A Long Way To Go

Chapter 1: The Sojourn

A loud creaky noise from a passing truck jolted Ronald back to reality. His head heavy as a boulder, and he felt like he was about to bleed from the nose.  He wriggled in a bid to sit up, then fumbled for his pocket watch. The bright rays from sun made him squint as he observed the dial with such scrutiny as though he was inspecting a precious gem.

“Take it easy pal. It will be a moment before the wooziness dissipates,” said Gab, the driver of whose presence Ronald had been almost oblivious. Preempting Ronald’s next question, he smiled broadly. “We’re in Georgetown. I took a shorter route while you slept.”

Ronald looked at him through fogged eyes, trying to recollect the recent events from the night before, except Gab’s perpetual grin that never seemed to disappear from his round chunky face. “Hey mate… how you holdin’ up?” The words came out slow and slurred, like the sound of a thick liquid pouring into an empty pail. The time was 8:05 am.

Gab said “St. Louis is just about a hundred miles away and we should arrive by twilight, ha ha.” Sensing Ronald’s immediate need was far from geeky humor, Gab offered him his water bottle. “Here… don’t gulp and wash your face out the window.”

“Thanks,” Ronald said. He took a long noisy slurp. His head felt worse for a moment, then a little better. “I need to take a leak, mate.

Gab pulled over by the shrubs and watched him straighten up. Ronald stood above six feet, suntanned but handsome with large, lean muscles that made him look as though he was chiseled out from the cores of a mahogany tree. His broad shoulders accentuates his broad physique. He had a prominent brow bone, and hazel-colored deep set eyes that make women get jelly feet anytime he stares. Gab admired his physique while he was at it. Gab thought if he had such features he’d be a model and have all the girls he wanted. But his excessive boozing and love for unhealthy food would have nipped that dream in the bud.

“That was a pretty long leak, my friend,” Gab said. “So, tell me. How you did it. That guy you socked, if I know anything about him, he’s as strong as a bear. Then he just went down in a heap like a filleted cow. It’s the left hook, isn’t it?”

So, tell me. How you did it. That guy you socked, if I know anything about him, he’s as strong as a bear. Then he just went down in a heap like a filleted cow. It’s the left hook, ain’t it?

Gab yammered on about the crowd and bellows, and the chaos that broke out when the spectators that had betted on Ronald scurried for their winnings. But Ronald was already adrift trying to imagine what the next few months of his life would be, fully aware that Baine would unleash his full arsenal in finding him. They say he takes his victims in one piece and do all sorts of gory things to them. Ronald heard the story of one double-crosser. Baine chopped his fingers and hired a Japanese chef who cooked the fingers to make sushi for the dude to eat.

Ronald belched but felt much better. “I wish my curiosities were that simple, Gab. And don’t be such a magpie. My head still feels like it could roll off of my shoulders.”