Page 76 of Baiting Kong

“Hey,” he said. “You got a minute?”

Blinking, Axel took a half-step back out of pure reflex as he took in his father’s appearance, shocked to see that his clothes were clean and he’d actually shaved and gotten a haircut. What completely blew him away was his father’s eyes, not bloodshot and dark, but bright and alive the way they’d been when Axel was a kid.

A glance at his phone showed that Axel still had ten minutes left in his break, so he nodded and leaned against the side of the building. “You look good,” Axel told him.

“I’m trying,” his father replied. “But it hasn’t been easy. You look like you’re doing okay.”

“Because I am.”

“Can you tell your friend for me that I said thank you?”

Scowling, Axel stood there gaping at him, completely confused.

“Big guy,” his father said. “The one who damn near tore the door off the trailer the night he came and got you.”

“Carl,” Axel said. “What am I thanking him for?”

“Sending a few old friends my way to shake some sense into me and get me headed in the right direction,” his father said. “I needed a wake-up call, not only for me but to see what I was doing to you. I fucked up big time. Bigger than words can ever make up for. It’s gonna take me some time and a hell of a lot more AA meetings than the ones I’ve attended before I’m in a place where I can try to repair our relationship. I just want you to know that I’m going to get there, and I’m sorry. You deserved so much better than I gave you these past few years.”

Stunned, he could only stand there as his old man started to turn away. Seeing him about to leave snapped Axel out of the shock his words had brought.

“Dad,” Axel screeched, hurling himself into his father’s arms when he turned around and hugging him tight. “I’ve missed you. This you. I hope you keep with the AA meetings. You were an awesome dad before you started caring about the booze more than you did me.”

His father gasped but didn’t try to deny it. He just squeezed Axel back and hung on tight, not letting go until he started to.

“I’ll tell Carl you said thanks,” Axel told him.

“And I’ll keep doing my best to be the man you remember me as,” his father said, before heading off down the street.

Axel owed Carl a few words of thanks of his own, ‘cause he’d never thought he’d see his old man walking in a straight, sober line past the package store before he headed into the hardware shop. Was he actually fixing up the trailer? It had needed it for years. Despite Axel’s best efforts, he’d never been the handyman his father was before he replaced hammers with bottles and stopped reaching for anything else.

Between Scout’s message and the visit from his Dad, Axel headed back inside to finish his shift with a grin on his face and a bit of a bounce to his step. Since it was a slow afternoon that grew even slower by the time it started to get dark, Axel spent the rest of his shift stocking, managing to refill all the shelves and one of the coolers too. As he’d taken to doing since the robbery, Mr. Martinez closed with him, double-checking the locks and the new security system he’d reluctantly put in. Axel knew it pained him to record friends and neighbors as they passed through the store, but once he’d taken the time to weigh it against the safety of his wife and employees, he’d decided to place a rather prominent sticker on the front window to warn people that they were being recorded.

“This way, if they are thinking about shoplifting, maybe they will think twice and just come to us and let us start them a tab so they can get what they need.

That was the kind of people they were. In the time Axel had worked there, he’d never seen them let someone leave without a necessity. He’d stopped counting how many times someone had arrived at the counter a few cents or several dollars short. Each time they’d started to put something like milk, eggs, diapers, and even formula back, Mr. or Mrs. Martinez had refused to allow it. He’d also seen them refuse to accept money for the goods several days to a week later, when the person returned and tried to give them what they felt they owed. Instead, they always urged them to use the money for the things they needed for themselves and their children. They cared about the community and, in many ways, had become the heart of it.

After the robbery, people had dropped in out of pure concern. One had even given them a Rottweiler pup that kept Mr. Martinez company in the office each day. The man had explained about the pup’s parents being the best watchdogs the man had ever trained, but Axel knew Mr. and Mrs. Martinezsaw him only as a treasured companion. They’d never put him in harm’s way. Axel had been in the back one afternoon, loading boxes on the dolly, only to spot Mrs. Martinez sitting in the office chair with Ralphie the Rottweiler pup in her arms as she rocked him like he was a baby, the pup’s big paws waving happily at her.

He’d never have much in his savings account working there, but he loved it just the same and couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.

“All good for the night,” Mr. Martinez declared. “I saw your friend pull around back. I’ll let you out before the missus and I head upstairs for the night.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it.”

Carl had In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida playing low through the Bluetooth speaker as he straddled his bike, waiting for Axel.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” Axel said as he slid on behind him.

“Was on my way,” he said. “Just finished closing for the night myself.”

“Why so late?”

“Someone fucked around and messed up an important order so badly it’s got me second-guessing my directive to Scout that he not show up at the shop until next week,” he replied. “Might be okay for him to pop in after his beach time with Mark as long as he keeps his ass in the office. Would save me from having to choke the life out of someone.”

“Oh shit, that’s bad.”

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