Overdraft Protection...Part Two.

Beth lugged a pizza carton from the restaurant, which held an entire vegeterian pizza. Beth had eaten part of hers and had intended to bring the rest home for Sam, but Elmore's Gyro had done nothing to fill him up and he had taken after the rest of her pizza. He had insisted on buying Sam another. It did Beth's heart good to see Elmore with money in his pocket after years of scrambling, so she had let him buy the pizza and would be sure to let Sam know where it had come from.

Beth:  Sam!

Sam:  Ho!  Back here!

Sam was already on his feet when Beth hit the office door.  He took the
pizza from her and hauled her into a quick, hard hug which concluded with
a brief sweep of her hair back from her eyes and a searching look.  He 
sensed something.  His attire on this Saturday was ultra casual, sweats
and t-shirt emblazoned with the badge of the US Marshal.  Thick socks
covered his feet and he was armed not with the Glock, but with a mug of
strong black coffee.

Sam:  Have a good lunch?

Beth:  Wonderful.  Elmore took me to that little vegeterian place I like...

Elmore hesitated in the door.  He and Beth had spent lots of time in
here constructing the Corner webpage...and while he had been so inattentive
to his business, Ricky had begun the run that might take it down.

Sam:  The one I always clean out...Elmore!  There you are, come on in, son,
sit down.

Elmore:  Yessir.

Sam waited until Elmore had found a chair.  Sam leaned back in his chair,
knees comfortably spread, and regarded the younger man with sharp curiosity.

Sam:  What's wrong, boy?

Beth:  He needs a favor, Sam.

Sam:  Boy can speak for himself, Beth, he's no fool.  Come on, Elmore,
what is it?

Elmore cracked his knuckles and, for the first time Beth noticed that
they were scabbed and cut.  She had been concentrating on his face in the
restaurant.

Beth:  Elmore, your hands...what happened?

She knew what had happened...they went with the tiny cut on his face 
and they equaled the assistant manager-less state of the Corner.  But she
wanted Sam to hear.

Elmore:  Busted 'em up on Ricky's head, Beth.  Toldja.

Sam:  Your pard from before?  What's up with that, boy?

Beth:  It's...

Sam:  Hush, now.

Elmore:  It's got t'do with the favor, Sam.  Just don't know where t'start.

Sam:  Just jump in, boy.  I'll follow along.

Beth decided it might be easier for Elmore if she left the room.  She
slipped away and retired to the bedroom she shared with Sam and gave her
attention to a little drawer emptying project she had to perform every 
couple of months.  She had noticed that her 'lingerie' drawer - as opposed
to the drawer where she kept things she actually wore and things she really
slept in - was getting a tad full.  So while Elmore explained his dilemma
to Sam and Sam listened in that silent way he had, Beth quickly riffled
through the pile of slippery silks and rich satins.  She made sure to remove
all the Victoria's Secret tags and dumped them into a simple grocery sack.
After Elmore had reached an agreement with Sam, Beth would take the sack
to a consignment shop she had found.  The contents of the sack never failed
to sell quickly, and Beth would take the money realized and throw it into
the housekeeping fund.  Sam would see the drawer empty and start to fill it
again, and in two or three months Beth would make another trip to the
consignment shop.  It seemed to please Sam to buy the stuff even when he
knew she would never sleep in anything but her flannels and the Marshal's
Service t-shirts she regularly liberated for that purpose.  He didn't even 
appear to mind her attire...he just bought the fool things.  Once in a
while, when she was alone, Beth would try the newest ones on and laugh
uproariously...but she was never tempted to wear them anymore.  She felt
unnatural, always had, and feeling unnatural with Sam was a distasteful
state of affairs.  She finally stowed the bulging bag in the Lincoln and
wandered back to the den.

Beth:  So...what's the plan?

Sam:  I'll go on down tonight, ten or so.  Do a lot of badge flashing.

Beth:  That's fast.

Elmore:  Those peckernecks'll be in tonight, Beth.  Ma says they come in
Fridays and Saturdays...they didn't get nothin' last night 'cause Bill was
there.  They're gonna be back tonight.  Bust the place up less'n I give
'em money or get rid of 'em.

Sam:  Bet you can't guess where you come in.

Beth:  Wasn't aware that I did.

Sam:  You should know better than that, baby.  We'll need you to keep
Strannix out of the way.

Beth:  Me!  What's Deb for?!

Elmore:  Ma's gonna be at the Corner...be tryin' to get some kinda final
estimate of the damage, so we can tell Bill when it's all over.  She got us
a business loan to cover the insurance and the shortfalls and all the rest
of it, that's gonna bring us back to go.

Beth:  I know what Bill thinks of loans.

Elmore:  Not a hell of a lot.

Beth:  Putting it lightly.  So what am I supposed to do?

Sam:  Give 'im a call, invite him over here to hang out.

Beth:  You sure? 

Sam:  It's the only way, baby.

Beth:  I don't wanna be eatin' pizza at no ten o'clock at night!

Sam:  Are there any sacrifices too great to make for friendship?

Beth:  Oh, shut up.

She stared at the two of them for a moment...one of her dearest friends,
and the sort of man she had only been able to have in her dreams before a
live one came along.

Beth:  You two are trying to get me killed.

Elmore: Bill ain't gonna hurt ya, Beth, ya know that.

Sam:  Not if he's got any brains.

Beth:  You two just don't get it...never mind.  Watch a basketball game or
something, I'm going out for a while.  Elmore, where's Deb?

