Jules Hinton's Strange Trip: Chapter 5 by JCH and Kas  

        They agreed on one last trip to the Horny Toad.  Jules had put his sunglasses on.  The lights of the passing cars were making the pain worse.  After lying in the room for a few hours, he had realized the headache wasn’t going to go away.  So he chose to ignore it.  But that wasn’t working too well right now.  Nikki absently rubbed his leg.  It had been his idea to take a cab.  He would start that long ride soon enough.  Might as well postpone it as long as possible.
         “Didn’t think there was much of a music scene around here,” the driver said.  They were swinging down past a strip of fast-food restaurants.
          Jules just nodded and shifted his guitar case where it rested on his side next to the door.  A group of low-rider trucks passed with the box speakers in the bed thumping out a beat.  No music; just the bass.  It always made Jules feel funny.  Young egos, a sub-culture of youth identifying with what it thought was cool, changing literally every decade.  How soon before daily life would start to resemble a National Geographic special--riding past a painted ‘savage,' or something?  Was the gap widening?  Kids he saw in the mall unquestioningly adopting the newest forms of body adornments, speaking their own language.  Creating smaller and smaller groups within groups.  Maybe a pressure of too many eyes and minds forcing them to stand out or be swept under--gives themselves something to latch onto to try to keep their own identities.  But they seem to be choosing conformity instead of difference--just following another kind of pattern.  Jules wasn’t sure how he felt about that.  It wasn’t really as though it irritated him.  Not really.  Or not anymore.  He was coming closer to accepting that that was the way things would always be with people, that these things would never change.  It was part of the human experience.
         “Are you going to sing any of your own songs tonight?” Nikki asked, picking at a fingernail.  She seemed to have a nervous habit of doing that.  Not biting them like some people.
         “Well, like I said, I’ve written a lot of different things.  Music and lyrics, mostly, but I really don’t sing much.  I don’t have the voice for it.  And I don’t know if a Texas crowd is the best place to debut any of them.   But if you’d like to get up there, I'm sure I could arrange it.”
         She smiled back, wrinkling her nose.  “Not in this life.”
         Jules smiled.  He thought back to last night.  It had been less than twenty four hours since he had seen her enter the club.  But he already felt more than comfortable around her.
         The cab pulled up at the club.  Jules could see the manager and two of the band members standing outside, smoking and looking toward the cab.  One of them grinned, crushed his cigarette under a heel and walked over to hold the door open for him as he clambered out of the cab.
         “You look like shit, man.  You sure you want to play?”
         Jules ran a hand through his hair and unconsciously readjusted the ponytail.  “As long as you guys understand that we’re going to have to stick to some mellow Buffet tunes tonight.  Maybe we can branch out with a few James Taylor songs later.  But with this headache, my head might explode if we try any of the stuff we did last night.”  A couple of them snickered, but the manager was eyeing him with a gauging look.
         “It’s okay,” Nikki cut in, seeing the subtle exchange.  “He’s not mixing the liquor and pills anymore.”  The manager nodded to her as he stepped aside to let a group of college girls go in.
         “Hey, half of the people here tonight will be watching to see if it happens again,” the man said with feigned seriousness.
         “I might have to fake some dizziness or something.  Have to please the crowd, you know.” Jules opened the door and slipped in before the man could continue the joke any further.  Nikki grabbed one end of the guitar case and helped him lift it over one of the waitresses as she picked up the broken pieces of a glass on the floor as they stepped around her.
         The drummer was already sitting behind his kit, reading a thick book, and glancing up every few minutes to stare at a pair of girls sitting across the room.  Jules propped his case against one of the amplifiers and walked over with Nikki to the bar to wait.
         “So, this is the life, right?” she asked, sitting up on one of the bar stools.  Jules dropped the edge of his sunglasses down a little to glance at her.  She went on, “Going town to town, night after night, never staying in the same place more than a few days.  Somehow it’s not exactly what I thought it would be.  In the movies, you never see the main characters having to make an emergency stop in one of the bathrooms because of some god-awful fast-food they got somewhere.”
