Chapter 165: Homophobes and Country Boys

When I got home, after the day from hell, Gwen had her new camera man. Yes it was a man and she brought him by to meet me. His name was Earl, believe it or not. I thought they were kidding, but it was not a joke. Earl was from West Virginia, so the name was appropriate.

"I understand the rules are I stay in he background. I do not get involved in any situations?" he asked.

"This isn't like your housewife wars," Gwen said. "You might need to defend yourself, you should be ready for that." She suggested.

"Sweetie, when I was sixteen, I worked in a coal mine. It was pretty rough in the holler, where I lived. I think I can take care of myself," he replied.

"That's good to know," I said smiling. I knew that only time would tell for sure. "I'm going back to the Cop Out tonight. Last night was a bummer."

"Yeah I know, it wasn't much fun for sure." Gwen agreed. "I'll send Earl along, so drive slowly or he will get lost."

"It is impossible to get lost in Aster," I said. "Anyway Earl, just watch and try to fit in. You aren't supposed to make waves." I knew that it would be hard, if not impossible for a new man, or woman for that matter, not to be noticed in the Cop Out.

"If you are going to the Cop Out, I need to teach Earl how to use the phone cam," Gwen said.

"I need a bath and then I am going out for Chinese, before I go to the Cop Out." I said. It was how I managed to push the two of them out the door.

After a long bath I felt a little better about life. I was having one shitty day, but I was optimistic that it would get better. Once I was dressed, I spent a little time on the computer. Checking my mail and the news. Actually I hung around the place until 7PM. At that time I drove to a new Chinese restaurant called the China Beach.

It was a very small restaurant with seating for about twenty. All of the table were set for two but could easily be pushed together for larger groups. It had originally been a fast food restaurant, which had moved on to a larger space. The new Chinese restaurant was going to need a huge take out business to make it. When I got to the restaurant there were at least five cars at the drive thru window, so they seemed to be doing okay.

The small oriental woman who seated me also left a menu in front of me. It was only one side of one page. The menu had very few items, which suited me fine, since it had the one I wanted. I love shrimp fried rice. It came on a plate with stir fried oriental veggies, or at least veggies faked to resemble oriental veggies.

I had been in the restaurant about five minutes, when Earl came in with Gwen. They sat at one of the other small tables. We made eye contact, but nothing more. They looked like a husband with his slightly older wife. I took a better look at Earl while I waited for the fried rice.

Earl was likely to be a little over 6' tall. He might be twenty pounds over weight but not so much as to be a problem. He had black hair and very blue eyes. It had become a very popular combination lately. His dressed was what I called poor boy chic. He looked like a kid, who grew up poor, but now could finally afford nice clothes. In other words he was over dressed for Aster in general, and the small Chinese restaurant in particular.

It was late and I was hungry, so I made quick work of the fried rice and veggies. I left the two of them working on their dinner. They knew where I was headed so there was no problem. I arrived at the Cop Out to find the place more or less empty. From the night before, when it was packed, to the next night when it was empty was a big change.

"What the hell happened here?" I asked.

"Beats the hell out of me," the bartender said. "I expected a midweek lull, but this is ridiculous."

"Well give me a cup of coffee and let's see if it picks up any." I suggested.

"Here you go," he said a moment later. "You know that chick you came in with for a while, the one with the great body?"

"Of course I know her," I said.

"She came in about an hour ago looking for you. Said she would be back in a bit, then left with the chick you were with last night."

"Damn that was one confusing message," I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I would just as soon this not turn into a gay bar," he said.

"Now what makes you think we are gay," I asked. "Hell, I'm not even a little light hearted at the moment."

"The two of them were making out in the back corner. I thought I was going to have to ask them to leave." he said.

"Wow, I would have liked to have seen that," I said.

"I bet you would. I have heard the rumors about you." he replied.

"Believe the bad ones and not the good ones and you will be right most of the time," I suggested.

"Anyway try to explain to them that this is not that kind of place," he said.

"So what kind of place is it. It looks like an empty dive to me at the moment. You could probably use the business." I suggested.

"Maxine, I like you. You got more balls than almost any of the men who come in here. You never brought your girls in before, so we never had a problem. Looks like now we might have."

"Yeah, it does look that way, if the girls come back looking for me, just send them home." I said that as I stood to leave.

"I hate you feel this way," he said.