Pen to Paper Series
This is a story that I started writing on my MySpace blog for kicks and giggles (just for fun). My best friend Dylan has his own series called the Crusaders and I decided to join the club. The two main characters are kind of based on Dylan and I, in the way that our names start with the same letters and the way they interact with each other. I hope you enjoy reading the adventure of Rodney and Dominick. Feel free to give feedback.
Pen to Paper Pt 1
Rodney and Dominick had always talked about having their wholes lives planned out. Back in their senior year of high school they made a pact to stick together. They kept the pact through college and through many different odd jobs until deciding that they would use their skills as writers. They decided to take their penmanship to the sunny land of California, after being forcibly removed from their apartments in Portland, Oregon.
What they hadn’t planned on was making a terrible bet and consequently being in a massive amount of debt to the wrong people; the same people who had both of them tied up in a warehouse in some abandoned part of town.
“Dominick, you’re an idiot,” said Rodney said as they sat back-to-back on the floor with their hands bound.
“If you didn’t use your stupid sports knowledge to hypnotize me into making that bet we wouldn’t be here.” Dominick replied in protest
“When I said, ‘I bet you the D-Backs will sweep the Series,’ I was joking, not giving you permission to gamble all of our money away!”
“Well dummy, no one is laughing now are they? You sir, are the idiot in my book!”
Their argument began to fill the dark room that they were placed in. The only light was a single bulb hanging down illuminating a circle just big enough to keep the two in light, making the rest of the warehouse seem even darker.
“In my book, you both are idiots!” The loud voice made both men flinch. It was a deep voice that echoed in the empty warehouse. The man who the voice belonged to finally emerged from the shadows and stood at the outskirts of the light. “And if you don’t give me my money you’ll be a couple of dead idiots floating down the Californian coast.”
“Well here’s the thing, we were just about to deliver your money personally when the strangest thing happened…” Dominick began to pitch a lousy excuse.
“Shut up!” Rodney and the deep voiced man said in unison. The man shot Rodney a glare that made him feel like he had just melted and then evaporated away.
“You too! Now just get me the money by next week or you’ll find yourselves the new co-stars of the next CSI.” The man finished his threat and then turned back into the darkness. Rodney and Dominick were left speechless until a burst of light appeared and filled the warehouse. But as quickly as the light appeared, it also disappeared, returning the warehouse to its original creepy self.
Part 2
“So how are we going get out of here?” Dominick thought out loud. Not really intending on receiving an answer to his question. He simply sat on the ground and began to hum the tune of one of his favorite songs.
“I don’t know motor-mouth, but next time I suggest you don’t speak. And why are you humming? We have to figure a way out of here!” Rodney began to franticly look around hoping to see something that would help.
“If you’re looking for a way out Rodney, I’ve got it all planned out already.” Dominick stated with a sense of pride in his voice.
“Oh do you now? Just like the plan of making big bucks on a sports bet?” Rodney replied as he continued his search for their escape.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. But no, this plan is like 5 times better. Step one; if you were paying attention when Mr. no-nonsense man opened the door to leave it lit up the place. And if you were watching you would have seen the broken piece of steel on the wall to our left. Step two; we maneuver ourselves over to said steel piece and saw ourselves free. Step three; we get out of the incredibly creepy warehouse, flee to Mexico. And finally; we don’t die!”
Surprisingly, this plan didn’t sound completely ridiculous. Rodney went over the plan again in his head and decided it was the best shot they had.
“Okay. So lets try to stand up together.” Rodney and Dominick gave it their best shot, but couldn’t get to a standing position until the third try. After accomplishing the feat of standing the started to walk towards where Dominick said the steel piece was. They were a few paces into the shadows when Dominick spoke up again.
“Oh! I forgot! There is a table this way.” But he spoke just a second to late and Rodney slammed into the edge of the table.
“Don’t worry buddy, I found it.” Rodney grunted as it made contact with his hip.
“I guess we can call that payback for you touching my butt when we were trying to stand up.” Dominick laughed out loud as he replied.
“Hey, none of that now. My hands were tied behind my back and I was starting to fall.” Rodney protested. “Now that we know where this table is where is that steel piece?”
