Gaffled.

Gaffled

People don’t notice something is gone until it comes back. That missing link can go unnoticed for a while without a second thought or glance. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Then there it is… on the TV, outside the supermarket, or walking down the street. Soon enough you’ll realize, if you’re lucky, that something has been missing and that maybe you don’t know how long it’s been gone.

Danny pushes at his face with one hand as he looks around at the street around him, behind him and up ahead. Through his swollen, creased left eye he can see the rest of the guys walking up slowly to the rear. Still dressed in the same white tees and creased black chinos they were wearing when they left. From an outsiders eye they look like a pack heading out for the night. This couldn’t be further form the truth. Tijuana, has a split lip and two black eyes. Shorty is nursing a limp that threatens his balance. White Rob keeps twitching and talking about strange things under his breath.

Up ahead Danny can make out the front porch of his Mom’s place. She’s sitting on the front porch with Alberta Johnson watching the final colors of twilight take effect. Two gossiping hens watching and waiting for the fallen soldiers to make contact. He can already see her cane start waving as he draws closer to the fence line. And just like a force to be reckoned with he has no choice but to face the music.

Not even three feet through the gate, she lets him have it.

“Where the hell have you been all week?! Pendejos!”

Danny edges nearer to the base of the porch. He is stopped by another barrage of language and the wild movements of her cane pointing in his direction.

“What the…? Look at your face. Estas loco! I swear you better have a good reason for it. Damn you fools comin’ up here like this after a week! I’ve been sick with worry.”

 “Mind ya business and you might live longer,” spouts off TJ standing at the front gate.

“Tijuana, shut up fool, that’s his Moms.” Shorty hauls off and cuffs TJ in the head. “No disrespect, ma’am.”

“You have some nerve! To come up to my house and talk this way. Daniel, you and these idiots better get outta my sight! And tell those other idiots across the street to stop calling over here. No one cares where you’ve been. If they did they would have found you and not bothered me.”

“Look I’m sorry Mom. Can we talk about it later?” Danny quietly says before trying to walk back out the front gate.

“Wait a minute! And where’s the car? Don’t you know tomorrow is Sunday? I have to go shopping.

Forget it. I’m already tired from talking to you. Get your G-Damn asses outta my sight!” His mom hollers and gives her cane a final wave before resuming her conversation. “Alberta can you believe this? Such disrespect. I know your grandson is a cardiologist. I don’t know where my boy went wrong.”

Danny and the boys didn’t always come home. Despite all the noise his Mom would throw out at him, that never set back the good times. Most nights there was a kick back somewhere or an even better something. It never seemed out of place if the old black Impala didn’t roll up in the drive for a few days. Especially if they hit the highway for a few. Funny thing was no one thought they’d ever roll back up without a ride.

Heading across the street, the pack follows Danny with a less than stellar confidence. Out on the porch there’s Los and Sergio kickin it with forties in the dark. Los leans forward and nods to greet the beaten pack.

“How you been livin’? Look like you got hit in the face with somethin’.” Sergio greets the broken crew. “If you want, there’s some cold ‘Ronas in the house.”

Los waves them up to the house. “Well then, take a load off. Where you been? No one has seen or heard from you fools since Hector’s kick back last week. The place got raided and we thought you was in county, for sure.”  

“Nah, we stayin’ off that shit for a few.” Danny shakes his head at Sergio and answers Los’ inquiries. “Some crazy shit happened after we left Hector’s place. I don’t know where we was but I don’t think… it wasn’t county.”

“Why’s it so dark? What can’t no body pay for some light bulbs around here?”spouts off TJ. Shorty raises his hand at TJ again and White Rob keeps looking at the sky talking in circles.

Los leans in and smiles. “Come at me with some game. Lay down the story. You all show up at my place half dead and walking, seven days after my boy Hector gets raided and locked down without a tale. I’m not buyin’ it.”

 “Where’s your ride? If I had a ride as sweet as your black Impala I wouldn’t let it out of my sight. So what’s up, Danny?” Sergio chimes in with a cross-eyed look.

“Shorty thinks it’s in impound. Right?”

“Yeah, Danny the ride’s gotta be in impound.” Shorty quickly agrees and shuts up.

“What the fuck? Don’t show up and act like that? We go back.”

“Alright,” Danny starts and the pack follows his lead, “but I warned you. This is some real X-files shit going on. Hella don’t trip off of it. Cool?”

“You’re among family. You got my word.”

“Shorty… go on.”

“Alright, ‘member we’re leavin’ Hector’s last Saturday. Danny says that it’s hella dead and we need to bounce. So TJ, White Rob, and Jingo take off with us to find the party at Esco’s place. You know his hermanita got married and there was some party. Then…”

Los stops him in the middle… “What? You know where Jingo-Jango is? Where is he?”

