Mr. Tan

Chapter 4: His Name Is Earl

All four of us focused our attention towards a tall and lean Asian man with close cropped hair and a five o'clock shadow getting out of the driver's seat of a black El Camino and walking towards us. He had a slight tan and wore a dirty pair of ripped blue denim jeans, brown work boots, and a black wife beater. He had a lit cigarette hanging between his lips. I had to admit he looked kinda cool, almost like a gun slinger in one of those old cowboy movies. My bullies acted like his startling presence didn't phase them. They just stood there glaring at him like he was me.

 Now, y'all mind tellin' me just what da fuck goin' on here?", he said, giving the girls a hard look.

"Nothin' that concerns you, why don't you mind your own business!", replied Angeline with a smart tone.

The other girls begin to snicker at her reply.

 "Sure as hell don't look like nothin' to me", he said as he turned his head to spit. Put her down.

 "C'mon, we was just....", Sheila started.

 "I said put her down, Big Mamma", he interrupted with a smirk.

Angeline rolled her eyes at his "Big Mamma" remark but she did as she was told and let me go. Whoever this stranger was his voice was gruff and with a heavy country accent. I heard that same accent from people who hailed from the isolated backwoods of Mississippi or Alabama. I scooted away from the triplets as soon as she put me down. He focused his hardened gaze at me.

 "That there over yonder", he said nodding his head toward the puddle of standing water. Ain't that ya back pack?

  I didn't move from were I was standing. I looked up at him without saying a word. It had started to rain but it was a gentle drizzle. Grandma always told me to never talk to strangers.

 "You def, girl?, I said who's bag that is sittin' in dat puddle".

 He stepped closer to me and tilted his head sideways to look me in the eyes. Close up I could see the sweat stains under the arms of his wife beater and a thin sheen of sweat on his neck and collar bone. I could also see an elaborate colored cobra tattoo that extended from his shoulder to his elbow. He switched his hard gaze from me back to the three girls.