Micah (5 page)

Reggie tried really hard not to notice
the tall man making his way toward them. The woman he’d been
sitting with ate her meal like she didn’t have a care in the world.
She supposed that some women didn’t care if their dates were hurt
or not being stupid. Reggie noticed that the would-be robber was
turning toward him, and she started talking again.

“
I can fry you some ham or
bacon. And a few eggs. You like eggs, don’t you?” The man nodded,
and the stranger paused. “I thought so. I can even do you up some
pancakes. I love waffles myself, but you look like a pancake
guy.”

“
I like waffles too.”
Reggie nodded and reached for a roll of silverware and a napkin as
he moved down the counter. “I wouldn’t mind some juice too. Orange
if you got it.”

“
We do. Fresh too.” The
man followed her, and she put the silverware on the counter where
she’d wanted him to sit. “Coffee or tea?”

“
No thanks.” She nodded
and poured him some juice. “I don’t want to hurt no one. But I’m
powerfully hungry.”

“
That’s understandable.
I’ve been there a few times myself.” Reggie noticed that the
stranger was standing still now, his arms crossed over his massive
chest. “I’m going to have to ask you to put your gun up here on the
counter for me. I know you won’t shoot any of us now, right? But
that guy down there, he doesn’t look like he’s as convinced as I am
that you’re okay now.”

“
You really gonna feed
me?” She told him she promised she would. He put the gun on the
counter almost shyly. “It’s not loaded anyway. I can barely afford
this thing, much less the bullets to put in it. I was just
hungry.”

The man, the big stranger, didn’t move
when she backed from the counter with the gun. The robber picked up
his glass. When it was empty, she had Ruby refill it and she made
her way to the kitchen. She was leaning hard against the door when
someone knocked from the other side. When she stood away from it,
he barged his foot under the door and stood there while she leaned
her weight into it. She just wanted a minute, couldn’t he see
that?

“
Are you okay?” She told
the man that she was and tried to shove him out of the kitchen.
“You should let me take that. In case he comes in here looking for
it.”

“
He won’t.” Reggie didn’t
give him the gun and shoved it under the counter where she worked.
“You’re not supposed to be back here. I’d really be happy if you
went back out there with your wife or whatever and leave me to my
business.”

“
All right.” But he didn’t
move, and she started making up the man’s breakfast. He watched her
as she made the waffles for the man. “You could have been killed.
Do you always take such stupid chances?”

“
I do. In fact, that was
just the start of my stupid things to do today list. I thought
after I serve breakfast that I’d go and knock over a liquor store
for shits and giggles. Then I’d go and maybe run up and down Main
Street waving a gun around.” She turned to look at him. “After I go
shoot up about fifty pounds of meth.”

“
Meth isn’t served up in
pound weight. And knocking over a liquor store? Nah, you’d be
better off robbing a bank. The money is better and the security is
more lax.” He leaned against the counter and stared at her before
continuing. “Would you be naked running up and down the street? I’d
pay real money to see that. I mean, you look like you could make a
man stop and pay attention if you did that.”

Reggie nearly burned her ham staring
at the man. She wasn’t sure if he was making fun of her or teasing
her. Surely he couldn’t be serious about watching her run up and
down—

“
You need to go out with
your wife.” He didn’t move. “Really, things are back to normal
around here and I’m busy.”

“
She’s my mom.” Sure she
was. And Reggie was a beauty queen. “What do you suppose your
manager would have said to you if he’d known what you just
did?”

“
More than likely be
pissed at me for giving the man this breakfast.” Reggie put the
platter up on the window and yelled for Ruby before turning to the
man again. “I want you out of here now, sir. I’ve asked you nicely
several times. Now I have to insist.”

“
What will you do when
this man goes out and tells everyone that if they come in here with
a gun you’ll feed them? You’ll have them lined up around the block,
all of them with guns. And some of them will be loaded.” Reggie
frowned at him. “You are either incredibly stupid or you have a
knack for doing idiotic things.”

“
Fuck you.” He staggered
back when she lashed out at him with her fist. She hadn’t meant to
hit him but when her fist connected with his nose, she felt good
about it. For all of a minute. “Get the fuck out of here and take
your girlfriend or mother with you.”

“
Joseph Bentley, what are
you doing to this young woman?” The ring of disappointment in the
woman’s voice made thoughts of her own mother come to her. “Tell
her you’re sorry this minute.”

“
I didn’t do anything.”
The tapping of the woman’s foot almost made her laugh, but she did
smile at her. When her eyes looked at her with the sharpness of a
razor, Reggie dropped her head. She felt ten again. “Did you see
what she did? What if he’d shot her? I was going to take it from
him and she actually bargained with him. Mom, you can’t think that
was the right thing to do.”

“
He didn’t want to shoot
me; he was hungry. Any jackass could see—” The woman clearing her
throat made Reggie flush. “Anybody could see that he was hungry.
And for your information, he won’t tell a soul about what happened
in here. Not the free food or the fact that I’m going to offer him
a job. No one asked you to come in here to make me feel less than I
already do.”

“
Joseph, I’m waiting.” The
man looked at the woman, then at her. Blood dripped from his nose
and Reggie threw the towel she had on her shoulder at him. He took
it to his face and glared at her. She was sure then, right at that
moment, that not only was this woman his mom, but he was afraid of
her too. Not just a little either.

“
I’m sorry that you’re
stupid.” The hand smacked the man in the back of the head so
quickly that had Reggie not been looking, she might have missed it.
“All right. I’m sorry that I insulted you. But you should be more
careful in the future. What if he had hurt you?”

