FicWad

It is the sixth of January. Anyone waking up now will be hit with a low temperature of five degrees. Later on today, it will be just under twenty. The sky is still dark, but it has stopped snowing. The general feeling that the population of Des Moines has is the notion of a new beginning. Of course, it varies for everybody whether it will be a good beginning or bad. Children and teens are grudgingly back at school, and their parents can breathe again. Of course, if a little Nathan Shoemaker causes trouble by hitting a little girl during recess, then his mother will be getting calls from his school. Chantal Crahan can breathe as well now that three of their four children are in school again. But she also feels a bit lonely, because Shawn is going back to spending the day at Des Moines again. You see, after weeks of inspection, cleaning and extermination of the pests, The Safari can now reopen. And that’s the best news anyone in the group has had. You all saw how much they all missed going over there. This is their main get-together. Shawn has been waiting for this day since the club closed down.

The club-owner gets out off his car and dugs his hands into his pockets, waiting for Joey and Lorraine. They all came in yesterday afternoon to take the plywood off the doors and windows and set the thermostat, and Lorraine set the coffee machine together, even though the coffee stopped tasting good for awhile before the pest situation. The place was completely dusty that day, so they all had to clean things. Today, they’re setting down the tables in time for the place to be open at nine, how it’s always been. Joey and Lorraine arrive now, getting out of the drummer’s car as Lorraine shivers at the cold air. Shawn grins at the two, and he looks up at the unlit neon sigh well above the door and windows at the center. He remembers that it was Paul that came up with the name. He doesn’t know why the man came up with it, and to be honest, Paul never knew either. He used to say that the name just...fit. Joey looks at the sigh that Sid made on the brick wall, that The Safari will reopen on this day. There’s a sign above it, glued by the health inspectors, which said that the club was closed until further notice. Sid scribbled over that. Joey sighs and tears down both sighs, seeing that there was no need for either of them. “I don’t think anyone’s going to come today,” he says.

The older man shrugs. “Probably not because they’re still afraid of the roaches. They’ll come eventually. I’m just glad this place is open again.” He smiles. “It’s not closed until further notice anymore.” At that, he unlocks the door and opens it for Joey and Lorraine. Lorraine grins, not taking off her coat and gloves yet until she finds the thermostat and turns up the heat.

She comes back then and sighs, getting behind the bar and getting the coffee machine started. “You know what? When I came here yesterday, I think I forgot where everything was,” she speaks.

Shawn smiles at that. “I think we all did.” He and Joey begin moving the tables to their places. “When you haven’t been to one place in so long, you always forget where everything was.”

Joey takes two chairs and sets them down, doing the same to another table, and Shawn sets down the bar stools. Joey tugs his hair behind his ears. Ever since it was getting closer to the reopening of the Safari, he has concentrated on helping Shawn get things together. He still becomes tense at times, and Sid told him more than four times to get laid. But he’s not even thinking about that right now. Getting laid caused this mess to begin with. The urge will always be there, but helping his older friend set things together helped a lot. Sometimes, Mick makes it hard, and he doesn’t know why. He slowly warms up to the guy again. Slowly. He still lets the guy do whatever he can to make amends. After setting more chairs, he turns to Shawn. “You think any band will play here anytime soon?”

“Nah, I doubt it. Not for awhile anyway,” Shawn replies. “The place just reopened. I gotta convince bands that this place isn’t infested with rats anymore.” At that, he goes to his office for a moment. He shuts the door and sighs tiredly. This has never been an easy job, and the man is getting older. But hard work pays off. Sometimes. He raises an eyebrow at a piece of paper that he knows was not there yesterday. He walks over to pick it up, and he sees that it’s a letter. First of all, he wonders how anyone was able to get inside the place. He looks at the bottom and he swallows when he realizes that it’s from none other than Paul. He then reads the entire letter slowly.

Hey Shawn,

You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this place to reopen. Don’t think I’ve not heard about what happened. You guys really need to get that Geraldo guy off your back, man, and catch him before he does shit like this again. But I’ve been watching things, and I’m glad you guys have been able to hold out. I heard about Corey’s no-job situation, too, and I hope things get better for him. It makes me happy to see Brenna with you guys again. You know I’ll always stop by when I have time and you can always talk to me.

