Suzie’s House 473 : In Need of Gas

Big Jim didn’t tell anyone that there was a gold watch in his pocket. Not even in the Van Family. He sat in the van with his legs dangling out the back door and tried to read a newspaper someone had tossed them while Boney and Rick stood in the road flying a sign on cardboard that said, “Help us Tom Cruise.” It was Rick’s favorite sign.

“Hey Jim! Get out here and fly my sign! We always get more money when you do it.”

“That’s because I refuse to fly your sign! I like mine better!” Jim’s sign said, “Plenty of beans but still no gas,” in big lettering. In small lettering under that it said, “Please help me get on down the road.”

“Whatever. Just get out here.”

Jim ignored him. It wasn’t his turn. Besides, there was something he needed to see in the newspaper. Or more like something he needed to make sure wasn’t there.

Maybe he was slow, but it took a couple of sleepless nights to realize he’d left his finger prints all over the garbage around a dead body. It was a cinch the body and all his finger prints got picked up by the garbage truck and no one even knew. Right?

But what if they did find the body… It didn’t help that Rick kept finding excuses to stay in the area. The last three times they had money, it went to something besides their gas tank. Jim just wanted to get out of there. He didn’t want to end up in some dank jail cell.

“Are you afraid of getting out of the van? You haven’t come out all day,” Boney grumbled. She looked peeved.

Jim tossed the paper behind him. There was nothing in it about any bodies found in any dumpsters. He stood up just as a couple tried to walk past on the grass strip next to the road.

“Hey! Help a family out,” Rick said with his pathetic grin. He gave his sign a shake.

The guy muttered some question like he needed his woman’s permission to part with a dime.

“I don’t want to enable them. You know?” She gave her man a meaningful look like she was talking in code or something. Did she think the rest of them were too ignorant to know she meant she didn’t want them to use her money to drink?

“Anything would help.” Rick kept on grinning.

“Well…“ The guy really wanted to give them something. You could tell from the way he looked. But his girl scowled him down. “Here.” He pulled a newspaper out of his backpack and handed it over.

His woman didn’t look happy about it.

“So they will have something to do. We’re done with it anyway, aren’t we?”

“We’ll make sure it goes to the recycler,” Jim assured her. That made her face clear, so it must have been the right thing to say. He accepted the paper with a smile and a nod. It was todays.

“Like we need another newspaper,” Boney grumbled. “They don’t keep you anywhere near as warm as you said they would,” she accused him.

He ignored Boney and the couple as he flipped to the front page. Jim unleashed what his mother would have called an unbecoming word. They guy from the dumpster was right there front and center. Until the guy ended up in the dumpster, he was the mayor.

“Hey!” Jim shouted at the couple’s backs. “If we pulled up to a gas pump, would you pay?”

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