This is a No-post. I'm putting this here so I can say I posted something for today, without actually having to say anything important.
Just too stressed about the car thing for now, so I will get back to our regularly scheduled story as soon as I can.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
We got a car.
We have a new car.
It's a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, with keyless entry and start, backup cam, touchscreen sound system with bluetooth audio streaming, and calling. It has "bells and whistles" up the wazoo.
But the old adage doesn't hold up in this case: Getting there was NOT half the fun. There was no fun to be had in getting there. The process was about as stressful and irritating as it is possible to be without adding in thumbscrews and pepper spray. I don't want to get into the details, but suffice it to say that I am a cynic about some things, and I think that car dealers are out to get you for everything they can.
And there are little signs you can look for when you know what they are. Verbal cues, kinesthetics such as the way they shake hands, wear-down tactics, ETC. I can't prove any of that though.
We had to wait for a long time on the financing too, both of us getting very hungry and cranky, because we had no idea how long it was going to take.
But worst was the drive home. I can think of nothing more stressful than driving your Brand New Car which has only like 12 miles on it home through heavy traffic, that slows to a crawl at a moments notice, in pouring rain, which has the dual problems of making it incredibly difficult to see, and making road conditions more hazardous. I was constantly worried that I was going to hurt the car in some way, after having just driven it off the lot. So worried in fact that Tori had to take over for me when we were a little over an hour away from home.
I am so exhausted right now that I'm only writing this blog out of the need to maintain the habit. As soon as I'm done I'm going to hydrate, then fall into a deep coma until tomorrow. Guh.
2 more things. I'm trying to decide how to approach a delicate issue. I think we MAY have been the victims of bait-and-switch false advertising, and I THINK I can even prove it, and if this is true we paid about $2000 more than we needed to for this car. HOWEVER... I don't know how to approach the subject without stressing my wife out over it all, this has been a very traumatic experience for her. ALSO I would feel like a bit of an asshole calling someone a liar if it turns out there was a plausible explanation for this all along. I'm thinking about emailing the woman who initially made contact with me to see if we can come to terms with the discrepancy, and maybe understand how it happened, but again, I don't know how they would react in a situation where they are called out on what appears to be a bald faced lie.
Second: I had a cramp in my calf this morning SO PAINFUL it was as hard as a baseball, and would not go away until Tori massaged it. It's better now, but still stiff. Tori thinks it might have been that I was dehydrated, and wearing socks so tight as to cut off circulation. I think that's plausible, but I'm not sure. I'll be checking online for both of these questions to see if I can find answers, but if any of you dear readers has any comment or suggestion, please leave a contribution in the little box.
And thanks for reading.
It's a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, with keyless entry and start, backup cam, touchscreen sound system with bluetooth audio streaming, and calling. It has "bells and whistles" up the wazoo.
But the old adage doesn't hold up in this case: Getting there was NOT half the fun. There was no fun to be had in getting there. The process was about as stressful and irritating as it is possible to be without adding in thumbscrews and pepper spray. I don't want to get into the details, but suffice it to say that I am a cynic about some things, and I think that car dealers are out to get you for everything they can.
And there are little signs you can look for when you know what they are. Verbal cues, kinesthetics such as the way they shake hands, wear-down tactics, ETC. I can't prove any of that though.
We had to wait for a long time on the financing too, both of us getting very hungry and cranky, because we had no idea how long it was going to take.
But worst was the drive home. I can think of nothing more stressful than driving your Brand New Car which has only like 12 miles on it home through heavy traffic, that slows to a crawl at a moments notice, in pouring rain, which has the dual problems of making it incredibly difficult to see, and making road conditions more hazardous. I was constantly worried that I was going to hurt the car in some way, after having just driven it off the lot. So worried in fact that Tori had to take over for me when we were a little over an hour away from home.
I am so exhausted right now that I'm only writing this blog out of the need to maintain the habit. As soon as I'm done I'm going to hydrate, then fall into a deep coma until tomorrow. Guh.
