Penny Max and the Runaway Lottery Ticket: Hilton Head Chronicles Part 1

IX. In Which Trouble finds Lawrence T. Wellington III

Warm up: "Hero" by Nickelback

Lar-Lar watched as Ruby Mae got into her Skylark and drove away. There was nothing like that old girl, he thought to himself. He noticed as he headed to his own convertible that the barista was watching out the window. Lar-Lar smiled to himself because he knew they were a little bit of performance art in the cafe full of uptight size 4 blue hairs.

As he stepped into his car, he rolled his shoulders back to front like he did every day to get the hunch out. He looked in the rear view mirror and checked his hairline which was still pretty good for 63 with a little help from his go-to hair growth gel. He put on his Oakley's and headed home.

'Home' for Lar-Lar was a simple two-bedroom trailer that was barely kept up but with nicer garage to store his baby, his Porsche with a better lock than there was on his domicile. He pulled into the garage and locked up the convertible and headed into the trailer. There was very little furniture, and what there was, was not in great shape, with a shred on one side of the plaid fabric on his couch and leftover newspapers and lottery tickets on the black vinyl ottoman.

But Lar-Lar didn't notice any of it. He was on a mission. He had a group of 'summer ladies' arriving in 4 hours and he needed to get in the shower and iron his pants. He also had to play some numbers with his bookie before he headed over to Palmetto Dunes. There had been a change in his normal bookie and it made him a little nervous so he wanted to get his numbers in as soon as possible. 

Word on the street was the change had to do with a snitch and that's the last thing he needed. Lar-Lar jumped into the shower and once done, walked into his 'on deck' room, as he liked to call it. It was the one room in the trailer - his second bedroom which was more the size of a small walk-in closet - that was in perfect order and where he stored all of his 'on deck' clothing. 

It was the last place he stopped before leaving his trailer. It had his iron and ironing board, a full-length mirror and all his good clothing and shoes. Plus a special stool to clean his shoes on. He picked a perfect turquoise polo with a casual beige sweater to tie around his shoulders. He added white casual trouser shorts, perfectly pleated and beige and blue boat shoes. A leather beige braided belt, his (almost) Rolex and dapper hat to complete the look along with his Oakley's. 

He looked in his full-length mirror and made sure his look was perfect. He sprayed a little Tom Ford for Men into the air and walked into it. He also sprayed a little into each of his shoes as well. He looked at this watch and shook his head. He knew that Ruby Mae, with her sharp eye, caught the change in his watch but he believed no one else would. In a pinch, he pawned it to a 'back door' shop, that would hold it for a month in case he was able to buy it back. 

So far, he'd been able to do so every time he'd put it there, and he had hopes he would be able to do so again, especially with a new group of ladies arriving at Palmetto Dunes. As he got into his Boxster, he put his hat into the glove box so it wouldn't fly away and thought about Ruby Mae. He thought about her a lot actually. And he thought about being with her and only her, but again shook his head and smiled, knowing she wasn't interested. 

So he full-circled back to their weekly coffee shop stops in his thoughts and their interesting conversation. Then he put his game face on and headed toward his bookie stop. Lar-Lar knew something had changed there, but wasn't sure exactly what besides the actual bookie. He pondered the change because he didn't want any problems with his numbers playing and he also needed to get ahead of a little since he was a little behind on everything. 

He wasn't worried about the money coming from the latest Palmetto ladies, but it was always a mix of money with food and gifts and this was a newer group that he'd only met up with last summer so was still working to get the right mix of food, gifts and money. As he drove onto the island and got close to the 'bookie' diner, Lar-Lar stopped first at Kroger's. 

He pulled into a parking spot, then grabbed his hat out of the empty glove box, put it on his head and sauntered into the grocery, as though he had not a care in the world.  His first stop was the floral department to grab a dozen red roses, then headed over to the wine & alcohol section to grab a couple bottles of champagne. 

Giving the 'summer ladies' plenty of attention right from the start was his M.O. Once purchased, he took the items out to his car, placing the roses in the front seat and carefully belting them to the front seat so they didn't fly away in his convertible car and then he put bottles in a cooler with ice in the front passenger seat floor to keep them chilled until he got there.

He then went back in and stopped at the coffee shop inside the grocery store to get black tea and an Artisanal breakfast sandwich, unlike his typical instant coffee and peanut butter on a bagel out of a bag. He liked to get into character before he met with any of his ladies and become the person they saw - debonair, affluent and dapper.

He sat for awhile with his tea in the courtyard area of the grocery store, absently people watching and keeping an eye on the time. "Been here long?" said a sharp voice, interrupting Lar-Lar's reverie. The dapper oldster looked up and saw the Russian. He was aware of the Russian coming onto the Hilton Head gambling scene recently, but hadn't interacted a lot with him. 

Lar-Lar felt a cold chill run up his back. The less he actually personally knew the people in the 'scene' the better, so he just made a brief eye contact with him and shook his head no. The Russian eyed him up and walked a little closer, so that he was just within Lar'Lar's earshot alone. "We lost an envelope here today," he said almost under his breath. "All we know is someone with a blue Buick skylark may have it. And a dog. A yappy white dog." 

Lar-Lar nodded but otherwise didn't respond. The Russian walked away, pulling out a handkerchief from his back pocket, wiping his sweaty forehead despite the air conditioning. Lar-Lar sat very still and sipped his tea. He now had another reason to think about Ruby Mae. A seasoned gambler, he kept his face relaxed and disinterested as the Russian walked away, then sat an additional ten minutes making sure he left the grocery store before Lar-Lar did.

Lar-Lar sighed out loud. "Shit," he said as he recalled the vehicle description. It could only be one person. "How the hell did Ruby Mae get into the middle of this?" He knew he'd have to deal with this, but he set it aside as he planned out his next steps. 

Once he was done with his breakfast, he left the parking lot and drove to an adjacent florist to pick up a dozen red roses to welcome the ladies and a liquor shop to grab a couple bottles of Champagne. With roses carefully placed in the trunk and bottles of wine, Lar-Lar got into his car after he left the florist and headed over to the diner. He ordered a bottle of water as he went through the drive-through to play his numbers. He didn't want his breath to smell like coffee. Ladies didn't like that taste close up, he thought showing a brief smile. 

He looked at the paper in his hand again getting ready to hand it over to 'Jeff.' As he got his water and handed in his numbers to the manager who normally showcased an almost perfect smile, Lar-Lar noticed that the smile was replaced by a grimace, as though 'Jeff' was in pain. "Thanks," said Lar-Lar, sticking to his plan of keeping contact brief and noticed a bruise on the side of Jeff's head barely covered by his blonde hair. He pulled away from the drive-thru and parked in the diner's lot. 

It was then that Lar-Lar realized the true gravity of his situation. He was in way over his head, he acknowledged to himself. And now Ruby Mae might be in danger. He decided to do something unprecedented in that moment. He got out of his car and went into the diner.