The Jackal's Girls

♣ 4 ~ An Offer I Can't Refuse ♣

They use force to make you do ...
what the deciders
have decided you must do!

Killing in the name of ~
Rage Against The Machine

♣♣♣

After about two minutes of standing around with Chuckie, behind the back gate of a place that neither one of us belongs being caught at. I finally give up even guessing at what the hell I am supposed to be seeing here. Maybe this is some sort of strange reconnaissance mission for some score he wants to take down? Or maybe the student union has a new strip joint downstairs, to help teachers pay off their student loan debt, one dirty dollar at a time? So Chuckie just wants to scope the talent, sample the breakfast buffet and check the sports scores? Or maybe he's even searching for a portal to hell to open up, so his insane Laughing Gods can send him back his long lost soul to sacrifice? The possibilities are endless when it comes to the crazy crap my uncle thinks is cool?

"So what do you know about this place here?" Chuckie finally nods over through ornate wrought-iron bars to Hogwarts High.

"Nothing, other than that name on the gate?" I shrug. "Why?"

"Good private school with a halfway decent football team, and lots and lots of big rich boosters." Chuckie nudges at the massive gate with the toe of his heavy construction-combat boot. "And it's got a seriously strong gate to boot? So use your head, what does all that tell you about this place here?"

Translation: This is a possible potential fertile hunting ground of people stupid enough to bet on high school football games?

"Tells me that people with a lot of money send their kids here, cause it looks safe?" I speculate, playing along with whatever game he is running in his head.

"Anything else?" He eyes me almost curiously. 

"Naw, not so much. Why, what's it telling you?" I shake him off slowly, I give up trying to guess the answers at whatever strange guessing game he is going on with the insane voices in his head.  

"Tells me that this is a serious sports school right here, with a ton of money to spend. The way I hear it, they are in contention to take a shot at a state title in their division. And all they need now is a big defensive star in the middle to anchor their defense around." He smiles widely to show off all his sharp teeth. "That sound about right to you?"

"Okay, if you say it's so?" I nod along.

"Okay, good to go." Chuckie hums along to the insane song in his own head. 

But something strikes me as wrong about this last exchange, cause Chuckie seems way too pleased for some strange reason. So I resist agreeing again by reflex, instead I ask for the obvious clarification. 

"Hold up a sec, Uncle Chuck?" I start off slowly, trying to cautiously navigate the dangerous waters of Chuckies crazy mindstream. "So right then when I just said 'Okay, if you say it's so', I was agreeing with you on your take on this place, right? But when you said 'Okay, good to go' that sounded a lot like I was agreeing to something else?" 

"That's 'cause you're a smart kid, Jackie boy." Chuckie smiles slightly psychotically. "So I knew you'd get it."

Get what now, you complete cuckoo for coco-puffs freaking nutter?

"Okay, but just to be on the safe side? Maybe you can spell it out for me a little longer? You know, just in case I missed something in the mix?" Like maybe the entire freaking point of this exercise in insanity, you psycho?