Half Moon Bay Part I-2 – Drug Smuggling Catholic Saints
…Todays fiction…
Proverbs 9:10
Rick gives a look of denial mixed with the confused exhilaration from staring down the barrel of a loaded handgun. Both of Rick’s eyes are fixated on the dark center of the gun’s barrel looking intently with his brow furrowed at St. Peter in ominous wonder. Time, in Rick’s mind, has stopped and a second feels like a lifetime.
“Look man I don’t want any trouble. I can just go. I won’t say a word.” Rick says with his hands still raised high in the air.
“Relax tough stuff. Take this gun and follow me.” St. Peter says.
Rick hesitantly takes the gun and holds it like a dirty, stale sock. St. Peter walks to the living quarters of the boat and Rick follows. Rick continues to look at the gun in a confused state with his brow furrowed.
“Is this thing even registered? I’m not really sure how this relates to construction.” Rick says as St. Peter shakes his head with a smile.
The boat rocks back and forth as Rick follows St. Peter to the living quarters of the boat. Sister Maria is packing small amounts of marijuana into hollow Bibles, as they’re pulling up the drugs from underneath the hull of the boat, and are systematically packing them into the Bibles.
“Does God know about all this?” Rick asks, as Sister Maria smiles at him. St. Peter grabs one of the hollow Bibles and tosses it at Rick. “This is God’s work my boy!” St. Peter exclaims, in an exasperated effort as Rick takes a step back toward the cockpit of the boat. He tries to hand the gun back to St. Peter.
“It’s ok hun. It’s just new. You will get used to it.” Sister Maria says, as she continues to pack the plethora of drug paraphernalia into the hollowed out bibles, and St. Peter laughing.
“It’s too late anyway your prints are on the gun that was used to kill a Disciple, and if you say what you see here you’re disco biscuits.” St. Peter says.
Rick quickly places the gun in the Bible and places it on the counter. He grabs his things and runs from the boat.
Outside of an older, but small train station that rests in the middle of Half Moon Bay, links the small rural area to the more modern urban cities across the United States. Rick places his bag next to a pay phone, and dials his mother in Chicago, IL. The phone rings into Rick’s ear and his mother picks up.
“Hello this is Celia. What do you want?” Celia says in a raspy tone.
Rick takes a deep breath, he looks around the train station at all the people coming and going. In the background through the phone you can hear the ice cubes from her drink hit her glass and the noise from the bar that she is currently attending.
“Well who the hell is this?”
“It’s Rick mom. How are you?”
“Who?”
Rick takes a deep breath and he pauses in thought. He looks at his bag that contains the majority of all of his worldly possessions.
“Mom are you at the bar? I mean this is your son. I need some help.”
“My son? You want money don’t you? Well I spent it.”
“God was right, mom. I mean can’t you put the bottle down for a fucking second.” Rick says, raising his voice and his mother yells into the phone.
“God..? God is the reason your father died. Fuck your God!”
A tear falls from Rick’s face and he hears the dial tone from the phone as Celia hangs up.
A train arrives and the station is flooded with people in all directions. Rick grabs his bag and looks at the train station clock that reads “10 o’clock”. His attention is focused at the large board for the schedule of trains that are going to Chicago, and other various places. A loud screeching is heard in the distance as the train to Chicago pulls in. The lobby of the train station is overwhelmed with people moving in all directions. Someone bumps Rick from behind, and he drops his bag on the ground.
“Watch it ASSHOLE!” Rick says with a raised temperament.
He looks around for the person that bumped him. Another person slams into Rick, he falls to the ground. The person picks up his bag and runs rapidly out of the train station.
“HEY STOP HIM! THIEF!!!” Rick yells in the train station, and no one pays any attention.
Rick runs after the thief. He races through the crowded train station. In the background he hears on the speaker: Last call for Chicago. He looks in the direction of the train and the path in which the man took his baggage, he gives chase after the man that took his bag. The train horn blares and it pulls away from the station.
Rick runs out of the train station, he turns the corner, and trips over a homeless man lying on the ground. The tattered and worn homeless man uncovers the hat from his eyes and clears his throat. His two front teeth are missing and when he smiles at Rick his tongue slightly protrudes through them.
