I opened my ancient refrigerator for a second time. I was hoping against hope that something new had somehow materialized in the old ice box since I had looked a half an hour ago. But still there was 2 gallons of cold water, a half jar of mayo, a variety, or various condiments from drive-thrus including but not limited to hot sauce from Taco Bell, Jack in the Box creamy avocado lime and a packet of Zesty Zing from White Castle.  That last condiment was a mystery as I have never been to a White Castle.

I poured myself a tall cup of water in my plastic Big Gulp cup with the red handle.  They say filling up water is a good way to satiate your hunger.  Soon I was going to close up shop to go to Millie’s for our weekly Sunday night pizza and catching up on our weekly shows.  But it was still hours away and I was hungry and bored.  No cases, all the invoices sent out, no mail to open, bored.

I grabbed my trusty Hi-Bounce Pinky ball and began to toss it against the wall. There was never any danger of disturbing my neighbors, Machine Gun America.  The Rambo and the John McClain wanna-bees all had hearing damage.

Luckily my hearing was fine and I heard someone coming down the hall towards my door. They person had a very distinct walk, some sort of limp going on, at least one heavy foot and barely any noise from the next step.  I knew the person was likely coming to my door as no other business in hallway was open.  Madam Saluna, the Tarot Reader, Psychic, Comprehensive Soothsayer, and a competitively priced Notary Public was gone for two weeks visiting her daughter in Miami.  Madam Saluna, a.k.a.  Theresa Sanchez had asked me to water her spider plant every Wednesday.  Steven the Accountant was out on his boat, fishing, he had invited me, but it sounded more like an excuse to drink and talk dirty, and while I am for whatever makes you happy, it is just not my cup of tea.  The third office on the floor was currently not occupied.

Bruce the Landlord was having a hard time renting out the empty space due to the lingering odor left over from the last tenant. A nice couple where making sausage in the small office.  Why there? I don’t know and did not ever want to know, they had only occupied the space for three weeks, before the smell had been noticed by Bruce the Landlord.

I stopped bouncing my rubber ball and listened.  The steps had stopped outside of my door.  I could see a medium sized outline through the frosted glass of my door.  Business had been slow lately and I hoped it was a potential client so naturally I wanted him to cross the threshold and pay me big money for very little work.  “Enter.”  I yelled.

The shadow gave a small, startled movement but stayed where he was for the next thirteen seconds.  Which does not seem like a long time until you are waiting those thirteen seconds for something to happen.  Then the shape moved again and I saw him move away from the door.  Confused I yelled again “Hello, you can come in, I am open for business.”

The shape reappeared in the glass and then the door opened slowly.  The person who entered was not my typical client.  Regular clients were usually a bit older, typically dressed in business casual if not a suit.

“Are you Miles Mitchell?”

I was distracted by the handgun in his left hand. It was a silver revolver, three-inch barrel, a 38 caliber or a 357.  It was just an automatic observational and training thing, identifying the caliber, I did not want to be shot with any bullet no matter what size, caliber, diameter, gauge, or magnitude. 

“Are you Miles Mitchell?”  The guy said again, this time a thick southern accent was detectable.

“If I tell you no, are you going to put the gun away?”

“I think you are Mitchell, I recognized you from the videos.”  With that the gun man raised the gun and fired.

I both felt and heard the bullet hit the wall somewhere above my head. “Whoa.”  I yelled.  The fight of flight response kicking in hard.  The shooter looked as scared as I felt scared at that moment. 

I held up my hands while scrunching down behind my desk. “ Why are you shooting at me.”  I yelled.  

“I came to make sure you do not testify against my friend.” He yelled back, more fear than anger in his voice.

“Who is your friend?” I said my voice was still a little loud but I brought it down from eleven to a low seven on the volume.

“John Keach.” He said lowering his voice as well.

It took me a second to pull up the name. “John Keach from Alabama.”   I snapped my fingers in my upraised hands.  “The guy who stole the costumes, the guy in the motel?”

“Yeah, John is my friend, I work for him at the motel, I even got a room there.” 

I took a deep long breath and began to calm down so I started to talk still loudly from behind the desk. “Hey sorry about your friend, but he and that corrupt sheriff basically kidnapped us and were trafficking in stolen goods at the least.” 

I saw my words had stirred something in him, it wasn’t anger. Maybe resignation.  I looked past the gun and really examined the kid as he moved away from the door and closer to my desk.  He was about five foot, seven, sandy blonde hair that was a bit greasy, with a cigarette tucked behind his ear.  He had some still lingering acne scars; I guessed him to have just hit twenty-one.  A white t-shirt that had been washed and worn for a long time and was getting thin, with some long term sweat stains around the neck and armpits. His blue jeans were similar to the t-shirt, pulled tight around his waist with a worn black leather belt with a large Built Ford Tough belt buckle.  He had old shoes, and one was an orthopedic with a huge built-up sole, giving him the distinctive footfalls, I had heard in the hallway.  

“Stand up.”  The younger man said motioning in an upwards direction with his gun barrel.  

I slowly stood up, I found having a gun pointed towards me makes me move in slow motion.  I kept my Pinky ball in my hand.

“Keep your hands up.”

I decided to give him a slight bit of pushback and test him. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why keep my hands up?”  I paused. “Is it something that you heard on television, or maybe a movie?”