         He chuckled.  “I haven’t thought about it like that.”  He took his hair out of the ponytail and shook it free.  “You know, Nikki, you can be really weird sometimes.”  He tried to keep a straight face when he said it.
         “You’ve got to remember that I’m a stranger.  But with the places that I’ve been... it’s weird sometimes traveling around.  Like the ‘stare’ thing we were talking about.  You start seeing all of those little things that people do and take for granted.  Things that most people would never notice.”
         “Kind of like the drummer over there glancing up every few minutes to let those girls know that he knows they’re there.  Does he really think that if he does it enough, they’ll start reacting to it.  Stare back or something.  Or motion him over.”  Just as Jules said it, the drummer stood up and walked over to the girl’s table.  He said something to them and they laughed, though from this distance, Jules couldn’t tell if they were laughing at him or with him.  "Of course, maybe I'm wrong."
         The bartender drifted over, a man in his early thirties with a goatee sans mustache.
         “What can I get for ‘ya tonight?”
         “Uhm... Coke or Pepsi.” Jules scratched his chin.  If they were going to be leaving tonight, he’d need to start on the caffeine now.  But what he really wanted was another couple of Tom Collins.  “Be right back.  Got to go to the little boy’s room.”
         Ed was walking in as Jules was getting up.
         “Hey, stranger.  Something told me you’d be here tonight.  Are you playing with us again?”
         “Sure.  I even brought my acoustic.  Just in case, you know.”
         Ed looked over at the bar and saw Nikki sitting there.  “Still with her, huh?”
         “Yeah.”  He nodded slowly, unsure where Ed was going with this.
         “She’s a real looker; that’s for sure.  But I’d watch out if I were you.”
         “Watch out?  What do you mean?”  Jules looked at Nikki.  She stuck her tongue out at him and then grinned innocently.
         Just then, the manager came up and pulled Ed away.  Something about wanting him to meet someone or something.  Jules headed for the back, glancing at the photos hanging on the walls in the back hall.  He recognized one man clearly in a picture with Ed and the manager as being Stevie Ray Vaughn, a picture taken not long before his death, Jules guessed.  Another picture was of Ed and the band standing with Lyle Lovette.
         Wood paneling everywhere.  This was a nice place.  Cozy.  Laid back.  Probably never got robbed.  The bathroom was empty.  Graffiti here too, he thought.  Just once he would like to walk in on whoever it was that wrote on public bathroom walls.  Just to see the expression on their face.  He’d probably make some kind of smart comment.  Something like, “Yeah, that’s original.”  He chose a stall and hooked the door closed.  He could hear the outer door open, and then used the toe of his shoe to flush the toilet so he would not have to touch the handle with his hand.  He didn’t really have to go that badly, but his head was killing him.  And he didn’t want Nikki or anyone out in the bar to see him taking anything that even looked remotely like a pill.  Even if it was just aspirin.
         The sound of the toilet died and he could hear the man in the next stall grunting as he--Jules guessed--sat down on the toilet.  Jules booted the handle again to cover the sound of him tearing open a gel-tab and swallowing it.

        There was a guy talking to Nikki at the bar, when Jules came out into the main room.  He decided to ignore the situation for the moment and turned to step up to the stage and talk to the band members gathering there about what songs they were going to do that night.  When he glanced back to the bar Nikki was pointing at him and he nodded to her.  The man that was sitting next to her affected a half-embarrassed smile and took a long sip from his drink.
         The gel-tab was doing its job.  The first few songs were enough to get the crowd’s attention, but then the music slowed as more and more people were getting their food, concentrating on eating and talking.  During the band’s break, Jules joined Nikki at a booth she had taken against one of the walls.  The man was still there talking to her.  He had been shooting Jules challenging glances every once in a while during the first few songs.  Looked like one of the suits from the Walk-A-Mart.  Probably a manager somewhere.  Wowing her with tales of backroom antics or sales commission figures.  Too straight, Jules thought, but not bad looking.  Probably married.  Jules felt a slight pang of jealousy again, but something as well.  Amusement.  Both at himself and the situation.
