The clouds covered the sky, hiding the morning sun. It was a nice break from the immense heatwave that had recently ran through Chicago. Now it was still hot out there but it was nice compared to the recent temperatures. The streets were a bit busier then usual do to this break in heat, there were people everywhere. Walking about, chit chatting with each other and all in all enjoying themselves. Marta was seated on a park bench taking in the serenity of the day. 

That was until she spotted him, he was everything a classic tourist was. He was dressed in his I love Chicago t-shirt, had a camera around his neck and was looking around as if he was lost. Now normally Marta wouldn't have paid him much mind at all but lately she had been practicing her pick pocketing skills. It wasn't for the money, she didn't need the money. She just wanted to hone her skills a bit more, since thieving wasn't her strongest attribute. 

She stood up from the bench and yawned while stretching, while trying not to stand out too much. Though with the amount of people about that wasn't going to be an issue. She watched as the tourist took out his map and looked it over. Once satisfied in his plan he tucked it back in his pocket and began walking. 

Marta slowly began to follow him, she got more and more nervous as the time passed. It was definitely something she was uncomfortable with but knew it was something she had to learn to do. Now this wasn't her first time, she successfully picked the pockets of a couple members of the durden gang when they were running around the streets but that was like taking candy from a baby. Not much skill involved in those attempts, the tourist was a step up from them though, this was her chance to see if she could sneak his wallet from his pocket. 

She began following him, waiting for the right time to slip her hand into his pocket. Once she thought the moment was correct she made her move. Reaching for his pocket, her nerves were on edge as a rush of adrenaline coursed through her body. This was the moment, she bumped into the man while quickly grabbing the wallet from his pocket. He looked back at her from the bump as she looked towards him. 

"Mie scuse!" She said with a smile. Growing up in Italy, Marta was efficient in Italian in fact she preferred it over English. She often didn't care if most couldn't understand her but if it was important enough she would speak in English. Which she also spoke just as well. 

The man just looked at her and smiled as if he wasn't bothered. That was until he felt his pockets and realized his wallet was gone. 

"Did you just steal my wallet? Thief! Give it back to me!" 

"Eh? Di cosa stai parlando?"

He hadn't the slightest idea what she was saying but noticed an officer in the distance. He screamed louder to get the officers attention. 

"Thief! Thief! She stole my wallet."

His cries for help were heard, Marta looked over her shoulder and noticed an officer walking towards them. It was time for her to get out of here. She started to walk away, that was until she felt a grip around her wrist, a very tight grip.

"You aren't going anywhere, except jail." The tourist blurted out. 

Marta tried to pull away but his grip was too strong for her to break loose. She knew she had to get out somehow, she couldn't end up in jail for this. She needed to think quick, really quick. That's when it hit her, there was one way to bring a man to his knees. With a smile she moved towards him and drove her knee into his groin. He immediately dropped to ground, letting go of her wrist. It was that moment she could hear the loud footsteps of the officer closing in on them. 

Marta looked over her shoulder the officer was within 20 feet of them and starting to slow up his pace as he neared them. Thinking she wasn't going to do anything out of the ordinary. Only if he had known though. The moment she turned back around she began sprinting, ducking and maneuvering through the crowd. The officer was keeping pace with her though, as she continued to run through the streets. She hooked the corner onto Madison Ave and looked back over her shoulder. 

By the time she looked back around it was too late, as she was face to face with an older gentleman with quite some long hair. She tried to avoid him but their shoulders still collided, sending Marta tumbling to the ground. She hurried up to her feet and dove into the car he was getting into. He stood there confused and was about to speak until Marta turned around with her hands held together while mouthing the words "please" then bringing her finger to her mouth making the hush sign.   

It was a fairly normal day for Willie, he had woke up, grabbed Trigger, and was working on a few new songs; while hot boxing his bathroom. The kind of multitasking he was good at. After a few hours he felt like he was making some pretty good progress on the song but he had also developed a really bad case of the munchies, so it was time for break. 

He put Trigger away and headed down to the kitchen to find something to eat. To his extreme disappointment however there was no food anywhere, nothing in the cupboards, nothing in the fridge... it was all bare.

"God damn, need groceries again." He said to himself as he walked back out of the kitchen.

He was still extremely hungry so he decided he should head out and find somewhere to grab a quick meal, and get some groceries too... after he had eaten something quick of course. There was no way he could wait long enough to get groceries and come home before he ate. He headed back up to the bedroom, tossed on his Power Ranger jump suit and grabbed his wallet from the night table. 

As Willie got out to the road where he had parked his car he paused for a minute and glanced around. There was an awful lot of people out and about today! Just then somebody slammed into the side of him bouncing off his shoulder.

"Ouch! What the hell?!" He turned around, feeling kind of startled, just on time to see a blonde woman peel herself off of the sidewalk and drive head first into the back seat of his car.

