a novel by Joe Olivieri
Studio: 281 376 2112
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I thought that it was Eze again. It was Pam, and she looked absolutely beautiful!
“Hey cowboy, can I have this dance?”
The girl I was dancing with told me thanks and then told Pam to ask me what my name was, as she walked back to her friends.
“What is your name Pooh? You never told me.”
“It’s Steven, Miss Pam.”
“That’s okay, I like Pooh better, and call me Tigger, remember? Now dance with me!”
“Okay, Miss Pam. I mean Miss Tigger.” I took her in my arms, with confidence and starting dancing. I could feel her give into me and it was like magic.
I heard Gisela screaming and laughing at the same time as she went spinning by us. Eze was spinning her so fast her feet were three feet off the dance floor, and she was hanging on for all she was worth. He was the best dancer here and he was clearing a path and letting everyone know. “I guess he meant what he said earlier about her feet never touching the ground.”
My attention went immediately back to Pam when she pressed herself against me and I could feel every curve of her body. This was beautiful. We danced all night in each other’s arms. I don’t remember any of the music, or anything else other than holding her, and feeling her warmth.
She put her hand on the back of my neck and looked up at me and said, “Are you going to kiss me?”
“Do you want me too?”
“If you don’t stop talking and kiss me, I’m going to kiss you!” She pulled me in and kissed me deep! Everything was perfect!
Tap. Tap. Tap.
“Come on Pooh, those bastards stole my truck!”
It was Eze and he was mad!
“Come on Pooh, we have to go now! Hi Pam, we’re taking your truck!” He stormed out of the dance hall with our I.D.’s in one hand and Gisela in the other.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I was really confused and I wanted to kiss Pam some more.
“Those dirty bastards stole my truck!”
“Who stole the truck?”
“Those damn red-neck, cousin-fucking mongrels they call wrecker drivers. The bastards towed my truck! I know where they took it too. Those thieving bastards want me to pay them $85 for stealing my truck!”
“Calm down Eze” I said, “How do you know it got towed?”
“The lady at the window came and got me, and told me they were taking it. They gave her a card and I called the number. That piece of shit told me it was next to a tow away zone! I told him that next to, and in were not the same thing. He said he didn’t care, and I there was nothing I could do about it but pay for the tow.”
“Eze, you’re not going to hurt anyone like you did earlier today, are you?” asked Gisela.
“Sweetheart, I wasn’t mad earlier. A man and his truck are a beautiful thing! That’s just something not to be messed with!”
“Eze, please don’t hurt anyone. I really like you!”
“Gisela, this has nothing to do with feelings, this is about thievery! That piece of shit stole my truck, and wants to charge me for it. There’s no telling how many others he has done this too, and tonight, it ends here!”
I knew that I wanted no part of what was about to happen. I know the girls were just as scared as I was. We had seen what he did earlier, but we knew he could do so much more!
We got into Pam’s truck and Eze drove. Gisela sat next to him, and Pam sat on my lap. None of us said a word.
We drove for about 15 minutes and stopped off at a gas station. Eze got out and said, “I’ll be right back!”
The girls just looked at me and asked “What is he going to do?”
“I have no idea! He looks pretty upset. I just hope that he doesn’t kill anybody!”
“Do you think he will Pooh?” Pam asked.
“You, know, I don’t think he will. This isn’t like earlier. That was almost like a reflex when it happened. No, he is thinking about this. He will do something, but this is going to be on a much higher level!”
I almost breathed a sigh of relief. He was definitely not happy about someone stealing his truck. This was going to be something well-thought out. I was sure of it. Well, not too sure. I guess, I was just hoping it would be.
Eze was talking to someone else in the parking lot behind another pick-up. He shook hands with the man and started walking back to us with that same grin that he liked to show when he was up to something.
“Let’s go steal my truck back from that son-of-a-bitch!” He handed me a set of bolt cutters, and got in the truck.
“You can’t be serious?” I asked.
“You bet I am, and I ‘m going to cut a hole in his fence big enough to drive through!”