2 more things. I'm trying to decide how to approach a delicate issue. I think we MAY have been the victims of bait-and-switch false advertising, and I THINK I can even prove it, and if this is true we paid about $2000 more than we needed to for this car. HOWEVER... I don't know how to approach the subject without stressing my wife out over it all, this has been a very traumatic experience for her. ALSO I would feel like a bit of an asshole calling someone a liar if it turns out there was a plausible explanation for this all along. I'm thinking about emailing the woman who initially made contact with me to see if we can come to terms with the discrepancy, and maybe understand how it happened, but again, I don't know how they would react in a situation where they are called out on what appears to be a bald faced lie.
Second: I had a cramp in my calf this morning SO PAINFUL it was as hard as a baseball, and would not go away until Tori massaged it. It's better now, but still stiff. Tori thinks it might have been that I was dehydrated, and wearing socks so tight as to cut off circulation. I think that's plausible, but I'm not sure. I'll be checking online for both of these questions to see if I can find answers, but if any of you dear readers has any comment or suggestion, please leave a contribution in the little box.
And thanks for reading.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Magic World (working title): Chapter 9 part 4
More running around! Tomorrow will probably have no story, but I hope to have a post. After all, I'm getting
"A Brand New Car!"
Bonus points if you said that in Rod Roddy's voice in your head.
*********************************
He eased his pace slightly going through the parking lot, watching traffic on the far side, making mental notes, and calculations
'Those sneaky buggers,' he thought grinning. Despite his outward misgivings about botched jobs and gettaways that weren't clean and leisurely, he had to admit that... he was enjoying the challenge. It made him feel alive.
As he approached the street , preparing to turn left, he quipped, "D'you fellows know that there's a roadblock to get onto the freeway?"
The halfling swore loudly and started to reach for his assault rifle on the floor, fighting against the seatbelt straps, but unwilling to take it off yet because of what happaned last time.
The brown haired human asked, "What are we gonna do?" They started to heft their assault rifles. Furiously the halfling tore off his seatbelt in sheer frustration and dove for his assault rifle.
"Oh we're going through that roadblock..." The two humans looked nervously at each other, and Bernard went on, "...but you aren't going to need them guns. But I will need one of those ski masks..."
He glanced in the mirror at their stunned faces, as he accelarated around the left turn onto North 7th street. He was still accelarating when he reached the intersection with Race Street, and controling his speed with minute care, accelerating and braking in turn, steering only ever so slightly, until he passed right through the intersection without being touched, though the cars he missed, and that missed him, screeched to a halt leaning on their horns.
Still he gained more speed. He had to swerve around slow moving traffic as the road went off at about a 30 degree angle to avoid the little park on his right, then merge as the road when north again.
And then he saw the red, blue, and white lights ahead. He gunned it up to the underpass, dodging around the cars waiting there for the light to change, and tapped the button to roll down the driver window.
The police had 4 patrol cars, and 3 SUVs parked at the North Franklin interchange. Bernard made a wide right turn and started up Highway 30 while leaning his ski-masked face out the window, flipping Philly's Finest the bird... all while heading into oncoming traffic.
The officers who stood outside their cars looking for the Escalade and directing traffic looked surprised, and dove for their vehicles, which their partners were already starting up. The sound of sirens blared loudly, and Bernard rolled his window back up, pulling off the mask, while swerving through the oncoming cars. He tossed it back to the red bearded human.
"I think we got their attention, wouldn't you say?"
Their only response was to flinch, moan, and grunt with fear every time he had to dodge a car, sometimes only be inches. He rolled his eyes.
"Amateurs."
********************************* Chapter 9 part 5
"A Brand New Car!"
Bonus points if you said that in Rod Roddy's voice in your head.
*********************************
He eased his pace slightly going through the parking lot, watching traffic on the far side, making mental notes, and calculations
'Those sneaky buggers,' he thought grinning. Despite his outward misgivings about botched jobs and gettaways that weren't clean and leisurely, he had to admit that... he was enjoying the challenge. It made him feel alive.