"What the..." Willie started to say but was quickly interrupted. She seemed to be begging him to shut up. She kept shushing him and mouthing the word please. 

Willie was extremely confused, and couldn't really believe the nerve of this woman... jumps in his car and then tells him to be quiet! She did look to be quite flustered though, something had her in a panic so he figured he would just go along with it. She must be in some sort of trouble, and besides... Willie liked to think he was a nice guy, and a nice guy would help out the stranger.

As Willie walked around to the driver side of the car he was almost ran over again, this time by a large police officer. The officer didn't even acknowledge that he had almost flattened Willie, he just kept shouting 'thief' but seemed to be running aimlessly... at least there didn't appear to be anyone up ahead, not that Willie could see. On the bright side at least he hadn't dove into Willie's car. 

Willie hopped in the drivers seat of his car and laughed as he noticed that the blonde lady was now laying as flat as she could on the floor of the car. Willie smirked as he realized what was actually going on. He started the car and pulled out into traffic before speaking.

"Hello there, I am Willie! He said glancing over at her as she finally sat up in the back seat.

'Who are you and what in the world did you do?!"

Once she felt the car moving, Marta's nerves calmed down quite a bit. It was at that moment she felt safe, well at least safe from the law. She wasn't really sure what she had gotten herself into with this guy but at least knew that she wasn't going to prison today. Well then again at least in this moment, she couldn't guarantee what would happen later this evening. 

She peered over the back seat to make sure that no one was tailing them before propping herself up in the back seat. She fixed up her hair some then checked out the couple scrapes she had from her tumble before directing her attentions to the man driving. 

"Thank you, I could have swore I was going to jail tonight." She said with a chuckle before quickly cutting it off. She wasn't sure if the guy driving the car was going to be ok with a comment like that. She could see his eyes in the rear view mirror giving her a bit of a look before he shook his head with a chuckle of his own. 

"Well I kind of gathered you were up to something of now good when I seen that officer run by me. That was a big dude, he would have flattened you if he caught you."

Marta smirked and gave a looked out the back window once more. 

"Yeah, I think it would have hurt more then you checking me. Anyways, the name is Marta."

The man looked back in the mirror once more. "I'm Willie."

The name made her smile. 

"Willie... Well it's nice to meet you Willie. Thank you for covering my ass like that. Go figure all of that for this wallet."

She pulled the wallet out of her pocket and tossed it up to the front seat. "Tourists, guess they aren't as easy as targets as I thought. Then again I guess I got away at the end of the day. You can keep that wallet, a thank you for being in the right spot at the right time."

Willie picked up the wallet and opened it up as he drove. There was definitely enough money in there to cover a meal or two. He glanced back at Marta in his mirror.

"Well since you're here, I was going to go grab a burger at a place not too far from here, hungry?"

He glanced at the ID in the wallet before continuing

"Thomas is paying!"

Willie was starving still and just wanted to eat something, besides this Marta lady had intrigued him. What was a woman like this doing running around stealing money from tourists? Before she had a chance to answer about going for food however the conversation was interrupted by sirens behind them. They both turned around and saw that there was a police car following them. 

"How the hell? That cop ran right past us earlier?" Said Marta

"Yeah... I don't think this one is after you. You might have picked a bad get-away car. Hold on!" Willie slammed the peddle down and took a sharp right onto a side street.

He swerved in and out of traffic, on and off of side-walks, around more corners and small side streets... but no matter what he did he couldn't seem to shake the police car. 

"Sorry about this but I really can't afford to get caught right now, other than the pending charges for... ummm... stuff... you have no idea how how much money I owe in taxes!" Said Willie without turning around. 

​​​​​​​He really had to focus on the driving, he had nearly run over at least twenty pedestrians so far and really didn't need to add more charges than he already was. Luckily he was doing a good job dodging them so far. 

This continued for so long that eventually they were on a highway, and had left Chicago at least thirty minutes ago. Neither of them said anything... all you could hear was the siren behind them and the engine. Willie was starting to worry about running out of gas in the middle of no where's though, he was almost on empty already. He decided he better break the silence and at least warn Marta. He reached under his seat and pulled out a couple of pistols before tossing one of them back to Marta. 

"Soooo, I don't have much gas left so if we don't lose them soon things might get really dicey. No way i am being arrested! If we do get away... we are still gonna need to find a way back to Chicago, assuming that is where you are from?"

The sounds of the sirens sent a bit of a panic through Marta’s body. She thought she had gotten away just to have gotten in the wrong car, go figure another person within the business. The worst part about this was whatever he was involved in, she was now involved in as well. Karma has its ways and she was dealing with it now. 

With a shrug and a smile she began laughing, the thought of it cracked her up. Plus the weaving in and out of traffic had her sliding back and fourth in the back seat. It was as if she was on a roller coaster. 

“Faster! Come on more weaving in and out. Drive this thing like it was meant to be driven!”

