#130: Old Times

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After a long day of working Wilbur sometimes stopped off at Ernie's before he bedded down. He’d built a micro-brewery that some of the Rowdy Bunch helped him operate. They made some really good black stout that he wholesaled to Ernie who sold it retail . The name was“Old Oil Change” and that was appropriate. Wilbur loved it. Drinking a pint or three and watching the floor show was reason enough to hang around for a while.

Wilbur was beginning to feel the itch. He hated it. It was similar to when he had been working his day job at the factory and got the urge to move. There was no reason for him to feel that way. He enjoyed his work immensely and he loved the people that he worked with. Life was perfect. He had it made in the shade. So why was he feeling the itch?

He hoisted the tankard to his lips and watched the girl dancing on the stage. “How did she DO that?” he thought to himself.

About that time he saw another old fart walk in. That old coot looked mighty damn familiar.

“Is that you Henry?” he asked as the once upon a time Trucker walked by his table.

“Well Hell Yeah! It’s Wilbur isn’t it? Last time I saw you, you were a dock walloper....er...somewhere!” Henry replied.

“Yup..somewhere. I was working at the Packing Plant in Liberal Kansas.” Wilbur replied with a grin. He knew all about truckers. He’d worked with them for half his life. Hell he’d even been one for a while. Long Haul Truckers had been everywhere so many times they couldn’t keep track. “Would you care to join me? I was getting ready to order eats. My treat.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Henry said.

A waitress appeared out of nowhere. They ordered, what was for Wilbur, the same old fare. Not so for Henry. It’d been a long time since he’d had a breakfast burrito.

“So how have you been?” Wilbur asked. “It’s been a while since Liberal . What have you been doing with yourself?”

“Same old same old.” Henry said. “Until the flood. Then I got stranded on the Atchafalaya Bridge. I must have stayed on it for months, maybe a year, before it was finally submerged by the rising water. I might have died.”

“Yes, the flood. I was stranded myself for a while on a hill.” Wilbur agreed. “Lucky I had an encounter with a little dragon.”

Henry nodded his head.” Me too! It was Lucy for me.”

“You lucky dawg.” Wilbur said

“Don’t tell me you got Karl?” Henry was alarmed.

“Yup” Wilbur took a bite of his burrito. “ Actually he’s not so bad once you get to know him.”

“He’s definitely and acquired taste.” Henry said. “Kinda like this beer. What the hell is it anyway?”

They talked for a few hours. Each one told their story. They lied and exaggerated a lot. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not...what matters is if it’s a good story.

That’ what truckers do.

Eventually they got to the present day. They began talking about Avatars and work.

“I don’t like those little avatars so much. I like the big one I have better.” Henry said.

“Ah yes. The Fluffy.” Wilber nodded HIS head.

Henry grinned. “ I call it the Retribution now.”

“Oh?” Wilbur raised his eyebrows

“Yup..to be more precise it’s the Banana Slug Harvester: Fluffy Class. Retribution.” Henry said

“I sense a story in that.” Wilbur told him.

“I’ll tell it to you some time.” Henry told him “ The stuff that I learned from Lucy made survival a whole lot easier for me. I dunno how far I could have paddled a kayak or what I’d have found when I got there.”

The day passed pleasantly, they talked for hours. Eventually Henry said “I didn’t realize it until just a little while ago that I was rich. For the first time in my life I don’t HAVE to work. I don’t HAVE to do anything. I don’t really HAVE to have any plans. I’m just kind of wandering around. I met a couple of nice people after I got off that bridge. I told em about ya’ll. They asked me if I’d ever been here, I said no. They said no time like present so we came on down. I left them talking to the dragon lady. That’s been a while hasn’t it? In the meantime I’ve been looking around to see what was happening. Not much. I’ve seen it, didn’t take long. This definitely isn’t a tourist mecca. I figure I’ll be leaving in a week or two.”

“Rich huh?” Wilbur asked “How’d that happen?”

“The Retribution.” Henry explained.”I won’t go into the whole thing right now but the executive summary is that Shelby pays really good for SSCrystal. I’ve gotten purty good at finding petroleum and plastic. One kind of follows the other. With what I’ve made I can live high on the hog for a long long time here in this fine establishment if I decided to. I’ve decided NOT too. Staying in one place for very long ain’t my thing. It’s boring. I’d go out of my mind. How about you?”

“I’m doing OK. I’m set up PERFECT! I love my work. I love the people I work with.” Wilbur said.

“ You got the itch?” Henry consoled.

“Yup” Wilbur sighed. “Damn it! I HAVE been kinda twirling a thought around in my head a little bit though.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Henry asked.

“Deep Sea Fishing.” Wilbur said. “All they serve here is freshwater fish. That’s all they’ve got. I wonder if they’d be interested in Shrimp, Scallops, Crabs, Cod, Flounder, Haddock, Halibut, Mackerel, Pike, Salmon, or Whitefish, to name just a few.”

“ SeaFood?” Henry was a bit surprised. He spoke rather loudly. Then, he caught himself and continued more quietly. Henry was rather loud at the best of times. He was about half deaf from his many years sitting behind a screaming diesel engine. It had affected his hearing adversely. Like many people who were hard of hearing he talked rather loudly so that he could hear himself. ”You sure seem to know a lot about deep sea fish.”

“Not really.” Wilbur said “I cheat. That internet thing you know. I’ve learned to use it as a mental prosthetic.”

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The Next Episode Is
#131 - She Wants SeaFood…
The Previous Episode was
#129: Melvin's Marauders -Hunting for the Feral RiverBarge…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
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Book One: SoulStone
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