Simple Man

- THIRTYSEVEN -

  Lightning crackled and thunder rolled off in the distance as palm fronds blew clear back from the gail force winds and rain. It looked like a hurricane raging outside to the average tourist but it was just an afternoon thunderstorm in South Beach. Storms were so common it was almost ironic Florida was known as the sunshine state. In the summer time one could almost set their watch by them in the late afternoons when the cicadas started screaming. Lightning, thunder and rain came all year round but this time of year rain didn't make things more humid, only cooler. 

   Most residents thought it was a nice change so long as it didn't get too cool, just cool enough to lower the electric bill and for those who could afford central air and heat. Money hadn't been an issue for Isaac Wolfe for well over a decade but he preferred the heat, the greenery, cool drinks and half naked bodies that were staples of southern Florida. Isaac wasn't a remorseful sort of man, that was one thing he couldn't afford in his line of work. Regrets. Isaac could've sworn he didn't have any but as he closely studied his reflection in the floor to ceiling window from the penthouse floor he formulated just one. 

Ever having laid his eyes on LeTreese Macon.

  If Isaac had enjoyed cooler weather who knows? He might have ended up in New York or Michigan, not just had partnerships that he checked in on from time to time but actually lived there and maybe landed a gig that didn't promise a prison sentence. If he had headed north he wouldn't of met LeTreese, that was for certain. But ultimately it was his ambitions and boyish wiles wanted to pluck her out of obscurity in that truck stop diner outside Fort Walton Beach. 

   The no-named diner smelled of burnt coffee, Hep-C and vomit, she deserved much more that this. LeTreese was gorgeous, clearly out of his league at the time, too busy with orders to pay him anymore mind that a curt nod to the nearest empty stool and while he awkwardly obeyed her silent order he noticed his was not the only pair of eyes she caught.

  LeTreese ignored of the old, road-weathered truckers words as crass as they were. She was polite enough not to mess up her tips but firm enough to let them know without saying there would be trouble if they pushed it. Isaac was only eighteen when him and his baggage-- the emotional kind not the physical kind--parked his skinny butt on the cracked vinyl stool she had directed him to. All he really carried was a toothbrush, the clothes on his back and a greyhound ticket to Miami. He wasn't sure whether to be nervous or excited at the prospect of being on his own and going somewhere new but all of that gave way to awe when he watched LeTreese work. 

    Last thing he wanted was to be a creep like the rest of the creeps watching her. He tried to stare almost too intently at his hands as he wringed them on his lap. But his mind kept wondering. Her canary yellow uniform was dirty but it, with help from her waist-synching apron, hugged every curve. Curls of midnight were gathered up in a tight bun yet one lone ringlet bounced from her forehead, her skin was a dark even ochre shade that glowed from within. He didn't have a plan when he got to Miami but he knew if he could somehow convince this girl to come with she would want for nothing.  

   He had hitched rides and slept under overpasses to get to this stop. Isaac didn't believe in God but he prayed to whoever was out there as he got up in line to the the ticket teller whatever he had left on him was enough. A homeless person had roughed him up a couple nights back for a few dollar but Isaac had managed to hold on to most of it. It turned out to be more than enough, if but barely. Enough for the ticket and a spot of breakfast before his bus left at 8:30.

   Nothing ever turned out that well for him but the teller quickly curbed his expectations when he happily announced he was going to the diner next door for some food. "Food sucks, waffles and pancakes are safest, coffee gets the job done but if you have to use the restroom you are better off going in the little wooded part over yonder. Take napkins with you for wiping."