She could see Willie looking in the rear view mirror at her, well he could have been looking at the cops chasing them but she was pretty sure he was looking at her.

”What? Oh come on you have to find the humor in all of this, how often does someone run from the cops just dive into a car to avoid the cops. Moments later to be chased by the cops again because of another situation. It’s funny!” 

She continued laughing, Willie definitely didn’t find it funny as he tossed a gun in the backseat and actually explained everything to her. From the fact he wasn’t going to jail to the lack of gas in the car. He was expecting to go out guns blazing but that was because he didn’t know where he was. 

“You do know that we are going North right?” 

“North? I have no idea which way I’m driving.”

”Well then it’s a good thing I’ve been paying attention. We are miles from the Wisconsin boarder and if I remember correctly those cops can’t cross state boarders, right?”

Willie kept glancing in his rear view mirror, he wasn't checking for the cop car though. Marta was flying back and forth like a pinball and he found it extremely amusing for some reason. The sight of this small blonde woman flying back and forth was pretty funny, plus she seemed to be really enjoying it. He actually made a point to continue swerving like a crazy person even though they were on a long straight highway by this point. They might end up dead or in jail but Willie was too amused to care much right now.

Between the 'Wee's!' and the encouraging remarks Marta had pointed out that they were not too far from the border to Wisconsin, apparently the police couldn't follow them into another state. He wasn't quite sure that was true but it was the best chance they had at getting away right now. They passed a sign and Willie thought he could make out the word 'Wisconsin' but he wasn't sure... his eyes weren't what they used to be.

"Hey, what does that sign say?" Willie asked as he was trying to squint to read it.

"It says three miles to the border!" Marta replied as she tumbled over to the passengers side and bumped her head on the window.

Willie looked down at the gas meter, he figured he could probably make it. It was on empty though so he decided he should stop with all the swerving and go in a straight line. As long as the cops didn't ram them off the road of start shooting they should be alright. Just as that though crossed his mind both happened at the same time. There was a loud thud as the cop car rammed into the back of their car and the sound of a gunshot as a bullet whizzed past his ear shattering both the front and back windows.

"Oh for fucks sake..." Willie yelled as he began to swerve around again. At least when he was swerving around like a crazy person they had not bean getting shot at. He glanced into the rear view mirror, which he had pointed towards the back seat, and saw that Marta was now laying flat on her back.. obviously trying to stay down below the window, she was still being tossed around quite a bit though. 

'Welcome to Wisconsin'

Even Willie could make out that sign, as they drove past it he adjusted the mirror back to the road and sure enough the police car had stopped just before the sign.

"Yippee! We made it!" Yelled Willie, just as the car started to sputter and eventually come to a stop.

They both turned and looked out the back window, they were maybe five hundred feet past the border and the officer who had been following them was still parked their starring at them. 

"Hmm, this is a little awkward. Think he'll actually just stay over there?" Willie asked, hoping Marta would have some sort of plan for what they should do now. 

Marta continued to look out the back window as Willie began to question if the cop would continue to chase or not. She wasn’t really sure if he would follow or not but figured the suggestion was worth the shot. Hell it beat the alternative, which would have been a shoot out on the highway. Would have for sure been interesting but probably not the best option. 

A couple moments had passed, the cop still sat idle in his car. Now one had moved, except the normal traffic on the highway. It wasn’t that busy in the regards to traffic but that wasn’t super odd. It wasn’t often that mid week you had a lot of traffic going up to Wisconsin. That was more of a weekend thing from the people of Chicago. 

Marta glanced up to the front at Willie then back at the cop car.

”You know, I don’t think he’s gonna cross that line.”

Willie stuttered before finally getting out a couple words.

”What should we do?”

Marta thought about it for a for a moment then shrugged, while shimmying herself over to the door popping it open and taking a step out. Making sure to close the door behind her. The cop followed suit, opened his door and got out. He made his way to the front of his car and propped himself up on the hood. Marta began walking slowly towards the state line. The entire time the cop just sat there and watched just like Willie in the front seat. 

She turned her head around, Willie was still in the front seat. She could see his eyes looking at the cop through the mirror. She motioned for him to come out. She could see him shaking his head, Marta rolled her eyes and continued towards the state line. She stopped 20 feet from the line, the cop got off his hood and walked right to the line and stood there looking at her. 

“Why don’t you come a little closer lass?” He said with a smile. 

“Oh I bet you’d like that, wouldn’t you? 

She fluffed up her hair some then waved for Willie to come join her. 

Willie watched as Marta and the officer walked towards each other and stopped about 20 feet apart. This woman must be insane. What if he shoots her? Or just says fuck it and arrests her anyways? This was all very stressful. It looked like they were talking to each other but from the car Willie couldn't really be sure. After a few moments Marta turned around and began waving for Willie to come over... he was far too sober for this.