“Spare change?” The homeless man says as Rick jumps to his feet, dusts himself off, and looks at the homeless mans soft dimples in his face that gives him a feel of the man’s better days of his long lost past that has left him. Rick’s head turns in all directions for the person that took his bag. The person has vanished, and Rick looks to the sky for help.
“Why me?” Rick says, as the homeless man lets out a congenial hiccup and a smile that resonates from the previous night’s libations.
“Are the aliens coming again?”
Rick shakes his head and pulls both his pockets inside-out. He has a ball of lint and God’s phone number. He tosses the ball of lint and walks back into the train station.
The time flows through the train station like a soft cool evening breeze. The station is calm and desolate. A janitor cleans the bathroom in the distance, and a security guard walks around the corner, and looks at the homeless man. Rick lies down on the bench looking at the clock tick away like the passing breeze.
The security guard pokes at the homeless man on the ground. The homeless man turns, looks at him, and flips him the middle finger.
“Man, what did I tell you? You can’t sleep here. It’s closing time.” The security guard says, as the homeless man continues to raise his middle finger at the security guard and pokes his tongue through his teeth.
Rick walks to the pay phone and looks at God’s number. He dials the operator to be connected.
“Please God.” Rick says under his breath as the phone rings.
“Hello?” God says picking up the phone.
“I was wondering if…”
“Are you ok, son?”
“Yeah I’m fine. Is the position still open?”
“It is and I’m sure that you have a lot of questions. However if you take the position there’s no going back.” God says, in a strong tone giving way for a long silence.
“I understand.”
The moonlight shines through the stained glass windows and lights the inside of the church. Rick walks into God’s office in an almost embarrassed manner, like a dog with his tail between his legs, looking towards the ground. He raises his head and tries to ask a question, but is stopped by God.
“Shhh! Please sit.” God says.
Rick sits in front of God. God presses a button on his desk, and the door behind Rick quickly opens. A Priest walks in and places a wooden stand next to God’s desk, and the Holy Bible rests next to the stand. The priest stands by God’s side and pours holy water into a glass bowl, and places it on the wooden stand. God places both of his hands on Rick’s shoulders staring deep into his soul.
“At this point once the next door is open, you have to go through, no matter what. Do you understand?” God says with a strong sense of conviction. Rick looks around and then nods his head. God nods his head at the Priest, and the Priest opens the office door. A large man holding a briefcase walks in. The large man stands by Rick’s right side. He opens his briefcase and Rick is confused at the contents.
“What’s going on? What the hell is this?” Rick continues to shout out.
God picks up the Holy Bible and walks in front of Rick. The large man pulls out a tattoo gun and places it on the desk. “Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior?” God says, with a humble tone to his voice. The confusion resonates between the eyes of Rick’s face and his mind looks for answers.
“How do I believe in something that I can’t see?” Rick answers, as God takes a step toward Rick. Rick nods in adherence as if he had another option. The large man quickly ties Rick’s right arm to the chair exposing only part of his wrist.
“HEY! What is this? Get off me Juggernaut!”
Rick tries to shake free from the chair and the large man holds him down. God places his hand in the holy water, and puts his hand over Rick’s head to retrace the holy trinity. Rick’s demeanor slowly calms.
“In the name of the father and of the son and in the holy spirit. I baptize you ST. JAMES.” God says as he places a wooden crucifix around Rick’s neck that is suspended from a filament wire to give the notion that Christ has risen.
A sparking is heard from a tattoo gun. Rick, now St. James, quickly opens his eyes to the pain of the tattoo needle hitting his skin. “Are you kidding me?” Rick says as he widens his eyes. God places the Bible on the desk and the large man finishes the
tattoo. He unties St. James from the chair. St. James opens his eyes and looks at God.
“Welcome to the Church.” God says. God pulls out a barcode scanner from his desk. He picks up St. James’s wrist and scans it.
“You’re on the clock now. I will put you with St. Peter for training as I have some loose ends that need to be tied up. We need to have you ready for the Super Bowl this weekend.”
The Priest and the large man leave the room. God looks at Rick with a fatherly eye. “Your father was a leader that I trusted dearly. Can I trust you?”
“You can trust me. I promise.”
“This can be your new family and a new life if you’re faithful.”
Rick puts his head to the ground. A tear falls from his eyes and he sniffles his nose. “I’ll be better then my father ever was. You’ll see…” Rick says as he wipes his face of a tear. God writes instructions on a note in front of him and hands them to St. James.
End of Part I
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