“Um. I forgot.” Dominick stopped to try and think and caused Rodney to stop as well. “I know, let’s go back to the light and shine it around until we find it.”
They made their way back to the hanging light and positioned themselves under it. Rodney leaned forward so that Dominick was lying on his back and threw his leg up in order to kick the light. All they saw were the columns and rows of supports on the wall before them. So they turned and tried again, but to no avail. On their third try Dominick had kicked the light so it shined to a wall that held the steel piece in place.
The steel rod looked like the blade of a sword and appeared as if it once held up a human body for a short time. It stuck out perpendicular from the support on the wall.
Dominick cheered a little and let out a cry of joy.
Rodney however, did not share his enthusiasm for this plan anymore.
“No way dude. I don’t want to play this game anymore. Look at that thing. Who knows how many people have been killed with that thing.”
“It’s our only way out man. We can use that thing, or wait to die in here by trying to feel our way around until we starve to death. Or even worse, maybe our friend comes back and decides to shoot us or something.” Dominick’s little exaggeration did the trick and they headed over to the steel rod. Rodney found his favorite table again on the way over as they eventually found themselves at the rod.
After a few minutes of debating how this was or wasn’t a good idea they began to saw themselves free. It then took another five minutes to find the door and escape the warehouse. Once outside, they once again went over their predicament.
“So Dominick, you got us into this mess, how do you plan on getting us out?” Rodney began to pace in the alley.
“That’s debatable Rodney.”
“What is?”
“Who got us into this mess. You sir, took advantage of me, but I indeed place our money in that bet.”
“What? How? Never mind.” Rodney couldn’t tell if his friend was joking or being serious and he had been down the ‘blame game’ trail before. He knew it would result in arguing and ultimately come down to the debate of who was better: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Power Rangers. And that was the last thing they needed right now.
“The answer awaits in Mexico Rodney, my friend. It all gets answered in Mexico.” Dominick broke off into a climactic stare off into the dark night sky. Dominick came back to reality to finish the plan of survival. “First we will buy some old western cowboy outfits.”
“No, no we won’t” Rodney interrupted his friend to express his feelings about the plan so far.
Dominick cleared his throat and glared at Rodney before he resumed his idea. “May I continue negative Nancy? I believe your idea was to stay in the warehouse, which would have resulted in our immanent death. We are on a Turn Taking Talking Time right now. Okay? Respect the Four T’s buddy. Now, we buy our outfits and then get some heat to pack.”
“You mean pack some heat?” Rodney interrupted again to correct him.
“No. I don’t. You can’t pack heat until you acquire the heat first. And stop interrupting me. Didn’t we just talk about this?” Dominick held up four fingers for Rodney to see. “Plus, it’s abnormally hot in Mexico. There will be plenty of heat to find there.”
Rodney inhaled to say something but decided to just let it out in a sigh.
“I was kidding dummy. Of course that’s not the heat I was talking about. Now where was I?” Dominick looked down at his feet and began shifting his hands trying to retell his plan to himself.
“Cowboy outfits and packing heat” Rodney said in a completely dull and uninterested tone.
Dominick jerked his head up and snapped his finger as he pointed to Rodney, finally getting back into the rhythm of his plan. “That’s right, cowboys and heat. Okay, so the final step is by far going land itself in the top five moments of all time. We take our outfits and guns and we rob a bank just like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!” Dominick’s face lit up and he was visibly excited as he shouted the final part of his expert plan.
That is completely ridiculous. You should be ashamed of yourself after that terrible use of oxygen.” Rodney simply turned his head and spit some saliva from his mouth.
“Well then genius, how do you plan on getting Mr. boss-man-intimidator his extra large glob of money by next week?”
“I’m not going to wear chaps that’s how”
Part 3
Rodney bent his legs a little bit in order to adjust the caps that now covered his jeans. He pulled them away from his leg allowing his legs to breathe a little bit. Dominick could hear Rodney struggling with his chaps and turned around in order to soak up the moment.
