FicWad

About a week has passed since that night, and life moved on as usual. Although the temperatures dropped to twenty-one degrees on Thanksgiving night, the temperature rose up from the lower forties in the daytime, to about thirty or thirty-one at night. So even when snow fell at night, the ground was too warm for the snow to accumulate, and may times Des Moines had freezing rain. Ever since December arrived, some kids including Melissa’s son would complain about not having enough snow. They tend to be happier, though because Christmas break is just a couple of weeks away for them.

For some reason, snow tends to brighten up places and make neighborhoods slightly more aesthetically pleasing. They all suppose they will have to wait until Christmas, and even then...

Mick comes out from his apartment, somewhat tired as he walks over to his car. Joey’s car is fixed again, but since the studio is in the road to where Mick is going, they both decided to just ride together. Now, Joey has noticed that his roommate has been completely tired, lately, and for awhile, he figures that it’s because of his job because the guy always leave at random times of the day. But then he notices the guy coming back from...wherever he is...at three in the morning, and sometimes he has doubts about where Mick is getting the money. The man has been pretty grumpy lately, too.

It’s December the fourth today, and the temperature has gone down to twenty-three, and since it’s snowed overnight, Mick can actually see accumulated snow, but not too much. The weather man said the sun will be out later with a high of thirty-one, so the snow may melt. But who cares about what that guy says, anyway?

Mick sighs exasperatedly at the snow on his car, so he unlocks his door and takes out his snow brush from the bottom of the passenger side, and begins brushing the snow off his window.

A little girl, maybe five years old, walks by and watches Mick, and it takes him awhile before he finally notices her. He sort of feels awkward to have someone like her watching him with some innocent and/or curiosity look on her face, and he probably expects her to ask what he’s doing or something like that.

Well, you know that saying where you can’t judge a book by its cover? Mick is just finished when the little girl asks, “Why are you so ugly?”

Mick blinks and turns to her, not having really heard that right. “Excuse me?”

“You’re so ugly!” She begins snickering. “And you’re fat, and no one’s gonna marry you, and I think you’re gonna go to jail and kiss a prisoner!”

Mick has that look of disbelief on his face, asking himself did this little girl just seriously called him ugly and fat. Didn’t parents used to teach kids manners? And how would a five year old know anything about jails? He sighs, not about to be bothered by some kindergartener. “Leave me alone,” he replies.

But the little girl wouldn’t leave him alone. Instead, she skips closer and begins taunting him with, “You’re fat and stupid! And I think you like to kill little girls and cut off their heads! You’re like Santa Clause with black hair, but only retarded kids will sit on your lap!”

Mick growls in frustration. “Don’t you have school to go to, kid?” he asks angrily.

“Shows what you know, it’s Saturday!” She grins. “I don’t have to go to school! I think you’re retarded!”

Joey meanwhile comes out, checking to see if he has anything other than his drumsticks, and he looks out for Mick. He sighs exasperatedly when he sees his roommate with the little girl. She taunted Corey back in the summer.

“And I think you’re gay!” She finishes.

If an adult said that, Mick probably would’ve been violent. He turns around, trying to convince himself that kids should not be beaten, and then he turns around and speaks as calmly as he can, “Little girl, go home. I don’t have time for this.”

“Hah! You gotta go to work on a Saturday!” she responds in a sing-song voice.

“So what? Now go away.”

Mick is suddenly answered with a badly made snowball to his jacket. And needless to say, that pretty much did it. “Okay, you know what?! Get the fuck out of my face, or I’m about to hit you!”

The little girl becomes angry too. “Yeah, well I think you’re UGLY!”

Joey has walked over to them at that point and tugs Mick away. “Mick, stop shouting at her! She is not worth it. One day someone’s gonna kidnap her, and we’ll be rid of her, all right?! God, stop making yourself look bad by shouting at someone’s kid.”

Mick retorts, “Oh yeah? Well maybe someone needs to teach her how to respect her fucking elders!”

The little girl looks over at Joey. “Are you a girl?”