Willie began to tear through the car, he knew he had a bag of weed here somewhere. He eventually located it under the passengers seat and rolled up a joint before getting out of the car. He stood behind the car until it was gone and he was feeling a little more calm again. It appeared that Marta and the officer were still chatting, and feeling a little more brave now he headed over slowly. 

As he got closer he heard the end of what seemed be a strange conversation.

"...no no, I am sure it is lovely, but no that's not going to happen!" The officer was saying

"Alright then your loss!" Said Marta

Willie was confused, he had clearly missed the important details of whatever they were talking about.

"So, whats going on?" Willie asked, looking at Marta, he would have been satisfied by an answer from either of them though, this was a very strange situation and he wasn't sure what was going to happen. Neither of them answered though, Marta just laughed and the officer stood there arms crossed giving her quite the dirty look. Willie decided to turn his attention to the upset looking officer.

"So, um, you really can't come over here eh? You seem to be making sure not to cross that line." He asked

Just then the officer walked forward until he was maybe five feet away from them before stopping again.

"Of course I can go into Wisconsin old man, but I am not a police officer here so whats the point? Can't arrest you and you know it! Otherwise your friend here wouldn't be standing just out of my jurisdiction taunting me!"

Right as he finished talking Marta stuck her tongue out at him and started doing a little dance. It might have been all the pot he had smoked a few minutes earlier but Willie found this hilarious and all the stress was gone knowing the officer wasn't going to do anything as long as they stayed over here. 

Marta danced about in a circle around Willie, she could be a bit corky at times but it was who she was. You couldn't always live life so seriously and at this point the two have managed to stay out of prison. Yes they were in Wisconsin and yes they had no gas in the car but hell they weren't in the back of a police car. 

She stopped dancing momentarily and took in a deep breath of fresh air. To the realization that they indeed had no gas in the car. Now they had just passed an exit that had a gas station but there was an issue with that, it was in Illinois. She had no idea how far it was to the nearest station in Wisconsin. Marta turned to Willie. 

"Any idea where the next gas station is in Wisconsin?"

Willie looked at her with a confused looked. Seemed all the pot he had huffed down moments ago was in full affect. His eyes were glassed over and he couldn't stop smiling. This conversation wasn't going to go anywhere. So she turned her attentions to the cop who was still standing there with his arms crossed looking at the pair. 

"Uhm... You wouldn't happen to know how far it is to the nearest gas station, would you?"

Without hesitation the cop looked behind him while muttering a few words. 

"Of course I do, there's one just across the state line here. Care for me to give you a ride?"

Marta chuckled and was about to say something smart ass related but Willie beat her to it. 

"Sweet! Can you give us a ride man?"

The officer smiled and did an ushering gesture to the pair. "Of course I can but you'll have to ride in the back of my car."

Marta immediately began laughing, laughing to the point tears rolled off her cheeks. Willie stood there for a moment trying to digest the last little bit of the conversation. Until it finally all hit him as a smile crept from the corner of his mouth.

"Oh... I see what you all did there. That's a good one but seriously could you give us a ride?"

Marta immediately stopped laughing took one of her shoes off and threw it at Willie, hitting him in the back of the head. He slowly turned towards her and looked up at the sky. 

"What the hell! Shoes falling from the sky, must be a Wisconsin thing."

"Willie.... Really?"

"What?"

"Never mind...."

She walked over to her shoe, picked it up and put it back on then grabbed him by the forearm. 

"We need to go find gas, here in Wisconsin not over there in Illinois. You get it?"

Willie was extremely confused now. That lovely man back there had offered to give them a ride but Marta was dragging him in the other direction now... he turned his head as they walked to say bye.

"I guess we are going this way! thanks for the offer!" He yelled

As they walked down the side of the highway Willie was still trying to figure the whole shoe rain thing out in his head. As he began to sober up a little bit again he realised he was being ridiculous. What was in that damn weed? It didn't usually make him a space cadet.

"Hey what the hell? You threw a shoe at me!" Said Willie starring down at Marta's feet and recognising the weapon on her foot. 

"It was for your own good... you were trying to get yourself arrested." She responded

"Alright fair enough I guess... by the way, when we go find gas... what are we going to put it in? Also did you bring any money?" Willie asked checking his pockets and realising his wallet was back in the car. 

"We really don't need to get arrested in Wisconsin after all that"

"Ah damn, I didn't bring anything either. I don't know we will figure something out." She said, not actually sounding too worried.

After walking for probably an hour down the side of the road they finally spotted a gas station up ahead. Willie and Marta searched but could not find a can to carry the gas any where, not in the store, and not in anyone's cars. 

"Ah fuck this, I have a better idea" Willie said as he waved for Marla to follow him over to the pumps. there was an elder lady filling up her car and Willie waited until she headed inside to pay before rushing over. Luckily her keys were still in the car. He hopped in the passengers seat and looked up at Marta who didn't look overly impressed.

