Character Flaws

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I pedaled up the steep incline, my cart empty but still straining with the physical exertion required to bring me to the top of the hill. Cars raced by, some honking their horns as they swerved around me. I ignored them, focusing on the road as my I made my way ever closer to the peak of the small mountain I found myself journeying up. I had picked up a man who wanted to go way out to the suburbs, into an area I had never spent much time in. I found suburbs to be positively dreadful. The result was my wallet got noticeably thicker and once I had dropped him off I was left with the same route I had used to get here unless I wanted to bike up and down streets looking for a familiar landmark. The problem with going the same way as I had before was that it had been primarily downhill. Which meant it was now primarily uphill. Now, I had stamina. I could ride a bike like any of those prissy cyclists in the races. But this was exhausting. And it didn’t help that this was nearing the end of my shift and I had been riding around for hours. Nor did it help that Nugget had convinced me to go out with him, after he finished his shift at two in the morning. Luckily I didn’t get too wasted, but a slight buzz was still enough to drain you. I let out a relieved sigh as I finally reached the crest of the hill and began a gradual downward slope, knowing it wouldn’t be long until the road veered skyward once again. When I stopped at a stop light several blocks down, I glanced around myself, grinning smugly at the people in their cars whose eyes darted away from mine as soon as they met as well as those who glared at me in disdain. I kept pedaling when the light turned green and made it back downtown without incident. Here I rode more comfortably, once again in familiar territory. Checking my watch I saw I had forty-five minutes left in my shift and decided to try and make one last quick fare before returning my cart and bike to Red. I searched for somewhere I could pick someone up for a quick ride, avoiding places where people usually asked to be taken across town. I decided on a parking lot used by the tour companies where tourists parked their cars and walked to the waterfront where the buses would pick them up. It was nearly a twenty minute walk, and I figured that if these people would pay to be trucked around in a bus for two hours they probably would be all for giving me some spending cash to save their lazy asses the walk. As it turned out, I figured correctly. A family of three, mom, pop, and a kid, piled in grinning and chatting excitedly about their “adventure” to come. I personally would hesitate to call riding in a bus for two hours with thirty other tourist-passengers an adventure but maybe that’s just me. As I predicted, they asked to go to the waterfront, the man leaning forward to converse with me.

“How long will it take you to drive us there?” He asked. “My son is very excited and I’d hate to miss the tour. He’d be so disappointed.” I hate to break it to ya pal, I thought, but he’s going to be disappointed anyway with how you’ve built this up. I couldn’t decide if this was his discreet way of telling me to hurry or if he thought he would be able to walk to the waterfront faster than I could bike there. If it was the former, he was wrong. If it was the latter, he was rude and my feelings were hurt. All the same I answered evenly enough.

“I can get you there in about ten minutes.” I replied, shifting uncomfortably on my seat so that I was turned to face him. 

“Good, good. That’s excellent.” He said, and I began to detect a slight british accent in his scratchy voice. I considered asking him if I could bum a smoke, knowing that raspy voice was a telltale sign of a fellow smoker, but decided not to, knowing Red would have my hyde if she caught me smoking on the job. I began to head in the direction of the canal, keeping the bike at a brisk pace to reassure the tory behind me. It seemed to work as he rejoined his family’s conversation, chatting happily. Too happily. The sounds of their happiness drove me off the cliff of rationality, my inner despair at the simplicity of my life taking hold and I pulled a gun from my pocket, shooting  indiscriminately as screams of terror filled the air. Just kidding. I didn’t have inner despair, and guns were for pussies not tough enough to handle themselves in a real fight. In reality, I drove them to the pickup location for their tour without killing or maiming anyone and they crowded off the bike with ten minutes to spare before their bus was scheduled to depart. The husband payed, including a particularly generous five-dollar tip besides his fifteen-dollar fare, and I left them speaking amiably to their tour guide, thankfully not the same woman who had so brutally attacked me earlier in the week. I took the long way back to the main road, killing time until I could make my way to the warehouse. If I went very slow, I would be able to drag the journey out enough to get there in about thirty minutes and a few detours here and there should have me arriving just at clock out time, if not a little bit after. I swerved up and down streets, around blocks and sometimes even in circles, I doubled back, got stopped at a railway crossing as a train lumbered by and made it back in just the right amount of time. Pulling the bike and cart in to lock them away, I was surprised to see Red glaring at four other drivers, including Nugget. Each had their head hung down, not meeting her gaze. 

