"When You Can't Just Walk Away" XVIII
by Myra Love
  Article # 480 Article Type: Weekly Serial

The deli was so busy when we got there that we couldn’t find a table, let alone a booth. Fogger looked around in disgust.
“ We could get take-out,” Mike suggested, rubbing his arm where the edge of the pistol box had left a deep red line.
Fogger shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so,” he said grudgingly. “Or we could go to the convenience store and pick up some snacks.”
“ My arm is getting tired,” Mike complained.
“ I told you to put the box down in my room,” Sean said. “What kind of moron goes looking for a key for hours with a heavy, goddamned box under his arm?”
“ Tell you what,” Fogger offered. “We’ll go outside, divide up the contents of the box, and then come back and order some food. We can’t get beer here anyway, so then we’ll walk over to the convenience store for beer and smokes.” I wished we could have grabbed the beer and a pack of smokes from Sean’s house, it would have saved me some pounding on my ankle and Mike some hauling.
Sean led the way out the door. Jeremy lagged behind, looking hungrily at the plates of food being carried by. I stood next to Jeremy and didn’t move.
“ Are you guys coming?” Fogger called back to us.
Jeremy grudgingly walked out the door. I hesitated for a moment and then answered, “I need to use the can. I’ll be out soon.”
I heard Fogger sigh loudly, but I went to the back of the deli where the men’s room was and found the pay phone. I dialed Andy’s number, but when he didn’t pick up, I didn’t bother to leave a message. Instead I called the police station, hoping the desk sergeant would pick up. No one did though, so I left a message saying that a bunch of juveniles were standing around near the deli with a loaded gun. Then I hung up and went outside.
From twenty feet away, I could hear Fogger yelling. Mike’s posture was rigid. I wasn’t sure what they were arguing about until I got closer. Fogger wanted Mike to load the pistol and keep the extra ammo, while Sean carried the box. Mike clearly didn’t want to give Fogger the gun right then. “Let me carry it until you actually need to shoot. Then I’ll load it. Otherwise you’ll spill the powder if you don’t carry it just right,” he said. “And anyway, how are you going to conceal it?”
Fogger rolled his eyes. “Just load the damned gun and give it to me! I’ll pull my arm back into my sleeve and hold the gun in my hand inside the sleeve, okay? That way I can keep it level and no powder will spill out. Sheesh!”
Appeased, Mike opened the box, reloaded the gun, and handed it to Fogger. He took the ammunition out of the box and put the small lead balls in his pants pocket. Then he carefully removed a paper cone full of black powder and handed the empty, wooden box to Sean, who carelessly tucked it under one arm. Mike obviously didn’t know what to do with the cone of gunpowder. It had a tiny opening at the top that someone had taped over, but the tape wasn’t very secure, so he couldn’t just put the cone in his pocket. He ended up carrying it very much the way Fogger was carrying the pistol. With their arms bent, hands tucked into their sleeves, they looked like cartoon characters.
“ Jeremy and Buzz,” Fogger ordered, “you guys have to go back into the deli and get us some take-out.”
Jeremy’s face lit up. All he had to do was hear food mentioned to overflow with good cheer. The two of us placed the order with Sam and stood around until I decided to call home. No one picked up. I figured my father would have wanted to stop by church to give praise and thanks.
Sam brought us the food. “Burgers in this bag, fries in that one,” he said briskly. “Anything to drink?”
Jeremy shook his head and paid for the food. When we went out again, Fogger and Sean were arguing.
“ Food! Food! Food!” Jeremy sang out, and the two of them stopped bickering.
Fogger smirked at me. “Let’s head to the convenience store,” his voice sounded breathy, the way it did when he went after Nora Nowhere. I think that was the moment when I first suspected his real target that evening might be Yusuf and not Old Sam and Nora. The thought jolted me. It was so shocking that I blocked it. I inhaled deeply. The smell of fries calmed my panic and I followed Fogger to the convenience store.
Yusuf was talking to a couple of middle-aged women and an old man when we walked in. He watched us make our way to the beer cooler. With his free hand Fogger picked up a six-pack and came to the front of the store.
“ You’re not old enough to buy beer,” the old man said.
Fogger sneered at him and put the six-pack on the counter. Yusuf ignored him and continued his conversation.
“ Hey, how about a little service?” Sean growled.
“ You boys aren’t old enough to buy beer,” the old man repeated.
“ What’s it to you, Grandpa?” Fogger asked in a deceptively conversational tone.
“ You be respectful, young man,” one of the women said sternly. “Put that beer back where it belongs and get yourselves some juice or some soda.” She shook her head in disgust. “Kids!” she said loudly. “These days they have no respect for anyone and no manners either. It makes you wonder whether their parents raised them or left them in a hog pen.”
Fogger glared at her, but she wasn’t intimidated. “You heard me,” she said even more sternly. “Now do it! Put the beer back in the cooler where you found it.”
I knew that Fogger was thinking about pulling out the pistol and shooting her. He really wanted to. I could tell from the look in his eyes. If he’d had the semi-automatic, he’d probably have shot her, the other woman, who was just looking at him disapprovingly, the old guy, and Yusuf too. But he had only one shot before he’d need to reload. I wondered if it occurred to him that the five of us could easily take the four of them hostage and then pick them off one by one. The thought made me want to throw up. As I looked on, I could see him weigh his options and then turn on his heel and walk out, leaving the six-pack on the counter. We followed him through the door. I had no idea what was going to happen next.
“ The food is going to get cold if we don’t eat it soon,” Jeremy complained. Once we were out on the street. Fogger turned and kicked him in the knee, causing Jeremy to curse and fall on his butt.
“ Shut up!” Fogger said, spitting. “Let me think.”
We ended up walking over to Sean’s car. We squeezed in and ate our burgers and fries. Before we ate, Mike made Fogger give him back the pistol. He took the box from Sean and stowed the pistol and ammunition away. “You’ll get it back when we’re done eating,” he said to Fogger.
Fogger laughed. “You’re a compulsive bastard. You know that?”
“ If you want a gun like that to work, you have to take precautions,” Mike replied.
“ You sound just like a condom ad,” Sean grumbled. “Take precautions!”
“ I’m thirsty,” Jeremy complained as soon as he’d eaten all of his and most of Mike’s fries.
“ You should have bought some soda at the deli,” Sean said.
“ But I thought we were getting beer,” Jeremy objected.
“ You still could have bought some soda,” Sean insisted. “Just to be on the safe side.”
I wanted to laugh when I heard Sean mention being on the safe side. Safe seemed like a meaningless word right then. I was sitting in a car with a bunch of guys who wanted to kill someone. To stop myself from laughing, I made myself cough.
“ What the hell’s the matter with you?” Fogger grumbled. “Can’t you even eat without messing up?
Sean snickered. “Buzzard is real competent,” he said. “He managed to steal a broken ink bottle on his first break-in. Since then he hasn’t done a damned thing.”
“ Except help Jeremy carry hamburgers,” Fogger interjected, laughing.
“ Yeah, there’s always that,” Sean said.
I knew better than to argue. The deli closed at ten-thirty on Saturday evening. I just hoped that either Andy or the desk sergeant at the station got my message before it was too late.
After eating we walked around town for a while. Sometimes Fogger would look intently in the store windows and make some comment about security cameras or alarm systems. Eventually we headed back to the deli on foot. It was a little before ten, and there was a police car in the parking lot.
“ Why is that there?” Jeremy asked, pointing at the car.
Sean snorted. “You are a real piece of work, you know that?” he said to Jeremy.
Fogger shrugged. “Maybe the cop got hungry. Maybe he had to take a leak. Who knows? As long as he gets out of there by closing time, we’re still on.”
At twenty-five after ten the cop car was still there, and when Old Sam and Nora came out close to eleven, the cop came out with them. I could tell it wasn’t Andy. We watched them from across the parking lot. The cop and Sam escorted Nora to her car. Then the cop escorted Sam to his car.
“ We could follow Old Sam home and pop him,” Sean suggested.
Fogger shook his head. “No,” he said. “Let’s go back to the store for our beer and smokes. Sam and Nora can wait for another night.”
Sean snickered and we all trooped back to the convenience store. My stomach almost heaved its contents.