This confused him even more and he took a few seconds to think about a response. “Just do it.” He punctured his instructions with the muzzle of his gun. He pushed it out so it was twelve inches closer to me.  That twelve inches would kill me about 2 microseconds faster if he fired at this distance, but I got the point.

I nodded and stood slowly with my hand still raised but the pink ball still in my left hand. He obviously did not have an issue with the item.  That was good for me, I liked having something in my hand, it gave me options.  Once I had stood up my visitor seemed at a loss for what to do next, we stood there looking at each other.  With my hands still up after a minute I spoke. “Well, you know my name, what is yours?”

He paused again; I could almost see the gears turning in his head working through the decision to say his name or not. “My name is Jim Bob.”

I nodded. “Under the circumstances it is almost nice to meet you Jim Bob, you can call me Miles.”

Again, there was a long pause and his eyes moved around my office unfortunately the barrel of the gun stayed pointing directly at me and his finger was still on the trigger.  I began to suspect that Jim Bob had not thought this whole thing through.  “Jim Bob?” I asked.

“Yeah.” He said trying to come off as tough.

“What are you trying to accomplish today? What’s your goal here? Why the gun?”

Jim Bob spat out a quick emotional reply. “I visited my friend in jail and he said if I came down here and got rid of you, things would go back to normal.”  Jim Bob said the ending, sounding hopeful. “He said that if you couldn’t testify my life could go back to normal.”

I nodded.  “So, no one sent you here, no one paid you to come shoot at me?”

Jim Bob shook his head. “No, I came here so my friend could get out of jail.”

I was relieved, at least the Dixie Mafia did not have a contract out on me.  And if they did not have one out on me, they did not have one out on Daniel either. I was grateful for that knowledge, but it did not make anything easier at the moment.  This kid was an amateur, and there are two old sayings about amateurs versus professionals.  The first is ‘amateurs are more unpredictable because they do not do the logical or sensible thing’. The second saying is ‘a bullet fired by an amateur can kill you exactly the same as one fired by a professional’. 

Neither of these two old sayings were any comfort to me.

“Well,”  I said. “You have convinced me; I will not testify against your friend.  In fact, I am pretty sure I never met your friend.  I am not even sure I have ever met someone with either the name John or Keach, and definitely not together in that order.  Live and let live I always say, I will let bygones be bygones.  No real harm done, no harm, no foul.”  I said quickly. “So can I put my hands down now?”

“No.”  Jim Bob yelled. “You can’t talk your way out of this, I have the gun, so I am in control.” 

I had obviously upset Jim Bob.  I decided not to do that again as his finger was still on the trigger and he had no compunction about firing it inside my office. “Okay, you have the gun, you are in charge.” I paused. “You look kind of tired Jim Bob, why don’t you have a seat, take a load off, rest, and if you could, maybe take your finger off the trigger.”  I said pointing towards the chair across from desk with my upraised hands.

Jim Bob glanced over at the chair and then at his gun hand and moved his finger off the trigger at the same time as he sat down across from my desk. I nodded at my small victory; his finger was off the trigger. I suppressed a sigh and instead gave a polite nod.   “Can I sit down as well?”  Jim Bob nodded but before I could sit down, he put his finger back on the trigger.  “You head said yes, but your trigger finger said ‘no’.  Jim Bob you are going to have to decide, can I sit or not.”

Jim Bob looked around.  “Okay but move the chair around the desk so I can see you.”

I nodded and moved slowly,  Luckily the old wooden swivel chair was on wheels and it moved easily around the desk, never letting trusty Pink go, as Jim Bob had never taken notice of it.  After the chair was in front of the desk, I slowly sat down in it.  We sat across from each other for what seemed like a long time but was perhaps only thirty seconds.  I nodded down towards the trigger and Jim Bob moved his finger back to the outside of the trigger guard.

“Can I ask you some questions?”

“Why?”

I sucked in some air. “I am a curious guy.  And you are going to kill me, so what is it going to hurt, let’s just say it will give me some peace in my final moments on this earth.”

“Okay.”  Jim said sounding unsure.

“So how long have you known John Keach?”

“A long time, my mother worked for him at the motel, then when she got sick, I took over her job.”

“Sorry your mom got sick.” I said. “So how long have you worked at the motel?”

Jim Bob started counting in his head, but his lips were moving.  “Since I was fifteen, I had to drop out of school to take over for mom.”

“Is your mom still sick?”

I saw some sadness cross his face and he paused a bit before answering. “Mom passed away three years ago, John and the Sheriff paid for a real nice funeral, got a nice casket and a new dress for her, John reminds me to put flowers on her grave on her birthday every year.”

“That is nice, and have you lived at the motel ever since then.”

This brought Jim Bob back to the present and I saw him getting angry.  “Yeah, but not for much longer, after the Sheriff was arrested the County Inspector put a big sign up condemning the place, now I have to sneak in the back to get to my room.” Then he looked at me with anger. “It’s all your fault.  At least that is what John says.”

“Sorry about that, but it was kind of run down.”

Jim Bob fired back. “John said we were going to fix it up, as soon as he got some more money, we were going to start with a new paint, job, then I was going to fix up the pool area and a lot of other things.”

“You must have put a lot of work into the place.”

Jim Bob continued to speak. “John said I should take you to some backwoods area and take you out.”

I nodded.  “Okay, if you think that is best, but I hate to see you get into any trouble for your friend.”

