AN UNFORTUNATE SERIES OF EVENTS FOR ONE JAIME CONRAD
A Series of Short Stories By Kevin Emile Massing
Chapter One: The Phone Call
For Jaime Conrad June 1st started out like every other Sunday had for the past five years. It was five years ago that Jaime suffered a major injury while at work and received a very handsome payout, giving him the luxury of retirement at the young age of 35.
In the five years following his early retirement, Jaime purchased a nice quiet house out in a midwestern suburb and paid way too much money for an English bulldog. Two years later he met Grace, whom he spent even more on, eventually dropping a small fortune on a diamond ring. Some say money can’t buy you happiness. Mr. Conrad was not one of those people.
Jaime loved Sundays more than any day of the week. He was not a football fan, nor was he a fixture in his church. (In fact, he only attended twice a year; Christmas and Easter.) His reason for loving Sundays was simple, an entire day of free time and relaxation. It was the only day of the week that he didn’t run ten miles then follow it up with an hour-long session in the gym. It was also the only day he didn’t count his calories and follow a strict diet. Although he had been living as a wealthy retiree for the past half decade, he truly felt that Sunday was his only real day off during the week.
He looked up from his tall, chilled glass of milk to the kitchen clock above the stove. It was almost 10:30; he had better get going. He knew that Grace would wake up around eleven or so, and he knew that she would be visiting her mother at around one for lunch, as this was her Sunday ritual. He also knew that she had made an appointment at the auto shop for this morning to get the oil changed and tires rotated on her mini van. She would be very irritated if her car was not ready by the time she was ready to go. She flat out despised Jaime’s car, an old manual Porsche 911 convertible; silver with a sticky clutch.
He downed his milk, grabbed the van keys off the counter, and made his way out to the driveway, making sure to double check that the door was locked on his way out. He hustled into the van and sped out of the neighborhood. He really hated driving her car and wanted to get this over with, so he could get back home and go for a joy ride with the top down. He remembered the day she brought this stupid thing home, his only that was why? They didn’t even have any kids. Deep down he knew she was hinting at starting a family, there was no other reason for her to get one. At the time, he ignored the hint but he now started to think on the subject. He wasn’t quite sure he was ready for a family but his window of opportunity was getting smaller.
The ringing of his cell phone interrupted his thoughts. He dug deep into his left pocket, and in doing so, realized that it was impossible for his phone to be ringing.
“Idiot, you left it on the counter didn’t ya?” He chuckled to himself. He looked around the car and found Grace’s pink, bedazzled cell phone ringing and vibrating in the driver side door.
The caller Id read restricted. His heart dropped, he feared the worst. Was she cheating on him? Was he going to answer the phone and here a stranger’s voice? He violently shook his head as if physically attempting to spurn the thought from his mind. His friends always told him that was too paranoid. They suggested counseling.
“Get a grip man, just answer the thing.” He took a deep breath, “It’s probably just a telemarketer anyway.”
He put the phone to his ear; “Hello?” His greeting was feeble and he quietly cursed himself under his breath. However, once he heard the voice on the other end, all the blood fled from his face and he had to pull his car over to avoid an accident.
“Hank, it’s Dennis. We need to talk, now. Meet me at Frosty’s in ten minutes.” He wasn’t asking.
Jaime froze, his face contorted in a way that made him resemble a high school quarterback who just remembered that he called a screen pass.
“Dennis?? What the hell man, how did you get this number? This isn’t even my phone.” Jaime couldn’t maintain his composure.
“Hank, you need to focus right now. You really think that’s a question you need to be bothering yourself with?” his voice was calm yet stern. He continued, “Don’t you think that if I call you after all this time that we’ve got some things to discuss?”
Jaime started to reply, but was cut off.
“They know about Lyon. Frosty’s. Now you’ve got Eight minutes.” Click.
Chapter 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, causing him to receive a rather dirty look from the elderly couple that he held the door open for prior to walking in.
He spotted Dennis immediately, he looked very different as compared to the last time Jaime had seen him. Not really saying much since the last time they were together, Dennis was missing his left ear.
“What’re you waiting for an invitation? Sit down Hank, I already ordered you a shake.” Dennis’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 at hand. He finally sat down and waited for Dennis to do the talking. This wasn’t the sort of conversation that required the usual pleasantries and small talk, and Dennis didn’t waste any time getting right to the point.
“Alright Hank, HEY! Snap out of it. My words are more important than your thoughts right now” Dennis 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 Dennis knows him by.)