Love, Paul.
P.S. Please don’t ask me how I was able to put this letter in your office.

Shawn sighs shakily at this letter. Everything they’ve been through would’ve been a lot easier if Paul were still here with them now. Physically. He sets the letter down and goes back out to finish setting tables. Paul was definitely right. Shawn and everyone else need to watch out for Geraldo lest he tries something else. And he knows that the guy will eventually.
___

Later on in the morning, Sid is eating cereal while flipping channels. As much as he hates getting up, he has to make a few errands soon. At least after that, he can take an afternoon nap until nighttime. He and Jim knew that they were running out of food, so Jim is coming back from the grocery store. Usually, the tall man would be at work, but his boss called and told him that he was not needed. That was actually bad, because the guy needed the money. For one thing, the landlord wants to raise the rent, and that is scaring everyone on the Riverside Apartments. Hopefully the landlord will change his mind. Sid sighs and leans back against the couch after drinking milk from the bowl. He would actually cook something, but sometimes he’s just plain lazy. The only thing he’s looking forward to is going to The Safari tonight before he goes to his job. As stated before, he made that sigh about it reopening, and he cannot wait to see it again. He becomes bored now, and he decides to turn on to the news channel. The weathergirl Honey Mallory is wearing some skimpy outfit and is telling the viewers that it will snow again tonight. Sid sits up and wonders why she doesn’t sue the anchorman for sexually harassment. It is getting worse.

Pretty soon, Jim opens the door with some of the groceries, at least the ones that need to be in the refrigerator and freezer, not paying too much attention to things. He is shivering from being out in the cold; he is looking forward to being back in Jacksonville where it never snows. The two men greet each other, and the taller of the two sets things down the counter, putting the gallon of milk inside the refrigerator. “And that’s it for the weather!” Honey chirps. The anchorman simply eyes at her, grinning down at her outfit, and Honey can’t help but look a bit more worried. The anchorman eventually remembers what he’s supposed to be doing, and he clears his throat.

“Um, thank you Honey Mallory,” he says, turning around and composing himself as a caption appears behind him, showing that familiar face. “Now for our National News Segment. Back in November we gave you a news report about employees suspiciously turning up dead throughout the United States, mostly on the East Coast. All used to work for this man, Tom Merriman.” Jim stops as he’s about to go out to get another couple bags of groceries, and he slowly walks up to the couch to see what they’re saying about the guy. “Apparently, his wife was coming home from work, and had called 911, but it was too late when the ambulance arrived. The man was found dead from a gunshot wound, presumably by suicide.” The two roommates can only gape at this. “Really f—grim news indeed! No one knows why he killed himself, and his wife said she never suspected any signs of depression or anything from the guy.” He shakes his head “But I bet he got tired of hearing about his employers getting killed.”

Sid whimpers and slowly turns to Jim, who trembles just a bit. The former whimpers again. “Jim! Did...tell me they’re joking! Oh god...” Jim glances at his roommate, fearing the guy freaking out again (though for good reason). “Oh my god...that fucking coward! He....oh god, how are we gonna prove that you’re innocent now?!” He hyperventilates, and Jim tries to calm him down, sitting next to him.

“Would you stop that?” The tall man snaps. “You’re seriously making me freak out here!” It is true. Jim is seriously close to screaming in pure rage at this.

“I can’t!” Sid shouts. “Oh god, I thought we were getting behind this! Oh god, the...the hitmen. I know they think we deceived them by now, and they’re coming right back for us! It’s not ‘if’ now, man, it’s fucking ‘when’! They’re gonna come back here and fucking kill us!” The DJ hyperventilates more. “Oh god, they may come after all of us. We fucking got everyone into this, and there’s no way out!” Jim slowly rolls his eyes. Talking to Sid was not going to do anything now, and he does the only thing he can do—slapping Sid hard upside the head. The latter hisses and glares at his roommate asking him what the slap was for.

“Just...just shut up!” Jim snaps before he starts rubbing his temples, sighing exasperatedly. He shakes his head, unable to stay still. He speaks softer, “I don’t know what we’re going to do...I need to do something, fast.” He then gets up and dugs his hands in his coat pocket. Sid gulps and looks up at him.