“Hey, Osama,” Fogger said, as soon as he’d checked out the store to make sure no one else was around, “what happened to our six-pack?”
Yusuf raised his head, but didn’t respond.
“ We left a six-pack right there in front of you on the counter,” Fogger said very slowly and with overly precise enunciation. “Better go get us another six-pack, Towel-head,” Fogger went on, “or something very bad is going to happen.”
Yusuf’s words had a pleading quality, but his tone was hostile. “Please get out of here and leave me alone.”
“ Now that’s not what I call good customer service,” Fogger went on. “Do you think that’s good customer service, Sean?” he asked.
Sean shook his head. “It’s lousy,” he answered, sneering at Yusuf, “but it’s what you’d expect from a lousy terrorist.”
“ What do you think, Mike?” Fogger asked.
“ I think he needs to be taught a lesson,” Mike replied.
“ Yeah, that’s right,” Jeremy chimed in. He was standing right next to Mike. “Teach the filthy Arab a lesson.”
Fogger turned to me with a grin. “What about you, Buzz? Do you have anything to say?”
I shook my head.
“ That’s good,” he said, “because the longer we talk, the longer this creep gets to live. And he’s lived long enough already.”
He slid his hand out from inside his sleeve. “Say your prayers to your devil-god, Osama,” he taunted Yusuf. “It’s time for you to meet him.”
Yusuf’s eyes were fixed on the dueling pistol, and the eyes of all the Razors, except mine, were fixed on him. Fogger tried to pull the trigger, but nothing happened.
“ You have to cock the hammer first,” Mike said.
Fogger pulled the hammer back and grinned. Everything slowed down, and as his finger tightened on the trigger, some strange impulse overcame me. Without intending to I launched myself at him, yelling, “NO!”
The gun went off just as I smashed into him. The next thing I knew, fragments of fluorescent light tubing came raining down. Mike, trying to shield his eyes from the glass, forgot he had the cone of gunpowder in his hand, and it spilled all over the floor. “Goddamnit!” he yelled. “My father is going to kill me.”
I felt an urge to giggle, but I knew I had to get away. I ran past Fogger, Jeremy, and Mike who were all still shielding their eyes. If my leg had been stronger, I might have gotten clean away, but I was too slow. Sean felt me coming and blocked my path to the door, shoving the wooden box into my chest with all his might. I stumbled, and before I could regain my footing, I felt a horrible pain in the back of my head and went down.

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