As he approached the street , preparing to turn left, he quipped, "D'you fellows know that there's a roadblock to get onto the freeway?"
The halfling swore loudly and started to reach for his assault rifle on the floor, fighting against the seatbelt straps, but unwilling to take it off yet because of what happaned last time.
The brown haired human asked, "What are we gonna do?" They started to heft their assault rifles. Furiously the halfling tore off his seatbelt in sheer frustration and dove for his assault rifle.
"Oh we're going through that roadblock..." The two humans looked nervously at each other, and Bernard went on, "...but you aren't going to need them guns. But I will need one of those ski masks..."
He glanced in the mirror at their stunned faces, as he accelarated around the left turn onto North 7th street. He was still accelarating when he reached the intersection with Race Street, and controling his speed with minute care, accelerating and braking in turn, steering only ever so slightly, until he passed right through the intersection without being touched, though the cars he missed, and that missed him, screeched to a halt leaning on their horns.
Still he gained more speed. He had to swerve around slow moving traffic as the road went off at about a 30 degree angle to avoid the little park on his right, then merge as the road when north again.
And then he saw the red, blue, and white lights ahead. He gunned it up to the underpass, dodging around the cars waiting there for the light to change, and tapped the button to roll down the driver window.
The police had 4 patrol cars, and 3 SUVs parked at the North Franklin interchange. Bernard made a wide right turn and started up Highway 30 while leaning his ski-masked face out the window, flipping Philly's Finest the bird... all while heading into oncoming traffic.
The officers who stood outside their cars looking for the Escalade and directing traffic looked surprised, and dove for their vehicles, which their partners were already starting up. The sound of sirens blared loudly, and Bernard rolled his window back up, pulling off the mask, while swerving through the oncoming cars. He tossed it back to the red bearded human.
"I think we got their attention, wouldn't you say?"
Their only response was to flinch, moan, and grunt with fear every time he had to dodge a car, sometimes only be inches. He rolled his eyes.
"Amateurs."
********************************* Chapter 9 part 5
Monday, October 28, 2013
Magic World (working title): Chapter 9 part 3
I'm expecting that the getaway scene is going to take some extra work to finish, but even so, it's going to be quite awesome to work on, as I'm using google maps street view to map out the route of the chase. Feel free to follow along by searching Sovereign Bank, 1101 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, and following the directions in the chase.
I just feel like this adds an extra layer of realism and depth that feels more real than making something up which nobody can figure out. But it will take a bit longer, so in order to keep from completely frying my brain, I'm breaking it into small, bite-sized chunks. Hope you like it!
********************************
He gunned the engine a half a second before the light changed, nearly clipping a red Hundai, and swerved to avoid a bus parked in his lane. As he did so he saw red and blue flashing lights in his peripheral vision coming up Arch Street no more than a block away. Even in just a fraction of a second he could see that cars were starting to pull over to make room.
He pulled around the bus, and juked back into the right lane, and cut speed hard, pulling a right onto a street called Appletree which so narrow it hardly deserved to be called a street. It was clear and open though, and when he got to the end of the brown brick building, he glanced across the parking lot on his right. The police car had already passed, but another zoomed past. It had only blue lights on top, but was otherwise, was unmarked.
He accelerated down the rest of the alley, past several signs that were printed in both English, and Chinese. He reached 10th street, which was a one-way. There were plastic orange and white pylons lined on the street though, and he turned left, toward the oncoming traffic, drawing panicked noises from his passengers. All the traffic though was in the other lane, so they stayed in the left lane - their left - and powered up the street, - right past the cop car coming up the street in the opposite direction
The construction ended only about a hundred feet past the intersection, so Bernard cut to the right across the traffic, right in front of a red Audi, and sped up a narrow parking lot which ended in a very narrow cobble alleyway. He was about to turn left, when he saw a police cruiser parked at the end.