Shorty waves his hands and Danny starts, “Yo, I don’t know how to tell you this but Jingo, didn’t make it. He just couldn’t handle it. Aww, man I’m sorry.”

Shorty starts back in… “So we’re takin the back streets to over by the high school where Esco was staying. There’s no one around. White Rob and TJ decide to smoke. It’s cool cause there’s nothin’ going on.”

Shorty waves his hands around a few times and Danny jumps in.

“So I’m driving, Shorty and Jingo are cool watching the other two blaze it like mad. No worries. Then there it is…like out of no where. This light. So we’re all thinking the same thing…”

“Damn ghetto bird,” White Rob steals the words before falling back out into the unknown.

“Right, hell yeah, me and Danny are like ‘Fuck it’s the ghetto bird’ and we’re like ‘put that shit out’ to those fools.”

“Except, the light gets brighter and closer to the ground. Before they could get that shit put out there we were stopped dead. The car stopped. No engine. No radio. No lights. Cells don’t work. No signal. Interference. And the damn ghetto bird was getting closer until it’s on us. The five-0 must have stepped up their game. Because that was some high tech shit or somethin’ else.”

“Stop! Why the fuck didn’t you run?” interrupts Los.

“Run? There wasn’t time.” Shorty snaps back quick. “It was in a flash then over. I don’t remember what happened to the car. They must have tazzed us or some shit cause all of sudden...BAM! Then we were awake in this strange place. Didn’t look like no kind of jail I’ve ever end up in.”

White Rob speaks quietly “Tiny walls with openings of circles. No bars. Water in a tray.”

“Shut up fool! You had water?” screams TJ and slaps White Rob. “I didn’t have no water before they busted my face. Police brutality! Or whatever those things were?”

“Dude, don’t you remember seeing any five-0?” Sergio drops his empty forty on the ground.

“Yo, I don’t know. If this is five-o I don’t know what kind of game they are runnin’ these days. Money is tight and all, but these fools had some crazy ass things going down. I get that there’s some budget cuts, but man they’re hiring some weird lookin’ people to work down there. There was one guy with tentacles. Fingers all over his body. Like something out of Aliens-lookin, E.T. copy cat mutha-fuckers and they kept messin with Jingo. I don’t know what their deal was. Shorty?”

“Danny’s right, they had this woman and her head spun around three times before stopping and she kept sticking Jingo and White Rob with some weird ol syringes. Jingo couldn’t hang. They just didn’t let up.” When they were tired of that, then they had these really big hairy goons, like Chewbacca an’ shit, come in and give the rest of us a beat down. ’member? That’s when they took your keys for the Impala.”

“Fuck! My ride! Damn, it better be in impound. My moms is gonna kill me. I don’t even remember no mug shots or fingerprints. Shorty how’d we get back?”

“They? Shit, I don’t know. Didn’t we wake up by the side of the road earlier?”

“Oh yeah, fuck wow, this has been a week. So what do you think? Crazy shit.”

“Huh?” Los drops open a jaw.

“Look if you can say huh then you heard me? What do you think?”

Los and Sergio hold back straight until they’re just about to bust open.

“HAHAHA! They got gaffled for their ride.” Los starts in, “By mutha fuckin’ X-files rejects n shit. HAHAHA.”

Before long Sergio joins in while lighting up a smoke. “That’s some funny shit though. For real. If you all got jumped out then all you had to do was call someone. E.T. PHONE HOME! HAHA!”

“F-u-uck You!” spouts out TJ and no one raises a hand.

The pack stops and looks at each other.

“I don’t need this shit.” Danny starts to walk away and the others follow. Before he leaves Danny yells back one final thing. “My moms says to STOP CALLING!”

“Nah, save that noise for E.T! Maybe he’ll bring back your ride. Beam it down for you nice and clean! HAHA! Quit trippin.”

 “I’m out. It’s been a long ass week. No hard feelings. Later fools.”

Danny resumes pushing at his broken face as he heads back home across the street. The remaining members of his broken pack disband and head off into different directions. Shorty limping. TJ spitting blood and walking White Rob to the corner. Somewhere out on a curb there’s a black Impala parked on blocks missing a set of rims. Nothing out of the ordinary?

Jacked. And no one believes you. That’s a shame. This one goes out to my lil sis and I give her most of the credit for the idea. A lot of lunchtime convo’s brought this one about. Also a close friend has me watching Battlestar Galactica and I'm very intrigued by cylons and aliens. It needs a little more. For now, it’s sci-fi, a little fun and definitely a different pace. Enjoy? m.