Jason Deas - Benny James 02 - Pushed (7 page)

Jim sat on the beach in front of the house as a couple holding hands approached. He pretended as though he was waiting for someone and checked his imaginary watch as he saw the female companion look in his direction. He shot her a weak smile and wave and when she responded with one of her own his heart rested.

Jim watched the couple walk away from him as he counted in his head. When he made it to two hundred and neither of them had looked back even once, he decided they were not spying on him. With no one coming from the other direction, he sprinted to the porch and on the porch floor was a single key on a Mickey Mouse key ring matching the beach towel hanging over the porch rail.

Brother Jim wondered which door it would open and tried the back door first. The key slid easily into the lock and turned with just as much ease, opening the door. He ducked inside and quickly locked the door behind him.

Once inside, Jim had a sudden thought that he was about to be ambushed. He clenched his fists and prepared for an onslaught. After standing in a frozen pose for a few moments and hearing the screaming in his mind subside, he calmed to hear nothing but the hum of an air conditioner. Jim skeptically looked around the airy room to find no one waiting to hurt him and only a quiet and calm room with a note sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. It read:

“Stay two days. Shave beard. Cut hair. Fridge is full. Pray.”

The note was written in his own handwriting. He shivered, wondering how this had happened. So many thoughts raced through his head. He wondered if somehow he was the mastermind behind all of this and was somehow tricking himself? Was someone else drugging him and fooling him? Or was it God’s will? Being raised as he was, he decided that everything that happened to him was God’s will.

Jim looked in the bathroom to find a pack of triple-bladed razors, shaving cream, an electric razor, and scissors. His hair and beard had been itching all morning in the heat and he longed to be free of the beard his daddy made him grow for spiritual reasons he did not ever fully explain.

Brother Jim plugged in the electric razor first and turned it on. The buzz of the little machine excited him as he pulled it across his face and watched a shower of hairs tumble into the sink. Jim could not even remember when he had begun to grow the beard and a feeling of liberation filled the little bathroom. At one point, he had to stop shaving and take the plug out of the bottom of the sink and run scorching hot water to get all the hairs through the bathroom pipes. Having the sink cleared, he finished the job with the shaving cream and the hand razors.

Finished with shaving his face, Jim barely recognized himself in the mirror. He thought he looked young. The long beard for years had made him feel like an old man. Inspired, he turned to his hair. The directions from the kitchen table directed him to cut his hair and he did. He cut it short. Not buzz short, but short enough.

Jim ran a bath and soaked in a sweltering hot bath and tried to wash all thoughts out of his mind. After about thirty minutes, he let the water drain and reclined in the tub until it was completely empty. Feeling good, Jim decided to shower and wash his hair and body and did so until the hot water ran out.

Exiting the shower, Jim caught a glimpse of himself in the foggy bathroom mirror. He momentarily froze. Through the fog filled glass, he moved his head left and right trying to get a better view of himself. Sweat trickled down his brow as he feared wiping the glass. His daddy would be so mad at him, he thought. Jim said a quick prayer and picked up an unused washcloth. Very slowly, he wiped the mirror clear of its foggy residue.

With his new image in full view, Jim threw his head back as if he had seen a ghost. His breathing took off at a sprint and he dropped the towel that hung around his body as he stumbled into the toilet and lost his footing in a pool of water. Already weak from the curious happenings of the previous days, his feet went up and his head went down. On its way down, his head connected with the edge of the toilet as his forehead made solid contact with the bowl.  As blood poured from his forehead he lost consciousness.

Chapter 11

Benny placed a call to an old friend in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, or FDLE as the locals call it.

His friend obviously had caller ID, as he answered saying, “You old son of a gun!”

“I’m going to take that as a nice hello, Ted,” Benny laughed.

“Let me, let me, let me guess whys you calling?”

“Shoot,” Benny said.

“Brother Jim case.”

“You got it, you old drunk bastard.”

“I quit drinking,” Ted said.

“Really?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Benny almost laughed out loud but held it in before demanding, “Prove it to me by saying your ABC’s without any of the vowels.”

