The cops would have called with news for Manley on the following Monday morning. “First the good news” the Sergeant had said, they had found her, Libby. But... Read the rest of the story, as it is told in chapter nineteen.
This is a storybook romance, Jamaican Yardie-style. Taken from the Manley book.
Here now is episode 19 in the series. And it is taken from Chapter nineteen of the book. Note: Remember the Trail story which we had started sharing on these pages a while back? It is now in a contest on "Inkitt" under the heading: Casting Shadow on the tattooed trail. Go have a look and be sure to vote and share, thank you. Now here's today's episode for you.
Chapter Nineteen:
Breaking news and reports
Monday morning, 9:15 AM on the dot. The phone rang, it was the Sergeant's private number which he had given me before I had was to skip the joint in the wee hours of that morning. “Got some news for you,” he said, “first the good news. We've found your girlfriend, the bad news is. She is in bad shape.”
“Where is she, can I talk to her?”
“No, no, you can't talk to her nor can you see her anytime soon, and you cannot talk to anybody connected to her either, not her parents, not her brother, not anyone. Not until I give you the okay.”
“Is she going to be okay, how bad is this bad news of which you speak?”
“She will be okay buddy, she will be okay soon. You just keep calm and go look after yourself, try to be your best self against that day when she may need you.”
“And how is her family, what about her parents – where are they?”
“I can't divulge those pieces of information. That will be all for now, if and when I have further information I will be in touch with you, okay?”
“It's not okay Serg, but what can I do? You are the boss.”
“Take care, Manley.”
“Bye Sir.”
The sergeant might not be able to tell me what I want to know, but this is still a free country and the wide open road leads to Libby's door, and that's just where I'm going, not when the officer gets back to me, not tomorrow but now, right away, right this minute.
I fired up the car engine and hit the road West towards Kirkland. I drove right by the Dahoust's home, circled the block and came back around. There weren't any signs of life in the main dwelling area where Libby live with her family, but there seemed to be a light and some movements upstairs and both vehicles were still parked up there in the driveway. I didn't stop or linger, just passed by on the drive in and out again. I needed to dig in a bit further, so I drove into the Tim Horton’s parking lot and park, I went inside and ordered something to eat.
I picked out a particular girl sitting by herself at a table. A young woman with auburn hair, blue eyes, and a shape to die for. A perky pair of breast, just a tad on the small side but a proper mouthful for someone like Mr. Puppy dog here to nibble on.
She seemed likable too, a friendly outgoing type and she did give me the eyes a time or two while I was at the counter placing my order.
“Care if I join you?” I had asked when I approach the table where she was sitting, holding on tightly to the tray in my hand. “Sure,” she said, “go ahead.”
So I pulled out the chair and sat down across from her.
“You from around here?” She inquired.
“No, just kinda passing through, and you? Do you live around here?” “Umm um,” she nod shook her head, “all my life, born and grew up here on the west island, not too far from here as a matter of fact.”
“So, you happen to know anything about what had happened around these parts yesterday?” I inquire, “or last night?
I hear a lot of talk about some police operations and such the likes.”
“Umm um,” she nod shook her head again. “A girl who went against her family's wishes and was dating some guy which they didn't approve of, they held her hostage in her own home for days, weeks maybe, without food and all, the cops got word of it and busted in on them, freeing the girl and locking up the parents, as well as the brother whom they say was aiding and abetting them.
And some other guy, a taxi driver or something like that, who got himself caught-up into the whole mess.”
“So where is the girl now, any word on her whereabouts?”
“In the hospital, I would guess, they said that she needed urgent medical attention...”
I glanced at my watch, “oh-oh!” I said. “I have got to go, back to work, can't keep burning money even before you get it in your hands, can you?”
“What manner of work is it that you do again?”
“I'm a technician, computer technician” I replied.
She trotted out of the door behind me, obviously yearning for more.
“Can I call you sometime?” She asked. “Is there a number I can reach you at, or something?” “I don't think that will be such a good idea,” I said as I opened up the door and hopped in, closing the door behind me. She furrowed her brow and stared at me in wonderment.
Had it been any other time in my life, I'd be banging hard on her wide open door in a New York minute, even if it was, like: while I was still married to Aylene, or any other time, up until a couple of months ago, when I started to talk to Libby, and not just watching her from a distance.
If it had been any other time up until then, that I had happened upon this girl, in a setting like this, I'd be squeezing my way in and out of her pants in those types of metropolitan time measures, and be done gone long before one (anyone) could say: you slimy little puppy dog you.
But there is a fork which suddenly popped up in the road, and I've gotten myself derailed off of the track which I was previously on, where does this new road lead from here? I have no concrete idea, but...
And that's it for now folks,
That’s it for today. See you again tomorrow.
Go get the Manley book and read the whole story.
Previous Next
Extra, extra. On this day in history.
Thur. Feb. 14th
2005 - The video-sharing website YouTube was activated.
1989 - Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the government of India. The court-ordered settlement was a result of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster.
1989 - Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie because of his novel "The Satanic Verses."
1966 - Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers set a National Basketball Association (NBA) record as he reached a career high of 20,884 points after seven seasons.
1929 - The "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in Chicago, IL. Seven gangsters who were rivals of Al Capone were killed.
1912 - The first diesel engine submarine was commissioned in Groton, CT.
1900 - In South Africa, British Gen. Roberts invaded Orange Free State with 20,000 troops.
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell filed an application for a patent for the telephone. It was officially issued on March 7, 1876.
Comments
Post a Comment