An Offer

February 11, 2010

That morning, Jack, Sr., met with Sally. “I want to take you away from that no good husband of yours. I love you and want to be committed to one another.” Sally started to tear up. “Jack, you know that’s what I want to do, too, but isn’t that a bit premature. You haven’t seen my kids. But if I try to leave, he’ll kill us both and keep the kids for custody.” “Sally, that’s fear talking”, Jack replied. “I may be a stupid idiot old fart, and I may be impetuous, but I’ve never had a clearer thought in my life, but I’m not going to live my life in fear. Here’s what I think we should do. I’ll go meet with your husband, man to man, and we’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse, and tell him that you’re leaving him and that you want custody of the kids. I’ll put you up in a nice place that I’ll rent in Mobile, so he can’t trace the address. If he attacks me, then he goes to jail, if he doesn’t and I doubt he will because he’s a gutless punk in my book, you’ll have the papers signed and that’s it.” First, we need you to see a lawyer to draft up a separation agreement.”

Later that day, Lawyer Simmons drafted up a separation agreement that was what they all agreed to. Sally would pay to her soon to be ex-husband the sum of $200,000. In exchange, he would surrender all claims to custody.

February 10, 2010.

At 7 p.m., Jack Jenkins knocked on the door of a house in run down part of down. “Mr. Beaudine?” “Yeah, who’s askin’” was Beau’s impolite response. “I’m Jack Jenkins, I want have come to talk to you about your wife, Sally. She wants to leave you and I want to help her do that.” “You mean, she’s a doin’ ya, and you like that action don’t you grandpa.”, retorted Beau. “I have to admit, that Sally means a lot to me, but she’s ended up in my life because you beat her out of yours.” “Are you ‘cusing me of beating my wife?” “Facts is facts, Mr. Beaudine”, replied Jack. “Anyway, here’s the way I see it. I’m going to give you $100,000, (see, here’s a cashier’s check), if you sign this separation agreement renouncing custody of the kids and Sally will agree that you can keep the house, and everything from the marriage. Or, you can say no, I keep the $200,000, she leaves you and files for divorce on the grounds of abuse, she takes half of everything you own and gets custody of the kids. Its your call”, Jack offered. “I oughta kick your ass right here”, said Beau. “Do you think, you can buy me for $100,000? I won’t take a dime less than $200,000.”. “Is that your final number, Mr. Beaudine?” asked Jack.

What to do, what to do?

January 31, 2010

Jack, Jr. looked at the car Elmo was driving. What could he do to rig the car to make it look like an accident? The brake tampering had failed in New Orleans and he darn near got figured out and his Dad still might be piecing those together and the New Orleans police haven’t yet closed the case. Electrical wiring has possibilities, but again probably traceable. He remembered his dad talking about a recall in the 1970’s when engine mounts on cars failed and the engine dropped causing the accelerator to drop to the floor. He went to the garage and looked around to see if there were any worn bolts and nuts for engine mounts. He went into the computer to see if they had worked on any in the last week or so. And there it was, just yesterday in Bay 3. He grabbed a large muffler box out of the trash. He went to Bay 3 and talked to the mechanic, Bart. “Bart, you still got the engine mounts and parts, you took off that muscle car yesterday?” “Yessir, but why do you want them?” Bart asked inquisitively. “Corporate wants them to see if this is a bad batch or not”, Junior fired back. “Cool”, Bart replied as he handed put the parts into the muffler box and handed the box to Junior. Junior headed back to his office, sealed up the box. Now he had to figure out how to swap out the parts and not have the engine fall on him and crush him in the process. .

After Bart handed over the parts,

Beau Beaudine was watching TV when the ad came on and there he was the man from the bar, Jack Jenkins, stud football player and car dealer. “Car dealer! I hate $%!@ car dealers!”

Beau went into the kitchen and confronted Sally. “Sally, do you know Jack Jenkins”. Sally always assumed that her husband watched her, but she had to play this one just the way she rehearsed it. Show animation and anger at Jack, that was the tract. “Yes, I saw him in a bar the other day when I went for a coke to wait for the kids to get home from school, he tried to pick me up, but I told him to buzz off”, she replied from her mental script. “I told him I had a man twice as good as him, and why was he trolling bars for younger women anyways”. “Good job, honey, you cut that man’s balls right oft”, Beau exclaimed. “Good thing, too, I’d have killed both of you. Now stay away from that bar, you hear.”