We stopped in a seedy area of town that was dimly lit. There was a pay phone on a corner with no street lights. We got out of the truck with Eze, wondering what was going to happen next.
He told me and Pam to wait by the truck, and we did.
Gisela went with him. He made a call and handed her the phone. She was talking to somebody and then hung up.
They started laughing and kissed each other.
“I wonder what that’s all about?” said Pam.
“Well, at least it doesn’t look like anyone is going to die. They wouldn’t be laughing, right?” I was asking, hoping for some reassurance.
“I sure hope that my girl doesn’t think that way. Besides, I wanted to spend more time with you before you leave”
She then looked into my eyes and kissed me again. I really liked kissing her, but I wanted to know what was going on first.
“Come on lovers, we have to hide for a few minutes” Eze laughed.
“Ok, let us in on it. What is going on?”
“Well Pooh, this lovely lady just called that fat bastard up and told him that she was broke down on the side of the road, outside of Navasota, and needed her car towed into the dealership downtown.”
“Yeah, and he told me he would only charge me $35 to drive all the way out there and back! Can you believe that?” Gisela beamed.
A few blocks away, the lights in a building went out, and a fat, dirty man got into a tow truck and drove away.
“Alright, let’s go Pooh. Pam, drive us down there and slow down. We’ll jump out, get the truck, and meet you back at The Hall in about thirty minutes.”
“Ok, but Pooh, you better kiss me for luck!”
“Yes Ma’am, I like your kisses!” I kissed her as she started to pull away giggling. I jumped in the back with Eze.
We both jumped out as we were passing the tow yard and the girls drove away.
“Do you think it’s safe?” I asked.
“Hell no Pooh! There ain’t never anything safe about breaking into another man’s place!”
That’s just what I needed to hear right now to start panicking. My heart was racing as Eze cut a hole in the fence six feet wide. He then went to each pole and cut the fence on each side.
We found his truck and searched around it quickly. Everything looked ready to go.
Eze ran to the gate and cut the lock and chain into several pieces.
I froze! I felt something staring at me through the darkness. I caught the glint of something. Was it a gun? Oh my God, I was going to die! I wouldn’t get to finish kissing Pam. I…
“Hey! Come here boy. Over here! Come here!”
What? What was that? It was a dog, and Eze was trying to coax it over to him.
“It’s tied up Eze” I could see the chain tied to the tree now.
“Pooh, you get the gate. When I come with the truck, you be ready and hop in!”
“Okay!” I whispered.
I went running away from the dog and opened the gate waiting for Eze.
He cut the chain off of the dog, and went running to his truck. He started it up and drove out of the gate with the lights off. Just as I was about to jump in, I caught a flash of movement. The dog jumped on the back of the truck without making a sound.
“Eze, that dog is on the truck!”
“Well, hot-damn! I’ll just steal that bastard’s dog too! That will teach him!”
We sped off into the darkness. That was almost effortless. It appeared that we avoided some serious trouble again. Eze was proud that he stole his own truck back, and that guy’s dog too!
We drove back to The Hall, and found the girls. They were happy to see us, and the truck.
“Oh Eze, you’re okay!” Gisela said, as she came running up to the truck.
“Yep! We stole that bastard’s dog too! Well, kinda. I don’t think he liked being there either and maybe saw his break. So he jumped on the truck as we were driving away!” Eze was smiling a happy smile. He had taught the wrecker driver a lesson, and took something that was his.
Pam looked at me, “Pooh, do you want to go down to the Brazo’s with me and watch the sunrise?”
I knew that we were supposed to be leaving on our trip, but didn’t know when. I looked at my watch, and it was already 5:00am. I wanted to go with Pam, and kiss her some more before I left.
“Pooh, you go with Pam. Me and Gisela are going back to the trailer and crash for a few hours. When you two get tired of looking at the sun, come on with it. We need to get packed and on down the road.”
“Sure, that sounds good! We can do that!” I hope I get to kiss Pam some more. Maybe we can kiss while watching the sunrise. That would be special.
“Hey you! Are you going to stand there daydreaming, or come ride with me?” Pam giggled.
“Sure, I’d like that. I mean, okay, let’s go.”