“This is ridiculous Dominick. I don’t see how the amazingly tight chaps are going to do us any good. I can barely feel my legs, let alone move them.” Rodney shook his legs in an attempt to get comfortable.
“These people will not believe we are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid unless we look like legit cowboys, and legit cowboys wear chaps. So deal with it. And don’t tell me having someone call you Butch Cassidy, thinking you were Paul Newman, wouldn’t make your entire life.” Dominick’s use of double negatives would cause most to struggle with his meaning, but Rodney caught on right away and his eyes lit up.
“That would be pretty legit. Easily a top ten moment of my life if someone called me a Paul Newman character.” Rodney straightened up some and began to walk around the driveway of some random person’s house. “I guess these chaps aren’t that bad.”
***
“Tell me again why we can’t drive to Mexico?” Rodney asked as the two walked down the side of the highway while carrying two bags each. They had been hitchhiking, or attempting to, for the last hour and a half.
“Cause we have to stay off the grid. Or else Mr. coach Boone will be able to track us.” Dominick turned to speak but kept on walking.
“How was that guy even remotely like Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans? Plus, you only go on the grid when you pay with a card. Which thanks to you we no longer can use cause you bet all our money away.”
“You of all people should know how that is a legit reference. I’m actually disappointed.” Dominick stopped and dropped his bags for a moment. He then began a one man show of the scene from Remember the Titans where Petey Jones aka Turk from Scrubs aka Donald Faison addressing Denzel ‘coach Boone’ Washington with a, “Zero fun, sir.” Dominick finished with a bow and picked up his bags and continued to walk down the road.
Rodney was left standing there with his head cocked to one side with a perplexed look on his face. “Every day you never cease to amaze me.” He simply shook his head a little and picked his bags up and started down the road after his friend.
“Hey Dominick, I have a question.” Rodney shouted down the road, although the distance between them didn’t require a yell, it just seemed necessary since they were outside.
“Go ahead Rodney. Its not like there’s going to be a car out here anyways.” Dominick put his bags down and sat on them.
“Why didn’t we just take the train or something down there? I mean, why hitchhike the entire way down? The train just seems more plausible.”
“Really?” Dominick replied with dumbfounded look on his face. “You’ve had that idea the entire time and didn’t see any need to speak up about it?”
“Well I didn’t want to ruin your idea. You were on a role and I didn’t want to interrupt buddy. You were firing on all cylinders there.”
“Are you kidding me? The only reason why I suggested hitchhiking was so you would jump in with a better plan. Of all the times to actually not interrupt or correct me you chose now?” Dominick was standing now as he began to rant on about how the only reason he tells Rodney to not interrupt is so he will get familiar with situations where he should.
“Well next time let’s just go with a, ‘Rodney, what do you think?’ okay? I think I remember seeing a gas station a while back. Let’s go back there and get to the nearest train station.” Rodney took his turn in the lead and picked his bags up and began backtrack down the road.
“I’m adding this to the list!” Dominick shouted as he picked his bags and followed his friend.
“What list?”
“The do’s and don’ts of best-friendship.”
Part 4
Rodney entered the gas station followed closely by Dominick. They walked up to the counter where the attendant was engrossed by an outdated comic book that had Spider-Man facing off against his arch nemesis Venom. Dominick ran quickly up to the counter and leaned on the table.
“Oh sweet, a comic book!” he exclaimed as he put his face right next to the comic book’s cover. “I know this one. Want to know what happens?”
The attendant lowered his reading to look at the two gentlemen. He examined both of them and simply went on reading. Rodney walked up to the counter and placed his hands on the counter. The man looked at him again and then continued reading.
“Excuse me sir, but we need a little help finding our way somewhere.” Rodney waited for the man to reply but he never did. So he asked again, but got the same answer, nothing. He took a breath and asked a final time. The attendant kept his concentration on the comic book and pushed a button that opened the cash register and waved his had at the open drawer of money.
Rodney was speechless. He didn’t know what to do. He looked back at where Dominick had been standing but he wasn’t there. He turned the other way and spotted him a few aisles away. Dominick looked up and showed off the chocolate on the sides of his mouth.
“What? I was hungry.” Dominick spoke with his mouth full of chocolate and some flew from his mouth.
