"Time to call it a day," Wooley said.
"Looks like Billy already has," Bobbie said pointing to me asleep in my recliner in front of the wood stove. "I'll wake him up so he can go home."
"Leave him there," Donny said. "It's his night to stay in the shop."
"But won't he get cold," Bobbie asked.
"If he does he'll wake up and put more wood on the fire," Steve said.
"Well the least we can do is put a couple of these blankets on him," Bobbie said reaching for some old movers blankets we stored on a shelf.
"Don't do that," Wooley said.
"Why not?" Bobbie asked.
"'Cause then he won't wake up and stoke the fire," Donny said.
"And the shop will be cold when we come back to work tomorrow," Wooley added.
"You guys are just mean," Bobbie said as she laid the blankets over me.
"That's why I like having you around," I whispered. "Now go enjoy the night off and let them think I slept through the whole thing."
_______
The Downtown Greensboro Interdimensionals thought they had it all smoothed over with the City of Greensboro. A special panel consisting of two city council members and three Downtown Greensboro Interdimensionals agreed to meet privately for 3 months to work out their issues. Then a local blogger made known the fact that because the Downtown Greensboro Interdimensionals were publicly funded, their meetings had to be open to the public. And to make matters worse it was discovered that Downtown Greensboro Interdimensional board members were granting public funding to their own board members. There was little doubt that before it was over, Auction Greensboro and the Guilford Partnership would be implicated as well.
________
Veggie (Remember Veggie?) Veggie and I had been busy buying up as many shares of Wackemall Inc. stock as we could get our hands on. The price had fallen to less than a penny a share so it wasn't hard to do. We, along with Burnup and Singed Attorneys At Law, who were also buying up shares, were making plans to convert Wackemall Inc. back into a privately owned corporation or possibly an employee owned co-op if it managed to survive that long. Our goal was to build legacy companies that would adhere to the dreams we had when we started them all those years ago even long after we both were long gone and as partners in the venture Burnup and Singed were happy to do their part.
I was thinking about how the world had changed and all the things I had seen that Bobbie and John would never get to see. When I was their age I was trucking for a living when I wasn't riding with outlaw bikers or following Veggie around the world. Back then, all the truck-stops were mom and pop operations so the food was always local. Real New England Clam Chowder one day, Lexington Style BBQ the next day, Crayfish Gumbo the following day, real Tex-mex the day after that-- the eating was as much of the adventure as the trucking and travel. Now days, coast to coast all the truck stops have the same menu and the interstates and industrial parks all look the same. That's progress and I got to witness it first hand. Bobbie, John and the rest of America's young will never know the America I once knew, condemned to forever spend their lives in what developers and city planners call, vanilla boxes.
How long would it be before workers in America lived in warehouse conditions spending seven days and seven nights a week at the job because, like in China, it's either too far or too expensive to go home at night?
_______
I woke up about eight that night to the sound of someone coming into the shop. We deliberately don't lubricate the hinges on the doors for that very reason. I reached into my pocket for my revolver when I heard Bobbie say, "Are you hungry? I made you some dinner."
"Really," I said, "Why the surprise?"
"Because you're such a nice boss," Bobbie replied, "and so you won't get hungry while you're taking me for a ride on the Wackemall 750."
"But it's my night to stay here," I said.
"You have no social life," Bobbie said. "You need to get out more and Steve said he's cover for you so no excuses."
"But I thought you didn't like riding behind men?"
"It's okay riding behind Grandpa," Bobbie said. "Besides, maybe you'll meet somebody there."
"Or maybe you will," I said.
"Maybe I will," Bobbie smiled. "I hope you like vegetarian."
"If it swims, flies, walks, runs, crawls, slithers or grows in the ground I probably eat it," I laughed.
"So tell me," Bobbie asked, "why is it that John and I don't have to take turns spending the night at the shop?"
"Because you're employees and not partners," I replied. "Yet."
"Did you just say, yet?" Bobbie asked.
"Someday," I said, "When it's time for me to go, someone will be needed to replace me. As I no longer have any heirs you have the chance to earn it. It won't be easy and you'll probably work harder and longer than those who end up being your partners but while it's not much it's our dream that our heirs will make something great of it."
"But why me?" Bobbie asked.
"Because one night a while back you took the time to make a very lonely and very sad old man who had just lost his only son feel very good about himself when no one else could. And because tonight you've just done it again."
After we ate we went out to Boston's House Of Jazz & Blues to hear Bobbie's friend, Lemar Gibson sing.
What a good time it was. Did I meet anybody? Did Bobbie meet anybody? Maybe we'll tell you later.
Continue to Dangerous Men.
