The Open Road

Chapter 9

Bob

Do you know those movies where the main actor is seen being pursued by police officers who believe he is in the wrong yet he is not? He swerves his way through a bewildered crowd, jumps over fruit arrays and expertly hops into a car speeding off to his given destination? Well this is real life and in real life when you try to swerve through a crowd you bump into someone's shoulder. When you jump hoops you hit tables and when you try to expertly enter a car, you hit your knee caps so bad you feel your bladder giving up. By the time the guard put two and two together (guy looked pretty slow), I was nursing my knee caps in the back seat of a pickup The pickup, Marie had just used to pull off a robbery. I watched from the back seat window as the owner stood aghast, his face pale from shock. Marie sat in shotgun while some shady looking guy handled the wheel. He drove like a maniac, he also dressed like a maniac and did I mention he talked like one too?

"Damn damn woohoo did you see that racket? Manze that was something else!"

Manze was a common slang used by people from the ghetto to express amazement. I had grown accustomed to it in prison. The place I had escaped from, the place I would go back in when we got pulled over for robbery, over speeding and well, overusing the term “manze”.

“Manze did you see that guys face? Manze did you see how those people were looking at us…”

The guy blabbered on clearly stoked about their successful operation. An operation I was not aware of. Couldn’t Marie have informed me that she was about to hand me over to the police again?

I searched the back seat frantically for some kind of disguise. I knew the owner was probably punching 999 on his cell phone. I spotted a duffel bag stashed with...was that what I thought it was?

"You’re dealing drugs now Marie?"

I didn't mean for my voice to sound patronizing but I had a large distaste for drugs and anyone dealing them.

"Let me worry about how to feed myself while you worry about your freedom."

I expected an answer along that line, as I said Marie always kept a poker face, you could never predict her next move. I glared at the duffel bag and mentally cursed it. I quickly realized I was being foolish since drugs were inanimate and well, I wasn’t exactly a telepath.

"Manze that guy us beyond f****d. When the boss finds out about the missing merchandise he is going to go nuts manze."

The guy was getting on my nerves. He was literally giving me a migraine. I brought my hand to my temples and tapped the sides using my fingers. I tried to block out the grim facts before me. Marie seemed to be telepathically connected to me; she shot the manze guy a death glare strong enough to seal his mouth shut. Well if indeed the owner of the car just got played by Marie in a d**g deal, he couldn't call the cops. Drugs were illegal period. Still, the two had just robbed a car full of drugs. Maybe the manze guy was entitled to his reaction after all. I sighed at the thought of the owner not calling the police, that meant more time. Speaking of which...

"Where we headed?"

I asked hoping Marie wasn't pissed at my prejudice against her work choices. As much as I disliked drugs, I needed her if I was ever going to set my plan in motion.

"Where else? To make a d**g deal of course."

I didn't have to see the smirk to know it was there. I glanced at the time on my phone; I had three and a half hours till my dealer decided I wasn’t worth his time. I had to find a way to show up where he stated on time.

"Where is this deal again?"

Marie's long finger nails typed away on her phone creating a tap rhythm. She sighed and turned to face me. As usual, I was met with an apathetic expression.

"You'll get your lift to Naivasha, we will drop you off on our way to well you know where our deal is taking place."

A coy smile appeared on her face, she wouldn't disclose the location to me, she didn't want me involved. Well, good riddance, I loathed drugs with every fiber of my being. One of the reasons my life was a broken jigsaw was because of those monstrosities. But no worries there, I would put them back together, one by one.

Hopefully by the end of it all I would make Sue my wife and we would be a family, together with her daughter. I felt a tug in my heart at this thought. I was not aware how much I wanted this scenario until I conjured it up.

"One last question. Do you have some sort of disguise for me? You sort of made me lose my cap."

Poignant silence spread inside the car. I actually wished that the manze guy would say something. I was tossed a sports cap from upfront. Mumbling a quiet thank you, I put it on and made myself comfortable, I hadn't slept in almost twenty eight hours. Taking a nap in the back seat of a pickup next to a duffel with drugs did not sound as bad.

I woke up a few minutes to the sound of loud, foghorn like voices. The type that make you squirm when you know you are in the wrong.

"Wake up Bob! NTSA is around!"