“What are you going to do?” he asks, shifting himself a little.

“Well,” Jim begins, as calmly as he can, jerking his thumb to his room, “first I’m going to get the shovel, and then I’m going to go and pretend everything in my room is Tom and break everything.” He’s not joking.

Sid simply stares at that comment before he explodes again. “Can’t you do that later?!! We gotta figure this out!”

“I don’t know what we need to do, okay?” Jim snaps before sitting back down and leaning against the couch, his hands over his eyes. “Fuck...” he whispers, his head throbbing from worrying and stressing out at the new and worse dilemma the two find themselves in. “Why couldn’t he stay alive so I could fucking strangle him?”

“Pfft, you wouldn’t even hurt anybody,” Sid mutters, closing his eyes and leans back against the couch, needing a joint right about now. He’s not had one for some days now.

Jim slowly glances at Sid. “I would if pushed hard enough,” he replies in a low voice. He is trying to decide if he was being serious about it or not.

Sid says nothing for a moment, before sighing. “Well you can’t strangle a dead guy now. You can only hope that he burns in hell.”

Jim just stares at the television, and as much as he tries, he’s unable to really grasp the fact that they are truly in grave danger. And then he thinks of his mother, which makes him feel even worse. “They’re going to come after my family,” he whispers, unable to fathom what they would do to his mother. She would never be able to defend herself. Sid glances at him at this, and he can’t say that they won’t go after his family. Jim then whispers, “And Cristina.” At first he thought that they’ll spare the women, but after the shorter hitmen pulled a gun on Cristina, that probably was not going to happen.

The younger man shivers, shaking his head as he hugs himself. “Well...she knows Judo,” he says, trying to remain calm. “She can handle it. She can knock people out with a shovel. That’s how we’re still alive now.”

“No martial art or a shovel can beat bullets,” the tall man whispers. “Especially if you’re someone as small as her...”

Sid slowly glances at him. “Everyone is small to you, Jim,” he feels the need to point out. Jim glares at him, but the look doesn’t faze the younger man at all. “But, we should tell her about this.”

“Yeah,” Jim nods, having already made a mental note to do this. “I’ll call her as soon as possible. I don’t think she’ll panic too much. Matter of fact, she’d be able to calm us both down.”

Sid nods, mentally drained. “Yeah, she’s Wonder Woman,” he whispers, “that knows Judo. And your girlfriend.” Jim rolls his eyes at that. He’s given up trying to prove people that they’re just friends at this point. Neither of them say anything after this point. Sid looks up at the ceiling, hoping that this is just another nightmare to wake up to. He resolves to make himself a joint after his errands. Jim shakes his head slowly, trying to keep himself from getting angrier. Part of him still wants to go into his room and break and smash everything in there. When he becomes that pissed off, that helps. Sometimes. The television is now showing a car commercial with some song by Feist, and the song manages to calm them down more. But after the commercial ends, they become somewhat anxious again. The men simultaneously inhale and exhale deeply as they stare at the television. Jim slowly gets up from the couch, remembering that he has other groceries. But first, he tries to find where he left his car keys. Sid lulls his head back at him and speaks, “Speaking of your family, your mother called again.”

Jim stops what he’s doing for a moment, before he gets back to finding the keys. “Yeah?” he can only reply. He knows Kathy has been calling him, and he does not intend to answer her. And why should he, when she’s way too focused on giving her brother who hurt her son a proper ceremony instead of asking her son how he was doing with things? Sid sighs then. Kathy did tell him what happened to Uncle Scott, and he can’t really blame Jim for giving her the cold shoulder.

“Well, I...um...I heard about what happened to that...guy,” the younger man speaks, turning around on his couch to face him. “And she wants you to support her.” Jim finds his keys near the stove, and he simply stands there, grasping his keys.

“Yeah I know, and she’s fucking crazy if she thinks I’m going to do that,” the taller man mutters. He doesn’t even know why they’re having this conversation.

“Hey, I understand man,” Sid replies, walking over to the sink and sitting on a stool. “You do what you gotta do. I know it’s hard to deal with what happened to you.”