“Easy as pie. A… darn! B, C, D, E, and sometimes Y, darn it! I wasn’t good in Language English class.”

“How do you keep your job?” Benny asked.

“Tomorrow’s my day off,” Ted answered.

“Do you mean today?”

“I hope so.”

“It’s not even noon.”

“What’s that got to do with the price of sesame chicken in China?”

“Most people wait until about five in the evening to start drinking,” Benny suggested.

“Those people are dumb, stupid, and ignorant. Those stupid dumb ignorants are going to be hung-over at work the next day. Me, I pass out by five and get thirteen or fourteen hours of sleep and I’s ready to get back at working.”

“Well, when you are ready to be back at working,” Benny mimicked, “give me a call. I could use some inside help from a guy I trust.”

“Come over,” Ted suggested.

“Now?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Why don’t we do this tomorrow when you’re sober and a bit more coherent?”

“Cause I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“We got a memo you were working this case and we are forbidden to talk to you.”

“But you’ll risk that and talk to me today?”

“Yeah. I’m not responsible for what I did or done or do today.”

“Do you still live at the same place?”

“Afraid so,” Ted answered.

“I can be there in less than an hour.”

“I’ll only talk if you bring me a favor.”

“OK.”

“Big titties,” Ted slurred.

“Shut the hell up, Ted.”

“Whiskey or beers and not gin or vodka. Not that I hate Russia or nothing but vodka is the devil and gin makes me smell like gin on the tomorrows.”

“I can do that,” Benny assured. “Take a shower and sober up a bit.”

“Jerry Springer’s on!”

“So?”

“I drinks when they fights!” Ted screamed as Benny heard something topple over.

Benny hung up the phone and flew out the door, hoping he would get there before it was too late for Ted to still speak English. 

Benny hauled ass. The Trans Am hummed on the highway. He admired the machine under him as it propelled him down the road. His friend Ted had been an up and coming member of the FDLE. It was a foregone conclusion that he would end up eventually in the FBI, as he had been paramount in cases in which the FDLE had assisted its Federal brother. Ted had been sharp, focused, and sober.

He and Benny had worked together numerous times as Benny’s role in the FBI concentrated on problems and issues in the Southeastern United States. Ted was twelve years older than Benny and had always treated him as a father might treat a son. Ted worked a case that forever changed his life after meeting Benny. It was a case that involved drugs and smuggling, as many cases in Florida do. Benny was called in to assist on the Federal level as the drugs were believed to be coming in from Georgia and crossing state lines. Most of the drugs usually flowed from Florida up into the other states and this case was especially tricky because it went against all the norms. Drugs never trickled down to Florida.

Benny and Ted worked closely for weeks studying trucking companies until they discovered that any and all drug busts happened to semis heading north. Nobody suspected trucks heading south as they figured the drugs were already in the south. Some of the clever drug smugglers had rerouted their shipments and were going unnoticed.

Ted made the initial discovery and unfortunately for him the biggest newspaper in Florida covered the story. Two days later his wife and daughter were killed. He bought a bottle of booze that afternoon and had been hanging on to his job and his life ever since. He blamed himself and the drinks made the blame disappear for a short time.

As Benny flew down the road, his mind turned to tunes and his eyes found the car’s radio. He laughed as he saw it took cassettes and not compact discs. His thoughts turned to Red. Red owned a gunnysack filled with at least a hundred tapes. Benny had tried to buy him a CD player but Red refused. Just as Red’s father had, Benny would occasionally take him to the local thrift store where they sold cassettes for twenty-five cents a piece or ten for two dollars. Benny decided the store didn’t want to throw them away and sold them at such a cheap price just to get rid of them. Benny often wondered if anybody other than Red purchased them.