         Nikki looked up and got out to let him slide in against the wall.  Where he could see everything and would not have to be directly facing the guy.
         “How’s the headache?” she asked, taking a sip of her drink.  The man across from her was looking out into the room, everywhere except toward Nikki or Jules.
         “It’s nothing now.”
         “If you want to leave,” she said, looking in his direction.  The man tried to glance back toward him, casually, Jules thought.  But he looked frustrated at not being able to lock onto Jules’ eyes behind the glasses.  Probably non-pulsed that Nikki hadn’t even bothered to make an introduction when Jules had rejoined with them.
         “Well, if we’re going to leave tonight,” he said, “we should probably split in a little while.  The air’s not likely to be too cool on the bike tonight.”
         “Mike here told me I could stay with him if I wanted to,” she said, glancing at Jules.  The guy took another sip from his drink.  Nervously.
 Jules took off his glasses and carefully folded them before placing them in the pocket of his flannel shirt.  There had been an ever so subtle wink in her eye.  He folded his arms across his chest and looked at the stranger who did not return his glare.
         “I told him I’d have to think about it first.  And... well, I didn’t tell him about the other stuff.  The... uh, you know, weird stuff.”
         “What?  The snakes?  Well, he can do it if he wants, but if he gets bitten, it’s not going to be my fault.  I’m not going through that again.”  Jules rolled his eyes and the man shot him a strange look.
         Nikki reached over and patted his hand.  “It’s okay, Mike, we’ve got a snake-bite kit.  Don’t we, Jules?  I can't remember.”
         “I thought we used it all on that last guy.  Even if we do, you still have to be very careful.”  He emphasized that last part.
         “Very funny,” the man finally said, giving both of them a frown.  That pained look had crept back across his face.
         “Yeah, they’re kind of slippery with all of that oil all over them,” Jules went on, trying very hard not laugh.  The man shifted uncomfortably.
         “Okay...uh, you know what?  I’ll be right back.  I, uh... I have to use the bathroom.”  He took his drink with him.
         “And that’s not even the really weird stuff, buddy,” Jules yelled after him.  A couple of guys at a nearby table turned around to look at him.
         “Jerk,” Nikki muttered once he was out of earshot.  She slid out and took the seat he had just vacated across from Jules.  She took Jules by the hand.  “You weren’t really jealous were you?  I saw you looking from the stage, but it’s kind of hard reading your face while you’re wearing those glasses.”
         “Me?  Jealous?  Of a stranger?”  Jules wasn’t sure if he was referring to Nikki or the guy that had tried to latch onto her.  But he was trying to put the situation out of his mind for the moment.  Nikki just smiled at him and sipped her drink.  She told him that his music had sounded good and that he looked a lot better.  Jules let the comments slip by.  He had always hated semi-awkward moments like this.  If she had just told the guy from the start and cut through having to go through making they guy feel uncomfortable enough to leave on his own.  That women were sometimes hard to understand was an understatement.
        He felt a sudden rush of adrenaline... remembering... thinking about what might be wrong with him if... try not to think about it right now.  Anyway, he told himself, he shouldn’t be thinking about her like that.  Like they were more than just casual acquaintances.  Weird luck had thrown them together.  Weird luck might make their trip a little more interesting on the way home.  There.  He had said it.  Home.  He might be taking Nikki with him to North Carolina.  But he was sure that she knew as well as he did that he was going home.

         Ed caught them as they were about to walk out.
         "Leaving already?"
         “Yeah.  We’re going to head east  we thought we'd leave tonight while it won't be so damn hot out.”
         “Do you think you’re up to it?  You had some night last night.”
