6
1095 Words
Tiny
After spending my morning working out a deal with one of my more eccentric contacts, I made my way back to the clubhouse to go over the details with Crow so he could decide which guys would be going. This specific client was also my oldest. He was also probably one of the few that didn’t have us sneaking illegal s**t across the state. That didn’t mean he was any less skittish when it came to how things were handled. What did he have us shipping? Junk, well, I say junk. He says priceless and rare goods. His shipments were never consecutive. Sometimes he would call me only a few short weeks apart and want to set up a shipment. And other times, it would be months in between calls. But every time was the same, a full shipping container with his priceless and rare goods. All of which needed to go from one end of the state to the other. He never cared if we looked inside the shipping container so long as nothing was missing when we got it to the address he provided, which was always outside an antique shop that set out in the middle of nowhere. The instructions were always the same. Drop the container out back, leave it for two days, return to pick up the empty container, and return the empty container back to the original pick-up location. Every successful delivery earned us one million dollars. And unlike some of our clients, this guy was never late on his payments. They were always paid in full the moment we returned. So to say the guys all loved to hear we were doing a run for this particular guy was an understatement. Everyone wanted in on the runs for this guy. They were easy, and there was always a stack of bills waiting at the end. This upcoming run, though, was the first time ever he was changing things up. This time he had two shipping containers, and both needed to go to the same place as always. We would drop them off for two days before returning to pick the empty ones up. Then deliver them back to the guy at the original pick up. And instead of one million per successful delivery, he was offering to pay five. As always, he didn’t care if we looked inside so long as everything was there when it was delivered.
Sitting in Crow’s office, I gave him the run down and when he needed to have the guys ready to go. This run would mean more guys, and we were only being given a week, which wasn’t bad. We could have enough guys ready to go by tomorrow if we needed. When I was done filling him in, I stood up from the chair I had set in to leave. “Oh, Tiny, before you go, I found a renter for the second unit in your building.” I nodded. I figured he would begin looking soon now that the work he wanted to do to it was done. I had thought about buying another place after Gloria, but what really was the point. It was just me. And besides which, she has already tried getting even more money out of me than what she already is. Apparently, she claims that if I can afford to buy a brand new truck, I can afford to pay her more money every month or for longer than the five years the judge originally decided on. So to actually buy a new place now would only be setting myself up for her to try something else. No, I was perfectly happy with where I was and renting a place from Crow. “You should know your new neighbor will be moving in over the weekend and is a single mother of two children.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And she is ok with moving in?” He nodded. “Yeah.” Yeah, that was all he was going to give me on that? “You told her the two places are connected?” He nodded but didn’t say anything as he turned his attention to some stuff on his desk. I continued to stand there a few more minutes before finally turning and leaving. I was surprised he even showed this woman the duplex. She had children and would be moving into a building with a strange man she didn’t know. She had to be desperate if she was willing to risk it. Not that I would ever in a million years do anything to those kids. But she didn’t know that, and yet she was willing to risk it. Yeah, there was more to who Crow decided on than what he was saying. Either way, I made a mental note to make sure the basement door that went from the laundry room into my side of the basement was closed and locked. I didn’t need either one of this lady’s kids wandering around down there and trying to climb on any of the equipment and getting hurt.
Leaving the clubhouse, I headed back home. If they were moving in this weekend, I only had a day to make sure that there was nothing the kids would be able to get into that could harm them. I kept some tools and whatnot in the garage, so I just made sure that none of them in arms reach had sharp ends. I also went around back to put a lock on the shed where the gas can and lawnmower were kept. I didn’t need one of the kids to go in there and get themselves hurt on that or get gas all over them. I honestly didn’t know what else I could do to make sure the kids couldn’t harm themselves. Hell, I didn’t really know that much about kids, so maybe everything I was doing was pointless. Especially since I didn’t even know how old the kids were. When I was done with that, I headed back out, making my way to the bar. I know I eat there way more than I should, but I wasn’t much of a cook, not like some of the guys. I also know it wasn’t healthy for me to do so as often as I did, but that didn’t stop me from doing it. Besides, what was the point in sitting at home and eating alone when I knew there would be plenty of brothers at the bar to talk with while we eat?
- Writer
