CHAINED

Last Summer

  Last summer was just same with the other summer, everything was normal until one single night.
  The concert was great. Isaac's ear were ringing and he couldn't hear himself think, much less hear what the others were thinking about. There was no lights in the Pin auditorium parking lot and out here in the valley there wasn't newly the background glow of electric L.A. Yea t was like being stuck in a black cave with a herd of cattle. He stumbled on broken asphalt and nearly tripped Clara, who was holding on to him. He felt loaded and hadn't even had a drink. Then again there had been enough dope smoke in the air to waste security guards.
  "Where did I parked my car?"James asked impatiently.
  "There it is!" Brenda laughed, pointing so vaguely that could have meant half of the parking lot of the auditorium.
  "I drive a Ford ,not a Volkswagen!" James shouted. "Hey Emmanuel, you remember where I parked my baby blue ?"
  Emmanuel didn't have a date but they had bought him because he loved music and he was a great guy to have around when finding your car. He didn't drink a lot but Brenda and James had so they had a very blurry vision unlike Emmanuel who was wide awake. He answered James but James didn't heard anything."
  "You're going to have to speak up!" James shouted
  Using hand signs, Emmanuel managed to get across the message that they should follow him. Isaac stumbled obediently on his heels, bumping into Clara, with her hanging on to him. Emmanuel halted and by golly if they weren't standing next to James's pride and joy -- a supercharged 98' Ford. James had parked at the far end of he lot where they could supposedly enjoy a quick getaway. Too bad exits were all on the other end of the lot.
  The wait in the traffic was tedious. The concert had strung them all up and now they had to move like snails. A half hour later and they were still captives of the dope smoke spouting train. To pas the time, James, who was driving , naturally, and Brenda set to work on the remainder of the beer. Clara even had a couple of cans , thought her dad always gave her a sobriety test when she got home from being out late, and Isaac thought what the hell and put away a couple of beers himself. The alcohol seems to dull the ringing in his head. Emmanuel took a can, too, after prodding from Brenda, but nursed it carefully.
  They were on a verge of a breakthrough to the street that lead to the freeway when someone knocked in their window.
  "V!!" Brenda squeaked when James rolled down the window , letting in a fog of exhaust. " Wow! It's sooooo amazing running into you here!"
  "Brenda, I was with you when we bought the tickets for the concert," Vanessa said, duckling her head partway into the car. Her curly black hair was held back with a pin and there were oil stains on her hands.
  "Having car trouble?" Isaac asked from the back seat. Clara held up her oily hands.
  "Yea. Calista and I are killing the battery . It just refuse to turn over. Could you please . . ."
  "Call the auto club, Clara interrupted. "I've got to get back soon or my old man will be out on the porch with a shotgun."
  "Pull over to the left,"Isaac said, thought he knew Clara's dad disliked him and would only be too happy to have an excuse to castrate him with buckshot. Clara scowled but held her tongue.
  "Sure" James said. Vanessa stepped back and Isaac swung out of line , their personal slot vanishing soon. The glaring rows of headlights at their back made it a sure bet it would be a while before they got another shit at the freeway.
  Calista's car was a Toyota Corolla,while James tried jumping the battery, Isaac checked for loose wires and Emmanuel peered in the has tank. All systems appeared go until James put the jumper cables directly to the starter. It didn't so much as click, and they knew where they stood.
  "Call the auto club," Clara repeated when they paused for a hasty conference on what to do next. "You're a member, aren't you Calista?"
  " i don't know. Am I ?"
  "I am," Isaac said. I guess I could call...
  "No," James said quickly. It would take one of their men forever to get through this traffic. This is a run down area. Neither of you would be safe waiting around. You're coming home with us."
  "But my dad will have to drive all the way out here tomorrow to fix it,"Calista complained.
  "He won't mind the inconvenience once he understands it was to insure your safety." Isaac said smoothly, having absolutely no idea of Calista'S dad position on such matters.
  "There is no room in James car for seven people." Clara growled.
  "No problem,James belched, swaying." You can sit on my lap." Brenda delivered a punch to James.
  "Clara," Isaac said with a trace of irritation, "auto club employees do not install starters, especially in the middle of the night. It's settled ; now let's get back in line. And James , give me your keys. You're drunk."
   He handed his keys a minute later.
   Two hours had gone by and they were totally lost. At least the traffic had disappeared. They hadn't even seen another car in twenty minutes. Isaac was sure he had gotten in the freeway going west toward L.A. but he wasn't sure how or when he had switched freeways and Vanessa's shortcut on the surface roads back in the correct freeway had definitely been a mistake. She was in the back of this minute, poring over a tattered map with a flashlight, telling him to turn this way and that. The first gas station he saw, he was pulling over. In fact he saw an ordinary house, he might stop. The surrounding fields seemed to stretch to infinity. They could have stumbled into the heart of the Australian desert.
  Nevertheless, they were having fun. They had plenty of gas and fine conversation and the beer tasted good that he was no longer worried about the alcohol slowing his reflexes. He'd only had a few cans, anyway , he had a hearty liver. He know what he is doing and as soon he knew where he was going he would just be fine. Clara's mood had lightened considerably, her old man was away fishing, she had remembered and she was laughing until her legs were rubbing against the front seat until it was distracting but he wasn't complaining. Even Calista was in a holiday cheer, she was unmistakably loaded and James had taken to remind acing, which was always a riot. Not one could tell a lie with a straightener face than James.
