Her One and Only part 5: Meat Market
#5 of Her one and only
(Another short one. Like I said, I'm a procrastinator. It didn't help I started another series, either.)
She remembered his truck. It was a dark blue, single cab, quarter-ton pickup. She had to find him. But first...
She headed back to the apartment and opened the garage. It didn't take her long to find that baseball bat of hers; the one she used to defend her lover from those pricks so many years ago. Despite not holding the aluminum bat since college, it still felt natural in her paws, like it was part of them. She stuffed it down the front of her jacket before driving off to find her nemesis.
She figured that he shouldn't be too hard to find, seeing as it's hard to find work as a deadbeat ex-con. He must live not too far from his friends or his work, so that narrows her search. She doesn't know where any of them live, except that it is in the asshole of this city.
She recalled after one argument, he named a slummy motel, the one that's run by someone who is as willing to steal from their customers as they are to give them a room.
It was in the middle of an abandoned lot, the ‘Sunview Motel.' A Vacancy sign flashed feebly in the noonish sun under a sign that proudly proclaimed ‘Cable TV!' and ‘Air conditioning!'
She parked out of view of the main office and rooms so that her bike couldn't be identified, and walked into the warm office. Her helmet remained on to hi her identity more. "I'm looking for Paul Gent. Does he have a room here?"
The attendant was an old, fat pony, who seemed to have seen better days over her years. Before Natasha entered, her nose was buried in a house designer's magazine. "Paul gent? Yes, he does, and may I ask why you need to know?"
"Someone dear to him is in the hospital. She was in a hit-and-run accident."
"Oh, really?" The chubby pony took on a look of mock concern. She was trying...horribly...to be consoling, but failed horribly. "The poor dear, too bad. Was it someone close?"
"Was," she replied in a tone that could have been mistaken for sadness, but was full of wrath. "They had a falling out years ago, but all I've heard from him is how much he's sorry and wants to get together with her again."
"Oh, well maybe now's the time, huh?" The clerk said with a wink.
Tasha wasn't amused. "Can I get to his room? Or where he is now?"
The pony took everything and ate it like it was another doughnut. "He's at work now, but-"
"Where does he work?" She asked quickly. "I just have to tell him in person,"
"At, uh, Clampton's Meat Mart in the packing district."
"Thank you, very much," she finished in a warm tone. She walked out before the old equine could bid her farewell, and drove away before she went back to her magazine.
***
It was close to the evening now, as this place was a bitch to find After a little driving and asking around, she made it to her destination, and there in the front parking lot was the truck.. She walked up to the short truck and broke the driver window with her bat. She dug all around it and found a flick knife in his glove compartment. She took the knife, as it might come in handy for her plan.
She then opened up the fuse box and used a skill she thought she would never use: hotwiring. She learned in high school, but only from watching someone else. The process, however, played in her mind as she envisioned herself as her rebellious friend taking a car for a pleasure drive. With some cuts and wires, the truck started up. Using his tire iron, she locked the gas pedal to the floor. It's engine roared loudly until she let her paw off of the brake. It reared forward, and she was already on her bike by the time the truck crashed through the meat store, and she was long gone by the time the cops arrived.
She hoped he got the message.
***
After killing a little time and returning her bat to the garage, she made her way back to the hospital to see her lover. "Perfect timing, Tasha," Maddie said warmly but weakly.
"Heh, dinner for two, eh?" The male nurse entered with two platters. He was a gray wolf that stood a little taller than 6' with black hair and a thin strap of facial fur on his chin. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Not that anyone would do anything."
"Thanks," both Natasha and Madeline said. The nurse left them alone and carted the food away.
It was standard hospital food fare, nothing too glamorous or delicious, but every group was covered. They talked about how Maddie's stay at the hospital so far went when the news came up. One of the top stories was of an act of vandalism on a meat market. A truck belonging to one Paul Gent, who worked there, as used to destroy the family owned business. Foul play, obviously was the major suspected cause. Madeline knew the foul, but wasn't going to say anything about it.
"I love you...
"I love you, too..."
(Done for now. Shit's been coming up lately, and I have other storries to finish. I know this is a lame ending, but think of it more as a cliffhanger than an official ending.)