Dick::::
Slipper
is burned from my list::::
And I think he should be burned from the group.
I listened. I looked at it. Know what it was?
He's on the perv. Gotta be him. Said it was
A case::::some acronym wanted him to search and
destroy on a Russian server doing kiddie. Why
didn't you just turn it to the patrol, or to the
feds for that matter?::::Why'd they hire a
tracker from outside their creds?::::Who are
they? And he said the acronym's address turned
out bogus::::but they'd deposited $500 so he
hadn't checked. Seems they gave him a lead::::
he tracked::::and ended up with a shitload of
kiddie on his harddrive, right? Well, guess,
feds suddenly come knocking at his door::::his
door! With a warrant and everything::::he
suppose,
'cuz he just drop and ran::::saw um from down the
street kick in his front door::::no shit! Claims
he's been set up. By whom?::::I ask. Says he's
run
shit like this before. Up & up. Ask Boxhead.
But
naw::::just a perv. Let him hang by his
testicles.
Mosh.
Angel comes in the front
door. Dick turns::::shaking his head. Then thinks
suddenly, heads out to the forum and posts a note for
Boxhead to contact.
"Hey, sweetheart::::how
did it go with Weber?"
"Nick's all squared
away."
"Yeah? You're not doing
it?"
"No, no, no. It's
sweet::::someone's dumped millions into it. Got that
Danish streaming whiz. Might pull it off. But it's
not for me. He looks like a frightened rabbit. Old
Weber was always kind of queasy around pressure. I
guess it's something he's on a mission to work
through. How was shopping?"
"A very nice salesman.
But it was a lot of money."
"Eh. It's our vacation,
right?"
"I just got us the
basics::::but good quality."
"The mattress
thing?"
"Well, he told me the
air mattress wasn't such a good idea. So we got this
foam pad. It's kind of hard. But he thought since
we're driving it, not, like, hiking::::made
sense::::just put an extra blanket or quilt on top of
it and we should be fine."
"I have gone camping,
you know::::twice. Went up to San Jacinto when I was
like five or something::::Nick was still in diapers.
And dad got this idea into his head that the family
should climb the highest mountain together. Of course
it was stupid. We made it about a mile in from the
parking lot. I remember these huge gray boulders Dad
and I played on. And this incredibly cold stream. So
cold. I think that's where my idea of what cold is
comes from. It hurt."
"And the other
time?"
"Well, I don't know,
camping, but it was sixth grade camp::::Mount
Palomar. These smelly log cabins and stuff. I hated
it. Oh. We've got another customer. Weber is sending
Nick's shooter along with us."
"Shooter?"
"Cameraman."
"Oh."
"Sorry. It was a hard
bargain."
"Well, if I'd gotten
used to the idea that Nick were along for our
vacation, then I can't begrudge others, now, can
I?"
"I'm sorry. Working
vacation."
"Yeah, I'm feeling
worked. Doesn't he have a car?"
"Not in the
budget."
"You said he had
millions."
"Yeah. But. Hey, you
know who's producing Nick's cooking show?"
"No."
"Sam Wadey. Can you
beat that? He's an Oscar winning director. Old, but I
mean, he's done it."
"Cool."
"No. I'm
impressed."
"And I always thought
you were hard to impress. Come. Help me take this
stuff in."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. We've gotta take
it all out of its boxes and then pack it back into
the car."
"Can't we
just::::"
"::::No, Ricardo. The
car is full right now. Figure the packaging is 70%
volume::::and hope Nick and this 'shooter' don't have
too much stuff. We'll be crammed, but we'll make it.
I got the oil changed, and the guy looked at the
car::::very precursory. He kind of smiled when I told
him how far down we're going."
"She'll make it. When
we come back, pick up some luxury cases and hammer
'em. Maybe buy a new car."
"A new car?"
"Well, a used new
car."
"Why wait?"
"We're leaving 6 a.m.
sharp. /-11 don't sell cars."
"I bought a two-man
dome tent, like you said."
"Yeah::::well Nick has
to fend for himself. Shooter is Weber's
responsibility."
"Guy said even you
could set it up::::no problem."
"Me?"
"No::::your type."
"Oh. Hey, this is
cool!"
"Yeah. Runs on gas. And
I bought a box of candles and a really big
flashlight, just like a rent-a-cop's, as per your
request.."
"Oh, you're so
wonderful! Hey, this pad-thing is big."
"We can scrunch it
down."
"Shouldn't be so
disagreeable, I know, I know::::people wander off
into the wilderness with nothing and survive. Oh,
cool!"
"You like it?"
"Ah, man::::this is
perfect!"
"Wandering off into the
wilderness, gotta have the coolest lap-top bag."
"Wow."
"Three batteries. And a
recharger the guy at Radio Town swore on his life
would work with our computer in Mexico."
"Cool."
"What with the
relay?"
"Software's installed.
Who knows if it's going to work. We gotta keep our
machine on::::but we can open the connection
remotely, so it's just normal electricity use. Can't
begin to figure out what charges are going to come
in. At worse::::long distance stuff for each pulse,
but maybe typical station to station::::I don't
know."
"We just keep the home
machine on?"
"Yeah."
"How do we open the
connection remotely?"
"Well, it seems, once
we're in, it's like parallel machines on a single
server. I'm impressed. I'll be impressed if it works.
I'm impressed with your camping equipment shopping!
You did good!"
"Thanks."
"I'm tired.
Slipper…"
"Oh yeah, what was
that?"
"I don't rightly know.
Mosh has ditched him. But I got a call out to
Boxhead. Really stupid, I think."
"Oh."
"But real::::and
trouble."
"Oh. Have you
packed?"
"Well, you know."
"I'll check it."
"Feel like a kid, can't
even pack."
"It's normal for a wife
to pack for her husband. Not normal::::but it's
pretty usual."
"O.k."
"Yeah, o.k. You pack
the computer stuff."
"Yeah!"
"I just got snacks for
the road. We can each lunch in Ensenada. Breakfast
will be drive-thru at the border."
"Yeah. Burgers and a
large Coke::::breakfast of champions."
"Right."
After setting down their
stuff in the living room Dick walks over to Angel and
takes her in his arms.
"We'll sing road songs
and play the license plate game and stuff. It'll be
perfect."
"It'll be fun."
"Yeah. Fun. This is our
vacation. Our second honeymoon. We'll go on second
honeymoons every four months, why not?::::We're
writing the rules::::it's our life."
"Yeah, we go on
honeymoons until we get it right."
They kiss.
"Life is an
adventure."
"I'm a little
worried."
"If we can't::::if I
can't cut it roughing it, we find a hotel in
Pescadero::::luxury hotel!"
"Pescadero is a fishing
village."
"Well, we find one in
Cabo or something and drive out to see the doc.
Everything's going to be fine."
"You say so."
"Yeah. I say so. Just
wish there were tubes."
"Tubes?"
"Yeah. Take 10 seconds
to get down there."
"Oh. Yeah."