Jim ponders about that for a moment, and he shrugs. “I learned to get over the act itself,” he replies. “I guess it’s only because I’ve been away from here so long, you know what I mean?” He glances at his roommate. “It is easier when you never had to see that man’s face anymore and happy with meeting new people and things in a new place. I was learning to get over it the entire time even before I left. It was all I could do, you know?” He sighs shakily at what he’s going to say next. “It’s my mom I can’t get over,” he admits, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms. He shakes his head. “Our relationship became strained because of what happened.”

“Because she didn’t believe you?”

“And I started withdrawing from her after that, and one thing happened after another,” the tall man murmurs, not looking at anything. It upsets him a lot. They were very close when he was growing up, and the fact that Kathy chose her brother after her son, well, Jim could never get over it. His father never liked Scott, but he didn’t believe that man could do something so terrible, either.

Sid nods slowly, trying to think of something to say. “You can at least leave a message and tell her you’re not going. Probably lie and say that you can’t make it because you’re working.” He rolls his eyes. “And anyway, I can’t stand her calling on my phone anymore.”

Jim decides to put the rest of the frozen foods away. “It’s your own damn fault for giving her your number,” he mutters. “And next thing you know, she’ll probably fucking cry about how estranged she and Dad have been, and how he won’t even touch her anymore because all he wants to do is watch All in the Family and regret the choices he made.” Sid simply stares at the guy’s comments.

“Dude, I’m just asking you to do something.” He then glares at him. “And anyway, Jim, thanks to Tom blowing his own brains out, you’re really not gonna be able to go back to Jacksonville for a very long time, so you might as well make use of your life here and try and mend things with your mom, okay? Or anyone you had problems with in the past.” Jim closes his eyes. He wants to tell Sid to go fuck off, but at the same time, the DJ is right. He left to start a new life, but he knows that he’s been running away from things. Maybe the mafia crap that occurred was fate’s way of telling him to stop running from the past and instead...embrace it. But is that really possible? Probably. The question is, can he make the effort?

“I know,” Jim finally whispers. “I’ll...call her and make up some lie and shit.”

Unbeknownst to him or Sid, Corey very quietly opens the door, and wonders why it’s not locked or fully shut. He spots Jim and Sid talking with their backs on him, and he decides to be sneaky with them. It’s a reminder to shut your door and things like that. They do it to each other all the time. Sid grins. “All right, yeah, I mean just say /something/. So you got two tasks now. What are they?”

Jim rolls his eyes at Sid’s motherly tone and mutters, “Call Cristina about our situation, and call mom.”

“That’s a good boy.”

Corey decides to speak then. “Okay, so why is—”

“OH MY GOD SWEET JESUS!” Sid screams as he and Jim duck down from under the counter, making Corey jump back. “Don’t kill us!” Now, the shortest man can only look at them and snicker and then laugh at their reaction, and Sid slowly looks up at the guy. He glares at him. “Fuck you, Corey!” Jim peeks from under there as well, and breathes a sigh of relief when it turns out to be merely his best friend. Both of them feel like they’ve just had a heart attack after eating to many fried foods with doughnuts. The DJ then stands up and shouts, “Could you knock?!”

“Could you lock the door?” Corey retorts. “You know someone got robbed here the other night. God, what did you think I was, the fucking mafia?”

That pretty much triggers Sid, and he tries not to whimper, and Jim blinks, triggered as well. They begin talking interchangeably. “What? No!” Sid lets out a nervous chuckle, as does Jim. “Dammit, no! We didn’t...”

“We didn’t think you were the...the...” Jim pauses, trying to remain casual, “the mafia. No, man.”

“Yeah, man we...” Sid tries to think of something that they thought Corey was. “We thought you were the...um...Jim, what did we think Corey was?”

Jim tries to think of something other than one word, but then, having failed at that, he decides to use that word. “The IRS,” he murmurs in a low tone.

So, Corey simply raises an eyebrow at the two men’s awkward behavior. Sid and Jim simply wait for his response, feeling more awkward by the second and worried that he’d one day find out about their situation. Corey continues to stare at them with that look, before he finally focuses all of his attention on Jim. “That’s just irresponsible, Jim,” he says, walking over to him. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you to pay your taxes?”

Jim simply rolls his eyes at that and puts the last of the frozen groceries away. “I do pay my taxes,” he replies flatly. Corey grins at his friend’s response and dugs his hands into his pockets.