"Ha!" he grunted. "Well done boys." He turned right instead, which took him back to Cherry Street, and turned left, going WITH the one-way this time. When he crossed 9th street there was cruiser coming down the block, which turned onto Cherry just behind him.
Bernard chuckled, and poured on the speed, accelerating past the parking lots, and the large white building on the left. He braked hard just before reaching North 8th St, forcing the police car to either brake to avoid colliding with him. He gunned the engine again, crossing 8th just in time to cross in front of a city bus, which after narrowly avoiding hitting him screeched to a stop, blocking the path of the police cruiser.
He went through the parking lot ahead, as the red bearded human asked, breathless, "How the -HOLY FUCK- did you miss that bus?"
Bernard frowned up into the rear view mirror. "What? Like you don't know your own bus schedule?"
********************************* Chapter 9 part 4
More to come. I haven't even hit the freeway yet. *evil grin*
I just feel like this adds an extra layer of realism and depth that feels more real than making something up which nobody can figure out. But it will take a bit longer, so in order to keep from completely frying my brain, I'm breaking it into small, bite-sized chunks. Hope you like it!
********************************
He gunned the engine a half a second before the light changed, nearly clipping a red Hundai, and swerved to avoid a bus parked in his lane. As he did so he saw red and blue flashing lights in his peripheral vision coming up Arch Street no more than a block away. Even in just a fraction of a second he could see that cars were starting to pull over to make room.
He pulled around the bus, and juked back into the right lane, and cut speed hard, pulling a right onto a street called Appletree which so narrow it hardly deserved to be called a street. It was clear and open though, and when he got to the end of the brown brick building, he glanced across the parking lot on his right. The police car had already passed, but another zoomed past. It had only blue lights on top, but was otherwise, was unmarked.
He accelerated down the rest of the alley, past several signs that were printed in both English, and Chinese. He reached 10th street, which was a one-way. There were plastic orange and white pylons lined on the street though, and he turned left, toward the oncoming traffic, drawing panicked noises from his passengers. All the traffic though was in the other lane, so they stayed in the left lane - their left - and powered up the street, - right past the cop car coming up the street in the opposite direction
The construction ended only about a hundred feet past the intersection, so Bernard cut to the right across the traffic, right in front of a red Audi, and sped up a narrow parking lot which ended in a very narrow cobble alleyway. He was about to turn left, when he saw a police cruiser parked at the end.
"Ha!" he grunted. "Well done boys." He turned right instead, which took him back to Cherry Street, and turned left, going WITH the one-way this time. When he crossed 9th street there was cruiser coming down the block, which turned onto Cherry just behind him.
Bernard chuckled, and poured on the speed, accelerating past the parking lots, and the large white building on the left. He braked hard just before reaching North 8th St, forcing the police car to either brake to avoid colliding with him. He gunned the engine again, crossing 8th just in time to cross in front of a city bus, which after narrowly avoiding hitting him screeched to a stop, blocking the path of the police cruiser.
He went through the parking lot ahead, as the red bearded human asked, breathless, "How the -HOLY FUCK- did you miss that bus?"
Bernard frowned up into the rear view mirror. "What? Like you don't know your own bus schedule?"
********************************* Chapter 9 part 4
More to come. I haven't even hit the freeway yet. *evil grin*
Saturday, October 26, 2013
The lamentation of vehicular acquisitions in post-calamitous happenstance.
Hey guys.
So, since being in the accident I have discovered something important.Buying a car SUCKS. we want to get a new model 2013 or 14, because the previous used cars that we purchased have all had some major flaws. The Jeep had some problems in the rear axle, I wasn't that keen on the Malibu at first, but it grew on me, but now it has the slight disadvantage of being totaled.
I'm in a rental car right now but that's gonna last for so long, so we need a car and we need it yesterday.
But of course, we don't want to let the dealers know this. It's year end close out time, everyone's got a quota to meet, and while the deals are going to be very good, I'm preparing myself to feel like shark bait.
