Chapter 5: The Incident
The boys made their way to the paddle boats and found Javier. He looked at them with disgust as they approached. He still managed to laugh when Dave said, “Hey Javier, we’re such good customers you should give us a discount this time.”
As Javier recovered from laughing, he said, “Every time you get in one of my boats you get a discount and I lose money. I’m still waiting for you to pay full price. So, a dollar an hour. Up front.”
Dave protested, “We paid up front last time. We should be good.”
Javier thought for a second, “Okay, you’re right. I guess I was thinking about all those other times. Still, I want it up front today.”
The boys didn’t want Javier to know about the five dollars. They did their usual combining of money and handed Javier a dollars’ worth of change. Javier smiled, “Now that’s more like it. Y’all take number twelve over there. She’s just like new.”
If Javier only knew the gold mine the boys were sitting on, he would be flabbergasted, and want his cut. The boys went to boat number twelve and paddled off waving at Javier. The whole time Javier was yelling, “One hour! Remember, one hour!”
The boys circled around past the Arneson River Theater and towards the bushes. As they approached, they noticed Debbie talking to two white men in business suits, which was unusual. Most of the girl’s clientele consisted of military guys and the boys. Once in a while someone else would slip down there, the occasional businessman or middle aged blue collar worker. The men with the girls now looked sleezy. The boys were thinking they were elderly, maybe early thirties. They were average size guys smoking cigarettes. One was in a gray suit with a zippo lighter opening and closing it in a nervous twitch. The other guy was in a navy blue suit with a mustache. Both men seemed to be getting in Debbie’s face. She was upset and backed away. The boys were getting close and could see what was going on. They became worried about Debbie as they watched.
The man in the gray suit suddenly lunged at Debbie and grabbed the back of her head. He pulled her towards him as he brought a knife out of his pocket. A long blade popped out and he thrust it into Debbie’s stomach. Her eyes were wide open in disbelief. She stared into the guy’s eyes. He held Debbie and the knife in place for a prolonged amount of time. Her mouth opened as if she was trying to say something, but nothing came out. The boys were dead in the water because they were stunned. As the boat floated towards the bushes the boys stared with their mouths open.
Suddenly the gray suit jerked the knife out of Debbie’s stomach. She slowly fell backwards. She fell flat and hit her head on the ground. The men turned around and saw the boys. They also noticed the boys saw them. There was a several second stare off and the men turned and ran. The boys were desperately trying to turn the boat around. They were possessed, paddling so fast water was going up on the sidewalks. They paddled past the boat docks. Javier saw the boys and started yelling, “You got fifteen minutes! Fifteen minutes!”
The boys paddled to the other end of the river and stopped. Dave said with a blank face, “What do we do? Those guys saw us.”
Mike was upset, “We’ve got to do something!”
Dave was calm, “Okay, okay. Let’s just sit here for a second and catch our breath.”
Joe said, “We need to go back down there and check on Debbie!”
Mike and Dave looked at each other and Dave said, “Okay, let’s turn around.”
The boys paddled back down towards the river theater. As they passed Javier he was yelling, “Hey! Times up! Hey! Come back!”
Dave finally yelled, “We’ll be back in just a minute.”
Javier threw his arms up in disgust. The boys paddled under the river theater bridge. They immediately saw two San Antonio Police officers standing by the bushes. The boys didn’t see Debbie. Joe said, “Turn around and let’s get out of here!” As the boys were turning one of the police officers looked up and saw the boat. He began walking towards them. The boys continued to turn around. The officer started yelling at the boys, “Hey, wait up!”
The boys paddled underneath the river theater bridge and went to the audience part of the theater. Which meant the officer would have to run to the theater and cross the bridge to get to them. They exited the boat after banging it on rock sidewalk and ran up the stairs of the Arneson River Theater. Once they were upstairs, they knew no one could catch them. They didn’t hear the officer say, “Hey, I just want to talk to you.” It was too late. By that time, they were at the bus stop, hopping on an airconditioned bus home. On the way home Mike said, “What about Javier? He’s going to be mad. He might not give us anymore boats.”
Dave said, “Are you kidding. He doesn’t have to go far. We left the boat close to his dock. We pay him up front and we’ll be okay.”
Joe got home and was still in a state of shock. He went straight to his room. Of course, mom came in with a big smile, “Did you have a good time sweetheart?”
Joe was very stressed, “Yeah mom. It was great.”
“Oh, I’m so happy you’re enjoying your new friends. I’ll call you for supper.”
She left and Joe was trying to figure out what to do. He thought, “Should they call the police? Should they go back down there.” He decided everyone needed to talk in the morning.
They met at Laxon’s house after breakfast. They divided up the money made on yesterday’s windfall, and the boys were ecstatic. Mike brought a football, and they tossed it around while talking. At first no one talked. After a few minutes of quiet Dave said, “Should we go back down there?”
Joe said, “I think we need to. We should at least see if we can find any of the girls. We need to figure out what happened to Debbie.”
The boys agreed and decided to meet up in the morning and do the bus run downtown. The next morning the three guys got off the “new” bus and walked towards the Alamo. They decided to check out the bushes where the girls were supposed to be. They bypassed Javier and walked to the Arneson River Theater. They came down the stairs on the grass side of the theater and walked to the bridge. At the top of the bridge, they could get a good look at the bushes. When they got to the top there was no activity. No service men, no girls, no nothing. All three boys just stood there, wondering what was going on. Dave said, “What happened? There’s nobody. Debbie must be dead.”
Mike panicked, “Debbie’s dead! The guy who stabbed her saw us. We have to leave now and never come back down here. If the guy sees us, he’ll kill us!”
Joe stayed cool, “That guy didn’t get a good look at us. Besides, how can he ever find us.”
Mike would have none of it, “Are you crazy! Haven’t you seen those movies where they track down the witnesses and kill them? That’s what they’re going to do to us! We’ve got to go!”
