Chapter 356

Since I was all tooled up, and I had a place to go, I walked out the back door of the Downtown House smiling for a change. I stopped on the way to the Spoke and Chain for a tank of gas. It was hard for me to appreciate the mundane things in live, like buying gasoline but there I was. Since small details always came flooding in whenever I did anything, I raised my head and smiled for the surveillance camera I knew would be there.

I only mention the big thoughts in this journal, but there are millions of smaller reminders flooding my brain everyday. It was true as a human as well. I just didn't notice them as much. As you drive down the road, you notice a blue car following you without really seeming to notice. A few seconds later your brain says to itself, where the fuck is that blue car? so you look to see. The blue car has gotten closer, so it make a reminder to check it again. This all happens without any conscious thought from you, but for me it is conscious and has way more weight than it does for you. See I thought all that just because I smiled at the surveillance camera.

The drive out to the Spoke and Chain took a few minutes, because it was actually in Lattimer, which is a much smaller town than Aster even. Aster has a half dozen stop lights. Lattimer has only one. I had to go through it before I arrived at the Spoke and Chain. The beer joint occupied an old retail tire store building. They didn't even removed the overhead doors, when they took over. Once inside I found that they had simply sheet rocked over them. They hadn't done a very good job of it either.

I noticed before I entered that there were several large motorcycles parked at the front of the parking lot. The parking lot surrounded the building. On the outer edges of the lot there were a few older cars and a couple of pickup trucks. At least I wouldn't be the only one in an old pickup.

I parked the truck in a position so that I could make a quick get away, if it came to that. When I left the truck, I closed the door without bothering to lock it. I had a feeling that if needed, the universal master key, a tire iron would be used. So to save the price of a new window, I didn't bother locking it.

In the bar area of the building, it was well lit. In the shop area, which housed three regulation pool table, except for the lights over the pool tables it was dark. I walked calmly to the former sales counter, which had become a stand up bar. The bartender stared at me without saying a word. The smell of testosterone, gasoline, and stale sweat filled the air. I realized that the bartender was challenging me with his silence.

"What you got on draft?" I avoided sounding either butch or submissive. I made it as neutral as I could.

"Well, we ain't got no lite beer," he said smiling at me.

"That ain't what I asked, now is it?" I asked.

"You a cop?" he asked without making a move to get my beer.

"I was once. I was also a democrat once," I said "Do I get the beer or do I have to kick someone's ass to get served."

"Could you do that?" a much larger man in his fifties asked.

"I have done it before. I don't reckon I forgot how," I said.

"I know you," he declared. "This is that bad ass PI from Aster. You know the TV bitch."

"Yeah that's me, and no it ain't faked. So do I get the beer or not. That's all I came for," I said. "The beer."

"Why the hell did you drive all the way down here for a beer?" he demanded.

"I lost an election bet," I replied.

"Elections ain't for six months," he informed.

"It was the last election," I said smiling.

"You one smart ass bitch," the older man said. "I like that in my whores."

"Enough to buy me a beer?" I asked.

"Sure, I'll buy you a beer, then I'm gonna' fuck you in the ass." he said.

I moved faster than anyone he ever saw in his miserable life. I grabbed the front of his leather jacket and pulled his head down to my level. He was a bit taller after all. Then from nowhere I produced the box opener and put it to his throat.

"Not before you take a shower you ain't," I said. "Now are you going to play nice, or are you going to bleed out on th floor."

"You think you are going to just walk out, if you do that?" he said.

"It ain't going to matter none to you whether I do or not. You are still going to be dead." I said smiling at him. Then I said loud enough for everyone to hear. "Now do I get that beer or not?"

"Give the bitch the beer," an even older man said. "Bitch you move that razor and we can all just get along. You don't and it's going to be war."

"Since going to war isn't what I came for, consider it done." I put the razor away as I pushed the old man away from me. He pulled back to hit me. I was just about to stiff finger punch him in the gut, when the older man grabbed his arm.

"Mike go sit your ass down, that woman is way too much for you." Mike listened to the older man. The older man stood beside me then asked. "I got to know was it the ass fucking, or the stink you objected to?"

"I have been fucked in the ass by men who stank, but I was pretty rank myself at the time. I just like things to be equal," I replied.

"Now that sounds reasonable," he said.

"I seen all those shows on TV. Are you telling me that all that shit was real?" he asked.

"The show worked because it was all shot as it happened. At least that is what Mike and Gwen told me. They were the producers and camera people. It was all hidden microphones and cameras." I admitted. I stopped and took a long pull on the cold beer.

"And all those guys you fucked?" he asked.

"Honey, I been force fucked more times than Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke," I replied.

"Well enjoy your beer, nobody else is gonna bother you," he said walking away. I watched him walk back to the table where a bottle blond about my age waited.

"You got a bike," the voice asked from behind me. I turned to see a man several years younger than me standing a few feet away.

"A mountain bicycle," I admitted.

"You want to go for a ride on a Harley," he asked.

"Next time, I'm not dressed for it," I admitted.

"How about a ride on my hog? For that you undress," a different man who joined him asked.

"I'm not sure I could keep up. I think I'm gonna pass on that as well," I said.

"What if we say different?" he asked.

"You can say it, but that don't make it so. Now let me tell you up front. I believe you are all bad asses, so you ain't got to prove that to me. All the big talk isn't going to impress me any more. so lets just have a beer and be friends."