"Come on, your driving this time! You do know how right?" Marta reluctantly got in, pulled out of the gas station and headed up the road farther into Wisconsin.

"Um, I know the cops were after us and all but we gotta go home eventually don't we?" Willie asked

"They are probably going to be looking for us here as well thanks to this brilliant plan of yours you dolt! We need to at least head to a city and switch cars. I am sure we can find some sucker to sell this thing to. Besides your car was trashed." she responded as she drove.

Marta kept driving, she wasn't completely sure where she was headed but knew they couldn't head back to Illinois just yet. She tried to keep her eyes on the road as much as possible but it was kind of hard with Willie as her passenger. He would often look out the window and try to analyze the clouds. 

"Hey look! That cloud looks like a sheep. Oh and that one looks like a cotton ball."

She didn't even have to look up before speaking. 

"All clouds look like cotton balls, you know Willie you are..." She decided against finishing that comment and he was lucky they were seated in the car otherwise it may have just rained shoes again. 

Just then they came upon a sign on the road. Milwaukee 5 miles. She turned to Willie who was still cloud gazing, he apparently didn't see the sign but curious Marta had to inquire about it. 

"Hey Willie... Willie."

He sat back in his seat and looked in Marta's direction. 

"Hey that's my name, what do you want?"

"Well yeah it definitely is your name, duh." Marta just shook her head before continuing. 

"So just passed a sign that said Milwaukee, what the hell is a Milwaukee?"

Willie looked at her with a serious look before he started laughing hysterically. 

"A Milwaukee... Did you seriously just ask me what a Milwaukee was?"

With a serious gaze in his direction Marta quickly turned the wheel to the right pulling off the highway onto the shoulder then slammed on the breaks. The force sent Willie into the dashboard. 

"Yes, I did! What's so funny about that?"

"Milwaukee is a city, like Chicago just smaller. The way you asked about it made it sound funny."

"Well I've never heard of it, so excuse me."

"We will be able to switch out this car up there no problem, so let's go step on that peddle."

Marta gave him a look then turned off the car, opened her door and stepped out. She bent down to look at Willie through the driver side window. 

"You know, I think it is your turn to drive now. I'm over it."

Willie was having a grand old time gazing out the window at all of the magnificent cotton ball shaped clouds in Wisconsin, when he was interrupted by Marta asking him what a Milwaukee was. Willie tried to stay serious but he could help it. Seriously what's a Milwaukee? He bust out laughing which must have bothered Marta, she pulled over to the side of the road and demanded that he drive. 

"Alright all right, my bad, I'll drive" Said Willie as he got out of the car.

Marta hopped into the passengers seat and before Willie could walk around the car and get in she locked all of the doors. She sat there with her arms crossed starring straight ahead like he wasn't out there. 

"Marta? Can I get in?" Willie asked with his face pressed up against the drivers window. She didn't respond...

"Marta? I don't think I can drive out here!" Willie said loudly into the glass as he knocked on the window. 

She still kept ignoring him so Willie pulled out a joint he had rolled earlier from behind his ear and went for a seat on the hood of the car. Before he could even light it he heard Marta get back out and finally speak.

"No no no, you've had enough. Not another one! The door is open get in..." She said as she grabbed his sleeve and dragged him over to the drivers side. 

As Willie started the car back up and pulled back onto the highway he looked over at Marta before speaking. She still looked quite cross with him and Willie was confused.

"Marta? Why did it take you so long to realise you locked the doors? There is like 6 windows?" 

"Oh my, you really are special..." She responded, finally cracking a smile and failing to look to cranky.

Before long they were in Milwaukee, they drove straight to downtown and Willie pulled over and put the car in park on what seemed like a fairly busy street. 

"Alright then, guess we just need to find someone dumb enough to buy this thing for cash now! You should be good at this!" Said Willie.

Marta paused for a second before turning and staring at Willie.

"Hey Willie. Wanna buy a car? I'll give you a great deal!"

"Okay! You had a car this.... hey wait a second! I see what you did there, you are good at this." Said Willie, hanging his head in shame.

Marta laughed at him before getting out and waving at him to follow. 

"Don't worry, I got this!" She yelled back as he stepped out of the car to catch up. 

Marta began walking up the street, making sure to stay a bit ahead of Willie. Though with her short legs she wasn't able to stay ahead of him for long, in no time they were walking side by side. 

"Are you trying to be a speed racer of something? Slow down, take your time." He said while looking in her direction. 

Marta looked over at him and took a deep breath before responding. 

"Listen! I appreciate you covering for me back in Chicago but I wasn't expecting for all of this today. I just want to get back to Chicago and by the looks of it we still have a bit until that actually happens. So the quicker we switch out that car, the quicker we can start heading back in that direction."

Willie had been paying attention to her for the most part, that was until his attention was diverted elsewhere. She could see he was no longer looking at her but behind her with a stare. 

