Jamie Ch. III

Chapter III



       The limosine sped away while Jamie was still passed out, and the reason she passed out was slipping deeper into a vibratory slumber of his own. Their cool compartment was as silent as the night.  It was a different drum in the driver's compartment. Tom Petty & The Destroyers were "Running Down a Dream." 
The limo driver's head looked like a bobble head doll keeping time with the band. He was smoking a few cigarettes of his own. He opened the moon roof to let some smoke escape and to let some moon in.

       The driver pushed a button in between the driver and the passenger seat and up popped an ice cold Coke with ice still clinging to the frosted bottle. He closed the lid over the drink dispenser opening and he heard it automatically reload sounding like a spring loaded robot.

       At last, light was returning to her darkened mind. The lights return could have stemmed from the necessity created by her body's desire for more nicotine. Whatever it was, her shell shocked eyes were regaining their focus as she fumbled for her pack of smokes.
Her gaze has not yet fallen on the passenger with the darkness still in his eyes.

      Jamie pushed her own moon roof button and gazed up at the night sky whizzing by. Clouds were gathering to obscur the moon. For a second it felt like the limo had just jumped a curb and through her moon roof she seen a very large, very identifiable letter M. The driver had gotten the munchies and decided to satisfy his palate. He picked up the limos phone and called to the back seat occupants.

     Jamie picked up the receiver and said,"Uh, hello?" "Ma'am, can I order you two anything?" asked the driver. She looked to the sleeping man beside her and relayed to the driver that he was still sleeping pretty hard. Her mind must have been still in shock because she still did not recognize the passenger beside her.

     She ordered a double cheeseburger, no pickles, small fries and a chocolate shake.Minutes later, in front of Jamie's seat, a beeping compartment opened automatically. A conveyer belt from the front of the limo had come to a sudden halt as a green laser beam was broken by the bag of food she had just ordered. She took possesion of the food and started eating in the dark. Her food had disappeared just as fast as a bug in a Venus fly trap.

      Then it was her turn to use the limo phone. She lifted it from its cradle and pushed the button
 which read Driver. "Hello?" answered the driver with Bob Seger in the background singing "Fire Lake".

Jamie asked what the chances were of her getting out and using the restroom and stretching her legs a little bit. The driver exited the vehicle and suddenly appeared at her door and opened it . He asked Jamie,"Do you have a cell phone?" She thought the question odd. Confiding that she did, he asked if he'd be able to use her phone while she went inside. As Jamie was walking into the fast food restaurant, he began his tedious task of quickly dismantling her cell phone and removing the G.P.S. chip which was pre-installed at the factory. She will have no idea it is missing upon returning to the limo. She has just become untraceable.    

     The driver and Jamie's dad were talking on the limo phone as she was returning. Her dad noticed she was on her way back and promptly alerted the driver. After hanging up, the driver abruptly opened his door and scurried to open hers, thanking her immensely for the use of her cell phone as he handed the G.P.S.less version back to her. As she climbed into the limo her eyes met once more with those steel blue eyes that had snatched her from the asphalt earlier this afternoon. "Dad? I thought..." she stammered. "Shhh...I know. I know. "But you...YOU'RE!" "The news...I". She could not finish one sentence to save her life.

     Her dad lit two cigarettes and removed them from his lips, then he handed one to her as he turned on her Vibrate button."Relax Jamie...Relax." They both blew their smoke toward the moon roof at the same time and that seemed to ease the tension a little bit. He smiled.

     "Jamie honey, this wasn't supposed to happen so soon." He was digging for truth as deep as he could without sounding too far-fetched. "I don't want too seem overly portentious, but a certain someone, a high up someone from within the circle of a certain drug cartel have been filling many empty pockets to see me dead for awhile now. Todays charade was the only way to throw those dogs off to sniffing in a different direction. I was scouring your neighborhood today trying to find you, to see how you were. Try carrying ten years of guilt around on your shoulders and see if it don't hurt your back. I had a feeling you were probably mad about the way I had left, and figured all you had to go on was what your momma had to say about me. She knew the dangers of the work I was doing, but you were too young to understand. You were just too young."