Bar chat

January 5, 2010.

“Hey, Jerry how are you doing?” Jack, Senior exclaimed. “I’m doing great you sorry SOB. How’s Junior doing?” Jerry replied. “Pretty good I guess, he got his wick wet with some babe, he met here the other night”. “Well we aims to please around here”, answered Jerry. “Give me a bourbon and soda, hell I’ve got a driver.” Big Jack smile. They talked for awhile. “Jerry, I had someone try and cut my brakes the other night, New Year’s night while I was in New Orleans. I hate to ask, but I want to be sure that Junior was here on New Year’s night during the Houston – Notre Dame game.” “New Year’s night, you said?” Jerry asked. “Yup”. “Well, that’s a problem, I wasn’t here New Year’s night. New Year’s eve sucked all the energy out of me, so I stayed home that night and I had a new manager on duty that I just hired last week who probably wouldn’t know Junior, but I’ll ask”, Jerry replied. “Thanks, man, he probably was here, but this just has me a bit scared. Some SOB wanted me dead.”

A cut what?

January 2, 2010.

Jack, Sr., hopped into his turbo charged Muscle. He headed north toward Minton. He was moving along at about 65 miles per hour. He decided to exit and drain the lizard. When he put on the blinker to turn right, his foot automatically started to touch the brake pedal which immediately hit the floor, no brakes. “Oh, shit”, he thought. He took his foot off the accelerator and let his car drift and slowly pulled onto the Emergency lane. How was he going to explain this to the cop. Then he noticed his satellite vehicle emergency device. He hit the red button and a nice lady came on. “How can I help you” she asked. “I need a tow truck out here, my brakes failed”, Senior replied. “Anyone hurt?” she politely asked. “No, just need a tow”. “We’ll send one in five minutes to your location which is showing on our computers.”

Hank Melbourne and his tow truck arrived shortly thereafter and towed Senior to the dealership in town. The mechanic looked at the car and saw the problem. “Someone sure messed with your vehicle”, he said sardonically. “What do you mean?” Jack asked fearfully. “Pretty amateur job, they punctured it with like a pen knife”, the mechanic replied. “When do you think it happened. You say you left New Orleans, it probably happened there. Some punk kid probably wanting to get a thrill.” “Could it have happened before I left for New Orleans from Montgomery?” Jack asked. “Nah, too far” the mechanic answered.

Later that day, a pleasant voice said over the phone “Jack Jenkins Motors, may I help you?” Jack liked that young woman who answered the phone at the dealership. He’d have to give her a raise, he thought to himself. “This is Big Jack, is Junior in?” “No, sir, he said he was up late last night watching football and would be sleeping in late today.” “Thanks, darlin’,” Senior replied. Jack, Sr. dialed “Junior’s home phone, it rang a couple of times and a sleepy sounding Jack, Jr. answered the phone. “Hullo”. “Junior, this is your dad, I damn near got killed this morning on the Interstate”. “What?”, Junior asked. “I damn near got killed heading home from New Orleans”, Jack, Sr. repeated. “Hhow?” Junior asked. “Brakes failed on the Interstate and I was able to roll oft the road. But had there been an emergency, I’d have been toast.” “Are you getting them fixed?” Junior asked. “Yeah, I’m at the garage right now. Someone punctured the line with a pen knife. Son, what were you doing last night?” “Dad, do you think I’d do something that chicken sh… to cut your brake line? If you need to know, I went to Jerry’s Bar to watch the game with some friends, met a hot looking chick in a Houston jersey who was quite drunk and quite willing and went her place. And yes I had my raincoats with me. I left her place at about 4 a.m. and got home around 5 a.m. and I’m pretty tired right now”, Junior responded in an obviously irritated tone. “Sorry, son, this just shook me up.” “I understand Dad, once you get your car fixed, let me know when to meet you at Hardee’s, and I’ll be there.”