How I came to be making tortillas with Blue

I am different man from my father, that's for Goddamned sure!  My father was some no-mark in the air-force, who passed through my mother's town long enough to alter the course of her life for the rest of the three of them's life.  A simp, that's who he was.  A God-damned fool, with not sense enough to realize that he shoulda just left them both be.  But he didn't, tried to instil some sorta values in me, Jack, but very early on I realised that I didn't want anyone else's values, just my own.

I started off on my own, a bit of this,a bit of that.  I didn't go to school much.  Long enough to learn to read and write, and to count.  But I read.  I guess my first score was the local library.  I stole so many books out of there that I had to find a neglected barn to store them in.  A neglected barn.  Shit, that tells you all you need to know about my home town.  And the librarians, they didn't have sense in their heads to suspect me, at 13, or reading the books that were going missing.  So I was safe, stealing my books, and reading them in the neglected barn.  A sanctuary.  My sanctuary.  The farmer that owned the barn was from Idaho, of all places, if you can believe that, so I called my barn Idaho.  

But soon, Idaho became more than just a place to read.  Soon, I began to store all sorts of things, and these things, well, I got them on my late night cruises.  I called walking the street at night cruising because I was looking for something - I was looking to score.  I began noticing things.  Where and when there were night watchmen, and what their habits where.  I was looking to take what I wanted, and to bring it back to Idaho.  To start with, I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, but I did know that I wanted it.

Soon, I was done with living at home.  I still loved my mom and my pops, heck, I still do.  But they were them and I was me, and what I wanted was my own space, my own place, my own things and my own life.  So I started building that.  I'd go to the library, and I'd swipe some books.  I'd thumb a lift to the town across the way and graft.  To graft means to work, but to me, it meant to steal.  Sure, I'd sometimes take a bona fide paid job, but that would just be to case the place out.  I soon realised that there was a lot of dough to be made, but that I'd need a ride.

And that, well, that's how I came to meet Blue...

To be continued...

Meeting Blue 

Blue stood about six feet tall, a good build, the build of a man who had once been athletic, but the liqueur padded him out and, though he changed his ways, he never quite got his lean muscle back.  But he was a handsome enough fellow, that was for sure.  And women seemed to like him, and he liked them right back.  But for some reason, I just knew that he'd be game to come along with me for the ride.  We were grafting for William.  William was a crotchety man, who needed fields looking after.  Nothing too serious.  Blue and me would be discussing the classics, literature being a surprising shared interest, and William would come over to us and start rambling on and on.  Conspiracies, how he'd been targeted by a bunch of rich mafia men.  At first, Blue and me just laughed at him.  But then we realised that he kept mentioning the "heist money" - that got our attention.  It was the first time that Blue and I's eyes met.  Sure, we'd looked at each other before, but this was the first time that we were communicating telepathically.

Blue was giving me a ride home.  Now, usually, I'd get Blue to drop me a couple of blocks from the Neglected Barn.  See, I didn't like anyone knowing where I lived.  But this time, I said, "Blue, I never did say where I lived, but I live in a Neglected Barn nearby.  I named it Idaho, and it's private.  Nobody know that it's my place.  I saw how you looked at me.  Maybe you were thinking about William.  Maybe about the heist money.  Maybe something else.  But I think we should go back to Idaho together.  I can show you some things.  Help you with some things.  I don't know about you, Blue, but I don't fit in around here.  I gotta come out.  Want to come to my Neglected Barn and we can see what we can plan together?"

Blue said, sure thing, and then he surprised me by reaching into his knapsack and pulling out a smaller leather satchel.  He told me that it was his lucky leather satchel, but he declined to say what was in it.  But I heard clinking and clanking, so suspected that he had some liqueur in there.  When we got to Idaho, he pulled out tow corked bottles off wine, a corkscrew and a bushel of lavender.  He opened a bottle and handed it to me, and opened the other one for himself, then placed the lavender between us.  "I'd like to propose a toast - to new beginnings and new connections.  This here bushel of lavender keeps the wine bottles smelling how I like them to smell and it gives my leather satchel a hint of lavender.  To us, to the lavender bandits!"

I didn't know what in the heck Blue was talking about, but I liked the sound of it.