Rodney turned back to the attendant who was still reading his comic book. He leaned over and pulled the comic book out of his hands.
“Hey! I was reading that!” the attendant yelled
“Finally I get your attention. Now we need help getting somewhere. Can you please help us?” Rodney was visibly agitated now as he spoke to the attendant.
“Oh well why didn’t you say so? I thought you and Sheriff Woody over there were just here to steal the money in the register, that’s why I opened it. I don’t like guns man.” He pulled out a map and placed it on the counter. “Now where can I help you get to?”
“Where is the nearest train station? We are on our way to Mexico.”
“Well the nearest one is about a half hour drive from here. Why don’t you two come to the diner and get some food. My wife runs the place.”
“Dude, this guy’s married? We definitely have hope then.” Dominick had walked up to Rodney and was speaking softly enough so the other man couldn’t hear him.
***
The Po-Dunk Diner was aptly named. It looked as if it couldn’t hold any more than 20 people. Most of the coloring throughout the whole establishment consisted of different shaded of tan and brown.
“Interesting name of your diner Mrs. Beakly.” Dominick looked around as he spoke to the couple across the table.
“Well since Borton is a po-dunk town we decided that the name fit. I mean, we live here so we are allowed poke fun.” The attendant’s wife, named Clarissa was looking at her husband, Albert, as she laughed at her own joke.
“I’d like to thank you for the meal but we really need to be on our way.” Rodney wiped his mouth with a napkin and began to scoot out of the booth. “And I can’t thank you enough for paying for the meal.”
“Hey Rod, tell you what. We have friends that live near the train station. Why don’t we just give you a lift?” Albert was standing alongside Rodney and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
“You don’t have to do that Mr. Beakly.” Dominick was exiting the booth now as well.
“Shush. We are going to. It’s the least we could do for the two of you.” Clarissa joined the group and led them out of the diner to the orange Jeep in the parking lot.
The car ride was thirty minutes of awkward. Full of country western public radio, Albert Beakly’s opinions on how the country can change for the good, and Clarissa asking how long Rodney and Dominick have been a couple. This lead to the retelling of how they met in preschool and clarification that they weren’t partners in that sense.
The reached the train station and exited the car and got their bags. They began to walk away when the Beakly’s stopped them one last time.
“If you two ever come by Borton again be sure to stop by for some food. And sorry again for the misunderstanding, this is California so you can never be too sure.” Clarissa waved out of the window as they began to drive away.
“Yeah, make that a no.” Rodney said the two of them turned and walked to the ticket counter.
“At least the food didn’t kill us, yet” Dominick replied as they got to the booth.
***
“Are you going to make the call?” Clarissa asked Albert as they drove down the road.
“Yes. He’ll want to know where they are heading.” Albert picked up his cell phone and dialed.
***
Roland Payne Coffin was sitting in a large armchair in front of his fireplace. His library was full from floor to ceiling with books on all four walls. The only places were there weren’t books were occupied with large paintings of him. He had a thin mustache over his lip and his black hair was slicked back and neatly managed.
“Sir, there’s a call for you. It’s from the man in Borton.” The butler held a tray with the phone on it to the armchair.
“Thank you. You may leave.” Coffin’s deep voice filled the room as he grabbed the phone and waved his hand at the butler. He placed the headset against his ear and coughed.
“What is it now you fat worthless sack of-“ Coffin was interrupted by the man on the other line as he began to speak. “Really now.” Coffin spoke as little as possible between the other man’s sentences. “Well done. We’ll send you your payment.” He disconnected the call and dialed a new number then placed the phone back on his ear. He waited for a voice on the other end and then spoke again. “Looks like they are on their way to Mexico. Make sure that you beat them there. They are on the train.” Coffin disconnected the call as he stood up and tossed the phone on the cushions of the chair.
He walked over to the wall on his right and pulled out a worn down brown colored book. The bookshelf swung open and he entered the dark hallway that lead down a slanted hallway. He walked until he came to a table that had a map of the western states of the United States and a picture of Rodney and Dominick.