Jim Bob looked confused. “What trouble?  Everything will be better when John and the Sheriff get out.”

“Well maybe.”  I said sucking in some air.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Jim Bob asked confused.

“Well, it may be okay for John, but you might be in jail for what you plan on doing to me.”

Jim Bob looked confused. “No one knows I am here.”

“Okaaay.”  I said unconvincingly.

“What?”

“Well, you were probably seen by the closed-circuit television in the hallway, and not to mention the cameras in the parking lot, and let’s not forget the people that might see me and you together when we go out to backwoods area you have picked out.”

“I didn’t pick out backwoods area yet.” Jim Bob said, not addressing the cameras that I had brought up.”

“So, you are going to drive me around in your car, until we find and area, but more people could see us together.”  I shook my head. “Jim Bob, I do not want to see anything bad happen to you, but you need to think this through a bit more.”

Jim Bob looked confused and actually took the gun barrel and scratched his other arm with the it.  

I nodded.  “How about this, you leave, find a nice place to take me to and then you come back another time when you got all the details worked out.”  I said, encouraging him with a warm smile.

The thoughts crossed his face, then he shook his head and realized what he was doing with the gun and pointed it back towards me, he also extended the gun and put his finger back on the trigger.  “John said you would probably try and confuse me and he told me, once I started something I should just finish it, do it all at once.”

I held up my hands. “Okay, okay, I can see John gave you some decent advice sometimes.”

“He sure did.”  Jim Bob said. “He taught me how to take care of the motel, cleaning the rooms, painting, fixing things, he even let me check the guests in and out if he was not in the office.”

“All good skills to have.”  I said nodding.

“But now we don’t have any more guests anymore.” 

The sadness was coming back, as Jim Bob’s anger bled off and the gun got lower and this time, he took his finger off the trigger without me asking him to.  Progress.  I could keep doing this for a while, tapping into his sadness, and distracting him, but one wrong word or gesture and he might forget his plan and shoot me right here.  I needed to move him away from sadness and anger.  I needed to give him some hope, because I was pretty sure even, he knew things would not go back to the way they were.

“Okay so you are going to carry out your plan.”

Jim Bob nodded.

“Okay, since this is my last day on Earth can you let me sit and reflect on some good memories, let me touch some things around this office it helps me remember my good times. “

A long pause. “Maybe.”  Another long pause. “But no tricks.”  Jim Bob said nodding towards the gun.”

I nodded back. “Okay let me first put Pinky down.”  I feigned like I did not know what to do with the rubber ball, then I looked at him. “Can you hold this?”  I reached out with the ball on top of my hand and he reached out and I dropped the ball in his hand.

I watched him look over the ball a bit and he did what everyone did, he squished it. 

“Don’t lose that, it is my favorite thing to bounce against the wall when I am bored.

Jim Bob shrugged but I could see him continue to squeeze the ball.

“The first thing I want to show you is from my girlfriend, its right over there on the filing cabinet.” I say his eyes follow where I was pointing, I used the Disney pointing method with two fingers.  I figured I would use everything at my disposal to reduce friction.  And if Walt Disney thought pointing with one finger was rude, I was going to put into practice every trick to put Jim Bob the visiting gun man at ease.  “Is it okay if I go over and get it and I can tell you about it?”

“Yeah, that is okay but nothing funny.”

“Right, you are, you are the one with the gun you make the rules.”  I stood slowly and walked over to the ancient filing cabinet.

Sitting on top was a heavy pie pan that was folded almost to a ninety-degree angle.  I picked it up with one hand and displayed it to Jim Bob.  “Can I bring it back over and tell you about it?”

Jim Bob looked at me perplexed but then nodded after a few moments.

I sat down across from him again and held out the pie pan.  He nodded and for some reason he moved the barrel of the gun so instead of pointing at my body, he pointed it at my head. As if the pie pan would stop a bullet. 

“I have had this for years, now, it reminds me that not all bad things are really bad.”

No response from Jim Bob so I continued. “I had just gotten back to Orlando after getting out of the Coast Guard, recovering from an injury that I received.  I met up with an old girlfriend.” I put the pie pan down on the desk, and when I did the barrel pointed back at the center part of my body.  I continued my story.  “Betsie was my high school girlfriend, we went to prom together, all the cliché things, I did love her, at least as much as I understood romantic love and relationships at the time. Well, I take her out, I have a really cool car at the time and she is just starting her first job after college and things are going great, I go to physical therapy at the VA every day, and we spend our evenings together. Things were great.  One Thursday night we go out, but end the evening early, she has a flight the next day, some business retreat in Atlanta.  I offer to drive her to the airport but she declines.

Jim Bob was engrossed in the story and was listening intently.

“So, we had a nice dinner, with this great pie her roommate brought home. We had finished the pie off and I remember that the pie pan had a promotional code on it. ‘Bring back the tin and your next pie is half off.’  I knew what time her roommate worked and I firgured I would stop over, get the pie tin and when Betsie came home on Sunday, I would greet her at the airport with another delicious pie.”  I looked at Jim Bob for feedback. “Good plan, right?”

Jim Bob simply nodded and replied. “Yeah.”

I gave a depressed shrug at the memory. “So, I met her Anna, her roommate, in the parking lot as she came home from work, and she gave me a weird vibe, but I did not notice that till later.  I walked with her to the door of the apartment and explained to her that I was going to return the pie pan for a discount on another pie.  Now , Anna, had not lived with Betsie very long, they were not really friendly, just friends of friends.  Annie opened the door and I brushed by her into the kitchen to get the pie pan.”  

