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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Chapter 4: Good Days Never Last
Chapter 4: Good Days Never Last
"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock."
A cuckoo clock on the wall ticks away by the second.
“Penny, wake up! Breakfast is ready!”
A menacingly tall, broad-shouldered, scruffy man stands in front of a stove top. His eyes are distant and crazed but his expression is sincere. He scoops the eggs with the spatula onto the plate and sprinkles some salt and pepper on top.
“Thank you for the breakfast, Mr. Alvarez!”
“I told you to stop calling me that, it makes me feel like I’m impersonating my dad or something."
With a giggle, she apologizes,
“I’m sorry, Mr. Enrique, it’s a force of habit. I’ll try and work on it.”
Shuffling around between the couch cushions, he finally finds the remote to the television and turns it on. One of those morning tv court shows is on and it’s purely for background noise. Enrique leans over with his mouth half full to ask a question,
“So, Penny, I was thinking…”
The antithesis to him walks in through the doorway, a young woman who has clearly suffered at the hand of stunted growth due in part to malnourishment. With a big, warm smile on her face and a happily delivered morning greeting, she rubs her eyes and takes her plate and heads to the living room to set herself down for breakfast.
He takes a few seconds between words to chew his food up a bit,
“Today, how’s about we head on up to the gun range, yeah? I figured on account of ya having no experience with firearms it might come in a little handy.”
Penny pauses from eating and gives it some thought,
“I kind of wanted to go down to the beach today. Would we be able to do that too?”
“Oh, yeah, the beach is always right here, ya know? We’ll just be up there for, oh, I don’t know, maybe an hour or so.”
She thinks it over one last time and offers up the same cheesy smile with a cheerful, “Ok!”
The two finish their breakfast, Enrique suggests she head upstairs to get ready while he takes care of the dishes. A little while later, they step outside, Enrique locks the door behind them and they get into his old bronco. Penny can’t help but stare out the window at the colorful coastal town. The salmon and ocean blue paint on the buildings captivate her almost as much as the nick nacks and oddities outside of each storefront. Surf boards and bikinis line the window displays to the left, anchors and fishing nets to the right, and vice versa with the next row. With the windows rolled down, the sweet salty aroma of the beach mixes with that of all of the local restaurants serving up a variety of delicious fish, all flowing swiftly into the vehicle and making the ride all the more pleasant. She leans back in her seat and takes it all in. Her gaze moves to Enrique as he chaperones her to their destination. She breaks the silence after a few seconds,
“Do you think they’re gonna try to come take me?”
Stunned for only a moment, he catches his barings,
“Oh, no. I doubt that. I’d say your odds are better of gettin’ mauled to death by a grizzly bear in the ocean, pardon the morbid nature of the figure of speech there.”
“But what would we do if someone did come to take me?”
“No one’s gonna be doing that anytime soon, not with me around, heck, I’d say their odds are better of-“
She interrupts him,
“Mr. Enrique. Please, be serious. I really need you to be serious.”
Coming up on a stoplight, he sits quietly for a moment, brooding on the request. After letting on the gas again, he speaks up once more,
“I was told to take care of ya no matter what so ain’t no one gonna do anything to you as long as I’m around.”
“But what about when you’re not around?”
“Why do ya think we’re going to a shooting range?”
The answer seems to suffice and the rest of the ride ends up being much more lighthearted with music blaring on the radio and wind blowing through the windows.
They get into the gun range with ease and Enrique opens up a briefcase with three pistols and a shotgun inside. Glee turns to horror as Penny asks which gun she’s supposed to shoot, to which Enrique replies with a wide grin,
“All of them! I got different pistols here, some are gonna have a bit more kick than others.”
He hands her the first pistol and begins to try and explain what to do,
“Ok, put the gun down for a second. Alrighty, now put your arms straight out in front of ya, yeah like that, and do a little triangle you can look through and see if you can see that target down there. Ok, now ya wanna close one of your eyes. Which one can you see that target with without moving your hands or your head?”
It takes a moment for Penny to get the concept but eventually she figures it out.
“My left eye,” she responds.
