Rick and Linda Bk. 07

He says. "He was my uncle." OK on three and on three we did.

I say. "Au Dung did not try to get by. He never tried to get by anything he did. He does 1000%. He swings his bag of boat parts at one guy as I toss the first guy into the water. But it looks like it's twenty to two, and we are in deep shit. The local cops are sitting on their cop cars chewing their cuds blocks away. They can see the shit starting, but they just watched. A car pulls up in what appears to be an unmarked cop car when my Dad's Texas Ranger buddy gets out, pulls his jeans up, and puts his hat on. His name was Evens. I could not tell you if that was his first or last name, but he stood six foot six hard as steel and fair, but his shadow was even larger."

He walks up to me and says. "Master Rick, good to see you; your Dad, OK? I see you in a deep shit again. I am bailing you out, but I owe your Dad for my hide, so this was an easy fix.''

He pulls out his pair of handcuffs and says. "Who's first, and you boys should know."

He pulls his 45 auto out of his belt, jacks a round in, and says. "I got to, by law, fire a warning shot to warn you, boys, to go about your day.''

I say. "He has his damn gun pointed about four and a half feet off the ground pointed at four guys where if he fires his warning shot, he might hit one or two of them. A fact not lost on one or two of them."

A Dung says. "So now you know, dear lady, your man is my friend. My whole family loves him. I have to get back to work. It has been my greatest pleasure to see you two together. He talked about you whenever he got drunk. I never thought he was telling the truth about your beauty, but he did describe you to a T.''

Well, dinner was over, but not the treats. I can't pay for our dinner and never can. My cash was no good here, but I can give the dinner cost to the servers as a tip. One of the servers says fifty bucks for four Thai sticks, which is a done deal. I drive just a couple of miles near the town of Montrose. Everything is close to the city. I take her to a Chocolate bar.

I say. "Wait here. I run in and get you a few treats.''

Linda says. "Fuck that. She takes her glasses off, looks me in the eyes, and says, " Show me the goodies, baby.''

She put her shades back on and held her hand out, a move she had done sixteen years ago on our second date. I take her hand and kiss it. She gives a little shimmy and looks at my face as people pass by. The cars going by the street light up our faces. We kiss softly. It's the 1970s again.

Two older adults go by. "That's disgusting. Get a room!"

An older woman walking with a younger girl says. "Can we be next, and we got a room?''

Linda says. "Your part of town is strange. You're going tell me a story about that, too?''

I know the nearby town is strange, but so am I; we enjoy the treats they let us graze, and before I know it, we spent thirty bucks on sweets.

Well, new old love, not being able to neck, and the kiss was new, but we did things under the covers that showed her what was to come. I teased her till she screamed my name, but she did find a use for my hand lotion. We slept till noon on Sunday and had planned to see my Dad later, loading up my minivan with my gifts. OK, shit, Dad and his lady friend are pulling into my driveway.

I say. "My Dads here put some clothes on his lady is with him.''

Did she? No, she had booty shorts and one of my Grateful Dead T's that she put on after her/our shower.

My Dad, with a wink, says. "You got a big smile. You must have unwrapped your B-day gift.''

I say. "Dad, her lip and nose are all busted up. Her ribs are bruised and sore. I wait till she's 100%, and when I unwrap my gift, you won't hear from us for a week.''

Linda comes out winking at me, looks at Gale and back at me, and says. "Only a week you don't love me,''

I say. "Ask that again after that week.''

She kisses my cheek and hugs me.

A few trips with my freight dolly and the booze from my B-day party are home. We stock the wall bar from two bottles of my drink to sixty-four and all the rest. Man, it will take a while to get these drunk. After Dad and Gale left, we spent the day watching Dark Shadows on cable and talking about who was still with us, who hooked up, and who had kids. We even talked about kids, and we both said no now, but who knows about later?

I say. "What about your folks."

Linda says. "Her brother was cool, but he still might want to kill you, but I'm pretty sure I can talk him out of it; Mom's going to be tough. She won't talk about you. She blames all of this on you.''

I say. "Well, in the eyes of the L--.''

Linda says. "Don't go there. I know there was the law, and then there's what we did, and nobody can tell me who to love, not my father or the law.''

I say. "Does anyone know? Have you told your Mom yet?''

Linda says. "No, we are going over for dinner Tuesday night after work.''

I say. "Will your dad or brother be there?''

Linda says. "No, Dad and Mom are divorced, sending me off like that. Then, my Mom did not say ten words to me about our past. She's in a big house. I mean, River Oaks big. My brother was in the Army overseas, and now he's working the oil fields offshore like Dad, but at another company, I am not sure about now. It's been years since we spoke. No clue where my Dad is, but he told me if I contacted you, he sent a hitman after my Mom and you.''

I asked. "So, did you say who you were bringing to the dinner with your Mom?''

Linda says. "Naw, her mother did not raise a fool.''

Great, here I am, thinking where to get a built poof vest on short notice, and my face must have looked it.

Linda hits my arm and says. "It won't be too bad. It won't be like you dodging bullets from my Dad or anything again.''

Linda says. "I tried to find you in the phone company 411, but four years at that prison of a school. You know I was not allowed to make a call or go home. I could not send letters in and out. They were read and edited. All girls and no fucking sex of any kind. When I got out, I stopped at the house, mine and yours. No one knew us. I'm sorry, but I was told if I asked about you, Dad sent me a letter saying he would hit Mom and my Brother if I tried to contact you."

Linda says. "I have not spend a day without thinking about you. Then six weeks ago I heard my Dad fell off a crew ship, and only some of his body was found. I been here six months now afraid to look for you."

Linda went to her straight job as a phone operator at 911 for the fire dept Monday morning, and I went off to the camera store downtown. We talked by phone for thirty minutes at lunch, and she had to return to work.

I asked her. "Hon, you wanted my chili mac and cheese?''

Linda says. "And Bobby's venison sausage, she asked?''

I say. "Yes, It's Uncle Bobby's. We should call them tonight and make plans for a visit. It's been five months since I rode my Kawasaki KZ650 up there. Love you, Baby. See you tonight."

Stay tuned to book 8.