“...Mick, let’s just go before we both kill her, all right?” the drummer immediately says to his roommate before he opens the door, and Mick reluctantly walks over to the driver’s side, mumbling as he starts the car and drives off. The little girl is left there, and if luck is on their side, maybe someone will come over and kidnap her. Why isn’t her mother out watching her in the first place?

___

At The Safari, Jim is sitting at the table, simply thinking about things. He hasn’t spoken to his mother since that night, and when his father called, ranting about leaving his blanket down in the basement instead of taking it with him, Jim simply hung up on the guy. He is pretty much relaxed, though. He even talked with Cristina a couple times, and she convinced him last night to come with her to this special thing on the weekend. So that was a good thing. He’s also been hangout with the guys more. Well, it’s less with Sid, because the latter’s been working every night now, and a little more with the folks other than Corey. Not that he hasn’t hung out with Corey since then.

In fact, Corey’s coming back from the counter with their cups of coffee, and he sits one down in front of Jim’s before sitting down himself. He glances at his tall friend and smiles. “All right, so what’s on your mind?”

His voice breaks Jim from his thoughts, and he replies, “What’s on my mind?”

“Well I’m saying that because you look like you’re thinking about a lot of things.” Corey then grins a bit stupidly. “Got any secrets?”

Jim shakes his head before giving Corey a small smirk. “Isn’t that the point of secrets, so you wouldn’t need to share them?”

The radio deejay shrugs. “Fair enough.”

Jim smiles then, and he says, “Thanks for the coffee.”

“No problem.”

“So where are you going today again?”

“I’m picking up my son. My weekend with him,” Corey replies, smiling gently as he speaks.

Jim smiles at that, sipping his coffee. “That’s great, man.”

“Yeah, you need to see him sometime. He’s such a smart kid, and it’s like...” Corey gnaws on the inside of his bottom lip, thinking of how to describe his boy. “It’s like there are so many things he knows about that he isn’t willing to tell you. And yet then he becomes himself again.” He looks down at his cup of coffee as Jim looks on at him. “I’m just happy he’s getting the life he deserves, and that I’m there for him, y’know?” he finishes as he looks at Jim, who nods.

Just then, Chris comes by to sit at their table. He’s brought pancakes from McDonald’s and he’s on his way to work as well as Jim. But he decided to drop by to see, well, /someone/. Because he’s got a secret, and he can’t not hold it in anymore. He sits down and grins. “Hey, guys.”

Jim and Corey smile. “What’s up?” is Corey’s reply. “You’re awfully happy about something.”

Chris shrugs. “Yeah, I’m happy, and a little nervous.”

“Why? Are you carrying Melissa’s child or something?”

Chris simply blinks at Corey before chuckling, a bit dryly. “That’s very funny, Corey. But no, we’re not thinking of starting a family. Besides, we already have Jayden, her son. There’s something that I have been thinking about, and I don’t know if I can hold it in anymore.”

Joey and Mick peak in then, seeing people around on their tables and eating coffee. Shawn’s just returned from the back, and he goes on to sit with Chris, Corey and Jim, making Chris even more happy...and nervous. Joey shrugs. “We can go sit with them.”

“Whatever,” Mick replies before they both come over to see the others.

Corey blinks at the two. “Oh look, kids. It’s Big Truck and Little Joanne!” Joey glares at the guy before he sits down. Mick snorts a bit.

“But isn’t that your mother’s name?” he asks Corey.

“Yeah it is. So?”

Joey sighs and glances at Shawn. “Hey man.”

“Hey, so where are you all off to?”

“I gotta practice, and Mick’s going...somewhere.” He turns to Mick as he says this.

Corey shrugs. “I’m picking up Griffin, and Jim’s gotta work.

Chris smiles. “I gotta work, too, but...” he sighs, biting his lip. “I really gotta tell you people something.”

Mick raises an eyebrow. “Are you carrying Melissa’s child?”

Chris rolls his eyes. “No, I...” Here goes. “I’m thinking about asking Missy to marry me.”

Corey chokes on his coffee, while the others just stare at the man, unsurprisingly surprised.

Shawn looks over at everyone before Chris. “So, when did you decide this?”

