Free Rick Carter's First Big Adventure (Pete's Barbecue Book 1) by Samuel Belcher Page B

“What?”  He quickly said, expecting some earth shattering event.  It was just rainy and gray outside.
        “That’s your taxi down there, right?”  Mel asked.
        Rick looked in the direction he knew he had left it. “Yeah?”
       “And that’s the same one you picked me up in the other night?”  Mel continued his questioning.
        “Yeah, why?  What’s wrong with it?”  Rick continued to be confused by this new sudden change in tack.
         “Well, nothing,” Mel looked at Rick very concerned, “except the other night it was white colored, not blue.”
          Rick looked puzzled, glancing back out at his car sitting there. “What do you mean?  It’s always been blue.”
          “No, I assure you the cab I got into the other night was white.  Something has altered the color. The reality here has altered.  This is the sort of thing I have been trained to notice, Rick.  It’s the sort of thing I fix all the time.”  Mel insisted.
         “What are you saying?”  Rick felt deeply confused.
          Mel remained silent for a moment. “Something has caused this reality to alter, and that is never a good thing.”
     
         Mel waited for Rick to sit back down in his recliner.  Nothing more was said between them as Rick tried to wrap his mind around what Mel was implying.   He felt like a man slowly waking up from a dream he couldn’t quite shake.  But, the process was interrupted by the coffee maker beeping away.  It was finished.  Mel looked excitedly in the direction of the coffee.  “Ooo coffee!  I don’t suppose you have donuts?”
         Rick waved at him and said absentmindedly, “In the right cabinet, just above the coffee maker.” 
          Mel hurriedly rushed into the kitchen to prepare himself a breakfast he hadn’t had in a long time, muttering the whole time, “Donuts, yes, donuts.”  When he came back into the living room, he had a large plate piled high with multiple donuts and two large glasses of coffee. “I put some cream and sugar in yours, hope you don’t mind.  Say, why is your coffee pot flashing 168?” 
         Rick didn’t bother to explain that he was going to make iced coffee.  He just took the glass and held it in both hands, staring blankly out at his bare wall.  He watched Mel scarf down donuts in a hedonistic frenzy.  “You think that’s a good idea?  Eating all that sugar?”
           Mel smiled again, powdered sugar coating his lips.  “My jet fuel, man.  Besides, it’s been a while since I had any donuts. ”
          Rick watched him lick his fingers and then sip his coffee.  He found it amazingly difficult to talk to his old friend, despite the events of the past few days. He glanced at his wrist, where the small device that Rick had noticed several nights ago was still strapped to his arm.  “I have to get dressed now.  We’ve got to go soon.”  He said.
          Rick was suddenly jolted out of his daze. “Go?  What are you talking about?”
         “The fabric of this reality is altering, Rick.  We have to find out why.”  Mel told him again.
          “What’s this ‘we’ business?” Rick felt manipulated.  “Out of the two people here, I’m not the one that claims to fix reality.”
           Mel looked at him sternly. “You have to come with me, Rick.  You’re part of this now.   Somehow, you’re wrapped up in all of this.  I don’t know how just yet.  But, we have to figure that out.  We have to figure a lot of things out.”
          “And how do you plan on doing that?”  Rick shot back at him.
           “By paying the Seer a visit,” He replied.
           “The Seer?  Of course, the Seer.  Why wouldn’t it be someone called the Seer?”  Rick mumbled sarcastically to himself.
            Mel smiled sheepishly at him. “Don’t be skeptical.  You’ll be happy to see the Seer.”