Page 20 of Baiting Kong
“Ever plan to sleep again?” Axel asked as Scout brushed a small patch of sand off his neck.
“Why waste time on sleep when there’s no guarantee the world will be there when you wake up?” Scout said. “Besides, I’ve got work in a couple hours. Something tells me I’d have a hard time trying to take a power nap after the way the day went, so…”
He lifted the basket a little and shrugged at the solution he’d come up with.
“Figured my only options were an insane amount of caffeine or a chemical pick-me-up, and I don’t like the way it feels to use some of that stuff.”
“Yeah, I feel that,” Axel admitted. “My one and only time doing some shit my friend had gotten ahold of left me so paranoid I couldn’t even enjoy the high.”
“I don’t like feeling that way either. I just hope my heart doesn’t explode before the job is finished, or that’ll be another mess someone’s gotta clean up because of me.”
“You didn’t make that mess back at the gas station.”
“Maybe not, but Sa, my, um, friend wouldn’t have been there tackling people if I hadn’t fucked up and made it so he had to come to town in the first place,” Scout said, keeping his voice low as they headed for the only open checkout line that was manned by a person.
Axel wasn’t sure what he expected to see when Scout opened his wallet. Certainly more than the fifty bucks it contained, all of which was gone by the time he’d finished playing for the contents of both their baskets. And yet he was smiling as they walked outside, and he took a quick drag off the vape he pulled from the pocket of a worn leather jacket.
“Check out all those stars,” Scout murmured as he tilted his head back. “I think I’m gonna take a ride up to Rattlesnake Ridge and take a closer look. Who knows, maybe I’ll see a comet or a meteor shower or something. Isn’t there one that’s supposed to bring good luck or something?”
“Not that I know of,” Axel said. “You can wish on a falling star though, if you believe in that kinda thing. I don’t waste my time anymore. My wishes never turn out the way I hope they will.”
“I can’t say that mine have either, but I’m not sure I’m ready to let that stop me. It’s not like the results completely sucked or anything, and the parts that have will be over with soon. When I think about how things could have turned out and what I would have lost because of it, it’s easy to accept a little pain and inconvenience. Those are temporary.”
“Most conditions are,” Axel said as Scout took another drag and flashed the ghost of a grin.
“Most, but not all,” Scout said before heading for a motorcycle parked beneath one of the parking lot lights.
Axel stood there for a moment, trying to unravel what he meant, when it dawned on him that there was only one condition he knew of that was permanent.
Death.
Shaking his head, Axel decided to stop thinking about the confusing enigma that was Scout and get his feet moving in the direction of home again. He was beyond exhausted, and his oldman was probably way past pissed that there wasn’t anything for dinner.
Shit, that’s what he meant to pick up. Ground beef and a few box meals to stretch it with. Damnit, damnit, fuck.
Guess they were having cereal again. It wasn’t like Axel could do anything about it now.
The screech of the door opening when he finally reached the trailer was enough to set the old man’s mouth in motion before Axel could get inside and shut the door back before the neighbors got pissed.
“What the fuck took you so long getting back here!” His old man slurred, slamming a bottle on the table hard enough that a few empty cans fell over.
“Was a bad day at work, pops; I stayed late to help with some cleanup.”
“When ya gonna clean up around here?”
“When are you?” Axel snapped as he shoved the milk in the fridge while trying not to breathe through his nose. “Thought you were gonna take the garbage to the dumpster, Pop.”
“You shoulda done it yourself before you left.”
“I would have, only you yelled at me to leave it, remember!”
“I’ll get around to it eventually.”
“It needs to go out now, Pops; it reeks in here!”
“Aw, fuck off with that shit. I’m not in the mood to hear any more of your lip today.”
“Pops!”