“Your left eye, eh? Huh, that’s weird, uh, ok. Not a problem! That’s a bit less common so uh, you’re gonna hold the gun like this. Right hand cupped under your left. Yep. That’s what you’ll wanna do. Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re gonna shoot. Safety off. Pull the slide back to chamber a round. Ok, ready when you are.”
Penny aims at the target for about a whole minute and fires. The gun launches out of her hand, into the air, and on the ground behind her.
Enrique rushes over to pick it up. She gives him a stunned look,
“Was that one of the strong ones?”
“Uhhh, yeah. That was my twenty-two. It’s a real kicker. Uhh. Maybe let’s try having you shoot the shotgun, yeah?”
He sets her up with one shotgun slug. Very detailed instructions are given as to how to hold and fire the gun properly. He announces to fire when ready and squints his eyes expecting the worst at any moment. Somehow the worst is worse than the worst that he expects and Penny’s poor fragile frame of glass bones and weak cartilage lacks the proper sturdiness and resilience not to pop her shoulder out of its socket.
To the ground her and the weapon fall. Enrique almost immediately looks as though he’s about to swan dive as he goes to the ground to help alleviate the injury. Penny screams in pain and he quickly reacts, despite her pleading him not to touch the injury, by popping the joint back in place.
The shock and immediate relief makes her all too apt to start thanking him incessantly. Having formed a crowd, the range officer steps between the bystanders and asks if all affected parties are in an ok condition. The two nod and he immediately requests them to pack up and leave the shooting range.
The ride back is quiet for about fifteen minutes before Penny finally opens up,
“I’m sorry I got us kicked out.”
“Oh, don’t be sorry, you can’t help it, being it’s your first time and all.”
“I don’t think I’m cut out for shooting though.”
“Hey, you’re cut out for anything you wanna be cutting out for, and don’t you forget it.”
A few minutes of silence go by until she breaks it once again,
“I appreciate you taking care of me, Enrique. I feel safe living with you.”
“Oh, don’t mention it. Just doin’ my job.”
“But it’s more than that. You’re a really nice person and you care a lot.”
“Oh, stop it, you’re making me blush. Say, how’s about we go get some lunch at the Tan Line Cafe?”
“Sure, ok.”
He turns the bronco and parks on the side of the road in front of the cafe. The two step out of the truck and head inside. The waitress directs them to a booth and hands them their menus. Penny looks at a television displaying the news behind the counter. The news anchor discusses the murder of Herring, the foreign ambassador of Moriko. The topic troubles her and she can’t help but make a comment,
“That’s horrible,” she mutters.
Enrique lifts his head from the menu, “What’s that now?"
“That man,” she responds, “they said someone killed him in his hotel room the other day.”
“Oh, that happens all the time with these political types. It’s sad but it’s in the job description right under lying.”
“I guess so, but still. Couldn’t they just talk instead of all the killing?”
“I’m sure they could but that’s not really how these political assassin types like to operate, I don’t think.”
“I guess you’re right.”
The waitress comes back and takes their orders. The conversation proceeds routinely and they get back on the road and make it home safely.
Penny flops on the couch like a dead fish and Enrique, chuckling, asks,
“Didn’t you want to walk down to the beach?”
“I just wanna stay here, I’m too full to swim.”
“Alrighty then, tomorrow we’ll go. Get some rest.”
With that, Enrique heads to the kitchen and starts to work on cleaning his guns.
It takes no time before Penny can be heard snoring loudly in the living room. The phone starts to ring and he rushes over to answer it before it startles the girl.
“Howdy,” he says with a hushed tone.
“Hey, how’s she doing,” a man on the phone replies.
“Oh, you know, we’re both full as ticks over here, just left the cafe down the road, they were having a special on-“
The caller abruptly cuts in, “So she’s fine.”
“You betcha, happy as a clam.”
“Good. I’m gonna be sending some guys over in two days to transfer her to a new safe house. Make sure her stuff is packed.”
Enrique shuts up for a second and almost starts fidgeting, he asks, “Uh, are ya sure you wanna do that? I don’t mind keeping an eye on her longer.”
“Just do as I say. I’m hanging up now,” says the caller.
“Right. Goodbye now.”
He places the phone back on the hook and stands in the hallway. The cuckoo clock on the wall ticks away by the second.
"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock."
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