Jim smiles. “Yeah, I’m really happy for you.”

“Oh, don’t be happy for me yet,” Chris replies, cutting up his breakfast before taking a bite, glad to have his coffee. “I don’t wanna get anyone’s hopes up, especially mine. I’m kind of nervous because I don’t know if she wants to marry me or not.” He sits back, shaking his head. “But man...she completes me, you know? I don’t think I’ve ever fallen in love with anyone more than I have with her. I’ve thought about it since September.”

Shawn shrugs. “Well, she loves you too, doesn’t she? I mean, if she wants to marry you, then that’s fine. If not, then maybe she just isn’t ready, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t love you.”

“Yeah, I know. I just want her to be my wife one day.”

Jim nods. “I think she’ll say yes.” Chris gives the tall man a smile at that.

Joey looks up at Mick before turning to Shawn. “We’re just gonna get coffee, and then we’re gonna go,” he says. “I’m running late.”

Corey rolls his eyes.

Mick realizes that he needs coffee as well. A lot of it. Chris pretty much notices the bags around the burly man’s eyes as the guy asked Joey to get him something strong.

Joey sighs. “What flavor?”

“No flavor. Just strong coffee,” He replies.

As Joey goes up to the counter, Chris turns to Mick and notes, “You look awful, man.”

Mick looks right back at him and shrugs. “I haven’t had any sleep lately. Unsurprisingly, Corey can only raise an eyebrow at that.

“Dude, what the fuck are you doing? How can you be so tired when you’re not even working?” he asks, rolling his eyes before he drinks some more coffee.

And Mick glares at the radio deejay, and replies, “You know what? One day you’ll be without a job, and when you do, I’ll be the one laughing at your ass, because I do have a job, fucker.”

Jim looks between the two before glancing back at Mick. “How come you just won’t tell us what you do?”

“Exactly!” Corey exclaims. “Jim so has a point there.”

Mick responds with, “Because it’s none of your business. Jesus Christ.” Jim shrugs and Chris and Shawn exchange looks.

Shawn slaps his hand flat on the table before standing up. “Well, I’m gonna go do some work in the back. See you guys later.” The others wave at him before Chris turns back to his food.

“We haven’t heard from that guy in awhile,” he says quietly.

Corey looks up at him. “Who, Geraldo?”

“Yep.”

Joey comes back with the two cups of coffee, and not even sitting down, he looks over at Mick and motions him to follow him, basically saying that he’s ready to go. Mick sighs and stands up. “I’m getting the fuck out of here.”

“Hey, watch your fucking mouth,” Corey scolds, joking for the most part.

Mick flips him off before he steps out, following Joey, and Corey shakes his head before he happens to look up at Jim. He smiles at him and the smile is returned.

___

Joey sighs as he sits back against the passenger seat, looking at the buildings as many of the windows as well as the front facades are filled with Christmas decorations. “I really wanna give October something,” he says.

Mick kind of smiles at that. “Well, it’s not like she can talk yet, so we can’t really know what she wants.”

Joey tries to think of something. “She likes banging on the table a lot.”

“Really? Then maybe we could give her some baby drum thing. I just realized that this will be her very first Christmas.”

Joey smiles at that. “If Brenna takes her to the mall, she must see Santa.”

“Santa scared me when I was a kid.”

Joey simply raises his eyebrow at him. “...Why?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, it’s settled. We’re getting her a baby-drum set.” The short man grins, very delighted that maybe he can make the baby happy as well as her mother. He only wishes that Brenna would come and see them. But then when he glances at Mick, his smiles fades, remembering how grumpy the guy is lately.

Mick takes a quick look at Joey before he looks at the road again, saying, “What?”

The drummer shrugs. “Nothing. I’m just...” he looks back out the window again. “Well you get so grumpy lately.”

Mick sighs. “I’m just tired.”

“Your job keeping you there until two in the morning.”

Mick was going to say no, but then he slowly nods. “Yep.”

Joey sighs then. “I see.” He reaches over to pick his cup from the cup holder and he takes a sip of his coffee, setting it down afterwards. He just happens to glance at Mick when he notices something crawling on his jacket. His eyes widen even more when he realizes that it’s a roach. “Mick, you got a roach on you jacket.”