"Willie... Hey! Willie..."

She snapped her fingers in front of him to get his attention. It took a couple seconds but his focus went directly back to her. 

"Uhm, yeah ok." He responded. 

"Yeah ok? Did you even hear what I said?"

Willie shrugged with a smile. Marta hadn't known him long but he wasn't the easiest to talk to all the time. Some times she felt she would get more of a human responses out of a brick wall. 

"Come on Willie. It's hot out, we are hours away from home and I'm hungry. We have no cash on hand and a stolen car. Can we please get our shit together and make things happen?"

Willie face went from jovial to serious in a heartbeat. 

"Wait, you're hungry?"

"I'm starving."

"Now that you mention it, I'm a bit hungry as well. Actually not sure when the last time I ate was. Ok, ok let's dump this car then get a bite to eat. After that we can get another car and head back to Chicago, ok?"

Marta nodded in agreement

"Any idea's how to move that car?"

Marta seemed to be getting a little upset, she was actually a little scary when she was hungry apparently. 

"You know, I just wanted to go get a burger in the first place... it's not my fault you decided to leap into my car..." Willie said with a shrug

"Yeah yeah, lets just sell this damn thing" Said Marta as she suddenly crossed the road and appeared to be searching for something or someone in the crowd of people that were shopping in the stores. Willie scurried after her trying to keep up once again.

"Do you have some sort of plan here? I don't know what kind of person would buy a car for cash from a stranger." Said Willie, trying to catch his breath as he speed walked after her. 

"Just watch and learn!" Said Marta as she kept walking

This continued for a few minutes. Marta weaving through the crowded sidewalk while Willie tried to keep up, apologising to each person he bumped into. Finally Marta came to stop and jumped up onto the top of a garbage can to get a better view.

"Ah ha! Over there!" She yelled pointing off into the distance.

Willie couldn't see what she was pointing at and had no idea what her plan was still, but he didn't have much time to ask again. Marta suddenly jumped off the garbage can and ran through the crowd.. it took all the energy he had left to keep up. 

"You know, for someone who is hungry and tired you run some fast!" He shouted after her as he tried to keep her within sight. 

Marta was so far ahead that Willie didn't really understand how she did it... but by the time he caught up all he heard was Marta telling this small crowd of five or six men 'Alright its parked back here'. She began to walk back to where they had come from and the group she had been talking to followed right along. Willie figured it would be best to keep his mouth shut and just follow them, so he followed the group back to the car. At least they were walking at a decent speed this time. 

Marta stood at the car they had used to drive up to Milwaukee, she patted the roof like a car salesman would do. Not sure that tactic would work but anything was worth a go. Though at this point getting the group of guys over to the car to listen to her was half the battle. Come to think of it though, they may have just followed her cause of her looks. 

Willie finally made his way over to the car and squeezed through the crowd of guys, making sure to stand right next to Marta. He gave the vibe that they were in this together, which deterred a couple of the guys. As three of them promptly walked away, seemed they had no interest in the car only in Marta. That was ok though, it weeded out the riff raft leaving the true potential buyers there. Marta gave both of the guys a flirting like smile before speaking up. 

"So, as you guys know we are trying to get rid of this car. We are looking for either cash, a trade for another car or a little bit of both. Depending on what you'd offer of course. Now I'm going to level with you on this, I don't know much about cars. Hell I'm not even sure what kind of car this is but I will tell you it is really nice. It drives like a champ and it's fast, any bit faster and it would honestly freak me out being a passenger."

She watched as both guys walked around the car then looked on the inside, they popped the hood to that a look as well before making their way back over to Marta and Willie. 

"So, what's the catch with this car?" The one guy asked. 

"There's no catch, we just don't want it anymore."

The guys glared at her then glared at Willie. 

"Truthfully, tell me. Is this car stolen?"

Marta smiled then chuckled. 

"Well, it's not actually ours if that is what you are asking."

With that comment one of the two guys without saying anything walked off, leaving just the one guy still in the conversation. He didn't budge, in fact he seemed a bit more intrigued now then he did before. 

"Ah, I see. So where did you happen to find this? He inquired. 

At this point Marta wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. It could have been a trap, then again he could have just been one of those in the business type guys. Marta gave him a look up and down, trying to figure him out some then glanced over at Willie. 

"Tell me, why you so interested in this car?"

The man smiled then took a step closer to the pair. 

"I know how to get rid of cars, make them disappear, make them new again. So you found the right guy."

The guy took a step back to give the car one more look over. 

"You managed to get a good car, that I'll tell you. I don't see many of these. I tell you what, I'll take this one off your hands and I'll give you another in it's place. Sound like a deal?"

Marta chuckled to the sound of that, the guy already expressed the rarity of this car and she was going to use that against him. 

"Aye, a car sound good. Though you have to throw some cash into the deal as well. We want a decent, nothing fancy car and 3 grand."