         “I’ll be fine.  I’ve already braved the Walk-A-Mart and the Griddle House today.  I figure if I can handle both of those, I can handle a few hundred miles on this thing.”  He patted the seat of the bike.
         “I hate to see you go.  We need a full time rhythm guitarist, you know.  I was even going to promise no more Creedence Clearwater.”  Ed’s pager went off and he looked at it quickly.  “Damn.  That’s the wife.  Probably wants to make sure I'm keeping my hands to myself.  She doesn't trust me for some reason.  Jules, it was good to meet you, good jamming with you last night.  If you’re ever in the area, give me a ring.  We’ll do it again.”
         “Will do, Ed,” he said, as they shook hands.  Then, he and Nikki walked out of the club to where the cab was already waiting.

         The cab sped off.  Nikki had said something about putting on something warmer than the jeans and tank top she was wearing.  Jules went to check his bike.  The stars were bright again.  He would probably be spending the next couple of hours trying to snatch a glance at them while they rode along, until his thoughts slipped into the meditative trance of riding...  And, of course, he guessed that Nikki would have her arms around him.  Something else to occupy his thoughts.
         Something was wrong.  He crouched to peer at his tires.  Slashed.  Both of them.
         “Shit!”  And someone had yanked a couple of the wires.  “Great.  Just fucking great!  I can’t fucking believe this.”  Jules managed to compose himself.  No need to attract any unwanted attention.  More money spent.  Great.  He didn’t doubt that there was a cycle shop somewhere in the vicinity that would have the tires.  It was the delay.  And from the look of it, whoever had done the damage had known just what to do to disable a bike.
         He took a closer look.  It was more than just cut wires.  It looked like some of the parts had been taken, but he didn’t know enough about the mechanics of motorcycles to say what.  Just that it would take quite some time to get the thing fixed.  Too long.  But that was an odd thought.  Why the rush?  Besides his health problems--whatever they may be--why the urgency?  Something in him just wanted to leave.  Leave stupidity like this behind.  Get back home where, sure, everything may be boring, but at least he knew what to expect.  He glared around the parking lot for a few minutes longer, and then up at the windows of the hotel, as if the culprit or culprits would suddenly appear asking for his forgiveness.
         His thoughts went to the rednecks from earlier that day.  Could they have seen him leave and decided to do this out of spite?  He tried to remember if they had been here after he saw them the first time.  Fuming, he stalked off to the office to tell someone--anyone--about the incident.  Probably have to talk to some local police officer, the attendant told him.
         Nikki was silently shocked when he finally got back to the room, sitting indian-style on the end of the bed, dressed and ready to go.  She said didn’t think the police could help any.  “Half of them don’t know what they’re doing.  And the other half don’t care.  You might as well just mark this one down to shitty luck.”
         He sat down heavily in the single chair in the room.  “Hmph, I guess it would be better just to rent a truck and haul the thing back.  It would certainly be better since we’re both going.  Better than sitting in the seat all that way.  If you’re not used to it, just riding by yourself that distance can get real old real fast.”
         Nikki grinned.
         “Always on the upbeat, eh?  That’s fine with me.  I guess it would be a lot drier than trying to make it all of the way East on the bike.”
         Jules rubbed his hands together, thinking.
         “Probably a pickup truck would be best if we can find one tomorrow morning.  The tough thing will be trying to roll the bike onto the back with those flat tires.”
         “What about that fix-a-flat stuff?  Walk-A-Mart might have...” she began.
         “No, the tires are slashed; it wouldn’t help.  And there’s a lot more damage than just the tires.”
         “What about calling the guys from the club?  Maybe they’d have some ideas.”
         “Yeah, I’m sure we could roll it up a ramp with enough people to help.  Or maybe I should just trade it in for something that actually runs?  I’d hate to leave it behind, but that would solve several problems.”
         “This the first time someone has done something to your bike?” she asked.
         “No.  Not too long ago someone wrote all over it with dark lipstick...”
         Nikki started laughing.
         “All over it...,” Jules went on faking a serious look.
 

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