PUSHING DOGS (PART TWO)

©2009 by Richard S. Crawford

about 1,400 words

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Thelma tilted her head and glared at Hank. “You don’t think I’m not going to pay you back, do you?”

Hank’s voice rumbled throughout the entire apartment. “The thought had crossed my mind.”

“Well, I’m going to. Here.” She took the wad of bills that Nigel had given her from her purse and tossed it at Hank.

Hank unrolled the wad and counted the bills. “You’re short,” he said.

“And you’re ugly.”

“I meant that you don’t have enough money here.” Hank counted through the bills again. “But only fiftydollars.”

“So? I’ll have it tomorrow.” Thelma tried not to show any reaction or any sign that her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating.

Hank glared at her for a few seconds, his jaw working. “Fine,” he said at length. “Fifty bucks just isn’t worth it.”

“So I’m off the hook?”

“Get me a hundred by tomorrow night, and you are.”

“Ten? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No I’m not. And it will double each day until you either pay me back, or it becomes with it.”

“Worth it for what?”

Hank’s grin was positively carnivorous. “You don’t want to know,” he said. He tossed something at Thelma. “You’ll need this.”

Thelma caught the object and looked it over. It was the light bulb from her living room lamp.

# # #

The next day started out easy. Pushing dogs on the turkeys at the fair was always easy, even in the morning. People are always hungry, after all.

She looked around the Midway, trying to find a likely place for a wager. The day before, she had wagered with Nigel at the Ferris wheel that he could keep patrons at the top of the Ferris wheel for longer than ten minutes before they would start screaming, and she’d won. Nigel probably wasn’t going to go for that one again.

She sighed, glancing around again. Ah, yes. Fred, over at the Spooktacular Thrill Ride, should be a good mark. He’d been a dark ride operator for thirty years but Thelma was sure she could think of a way to fleece him out of some of his cash.

There were no customers at the moment, so she closed up the stand and went over to where Fred stood next to the entrance of the Spooktacular dark ride. “Hey, Fred. Got a moment?”

Fred looked at Thelma, a cigarette danging from beneath his impressive mustache. He blinked his heavy eyelids. “What do you want, Thelma?”

“Nothing in particular,” Thelma said. “Can’t I just come by to say hi to my friend?”

“We’re not friends,” said Fred. “Every time you come by you want something. So what is it this time? More money?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve been friends for years, Fred. Haven’t we?”

Fred shook his head. “Nope. Just tell me what you want, Thelma.”

“Fine.” Thelma looked back at the Spooktacular cars that were lining up at the entrance of the ride. Each one was a tiny black hearse, room enough for three people, topped with a giant gray human skull. “Listen, I want to make a bet with you.”

“Not again, Thelma. I’m no sucker.”

“No, this one’s simple.”

Fred’s face worked for a few seconds. He may try to deny it, but Thelma knew he really was a sucker, and that within a minute, five at the most, he’d cave and take her up on whatever bet she suggested.

And finally he said, “What kind of bet?”

“Just something simple. Something easy.” She racked her brain, suddenly unable to think of anything. Then it came to her. “I bet you can’t get four complete strangers to sit all together in one of those cars.”

“Those cars only have three seats.”

“Exactly.”

Fred smiled. “Yeah, I can do that. How much?”

“Fifty bucks.”

“Make it twenty.”

Thelma winced. “Forty.”

“Thirty-five.”

Thelma stuck out her hand. “Done.” It felt unnatural to take a bet with such low stakes, especially when she owed so much money to Hank. But she knew she wouldn’t be able to talk Fred into betting more. “It’s easy. All you have to do is get four strangers to ride together in one car.”

Fred shrugged and approached the line that was forming in front of the Spooktacular ride. There were definitely more than four people in the line, and there was only one couple that looked like they were talking with each other. As far as Thelma could tell, most of the people in the line didn’t know each other, and were therefore strangers to each other. Thelma knew that strangers would never ride together in a dark ride if they could avoid it, especially if there were more riders than there were seats. It was an easy win.

She yawned and looked back at the hot dog cart, just to make sure there were no customers waiting for her. There weren’t. Then she turned back to the dark ride again, and drew a sharp intake of breath.

Hank was standing next to Fred, helping Fred load up a fourth person into one of the skull cars.

What the hell?

Thelma marched through the line of customers and up to Hank and Fred. “What the hell?”

Hank smiled down at Thelma. “I promised Fred I’d help him out. Said he had a bit of a problem.”

Thelma turned to Fred. “You’re cheating.”

Fred shook his head. “Not at all. You didn’t say I couldn’t have help with it. You owe me thirty-five dollars. Pay up.”

Thelma glared at Hank. “You’re going to do this all day, aren’t you?”

“Do what?” Hank blinked rapidly, feigning innocence.

“Fine.” Thelma opened her purse, took out two twenties. They were the only cash she had left in the world, and she handed them over to Fred. “I need change back.”

“Ain’t got none,” Fred replied.

“Of course you don’t.” Thelma snapped her purse shut and stomped back to her cart. She glanced back, and saw that Hank was following her, hands in pockets, whistling.

She stopped. “Okay, Hank. Tell you what.”

“What?”

“Obviously, you plan to sabotage any bet I make with anyone today.”

Hank shrugged. “I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. Care to make a bet yourself?”

Hank stared at Thelma for a moment, his eyes squinted. “Sure. What have you got?”

Thelma took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was going to have to word this very carefully. “I bet the rest of what I owe you,” she said slowly, “that I can make a bet that you can’t sabotage.”

Hank sneered. “Really?”

“Really.”

“That’s too easy, Thelma. You may as well pay me right now.”

“Let’s give it til the end of the day.”

Hank nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Perfect.”

Thelma shook Hank’s hand, knowing that she had this one already in the bag.