Shadow On The Eyes

New In Town

Getting back in bed, I didn’t turn the lamp on and only faced it to keep the bathroom door at my back. So again, I lay there, wondering if something else was going to happen to disturb my attempt at sleep, but nothing did.

I didn’t dream, lucky me, but I woke to a chaos of noise. Somehow, I had managed to roll to the other side of the bed on top of the remote and turn the volume up on the TV, full blast. The preacher man’s voice spouting the same religious tirade from the night before was screaming at me while my phone was ringing. 

I got up and hit the power button for the tv as I answered the phone, “Yes, what?”

“Oh, Mr. Lake, did I catch you at a bad time? It’s Sara from Dirt and Shore reality again. I wanted to make sure you made it to town just fine and confirm our appointment for tomorrow. 10?”

My head was pounding, but I didn’t see any point in ruining her mood, “Sure, yes, 10 o’clock.”

“Fantastic! I have the room booked for two nights so that you can rest comfortably till then. If you take the main road you came in on, it will take you straight downtown. You will find several local restaurants, a park, and a few locally owned shops. The feeling is very rustic and quaint! This place is surely able to give you some nostalgia! Till tomorrow Mr. Lake.”

I couldn’t even reject the tourism offer before she hung up. I never liked pushy people, but this lady was tiptoeing on that thin line. It didn’t matter. I was already here, it won’t be long, and she can give it to someone else.

The room didn’t even have a cheap coffee maker, but I was sure I’d seen one in the lobby last night. 

Getting dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, I decided I’d grab a coffee and just do a quick drive through the town. I didn’t have anything to eat since yesterday’s jerky, so maybe I’d find a drive-through or something.

I went outside and noticed a work truck parked next to mine. It read BARTS FLOOR AND DOOR. They must be doing some work to the motel, I thought.

I walked into the lobby, and the guy wearing a paint-stained shirt and jeans raised his voice to the younger version of the old lady from last night. I didn’t plan on eavesdropping, but the coffee I smelt was calling my name.

“Now look, Mavis said once the bathroom was complete, she’d pay the rest! So now she’s going back on her word and asking me to do something else? This dump Motel should have been torn down years ago, Tina, you know it!”

“I know, Bart, but still, what you put on the bill isn’t what you both agreed on, so she wanted you to fix something extra to make up for the difference.”

I glanced at them casually, trying to mind my business, but they seemed oblivious to my presence. 

“Like hell! I told her it all depended on the damage. Shit, that blood was soaked all the way down into the floorboards. They had to be replaced, along with the walls and tub! The mold was the least of her worries! It took me two days dealing with that fat pig of a sheriff before he gave clearance on the remodel. Time is money, Tina!”

I watched the woman behind the counter take a deep breath and nod, “Fine. I will tell her you refused to do anything else UNTIL you get the remainder of the money.”

“You better, or I will take every one of those floorboards back up!”

His cockiness was starting to annoy me, but I kept listening and sipping hot coffee.

 “That’s IF you PROMISE to look at room 6’s wall, the staining that bled through. Give her a cheap estimate to make up for the difference, please, Bart, you know how Alice gets, and I do not want to be in the middle of this!”

With her bleach blonde hair, the leathered-skinned woman, Tina, suddenly looked at me and smiled, “I’ll be with you in just a moment.” 

I raised the coffee cup, “Just getting some coffee.” Then, I turned and left them to finish squabbling. 

I went straight to the truck, tossing the paper cup in the back before I realized my phone was still in the room.

Going back in, I grabbed my phone from the tv stand, but something caught the corner of my eye. I reacted, turning towards the bathroom door. It was ajar and moving as if something had bumped into it. The shadow I think I’d seen was small, so I wasn’t spooked, figuring maybe a cat ran in when I opened the hotel door. 

Nothing was in there when I pushed the bathroom door entirely inward, but a nasty smell hit my nose. I flushed the toilet, feeling it wouldn’t surprise me if the sewage backed up.

 I shrugged it off, I mean, it wasn’t like I was sane, to begin with, so I left, locking the room behind me.

The only thing at this point in life that I remotely cared about was my truck. I didn’t give rides, and I didn’t haul shit for anyone. When I got in it, the passenger seat was so full of crap that it was almost as if I wasn’t alone.

As Sara suggested, I took off down the main street and headed toward the little town. Finding a drive-thru proved to be futile. The only food that would be easy to get would be if I hit it with my truck. 

I managed to find the local grocer and figured out that because people were working during the day, I wouldn’t run into a bunch of them.

Like the motel, the store wasn’t much to write home about. But, on the other hand, the parking lot was almost empty, so that was a plus in my eyes.

Going into the double glass door entrance, I almost tripped on the cracked concrete.  Jazzy show tunes assaulted my ears as I looked for a cart. I noticed right inside there was a sign that said Borrow a Buggy, and you had to pay a quarter to use it. So I opted for using my hands and arms, which were free.

Their selection was typical of a small town. I avoided buying any dairy because it was close to feeling warm, and I swore I’d seen chunks of cream looking at me from a gallon of milk.

I ended up grabbing a bag of chips and a six-pack of soda. Their produce looked unusually fresh, but I figured it was local, so I grabbed some strawberries and a few stray bananas. I’d read that bananas absorb nicotine, so I thought they’d help me after two nights in that motel.

I didn’t smoke and didn’t drink, but gum seemed to keep me from clenching my jaws, so I added that to my stuff at the checkout lane.

The young kid scanning everything looked at me with his mouth full of braces. 

“You’re not from around here, are ya?”