TheBanyanTree: BEST INTERESTS

[Sharon Mack]

FROM MY WRITING WORKSHOP:

Journal Prompt 

Sunday June 13, 2004

Sitting in a cafe, your character is given a note: "It's in your best interest to meet me at 7 p.m. tonight, alone, at Pine and 4th." Write your character's thoughts as he decides what to do.

***********************

BEST INTERESTS


"It's in your best interest to meet me at 7 p.m. tonight, ALONE, at Pine and Tyler."   He couldn't believe what he was reading and how in hell could she have known where he was going to be tonight.  He knew it was her.  It had to be.  No one else would do a thing like this.  This was stalking, wasn't it?  He read the note again.  It was pieced together with tape and glue and the cut-outs of the letters were tattered and even torn in places.  It looked as though they had been ripped from the pages of a magazine instead of cut.  This gal was dangerous.  He considered not going.  He didn't want to enable her.  He tucked the shabby piece of paper under his plate.  He would show it to Tank and see what he thought.  He knew Shelby, too.  Tank knew how crazy she could be.

"Hey, s'up,"  Tank pulled his chair out and dumped his large frame into it.  He looked out of place.  "You look beat, buddy."

Parker took the piece of paper out from under his plate and slid it across the table toward his friend.  "Read it....tell me what you think."  He watched as Tank read the note.

"Guess you better eat fast and get your ass over there."  Tank slid it back and laughed.  He had a deep, burley-sounding laugh.  His keen eyes glittered with his mirth.

"You think I should go?"

"Why not?  I'd want to know what the bitch wants.  It's gotta' be Shelby."

"That's what I thought.  Wish she'd just give it up.  I'm about ready to turn her in.  She's everywhere*can't go to the toilet without her turning up.  Nasty lady!  She actually followed my last date home in the morning after she left my place and cut her off.  When Barb pulled over, Shelby jumped into her car and laid her out good.  Barb was petrified, I guess.  Haven't seen her since and she won't answer my calls, but her brother said Barb was plenty upset."

They stopped talking as the waiter took their order.

"Hey,"  Parker called out to the waiter as he began to walk away.  He waved the note up in the air.  "How'd you get this?  Who gave it to you?"

The young man gave Parker a blank look.

"Who gave you the note?"  Parker insisted.

The young man swallowed hard.  "I'm not suppose to say.  The guy gave me a good tip to keep my mouth shut."

"Guy??"  both Tank and Parker echoed their mutual surprise.

The waiter was gone before they could question him further.

Guy?  What guy?  As far as they knew Shelby had no "guy" to speak of.  Who was she hooked up with now and why would they help her.

"Hey, could it be somethin' else?  Somethin' you didn't think of at first?"  Tank took the note back and re-read it.  He turned it over to see if there might be a clue somewhere, but there wasn't.

"Nah!  Nothing I can think of...."  But Parker was having second thoughts.  He decided to keep them to himself.

"So?  What 'cha gonna do?"  Tank handed the note back.

"Dunno."  

Both men were quiet when the food came.  The previous waiter didn't deliver the food.  He'd obviously passed them off.

"What happened to the other waiter?"  Parker wanted to know.

"He had to leave.  Family emergency."

"Yeah, I'll bet," thought Parker and when he looked at Tank he knew that Tank was thinking the same thing.

"Want me to watch your back?" Tank asked.  "I could you know.  I'll just stay back a bit."

Parker shook his head.

"Ok, I offered," Tank shrugged and began to eat with gusto.  Parker hardly touched his food.

*******************************

When they found Parker, he'd been dead for a few hours.  It was obvious that someone had hit him from behind first and when he fell, he must've been unconscious already, for he did not catch himself.  His face had hit the cement full blast.  His nose was broken and the bruising was extensive.  They'd rolled him over to finish the job.  If it hadn't been for his wallet, they couldn't have ID'd him.

As the officers went through his pockets, they found the note.  It was pieced together with tape and glue and the cut-outs of the letters were tattered and even torn in places.  It looked as though they had been ripped from the pages of a magazine instead of cut....and scrawled across the letters in what looked like red lipstick were the words...."For Shelby"....and under the name Shelby was written a single letter...."T"

by Sharon A. Mack



I