January 18, 2010 11:51 pm CT
The sight of my breath escaping my longs had grown tired and boring long before my pocket shook. It took another for me to recognize its shaking from my own. In her display of power, and why I will make it my goal to humble that little girl, Adrienne St Germaine had three of the larger members of SCCW’s security crew help remove me from the building. Asses didn’t even let me grab my coat. Thank goodness I kept that toque in my back pocket.
Half frozen fingers dug into my right front pocket, discerning between sharp keys, paperclips and finally the outdated mobile. I flipped it open to see that Jim must have finally figured out I wasn’t right behind him. Thoughts that those passive tendencies could either make this man a great sidekick just as quick as it could another deserter flowed free about my mind before getting to what it was he wrote.
“Hly shit! Brutl scene mid ring. U sure u want back 2 this shit?”
Was it the bastardised language or the vagueness of this message that I hated more? A vision of Jadian dumped on his head danced behind my eyes, and it stretched at my cheeks, while the knowledge that the crew he ran around was more than likely to have caused a blood scene kept the full blown smile at bay.
The phone slipped back into the pocket, and in my clutches instead was the front row ticket that did the little more than get me in the front door. That waxed paper was the symbol of what I could no longer be. I would no longer be the fan I was just a year ago. My place was between those ropes. The fact that I was looking at this $100 ticket further fuelled my distain for every seat on the other side of the guard rails.
As it fell in four pieces to the ground, carried past my feet by a cross wind that took another degree from my soul, I turned my head to the sky. Painted on the midnight background shone the brilliant light of a thousand stars from yesterday. I forgot how old the light from the O’ Ryan Constellation was, but it didn’t stop it from been as imposing as anything. Another random collection we have given meaning to.
Through the vast, clear sky, I still preferred I’d be under a roof of some sort. Maybe if I was Superman I would bust down the door and get back into the arena. Perhaps if I had some foresight the guy with the keys to the rental car would not still be cozy inside. Some time more would pass, and teeth would chatter before the masses let out in such a rush that it seemed preposterous that that simple dome held them all.
The last in the bunch was my salvation from frost bite. The mop of brown hair swayed atop the 6 foot frame as he slowly made his way. I could swear he was lost before my frigid lips would let me whistle. Not sure if it was the “tactical winter weather coat” of fat around his waist or the NorthFace jacket that gave him the warmth I was considering a semi-lessthanheterosexual bear hug heat theft.
“Oh shit. There you are,” his first words as he neared the blue Gulf. He fumbled about trying to find the keys with no great urgency, to my chagrin. “You been standing out here the entire time?”
As if he couldn’t tell. I waited several seconds hoping it was rhetorical. “Yeah, felt the sudden urge to freeze my boys away. Where were you?”
“Well doesn’t someone seem upset?” I hoped that was a poor pass at comedy. He scratched at the two day old growth on his chin before proceeding. “I was enjoying them ring side tickets we had. One second we were walking away from thin, blond and sexy and the next I was in my seat, beer in hand, with an empty seat beside me. You missed some seriously messed up stuff out there.”
Thank God, he finally unlocked the doors. I was quick into the slightly warmer air space and waited for the big man to swing himself in before we continued.
“Yeah, I got the text. But what happened in there?” Twenty minutes of thinking a million scenarios of what could be, I was more than ready to get it straight.
“The funny, nerdy one,” his story started.
“Jared?” I guessed.
“Yeah, wore the shirt.” To be honest I didn’t expect any support from any of the talent. “So he is in the ring with B, and all shit gets out of hand. Turns out the backup he brought weren’t really there to watch his back. It’s everyone beating away on him. Ref sucks something fierce, and B takes the belt. The maggot actually wins.”
Great, this, I thought, was about the last news I wanted to hear. While not particularly a man built on revenge, part of why I hadn’t moved on to some other company was the hope of getting my shot at him. Now he had that Gateway he just became that much further away.
“Then the ball of fire races out; the Canadian one. She gets there, but it’s like eight on two. Didn’t stand a chance. Standard bad dudes beating up, until the ring leader goes and staples something to her chest.”