And then, we got to drinking, and then we got to talking, and then we got to planning.

And wait till you hear what the plan was.

To be continued...

The Plan

William had money, that much was clear.  That's what Blue said, sitting close beside me, close enough for to smell his leather satchel, with the faint whiff of lavender oddly hanging there between them.  Blue said William wasn't clever, that he liked the sound of his voice too much.  Said that someone with brains could think of a way to get to him.  And he looked at me.

Well, when Blue said that to me, I have to admit, I felt the happiest that I'd ever felt in the Neglected Barn.  Better even than when Wilbur was over, and they'd indulged in backgammon, then drank some of the warm beer that I'd picked up cruising earlier that week.  Usually, I liked to suck a cold one back, but Hell, that beer did just the ticket.  But Blue obviously rated him.  But now, well, he had to think of how to rob William.

The ideas came to me quickly.  William flaps his gums, and he's always talking about his enemy and that enemy.  So I said to Blue, why don't one of us say we can help him with his enemies, take a ride with him.  The other, and that would have to be me, stays behind and has a good look around William's place, see if we can't find out where he keeps this heist loot he's always talking about.

Blue looks at me, a look I never really saw a man give me before, not even Wilbur, and said "Jack, that's a hell of an idea.  Why don't we do that on Monday morning.  But I like it here, in your Neglected Barn, Idaho.  Can I stay here until then?"  I said "sure thing" and we drank and talked and went to bed.  We had cast the die, so to speak. 

We had our plan.

To be continued...

Inside William's Place

It went smoothly enough - Blue talked to William, who true to form began ranting about those he considered his enemies.  Blue had taken his lavender leather satchel with him, and had taken to giving William a sup of his wine.  They got merry.  When blue suggested they go for a ride, William agreed.  I said I was going to go to the Stone Wall Tavern for a beer.  William said sure thing, and maybe he'd meet us there for a beer in a couple of hours when they got back.  So that gave me a time frame.  I was going to allow myself an hour at William's place.

Getting into William's was easy enough, I went in through the back, smoothly, supple,  just slid right in.  Once inside, I went in and out a few times.  I felt I was getting close.  I had to hold back, in case I left behind some evidence of my having been inside.  But once I got my breath back, I'd slide back in and continue.  I was getting out of breath again, it was damn hard.  I needed to go easy on William, make sure nothing was damaged, or else I wouldn't be welcome back.  But I persevered and I got my due - I got what I needed and wanted.  I was ecstatic!  I'd done it.  I'd busted my cherry, and it left me hungry for more.  And I knew Blue would be pleased.

I committed to memory what I'd done and rushed to the Stone Wall.  I ordered a beer and talked to some of the guys that were there.  

Blue and William came back, and they looked sheepish.  Worried, anxious.  I struggled to keep quiet, I was so excited, but I just had to hide.  I felt like I was about to lose control.  I didn't like it.

I asked if they wanted a beer.  They nodded.

I asked the bar-man.  He nodded.

I nodded back and wondered what the fuck was going on.

To be continued...

Inside the bar - the conversation

Inside the bar, the conversation started.  Blue said they'd spotted one of William's enemies, a dude nicknamed "8."  8 was shovelling bags into his car, and William said "that's 8 - he's an associate of the Chicago mob.  His father was a real bigshot, but he was killed."  Blue looked over, and sure enough, he saw some family resemblance.  He's seen photos of 8's father in the newspaper.  Without thinking, Blue just drove his car straight at 8 - 8 saw it coming though, and dived out of the way.  He pulled out his gun and fired a couple of shots, but missed.  "I saw you Bill!" 8 shouted as Blue sped away.

I said to them both "boys, this is fucking serious.  The Chicago mob will be after us.  What will we do?"  William started crying, and Blue hugged him.  Then Blue said "Jack, can you come up with a plan?  You're smart, and we're drunk and scared as all Hell.  Heck, William here pissed in his pants like a scared little girl."  This was my moment.  I looked and William and said "William, this is a moment that we might look back on.  I can hide you, but we will need money.  Do you have money?"  William nodded.  "Take me to it" I said.  William nodded again.

"We need to go, now.  Before the Chicago mob find us."

And we all headed out into the night.

To be continued...