SCENE: “Hank” and Dennis are sitting at a booth along a window at Frosty’s. Dennis 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. Dennis 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 Dennis; tell me why I’m here.
Dennis: 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 Dennis and hisses under his breath.) Of course I remember that Dennis, would I have busted my ass getting over here if I didn’t remember who you were? By the way Dennis, if you don’t mind me asking, can we get on with this already? I mean come on man, come out with it already.
Dennis: Hey there he is!(grinning) There’s the old Hank I know and love! (Pats him on the shoulders and says sarcastically.) Hank buddy, how ya been? I thought you was dead! (Chuckles to himself and continues) Glad to see you’ve finally shown up, on to business. 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: (annoyed) Five years.
Dennis: 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 Dennis’s new ear.) That does look nice though, quality work.
Dennis 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.
Dennis: (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.
Dennis: 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 Dennis! 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?
Dennis: 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.
Dennis: 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. Come on Seacrest, what is it with all this? Just spit it out now man there’s like three people here.
Dennis: (gets to his feet and leans forward, putting his face right up to Hank’s, who looks baffled. Dennis 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. 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 Dennis. No problem.
Dennis: (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.
(Dennis 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.)
Chapter Three: Not Exactly a Walk in the Park
The next fifteen minutes felt like an eternity to Jaime. His stomach was pretzel shaped and every few seconds he was forced to swallow hard, pushing his fluttering heart back down to his chest. He had been staring at his shoelaces for minutes, his legs were shaking uncontrollably and his hands were cupped together and shoved between his legs. He resembled a dog that had been caught peeing in the house, waiting anxiously for his punishment.
With a deep breath he raised his head and once again took his surroundings. There was a calm breeze in they air. The trees were swaying in a carefree manner, tormenting Jaime with every to and fro; a constant contradiction to his current state. He forced his eyes away and glanced over his right shoulder. Once focused, his eyes spotted something that caused an arctic shutter to run through him.
At first he thought it to be just a normal jogger, clad in a white tee shirt with a canary yellow windbreaker. However, once Jamie’s eyes met the runner’s, he lengthened his stride and began sprinting towards Jaime, his face fixed in a stone like look of determination. Jaime could do nothing but stare at the man as he approached, picking up speed with every stride. Jaime looked down at his phone, wishfully anticipating a helpful call from the still absent Dennis. He felt helpless as he squirmed in his seat, wondering if his old instincts were ever going to take over. His train of thought stopped there and his mind returned to the incoming threat.
The runner had slowed to a jog and was no nearly trotting in place about twenty yards from Jaime and the gazebo. He slightly unzipped his jacket and calmly went searching in his chest pocket with his right hand. His left hand was heading up towards his ear, index and middle finger extended. This was a sure sign to Jaime; the hit man was about to call in to his boss before cashing in. Jaime didn’t need to see the gun; instead he hit the deck waiting for the sounds of gun blasts to come his way. None did. Jaime waited a few seconds, took a deep breath, and peeked his head slightly over the bench he had taken cover behind.
Jaime took a deep sigh of relief and slouched against the bench when he saw what the jogger was doing. His right hand held a stopwatch while his left index was taking in his heartbeat. After a few seconds, the man turned left and began his jog again. Jaime began to chuckle softly to himself and muttered under his breath, “I think I’ve lost my mind.”
“Well you’ve certainly lost your nerve, Hank. And the mind tends to follow suit if you’re not careful.” It was Dennis, with a cocky smirk on his face; not for a second trying to hide how proud he was of his entrance.
Jaime tried to react calmly when he first heard the voice behind him, but nearly fell after being startled He said no words to Dennis, just sat on the bench, eyes glued to the grass as if he might catch it growing if he looked hard enough. It was far too difficult to compose himself, he was flustered and visibly shaken. Dennis seemed to pick up on this right away and applied the breaks to his ribbing.
“Alright kid well anyway, I checked ya out. No tail yet, that’s good news, means we still have a little time to get you prepared.” Dennis gave him a few pats on the back and waited uncharacteristically calmly for Jaime’s response.
“Speaking of which, let’s get to that. I need to know what is going on It’s driving me insane.” He looked up from the ground at Dennis. “What the hell is going on man?”
“ Ok kid listen carefully to everything I say. Don’t interrupt me. Not once, I’ll answer any questions you got when I’m done. Understood?” Jaime nodded in acceptance. “Alright, its time for you to finally know the truth about what really happened five years ago.
To Be Continued in Part Four: What Really Happened Five Years Ago
