now, Edgar; I’d hate to miss the little fishy and hit you instead.”
Edgar managed a plea. “Please…”
“Shhhhh…I need to concentrate.” He adjusted Edgar’s glasses. “It’s not easy in these ya know.”
The stranger slowly lowered the gun off the wooden bass, pointed it directly at Edgar’s face, smirked, and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked. The stranger frowned and pulled the trigger again. And then again. More empty clicks.
“Well I’ll be a son of…I guess I forgot to load the fucker.”
Edgar found his breath; it whooshed out of every pore in his body.
The stranger took the glasses off and placed them on the countertop. He touched the point of the gun gently to Edgar’s nose. “I forgot to load it. That means you’re either very lucky or I’m very stupid. Which one you think it is, Edgar?”
Edgar felt his bladder fail him. He hardly cared. “I’m very lucky,” he said.
The stranger smiled. “Yeah, I’d say you are as well. After all, you’ve got a brand new Penn State hat now. This weekend is all about being a Penn State fan.” The stranger dug the point of the revolver into Edgar’s nostril. “I’m going to be coming back here in a couple of days, Edgar. I’ll be back and I won’t forget to load it next time. If you’re not wearing your new Penn State hat when I return I’m going to fire a lot of bullets up this wrinkled nose of yours. Sound fair?”
Edgar nodded, the gun barrel digging deeper into his nostril with each nod.
“And you won’t do anything silly like calling the police, will you? Because if you did that, well, jeez…I may just have to come back sooner than later.”
Edgar shook his head.
“Promise?”
Edgar nodded.
The man pulled the gun away and smiled. “Great. This was fun wasn’t it? It’s fun to play games like this don’t you think?”
Edgar looked down at his soiled trousers. The stranger’s eyes followed Edgar’s and spotted the stain.
“Whoopsie,” the stranger said. “I guess accidents like that happen when you get on in years, yeah? Something about the prostate not working the way it used to?” He took hold of Edgar’s neck and pulled him close. “I could check it for you if you like.” He brought the gun over the counter and tapped the barrel against Edgar’s rear. “Might be a little cold going in, but I’m sure we could make it work. What do you say?”
Edgar swallowed dry and his throat seized up on him. He coughed.
The stranger let go of Edgar’s neck. “I’m just kidding, Edgar. I was having some fun again.” The stranger then gave a deep, wet snort, and hocked a thick wad of yellow on the counter. “You won’t forget your promise now, will you, Edgar?”
“No, sir.”
The stranger smiled and dropped his head. He began swirling the wad of phlegm on the countertop with two fingers, seemingly lost in the moment the way an infant might be distracted by a messy toy.
A brief silence passed. Edgar’s pulse was in his ears. The stranger just kept his head down, still swirling two fingers in the slime, still in a daze. And then he looked up and casually wiped the phlegm on the front of Edgar’s nose.
“Some people spit in their hands and shake on a promise,” the stranger said. “I didn’t feel like spitting in my hand. That okay?”
Edgar nodded, the yellow slime hanging from the tip of his nose.
“Good.” He then gestured to Edgar’s nose, the countertop of phlegm, the dark stain on Edgar’s paints. “You might wanna get all that cleaned up before the next customer comes in, Edgar. It’s gross.”
The stranger left, and Edgar collapsed to the floor holding his chest. He wiped his nose then touched the brim of the Penn State cap. He would never take it off again.
15
Back in the Highlander Caleb said, “That old man was weird.”
“You thought so, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought he seemed friendly at first,” Patrick said. “But then he did get kinda weird, didn’t he?”
Caleb nodded.
Patrick glanced over at the bait container on the passenger seat. He grabbed it and raised it into the air so his son could see. “You wanna open it up and take a look?”
Caleb quickly shook his head.
“No?” Patrick smiled.
Caleb shook his head again.
“No creepy, crawly critters for Caleb?”
The boy smiled, but the answer was still an emphatic no.
Patrick smirked and set the container back down. “Okay…but we’re gonna have to look some time, brother-man.”
16
Two wooden docks bordered Crescent Lake, each one extending close to twenty