“What’s up?” I asked suspiciously, edging closer to the group.

“Someone took some of the fare money.” Red answered furiously. It was understandable too, that she was upset. We all got to keep our tips, but fare money was turned in and then divided equally among everyone. If someone took some not only did they get more, but everyone else got less. One look at Nugget told me he was guilty. Sighing, I ducked my head doing my best to look ashamed. 

“I did it.” I lied, hoping she would buy it.

“Oh really?” She smirked. “You did it?” I nodded sincerely.

“Pray do tell how you managed to break in, steal the money, and sneak back out while you were supposed to be working and I was sitting right here?” She questioned. I looked back at her, confused. 

“The money was stolen by one of these four in the past two hours. I counted the money two hours ago and all the money was there, thirty minutes ago and it wasn’t. They’re the only ones that have been in here in that frame of time. So we’re just going to sit here until someone owns up.” She explained, settling her gaze on the four possible culprits. 

“No, I did it, I snuck in in-between clients, took the money and left.” I persisted.

“How’d you manage that?” she asked.

“Back door.” I answered quickly, confidently.

“Alright.” She answered. “You’ve somehow managed to get much better at sneaking in the back door since you tried it after dropping off that girl?”

“No, he didn’t-” Nugget began, standing up.

“Yup, I stole it, now what’s my punishment going to be? Public flogging? Hour in the stocks?” I said speaking over him and moving to stand in front of him. 

“What was that Nugget?”

“I sto-” He began again, but I interrupted him once more.

“C’mon Red, you’re killin’ me.What’s my sentence? Don’t fire me, I gotta feed Romeo.” I pleaded, complete with a pout and puppy-dog eyes.

“Alright Merc, fine. You stole it. I’m not going to punish you too harshly this time, I’ll just take it out of your next check.” She said smugly, looking as if she was sure this would brake me. I grinned in response.

“Aw, shucks Red.” I drawled. “You’re the best.”

“Damn right I am.” She turned to face the other four. “You’re all free to go. Mercutio here has ‘fessed up.” We all filed out the door and I came up behind Nugget and smacked the back of his head.

“What are you doing stealing pot-money?” I asked, using our oh-so-affectionate and dually purposeful slang-term for the fare money. It was quite literally stored in a pot and several of our fellow drivers used their cut to purchase pot. It was brilliant.

“Jelly’s birthday is coming up and I found the perfect present for her but didn’t have enough so I thought I’d borrow a little and then put it back later, no harm done.” He defended himself.

“You know Red counts the cash ten times a day, seven days a week. How were you planning on getting it back on time?”

“I don’t know. You didn’t have to cover for me though.” He said.

“Sure I did.” I answered. “I thought you probably had a decent reason to do it. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t cover for you. Of course, knowing you I should have figured it’d have been some romantic bullshit.” I teased. “And don’t worry about it. You’re paying me back. How much’d you take anyways?”

“Forty.” He answered

“Thousand?” I questioned, eyes wide. He scoffed.

“No dipshit, forty dollars.” He responded. I burst into laughter.

“What?” He asked, surprised by my outburst.

“You stole forty dollars!” I responded still laughing.

“Fuck you.” He scowled walking away. He was about to turn the corner onto the the next block when he turned around to face me.

“Come by tonight, Jelly wants to stay in but we’re out of beer. Bring that six pack from your house and help keep me sane. I don’t understand why she’d rather sit and watch movies than go to a party.” I laughed in response and nodded, walking the opposite direction as him to my own apartment.