The biggest problem we have to deal with right now, is that we have a very specific and tight budget. My wife, who is both genius and OCD about these things, has been running herself ragged with stress, looking at cars and trying to figure out what we can afford. And you know, planning a wedding was not this stressful. Getting my job was not the stressful. Hell, buying a goddamn house was not stressful.
Of course it moulding be nearly this bad if you weren't such a hurry, and under normal circumstances I'd be extremely excited about this. We would finally afford to get all the things we want a car. Just from a safety standpoint I've been wanting bluetooth for a long time. Preferably with the option to stream music directly from my phone, but at least with an audio jack if nothing else. for too long now I've been having to use headphones to listen to audio books, which isn't really very safe either.
The rental car, a Ford Focus, is this hideous silver color which I just can't stand. in fact most colors seem garish and ghastly to me currently. So that would leave either a neutral beige color, some shade of off-white, or my personal preference, black.
And of course since I live in Iowa, and we have snow here in the winter, and because I commute to work 5 days a week, 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive seem like a pretty good idea too.
And of course I know there are people who get by without this stuff every single day, and if they don't feel like they want them that's fine too, but I would feel safer knowing that I had them, and would take them if I had the choice.
The other big problem is that we keep getting our expectations set really high, only to find out that what we thought was possible actually isn't. we were going to use car buying services through either AT&T or USAA, found out that what they were offering wasn't that great anyway. We also found out that the payout on your insurance is not going to be nearly as much as we thought, though we will get the deductible back and that's kind of nice. But when we started we were using the tools that these services gave us, and they made it seem as though we were going to have a very good monthly payment, well under our expected budget, but then when we started to make adjustments to get closer to what we're finding out we will have available for financing, and then the numbers starting to not look as good anymore.
And is highly demoralizing, because then you have to start thinking about what you'd be willing to give up. And that's like freakin Sophie's Choice, which one of my children has to die?
Okay, yes, I'm being melodramatic. But nonetheless it is stressful.
But anyway, we found a Mitsubishi dealer near Chicago that has what we want at an incredibly low price, and of course it's 3 hours away. But if that's what it takes, we're just going to have to suck it up and do it. its still going to hit our budget pretty hard, but Tori thinks she can make it work. She is an absolute genius I tell you, and if there was any justice in the world the US government hire her to balance a budget and eliminate the national debt.
Anyway ranting complete. now it's time to relieve some stress by gunning down troops with an AK 47... in GTA of course... why, what did you think I meant? Then I need to get to bed.
Tomorrow is going to be a loooong day.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Magic World (working title): Chapter 9 part 2
The two men in the back seat looked at each other as if sharing some secret inner pain, while the halfling scowled at Bernard.
"Listen Dipsh-" he began.
"First you plan a heist at a bank in one of the busiest
areas of the city for both foot traffic and vehicle traffic..." They
were at a red light at the end of the tunnel now, unable to move due to
the aforementioned vehicle traffic, and he took that moment to change
the radio over to the CD player. Mozarts Symphony no. 25 quietly filled
the cabin.
"Second, you leave the bank in broad daylight wearing masks
and holding guns - a dead giveaway if you ask me..."
The traffic began moving again and Bernard accelerated at a
leisurely pace, checking his mirrors and changing lanes, using proper turn signals. The halfling
was growing visibly agitated now, and began to hold his gun in a more
threatening manner without ever pointing it directly at the driver.
"Awright asshole, I dunno who you think you are but y-"
Bernard tapped the brakes, and the halfling flew forward into the back of the passenger seat, knocking the gun out of his hands.
"Third," he said, "you didn't put on your seatbelt. Did you
know that even a very slow speed collision an cause an enormous amount
of a physical injury? I don't plan on having one o'course, but you just never know."
The halfling scrambled into his seat cursing, and worked his seatbelt. One of the humans, the one with red hair and beard, tried to help him, but was met with a viscous snarl, and held his hands up in surrender.