Oh shit Amy, what had you gotten yourself into? Don’t go getting yourself retired before we have our chance to dance.
I was wrapped up in what details James could spare to remember, piecing together the scene, that after watching the broadcast again, was a weak comparison to the emotion it stirred. My mind was so vivid that I thought the sound of the rear passenger door opening was reasoned away as the sound of the staples exiting the apparatus. It was the female voice that finally rattled me.
“Alright Jim, where are we headed?” echoed from behind my head. I wondered the same question myself for a half second.
“Hey Jimbo, better question. Who’s the carry-on?” I asked turning to the redding face behind the wheel.
“Shelly,” he pointed to the forty something behind me, “and I were, you know, kind of thinking of heading back to the room and,” he let his voice trail away.
“Heh,” I chuckled. “And where did this foreplay happen? Please tell me meeting me was not some part about it.”
“Relax, she doesn’t even know who you are.” That comment hurt more than I thought it should. “Actually, you never showed, and…”
“I was stuck behind 4 rows of grunting fools standing up front. How rude right? Jimmy here, the hero he is, offered me the empty spot beside him.”
It was great to know that my hundred wasn’t going to waste. I knew this relationship was going to be screwed up. Who’s entourage is getting more loving than its leader, even if it was previously-used loving? Just me - thought so.
“Uh, hey Jimmy, not be a total cockblock here or anything, but I seem to recall us getting one room with two doubles. Flatulency I could take, but I ain’t about to hear you bumping uglies with, yeah, I already forgot your name.”
“Humph,” the noise of disapproval again from the back. Or was that the failed angel on my left shoulder? Not sure I wanted to present myself as an ass, but the chilled isolation had me a little more punchy than normal. “What’ll it be James. I am growing impatient.”
“Oh! I am sorry princess. Where was I in thinking that the room I paid for would serve as a good refuge? No, you know what?” I asked, my hand already on the handle of the door. “Fuck it. Get your jollies Jimmy. I’m walking.”
I slammed the door shut with that last word. Size thirteen shoe prints where taking there place in the fresh powder that covered the parking lot as a large man tried but once to get my attention. The winter wind once again greeted me and I sucked down the cool air into my lungs and felt it oddly burn. This is the weather I grew to love for spite of everything that cannot live under it.
Spite. Funny, that’s the only drive I have been feeling for a troubling period now. I don’t even know where that was on the hierarchy of needs, but certainly it blurred out that silly want for security. I was now a lone man in the middle of a Winnipeg winter night, slightly confused about which direction his lodgings were and proud of it, if in my death the frozen corpse testified that I was right. About what really didn’t matter.
Escaping the property lines of the MTS Centre was just the first battle; the vast, concrete river was next. Its current took me to the right.
I was all of five minutes along before that cherry red F-150 pulled to my side and gave my unfocused mind quite a shake. The tinted passenger window slowly rolled down to expose the machine’s driver. I just had to step closer to gather the image together.
I couldn’t tell you who I thought would be stopping at this time, but I was poised to rebuke whatever offer lay within.
“Hey there, isn’t it a touch chilly to be taking a midnight stroll in just a t-shirt?” The voice was kind. It was soft, female. What type of alpha female would it take to confront a man of my stature? It was a short leap to guess the kindness of the voice was the playing of a sociopath looking for a new ball of string to toy with.
“Barbarian blood, and maybe the fact that I am finding it hard to care if parts of me fall away makes this walk a pleasant one. Isn’t it a little late for young women to be talking to strangers walking around in the middle of the night?” I bite the final sentence of in pieces hoping it would get the threatening tone needed for a silent night across. No such luck.
“Yeah, I am pretty sure I would be crazy to be going around picking up random guys, and much better to let them die of hypothermia. It’d be a shame for you to never get back in that company Mitch.”
“A fan?” I asked. “Yeah, I don’t carry around eight by tens and sharpies, so I am sorry I can’t be giving you that worthless collectable from a never-was professional wrestler.”