Mick blinks before he sees it, and he takes it and throws it out the window after rolling it down. “Well shit,” he chuckles dryly. “Where the fuck did that come from?”

___

“So, my birthday’s coming up soon,” Corey says to Jim while he looks out at the window. Jim looks back at him and smiles.

“Yeah, it’s this coming Wednesday on the eighth,” he replies. His grin grows as he adds, “I think I’m free that night.”

Corey brightens up at that, not only because Jim said he’d be there, but also because the guy actually remembered when his birthday was. He grins. “You fucking better be there, man. I’m so gonna get you drunk and fucking wasted! Jack Daniels.”

Jim shorts. “I only drink whiskey.”

Corey blinks at that, before he smiles again. “Oh, do ya, James?” He lifts his hand to ruffle the guy’s hair before moving closer and adds, “Well okay, cool! You buy the whiskey and I buy the JD.”

The tall man laughs and nods. “Yeah, all right.”

Chris comes back from talking with Shawn. Yeah, he just had to ask him what the best engagement ring was. Actually Shawn just told him to buy whatever ring Melissa would like. Besides, he’s kind of busy and he can’t help with advice like that. Shawn doesn’t even remember giving Chantal a nice engagement ring, simply because he couldn’t afford one. She still loved it, anyway.

Chris sits back down on the table and sighs. “Well, I guess I’ll have to find an engagement ring that Missy might like,” he says, as he gently pierces a piece of his pancake with his fork.

Corey sighs. “Well don’t ask me about it. My marriage didn’t last, remember?”

“Yeah, I know that.” As Chris begins to lift the fork, Jim notices something strange about that piece of pancake.

His eyes widen even more when he realizes that under that piece was a roach that was also impaled by Chris’s fork. Jim grimace, especially since the guy hasn’t been looking at his food, and he opens his mouth. “Uh...Chris? I wouldn’t eat that.” Corey looks over at Jim before blinking at the roach. Apparently while he and Jim were talking, neither of them noticed that a roach crawled up on the table and under Chris’s breakfast.

Chris glances at Jim and blinks. “Eat what? My pancakes?” He looks down at his piece.

Corey blinks in disgust. “Oh my god, Chris. Put down the fork.”

“What’s wrong with you guys?” Chris asks as he raises the fork on to his lips.

“Don’t eat that!” the two shout in unison.

Chris finally decides to look at his piece of pancake, thinking that it looks fine, until looks under.

Now, maybe it’s simply because the dead roach was right in his face or something, but when he sees it, he immediately yelps and drops the fork, quickly standing up and moving away from the table. “Oh my god!” He exclaims, completely terrified.

Corey just happened to look down on his shoes when he sees that there’s a roach crawling upwards on one of them. “Holy shit!” he exclaims as he stands up, shaking the pesky thing off of his shoe. Jim stands up, not having any on him, but noticing that there were about eleven roaches on the floor where they are.

Just then, a woman screams, brushing a roach on her arm, and then several others begin to notice that there are quite a few roaches on the floor, and many were crawling on the chairs and windows.

Shawn comes out, trying to see what’s going on. “What the fuck just happened?!”

Corey turns to him and snaps, “Do you see how many fucking roaches are on this floor?!” feeling utterly disgusted. Well Shawn is too, and he watches as people run out of the club.

“Oh my god...” he can only respond.

Suddenly a woman comes out from the bathroom, terrified. “Twenty-five fucking roaches coming out from the sink, Shawn!! What the hell is going on?!”

Shawn can only shudder, trying to figure out why this is happening.

___

Well, Jim and Chris are sitting outside on a bench in front of the Safari, while Corey had gone in to check on Shawn. Chris sighs as he looks up at the Health Inspection truck; the health inspectors are actually talking with Shawn. The man sighs and sits back, pretty weirded out by the fact that he almost ate a roach, but he’s a bit calm again. He looks over at Jim, who’s smoking and shivering. He blinks and asks, “Are you okay? You’re shivering.”