I paused for effect and saw Jim Bob was engrossed in the story and the gun was pointing slightly away from me. “So, the apartment is supposed to be empty, but then I hear Betsie yell out. “Hey Annie.”

“Betsie is supposed to be in Atlanta. I look into the living room and there is Betsie in a silk robe and a very large, very muscular man in tank top and boxer shorts sitting on the couch real close to my Betsie.”

“Oh no.”  Jim Bob said.

“Oh no is right my friend.”  I nodded. “Betsie asked ‘what are you doing here?’  I shot right back. ‘What am I doing in Orlando or in your apartment, because I am supposed to be in Orlando,  but you are supposed to be in Atlanta.’  The big guy started to stand.  I immediately regretted that as he blocked out the sun from coming into the room from the patio doors.”

Jim Bob was fully engrossed in the story. “Huge?”

“Massive.”  I held out my hands to show the size of his shoulders. “But I was young, and dumb and hurt. So, I said something really stupid. ‘Who is this ape, you lying witch.’  Well, the large burly man took offense.  I later learned that I was the side guy, and she had been cheating on him, with me, while he was at preseason training camp in Tampa.”

“You mean he was a Buccaneer?” Jim Bob said interrupting my story.

“Defensive Lineman, Betsie and Man Mountain had been dating since their Junior year in college.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh no sums it up. But I was angry and the guy crossed the room in three steps and I did what anyone else would have done in this situation, I hit him with the only thing I had available.”  And with that I flourished the pie pan that was practically bent in half.

Jim Bob laughed, which was nice to see, unfortunately the gun stayed pointing in my general direction.

“The beefy dude took a whole step back.”  I said proudly.  But he was not knocked out, just stunned with the blow. For some reason, the resounding ‘gong’ from the pie pan hitting his skull woke me up and I decided at that point to skedaddle bolt.  So, I slapped it in B for boogey and ran to my car.” 

Jim Bob chuckled again.

“By the time I had gotten in the car the big man had recovered enough and chased me through the parking lot wearing just his boxers and tank top yelling all kinds of mean and hurtful things as I drove away.”

“And you still had the pie pan?”

“Never dropped it.”  I say waving it around once more. We shared a chuckle over the damaged pie tin.

Then I saw a thought cross his mind. “Wait I thought you said this was about your current girlfriend?”

“I am getting to that.” I replied.  “So, for the next couple of days, I moped around, feeling sad, dejected, hurt, used and abused, I might have been drunk for a few days.”  I said winking. “But hey not everything bad that happens to us is bad for us.”

Jim Bob looked confused.

“You will see why in a bit.  No where was I.”

Jim Bob volunteered. “You were moping around after she found out she was cheating on you.”

“Oh yeah, but technically, I was the one she was cheating with, but on with the story.   So, I am moping around, I missed several sessions of physical therapy and then decided to snap out of it, to move on as it were, so I go to physical therapy and as I am climbing into my car afterwards feeling good, I see that stupid pie pan in the passenger seat.  I am about to throw it out when I remember the delicious pie that I had had, and instead of going to get a six pack and drown my sorrows I think ‘Pie is probably better for me’.”

“I find the diner where Anne had gotten the pie and walk in.  I present the folded over pie tin to the young lady giving her my best confused puppy dog look hoping she will overlook its conditions. 

She doesn’t, she won’t even take it from me, she just gives me this ‘you have got to be kidding me look’, and she says in the haughtiest tone, you can imagine. ‘Sorry sir I am going to have to call the manager.’”

“I look around this place for the first time. It is one of those semi nostalgic places, black and white tile floors. Booths, tables, counter service with chrome accents, but instead of pictures of Elvis and the Beatles and other fifties icons hanging on the wall there is old maps of Disney World, framed autographed photograph from the parks of Mickey and Minney, and surprisingly lesser and extremely rare Disney characters like Practical Pig, Mushu, Wilbur Robina, I even saw a Clarabell Cow and Horace Horse Collar with their own photograph.”

I see that I am getting a lot of blank looks from Jim Bob.  So, I stop my story. “Never been to Walt Disney World huh?”

Jim Bob shakes his head and inappropriately shakes his hand too, as if he has forgotten he had the gun there.

“Ah too bad, maybe while you are down here you can take in a park or two.”

Unfortunately, I see this was absolutely the wrong thing to say as he gets mad as a memory comes up. “You think I am down here to fool around at a kiddie park, that kind of stuff is for children, I just want things to go back to the way they were.  I want the motel to keep running and I want my friend out of jail.” He pushes the gun out towards me with a scowl on his face.  “That kind of stuff is for suckers any ways.”

 I take a deep breath.  “Hey fair enough Disney is not for everyone.  I am sorry I suggested you were anything less than a very serious person.”

“That is right, now finish your story.”

“Okay.”  I did not get him to remind me where I was this time. “So, there I am standing at the counter with the folded over pie tin, when the most gorgeous creature I have ever met enters from the kitchen area of the restaurant.”  I pause nodding my head and getting a stupid grin on my face at the memory. “Her hair was in a hair net, with a few blonde strands sticking out, flour on her face, one hand in a plastic glove, some grease stains on her apron.”  I sighed.  “She was an angel.”