“How about maybe just stowing away that attitude and getting in here. You’re fingers are looking pretty purple.” She was right I realised as I lifted the right hand to my face. I wiggled the digits to no sensation. Bending over the centre console she popped open the near door. “I don’t bite, I promise.”
And with that invitation, the part of me that wants to live into eternity conquered the will to freeze away my hot temper and the little voice that warned of any number of weapons that would erase any advantage I assumed over the smaller woman. As I fumbled around with the belt buckle she asked, “So, where was it you were walking?”
I turned to her for the first time with a short enough distance that I could see through those fogged over eyes the features of her face. Blue eyes shimmered in the overhead light as blond brows furrowed away to an inquisitive look that belonged to one maybe no more than twenty seven.
“I was slowly making my way back to my motel.”
“Okay, which one was that?”
“The Super… nah, scratch that. I don’t really want to walk in on that scene.” To see my cryptic response did little to satisfy her curiosity was easy. “I actually am just looking for a place to kill some time.”
“Well, I do know a nice little bar around the Super 8. You do like chicken wings?” The light blond locks that slipped beneath the headband she tucked to either side of her face.
I hadn’t eaten all night. This idea was more than appealing. A tavern should be good to waste a few hours in. “Do they have a lemon-pepper seasoning?”
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A block past the motel, and forty minutes of nursing a can of Diet Pepsi I found myself across the table from the Samaritan that had me wondering why I hadn’t sought this before. The pleasant conversation we kept at first to small topics had spun into an inquisition of each other.
“So Kristine, have you managed to stay gamefully employed during this, oh how is it Harper is referring to it now? Economic slowdown? Creeper is a joke,” I poked at the politician before sipping back the second last my beverage had to offer.
“It took a pay cut, but I’ve been working with the city for five years now,” she returned. “What about you? Chasing this wrestling thing a full time obsession?”
“Would you believe I am an accountant by trade?” It drew the cute little laugh I was going after. “But it got to a point that one of the partners thought the cuts and bruises would scare the clients. I quit before he could have the satisfaction.” I paused to finish the carbonated drink.
“But it’s not really like I would be comfortable heading back into that life now anyhow. Don’t suppose you would know what it is like to stand in front of ten thousand and hear them chant and cheer?”
“Nope,” she shook her head. “So it’s all worth it just for that? I mean I have seen some of the injuries that go down in there. I think I remember you had your back split open.”
“Good memory. Yeah, that little beauty was nine staples, but it has since healed. But to tell you the truth, I kind of miss that part of it maybe the most. The temporary pain is worth the memories.”
And that was went it hit me, or more correctly he hit me. Four knuckles wrapped about my cheek and sent that jolt of shock pacing the short path back to my brain. With it was the elevated heart rate.
“Adam, what the hell!?”
“Trying to fuck with my girlfriend,” he uttered.
“It’s not what you think! Seriously!” she pleaded my case. I didn’t need it.
I am not sure if he cowered when I finally got to my feet, standing tall with this barrel chest puffed, or that he saw the grin on my lips. I sized up the offending party; a white male of probably thirty. He was maybe 5’11” and the lankiest fellow I had happened across since Xander took time to heal that sore ankle of his, four months ago.
“You want to opportunity to say sorry, or do you want to lose your front teeth in front of your,” I paused waiting for Kristine to confirm my suspicion.
“Fiancée. Adam, stop it. We were just talking. Mitch, please don’t. I know he was rash but…”
“Heh. Don’t worry about it kid. Your boy gave me that shot I think I needed. But a word to the wise,” I said staring a hole through the freckled face of her significant other, “before you decide to throw your fists, make sure you can take a heavier, hard pair yourself.”
I retrieved my wallet and tossed a twenty on the table where Kristine sat. It was enough to pay my tab and compensate a bit for her kindness. That her boyfriend walked out that bar by his own strength was my act of kindness to her. All twelve souls in that establishment had twenty four eyes glued to the image of me walking away.
I was headed to that motel room. I hoped I would just get to sleep. I knew I would have to set straight this parasitic relationship. I was still game for a fight if it would come to that too.