Free Dead Stop by D. Nathan Hilliard Page B

Harley to be the type to have trouble finding a date.”
    “Oh…well…” He
thought fast. “He’s only been back from the army a few months. He’s just been
kind of settling in. You know how it is.”
    “Ah, I suppose
that makes sense.”
    Deke held his
breath, trying to figure out if Stacey was buying any of this and whether he
had a date with her or not. She continued to look down the bar, apparently deep
in thought. Then a certain calculating gleam came into her eyes.
    “Okay, Deke.”
She turned back to him with a warm smile. “A day at the lake sounds like fun.
But we do need to get poor Harley a date so he won’t feel weird…and I’ll have
another girl to talk to.”
    “We?” Deke
queried, now torn between joy over Stacey’s acceptance and dismay over the
twist of events it led to.
    “Yep. But
that’s okay. I know just the girl.”
    “You do?”
    “Uh huh. I’m
thinking Marisa.”  Stacey looked inordinately pleased with herself about
something.
    “Marisa? That
Marisa?” He gestured over to where the other waitress was bringing Doc
Sutherland another coffee.
    Marisa must
have heard something because she looked back over at him sharply. Stacey
flashed the other waitress a brilliant smile and wriggled her fingers at her,
causing the raven haired beauty to give her a puzzled look before going back
towards the kitchen.
    “Sure. Marisa
would enjoy a day at the lake. If Harley will take her with him, I’d be happy
to hang out with you guys.”
    “Really?”
    “Sure! You
don’t think Harley will mind, do you?”
    Not if he
knows what’s good for him.
    “Nah. I can’t
see Harley objecting to something like that.”
     “Great!”
she chirped and stood back up. “Your job is to see to it Harley asks her out
tonight…and I’ll see to it she says yes. This is going to be fun!”
    Deke could
only stare at her for a second in helpless wonder.
    Then a smile
of his own slowly grew to answer hers.
    Oh crap! I
love this girl! Okay Mr. “Trust me”. You’re now in this with me, so you can
just put your money where your mouth is.
     
    ###
     
    Nightfall –
Buddha Boy
     
    “ How deep is your love … How deeeep is your
love.  I really need to leeeearn…   ”
    Gary “Buddha
Boy” Norville’s high pitched voice rang off the white painted cinder block
walls of the Textro’s shower. In the steamy confines of the room, his huge
white body glowed like a pale moon in the mist.
    “Okay, Buddha
Boy,” a voice drawled from the other end of the room. “That’s the last song I
want to hear a fat guy singing while I’m sharing a shower room with him. I’m
out of here.”
    Gary giggled
like a school girl.
    “You ain’t my
type, Red! Besides, I got a date planned for tonight anyway.”
    “Lizzie ain’t a
date, Gary,” Red Tex noted, “She’s a transaction.”
    “Ha! You’re just
mad because she charged you the same for those two minutes as she does for half
an hour.”
    Gary laughed
again as Red Tex Collier turned off his shower and wrapped a towel around his
waist. The lanky redhead pulled his hat from where he had hung it on a
protruding soap dish and squashed it down on his wet locks before walking out
with all the bow legged dignity he could muster.
    “Hey!” he yelled
after the departing figure, “Don’t forget to leave that cologne on the bench.
I’ll get it back to you later!”
    Buddha Boy
couldn’t hear Red Tex’s mumbled reply over the sound of the shower, but knew
the guy was good for it. Red Tex was good people. The big trucker giggled
happily and returned to the business of methodically cleaning every inch of his
massive, fish-white body.
    He had no
illusions about his appearance, and had long ago accepted his fate to be
forever single. But while his options were reduced to the women who worked the
asphalt at truck stops across the US, he still approached each encounter with
all the hygienic care of a first date. Gary figured if a lady was willing to
endure his gargantuan