Chapter 66

When I awoke at five thirty it was raining hard. North Carolina was funny that way, it could be raining at 5:30 and often was, then at six it could be ‘not raining’ but cloudy. It might give me an hour window to walk, I reasoned that morning. It also might not, so I napped a half hour, then I got out of bed to check.

Looking back I saw the mid to late forties woman still in my bed. She looked her age at 6AM without make up. She was still a nice looking lady, but she would look better two hours from now, I thought. I looked outside and the rain was very gently falling.

So I put on my rubber rain shoes, and my clear rain parka. I wore the parka over my cargo shorts and sweat shirt. I looked back and Mica was still asleep so I left for the hike. I invited Mikah along, but I didn’t demand that she come with me. She decided she wanted to remain dry for which I didn’t blame her at all.

I began my walk at 6:30AM after my pills. Either it fooled me all along, or Mikah had known something I didn’t. It was raining harder, and it was cooler than I expected. That would teach me not to forget to check the weather on my computer before I left. Even though Mikah was home, I carried the walking stick/entrenching tool. I needed it to lean on when my back began with the muscle pain. Every minute I spent leaning on the tool, meant five more minutes I could walk. So yes mornings like that one I used the walking stick a lot.

I saw a couple of kids out boosting a car as I went by. They obviously didn’t recognize me or maybe they did. I took the cell phone out of my pocket and dialed 911. I reported it to the police and kept walking. They might get to the location before the kids drove off. It didn’t really matter to me. I had done my bit, so it was up to the cops to complete the cycle.

When I returned to the car wash, Mica still looked her age. However she was awake and eating a toasted English muffin with cream cheese. “Hope you don’t mind?” she asked.

“Not at all, it looks good,” I said sitting down heavily after opening the frig for cold chocolate milk again. I made a muffin to have with the milk.

“So what you gonna do today,” Mica asked me.

“I’m gonna get dressed, and maybe open the new drama that I’m working on,” I replied.

“Oh, and how is Cindy the Drama Queen?” she asked.

“She is just fine,” I replied. It was always my reply when she asked. I avoided fights whenever I could. “The drama is a cops and robbers TV script that I didn’t research. Lots to do on it to make it seem at least a little real. The script is bullshit. It had to have been written by a girl straight out of college. They have a new title for me at the Co-op the Script Doctor.”

“Cool,” she said standing to leave.

“Why don’t you hangout a while?” I asked.

“No thanks,” she replied. “The kids need to be awake early to greet the day.”

She gave me a quick kiss and was out the door. First thing I did after the muffin was to take a shower and dress for the day. I left the wet parka to drip dry over the tub. The shorts and sweat shirt, I washed in the small washer and dryer stack unit. It had been expensive, but worth every penny of it.

When I was all clean and sanitized, I dressed in pretty much the same kind of outfit as I had taken off. The one I wore to start the day wasn’t quite as old and faded, but still about the same.

I got bored about ten, so I opened the mail from Tonya. ‘Ed, the boss loves it. He made me leave it untouched until we have the whole season then he wants to bring you in to work on it. I told him to leave you be. So keep on, keeping on.

Bye the time Cindy was due to finish work, I had driven the metro over to the Company Store and Take Away Restaurant. It was the renovated company store of one of the early cotton mills. It had the same menu at the lunch counter. But of course not the original prices. They did have and used their original recipes. What is more important, they stayed 100% faithful to them.

The basement had been the original bakery, and it still was. They displayed twenty items. All based on the original bakery menu as well. There was also a counter of old fashioned candies which they bought and resold.

Other than food items, the store sold some clothing and seeds. The kind you would have found in the original store. I knew the prices were high, but you were paying for the memories, as much as the food. Did I mention the store had the 1925 prices listed along with the current price. 1925 was the year it opened. Hot dog’s, all the way, were a dime on the original menu which was a bit pricey for the times. They were a dollar and a quarter at the present time. And worth every fucking penny of it.

I bought six hot dogs, then moved to the bakery and bought two of their giant cinnamon buns at the special price of three bucks for two. The original price was a nickle each. When I left for home it was 6PM and the dinner rush should have been over, but it wasn’t. There were cops, old timers like me, and even older patrons in wheel chairs. And even though the line was to the door there was no sniping. The crowd standing in line to place their orders were part of the experience. I had never been to the sandwich shop during the week, but people said it was the same only not so busy. The Company store did have a few picnic tables outside, but there was never an empty seat.

Like me, most people took their dogs home. When I got mine home I piled them up in the toaster oven and set if for warm. Thia showed up twenty minutes after her shift ended. She had a six pack of cold root beer for me, and a six pack of Michelob for herself. We brought one dog each into the living room to eat while watching a movie on the desktop computer. I had it cued up already.