Merlot Read Online Free PDF Page B

history.
    Along with keeping each of his stands
supplied throughout the sixteen-hour day, he made all the bank
runs, carrying a leather briefcase, dressing like any other fool at
the fair, trying desperately to blend into the crowd. Which was
hard to do when you were a fifty-eight-year-old, five foot seven,
fat, red-headed guy with a crew cut carrying a loaded
forty-five.
    Making the bank runs for five stands had him
covering about twenty miles a day on foot. He stuffed the cash into
his briefcase and brushed his fingertips across the forty-five
jammed in his belt. Then made his way to the handicap parking area
where he climbed into his pickup and drove three minutes to the
bank.
    He wasn’t a fool. Walking twenty plus miles
over the course of any day it made sense to just print up a fake
handicap tag and hang it from his rearview mirror. He bribed the
guard at the handicap lot as a backup plan.
     
Saturday
    Merlot poured his second cup of coffee as he
looked at used car ads waiting for the meat delivery.
    The two delivery guys soon joined him. They
were red faced, dressed in white, juice-stained coats embroidered
with their names on the front. Kevin and Larry. They had just
hauled the meat order into the walk in coolers.
    “You guys done?”
    “Yeah, double check us,” Larry said and
handed Merlot the delivery slip.
    “Looking good as always,” Merlot said a few
minutes later, then signed the packing slip, tore off the top copy,
handed the rest back to Larry.
    “Thinking of buying a used car?” Larry asked
looking at the circled ads.
    “What? Oh, no, not really.” The term
‘corroborating evidence’ exploded in his head.
    “Well then, why’d you circle all the car ads?
You want a used car? Kevin’s got a van for sale. Don’t you Kevin?
What do you want for that thing? Real good runner,” Larry said, not
giving Kevin a chance to answer.
    Merlot didn’t care about Kevin’s price. He
just wanted the conversation to end.
    “No, one of the waitresses was looking for a
car. I told her I’d check the paper, that’s all,” attempting to
move on.
    “You guys catch the Twins last night?”
    “God damned Twins. I can’t figure out what
they need more, fielding, hitting or base running,” scoffed
Kevin.
    “Tell him about the wife’s van, Kevin. Thing
runs like a top. And the wife’s taken good care of the thing.
Hasn’t she Kevin? Changed the oil regularly, no maintenance beyond
the normal, no accidents, just picking up kids. About sixty
thousand miles, got it in 2004 although it’s a 2005 model.”
    “She’s thinking about something a little more
sporty,” Merlot said.
    “Well, you had a van circled here, and this
one’s a van. She got kids, this waitress?”
    “I don’t really know, but you’re right about
those Twins, they need help in all departments.”
    “Know what you should do Kevin? Drive the
wife up here for a steak tonight, show Merlot and that waitress the
van. She’ll buy it soon as she sees the damn thing. What price you
got on it, Kevin, that van?”
    “Sold last night,” Kevin said, finally able
to get a word in.
    “Sold? What? Jeez, Merlot, it would have been
perfect. She just drove it with the kids. You know picking them up,
dropping them off, just family stuff.”
    “Look guys, thanks, I’ll see you Monday
morning, have a great weekend but I got a busy night and I had
better start getting ready for it, gotta fly,” he said, backing
toward the swinging kitchen door, making an exit before he had to
hear about Kevin’s van again.
    “Hey, Merlot, you forgot your want ads. Jeez,
you sold it, hunh? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    * * *
    Cindy hit her snooze alarm at least three
times before she bolted upright in bed. She ran to the kitchen and
gobbled three aspirins. The sight of the wine bottle made her head
throb, and the need to be at work by 7:00 did absolutely nothing to
help.
    On any given Saturday morning there might be
two or three nigh deposits, but during fair week