I looked at Jim Bob and I could tell his anger had lessened a bit so I continued.

“I immediately apologized for the pie pan.  She responded back. ‘I am sorry I cannot give you half off on another pie.’ She added.  ‘The reason we want the pie pans back is so we can sell more pies, I cannot use this one again, or more importantly my baker will not use this one again.’  At this point I did not care about the pie, all I wanted to do was to keep talking to this fantastically gorgeous magical woman.”

“And did you?”

Jim Bob was back in the story, now.

“Well, I looked in the display case and then back at her. ‘Are all these pies for sale?’ She nodded yes, I could tell this surprised her as if she was ready for me to complain. ‘And if I buy one of them, I can come back and get the next pie half off, if the pie pan is in good shape.’  She nodded again. ‘Is there a chance I will get to talk to you.’ She smiled, nodded, and answered. ‘I am the owner, manager and chief dish washer.’  I smiled back at her. ‘Well then I would like ten pies please.”

“You bought ten pies?”  Jim Bob said.

“I would have bought eleven, but there was only ten in the display case.”  I said grinning.

“And what happened with you and the manager?”

I smiled. “By the second pie, she asked my name, on the third pie she served me personally at the counter, by the time I brought the fifth pie pan back she agreed to go out with me, and the rest as they say is history, we have been together for a couple of  years now.”

I looked over at my uninvited guest and he seemed lost in thought.  I decided to continue with my tactic, as I was not leaking any vital red fluid yet.  “Can I show you something else?”

He seemed to nod so I stood slowly and walked over to a bookshelf and pointed towards an object and looked at him for approval before picking it up.  I turned slowly and returned to my chair holding the item in front of me so it would not seem threatening. 

“I am sure you know what this is.”  I said.

“Sure, doesn’t everyone.”  He said. 

“Well, I did not, not until I was taught it by a dear friend who my mother introduced me to.”  I said holding the item carefully although it was in no way a delicate item.  “My mother gave me this when I was thirteen.”

“Are you a mechanic?”

I shook my head no.

He shot out. “Is your mother a mechanic?”

I chuckled at the thought of my mother a with greasy hands under the hood of a car. “Maribel?” I chuckled again. “No, my mother is allergic to grease, oil and sweat, and is strictly an inside worker.”  I saw Jim Bob was confused. “No, I guess I should say she passed it on to me.”

“A torque wrench?”

I nodded and I got lost in my memories for a second.

“So?”

I nodded myself, concentrating on telling the story. “When I was growing up my mom, Maribel, started a business, it was out of our trailer when we started, when the business started to take off, she bought a house but the business stayed in our residence.”  

“You lived in a trailer park?”

I nodded. “Yeah, my mom was young and my father was not around, but as far as trailer parks go it was not to bad.”  I stopped. “What about your father?”

Jim Bob seemed to puff up a little bit. “My father, Lance Corporal James Robert Rutter died in Iraq when I was just six months old.”

“That is rough bud, but you are lucky at least you know who your father was, my mother has always been a little vague about mine.”

“Yeah, the survivor benefits really helped me and mom get through some rough times.”

I looked at him quizzically. “Wait, James Robert Rutter, so that means you are Jim Bob Junior.”

“I hate that Junior stuff.”

“J.R.”  I said teasing.

“Not funny.”  Jim Bob said and pointed the gun back at me.

I nodded. “Okay no J.R. or Junior, strictly Jim Bob.”  I said looking at the gun and gulping.  “I had just told you that we moved into a house when mother’s business took off. And being my mother, she had no clue how to fix things around the house.  Funny how a degree in Fashion and Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology is a little short on how to fix a dishwasher or a garage door, and our house was a bit of fixer upper.”

I noticed that Jim Bob did not laugh and the gun was still pointing at me, so I continued my story.  “So, Felipe came into our lives.  Felipe was the father of one of my mom’s seamstresses, he was also a mechanical genius, or at least I thought so, he could fix just about anything.”

“People say I have a talent for that as well.” Jim Bob said interrupting.

I nodded but continued with my story. “I was thirteen and I had been going to the Disney Parks my whole life on a regular basis, weekly, almost daily in the summer, since I was ten.” 

“That is a lot.” Jim Bob commented.

“Yeah, hitting my teen age years I started to get an attitude, I was bored with the Disney.”  I saw Jim Bob nod in agreement. “But my mom kept dropping me off in the parks because it was free and, in her mind, safe.”

I did not see Jim Bob react to the words ‘free for me’, so he really did not understand much about the parks and how expensive it was. I shrugged internally but continued with my story. “So,  here I am surly teenager, and I am getting into trouble.  I was being questioned by some Cast Members about missing food from a stroller when Felipe comes to my rescue.  Well, he flashes his company ID and takes me away from the scene of the crime.”

“He worked there?”

“Yeah, he was a maintenance manger, but not that day, it was his day off from the work but he was visiting for his own enjoyment.”

Jim Bob had a disgusted look on his face. “Weirdo.”

I snapped my fingers and nodded. “That is exactly what I thought. ‘What was a grown man doing coming to the park without his grand kids or anyone else.”  

“Like I said he was a werido.”

I shrugged.  “Felipe bought me a coke and we sat down on a bench and we did not talk for a bit.  But he picked up on my boredom. Without me asking he started to talk, while we sat in Liberty Square, he told me how the Liberty Belle Riverboat worked, how it ran on a track instead of being free-floating, he told me what items around the park broke the most.  He told me how he had to reattach Abraham Lincoln’s hand in the Hall of Presidents.” 