Jim simply stares at Chris, really wanting to know why the man would even ask that. “I’m cold,” he simply replies.

“Yeah it is cold, but it’s only in the mid-twenties. You’re acting like it’s eight below zero.”

Jim simply stares at Chris at that statement, before he turns away and takes another drag of his cigarette. Corey has arrived when he heard Chris’s comment, and as he lights himself a cigarette, he speaks, “Leave Jim alone. The guy’s been living in Florida for a decade. It’ll be awhile before he adapts to this weather again.” He sits beside Jim then, having the tall man in the middle.

Chris nods, pretty much understanding that. “So what happened with Shawn.”

Corey shakes his head as his face falls. “I was peaking in to listen to them.” He takes a long sigh, unsure of how to say this. “They’re fucking shutting down the Safari.” Jim and Chris blink at that.

“Oh my god,” Chris whispers, looking at the club. “Oh Shawn...I can’t believe this.” He turns back to Corey. “For how long?”

“Until further notice,” he replies quietly, raising the cigarette to his lips again.

Jim sighs. “I’m sorry.”

Corey glances at him, slightly puzzled. “For what?”

“You guys have been keeping it up for who knows how long,” the tall man explains, “and just to have that happen...”

Chris smiles at Jim. “It’s been closed down before. I forget why, though.”

Corey glances at the two and says, “Because Shawn used to keep pig heads on display and stuff.” Jim blinks at that and the radio deejay chuckles at the expression on his face. “That brought a bunch of flies and roaches in there. They shut it down and he had to stop doing that.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that now. But we haven’t seen that many roaches at all since then. Actually I’ve never seen any roaches since...”

Corey’s about to say something, but then a car rolls by, playing Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys. Well, as soon as Corey sees that it’s none other than Charlie, he groans miserably and clings to Jim, trying to hide his face. “I do not wanna see him right now!” Jim simply raises an eyebrow at his friend.

Chris shakes his head. “Why are so against seeing Charlie, Cor?”

“Because he’s fucking annoying!”

Charlie stops the car and hops out, walking to the others. “Hello, ladies. How are you?”

Corey, still hiding his face using Jim’s arm, simply flips the guy off, while Chris and Jim smile lightly.

“We’re actually in a bit of a situation,” Chris replies. “Because we were inside, but then all these roaches came out. A shit load of them...” he shudders a bit, “and I almost ate one of them. The Safari’s being shut down.”

“Oh fuck,” Charlie can only whisper, sitting by Corey. “Man...” He turns to Chris. “Wait, you almost ate a roach?!”

Chris glares at him. “It crawled up under my pancakes!”

“Pfft! That’s nothing!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, I mean I used to eat ants when I was little. I don’t know why, but I kinda liked eating them.”

Well, the other three simply stare at the guy with a combination of disgust and disbelief. Corey shudders again, and he mutters, “Get him the fuck away from me,” quietly asking Jim to move over so that he can sit between him and Chris. Chris wonders if Lorraine’s been raising the guy well.

The health inspectors come out of the building, and jumps into their automobile, driving away, and Corey sighs again.

“How the fuck could there be so many roaches?”

Jim shrugs. “Yeah, and in winter too...”

Chris points out, “Oh no, they can survive during winter too. You don’t see as much of them, but they’ll just go inside buildings where it’s warm.” He sighs. “But it’s...like I’m sure Shawn wasn’t stupid enough to bring in anything that’d attract them again, right? I’m positive that I haven’t seen any at all since it was reopened back in 2006, other than a couple near the back.”

“Yeah, but why would there be like over a hundred of them all of a sudden? In December?”

Corey’s eyes were closed for a bit until he opens them again, beginning to know why the club was infested with roaches. He slowly stands up and flicks the cigarette to the ground, and (after checking that no cars are coming) he begins to walk back inside, chuckling dryly and shaking his head. The other three watch the guy, and Chris calls, “Where are you going?”

Corey turns back and calls out, “Because I think I have a theory.” At that, he opens the door and walks inside.

