The Road to Nowhere

Small talk, Guns, and Dodging Bullets

     "Your Harlan Masters' daughter?"

     "You knew my dad?" Jes asked with a raised eyebrow when he asked.

    "Yes, you have an older brother named Kristopher, right?"

    Jes smiled another genuine smile as she nodded. "Yes." her voice trailed off, caught between relief that at least she could talk to someone about them and the grief of losing them. She lowered her head and exhaled slowly.

    Mitch moved over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He knew that look. He knew that grief all too well. Mitch had lost his wife going on six years ago. He pieced together the clues to realize that the Navy SEALs she referred to earlier were her family. "Look, I'm sorry for your loss. It is never easy to lose the ones you love. Trust me, I know. I didn't mean to bring up the pain," he apologized. "Your Dad was a very good man. I have been in touch with Kris off and on for years since we were kids."

    Jesalyn looked up to the sky as a couple of tears escaped her eyes. She wiped them away casually, then finished pulling the jack out of the compartment. "Thank you, but you couldn't have known about it. My father has not been back for some time now. So, no foul on you, "she said with a weak smile. Jesalyn took a deep breath to regain her bearing," But thank you for your kind words."

    Mitch reached into the chest pocket of his plaid shirt and retrieved a business card. "If you need a friendly ear to bend, I volunteer," he said as he handed it to her, "Besides, we're going to be neighbors anyway," Mitch added with a smile." My mom owns the property across the road from you." 

    Jes took the card and looked at it for a second like an unexpected gift. She looked up at him with a weak, but genuine smile. "Neighbors, huh?" she asked, "Guess it will be good to live across from the Sheriff," she added as she slid the card into her front right pocket.

    "Expecting to get into a lot of trouble?" he asked with a chuckle as he lowered himself to slide under the bed to get the spare.

    "Not really, but with my luck here lately, I expect it to find me," she stated with a dread factual tone; as she moved to the front of the Jeep to set the jack, in preparation to jack it up.

    Making such comments surely puts up a broadcast signal to Lady Luck that says it is time to create problems. That problem manifested itself as a spare that need repair as well. "Okay, slight problem here," he said as he slid back out from under the bed of the Gladiator.

    Jesalyn dropped her head in disbelief. "Of course, my luck doesn't have a good shelf life here lately," she stood up, looking dejected at Mitchel.

    He held up his hand at her as he grabbed his mike from his radio on his belt and keyed it." Operation, Adam 112, over."

    "Adam 112. Operation. What's up, boss?" 

    "Hey, Pardo, can you call Bobby out to my location? Over," Mitch responded as he watched Miss Masters cradle herself with her arms.

    "Can do, Boss. How bad is it? Over."

    "Nothing super bad. Just two flat tires. One of them was the spare. Over," Mitch replied as he smiled at Jesalyn, who rolled her blue eyes as she ran her right hand through her hair.

    "Okay, make and model? Bobby will want to know. Over." 

    "2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon. Tire size...." He squatted down to find the tire size on the tire. "....31 x 10.5 R15. Over."

    "Ok. He should have those in stock, even though those are specialty tires. Troy Mackenzie and a couple of the guys from The Palisades have Jeeps like that. Over."