T-Room Trouble

Car Hopping

Jay knew the layout like the back of his hand, he had been coming to the Park since just a kid with his family, had played on those Intramural teams thru grade school, even made the second string HS Varsity Baseball Team, and that was how he had recognized Tony as he flew past and disappeared around the corner of that Park toilet.

So, they didn't so much meet again as ran into each other.

Jay had come to this rest room on the edge of the Park while biking back home from his day on that Maintenance job with his father. There was already a bike sitting there against the wall, so he knew that the door would be unlocked, not always an assured opportunity and not really a problem for most needs when looking for relief. There was always a tree to sidle up to, but he had to take a shit badly and home was still a long ride away.

As he went to reach for that door handle it burst open, and all Jay saw was the back of that shirt, Tony hoarsely shouting over his shoulder.

"He's a cop!".

Jay was confused, but as teenagers who had grown up in those surrounding Towns avoiding any interaction with The Law was an ingrained trait, so that warning could not mean anything but bad news.

Following Tony they both ran, hopped their bikes, pedaling madly crossing that parking lot onto the dirt road and those woods beyond.

Tony and Jay spent the rest of that afternoon reminiscing about their teenage exploits, what this Summer might hold, and suddenly Jay was dragged right back into his orbit, the chance to catch up on some fast life that had sped past him.

Tony quickly calculated the opportunity of new exploits, the advantages of having a second fiddle to play out those quick orchestrated scenes in this State Park toilet, offering Jay an avenue for future misadventures in those surrounding bars and even quick trips to Boston in Jay’s car.

Their earlier friendship had ended two Summers ago when Jay’s Dad had walked past Tony’s family car as he was sitting outside waiting and noticed the beer cans littering the back seat, and Jay was forbidden from seeing him ever again, grounded and immediately put to work on that Maintenance Crew on the Corpus Christi College detail that his Dad was in charge of, paid that same small wage as all those other seasonal immigrant workers.

So those next two years of High School had slipped by with his curfew at 7 only allowing for playing with the Baseball Team and every Saturday now spent with that crew except when there were league games, dragged to the requisite Sunday services with his parents at that chapel on the Campus of Corpus Christi College.

Being an only child was the saving grace in his family setup, any anger held in check as to not make that household chaotic, his Mother playing umpire in all disagreements between them. His father might be unrelenting and demanding, but he had also started to pay Jay more attention, even coming to all those Baseball games and taking him to some business trips out of Town, surprising Jay on his 17th birthday with a rifle and soon taking him on hunting trips during those bleak winter weekends.

At 18 he was given even more responsibility for that Maintenance Crew, but as he had at least that full year of experience that Latino crew were glad to be out of earshot for the more overbearing demands of his Dad.

That Senior Year summer suddenly arrived, he wasn’t anxious to go to College as he was now making enough money to buy this car they were sitting in from his own dad.

There was always a steady flow of men those few nights Jay sat just out of view, crouched low in his car watching as Joey scooted across the wide expanse of the parking lot, standing outside the doorway for one last pull on his cigarette before pushing thru that metal door, it's creak even heard inside this car if the wind was blowing from the west.

He never gave thought to the actual actors in these situation, and didn't imagine that he would know anyone, so staying in the car as the getaway driver was more than enough interaction with those shadowy figures he would catch sight of slouching with a quick look over their shoulder, the regulars more self-confident and sailing with an economy of steps and a quick spin through that doorway.

Jay was only the henchman, the hired hand in those teenage afternoon escapades, strictly the crashing cymbal in this orchestrated show, their sidekick tandem act performed as directed on command of the maestro.

But he was on his own tonite alone with Jerry, that Corpus Christi Football Varsity Senior, and there was no option but going to his room back home, that party in Boston already started. He would be the only one without some arm candy to suckle while everyone else lay splayed on various couches and beds, no nose candy for the table or joints to pass due to his lack of funds.

He had hoped to accomplish either option with the assistance of Tony, had not expected to be joined by Jerry but, now alone on this windswept tarmac he darted for the doorway.

There was a long haul truck set along the furthest line of that parking lot, likely still occupied by that trucker sleeping off those long miles from either Boston or New York and looking across the full lot Jay saw few cars, spotting only one pickup truck still occupied in the farthest corner of that lot, a glowering cigarette tracing up and down in that darkened interior.

He didn't know what to expect, that short trip between the car and this door weakening his knees and all resolve to take on this role he had always deferred to Tony.

Standing at the doorway was not an option, tho’ he hesitated for just that moment in trepidation as to what he might encounter inside.

To Be Continued