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July 15, 2008
Batesville Installment Ten
Kansas City’s not one of those rough-and-tumble big cities by any means, but those who live here have grown accustomed to screams and gun shots. Sure, they want to help their fellow man and all, but you never know who else is around the corner, or what may fall into your lap. Working downtown, Saul Van Deeten runs into this sort of trouble on occasion, and if he had been smart this time around, he would have kept on walking like he normally does. He would have gotten in his car, driven to his cozy house and checked the news to see if there’d been any mention of it. But for some dumb ass reason, that’s not what he did tonight. No, tonight a shooting victim came stumbling towards him and he stuck around. There Saul was when the silly bastard said the two names that would ruin Saul’s life for the next good long while. He also promised the second name would be worth millions. The cops show up promptly and pull Saul back and check his ID. He already know what the cop’s going to say before the officer turns back towards him.
The officer clicks the button to turn off his microphone and approaches Saul. “Mister Van Deeten?”
“Call me Saul,” casually says Saul, knowing there’s no point in bravado.
“You have a lot of outstanding parking tickets, sir. Now, we appreciate your helping here, but…” But Saul’s going to jail. He knows, he knows. About a year back, he got laid off from the title insurance company he’d been working for and struck out on his own as a private abstractor. Kansas City’s a tough market for that, and if you’re not hooked up with one of the big companies you really have to hustle to make ends meet. Saul has to hit a lot of the more rural counties to make sure the power stays on, as well as working the downtown courthouse. All of the runners pick up parking tickets like a hooker picks up vaginal warts. And as bad as that analogy was, Saul’s situation with the court’s even worse. Thirty days in lock-up or pony up the money. So, G-Pop? Here comes Saul Van Deeten.
Posted by Schamberger at July 15, 2008 09:32 AM