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“Why?” Ava beamed with excitement. Benjamin laughed out loud.
“Well…apparently, Dances-With-Muscles has turned the basement of the gym in a secret rescue mission for homeless pigeons.”
They both cracked up.
“Pigeons?” Ava blurted.
“Pigeons! There were hundreds of them. It was like that movie you know the one -The Birds.”
“Gosh I love this guy, please don’t fire him,” she begged wiping a tear of joy out of her eye.
“You kidding me? I will promote this guy the way he makes us all laugh… after we are reopening the gym again that is. Right now, we are re-homing the pigeons and cleaning the basement with that biohazard team the city made us hire.”
Benjamin watched Ava throw her head back in loud laughter, her eyes filled with joy, glittering like stars. She was beautiful.
You aren’t slacking off, just enjoying some time with your wife. We would divorce in a few months anyways. So why not…he thought.
Everyone would always remember the day Barney Reds showed up at the Radcliff Mansion. His old lifted truck grumbled loudly, its tires screeching and crunching on the gravel as he drove into the compound, his customized horn blasting the hook from some country music song. He wore large sunglasses which reflected the morning sun.
Ava sat high on the balcony and had a clear view of the man as he drove in. She’d be off to work in about half an hour, much later than normal, but her attention was momentarily pricked by the truck and its loud, eccentric driver. Ava expected cans and bottles of beer to spill out as soon as the loud man stepped out of his truck. He burped and pulled up his pants by the belt, scanning the beautiful environment.
“Where’s my reception?” he grumbled, his crocodile boots making a loud clunk against the paved floor. He wore faded blue jeans and a loose white shirt, ripped at the edges so that his arms were bare. He had a brown moustache that drooped all the way down to his chin.
Lucy came out to meet the man, her expression torn between stilted pleasure and anxiety.
Letting out a long whistle, he exclaimed, “Damn! So, this is the extent of my sister’s luxury. Some place this is.”
Barney was big and muscular, although he was running to fat in certain areas. He looked like he could lift the truck that was now gleaming under the sun. Leaning against the truck, marked with various stripes and emblems, he took out a crumpled pack of cigarettes, picked one out, and stuck it between his lips.
“A lighter… gonna need a lighter,” he mumbled, peeking into his breast pocket and digging his hand into the back of his jeans. “Dammit!” The cigarette bounced between his lips as he mumbled to himself and then, after a few futile seconds, he looked up and saw his sister approaching. He smiled, albeit cautiously. His sister had never invited him to the exotic world that she had married into.
“Lucy!” he greeted her and spat out the cigarette. Lucy followed the movement of his boots and saw the tobacco smear on the pavement. Barney watched her watch him, wondering if she was about to send him away, but she smiled instead and opened her arms.
“It’s been too long, Barney.”
He wrapped his massive arm around her. “That’s on you. You never return my calls, remember?”
She broke the embrace and stepped back, inwardly seething at the faint smell of beer and tobacco that now combined with her elegant perfume.
“I didn’t see you at the funeral.”
Barney shrugged and, out of habit, stuck another cigarette into his mouth before his eyebrows arched and he remembered the lighter dilemma.
“Again, Lucy,” he muttered in a hoarse voice, clearing his throat. “I wasn’t invited. You know me; I’m hardly gonna crash a place when I’m not welcome.”
He ran a finger over his moustache and narrowed his eyes at Lucy. “So, how come I deserve this honor now? Pretty sure I’m still the low-class brother you had all those years ago, the one you were always embarrassed of.”
“Stop it,” Lucy calmly said. He shrugged, gazing steadily at her, and Lucy sighed.
“You’re here now, aren't you? Let’s not dwell on the past.”
“Sure am, sis. Let the past be pa—holy heck! Is that a real Lamborghini like those ones I see on them TV shows?” he moved away from his truck and walked along the driveway closer to the garage where Benjamin’s yellow Lamborghini was parked. “Wow, I gotta say, you are living the life.” He turned to Lucy. “Now don’t tell me you got a fridge full of them imported German beers too.”
Lucy chuckled, already picturing Barney’s encounters with Ava. He’d been here a few minutes and he was already being Barney. He was a loud talker—which always drew the attention of anyone nearby.Ava will be on the receiving end soon enough,Lucy thought with a smirky grin.
“Any chance you got a lighter on you?” he pointed his thumb at the cigarette dangling between his lips.
“I don’t smoke, Barney. You know that.”