“You idiots think you can outrun me?” Coffin placed a marker on the border of California and Mexico and filled the cavern with his devilish laugh.
Part 5
Rodney and Dominick sat in two seats adjacent to each other on the train. They had ordered tickets for the ride just as the train pulled into the station. After having to run aboard the train they luckily found seats and put their bags overhead. They both slouched in their chairs with their eyes closed. Neither had slept since waking up in the warehouse the previous morning.
While both men slept, two men entered the car. They were both well dressed all the way to a matching tie. They looked like high market businessmen and they looked like they belonged in New York, not on a train bound for Mexico. One man sat in an open seat at the rear of the train car and the other sat in a vacant seat near the front, placing Rodney and Dominick in the middle of the mysterious men. Each man spoke into the cuff of their sleeve then placed sunglasses over their eyes.
The train bounced from side to side as it traveled and caused Rodney to fall to one side. He woke up from his head making contact with the window and shook his head to fully wake himself up. He stood and moved Dominick’s legs so he could get by. He offered to get him food but Dominick just shook his head and turned over to sleep more. As Rodney made his way down the aisle en route to the snack car he couldn’t help but think the sleeping man with the dark sunglasses wasn’t sleeping at all. He could have sworn the man was watching him as he walked to towards him. Rodney tossed the feeling away and continued to the snack car.
The cars between Rodney’s and the snack car were filled with many different types of people, although ‘filled’ didn’t quite fit the mold just right. The three cars in between had maybe ten people each. When he reached the snack car it seemed to be the hot spot of the whole train. There were people at all of the tables and even some people standing while they ate their food. Rodney walked to the bar and took a seat in one of the two empty seats at the counter. He placed his order for a sandwich and began to sip from his water. He could see another man sit down in the chair next to his.
“Good evening Mr. Wyatt. I think you should and Mr. Nolan should come with me.” The man spoke bluntly as he looked over at Rodney.
“Excuse me sir? Do I even know you?” Rodney couldn’t think of much else to say after the stranger approached as he did.
“Mr. Wyatt, you’re being followed. We really should hurry.”
“And how would you know that?”
“Because I too have been following you. But the other guys aren’t as nice as me.”
“You call telling me to leave a moving train nice?”
“Mr. Wyatt, look towards the back of this car.” Rodney listened and looked in that direction. “That man works for the man you owe money to. There are more of them on this train.”
“I’ve seen two of them.” Rodney recalled the creepy man in the suit and sunglasses.
“I’ve counted 12 throughout the train. I recommend you go get Mr. Nolan and leave this train. Now.”
Rodney listened to the man and started to quickly walk back to his seat a few cars up. As he walked by the man who was following him he tried not to look at him. But as he came up next to him he exchanged stares the entire time he walked passed him. Then once again after he passed him. He could see the man talking into the cuff of his sleeve and knew that the man was right.
He reached his seat and began to try and wake Dominick up. It took a few shakes until he finally woke from his slumber.
“Dude, what’s the deal? Me and Sundance were about to hit up a bank.” Dominick said as he rubbed his eyes to help him wake up.
“We need to leave right now. There’s a man in the snack car here to help us I think.”
“What do you mean leave? This is a train. It’s not like we’re going to jump off or something.” Dominick asked as he grabbed his bags. They started to walk back to the snack car but were stopped in between cars.
“Mr. Wyatt, Mr. Nolan thank you for coming to your senses. This is where you depart this train. I suggest tossing the bags first, the fall won’t hurt as much without them.”
“What? You’re crazy man. There’s no way I’m jumping off this train. Rodney come on dude, you can’t be serious.” Dominick was starting to raise his voice.
“I’d say you two have about 25 seconds to decide if you want to live or die right now. What’s the choice Mr. Nolan?” The man was completely calm in everything he did.
“We’ll do it.” Rodney answered for Dominick and threw his own bags off the train and then did the same with Dominick’s. Then he lunged for Dominick and grabbed him as he forced both of them off the train.
“You jerk!” Dominick yelled as he toppled off the train and flew through the air. They hit the ground and rolled for a good ten feet. Both men came to a stop and groaned from the pains of their impact. “Rodney, that was definitely a don’t in best-friendship.” Dominick yelled as he leaned back and fell on his back and closed his eyes.