"As far as I can tell," said Bernard, as if nothing had happened, "you've really only done two things right. Number one, and I'm almost certain this was an accident, you picked a time and a place that was advantageous for a couple of reasons. First, there is a baseball game starting in just under three hours, and many of Philly's finest are currently stuck working traffic at the park. Second, due to this game, and the busyness of the street, police response time will be at around nine minutes. A good crew can knock over a bank like that, clear the safe and the teller's drawers and be out again in about six minutes, and the remaining three minutes is more than enough for us to make a nice leisurely getaway with no fuss." He smiled serenely, for just a moment, but frowned he saw the two humans look at each other shiftily.
"Tell me," he said.
The dark haired man shrugged guiltily and, with the barest nod toward the halfling, said, "It was more like eight minutes."
That's when Bernard heard the sirens. He grimaced and sighed heavily. "Right. Of course." He looked through the windows all around him, checking sight lines and traffic openings. "Well then gentlemen, if you have access to an 'Oh-shit' bar, this would be the time to grab hold. This is going to be an interesting ride."
The red bearded man had grabbed the bar over the halfling's head, as he was to short to reach, when he looked like he had just remembered something. "Hey..."
Bernard raised an eyebrow in his review mirror.
"You said there were two things we did right. What was the second thing?"
Bernard smiled, his large lower canines protruding past his upper lip. "Now that is an attention to detail that will take you far in life young man. And the answer is: You hired me."
******************************* Chapter 9 part 3
I think that chapter nine is going to have more than four parts, as I intend to keep them shorter so they don't burn me out too quickly. Also I've found some new settings on my phone that I think will help me when using voice dictation, that I hadn't noticed before, like a different keyboard, with a better layout to get TO voice to text. So we'll see how that goes.
Comments and Suggestions welcomed like Foghorn Leghorn to a KFC.
And thanks for reading!
The halfling scrambled into his seat cursing, and worked his seatbelt. One of the humans, the one with red hair and beard, tried to help him, but was met with a viscous snarl, and held his hands up in surrender.
"As far as I can tell," said Bernard, as if nothing had happened, "you've really only done two things right. Number one, and I'm almost certain this was an accident, you picked a time and a place that was advantageous for a couple of reasons. First, there is a baseball game starting in just under three hours, and many of Philly's finest are currently stuck working traffic at the park. Second, due to this game, and the busyness of the street, police response time will be at around nine minutes. A good crew can knock over a bank like that, clear the safe and the teller's drawers and be out again in about six minutes, and the remaining three minutes is more than enough for us to make a nice leisurely getaway with no fuss." He smiled serenely, for just a moment, but frowned he saw the two humans look at each other shiftily.
"Tell me," he said.
The dark haired man shrugged guiltily and, with the barest nod toward the halfling, said, "It was more like eight minutes."
That's when Bernard heard the sirens. He grimaced and sighed heavily. "Right. Of course." He looked through the windows all around him, checking sight lines and traffic openings. "Well then gentlemen, if you have access to an 'Oh-shit' bar, this would be the time to grab hold. This is going to be an interesting ride."
The red bearded man had grabbed the bar over the halfling's head, as he was to short to reach, when he looked like he had just remembered something. "Hey..."
Bernard raised an eyebrow in his review mirror.
"You said there were two things we did right. What was the second thing?"
Bernard smiled, his large lower canines protruding past his upper lip. "Now that is an attention to detail that will take you far in life young man. And the answer is: You hired me."
******************************* Chapter 9 part 3
I think that chapter nine is going to have more than four parts, as I intend to keep them shorter so they don't burn me out too quickly. Also I've found some new settings on my phone that I think will help me when using voice dictation, that I hadn't noticed before, like a different keyboard, with a better layout to get TO voice to text. So we'll see how that goes.
Comments and Suggestions welcomed like Foghorn Leghorn to a KFC.
And thanks for reading!
Magic World (working title): Chapter 9 part 1
Chapter 9
The black Cadillac Escalade ESV, or Extra Sized Vehicle sat a regulation six inches from the curb. It idled almost silently. The cabin was perfectly air conditioned, and insulated from outside noise. It was an island of peace in the shadow of the Metro PCS store, in the middle of the crowded busy streets of Philadelphia.
