

Lucia stared at him, but when he didn’t back down, she smiled and kissed him. “All right, mister. Now sit and eat before it gets cold.”

Lonny joked with the kids during breakfast then grabbed his boots and headed out the door. He drove to a new construction site they had just broken ground on to build a new school. He got there half an hour before the gates opened, first in line. When it was time, a man came to unlock the gates.

“Foreman here yet?” Lonny asked.

He pointed to a trailer. “Over there, but we’re not hiring, if that’s what you’re here for.”

“What’s his name?”

“Mitch.”

Lonny started off toward the trailer, praying all the way. He knocked on the door, his gut roiling, turning that omelet over and over.

“Come in.”

Lonny stepped up and opened the door. Once inside, he removed his hat. “I’m looking for Mitch.”

There was only one guy in there, a tall blond-headed guy with a face full of freckles. His hardhat lay to the side, holding down one corner on a set of blueprints. A large glass ashtray held down the opposite side, cigar butts mounded high on thick, gray ashes.

The man never stopped what he was doing, and he didn’t look at Lonny. “I’m Mitch. What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for work. I can do—”

“Not hiring.”

Lonny hesitated. Took a deep breath. “I can do concrete, brick, block, stone. Just about any masonry you got. I’ve even done a little stucco.”

“I’m full, pal. Sorry.”

Lonny’s hands moved along the rim of his hat, pressing it, squeezing. He had to get work. “Listen, Mr….Mitch, I’ll do anything right now. I’ll do labor, and…” He got the feeling he was about to be cut off again, so he hurried. “If you got anything, I’ll jump in and do it. All I need is a chance. I’m not like these kids today. I work. Tell you what, I’ll work a day for free, just to show you what I got.”

“I’d like to help, but like I said, I’m full.” The guy still didn’t look up.

Lonny started toward the door, but then stopped and turned back to Mitch. “Mr. Mitch, I know you said you’re full, and I understand that, but I…I’m gonna lose my house if I don’t get work. My kids…” He stopped before he embarrassed himself.

Mitch put his pencil down, took his glasses off, and looked at Lonny for the first time. “What’s your name?”

Lonny stood straight and put his hands at his side. “Lonny Hackett, sir. I been a bricklayer for sixteen years, and I—”

Mitch stopped him. “I wasn’t kidding about not having any work, but keep checking back with me. Come by once a week and ask to see me personally. Tell them I said so.” He reached into a drawer next to the table, pulled out a business card, and handed it to Lonny. “In the meantime, go see this guy—Brian Robinson. He’s running the new office project on Tomball Parkway. You know where that is?”

“I know exactly where it is. I’ll go see him now.”

Mitch held his hand out. “Tell Brian I suggested you see him.”

Lonny shook his hand. “Thanks, Mitch, I really appreciate it. You can count on me being by every week if I don’t hook up with Brian.”

Mitch smiled. “You do that. Good luck.”

Lonny took the half-hour drive to Tomball Parkway, where he waited an hour to talk to Brian. He had no work for Lonny but referred him to another friend, who did the same. By noon, Lonny had talked to four superintendents and gotten the same story at each site—no work. When he ran out of places to go, he stopped at a few fast-food joints. He couldn’t even get a job there. Frustrated and desperate, he turned off the road into a parking lot of a closed-up restaurant. He opened his phone and took out a piece of paper with a number written on it. For a moment he just stared at it. Then he punched in the numbers for Willard.

“Hello?”

“This is Lonny Hackett. I’m looking for work.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Is this Willard?”

“Ain’t no Willard here, and I’ve had this number six months or more.”

“Sorry. I must have dialed wrong.”

Lonny checked the number on the paper versus what he’d dialed. It was the same. s**t! He stopped at several corner stores he’d heard Willard frequented. They said they didn’t know him. About an hour later, on the way home, Lonny got a call.

“Hello?”

“Are you willing to do anything?”

“Who’s this?”

“I heard you been lookin’ for work.”

“Willard?”

“I don’t know Willard, but I hear you’re looking for work. I’ll ask one more time. Are you willing to do anything?”

Lonny paused for a deep breath. He searched his soul for a reason to say no, but all he could think of was Lucia trying to give him her share of breakfast. And not being able to pay next month’s mortgage. “Yeah, anything.”

“I know a guy, but the thing is, you can’t f**k with this guy. If you tell him you’re in, you better be in all the way. Know what I mean?”

“Give me the number.”

“It doesn’t work that way. If you’re in, tell me.”

“Why the runaround?”

“Are you in or out?”

“In,” Lonny said, and received his first instructions. He drove to another corner store and checked with the clerk inside, who told him a disposable phone was in a bag in the dumpster. Lonny got it and wiped it off, disgusted at what he was doing already, then waited in the truck. He waited for almost half an hour before it rang. “Hello?”

“I heard you want work.”

“Yeah, I need work.”

“Here’s what you do. And don’t write this down. Nothing gets written down, got that?”

“Okay.”

“Go to the coffee shop at Louetta and Kuykendahl Road. Be there at 9:00 AM. Do not be early. Park in the lot behind the shop next to a green van. The door will be unlocked. Get in the passenger side, put on the mask that will be on the seat and slip through the curtains into the back of the van. Talk to no one. Bring this cell phone with you.”

“Is this a joke? You must be nuts.”

After a short delay, the man spoke again. “Deal is off. Put the phone back in the bag. And remember, we know where you live, Lonny Hackett.”

Lonny panicked. How the hell do they know my name? And where I live? “No, wait. I’m sorry. I’ll do it.”

“Any more arguments, and you’re finished. Clear?”

There was something about the way the man said clear that both grated on Lonny, and frightened him. “Clear,” Lonny said. He asked for the instructions again, then got in his truck and headed home. He kept telling himself he was doing this for Lucia and the kids, but he knew differently. This was an easy, cowardly way out of a tough situation.

God forgive me for whatever I’m about to do.