“Good to see you made the right choice gentlemen.” The man’s voice made both men jump up in shock and surprise. The man was standing right in front of them even though he was still on the train when they had jumped.
“How did you get down here? Weren’t you on the train when we jumped?” Rodney looked back and saw the train plenty far away as he spoke.
“I can do many exciting things. That’s why it was important for you to listen to me on the train. Now I need you to listen again.” He pulled out an envelope and tossed it to them.
“Why an envelope? Couldn’t you just like verbally tell us what to do? Or better yet help us or something?” Dominick had managed to stand and pick up the envelope.
“Just follow the instructions. If you make it, then we will continue our friendship.” The man winked at them and tipped his hat then disappeared.
Part 6
“Did he just disappear? He was legit here wasn’t he?” Rodney was pacing back ad forth as he spoke very quickly.
“I don’t know dude, but if you would have let me sleep I still would have been on my spaceship!” Dominick argued back.
“Spaceship? I thought you said you were with Sundance?” Rodney took a break from his pointless ranting to point out a flaw in Dominick’s dream.
“Hey bro, don’t judge. I didn’t judge you when we jumped out of a moving train, so don’t judge me.” Dominick was back to his sarcastic self. Surprisingly, this calmed Rodney a little bit.
“So do we want to open the envelope?” Rodney bent over and picked up the envelope that the man from the train had left before he disappeared.
“Well the way I see it is that if the guy can teleport like he did to get off the train and to go wherever it is he went now, I want in. So yes, let’s open the envelope.”
Rodney tore open the envelope and shook the contents into his hand. All that fell out was a little sticky note and two sets of contact lenses. The two sets were a little different from each other. One set was in a dark blue container and had a R.W. imprinted on the top, and the other was a gray color and had a D.N. on the top. The note simply said: ‘put them in and you will see’.
“Well isn’t that something? I bet they are poisonous or something.” Dominick said as he grabbed his contacts and opened the container. As the lid opened steam or mist of some kind escaped the container and the two contact lenses simply lay side-by-side. “Well, here goes nothing” Dominick looked up toward the sky and lifted his top eyelid up and began to put the lenses in. He didn’t notice anything different but decided to continue and then play skeptic. He repeated the process of putting in the other contact and then blinked rapidly until he felt comfortable with them in. As soon as he felt they were in right his eyelids snapped shut. He screamed and reached for his eyes, but they wouldn’t open. They were sealed shut. Before he could say a word of warning he was met with a matching scream out of Rodney from the same effect.
“Dude, I can’t see. I don’t like this at all anymore. Why can’t my eyes open? It’s like they are sealed shut.” Rodney was standing with his hands to his face trying to pry his eyes open. If he could see, he would have seen Dominick doing the same thing. But instead all he could do is hear his friend grunting as friend was trying the same thing.
A striking pain shot through their bodies and they were both sent to the ground. After hitting the ground their bodies began to shake like they were having seizures. After the shaking stopped they fumbled to get into a sitting position.
“Dominick. Let’s try to stay. Listen to my voice, follow it and try to grab my hand.” Rodney reached out his hand. He began to recite random baseball facts in order to be able to speak so Dominick could find him.
It took about five minutes for Dominick to pinpoint Rodney’s hand. To Dominick, it was five minutes too long. After getting a hold of each other Rodney was still jabbering on about which player holds the record for the most consecutive games with a sacrifice bunt.
“Alright dude, shut up now. There is no one here and I don’t care. So please. Let’s just stand up and try to figure out what to do.” Dominick took the lead and used Rodney as a support to stand and then helped him to his feet as well. “You know, I don’t get it. I thought the note said you see, but here I am with my eyes sealed shut. I think that guy works for the mean ‘I want to kill you’ guy. How are we going to do anything like this?”
Immediately after Dominick finished talking they felt a pressure on their eyes go away. They both reluctantly opened their eyes and by habit blink a whole bunch of times to help their eyes adjust. When their eyes were focused they were met with an overwhelming surprise. They both looked at each other and spoke in unison.