It was sitting in the diamond lane. This drew a few resentful looks from the passers-by, but otherwise no undue attention. The windows were darkly tinted so that the occupant could not be easily seen from the street. He sat reading the latest issue of CAR Magazine on his Kindle Fire, reflecting that this was a far less expensive option than having it sent from the UK, while on the radio two intellectual types debated the pros and cons of the hotly controversial Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as "Obamacare." He thought this laughable. Only in America did politicians try to demonize something by naming after someone they hated. Nobody ever in the UK would you ever hear things like "The Tony Blaire Witch Hunt" on mainstream media. Well not yet anyway, though the way the bloody internet was getting these days European news outlets might soon desperate enough to ape the fear-inducing panic-mongering style of journalism, just to keep up.
He sighed and swiped to the next page, giving a yawn as he did so. He cracked his neck, more to stretch more than anything, and glanced across the street, but nothing was happening yet. The two NPR guys had broken out of their little argument, and were moving on to the news for a moment.
"Well, let's get to it, shall we? Our top story this morning is... whoa. Did you hear about this Jack? Apparently a bomb went off in Indiana, leaving four dead."
"Wow who the heck would do something like this?"
"A dead person apparently," said the reader sardonicaly. "It happened outside of town near a self stodrage in a town called uhm,,, Storage Solutions. This is Terre Haute, Indiana."
"Mkay..."
"They've only released one name in connection with this so far- they haven't said if they think it's an act of terrorism, or and accident, or like a ... car bomb. Hey maybe it was a Mafia hit."
"Oh yeah, maybe they were 'Hitting the Mattresses' or whatever they call it. Old school."
"Could be, sure. Anyway the name is Raul Muyres-"
"FUCK ME!" said Bernard loudly. The orc set the Kindle aside and pulled out his mobile phone. He pulled up his contact list and sent a message to someone name Flicker: "Oi. Nd intro for Terra Hote IN ASAP, this is 911." He sent the message and shook his head for a moment contemplating what this meant. The old man had lost his last race then. Balls. He hoped the car at least was-
Across the street he noticed a commotion. Two men and a halfling in ski masks and holding dangerous looking automatic rifles were coming out of the Sovereign Bank holding duffel bags, and crossing the street. They saw his vehicle idling, and made their way over to him. People on the street had noticed them and were taking cover, some of them pulling out their cell phones.
The two masked men were heading toward the back doors of his SUV while the halfling was heading towards the front passenger door. He pulled the handle a couple times, but while the back doors had opened smoothly, the front was locked.
Bernard rolled down the darkened window enough for the halfling to see his face, his eyebrow raised as if to say "Really?" and nodded his head toward the back seat. He rolled the window up while the halfling, looking upset, but knowing there was no time to argue, got in the back.
"THIS is what you got man? An SUV? Man, we're never gonna outrun the cops in this thing, I thought you were supposed to be a professional," said the halfling, as he pulled off his mask, his spikey blond hair sticking up all over now. Bernard put the Cadillac into gear and pulled smoothly out of the diamond lane, and preparing to turn from Market Street onto North 11th, which was illegal, but cut 45 seconds from the drive time, and put him on a route with better options for evasion.
"You know," he said, "I'm not sure if you lot are the biggest morons in 'istory or bloody fucking brilliant. Seatbelts please gentlemen." He completed the turn and was now headed for the Hilton Garden Inn tunnel.
******************************* Chapter 9 part 2
Okay got something up anyway. Fell asleep part way through, and couldn't pull out of the dive. But I wanted to get to the part where they started the getaway. I'm not thoroughly familiar with Philadelphia, but fortunately I have Google Maps, which shows me exactly what I need to know. All Hail the Mighty Internet!
Comments and Suggestions welcome.
Thanks for Reading!