The other three sigh, and Jim shivers a bit again at the cold. Charlie looks at the guy and then at Chris before looking at Jim again. He grins. “So, Jim, do you listen to the Beastie Boys?”

Jim simply raises an eyebrow at him.

___

Shawn sits there on his desk, his forehead resting on his palm as he tries to think how in the hell this could’ve happened. He’s made sure the place was a clean as it could be. Now it was never the cleanest place in the world, but it wasn’t so filthy that so many roaches could infest it. He swears under his breath, thinking about his family and how the hell he’s gonna be able to support them. He doesn’t even know when the Safari will reopen again. He hates having to tell Chantal the bad news.

His thoughts are broken when he sees Corey come into his office, and he sighs. “What do you want?”

Corey sighs. “I’m sorry about this, man.” The older man can only shrug. “But, if it makes you feel any better. I think I know the cause of the roaches.”

Well, Shawn rolls his eyes. “What fucking difference does it make, Corey?”

“No, but listen.” He sits on the desk and says, “You haven’t been keeping anything that could attract that many roaches, right? Actually you’ve kept this place pretty clean, so why did we see so many of them all of a sudden in December?” He looks more closely at the man and he continues in a lower voice, and more seriously, “It’s almost as if someone brought a bunch of large jars into the place, wouldn’t you think?”

It takes Shawn a bit to realize what the radio deejay is implying, and he looks up at him with a serious look on his face. “Are you saying that he might have...?”

Corey nods. “Yeah...” Because who else would stoop that low?

___

They guys decided to stay with Shawn for a little while longer before the man returned home, and after Charlie and Chris left, Corey and Jim went in the radio deejay’s car to drop the man off at work. Jim sighs after Corey basically told him that Geraldo infested the Safari with roaches, and even then it’s kind of boggling how that man was able to find that many. “Someone’s gonna have to get that guy back,” he says.

“Yeah, but we really don’t know how. We can’t really find any proof that he did it. But I know he did, though because he’s been trying to shut the place down for awhile,” Corey replies, before he sees the car shop and pulls over to it.

“He probably was planning that from the very beginning.” The tall man shakes his head. “I hope Shawn will be okay...”

Corey looks over at Jim and stops the car. “He’ll be fine. He’s with us. We’re gonna get Geraldo back one way or another.” Jim nods, but then the other man snorts. “What the fuck kind of a name is Geraldo anyway?”

The tall man snorts at that, but then looks at Corey. “True, but what if anyone said the same thing about your name?”

“Pfft,” is Corey’s response, sitting back in the car. “Like I give a fuck what anyone says anyway!” He shrugs. “I love my name.” He turns to Jim. “You like my name?”

Jim smiles at such a question. “Yeah.”

The radio deejay smiles at the answer. “Well I like your name, too.” His smile becomes gentler. “I mean there’s James Root, and then there’s Jim Root. Either way, nice ring to it.” He looks over at the car shop before glancing at Jim again. “So, you’re still up for Wednesday?”

“Yeah.”

“Good,” Corey replies, smiling gently at Jim as he gives him an affectionate pat on his shoulder. “I’m glad. I can’t remember the last time we got drunk at each other’s birthdays. I’m sorry I missed yours,” he says, the smile fading a bit.

“It’s okay,” Jim replies. He glances out at the window, before he turns to Corey again. “Well I better get to work,” he says, smiling.

The radio deejay simply nods. “All right, have fun getting dirty,” he teases. Jim simply shakes his head and smiles, before heading out of the car and walking inside. Corey watches him before he sighs and starts the car again, on his way to see his son.

___

Saturday has arrived and Corey’s just arriving from work. He figures that after this, he can just hand out with friends at someone’s apartment, since The Safari’s closed and maybe even check on Brenna and October before that. Then he’ll call Jim and rant about things. That’s what he does when they’re not hanging out together, anyway. He still has that dream of having his own music show. He thought about playing just the metal, but then he wondered why would he just do that? Corey loves all kinds of music and he’d air whatever he wants on television because it’s his own show.

He opens the door, and he blinks to see someone else sitting on his chair, and speaking in Spanish. The woman looks over at Corey, confused. She speaks in English, albeit with an accent, “Who are you?”