“Dude, lighten up, I was joking. Didn’t your mother even teach you to get a sense of humor?”

After shutting the freezer door, Jim glances back at the short man and smiles a little. “I do have a sense of humor,” he replies. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to scare people?”

Corey pouts playfully. “Aw, but it’s fun!” Jim just chuckles and shakes his head.

Sid rolls his eyes at the conversation. “Yeah, well,” he begins at Corey, “didn’t your mother ever teach you to knock?”

Corey pauses and ponders that question for a moment. Then he glances at Sid and shakes his head. “Nah, can’t say she did. Bummer, isn’t it?” He shrugs. He then leans against the counter next to the stove, and Sid just simply stares at him.

“You really think you’re funny, do you?”

Corey now ponders at that question. “Actually, I do!” He grins smugly at the younger man. The DJ then gets up off the stool and glares at him.

“Well, you can laugh all you want, Corey,” Sid mutters, obviously not in a good mood anymore as the fear of the hitmen coming back begins to eat at him. He begins walking back to his room. “But when the IRS comes knocking at your door, trying to kill you for your money, you won’t be laughing.” And at that, he slams the door and starts cursing out a storm.

Corey snorts and turns to Jim. “The hell was that all about?” he asks, jerking his thumb toward the younger man’s door.

Jim has been thinking about the mafia situation for a moment before he finally realizes that Corey was talking to him again. He blinks. “Oh, I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Corey raises an eyebrow. “Well, I meant that Sid is just acting like a bitch today, and I was wondering what was up with him.”

The tall man nods quickly. “Right, right,” he whispers, and then he shrugs, giving his friend a soft smile. “I dunno, he’s just paranoid about something, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Oh fuck you, Jim!”

Corey shrugs at Jim’s response. “Okay, whatever.” He then smirks. “He’s been on that stuff too much, you know.” Jim chuckles at that. Of course, he really has no reason to laugh at all. “Eventually it’s going to catch up to him again. God, I don’t know how you fucking deal with it, dude. I know from being around him so long, you’ll start feeling as weird as he is after being around the smoke for so long.” He changes the subject and smiles less, but more genuinely. “So how are you?”

Jim shrugs and leans against the second counter by the sink. “I get used to it. I’m okay, actually. Um, finances are becoming a problem though, and the landlord wants to raise the rent, so I’m thinking about working overtime, you know?”

Corey arches his eyebrows at that, and he nods. “Yeah, true. But that means I won’t see you as much,” he replies, looking down at his shoes and digging his hands into his coat pockets.

Jim shrugs again, glancing at the younger man. “Yeah,” he whispers. “Well, you gotta do what you gotta do, you know?”

“Yep, gotta pay the bills.”

Jim nods. He then smiles at Corey for a moment. “How are things with you?” he asks. “I mean, you told me yesterday about hearing from anybody. Did anyone call you, or...?”

Corey shakes his head, and he frowns. “Shit,” he chuckles dryly. “I’d be surprised if anyone did call, you know? I went to a couple stores, you know, directly, and no one was hiring.” He swears under his breath, and Jim frowns, moving closer to the guy.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, feeling almost helpless because of what he’s about to say next. “I’ve been calling people I know to see if there are jobs available, but I’ve not heard from them.” He pauses for awhile, and then he lights up. “Maybe, there’s an opening at the car shop.” He honestly doesn’t know why he has not thought of that. “Maybe I can hook you up, you know?”

Corey smiles, having been really grateful for Jim helping him out lately. But then he shakes his head. “Thanks, dude, but I can’t even fix a tire let alone fix a car,” he whispers, and Jim then nods.

“Well, I’ve not checked to see if there’s a position for a cashier available, so I’ll check that out tomorrow.” He knows that it’s probably degrading to do that, but Corey needs the money. Having a small paycheck is better than none at all, right? “Or maybe you can teach kids how to play guitar.” Corey blinks at that, knowing exactly how much Jim wanted to do that.

“I thought that was what you wanted to do, Jim.”

