Chapter 39: The Old Man Roger’s friends
Cycil
I jolt awake when I hear someone bang loudly on the van door.
Arthur his me on my arm, I slowly look over to him from where I lay beside Marjorie. I can see the tips of his blond hair from over Marjorie’s hair.
He slowly sits up and crawl out the bed silently, trying not to wake the other up. I follow behind, trying to not wake Marjorie.
I watch as Arthur walks over to the driver’s seat and look out, he ducks down crawling onto the back.
“I think we should grab the shot gun” he tells me. I watch as he crawl silently to the bed and opening a compartment bellow it.
I ignore him, crawling over to the driver’s seat, looking out. I duck when I saw three figures standing in front of the van’s door. One of them is the man from yesterday, I can tell from his chubby figure
“I got the shotgun” Arthur says as he pulls out the shotgun case. I help him pull the shotgun out and load it with the old bullets inside the case.
“Do you think we’ll be kicked out if we shoot a man with a shotgun?” Arthur asks. I shrug before nodding.
“Inside a parking garage?” I ask, Arthur nods. “Oh definitely, without question.”
Arthur laughs before he realises something.
“Wait, I don’t know how to shoot a shotgun!!” he tells me. I look at him deadpanned before taking the gun and sitting on the couch.
“The Old Man took me hunting a few times, I know how to shoot so I’ll shoot. You open the door” I tell him, gesturing to the door. Arthur sighs before making his way to the door, he waits for a noise but what comes is a soft knocking noise.
I point the gun up, looking at the door suspiciously.
‘Why would they knock on the door when they’ve already banged on it?’ I thought as Arthur opens the door.
“Terrance?” Arthur asks surprise, I falter for a minute. Why is Terrance here?
“Hey Arthur. Can we go in?” Terrance asks. Arthur shifts around, passing his weight from one foot to the other.
“Who are we?” Arthur asks. Voice fill with uncertainty.
“Oh this is Darrell and Issac Foster, they came by to the storage unit and asked about you. Said they were friends with the man that owns the storage unit” Terrance tells Arthur. Arthur hums, not looking anywhere but to the right, where the strangers are standing I think.
“You’re friends with the Old Man?” Arthur asks, disbelieved. I jolt back a little, surprised that the Old Man’s friends are still alive and living in Washington.
“His best friend actually, right dad?” A voice says, I can tell it’s a man’s. He sounds like a singer, with a smooth voice and an expressional way of talking.
“Well yeah, I’d sure say so. We go way back to diapers, lost contact with him a few years back and when he called me again after almost 6 years asked for a favour to take you guys in for a week or so.” That must be the Singers father, Old Man Roger’s friend.
I grin at the thought of the Old Man making a phone call to a friend that he hasn’t seen for 6 after I denied his call for the millionth time.
“Okay… Before anything continues why did you record us yesterday?” Arthur asks, voice dripping with suspicion.
“What? Oh no, you’ve got it all wrong, I was talking to Willy. Video calling him to see if I got the right people, I wasn’t recording you.” I look up to the ceiling confused, he was video calling with the phone light on? In the middle of the day?
“Okay… but why didn’t you just walk up to us yesterday?” Arthur asks, confused and still suspicious.
“Well you looked busy and I haven’t talk to the Missus about guests coming over to the house. We were gonna pick you up later that day but you were gone and it was pass closing time, so we thought that you’d come back the next day and take you back with us” the Singer’s Father tells Arthur.
‘I need to stop calling them by nickname… Issac and Darrell that’s their name’ I thought.
“Okay then” Arthur says shrugging.
“Oh and I need to talk to ceyciel?” The Singer’s father says. I realise I know their name but not their faces.
“Cycil” Arthur corrects, sounding tired. Why is it that people have difficulty pronouncing my name?
“Yeah him” the singer’s father say. Darrell I think.
“Cycil drop the gun” Arthur says, turning to the side and revealing me aiming a shotgun at them. In a flash all three of them move to the side of the doorway, taking covering behind the van wall.
“Calm down I’m not gonna shoot” I tell them, standing up and pointing the shotgun down. I walk over to the doorway, stopping to stand beside Arthur leaning on the shotgun.
I look at the two new faces, one is the man the man from yesterday. I can see his face clearly now, his face looks like a sailors, crooked teeth, kind eyes, big beard. He does remind me of a sailor, an old retired sailor.
I look to the side, looking at the exact opposite of what Darrell is, the boy Issac looks older than me, with dark brown skin and short dread lock parted to the side, glasses and headset. He looks like a college student wanting to be a DJ.
‘Where did I get that conclusion?’ I thought, wondering where I ever met a college student that wants to be a DJ.
“I’m Darrell, this is Issac” the sailor says. I was right, he is the singer’s father, and Issac’s the singer.
“I’m Cycil Bass, this is Arthur Rain” I tell them, pointing at Arthur when I introduce him. He waves before walking out with me.
“So the Old Man sent you?” I ask. Issac looks at me weirdly, as if he doesn’t know what I’m talking about, or that he is wondering why I phrase it like that.
“Yeah, he told me your situation. I talked to the missus and she said the five of you can stay with us” Darrell says, grinning. I nod at him before looking at Arthur.
He silently asks if we could trust them, I shrug. I’ll need to call the Old Man. As I thought that my phone begin to ring, I look into the van and walks in.
“You guys talk about the way to your house. And Terrance thanks” I tell him as I disappear into the van. I walk to where my phone is, answering the Old Man’s call.
“Ah, finally, have you graced me with your presence because you’ve gotten my backup?” the Old Man asks when I pick u. I groan before pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Are you talking about the two man named Darrell and Issac?” I ask him. The Old Man laughs loudly, I groan and sit on the bed, careful not to wake the three up.
“So I’m right? We can trust them?” I ask him. Hitting someone’s leg that is starting to hit my back.
“I trust Darrell with my life, yes you can trust him” The Old Man says. I hum slowly.
“Are we supposed to do something for him?” I ask, we probably need to do something, help out in the house and make some money.
“Nope, just stay at their place until your flight” The Old Man says. I frown and starts to chew on my lip, it doesn’t sit right with me.
“But-“
“No. Don’t worry. Merredith won’t have it any other way”
“Merredith?” Who is that?
“Don’t worry Cy, you’ll be with great people while you’re there. Just go meet Merredith and you’ll see” The Old Man says, acting as if this is all so weightless.
“No, Old Man we can’t possibly live with-”
“It’s your paranoia Cy” he cuts me off. I stop talking and furrow my eyebrows. I don’t have paranoia.
“Old Man-“
“Nope, and I transfer you some money, if you transfer it back I’ll transfer it to Merredith and she’ll spoil you rotten” he cuts me off again. I growl.
“Who is Merredith?!” I ask him.
“Someone you’re gonna get along with”
“Old Man-“
“Good luck and have fun”
‘He hanged up on me’ I thought as the line went dead. Great, now what am I supposed to do?