Chapter Twenty-One: Strange Activity

Krystal and Tedford leave the hospital arm in arm, and take a cab back to his apartment. As they slow down and approach a red light, Krystal glances out the window and catches a glimpse of a man on the sidewalk that looks an awful lot like the man Tanagua in her dream. As the light turns green and they speed off, Krystal looks behind her to see if the man is still there. Krystal didn't notice, but Tedford, likewise, is looking over his shoulder on this short trip across town, and doesn't quite seem at ease as they talk. His responses to her questions are somewhat terse, but Krystal can't quite pinpoint what has changed about him.

"I'm gonna go see a guy about some money he owes me," Tedford says as they walk into the apartment, "while you shower and get ready." "Ready for what, exactly?" Krystal asks, quizzically. "Roadtrip, back to Reno. I'll explain when I get back." With that, Tedford rushed out the front door, locking it behind him, and leaving Krystal standing there, a little bewildered.

Tedford knocked softly on the back door two times, then a pause, then two more times, and the door opened a crack. A familiar voice said, "C'mon," and T-Bone entered and the door shut. T-Bone's eyes quickly adjusted to the low light and smoky backroom of the run-down lounge that used to be quite the spot, back in the days of a better economy. "Tony, my brutha - long time, no see..." he said. "T-Bone," came the voice, "I wasn't expecting you so soon." T-Bone could see Tony clearly now, sitting against the wall in the corner behind the pool tables, a cigarette in his hand, and his greasy friend Will standing beside him looking out-of-place with his black Oakland Raiders beanie pulled low over his head.

"I'm here to collect, Tony," said T-Bone, all business now.

"I don't have it yet... least not all of it" was Tony's hushed reply. Will was still and eerily silent, just standing there with his bandaged feet barely visible in the low light - watching, just watching T-Bone's every movement and gesture.

"Man," T-Bone looked at Tony, "why you run wit dis guy?" nodding at Will. "T-Bone, my brutha, don't mess with Will." Silence.

"Whatever, Cuz," T-Bone chuckled, a few seconds later, "whatever you say, man."

"Look," Tony continued, "I can't get you everything yet, but I can give you a car that, umm, recently, how shall I say - 'fell into my possession', you know what I'm saying..."

"Good," pondered T-Bone, "but I need more than that." Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wad of bills, and peeled off $1,000 in hundreds, and placed them folded, along with a car key, into T-Bone's hand and closed his fingers around them for him.

"That enough?" Tony said, and T-Bone nodded, shoving the money into his pants. "I'll catch you later," Tedford said, as he left, feeling Will's stare as he walked out the door.

-----

When he returned to his crib a few minutes later, Krystal looked and felt 200% better, being freshly showered and sporting some new clothes she found in the closet. "You need a bigger bathroom, you know! And why Reno?" were the first two things out of her mouth.

"Don't worry, we're not taking the bus, I'm gonna drive," was his response. "But you still haven't answered my question - why Reno? We just left there!" she pressed.

"I know some people there. My cousin plays football for UNR, in fact. I got a call from this guy I know, and I need to help him out, that's all. Besides, I love the small town feel of it - you can get anywhere in town in 20 minutes, d'you know that?"

"Nah," she didn't.

"Besides, it'll be safer for you - they don't have bicycle couriers there."

"Let's go, then!" she said with a smile.

-----

Tedford locked up the apartment and they went out the back, down the stairs, and climbed into the car and drove away, lights off, even though it was dusk now. "We'll get something to eat on the way," he said, as Krystal scanned through the radio presets, found a song she liked, and cranked the volume up a little too loud. She noticed that the sound system in this car wasn't what she'd expect T-Bone to have, considering what she'd seen in his apartment, so she asked, matter-of-factly, "This your ride?"

"Nope, just borrowing it from a friend. Mine's in the shop." Krystal shrugged her shoulders and went back to singing along with the music. After grabbing some Taco Bell a few hours later, Tedford drove all night with Krystal curled up beside him on the seat, her head resting on his jacket beside him, the heat on slightly to keep her from getting a chill from the drafty passenger side window that wouldn't shut quite right.

-----

It was early Saturday morning now when Tedford and Krystal pulled into town, coming off I-80 at the Virginia St exit and taking it slowly south. As they crossed the railroad tracks, she sleepily rubbed her eyes and yawned. As they drove under the world-famous Reno Arch, T-Bone noticed that some guy with a cell phone in his hand had rather suspiciously walked right up to the Arch and stuck a little black box or something right to it, then continued walking north quickly, looking behind him nervously as he cut across the street and dissappeared behind Fitzgerald's.

As they cruised down the street, Tedford and Krystal each noticed different things: Krystal noticed mostly shop signs and interesting buildings, while Tedford seemed to pick out mostly people and out-of-place behavior. For instance, as they drove past the Pioneer Center, Krystal was commenting on the golden dome roof of the building, while Tedford noticed the vagrant with the shopping cart walking down the sidewalk. A block further, and Krystal had noticed a small park with a statue of a goat with odd objects on it's back, while Tedford noticed a girl in front of a wedding chapel glancing at a Palm Pilot, then suspiciously kneeling down and lifting up the base of a parking meter, apparently looking for something. T-Bone drove over a couple of streets and came back up north on Arlington past Wingfield Park. As he did, Krystal noticed an outdoor concert shell next to a line of portable pink and blue outhouses, while Tedford eyed a guy with a dog that had just picked up something from behind a large boulder behind the wall. As he turned left on 2nd St, and drove toward the Truckee River Lodge, Krystal noticed a large artistic metal sculpture in a park, while T-Bone noticed the abundance of homeless people laying on the ground and someone hesitantly squatting next to a green park bench and retrieving something from underneath the black light pole beside it.

Each of them, they thought to themselves, were seeing new things here, even though they had both been through here before. Tedford, for his part, felt that something really bizarre was going down here, and he didn't like it.

He pulled into a gas station to fill up the car, and Krystal walked into the quickie mart and grabbed a few snacks, "just in case," she said, smiling. She didn't know what Tedford's plans were, but she was absolutely loving this new-found sense of freedom and carefree adventure. She didn't have to answer to anyone, and each day was a brand-new experience. While Tedford was replacing the gas cap on the car, Krystal threw a handful of Twinkies, Ho-Ho's, and Red Vines into the back seat as she jumped back into the car. As Tedford got back in and started up the ignition, she asked him if he wanted any, glancing back at the loot. Something caught her eye that she hadn't seen earlier, and she stretched over the seat, grabbed it, and brought it up front.

"Well, THESE are interesting!" she laughed, Tedford looking over to see her holding up a bright yellow pair of Spongebob Squarepants boxers.

-----

Krystal reflected on her friend's wedding a few days earlier, just a few short blocks away from where she was now standing, and felt it ironic that she was back in town already. She had gone to Reno, after all, to escape parts of her life, after all, and now some cosmic aligning of the stars or something had brought her back here again. Krystal's friends, of course, were already gone, undoubtedly making their way across all lower 48 states, carelessly eloping, their parents oblivious to their whereabouts, and undoubtedly worried sick. This caused Krystal to reflect upon her own parents for a split second, but she painfully pushed the memory aside, and turned the radio up.

Tedford drove back to the Cal-Neva where he parked the car and they both went in and ate some 99¢ ham and eggs for breakfast, along with a strong black coffee for Tedford, and a glass of orange juice for Krystal. They talked about Reno while they ate, Tedford explaining that he felt at home in Reno. It has a small town feel, but at the same time it's big enough to feel safe - to keep a low profile, "if you know what I'm saying...".