Benny rooted around in the car looking to see if there were any cassettes stashed anywhere in the vehicle. With his eyes on the road and his left hand on the steering wheel, he searched with his right hand. Bingo! He quickly glanced at the cassette to discover he had found Kenny Rogers’ Greatest Hits. He almost pulled the trigger and popped it in but decided at the last second that it was not quite what he was in the mood to hear. He tossed it in the back seat and rooted around some more. Another score! This time his catch landed him Bon Jovi. He wondered, who the hell likes Kenny Rogers
and
  Bon Jovi? Then he remembered he did. But, again he was not in the mood to hear Bon Jovi. Benny tried one more time, this time on the backseat floor and came up with Black Sabbath—he popped it in and pushed the gas pedal a little bit harder as Ozzy wailed through the speakers.

Before he knew it, he had listened to both sides of the cassette and was pulling into Ted’s driveway. Benny immediately noticed the grass in front of Ted’s house was at least knee high. He guessed it was probably safer if Ted did not cut the grass on his days off and made a mental note to advise Ted to hire a landscaping company. He thought how Red would be appalled by the looks of Ted’s yard.

Benny stepped on the front porch and heard loud music. He was about to ring the bell or knock with all his might, when he saw a note taped crookedly on the front door. It read, “Come in Benny Man.”

Benny’s friend Ned did this to him all the time. For some reason, every time Benny had an appointment with him, he was somewhere in the house busy and Ned tacked a note on the front door giving Benny instructions. 

Benny pulled the note off the door and crumpled the paper, unable to hear the crumpling because of the loud music. He stood still and listened for a moment. It was Jimmy Buffet. He grinned, remembering how they had made a connection that began with a love of Jimmy Buffet music. Benny could not wait to tell Rachael about this episode, and he wondered how the story might grow from here.

Benny followed the music to the back of the house and into a steamy bathroom.
Boomerang Love
blared through speakers of the audio monstrosity Ted had in the bathroom.

“Ted!” Benny called from just outside the door.

“Come in,” Ted invited.

Whatever
, Benny thought. He had been in enough locker rooms for one lifetime and the sight of one more naked man wouldn’t kill him.

When Benny walked into the room, he saw a mound of bubbles and no sight of Ted. He wondered for just a moment if Ted had just passed out and was beginning to drown.

“Ted?”

Ted popped up from underneath the bubble madness and screamed, “Boo. Get in, Benny. The water is warm and I only tooted in it two times!”

“No thanks,” Benny answered. “I thought you were watching Jerry Springer?”

“Some loser had showered with another loser’s wife and my head filled with warm tubbies. I tripped over the coffee table and came in here and ran myself a bubbly, bubbly.”

“Well, thank God,” Benny said. “It sounds like you sobered up a bit.”

 “I did. Hop on in. I’ll make room. Water feels great.”

“Um, no you didn’t sober up. If you are asking me to get in the bath with you, you have not sobered up a bit.”

“Are you afraid I’ll touch your junk?” Ted asked, with an evil grin on his face.

“I’m not a homophobe, Ted, but I don’t want you touching any part of me.”

“But you’re so sexy.”

“I already knew that,” Benny answered, not amused.

Ted leaned out of the bathtub and opened the lid of the toilet which had been closed. He threw up what looked to Benny to be mostly liquid and plopped back in the tub.

“Sorry,” Ted slurred. “Should have had breakfast.”

“What were you planning on having for lunch?”

“I like Sloppy Joes,” he said raising his hands as if someone had just scored a touchdown.

“Do you have ground beef?”

“Nope.”

“Bread?”

“Negative.”

“Do you have any groceries that did not come from the liquor store?”

“Do them little sausages count? The ones they keep on the counter?”

“No,” Benny answered curtly.

“Then the answer would be not yes.”

Ted moved quickly to the side of the tub splashing a good bit of water out and onto the floor and Benny’s shoes as he once again stuck his head into the commode to relieve his overburdened stomach.

When he pulled his head out and flushed he said, “I think I’m gonna have a nap for lunch.”

“I don’t have time to go to the grocery store for you, but I will order you some food and it will be in the fridge when you wake up.”

“You’re a good man. Have a look through my briefcase. I brought all the case files home. I know you won’t mention where you got the info.”

“You know I don’t kiss and tell,” Benny assured. “Can I give you a piece of advice?” Benny asked.

“Sure,” Ted answered.