The Potential of Zeroes by Eric Mattys

Author:Eric Mattys
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2018-05-29T13:41:38+00:00

19

MacDonald’s Slide

Twenty blocks away, a man in a light blue suit steps out of his light blue Grand Royal Cadillac. The suit, pristine and wrinkle-free, has a tag on the inside which reads, “100% Polyester.” A thin gold chain rests atop the light blue suit. He hates the Bee-Gees, but knows his look fits their music. Disco is garbage, but the suit, not at all. Can’t take it back either. He bites his upper and lower lips at the same time, pulling his skin tighter around his face which, under the right circumstances, could itself become a weapon. He lost most of the hair on his head in his late twenties. So why bother with any at all. Every third day, he shaves it. He walks into a building with a dingy sign over it that reads, “Dom’s Flower Shop.” What a shithole. Hardly any flowers and the ones here are dying. A short man wearing a tight pink, red, and yellow flower print shirt with slicked, black hair and a thin line of a mustache stands behind the cash register counter. A small nametag on his shirt reads “Alonzo”.

The man in the light blue suit walks up to Alonzo, glances over his shoulder, and asks, “You got the plants?”

Alonzo gives an artificial smile touched with the fake politeness that comes with working a service job for too long. “Why yes. We have all sorts of plants.”

“I’m here to pick up a specific kind of plant that you and your boys in the back have been workin’ on.”

“Well, do you know the name of the plant? Because this is a flower shop. We have a lot of different plants here.” Alonzo’s fake smile stinks almost to the point of disrespect.

The man in the light blue suit bites the inside of his lips. “Look. What I know is that my boss sent me here and he told me to ask for the plants and that you would know exactly what I was talkin’ about.”

“Maybe you should go back to your boss,” Alonzo puts up little finger quotes around the word boss, “and ask him what kind of plant it is he wants. Okie-doke?”

The man in the light blue suit speaks as if to a child, smiling to match his fakeness. “Do I look like a guy who buys flowers?” He drops the smile. “Huh? I’m talkin’ about the plants. Maybe you got a separate greenhouse or somethin’ for people like me who don’t get into the intricacies of flowers. I’m lookin’ for plants that do somethin’ more than look pretty. Plants that have a certain medicinal value? Do you understand me now?”

Alonzo’s face morphs into a look of sarcastic concern. “Sir, this is a legal flower shop, not a drug store. If you need drugs, I suggest asking anyone not associated with this very legal business place.”

The man in the light blue suit balls his hands into fists. “No. This is the place. He said you boys had been cookin’ up somethin’ real nice for him.

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