When John woke up, his head hurt like a bitch. As his eyes came into focus, he saw something in front of him. The band of boys had apparently left the trashed hotel room, but not without leaving something behind. The other John's switch blade was pinning a note to a pink flowery tissue box. John was still tied to the chair so it was a little bit of a struggle to scoot closer. John's note said:
"John, we will always have our name. This is for you.
-Sincerely, John"
John scooted a little closer to the note and managed to grab the knife. He used it to cut the ropes off his body, and ran out the hotel door as soon as he was free.
" Great" he muttered, looking out at the motel parking lot "They took my car".
He kicked some loose gravel from the asphalt while he decided what to do. John's car had his suitcase with all his things in it. All had seemed lost, when he heard a man's voice from behind him.
" Pardon me?"
John turned around
"Is everything okay, sir?"
" Oh yeah, just peachy" John said, sarcastically. "My car was stolen"
The man looked at him in shock
"Really?"
John nodded, looking down at his feet.
" I'm going east, if you need a lift" The stranger explained.
John felt so relived
" That would be great! Thank you so much!"
The two walked over to his car, and John saw a Styrofoam cup of coffee filled to the brim, sitting on top of the roof of the man's car. The stranger didn't seem to notice as he walked over to open the door on the other side of the car.
"Excuse me, sir" John peered over the vehicle, and the man looked up at him. "Don't forget about your coffee." he said, motioning to the hot beverage on top of the car.
The man just laughed, picked up the cup, and turned it upside down. Surprisingly, nothing spilled out of it.
" It's just a magnet!" he chuckled. "I'm a salesman, this is one of my top sellers" he explained, smiling.
He slid into the car and John followed along. He was feeling a bit nervous to be in a stranger's car, but relived he wouldn't have to walk all the way to Roger's party. The man took another magnet out of his car, but this time it looked like a bag of groceries. He grinned and stuck it on the hood of the car. This made John giggle.
"Now lets hit the road!" the stranger said as he took the wheel and started the car.
--------------------------
The two men had been driving for around 15 minutes, and every time someone told the man there was a bag of groceries on his car, he just snickered and rolled up the passenger window, which had an ad for his company on it , explaining that it was only a magnet. There was even an ad in Spanish! He and the man talked and laughed about this for a while as John stared out the window.
John grimaced as they passed a billboard.
Snake farm
100 miles
"Ew, a snake farm"
John had been scared of snakes since he was 12. He had pooped out what he thought was a tapeworm, but was actually a seven-foot python that was shockingly skinny.
"You don't like snakes?"
"Nope!" Just thinking about their slimy, squiggly bodies made him squirm.
"Well I'm sorry sport, but that's where we're headed."
John looked at him in shock.
"I need to make a delivery there, but I don't think it'll take too long." He explained.
John gulped. It'll be fine They're probably more scared of you than you are of them he thought to himself
He dreamt of finally seeing Roger in Indiana. Oh what fun they would have! They could dance, and eat, and do whatever they wanted. They could make fun of people with terrible names together! But most importantly, Roger could hold him in his arms and pepper him with kisses. John longed for that feeling so much.
-----------------
John awoke when the car stopped; they had arrived at the snake farm. John took a big gulp, preparing himself for what he would see inside. He and the stranger stepped out of the car, and walked up to the shop's entrance. There were large snake sculptures decorating the path to the large building. When they walked by a little brown box, the man stopped him. There was writing on the side if the box. "baby rattlers"
"These snakes are more dangerous than adult rattlers because their poison is stronger" he explained, and motioned for John to look through the screened cover of the box.
John bent down and took a gander at what he thought would be snakes, but was actually a pair of pale blue tiny maracas.
"Wow, juuust wow"
The man grinned at the punnyness of the joke.
The pair continued walking until they reached the building. When they walked inside,John looked around at all the decorations.
The interior of the building seemed to have a safari, adventurous theme. There was brown straw grass around the borders of the shop, and there were a bunch of snakey trinkets on the shelves behind the counter in the center of the building. He saw lots of different objects on display that the owners were trying to sell. While he was looking around, something in the corner caught his eye. It was a huge stone barrel with wooden flaps on top. He walked over to it, and read its inscription.
"Water moccasins"
He opened the lid very carefully, and was yet again disappointed when he saw it was only a pair of moccasin shoes floating in the barrel. John decided that he hated the snake farm. I mean, he wasn't looking forward to seeing any snakes, but somehow this was worse.
The man finished up with the owners, and John declared "This place isn't scary at all!"
"Oh, you want scary?" one of the owners asked, looking him dead in the eye
John didn't know why, but he was feeling very confident at this moment " Yeah!Bring it on!"
The owner took him over to a door he hadn't noticed before.
"Do you wanna see the monster?"
John nodded. He was ready for whatever snake she had in store for him. today was as good as any to concur his fear.
The manger took out a huge packet of paper from by the door, and she told him to sign about a billion places on the large contract, before allowing him to step through the door.
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The room John stepped into was very dark, and mostly empty except for a patch of plastic vegetation in front of him. He was mentally preparing himself for what he thought he would see, when a huge plastic snake jumped out at him. This scared him a little bit, but not as much as when he turned around to see an even larger, real snake right in front of him. It hissed in his face, and John let out a deafening scream. He didn't stop screaming until they took him out of the building and the stranger he arrived with drove of without him.
