A Heavy Kind of Freedom

2nd Place

Jenny stood behind the Lagoon Lounge bar in Florida. She was dressed in the uniform of the place, low cut revealing black bodice and short skirt that showed off her legs. The men would leer at the blonde shapely beauty and if they drank too much would attempt to reach for her. Then she would have to scream, louder than the music and the hubbub in the bar, and hope that the man upstairs would come running down to her rescue or one of the other customers. She hated the men on the other side of the bar. Fat, drunk, boasting of lives out there that she could not afford and which were probably made up anyway. But then there was Georgie, a handsome young man, her boyfriend since fourth grade. He'd been the captain of the football team but was not good for much else after high school. Now he worked in ol' Jake's warehouse down the road. He should have been on shift right now. Jenny rolled her eyes as Georgie entered the bar, has he lost his job again she thought to herself.

Georgie interrupted her thoughts, "Jenny, I got me a car, we can go, leave this place - make a new life."

"Where did you go get the money to buy a car, Georgie? I know you ain't got more 'an two cents to rub together in 'em pockets 'a yours."

"Well wot yer don't know can't bother yer none, so don't yer be worrying yer pretty little head over that."

"Georgie I do worry that we be chased by blue lights and a host of troubles, wherever we go next. Have yer thought about where we goin'?'"

"We goin' away, 'way from soul-suckin' jobs 'hind the ´bar or night shifts in ol' Jake's warehouse, from a rusty trailer too small for all our hopes and dreams. It's gotta be better somewhere else." Georgie reflected.

A man approached from behind Georgie. He had a bigger build than even Georgie who could have made it as an Offensive Line Tackle had he not had his injury.

Jenny said, "Maybe, maybe not, who's that man 'hind yer, Georgie? He dunna look too friendly none."

The man poked a pistol into Georgie's back and spoke in a voice that only Jenny and Georgie could hear.
"You stole my car mate, did you think that you would get away with that?" The man sounded British, posh, and had a disciplined almost military cut to his clothes, dark hair and smart appearance. "Keys, now!"

Georgie reached into his pocket and brought out the keys there, placing them carefully on the bar.

Jenny could see a scary quality to the man that was rare in this place. She watched his piercing blue eyes look around the bar until they rested on a man in the corner, Jamie Jones, a local gangster with the worst of reputations and with a gang of hoodlums sitting with him. Jenny had had nothing but trouble from Jamie, whom she knew from school, and he was continually harassing her. There was nothing she could do about it and not even the owner upstairs would mess with this man. Jamie Jones was too well-connected and dangerous. Looking back to Jenny and Georgie the British man spoke in a low tone that only they could hear while 'Eye of the Tiger" blazed from the music box in the corner of the tavern.

"What's your name, barmaid?"

"Jenny, sir," Jenny replied more deferentially than she had intended but the British man had a natural air of authority, he reminded her of a general who had once given a speech in her school.

"What is that man in the corner drinking, the one in the blue suit?" the British man asked.

"Jamie Jones, likes his whiskey and I just keep it comin', he has a tab 'hind the bar but he's always late payin' it, nothin' I can do 'bout that. That man is trouble with a capital T."

"Well we can agree on that, I have thought of a way to let your friend here off the hook. You will slip this into the man's next drink." With that, he palmed a capsule of green-looking fluid to Jenny. She glanced at it a moment, it had a screw-up top. She took the capsule and hid it behind some napkins under the bar.

Georgie struggled against the man's grip but it was a fist of iron that held him in place. Still, he protested, "I stole your car, ma girl's got nothin' to do with this. You leave her alone."

"You are not in a very strong position to bargain mate. You cannot fight me as I have the gun, you cannot run as I have you held and your girlfriend is here. Now there are two kinds of freezing, there is the passive sort that just waits to die and then there is the positive sort that takes the opportunity to pray for a better life - I suggest you do the latter and you may well find that everything just gets better after that. The fluid is untraceable and in this backwater town you quite simply do not have the kind of forensic expertise to discover the source. Now I am going to sit in the corner over there and you Jenny are going to spike Jamie Jones' next drink. In exchange, I will spare your boyfriend's life and I will gift him the car. Pour the drink now and return the tube and lid to me. Then go wash your hands thoroughly."