Jim Bob looked bored and I realized he had no frame of reference for these things so he was not interested. 

“Felipe finished his coke and said goodbye to me but not before warning me to behave or he would tell my mother and then he walked away.  The next time I saw Felipe was when he came to the house and I handed him tools and such when he was up a ladder fixing a broken light fixture.  I asked him to tell me about other things he had fixed at the parks.  He told me so many things, like about the paint crew that worked at night, the examining all the safety equipment on a  roller coasters in swelting heat because some knuckle head tourist dropped their hat on an emergency sensor.” I took a breath  “You see, I had never thought about the things that went into making the park run, all the maintenance that had to be done.  I was simply annoyed when rides I liked going on broke down.”  I looked at Jim Bob. “I bet people never appreciated all the hard work you did keeping the motel working, the plumbing, the electrical work, probably not even the painting and the thousand little things you did that nobody noticed.”

Jim Bob shrugged.

“Tell me what the first thing you fixed at the hotel. Something you firgured out before anyone else did?”

Jim Bob did not have to think very long then he smiled. “There was this door lock that was not allowing the door to close properly and I sighted right away that it was a screw that was coming loose keeping the door from closing fully.”

“And how long had everyone else looked at the door?” I asked.

“Well John had just not been renting out the room, as he could not figure it out for a week, and it was one of our nicer rooms too.”

“But you firgured it out right away I bet.”

Jim Bob smiled and nodded.

“Sounds like you got a gift, you could probably work at a lot of places with your skills.”

Jim Bob was puzzled for a second then sounded sad. “I don’t want to work any where else.”

I sighed.  “Yeah, I get that, but I am only certain about one thing in Life, it is always changing, good times end, bad times end.  You never know, the next thing in your life could be better than what you got now.”

I saw he was confused and since I did not want him getting angry again, I figured I would finish my story quickly. “I learned a lot from Felipe, he taught me to do some basic home repairs, really basic principles, if it moves and it shouldn’t tighten it.  If it doesn’t move and it is supposed to start with lubricant.”

“And if you make things worse  when fixing it, fix that too.” Jim Bob said finishing my thought.

“Yeah, you get it.”  I smiled. “Did you know Felipe?”

Jim Bob laughed. “No, that is just the way things should be.”

Now I nodded. “But to finish up the story with how I got this.” I said pointing to the torque wrench. “Felipe kept coming around fixing things at the house, teaching me at the same time.  I never ran into him in the parks again, but we would always talk about the behind the scene maintenance.  He was the one that suggested the Coast Guard when I wanted to leave home.”

“So why did he give you that torque wrench?”

“Well like I said my mother made sure I got it.  I had been in the Coast Guard for a year when she called me. At the time I was near the end of a Coast Guard school with two weeks to go.  She came right out and told me that Felipe had passed away.”  I saw Jim Bob was slightly shocked of the turn in the story. “I could have left the school to travel back for the funeral but I would have been recycled and would have to go through the whole course again.”  I sighed. “I should have come home, but I was young and dumb and kind of selfish so I did not come home until three months after the service.”  I saw the shock on Jim Bob’s face. “So, when I finally came home, I visited his grave site, but I felt kind of empty and the regret really came on strong for not coming home to mourn with everyone else.” I wiped my eyes. “It was when I was bumping around under the kitchen sink before going on to the Coast Guard that I found this.” I said hefting the precision device.”

Jim Bob looked confused.

“Felipe had installed a new dishwasher for my mother and had somehow left it behind.  This was only two months before he passed away, and my mother found it after the funeral.  My mother tried to return it after she found it to Esmeralda his daughter.” I paused to take a breath. “Esmeralda insisted that my mother give it to me.  Felipe loved working with me and teaching me things according to his daughter, and he was proud of me for joining the Coast Guard.”  I wiped a stray tear from my eye.

I caught a quick sad sigh from Jim Bob.

“Yeah, I learned so much from Felipe, mostly to look at things deeper, to see the complexity of things and realize what it takes to keep this whole world turning, tightening what gets loose, lubing things that need to move.”

I saw Jim Bob was in deep thought, and I knew I needed to be still and let my words sink in.  I made myself very still. We must have stayed like that for close to thirty seconds not saying anything.  But it seemed longer to me.  I moved my eyes only and caught sight of the clock on the opposite wall and saw it had only been about forty-five minutes since he had entered and shot my wall. 

“So have you used it?”  Jim Bob asked. He said looking at the wrench.

“Not really, I haven’t really had the need.”  I paused. “Nothing I have ever fixed really needs that much precision or finesse.”

Jim Bob nodded. “A shame though it is a really fine tool.”  He said with a covetous tone.

I smiled. “Well since I won’t be needing it after today, and you would appreciate it more than anyone else I know you can have it.”  I said extending it handle first towards him.

Jim Bob was surprised but took it after putting the pink ball in his lap. He hefted the wrench and held it in front of his eyes to examine it a bit more carefully. “It has both merican” his Alabama accent coming out strong.  “and metric measurements.”

“Yeah, Felipe could work in both effortlessly, he was a technical genius.”

Jim Bob stopped for a second and realized the gun was still in his hand and looked back and forth between the two items.  He looked a bit lost, a bit confused.