The guy laughed at her then gave a glance over to Willie who was still just standing there quietly before directing his attentions back to Marta. 

"I'll give you a grand on top of it all."

"Eh, how about $2,750."

"$1,500?"

"$2,500 and that's my lowest otherwise I'll just find someone else."

The guy paused for a moment then stretched out his hand meeting hers to shake on it. She glanced over to Willie with a smile. 

"Hey Willie, you want to handle the rest?"

Willie still didn't realise how she had done it, but Marta had somehow talked this guy into taking the stolen car, giving us a different car to drive home with.. and some money. Impressive, he figured this Marta was going to make a good friend.

He nodded in agreement as she asked him to take care of the rest.

"Hope in, I'll drive" Said the man who was buying the car. 

Alright, Willie got in the passengers seat and Marta hopped in the back before Willie handed him the key. 

"Oh, I am Bill by the way. Nice to meet you both!" The man said as he pulled out and sped down the street.

He must have been going at least double the speed limit, and blowing through every stop sign they passed. 

"Hey Bill?... Maybe don't get us arrested before we get our new car eh?" Said Willie as he dug through his pockets.

Willie found the joint he wasn't able to smoke earlier and lit it right there in the car. This was a stressful drive and he needed it. This guy 'Bill' was making their police chase earlier seem like good driving. 

"Really Willie? At least roll down your window..." Marta said with a sigh from the back, she seemed shockingly calm. 

"Right my bad" Said Willie as he cracked open his window a little. 

After about ten minutes of this they suddenly took a sharp turn into an open garage door that seemed to come out of no wheres. Bill parked the car and Willie quickly grabbed the keys and hopped out. 

"Alright, chill dude.. be back in a minute" Said Bill as he walked into the attached building and left them there by the car.

After a few minutes he returned and handed Marta a stack of cash without saying a word. She began to count the money and Bill nodded for Willie to follow him further back into the garage. The garage they were in was huge, as they walked it didn't seem like it would ever end. |Finally he stopped and pointed at an older looking car. 

"It's a little bit old but it runs fine, tank is full... it'll get you home" Said Bill as he tossed Willie a key and took the other key from him in exchange.

Willie hopped in and immediately tried to stick his half smoked joint into the ignition. 

"Oops.. wrong hand." Willie looked around hopping nobody had seen that before putting the key in and starting the car.

He was relieved when the car started and everything seemed to be good. He didn't even wanna think of what Marta might say or do if he returned without a working car. He drove the car back up to the front of the garage where Marta was before reaching over andswinging the passenger door open.

"I guess we are good to go?" 

Marta looked up from the money and starred at the car for a few seconds with her head tilted and a slightly confused look on her face. 

"What?" Willie asked, hoping she hadn't already noticed something he missed.

"Um.. never mind it's nothing." Marta replied as she finally got into the car and closed the door. 

"So, um... we good to go?" Willie asked again.

"Yeah its all here... lets go get some damn food!" She said as they pulled out of the car garage and back onto the street. 

"New car, well old new I guess and a pocket full of money. I'd say this whole thing has worked out quite well so far."

Marta glanced over at Willie just about the same time he glanced over at her. 

"Well, minus the whole getting to this point thing. I mean we could have done without that cop chasing me in the park, the cop chasing you through the city and then the same cop chasing us up to the boarder. Oh and don't forget about running out of gas."

That's when it hit her, Willie's car was still sitting on the side of the highway just past the Wisconsin boarder. It wasn't her car nor did she have anything in it but she was pretty sure that Willie would have liked to have it back.

"Willie! I completely forgot about your car. It's still sitting on the side of the highway without gas. Well at least it should still be there, unless someone took it but that'd be kind of hard without gas."

It had been quite some time now as many hours have passed, she doubted that the cop was still going to be sitting across the boarder in Illinois. Then again she truly didn't know what protocol was for that. Before she was able to mutter anything else out Willie pulled the car off to the side of the road on one of the main streets. Right in front of a burger joint, the smell instantly came through the opened windows making Marta's stomach growl. A growl that could be heard by her and Willie alike. 

"Whoa! Did that just come out of you?"

Marta smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, I told you I was hungry."

Willie turned off the car and began to open his car door but Marta was quickly to stop him. 

"Hey! How about you stay here with the car, I'll run in and grab us some food. All I can see is us both going in there and coming out to no car, it's been that kind of a day. So yeah, you just stay here. Anything in particular that you want?"

Willie closed his door and turned the car back on before glancing at the burger joint. 

"Yeah you're probably right, I'll just stay here. I want the biggest burger they have, french fries, onion rings and a diet soda."

Marta gave him a funny look at the diet soda request. The guy basically want's everything possible yet orders a diet soda, who does that? She just had to question him on it. 

"A diet soda? Seriously?"

