Chapter 9: The Home Coming

     The next day the boys met up at Dave’s house and talked to Vince. As they walked up Vince said, “Good morning boys. Y’all doing alright?”

     Dave said, “You heard anything from your buddies. We’re going downtown in a few minutes.”

     Vince said, “I checked with my guys in vice, and they said there’s some sort of scam going on with the hookers downtown. A tough guy will rough up a hooker or pretend to kill her in front of another guy. The tough guy just wants to show the other guy how tough he is. They do it to make somebody pay up or invest in one of their cons.”

     Joe said, “So you’re telling us Debbie isn’t dead?”

     “I don’t know about that. She could be at the bottom of the river, and no one has found her yet. I’m just saying there’s hope. I’ve got guys checking around. I’ll let you know when I find out something.”

     The boys thanked Vince and headed around the corner to the bus stop. The boys took an air conditioned bus downtown and went to the Alamo. They sat at the gazebo for a while talking. Joe said, “I hope they show up soon. I’m getting worried.”

     Dave said, “Yeah, we know what you’re worried about. It’s been a while since you’ve seen her.”

     Joe rolled his eyes, “No, it’s not that, I’m worried about them.”

     Mike said, “We’re pushing our luck coming down here. The gray suit could see us any second.”

     The boys decided to head to the bushes. They went to Javier for a paddle boat. Javier was skeptical, “Well, I see you need a boat. I’ve had it. You guys have taken me for the last time. The abandoned boat was the last straw. You never pay, and you stay out past the time you’re supposed to be back, I think I’ll double the rental for you.”

     Joe said, “For someone whose business is doing good you seem to have a lot of boats here. I don’t see any on the river.”

     Javier became flustered, “It’s getting ready to be busy. All these boats will be gone in thirty minutes.” 

     Dave said, “Okay. We’ll come back later, maybe.”

     Javier stepped in front of the boys, “How about this. You give me a dollar fifty and we’ll call it even. I want it up front. What do you think.”

     The boys had a lot of money from the scams and owed Javier. Dave said, “Okay, a dollar fifty. We’re even. Right?”

     Javier seemed happy with the arrangement and showed the boys the best boat available. Dave paid Javier and he had a big smile on his face. They boarded the boat and pushed off. They paddled towards the Arneson River Theater and the bushes.

     It was hot, even down on the river. The boys paddled under the bridge towards the bushes. As they approached Missy walked out of the bushes to look around. The boys saw her and started yelling together, “Missy! Missy!”

     She turned and saw the boys. She yelled something into the bushes and Debbie came out. The boys banged the boat into the shore wall and jumped off. They ran and hugged the two girls. Dave finally stopped and said, “Debbie, what the hell was the deal with the stabbing? We saw him stab you!”

     Debbie was hugging and kissing Joe, “I’m sorry. That guy was a bad man. He told me he wanted to scare this other guy he knew. He paid me a hundred dollars to let him fake stab me. I can’t turn down that kind of money. He paid me the money and I faked the stabbing. I’ve never made that much money. I guess it worked because the guy never came back.”

     Joe said, “What about the police. We came back down here a little while later and the police were all over the place. They chased us!”

     Debbie still had a big smile on her face, “That was crazy timing. After those guys left, the police raided us. We all decided to take off and leave the area. The police do that every once in a while. We had to lay low. It’s time to go back to work now lover.”

     Joe was still curious, “The guy in the gray suit chased us into Joske’s. We figured he was going to kill us.”

     Debbie said, “He’s a bad man but in a tricky kind of way. I don’t think he would kill anybody. Don’t worry about it, he probably just wanted to know what you knew. Don’t talk to him. Come on, let’s go take care of business.”

     She grabbed Joe’s hand and they walked into the bushes. After everyone was taken care of the guys stood around and talked and continued to smooch. There was much touching and feeling. The boys decided it was time to go and climbed on the boat. They had to get back or they would owe Javier more money. The boys promised to go up to the street level and advertise before they went home. The girls were all good. The boy’s luck was holding, they went home on the airconditioned bus.

     The next day the boys went to see Vince. Dave said, “Hey Vince! The girls are alright! It was just a misunderstanding. Like you said, the guy paid her to act like she was getting stabbed. The police being there was just part of a regular raid they do.”

     Vince smiled, “I’m glad your friends are okay. I’ll tell you fellas; you need to watch out for hookers. They always have bad things happen to them and the people around them. I know y’all think they’re a lot of fun now but be careful.”

     The boys thanked Vince and headed home down the alley where Rhonda lived. It wasn’t time for her to come home yet but they decided to just walk by and see what happened. As they walked by Rhonda apparently came home early. They stopped in the alley at her window. They can see in the window but not as good as being in the tree. Dave said, “We can see from here, right?”

     Mike looked at Dave and rolled his eyes, “Nothing like we could from the tree.”

     “Well go ahead then. Go get in the tree,” Dave said.

     Mike decided against it if the other guys weren’t going. She passed by a couple of times as the boys watched. She came towards the window with only her bra on. The boy’s imaginations took over for a second. Then, Dave with bug eyes said in a loud whisper, “Let’s get out of here!”

     Dave figured she was checking to see if anyone was there. The boys took off running down the alley. They didn’t need any more trouble.

     A few days later the boys planned to go downtown but Mike and Dave had to go over to Sunday dinner with their respective relatives. Joe, with nothing to do, decided to go downtown by himself.

     Apparently, the city was getting mostly airconditioned buses because Joe got one. The boys had a good stroke of luck getting airconditioned buses.