I gave a little cough and he looked at me. “One last item I would like to touch one last time.”  I looked across the room. “Can I?”

“Sure.” Was Jim Bob’s answer.

I got up slowly and went to the bottom shelf of an old standing lamp from the 70’s that had small display shelves on it.  Like most furniture in my office, it was from a thrift store.  Thrift stores in Florida are  stocked with remarkable items.  Older people come down here to live out their ‘golden years’ they pass away and their children come down to clean out their condo/double wide/apartment and since they do not want to tote furniture back north, which would not fit in their house anyways most of it goes to thrift shops. 

But I reached for the item on the bottom shelf, something I did not play with much, but it meant a lot to me. 

“It’s a tape ball.”  Jim Bob said as I took my seat and he got a look at what I had in my hand.

“Not just any tape ball, a tape ball from a Disney Parade route.”

“So, it’s just trash.”  Jim Bob said.

“Nope, it is a treasure at least to me and my friend Daniel Dewey.”

“I don’t get it.”  Jim Bob said confused.

I leaned back in my seat and held up the yellow tape ball up with just my fingertips like it was a priceless glass bauble. “You see that brown smudge on the part.”  I said as I made sure the ball was turned around so Jim Bob could see it.

“Yeah.”  Jim Bob replied.

“That is when my friend Daniel learned to stand up for himself.”

“Huh?”

“Let me explain.”  I paused then began. “I met Daniel Dewey my oldest and best friend in the world one summer day while I was running around Epcot, that is one of the Disney parks.  You might have seen pictures of the big golf ball looking thing used in all the advertisements.”

“Yeah, I think so.”  Jim Bob said unconvincingly.

“Well, I met Daniel when he was running away from a bunch of older boys.”  Back in those days certain people had unlimited pass for their kids and they would drop off the kids for the day and the kids would run around with other kids.”  I said smiling thinking about those carefree days. “Daniel was and has been an Annual Pass Holder forever and somehow these kids found this out and started picking on him for the simple reason he was husky and very smart. Kids can be jerks simply because other kids are not like them.”  I said looking at Jim Bob. 

Jim Bob nodded.  With his physical impediment I am sure he had run into problems himself.

“So, Daniel was running away from these kids when he actually ran into me, I was bent over pretending to tie my shoe near some baby buggies when he plowed into me.”

When I paused Jim Bob actually raise the gun up like he was asking a question in a classroom.

“Yeah.”  I said and was relieved that his finger was outside of the trigger guard.

“Why were you pretending to tie your shoe.”

“Oh yeah.” I said a bit embarrassed. “I was scoping out two bananas and a box of animal crackers.  You see I have this Lifetime Pass that lets me into the park, but my mother never gave me much in the way of money, and you know kids are always hungry, so I would snag snacks from strollers.”  I said the next part proudly. “Never got caught at least not in the act.”

“So, Daniel?” Jim Bob said uncertainly.  

I simply nodded affirmatively.

“Daniel tripped over you.”

“Yeah.”  I said laughing. “Plowed right into me. Well, I was shocked but the first thing I saw when we got untangled was the fear in Daniel’s eyes as he looked behind me.  I turned around and saw the group that was staring at us.  Now I had seen this bunch of these older boys running around the parks.  I always avoided them; it was easy for me.  I was always pretty observant, especially since I was up to less than ‘approved’ activity in the parks.”  I tossed the tape ball up in the air and caught it with my other hand. “But Daniel was afraid of this group of older boys.  I have always had an intense dislike of bullies, making someone else live in fear is a terrible thing.  Wouldn’t you agree?”

Jim Bob simply nodded.

“So, I put my arm around Daniel in a brotherly fashion and walked away with him all the way to first aid. We stayed in there for a bit, enjoying the air conditioning, he told me how these older boys had been forcing him to use his credit card to buy them food.” 

“A kid with a credit card?”

“Yeah, Daniel is a bit well off and he had a notarized note from his Grandparents saying it was okay, and Daniel never had problems using it, he went to the same places all the time so the Cast Members knew him as well.”  I paused and went back to the story. “Daniel and I became best friends that day.  I helped him avoid the bullies and he occasionally bought me snacks, plus we had fun, riding rides, watching shows, and talking about girls.”  I said winking. “Sometimes we just read books in the park, Daniel is the one who introduced me to historical novels and science fiction.”

Jim Bob chuckled.

“So do you have a good friend besides Keach?”  I said in the most casual manner possible.

Jim Bob looked gloomy. “I did, Terry Nichols, but he moved away when he was twelve, and since I missed a lot of school, I really did not make any friends until I went to work for John.”

“Yeah that is rough.”  I said nodding. “But hey you can always make some.”  I said positively.

Jim Bob simply shrugged.

I did not push it any further. “So, Daniel and I had run-ins with the bullies. Daniel was always the  first to run away. He was very frightened of them.  He ran, I followed until we lost them in the crowd  or got in full views of Cast Members.  The bullies, there leader was a boy named Randall, always got bored and wandered away eventually. But this one time, I don’t know why, the bullies just stayed and stayed.” I shrugged as well. “Maybe they were broke and knew Daniel had his credit card and they just wanted to eat. But they just kept hanging around.  So, we were stuck on the porch of The Country Bears Jamboree.  They watched us and we watched them. The three o’clock parade went by but the bullies waited. It was then that one of the Disney Cast Members gave us the unexpected ball of tape that they used to mark off the parade route.  Normally the just threw it away but for some reason one of them tossed the ball of tape to Daniel.”  I paused. “The bullies saw the exchange and the biggest boy for some reason wanted that tape ball.”