The black Cadillac Escalade ESV, or Extra Sized Vehicle sat a regulation six inches from the curb. It idled almost silently. The cabin was perfectly air conditioned, and insulated from outside noise. It was an island of peace in the shadow of the Metro PCS store, in the middle of the crowded busy streets of Philadelphia.
It was sitting in the diamond lane. This drew a few resentful looks from the passers-by, but otherwise no undue attention. The windows were darkly tinted so that the occupant could not be easily seen from the street. He sat reading the latest issue of CAR Magazine on his Kindle Fire, reflecting that this was a far less expensive option than having it sent from the UK, while on the radio two intellectual types debated the pros and cons of the hotly controversial Affordable Health Care Act, otherwise known as "Obamacare." He thought this laughable. Only in America did politicians try to demonize something by naming after someone they hated. Nobody ever in the UK would you ever hear things like "The Tony Blaire Witch Hunt" on mainstream media. Well not yet anyway, though the way the bloody internet was getting these days European news outlets might soon desperate enough to ape the fear-inducing panic-mongering style of journalism, just to keep up.
He sighed and swiped to the next page, giving a yawn as he did so. He cracked his neck, more to stretch more than anything, and glanced across the street, but nothing was happening yet. The two NPR guys had broken out of their little argument, and were moving on to the news for a moment.
"Well, let's get to it, shall we? Our top story this morning is... whoa. Did you hear about this Jack? Apparently a bomb went off in Indiana, leaving four dead."
"Wow who the heck would do something like this?"
"A dead person apparently," said the reader sardonicaly. "It happened outside of town near a self stodrage in a town called uhm,,, Storage Solutions. This is Terre Haute, Indiana."
"Mkay..."
"They've only released one name in connection with this so far- they haven't said if they think it's an act of terrorism, or and accident, or like a ... car bomb. Hey maybe it was a Mafia hit."
"Oh yeah, maybe they were 'Hitting the Mattresses' or whatever they call it. Old school."
"Could be, sure. Anyway the name is Raul Muyres-"
"FUCK ME!" said Bernard loudly. The orc set the Kindle aside and pulled out his mobile phone. He pulled up his contact list and sent a message to someone name Flicker: "Oi. Nd intro for Terra Hote IN ASAP, this is 911." He sent the message and shook his head for a moment contemplating what this meant. The old man had lost his last race then. Balls. He hoped the car at least was-
Across the street he noticed a commotion. Two men and a halfling in ski masks and holding dangerous looking automatic rifles were coming out of the Sovereign Bank holding duffel bags, and crossing the street. They saw his vehicle idling, and made their way over to him. People on the street had noticed them and were taking cover, some of them pulling out their cell phones.
The two masked men were heading toward the back doors of his SUV while the halfling was heading towards the front passenger door. He pulled the handle a couple times, but while the back doors had opened smoothly, the front was locked.
Bernard rolled down the darkened window enough for the halfling to see his face, his eyebrow raised as if to say "Really?" and nodded his head toward the back seat. He rolled the window up while the halfling, looking upset, but knowing there was no time to argue, got in the back.
"THIS is what you got man? An SUV? Man, we're never gonna outrun the cops in this thing, I thought you were supposed to be a professional," said the halfling, as he pulled off his mask, his spikey blond hair sticking up all over now. Bernard put the Cadillac into gear and pulled smoothly out of the diamond lane, and preparing to turn from Market Street onto North 11th, which was illegal, but cut 45 seconds from the drive time, and put him on a route with better options for evasion.
"You know," he said, "I'm not sure if you lot are the biggest morons in 'istory or bloody fucking brilliant. Seatbelts please gentlemen." He completed the turn and was now headed for the Hilton Garden Inn tunnel.
******************************* Chapter 9 part 2
Okay got something up anyway. Fell asleep part way through, and couldn't pull out of the dive. But I wanted to get to the part where they started the getaway. I'm not thoroughly familiar with Philadelphia, but fortunately I have Google Maps, which shows me exactly what I need to know. All Hail the Mighty Internet!
Comments and Suggestions welcome.
Thanks for Reading!
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