“
Then it would have been
my loss and no one else’s.” The woman stared at her, and Reggie had
a feeling she was being measured up. She had no idea why she didn’t
want to disappoint this woman, but she stood up straighter and
lifted her chin. The woman smiled but said nothing. “Now, I’d like
very much if you both would just leave me alone. I’ve got work to
do and something I have to do later.”

“
Are you all right?” No
one had asked her that in a good long time. For some reason the
sincerity in her voice made tears well in her eyes. But she nodded
instead of telling her that no, not only was she not all right, but
she was too tired and overwhelmed to think about it, much less talk
about it.

They left her then, the woman nodding
once but saying no more. The man took the towel, which she supposed
was all right, but it had been her favorite. Turning back to the
stove, she was startled when someone touched her on the shoulder.
The man standing there, the robber, smiled but took a step
back.

“
You was dreaming.”
Nodding, she stared at him as he continued. “I was wondering if you
need somebody to wash them dishes up. I can do a fine job of it and
that’ll maybe make it so I can get me some lunch too. I really am
powerfully hungry, miss. But I’ll take the food as payment if you
don’t mind it.”

She looked at the pile of pots and
pans. There would be more before her shift was over too. Then there
would be the food plates and silverware. She’d be until at least
two or so getting those done. Reggie looked back at the
man.

“
You can work for me
provided that you show up on time, no complaints about what I feed
you, and you don’t steal from me. And no more guns to work. If you
do, you can not only expect not to get fed, but I’ll call the
cops.” He nodded. “I’m Reggie Webster. I’m the cook on days. I can
spot you some money today for some good shoes, and I’ll provide you
with a pair of pants and a shirt to work in.”

“
I can do that. I can
surely do that.” He was making his way to the double stainless
steel sinks when he turned back. “I’m Nile Jameson. I mostly live
in my box but when it gets cold, I live in the shelter on Seventh.
When there’s room.”

“
Welcome to Mamma’s Home
Cookin’.”

He grinned at her and took an apron
off the pile of linen on the shelf. Nile was taking out the pots
from one side as he filled the sink on the other. Reggie turned
back to the window and the orders hanging there. She didn’t have a
lot of time to be social, even if she was inclined to do
so.

Chapter 3

Frustration never played a large part
in his work with his true love. He moved around the world which
he’d been born to with the knowledge that no matter what, he was
far superior to whatever came his way. And as for most of the
people, if not all of them, he knew he was a great deal smarter
than them. He was more intelligent than anyone he knew. He had
papers to show that much.

The picture he was working on was all
wrong. He knew it from the very start, but he loved how her eyes
looked in this one, and it was going to work if he had to make ten
more copies of it to get it right. As he was cutting out the man
that stood beside her, some unknown person who meant nothing to
either of them, he let his hands still and his mind drift to
yesterday.

The large man had not been there the
day before. But when he’d been there again this morning, nearly
foaming at the mouth to be nice to his love, it was all he could do
not to go and kill the man. But, lucky for the man, that was not
his style.

Issues were taken care of promptly and
without fuss. This man, the dishwasher, was not an issue. Not yet
at any rate. But he was someone that was spending time with her,
and that would not do.

“
I will have to make sure
that he understands that she belongs to me.” Not that he was
worried about her thinking otherwise. She was no fool. And once
everything was set, he’d make sure that she had all the things she
should have for a woman that belonged to him.

The doorbell rang once, a short burst
of sound that the person on the other side knew would bring him to
the door. Smiling, he stood up and made his way to the door. With
this visitor, there was no reason to hide his room from him. The
other man standing there was uncomfortable, but he tried not to
look it.

“
Come in.” Keith stood
there without moving. He looked with his eyes, always checking
things before actually committing to anything. Ever. It was one of
the things that he loved most about his brother. “No one is
here.”

“
You never know about
you.” He stepped over the threshold and stood there for several
seconds, as if he were awaiting some sort of calamity to befall
him. It was one of the many things on a long, long list that made
him want to both strangle him and study Keith. What made him laugh
all the more was the fact that most people who met them both
thought that he was the normal one.

“
I’ve been thinking about
you. Where have you gotten in your research?” Keith sat down on the
living room chair as he continued to talk. It was the only one that
she had in her place, and while this room was big enough to hold
several, it was all she had, so it was all
he
had. “I read somewhere that you
have made progress.”

“
I sent that to you. You
should know that your landlord is missing. I assume you took care
of him.” He only nodded at his brother as he stood behind the
smallish couch. “I thought so. You should be more careful, Nessie.
When they come here to check out if he has been here, they might
find a clue or two, and then where will you be?”

“
They will find nothing
from this house that says he was ever here.” Nessie sat on the
couch but only on the very edge. While it was like hers, his had a
very uncooperative spring in it that would move when you least
expected it to. He’d been jabbed by it on more than one occasion.
“I should like for you to find me another kiln. Used, of course,
but one that will hold more than the one I have here. I find that
taking the issues away takes from my more important
work.”

“
I’ll see what I can do.”
Keith looked around. “It’s coming along nicely. Have you decided
what to do about the kitchen? I’m assuming that you have in some
way figured out a plan. You have always been very good at thinking
these things out. I’m still ever so grateful that you helped me
with mine.”

“
I have.” Nessie stood up
to take him to show him, and to get him something to drink. “I have
just left it alone. There is simply too much difference in our
square footage to make it flow correctly. We will just have to work
around it when she comes here. Which, I would like to add, will be
very soon.”

“
I see. I have been
thinking on what we talked about before…the chains you will need to
hold her here to you. You’ll need to make sure that she is in a
place that will not allow anyone from the outside to hear her. I’m
assuming that when she’s first brought here, there will be a great
deal of her being upset.”