The tall man can only shrug once again. “This isn’t about me,” he simply replies, cocking his head to the side. “And besides, you actually have a guitar, you know?” Corey bites his lip at that statement, and looks down at his shoes, knowing that he’ll always feel bad if he decided to teach kids how to play guitar. Jim looks at the younger man and sighs, brushing his own hair out of the way. “And,” he pauses, “I just feel bad for not being there for you before, and...”

Corey looks up at the taller man again, and replies firmly, “Hey, what did I tell you about saying that?” He steps closer and adds, “You’re here for me now, right? We’re talking, too.” He gives Jim a soft smile.

Jim smiles back, feeling more confident about their friendship. “I like calling you and hearing about what’s been going on with you, and whether I can of some use,” he pauses and smiles a little more, “and I just like, you know, hearing your voice.” Now, Corey’s eyes widen a bit, and his smile fades slightly as he looks at the stove, away from the tall man’s gaze. Jim soon realizes how completely wrong that statement sounds, and his heart beats faster. Yes, he wants to hear his voice, but not because of /that/. He swallows and tries to find something to say. “Sorry...” he nearly chuckles, brushing his locks over his hair again, as Corey pulls his lips inward, feeling a bit warm. “I shouldn’t have said it like that...I just meant, I like hearing from you...you know, to see how things are, like with jobs and—”

“S’okay,” Corey whispers with a very faint smile, looking down at his shoes again after he takes Jim’s hand, making the latter feel more anxious. After a moment, he looks up at Jim, feeling shy, and he adds, “I like hearing from you, too.” Obviously, the sex from New Year’s is still fresh on their minds. They don’t talk about it, but they would be lying if they said they haven’t thought about it. Their shy smiles and gazes end, and Corey lets go of Jim’s hand. He clears his throat and speaks louder, “So, we’ll see what happens.” He pauses. “The jobs, I mean.”

Jim nods. “Yeah, hopefully something will come up,” he replies. Corey sighs and nods at that. Obviously, he’s not so sure. Jim tries to give his friend a hopeful smile, but then he suddenly remembers something. He sighs exasperatedly. “Oh shit,” he exhales. “I gotta get the rest of my groceries...”

Corey blinks at that, and then he snorts. “That was funny, how you just randomly said ‘shit’ like that,” he says as Jim grabs his coat and his keys. The latter looks up at him and smiles.

“I got caught up in things,” Jim can only reply.

Corey beams. “Well, you want me to help you then? I don’t have anything else to do.” Jim was going to say no, but he knows that Corey will keep bugging him until he does. He stands up and zips on his coat.

“All right.” Corey grins.

“Sweet!” He stands up to zip up his coat as well, and after Jim holds the door for him, Corey walks out and smiles at him, not walking again until the tall man is beside him. “You know the Safari reopened today.”

Jim smiles at that, shutting and locking the door behind him. “Yeah, I know, I’ll definitely be there tonight.”

“Awesome, if you don’t have a car, I can pick you up.” Corey sighs as they walk closer to the elevator. “Man, it feels so fucking good to go back there again.” He presses the button with a 1 labeled on it. “I’ve been incredibly bored since it had to be shut down. You know we always had New Year parties over there.” He stares down at his shoes. “This was the first time that didn’t happen.” He glances back at Jim, waiting for him to say something. Jim smiles.

“Well, at least I can get cheap coffee,” he replies as the doors open.

Corey grimaces as he follows Jim inside the elevator. “Really? Dude, The Safari is awesome and all, but Shawn’s coffee sucks!”

Jim shakes his head as the door slowly close. “Ah shut it, his coffee is not that bad.”
___

The next day...

Jim is standing in the bathroom, taking a bathroom break at the car shop. His mind hasn’t been on a lot of things, other than his job and finding Corey a job...and the rent. He has yet to talk to Cristina about what happened to Tom, and he certainly hasn’t talked to his mother. He’s simply forgotten about getting in contact with either of them. He’s just starting to flush the urinal and wash his hands when his phone buzzes. Usually he doesn’t answer his calls unless he’s actually on a lunch break. He doesn’t even want to talk to anyone while he’s outside in the cold smoking a cigarette. But against his better judgment, he answers the call without looking at who called. “Hello?” he murmurs.

“James?” It was Kathy.

Jim can only swallow. Somehow he should’ve known she was going to call him. Again. He clears his throat and sets his phone down with the speaker on. “Hi, mom,” he replies, turning on the faucet and applying soap to his hands. After some silence, he speaks again, “How are you?”