Corey looks at her awkwardly, also expecting her to get off of his chair. “Um, I’m Corey Taylor, 104.5 DROK.”

The woman blinks and looks around awkwardly. “Oh....oh wow. You know, I think you’re supposed to call...” she looks through her papers before she spots what she’s looking for. She turns back to Corey. “You are supposed to call Dan Weatherman. I think he is in Hawaii, and he wanted to talk to you.”

Now, how can you blame Corey for looking baffled at that? “Wha...what the fuck is he doing in Hawaii?!”

Suddenly, the producer of DROK, Adele Shoemaker, shows up as well. And as soon as she sees the other woman, she looks over at Corey. “Who the fuck is this?” she asks, jerking her thumb at the Spanish-speaking woman.

Corey looks over at the woman looking through papers. “I don’t know, but we’re fucking talking to Dan right now.” At that, he storms over and dials his cell. He stands there, waiting for Dan to pick up, and Adele asks him to put the guy on the speaker. The other woman, Marisol, simply sighs and rolls her eyes at the two.

Finally, they hear Dan’s voice, “Hello?!”

Corey blinks. “Dan?! Dan, are you in Hawaii?!”

“You fucking bet I am! I’m on vacation!”

Adele sighs. “Dan, what are you doing in Hawaii?!”

“I made some big cash!”

“You wanna tell me how?!”

Corey speaks, then, huddling by Adele to hear Dan better. “There’s a woman in my chair and she won’t get of it!”

Marisol scoffs. “This is my chair!”

Adele runs her fingers through her hair, feeling frustrated already.

Well, Dana replies with, “Oh, I can’t do that, guys. This man, right? This man gave me this huge offer, and guess what?!”

“What?!”

“I sold the radio station!”

Well, there’s been a long moment of silence after Dan gave them this lovely news. Actually, neither Corey nor Adele heard that right. Adele asks as calmly as she possibly can, “You....you sold the station, Dan? Our station?”

“Hell yeah I did! I figured why would I live marginally when I could just sell the station to a man who was willing to buy for five-hundred dollars? That’s a rich guy, man. And the woman sitting with you is Marisol, and she’ll be the radio deejay of the station! They play Tejano music.”

Corey’s voice finally returns. “Uh...I don’t think I heard you right, Dan,” he speaks calmly, but with a slightly trembling voice. “Did you just say that you sold our radio station and now we don’t have a job?” His voice becomes louder as he says this. “Please tell me this is a joke and this girl is just a girlfriend, man!” He’s trying very hard not to panic, here.

Adele bursts in tears. “How could you do this to us?!” she shouts. “You gave away our radio station and put two people out of fucking work!”

Marisol sighs. “I’m going to ask you two to please tone it down.”

Adele growls. “I’m gonna chop off your big tetas if you don’t shut your whore mouth!” Marisol gasps.

Corey feels like he’s living in a nightmare at this point. He’s really trying to figure out why his boss would do such what he perceives as a very unlawful and sinful act. Plus the thought begins to sink in that he has bills that he will never be able to help Craig pay as well as child support. How is he gonna tell Scarlett that he’ll no longer be able to support their child. He growls in frustration. “Dan, who the fuck did you sell this station, to?!”

As if on cue, a heavyset man comes in and blinks at Corey and Adele, and then he glances at Marisol. “/¿Quiénes son?/”

Marisol sighs. /Señor, trabajaron para Dan Weatherman antes de que la vendió a nosotros,/” she replies.

Corey and Adele simply stare at the two, and it doesn’t take them long to figure out that the man is the new owner of the radio station. They can only gulp as the man look at them, not very impressed. He snorts and tells Marisol, “/¡Consígales el infierno de aquí! No quiero ver estos perdedores desempleados en mi emisora./” At that, the man leaves.

Marisol shrugs at Corey and Adele. “He says to get the hell out of here because he doesn’t want to see you unemployed losers.” At that she smiles smugly and gets back to her work.

And the other two can only cling to each other, and Adele whimpers at the situation they’ve found themselves in.