     She blinks a lot when she tries to digest a whole volumn of undigestable information all at one time. Just like her old man. He's just learned to control his a little better. It probably felt like there was a fan in the back seat. She felt that she was about to tear up, but she stayed strong and heard him out. She did not like not being believed herself, so why not start right here giving someone the benefit of a doubt that she wished that someone would've extended to her under similar circumstances. She was really trying to understand. She really was. She just smoked and listened to what he had to say.

     "So, is your momma still drinking?" "Dad, she's in the hospital. I think she has gone insane. I think she'll be committed. Suicidal tendencies, you know." "Well, if that happens, what are you going to do? Do you have somewhere you can stay?", he asked in an assumptive caring tone. "Not really", was her reply. "Would you consider coming along with me until she's better. Give me a chance to show you the me you've never gotten to know. Let me try to make some of it up to you." Jamie interjected, "Well, at least I know that you have nine lives." "Is that why you were walking alone on the side of the road this morning?" She shook her head. "Well, no daughter of mine is going to live out on these mean streets. You are coming with me, and I won't take no for an answer. That's final."

     "This is where you say, "Sure, why not?", he said with a wink. "I..I, o.k., I'll go with you. Where are we going?" she asked with her happy eyes. He said, "Anywhere, everywhere. You name it and we're there!" "C'mon, really!" "Really!" So she was about to test the waters of her dream come true. "O.k., let's go to Maui. I hear the surfing is fantastic!" "Maui it is." Her eyes quickly scanned his for the lying twitch that mom said he had. He got on the limo phone and called the driver,"Giles, to the airport at once." She heard Giles retort, "Yes Sir!" After Giles extinguished his last joint, Jamie felt the mad acceleration of the limo beneath the first full moon of summer, dashing them toward the... airport? They each lit another cigarette and grabbed another chilled Perrier'. At this moment in time truth and silence had become golden allies. Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" was playing up front tickling Giles senses. -"I'll see you on the dark side of the moon..."

     "Dad?" "Yeah, Jamie?" "Can we take the limo over to Maui with us?"  "Sure, babe. We'll ship 'er over. It'll meet up with us in a few days." "Awesome, awesome, awesome!" She was so excited. So excited. With all arrangements secure, the three of them walked through the airport and were met by their personal pilot. His tag read Willy Giles Jr. Jamie thought,"This is too cool!" "Hiya Dad", he said to Jamie's limo driver. "Whaz up, Jr.?", shot back Jamie's dad with a hearty handshake and a ruffling of his hair. "Oh, before we go any further, this is my daughter Jamie." Jr. had a Wal-Mart bag beneath his arm which had four cartons of Marlboros (in the box). "Hiya Jamie, ya comin' along for the ride?" She nodded. He said,"Sweeet, Oh, these are for you." She blushed and said, "Thanks...um..." Jr. noticed she was wondering what to call him and offered,"You can call me anytime." He smiled. "I mean, most of my friends call me Willy G. Jamie, or just plain 'ol Jr. will suffice" "I will Willy, thank you so much."

     Aboard the Lear jet reminded Jamie of the Limo they had just chartered on the ship. Vibrating seats, six person theatre, full bar, oh my. The port windows were not as dark as the tint job on the limo. This was Jamie's first flight and she had the butterflies supping on that nectar of blotter acid feeling. She took a window seat and watched the runway sink into the earth, or were they rising?
      Jamie's nose stayed affixed to the window, even though she was fogging it up. She etched a smiley face. When they were no longer over land, Jamie thought that this was one of the most spectacular sights that she had seen in her life. The peaceful Pacific, the jet-black Pacific, with the moon's fullness escorting each wave back to California. She pinched her own arm and the butterflies flew away.
      Jamie could hear some hip hop tune blaring into Willy G's headset coming from the pilot's cabin."Now watch me Youuuule..., Crank that soulja boy,
 Youuuule..., Crank that soulja boy."
She thought it was cute that he had a bobble head just like his daddy. She thought that he was cute. Period.