Well, when a very close member of the immediate family has died, the last thing you would want to be asked is how were things. Naturally, Kathy is already exasperated. “Jim...” she begins, “Have you even been listening to my messages?! Scott is dead!” Jim sighs miserable and finishes washing his hands. “I feel like I’ve lost a part of me,” she speaks in a softer tone. Jim would feel sorry for her. But this is Scott. He knows he’s going to ask her to come to the wake and funeral, and he’s coming up with ways to say no. “Well...and that’s what happened. Everyone else finally contacted me.” Jim can hear her sigh. “And the wake is tomorrow...the funeral’s on Sunday. They’re deciding to take the memorial service up at Wisconsin.”

Jim immediately answers, “I can’t go.”

There’s a moment of silence. “James...please?” came a soft and frail voice. “Can’t you be there for me just once? You haven’t called me since Christmas.” Jim is kind of pissed, unable to believe that she said that. When he still stayed in Iowa, he was always there for her. Jim wants to ask her could she be there for /him/. The thing is, she has for much of his life when he was young. She made a fuss about his coming out, and the drugs he used at the time and how he never respected her, but she always supported and encouraged him in music, if nothing else, after he grew up. Why couldn’t she be on his side instead of her brother’s? That’s all he really wants.

The tall man clears his throat. “I asked my boss yesterday if I could work over time,” he replies, and before she says anything else, he adds, “I really need the money, okay? They’re raising up the rent and the utilities.” He pauses, and continues, “And anyway, I don’t know how I’d make it up there at the last minute.”

“Your father and I were taking you tonight,” she replies. “But you never called me back. Maybe you can rent a car or something.”

Of course. Jim tries to come up with a better reason. “Look, I’m just very busy this weekend,” he says, trying to be as assertive as he can. “I can’t make it, I’m sorry.” After a pause, he concludes, “I’ll call you tomorrow and check on things.”

He can hear a sad sigh from a woman exhausted by grief. “All right,” she can only whisper. And before Jim can tell her that he loves her, she says it first before hanging up the phone. Jim doesn’t say anything for a moment. He simply grabs paper towels and dries off his hands, and then he stares at himself in the cracked mirror. The dark smudges on his face do not help the fact that he’s become the shadow of what he used to be. The grey hairs on his chin shows it well, and his eyes are somewhat redder, but that’s only because his eyes feel watery. It’s mostly because of work, but it breaks his heart that his mother can’t be there for him. It really does.

He sighs, wishing he had coffee. At least part of his work is done. Part of him wants to talk to Corey, but the thing is, Corey never knew about what happened to him. It would be too much and even now, he doesn’t want to cause any drama between them. Maybe he’ll talk to Sid later.

Jim sighs then and decides to leave to work on a woman’s car, believing he’s taken a long enough break now. The shop owner tends to switch his music tastes these days. Last week it was disco. For the guy to stop playing Andrea True was a blessing in Jim’s eyes; seriously, who decided to let a porn star of the day on the microphone? That’s his opinion, anyway. And now, the guy really must be nostalgic for his youth because he’s playing Jimi Hendrix. Well, that’s a thousand times better than Andrea True and Gibb brother that had a cocaine problem. Jim returns to the blue Cadillac, but blinks upon finding the woman there already. She is pretty tall for a woman, 5’10”, and she weighs about two hundred pounds. She doesn’t look too happy either. She clears her throat. “You wanna tell me what the hell is taking so long?”

Jim sighs at this and grabs his wrench and his recycling container for the old oil. “ I just got back from my break,” he mutters, looking up at the raised car. He doesn’t even know why the woman is here and not at the waiting room.

The woman grunts and mutters. “Well, you’d better get it done. I’m already late for my own meeting!” The irritated Jim sighs and rolls his eyes at that as he looks for the oil pan under the car. He uses his wrench, moving back a little, to remove the drain plug. The woman’s cellphone rings and she groans in frustration. Answering the phone she snaps, “What the hell do you want?” After a pause, she shouts, “I don’t give a fuck if you guys have been standing here for a half hour. I’ll be there when I get there.” Jim is trying very hard to concentrate, but the woman is just too much.