"Yeah, it's for the flavor not for the diet. Duh!"

Marta didn't even feel like digging deeper into this, the hunger was starting to cloud her judgement. Without another word she opened the door, got out and made her way into the burger joint. A couple moments later she returned to the car with two bags of burgers and such. She opened the bag pulled out her burger, unwrapped it and took a bite. It instantly brought her into a better mood but could feel Willie staring at her, cause she had yet to hand him the bags. Marta finished her bite, then took another before finally handing Willie one of the bags. 

"These are so good, like really good. I really needed this, cause I was close to being homicidal. We should eat on the road though, would be nice to start the trek back. Shit... your car, what are we gonna do about that?" 

"Wahh ma hahhet... hin ah car!" Said Willie, while stuffing his face with all of the food Marta had just brought him.

"Ah, first of all... gross... second of all... what?!?" Marta replied 

Willie held up his finger to indicate he needed a minute, and pointed to his mouth, just in case she didn't understand. When he finished chewing he tried again.

"My wallet is in the car! Would be nice to grab it, also, can we use some of that money to grab some gas and a gas can on the way?" 

"Sure I suppose" Said Marta before they both continued to stuff their faces. 

Willie pulled out of the burger joint and started looking for a gas station. There was no chance he was gonna go back to the one they had stole that other car from, he had had enough excitement for the day already. A few minutes later he spotted a gas station up ahead and parked outside by the pumps before running in.

Luckily for Willie they had cans inside so he grabbed one, filled it up, and then realised Marta had the money. He opened the passengers door and Marta looked up at him as she took a sip of her soda. 

"Um, can I can some money?" Willie asked, twiddling his thumbs as he waited for her to finish drinking and answer him.

She didn't even say anything, just handed him a hundred dollars and continued to eat her food. Willie headed in and paid for the gas can and the gas then returned to the car and tossed it in the trunk before getting back in to drive away and finish his food.

By the time they finished their food they were back at Willies car. It had seemed like much more driving on the way in to town. Willie pulled up behind his beat up car with the smashed windows. It was in rough shape. He got out and grabbed the gas from the trunk and then walked up to his car, thankfully his wallet was still sitting on the floor and he grabbed it and tossed it in his pocket.

Willie then took the cap off the gas can and dumped the entire thing all over the seats, dash and roof of the car before walking back to their new car. Marta swung the door open as he got their..

"Willie? What the hell are you doing? I though you wanted to drive your car back home?" 

"Meh, I don't want it anymore...." Said Willie as he grabbed the food wrappers off the floor by Marta's feet and balled them up. He took out his matches, lit the ball of food wrappers on fire... and tossed it through the smashed back window like a baseball. He stood there amused by the giant flames and crackling noises for a few minutes before Marta spoke again and snapped him out of it. 

"Come on Willie, we need to get out of here!" She shouted from the car.

She probably had a point, it was dark out by now and the giant ball of flame he had just created on the side of the highway was bound to draw some attention. He rushed back over to the drivers seat and hopped in.

"Alright, lets get back to Chicago then. By the way... can we share this car? I just realised I don't have one...." Said Willie looking over at Marta for an answer as he pulled out onto the highway again. 

Marta watched for a moment as Willies old car was engulfed with flames. It was quite fascinating watching the flames dancing, the popping sounds of the seats and whatever else was melting inside the car. It was getting dark though and it wouldn’t have been long before the fire was noticed which would have attracted the firemen and policemen. 

Would have been an amazing continuation of the day, a day that Marta just wanted to to be over. 

“Yeah, please let’s get out of here. We don’t need to have the cops show up here with us still here. We’d never get back to Chicago tonight if that was the case.”

Willie nodded as he knew she was right, he turned the car back on and made a uturn to head back towards Chicago. The ride back down to Chicago was a quiet one, so quiet in fact that Marta crawled up in a ball and leaned her seat back as far as she could. A couple long blinks turned into a full fledged sleep.

It was the result of a full stomach and a crazy day. Plus at this point she felt comfortable that Willie was the trustable kind. She slept the rest of the way back into Chicago until they were back where they started. Her sleep was so deep that it took Willie actually shaking her to wake her up. 

“Marta! Hey, Marta wake up!”

Marta slowly opened her eyes and say up when she realized the car was in park. 

“Where are we?” She asked inquisitively.

”Oh we’re back in good ole Chicago, you slept the entire time. I didn’t know where to drop you off so I figured just go back to the spot we met.”

Marta looked around to get her bearings, which didn’t take her too long. She opened the door and took a step out, stretching the moment she stood upright. She reached into her pocket and took out the remaining cash from selling the other car. She counted half of it and tossed it onto the dashboard. 

“Keep the car and that’s half of the cash. Was a hell of a day Willie, hope to catch you around town sometime.”

 Before Willie was able to respond Marta tucked her hands into her pocket and started to walk back to her headquarters for a proper sleep.