“Whoa, that’s legit.”
Part 7
Both men looked around the new environment that surrounded them. At first glance it didn’t seem very different from before, like when you put on sunglasses outside. But after more watching they realized that they were in the same place as before, but it was very different, very different indeed.
The sunglasses effect had put a darker tint to the world they looked upon. As Rodney and Dominick looked around they also noticed many things that were not around when they jumped off the train. Before it was barren, almost desert like, but now there were trees of all sizes around them. Just inside the tree line it was clearly visible that buildings were lined up as if they were on the side of a street. As they both spun around they were greeted with the sight of even more plant life and even some people. Rodney and Dominick saw a group of what they hoped were humans walking along a path that weaved between giant patches of colorful flowers. Both men jumped at the sound of a voice behind them.
“Mr. Wyatt and Mr. Nolan, Very glad to see you made it this far.” As Rodney and Dominick turned they expected to see the man who they met on the train but it was not the same man, and their faces showed their disappointment. “I can see you’re disappointed that I am not the man you met on the train. Well I can assure you that you will meet with him later. There is just a little more that has to be done on your part.” As he spoke, the man reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out an envelope.
“Let me guess, all we need to do is follow the directions in the envelope right?” Dominick spoke up before the man could say anything. “Is this envelope going seal our eyes shut too?”
“No Mr. Nolan, that was only that first envelope. Your eyes will never be sealed shut again, at least not by us. This next one though, I hope you don’t mind a nice haircut.” The man chuckled and winked at them. “Don’t worry Mr. Nolan, bodily harm will no longer come directly from the envelope. But I can’t guarantee that about the other elements of this job.” He handed them the envelope and began to walk away.
“Wait, what do you mean job? We never applied for anything. Why can’t any of you guys give more elaborate instructions for anything?” Rodney began his ramble of questions as he spoke quickly.
“Good day gentlemen.” The man waved his hand over his shoulder as he walked away. “And good luck.” With that, the man stopped walking and squatted a little bit and then jumped up into the air and began to fly away.
“Are you kidding me? First that guy on the train disappeared or teleported or whatever, and now this guy can fly? I’m pretty sure we are both still knocked out and in that warehouse, because we have to be dreaming. This is insane” Rodney was speaking very quickly now as it was clear he was freaked out. One look over at his friend showed that Dominick did not share his worry.
“How’d he do that? I want to be able to do that.” Dominick said as he was squatting and jumping trying to get airborne like the man had just done.
“Dude seriously? Dominick come on you look ridiculous. You can’t fly or teleport or whatever other super powers you can think of.” Rodney said as he picked up the envelope.
“But what if we could? Like what if we came out of this with legit super powers? That would be the most legit of all legit things.” Dominick stopped his flying attempts and followed his friend.
Rodney opened the envelope and the contents spilled into his hand. Similar to the first envelope, this one had three things: one object for each of them and something with directions on it. The envelope contained two black cards and another sticky note. The note once again had very peculiar instructions, ’15 paces left from the far left flowers and look down’. Rodney read the out loud.
“Sounds like a treasure hunt to me” Dominick said as he grabbed one of the black cards. “And these remind me of those cards that VIPs get at casinos that have tons of money on them.” He placed it in his pocket and started to walk over to the flowers along the path.
They followed the directions and walked to the farthest left flowers they could find. Then Rodney walked the 15 paces but couldn’t see anything when he looked down. He decided to that Dominick should walk the 15 too and if they didn’t match up, then they would look in the middle of where each stood.
Dominick ended up about a foot short of where Rodney stood. Between them they could see an off green patch of grass that didn’t match up with the rest of the nicely managed lawn. Dominick reached down and tried to pull the piece up. It came out very easily and uncovered a small hole in the ground. He looked up at Rodney and shrugged his shoulders then reached inside.
“I got something. It feels like a piece of paper.” Dominick said as he reached into the hole. He pulled it out it was indeed a piece of paper but it was folded up into a little square. Dominick unfolded the paper and when he saw what the piece of paper really was his face lit up. “Oh snap! I was right it is a treasure hunt!”
