Part Two: Breakfast at Frosty’s
Six minutes and forty three seconds later, Jaime Conrad whipped his wife’s maroon mini van into the first open spot he could find at Frosty’s. He started to jog towards the front door before he realized how dumb that would look, not to mention all of the unwanted extra attention it could possibly attract to a situation that needed no such thing. He had to stop and take a deep breath; he was sweating profusely, which made him irate with himself.
“It’s only been five years and already I’ve lost it completely. That’s pathetic, come on man get it together, what is with you?” He said to himself not quite as quietly as he would have liked, which caused him to be the recipient of a rather dirty look from the elderly couple that he held the door open for prior to walking in.
He spotted Jimmy immediately, he looked very different as compared to the last time Jaime had seen him. This really wasn’t saying much since the last time they were together Jimmy was missing his left ear.
“What’re you waiting for an invitation? Sit down Hank, I already ordered you a shake.” Jimmy’s voice caused Jaime to cut short his trip down memory lane, a blessing really, those weren’t memories he cherished by any means.
He again shook his head as if to clear out whatever thoughts were still lingering in his mind. He wasn’t sure when he picked up this nervous habit, but he could not afford to trouble himself with thoughts about that right now. More important things were now at hand. He at last sat down and waited for Jimmy to do the talking. This wasn’t the sort of conversation that required the usual pleasantries and small talk, and Jimmy didn’t waste any time getting right to the point.
“Alright Hank, listen up and listen good.” Jimmy began with his right index aimed at Jaime, thrusting it towards him with every syllable, a technique that was most effective in making sure Jaime knew how important this conversation was about to be.
(I’m going to switch to a more script type format for this conversation, to save time and just get some more practice at writing dialogue. In order to avoid confusion, Jaime, the main character, will be under the name Hank, which of course is the name Jimmy knows him by.)
SCENE: “Hank” and Jimmy are sitting at a booth along a window at Frosty’s. Jimmy is roughly the same height as Hank, but quite a bit older; he has a small beer gut, a goatee, long slicked back dark grey hair, and massive scarring around his left ear, where a replica now sits. Jimmy speaks calmly but with a purpose. Hank is obviously flustered and does a poor job of hiding this.
Hank: Yeah, ok I’m here I’m listening. Go ahead Jimmy; tell me why I’m here.
Jimmy: Good. Okay, here’s what’s up; as you well remember, we did a job a few years back together. You do remember that don’t cha Hank?”
Hank: (rolls his eyes and leans in towards Jimmy and hisses under his breath.) Of course I remember that Jimmy, would I have busted my ass getting over here if I didn’t remember who you were? By the way Jim, if you don’t mind me asking, can we get on with this already? I mean come on man, come out with it already.
Jimmy: (grinning) There’s the old Hank I know and love! Hank buddy, how ya been? I thought you was dead! (Chuckles to himself and continues) Glad to see you’ve finally shown up. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, that’s right, that little job we took care of a while back. How long has it been anyway Hank?
Hank: Five years last I checked.
Jimmy: Yeah, that’s right Five years. Now let me ask you something Hank, and I’m gonna need you to try and think long and hard on this before you answer, ‘cause this is real important big guy. (He makes eye contact with Hank and waits for a nod from him before continuing.) As best as you can recall, how did that job turn out for us?
Hank: (chuckles to himself a little, for the first time, the tension eases in his face a bit.) Well, from what I remember, I got out a little better than you; I mean a ‘job well done’ pat on the back, early retirement, and all my scars healed. (Looks and nods towards Jimmy’s new ear.) That does look nice though, quality work.
Jimmy responds to Hanks attempt at humor with nothing but a stare, the blood once again flees from Hanks face, and he begins to speak nervously.
Hank: Sorry, ok back on point now. (Takes a deep, loud breath) Ok, so I remember, as far as I know, I saw you take one in the head, thought you were finished, I popped out from behind cover, hit the target right between the eyes. (Pauses and winces as if feeling some sort of pain from this memory.) Then I took that shotgun blast to the chest, played dead for a second, took that guy out. (Pauses again with a puzzled look on his face.) And the next thing I remember after that is waking up in a hospital room next to you. That’s all I remember.
Jimmy: (looks down at his milkshake, he has his right thumb and index finger around the base of the glass and he proceeds to spin the glass a few times before finally looking up at Hank to speak) Alright, and in your debriefing, they told you that everything went smooth after that and the job was a success?
Hank: (still looking very confused) Yeah, gave me some big speech about being a hero and service to my country, you know; it’s probably the same garbage they told you.
Jimmy: Not exactly Hank, you see I’ve been in this business a lot longer than you and I had been in it for quite awhile before running into you on that job way back when. So in other words, I was let in on every detail of the job, while most things were on a ‘need to know basis’ with you. I hate to bring that down on you but it is what it is. You were young and raw, and pretty damn violent when you needed to be. You see we had to keep you in the dark for the first job; to make sure we could trust ya; you know how it is. Only you got lucky, there was never a second job for you. I tell ya kid I was so happy to see them send you off, knowing that you’d never have to know what we really did that day. Now, it breaks my heart to have to tell you the truth.
Hank: so come out with it already Jim! I can’t take this build up any more, just tell me what’s what then so I can have just a little peace of mind?
Jimmy: Kid, what I’m about to tell you ain’t gonna bring any peace to that mind of yours; hell, it’ll probably make ya go half insane.
Hank: Either way.
Jimmy: Ok, in that case, I think we should go for a walk. I don’t wanna talk about this sort of thing here. Not the place for it. I’m gonna use the facilities; meet me at Otter Park in fifteen minutes. Third gazebo, under the giant willow. Got that?
Hank: No, no, no, what is it with all this? Just spit it out now man there’s like three people here.
Jimmy: (gets to his feet and leans forward, putting his face right up to Hank’s, who looks baffled. Jimmy speaks in a hurried and angry whisper) You just don’t get it do ya kid? Let me spell it out for ya real quick. The broad you shot ain’t exactly who you thought she was and the broad you thought you had killed is now coming here, to the U S of A to kill you and anyone close to you. And I don’t wanna talk here, wise guy, without knowing for sure whether or not you’ve got a tail. So let me lay it down for ya one more time and I’ll be sure to speak nice and slow for ya this time. (Speaks slow and emphatically now, almost mocking Hank.) I am gonna go to the little boys room, YOU are gonna sit here, count to fifteen, and waltz your ass out that front door right there and I’m gonna follow you to the park and look for a tail. If there is no tail, I swear on my grandfather’s grave that I’ll tell you every last detail of this whole damn situation. Now, do we understand each other?
Hank: (Looks very flustered, takes a second to collect all this information, then responds somewhat feebly.) Yeah gothcha Jimmy, No problem.
Jimmy: (Gets up and walks towards the restroom, stopping to pat, almost slap Hank on the shoulder and says) Good. That’s more like it. See you in a few Hank. Keep that phone close just in case.
Jimmy walks into the men’s room. Hank sits there and counts to fifteen, with his head bobbing forward with every second he counts in his head. He takes a deep breath, shakes his head side to side, then walks out of the front door, heading for the mini van.)
TO BE CONTINUED