Jenny thought to herself that this man was quite wise in a worldly kind of way and she wanted to help Georgie. The gift of a car would transform their circumstances and Jamie Jones was near to being pure evil in her view. Georgie relaxed also looking at the keys on the bar table.

The man released Georgie, who put the keys into his pocket and moved aside. The man's gun disappeared into his jacket but the bulge and the threat were still there. Jenny poured the whiskey but then hesitated to add the fluid to the drink, her hand holding the open capsule, hovering over the drink, behind the bar concealed from the guests. Only the man had a view of that.

"Ain't this murder?" Jenny asked.

"No this is an execution of a very bad man whom the system has protected for far too long." He glared at Jenny who finally poured the fluid into the whiskey, all the while concealing her actions from prying eyes. She screwed the cap back on and palmed the empty tube to the man who pocketed it. Then she went to the bar basin washed and wiped her hands. "It's done."

The man nodded and whispered, "And I am the one who committed the deed and who is responsible for it. You and your friend had no choice, your friend's life depended on your cooperation so you were motivated by love for him. Also, Georgie gets a car, so it is not so bad is it?"

Jenny relaxed. Georgie and the British man went to a corner table and sat down, sitting in silence watching the bar and Jamie Jones across the tables in between. One of Jamie Jones' henchmen collected his drinks: beer for his men; and whiskey for him. As Jamie downed his drink the British man left the bar. Three seconds later Jamie screamed holding his hands to his throat. He stood up kicking the chair away, then fell over onto the ground beside his table his remaining whiskey spilling onto the wooden floorboards. He died a few seconds later.

One of his henchmen started yelling and people across the bar stood up looking in Jamie's direction. Georgie joined Jenny at the bar, he looked back at the empty table and the open door. He reached into his jacket pocket finding the car keys and feeling the metal for a moment with his fingertips before withdrawing his hand.

Jenny and Georgie hung around for a few more weeks and Georgie even got his job back in that time, so that he could save up some money for gas on their journey - they hid the car in a field outside town during that time under an old tarpaulin. The police came and went but the results of the investigation were inconclusive. They decided that Jamie's fast-living lifestyle was probably the cause of the death, no one was really that sorry he was gone anyway and so life moved on. When the hubbub had died down enough Jenny and Georgie packed their things and got into the car. Then with a full tank of gas, they drove away.

With the top down and the open road flying towards them, the wind in their hair, Jenny turned to Georgie whose hands were on the steering wheel. Dark sunglasses hid her eyes as she studied him.

"Jamie was an evil man, so why do I feel so heavy inside?"

"Jenny, wasn't you or me dat done the deed, he had it comin'. We got the open road afore us and isn't that the freedom we always dreamed of?"

"Yeh, yer right but is there a place we can go where we can leave that man behind?"

"Sure," said Georgie, his knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel, a grimace on his face, "The road can lead us anywhere we wanna go." Neither he nor Jenny were smiling as they crossed the state line.

Notes ▼

CONTEST:

SURVEY

Rhythms & Writing: Official WDC Contest  (E) Use the music provided to inspire your writing! #2002964 by Writing.Com Support

W/C: 1592 at time of competition
PROMPT: The song - "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/zEqb6xbeuCo
LYRICS:
You got a fast car
And I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere

Any place is better
Starting from zero, got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
Me, myself, I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
I got a plan to get us out of here
I've been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money

Won't have to drive too far
Just across the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
Finally, see what it means to be living

See, my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle, that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young to look like his

Mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said, "Somebody's got to take care of him"
So, I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
Still gotta make a decision
Leave tonight, or live and die this way

So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder
And I, I, I had a feeling that I belonged
I, I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
We go cruising, entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
So I work in a market as a checkout girl

I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a bigger house, live in the suburbs

So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder
And I, I, I had a feeling that I belonged
I, I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids

I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans, I ain't going nowhere
Take your fast car and keep on driving

So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder
And I, I, I had a feeling that I belonged
I, I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
Is it fast enough, so you can fly away?
You still gotta make a decision
Leave tonight, or live and die this way