“Maybe he was just tired of waiting for us and wanted to just take something from Daniel. Me and Daniel were tossing it back and forth. Randall intercepted it and took off running. I do not know what possessed Daniel but he took off after him. Of course, being his friend, I followed along.  Randall ran laughing all the way to a back corner of the park in Frontierland where there was a smoking area, this was back when they allowed smoking in the parks, but only in designated areas.”

Jim Bob nodded to show he was following along.

“Daniel had more or less cornered the older boy and was trying to grab the ball back.  I showed up, and unfortunately Randall’s cronies showed up as well and now Daniel and I were surrounded by these kids who were all bigger than us.  They started playing keep away, tossing the ball over Daniels head and teasing him.”

Jim Bob gritted his teeth a bit, I could tell he had been to monkey in the middle during keep away as well.

“But somehow Daniel got the tape ball but Randall grabbed Daniel by the shirt. I tried to intercede but the other kids held me back.  Then something changed in Daniel, especially when he turned and saw me being punched.  Daniel got mad.  All that running away over the summer, all that being scared, his friend in trouble, it came to head.  He balled up his hand into a fist and gave a huge haymaker that landed perfectly on Randall’s nose.”

“Randall let go. When the blood started flowing Randall’s cronies let go of me as well. Randall had dropped to his knees and Daniel smacked him once with the tape ball.”

“So that brown mark is?”

“Randall’s blood.”  I stated proudly and pointed towards it. “We never had a problem with those older kids after that.”  I smiled. “Daniel started to get more confident after that, like some barrier had been overcome, he changed.”

“So how did you end up with the tape ball?”

“Daniel gave it to me.  He did not want me to go into the Coast Guard, he was afraid he would lose me as a friend. He never told me that until just recently.” I sighed. “But all the time I was away he wrote me encouraging letters all the time when I was away from home, especially during basic training, which was bad for me, experiencing cold weather for the first time ever in Cape May, New Jersey. The cold was the toughest thing that and being away from home for the first time.” I shivered at the memory. “Never go to New Jersey in October.” 

Jim Bob chuckled.  

“But like I said a friend never wants you to do anything to cause you harm, even if it would help them out.  Somehow when he knew I was at my lowest, I got a package containing, this tape ball.”  I said reflectively.

Jim Bob stared at me.  This was a crucial time and it could go either way and he still had the gun.  Either I was going to live through the day or something dramatic was going to happen.  We sat there and Jim Bob’s eyes went from the tape ball in my hand, to the torque wrench in his hand to the bent pie plate on my desk.  Finally, his gaze came to rest on his right hand, the one containing the pistol. 

Less than a month later:

“Yeah, that is great.”  Into the phone as I watched Millie wander around my office.  “Hey, I am glad he is working out for you.”  Millie had her back to me, and I enjoyed the view of my gorgeous girlfriend.  The phone conversation continued.  I responded to the voices last point. “Since he worked out for you, then you still owe me a favor.”   The voice on the phone said something gruff. “Okay okay, we are even then, talk to you later.” 

“So, who was that.”  Millie said her back still towards me as I put the phone back in its cradle.

“You know Kumar, he owns those hotels on Route One ninety-two.” 

“He has three right.”

“Soon to be four.”  Millie turned and raised her eyebrow impressed. “Remember Jim Bob, that guy that held me at gunpoint.” 

Millie pointed had her left hand behind her back and pointed to the bullet hole in the wall above my head. “That Jim Bob?”

“The same, well I got him a job working for Kumar’s. He gets to live in one of the rooms while he helps remodel the place and will be working behind the front desk once it re-opens.” I said smiling.

Millie shook her head smiling. “Miles Mitchell you are incredible.”

I shrugged.  Then she showed me what she had behind her back.

“Is this The Pie Pan?” She said walking around my desk.

I felt my face get a little red. “Yeah.”

Millie shook her head and then sat down in my lap, I naturally but my hands around her waist. “You are a sentimental old fool, Miles Mitchell.”  

Her luscious pink lips were only inches from mine and I smiled a bit embarrassed from the compliment.

“Are you going to fix that bullet hole?”

I smiled and shook my head. “No, you never know when a good story might come in handy.” Then I completed the last inch between our lips.

Most Miles Mitchell Mysteries (MMM) stand alone, but there is an exception to every rule, and this is it.  This is a sequel to Running the Gauntlet Case, when and if Volume 3 of The Miles Mitchell Mysteries comes out, I will probably put Running the Gauntlet Case as the first story, and this will be the last story in the collection.  I figure 10 MMM Cases per book is a good number, so 8 more cases, to go before the next MMM.

I will be taking off the rest of year after I complete my Christmas article.  This year’s Christmas piece is a comparison/contrast piece about The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. That will be all writing for 2024, and this year I really mean it.

Remember if you like the MMM, they are available at Dorrance Publishing and Amazon and in audible format  and other locations in a variety of formats and locations.

Volume 2 is only available at Smashwords.  

Categories: A Miles Mitchell Story, Outrageous Lies and Tales

Tags: office, pie pan, tape ball, The Miles Mitchell Mysteries, the office case, torque wrench