  "Should I tell them , Isaac , about the time we snuck into Coach dager's house to steal his kitchen sink and caught him seducing a tennyboppers?"
  "Up to you." Isaac said while driving. Coach dager was their football coach.
"It was a Saturday night, James began." We thought the coach was gone for the evening, you see , we wanted to unhook his kitchen sink and put it in the attic so when he called the cops he'd have nothing to tell them that they
took nothing but the kitchen sink!" James laughed and the rest laughed with him.
  "Give me another beer, Calista,"Brenda said.
  "Have mine," Vanessa said ." I'm full."
  "At first he was out," James continued, burping," we practically had the last boldly unscrewed and hadn't even scratched the blasted sink. Then we heard the garage door opening and we knew we were in trouble. But we didn't panic, we were cool. We raced to the couch and hid under it. We could've just snuck out the back door, that's how we came in , but we knew we were on to hot stuff when heard female squeals coming from the garage."
  "Get off it," Clara muttered.
  "It's true, it's true! Now comes the good part. When we were lying under the couch, we could hear coach bringing the lady in the living room. I tell you , my guy almost split holding back the laughter. Especially when I remembered I had my phone. When I pushed to record button, I knew I was capturing something for posterity."
  "What did they do?" Calista gasped.
  "Everything" James said while winking and making a perverted face.
  "Isaac," James said, have i or haven't I spoken the sacred truth?"
  Isaac didn't reply as he was focusing on the bumpy road. As it was two thirty and it felt like it. He could have closed his eyes this second and gone to sleep. Maybe, he thought, he should let Vanessa drive.
  " where is your phone?" Clara asked.
  "Huh?" James said.
  "If it's true, I want to hear it."
  James caught them all off guard." All right," he said, pulling his phone from his pocket. After a quick search he got the recording started.
  "How old are you?"  The Coach was asking.
  "Eighteen," the girl crooned.
  "I thought you said you were a junior?"
  "So I flunked."
  Heavy breathing and kisses followed. Except for Calista's heavy breathing, the car was silent.
  "Have you done this before?" Coach dager muttered.
  "Yeah this afternoon."
  "Ain't I great?"
  "I've heard you're the best." The groaned."ahhhh"
  "You heard right,Clara" the coach whispered.
  "Turn that off, damn it!" Clara shouted.
  "Coach dagger!"James jeered
  Moaning and lips biting had came from the recording
  "Turn it off!" Clara swore, so furious she was unable to do it herself.
  "I said stop!!!" Clara screamed. Then she did a very strange thing. She reached over across the steering wheel and pitched out the lights.
  Isaac's hand had been pushed off the steering wheel and the car had began to turn furiously, he had removed his leg off the gas pedal and quickly hold the steering wheel in place but it was too late, the car had hit a huge bump of the road. Everyone screamed while the car flipped two times in air. Luckily it landed wheels on ground first.
  Calmly,Clara turned off the recording after her face was landed on the window.
  "Anyone hurt?" Isaac asked. No one spoke up." Good."
He slipped into gear, creeping onto the pavement. The frame of the car wasn't bent , the wheels were turning free. All he wanted to do was get a couple of miles away before the next person spoke.
  "I need to get home fast, my old man would take your head off, Isaac."
  "Right, here we go." Isaac stepped on the pedal. After roughly one hundred yards, Isaac had stopped the car because it hit something really hard.
  "Give me the flashlight." Isaac asked." All of you stay here." He ordered." I'll be back in a few minutes."
  "No" James protested.
  "Yes." Isaac told him, reaching for the door.
   Outside was a full fledged dust storm. His eyes stung and he quickly had a dirty taste in his mouth. The flashlight is his hand were barely working and flickering as he hurried to checked what had he hit.
  He had hit a man, around thirty years old, nor was he tall, having the body of Emmanuel. The eyes were wide open. A trail of blood spilt out the corner of the slightly parted lips, and still, the guy looked like he was grinning.
  Isaac didn't knew how long he sat beside the man, with his flashlight forgotten in the dirt. The next thing he was aware of was James shaking him, seeming to call his name from the other end of a long tunnel. He raised his head with effort, found the others in a half circle at his back.
  "Is he dead? James asked. He was sober. His eyes never looked that wide. He knelt by the man and felt for a pulse at the wrist.
  "Looks it," Isaac heard himself say.
  James touched the blood at the mouth. It was not dry." Looks like he's been dead a while."
  "I don't think so," Isaac said softly
  "You're saying we hit him?"James asked, startled. Isaac was thankful for the WE. Before he could respond, the rest freaked out.
"What should we do Isaac?" Vanessa asked.
  "Let's get rid of the body, we'll put him in the trunk."
  "No way, you're not putting him in my car."
  "James, we can't just leave him here."
  "Sure we can!" Clara cried.
  " I agree completely" James said." Isaac , someone else killed this guy. Not us."
  Isaac nodded and said a prayer.
  They carried to body into a field nearby and hurried him. They've lowered him into the ground without any ceremony, folding his hands across his heart, leaving what could have been a wedding ring on his finger.
  After a while, they've returned to their ride and return to their home after Isaac remembered the route home. Had a desire or a need to return to the gravesite, he would have had no trouble.