He stops what he’s doing and walks up to her. “Could you go to the waiting room?”

She glares at him. “And could you not talk to me while I’m on the phone and give my car an oil change?!” Jim bites his lip, albeit angrily, and decides to go back to the woman’s car. She then continues to the person that called her, “Look, I don’t know what to do, all right? I’ve been trying to advertise and see if anyone can fill in for Miranda right away!” After a pause, she sighs. “Well none of the other VJs wants to host the show.” She then mutters. “Stupid girl, she wasn’t even that good of a VJ anyway.” Now, Jim has tried to ignore the woman until he heard the word VJ. The woman growls and hangs up, and Jim can’t help but think...well...maybe he should ask some questions first. He’s not sure how to approach her though, because she looks like she’s about to lunge at somebody. After he’s finished draining the old oil, he walks up to her and clears his throat, trying to be casual.

“So what show are you talking about?”

The woman looks at him, raising her eyebrow. “It’s a music television show for the channel IoMuseek?” Jim simply blinks at that, having never heard of the channel, and the woman sighs exasperatedly. “Do you have cable?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it should be right next to the FUSE channel or something. We’re an alternative to all those other music channels and whatever.” She then eyes him closely. “Why? I really hope you’re not trying to be a host for this show.” She looks at him with a grimace. “You look a little old.

“Um, no...” Jim pauses. Maybe...maybe this can be Corey’s lucky break. “But I have a friend who might be interested,” he finishes, wondering what the woman will say to that.

“I hope he isn’t old too,” she mutters. She sighs. “Listen. We need fresh young people out there, not some man in his thirties. And if he doesn’t have a college degree, forget it!” Jim sighs and brushes a lock of his hair back, already frustrated.

“Is this show for young people only?” He asks her. “I mean, Eddie Trunk’s got a lot of fans at VH1 Classic, and he’s in his late forties.”

“The channel’s not for young people only, but I don’t want some old man boring anyone.”

“He’s not boring. He’s well-versed in a lot of music, rock, metal, pop—he was a radio deejay and personality.” The woman raises her eyebrow again. Jim doesn’t think that phases her, and he might as well just say it. “He’s younger than he really is, and he’s really funny.” She rolls her eyes and he sighs. “Just give him a chance. He can fill out whatever application, and he can come in and prove to you that he’s great.”

The only reason the woman hasn’t told Jim to fuck off at this point is because she really needed someone as soon as possible. “Has he been on TV before?”

Jim shakes his head no. “Not that I know of.”

She glares at him. “Look, I need someone with experience here! If he’s not been on TV, how can he be on this show?! Radio is a totally different thing.”

Jim rolls his eyes and tries to think of any other way to convince her to consider Corey. “Look,” he begins, staring at her. “I will do anything to get him on that show. Anything. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it for you. Just please consider him. He’ll do anything too.” He swallows then. She still looks as if she will not even hear it, and he knows that Corey’s probably going to be angry at this if he does not get an interview. But this is what Corey always wanted, right? Frankly, Jim would be doing him a big favor. He’s almost proud of the fact that he could actually get him this job. The question is, will he. Well, after thinking about it for a long time, making Jim even more anxious, the woman then sighs.

She speaks, “Well there are two things I want you to do for me, and don’t panic because neither involve sex.” Jim thanks god for that. “And then if you can do these things, I’ll show you where he can fill out the application.” Jim nods.

“Thank you so much,” he says, reaching out for her hands, but then she moves away. She does not want Jim’s dirty hands on her hands or clothes.

“Whatever,” she mutters. “Now, will you be available tonight?”

Jim blinks and nods. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Well good,” she replies. “I will definitely see you there.” And at that, she finally heads back to the waiting room. Jim lets out a shaky sigh, unable to believe that he actually got her to consider Corey. Well, not yet, obviously. He has no idea what she has in mind, so who knows what she wants him to do. But it doesn’t involve sex, thank god. He sighs as he looks back at the car and goes back to work on it. Frankly, if she had said no, he probably would’ve been frustrated enough to scratch her car on purpose. Corey needs this job, goddammit. Not only to pay the bills, but to finally do what he’s always wanted to do, and Jim’s going to make sure that happens for him.