The Family Man

He was still waiting for the drop. It was 9:32 pm and he was losing his edge. He had been sitting in his car for five minutes, in a Wal-Mart parking lot, waiting for some guy he had never met. He had called and left a message, but the only contact had been through text messaging or email.

Message from 804-555-6654: 9:30, I’ll be in a green Jeep Cherokee

At this point, every vehicle looked like a Jeep Cherokee. With each passing car, he would bolt upright and start to put his window down before realizing it wasn't the guy.. How many different kinds of Jeeps do they make? He thought. He looked at the dashboard again, 9:35, he would give it 5 more minutes and then he was gone. This was not his style, waiting for a stranger in a dark lot.

He had strategically parked towards the back of the massive lot. This put him away from the cluster of parked cars. It also gave him an unubstructed view, which was of little comfort to him now, as he watched a group of loud teenagers walk by. He listened to the radio and continued to wait for the mysterious Jeep.

Darren Boyd was 32 and a straight shooter. He had a clean record, with the exception of one speeding ticket that was no longer on his driving report. Both he and his wife Sherri worked at the nearby hospital, he as a Support Technician, and she as a nurse. Darren had a good job and a great home life, the center of which was his 2 year old daughter, Amy. Amy’s third birthday was next week as him and Sherri were scrambling to make plans.

I can read the headlines now, Darren thinks to himself. Man killed in WalMart parking lot, little girl loses Father just before third birthday. Friends and family will wonder just what he was doing in that parking lot.

At 9:39 he reaches down to turn the ignition when he sees it. A Jeep Cherokee slowly rolls to a stop behind him. His pulse racing, he tries to compose himself. He jumps as his cell phone comes to life with a text message.

Message from 804-555-6654: Is that you?

Yep, that's me.

This is it he thinks to himself. He takes the cash out of his wallet and stuffs it in his front pocket. After a deep breath, Darren opens the door. He sheepishly looks around as he makes his way to the Jeep under the menacing light in the parking lot. The window comes down and a stream of smoke escapes from inside the Cherokee. Darren can see large, bearded middle aged man behind the steering wheel.

Uh, hey, how’s it going?” Darren asks timidly.

“Alright man, so you wanted four tickets, right?”

“Well, three, but you said two or four, right?” Darren answers

“Yep, one twenty-five should do it.”

Darren counts out the money slowly and hands it to the unlikely vendor. Now for the moment of truth. He sees the man pull an envelope out of the console and quickly look inside to inspect the contents before handing it to Darren.

“There you go man, take it easy.”

“Thanks”

With that, he’s gone. Darren watches as the Jeep drives away. He looks in the envelope and pulls out the tickets. Four general admissions to The Fresh Beat Band, live at the Bryer Theatre.

Amy loved The Fresh Beat Band; she watched every day and loved to sing along to the songs. The show at the Bryer, part of their national tour, had sold out months ago. Darren and Sherri had given up on trying to find tickets. A friend at work had mentioned Craigslist to Darren, who, although skeptical at first, finally found tickets.

Now, as Darren did a victory dance before walking back to the car, he would be a hero. He started the car and headed home, smiling from ear to ear. Now I just have to figure out how I'm going to make it through this concert he thought, but he was happy to give it a try.

Copyright 2012 Pete Fanning