Free Close Out by Todd Strasser Page A

Bean asked in a whisper.
    â€œWe wait,” Kai whispered back.
    â€œTill when?” Bean asked.
    â€œTill he calls again.”
    â€œHow do you know he’s gonna call again?”
    â€œBet you a quarter.”
    Bean didn’t reply. They sat in the dark. The hearse made odd clinking noises as itcooled down, but nothing loud enough for anyone far away to hear. The crickets seemed to grow louder, as if the arrival of the strange car in the dark had only temporarily silenced them.
    â€œHow long?” Bean asked.
    â€œProbably gonna be a while,” Kai answered.
    Bean sighed loudly and shook his head. “Great. And for all we know, those two creeps are out there in the dark, looking for us. I think I liked it better when you were just picking fights with Slammin’ Sam and the wahoos at Screamers.”
    â€œI’m not into picking fights,” said Kai.
    â€œYeah, you just do what you believe in your heart is right,” Bean said. “Only, for some strange reason, that almost always leads to fights. Know what, Kai? I think it would be really great if you could come up with a nonviolent way to do the right thing.”
    â€œI’ll take it under consideration,” Kai said.
    They grew quiet again. It was getting late. Kai yawned.
    â€œI cannot believe you’re relaxed enough to feel tired,” Bean muttered. “I keep waiting for one of those guys to jump out of the dark with an ax in his hands.”
    Bean’s cell phone rang. Kai answered it. At first all he heard was loud music. Then Goldilocks said, “Hey, where are you guys?” Goldilocks spoke loudly over the music.
    â€œWhere are you?” Kai asked.
    â€œEighty-eights,” Goldilocks said. “The dance place between Belle Harbor and Sun Haven. Look, screw it, you guys want those boards that bad, you can have them, okay?”
    â€œThanks.”
    Goldilocks hung up.
    â€œSounded like they were someplace with loud music,” Bean said. “Even I could hear it.”
    â€œYeah.”
    Bean sat up and reached for the key. “Guess that means we can go.”
    â€œNo way.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œJust wait.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œThey’re still here.”
    â€œNo, they’re not,” said Bean. “You heard the music. They’re at some bar or club somewhere.”
    â€œSorry, partner.”
    Bean slumped down in the seat again.
    Another fifteen minutes passed. FinallyBean gave Kai a long sideways glance in the dark. “Come on, dude, I don’t want to spend the night here.”
    â€œOkay, turn on the radio,” Kai said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou heard me.”
    Bean turned on the car radio. Kai scanned the stations until he found one he liked. He leaned close to the speaker and punched Goldilocks’s phone number into the cell phone and pressed it to his ear.
    â€œHello?” Goldilocks answered.
    â€œHey, Albert, where are you?” Kai asked loudly over the music.
    â€œUh, Eighty-eights,” Goldilocks said.
    â€œSo are we, but I don’t see you,” Kai said.
    â€œ
You’re
at Eighty-eights?” Goldilocks asked. “How?”
    â€œWe took the back way out of the golf course,” Kai said.
    â€œWhat the … Fuck!” Goldilocks hung up.
    Kai turned off the car’s radio and brought down his window. Somewhere in the dark a car engine roared to life, and he heard the screech of tires. The sound grew distant as the car sped away.
    Kai leaned back in his seat and smiled.
    Bean stared at him in amazement. “How the …”
    Kai felt the smile slowly leave his face. He hated to think of how he knew what Goldilocks had been up to. Mainly because he’d spent so much time around dishonest lowlifes who thought the same way Goldilocks did. It was nothing to be proud of. “We can go now.”

Twelve
    B y the time they got back to Sun Haven, Main Street was dark and deserted. Kai