Elmore:  At the Corner...Ma doesn't know what we got cooked up here, though.

Beth:  I'll have to tell her, Elmore.  I'll need her to con Bill into
coming over here.

Elmore:  Don't be s'prised if she gives ya a look, is all.

Beth:  You think anything surprises me anymore?  Sam, can I bring
something back, in case I'm late?

Sam pointed at the decimated veggie pizza.

Sam:  This oughta hold me.  Strannix leaves any pizza, I'll eat that when I
get in.  Go on...

Beth leaned over, kissed Sam briefly and then, feeling vaguely
rebellious, she did the same as she passed Elmore.  She limited herself to 
his cheek instead of his well-formed mouth.

Beth:  Be back later.  Elmore, you know where the stuff is, if you want it.

Beth stopped at the consignment shop and dropped off the latest sack of
comedy, then headed on down to the Corner.  I was in the office, hemmed
into my seat by stacks of papers.  Old Bill Cosby comedy albums played on
the changer.  I jumped when she came in, then relaxed when I saw who had
joined me.

Deb:  Migod, I thought you were Bill!

Beth:  Not ready to do any explaining yet?

Deb:  So Elmore did tell you...I suggested it to him.  No, I'm not ready 
yet.  Just about have everything all sorted out, but working up the courage
to tell Bill how stupid I was is another thing altogether.

Beth moved a stack of papers off of a comfortable sprung chair and
settled into it.

Beth:  He respects honesty, Deb.

Deb:  I know that, Beth.  But the first thing he'll do is say 'why didntcha
come to me with this' and he'll be right.  We should never have allowed this
to get so far out of hand.  But we wanted to be responsible, Elmore and me.

Beth:  You've been responsible.

Deb:  We've done well.  From a purely business standpoint, we're doing well.
With luck, we'll continue to.  But Bill will see this as a breach, and you
know why...he hates debt, hates loans...the first thing he'll do is take
care of this and it will cost him a ton of money and it will be forever
before he quits holding it over our heads and watching us like a hawk.  I
don't care if he holds things over my head, he has the world over my head,
it's Elmore.  He has tried so hard, Elmore has.

Beth:  He knows that.  And he's more likely to cut Elmore slack than he is
you.

Deb:  You think so?

Beth:  Sure, come on and think about it.  People make mistakes in business.
Bill knows that, he's made his share.  Elmore stands up and confesses, man
to man, and he's already told me he plans to...Bill will give him a little
father/son peptalk and that will be the end of it.  Business as usual.  You
...he'll be disappointed in you because you didn't keep him advised.  You're
his eyes down here.

Deb:  You mean he needs another pair?  It seems to me he knows everything
that goes on around here as fast as we do...I don't know how we've managed
this as long as we have and yet I know he suspects something.  The man has
a nose for trouble.

I started bundling up the papers and stuffing them into an accordion
file.

Deb:  I've hidden these...carry them in the Expedition, which he ignores
as long as the Prowler is around.  Maybe that's one reason.  There's nothing
in the regular files for him to find.

Beth:  I thought he had to sign off on the bills.

Deb:  He doesn't need to, he just wants to.  It hasn't been hard...just
dishonest and I don't like being that.  He never lies.  He might not say
everything...but what he says is the truth.

Bill charged in, stopped.

Bill:  What's the truth?

Deb:  What's not?

Bill:  Second base.  What's in there?

He gestured at the accordion file.  My first impulse was to sit on it
but a knowing little shake of Beth's head stopped me.  If he saw me do 
that, he would be into the file before sundown and that would be far too 
soon for Elmore's and my purposes.

Deb:  Just some old stuff I'm not ready to toss yet.  But I needed to make
room in the files.  Wanna see?

Bill:  No time.  Where's Elmore?

Deb:  Out someplace...errands.  Busy dude, Elmore.

Beth:  Say...Bill, now you're here I was wondering if you'd want to just
come on over later tonight and...hang out.  Just us, like we used to.

There was no preamble, but the way Bill was acting, there was no time to
lead up gently.  She had to ask.

Bill:  What brought that on?

Beth:  Thought you missed hangin' out.  Sam's busy tonight, stakeout,
something, not quite sure.  I just wondered.  

Bill turned, shot me a look.

Deb:  I'll be here, Bill...too much to do, you know how it is.  Go ahead.
Be like old times.

Bill:  Okay...sounds good.  What time?

Beth:  Around ten work for you?

Bill:  Ten?  That's been punkin time for you lately, Cinderella.  Ten?
How d'you plan t'stay awake?

Beth:  Excess energy, you want it or not?  Got a couple of movies you maybe
haven't seen.  Yes, no, maybe, what?

Bill:  I said yeah, but I don't wanna have to watch you sleep.  

Beth:  Won't happen, big fella.  

Deb:  Bill...just go.  You'll enjoy it.

Bill nailed me to my chair with a glance.  When was I ever trying to get
rid of him so transparently?

I strove for a look of innocence.  If I called him baby, the man would sit
down on the couch and refuse to be moved until he received a satisfactory
explaination.  Beth had the clincher.

Beth:  Come on, old man.  Gets lonesome out there with just the dog for
company.  Couple of hours and I pass out, you're on your way again.

Bill agreed...but both Beth and I could see that he was on guard...like
Sam, he knew something was up.  I hoped to be able to confess all, and to
receive absolution, but only after the shock troops had done their job and
Bill was fed and happy.  We would have to see.

TO BE CONTINUED.......