|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- FOREMAN ITTENER PIER--CUP 19--"WALKER FANTIVE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Foreman Ittener Pier  ||  -------> (Cup SRfi019, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Ferrajalt?" a man's voice said. "Yeah?" "This is Walker Fantive, Head of the Peeferkihint Team here. How did you get to Oijamaka?" "I, um--well, I gotta tellya--it's a really long story." "Are you okay?" "Yeah." I said. "I'm fine." "Is there anyone else there with you?" "Anyone with me...?" I repeated, looking over at Lunatether, who motioned at me. "Uh, yeah. I'm with, uh, Hilltop Jone Rallity? From the Urbandersnacheron Team?" "Hilltop Jone Rallity?" Walker said, clearly excited, even though I could tell he was trying to keep his voice steady. "Yup." I said. "Okay, Ferrajalt." Walker said. "I want you to get here as soon as possible. Where in Oijamaka are you, exactly?" "I dunno--by Foreman Ittener Pier, if that means anything." "Yeah... yeah. There's a major airport about 30 miles from you. Think you can get there? I'll wire you the tickets--they'll be waiting for you at the terminal." "Airport?" I said, again looking over at Lunatether, who motioned her disapproval. "Um--no can do, Walker. We have some, uh, precious cargo, uh, if you will, and we have to transport it by truck." "What sort of cargo?" "Um--the sort of thing we shouldn't really talk about over the phone. Y'know?" "No problem, Ferrajalt. I just want to get you here safe and in one piece. Do you have a truck yet?" "No, not yet. But we have some gold, and we want to sell it to get cash to buy a truck or something." "Okay." Walker said. "You're gonna have a hard time selling the gold to a legal operation. If you want to hold on, I can call one of my contacts in organized crime. They'll fence the gold for you and get you a truck plus all the cash you need. Okay?" "Organized crime?" I asked. Lunatether shrugged. "Well, I guess it'll be okay." "Alright--so how much gold do you have?" "I dunno--hold on. Lunateth-- I mean, uh, Hilltop, how much do we have?" I said, cringing at my mistake. "Around 20 or 30 pounds." "Yeah, around 20 or 30 pounds." I said to Walker. "Jeez!" he exclaimed. "Ten pounds is more than enough. Ditch the rest somewhere. Otherwise they'll start to get weird." "Okay." I said. "Look--where are you? Exactly? I'll call my guy and his friends down there will take care of you. No problem." "Um--" I said. "We're a few miles from Foreman Ittener Pier, at, uh, the corner of Brame and Hujio." "Okay--hang out while I put you on hold--" I looked over at Lunatether. "Looks like he has it all figured out. Gonna send a guy over to take care of us. A truck, money, and whatever, in exchange for the gold. He said only to give 'em 10 pounds or so. so we gotta hide the rest or something." "Okay." Lunatether said. "I'll leave you with the ten pounds, and I'll take the rest back to Bandelion. You can deal with whoever comes, if I don't get back in time, right?" "Sure." I said. She gave me a whole bunch of gold bars, which I began stowing in the multiple pockets of my police outfit. Soon I had the ten pounds of bullion on my person, and she bade me farewell, heading back to the woods. "Hello?" Walker said. "Yeah." "Okay, we're all set. 160 ounces of gold in exchange for a truck and about $10,000--depending on what sort of truck you want." "Cool." "A man named Dowaren will meet you in a few minutes right where you are. You'll know him by his purple and green wristbands. Okay? Give him the gold and he'll take care of you. You can trust 'em 'cause if they screw you they'll lose me as a customer--and they don't want to do that." "Okay." I said. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" "Um--yeah. You'll get halfway tonight, halfway tomorrow. Okay." "Alright--so I'll look for this Dowaren guy." "Yeah. So I'll see you. Bye-bye." "Bye." I said. Then I hung up. A few minutes later, this Dowaren guy drove up in a big car, and I gave him the gold and described what sort of truck I needed. He drove off with the gold, and I sure hoped he'd be back. Then Lunatether returned. We got some food in the store we were waiting by--pickles and walnuts, if I remember correctly. After about 45 minutes, Dowaren returned in a mid-sized truck, with more than enough room in its cargo hold for Bandelion. He parked it, got out, and walked up to me. "It's got a full tank of gas and there's $10,000 cash in the glove compartment." he said, handing me the keys. Then he looked over me and Lunatether. "Deal was, no questions. I gotta admit I got a few, but that's neither here nor there. If you're okay, that's it. I'm out of here." "Um," I said looking over at Lunatether. "I think that's it. Thanks." "Okay." he said as he started walking away, toward the beach. Lunatether sighed. "Well, now for the hard part." she said. "Getting Bandelion into the truck without her throwing a fit, and also without the neighbors seeing." "You can do it, 'Hilltop'." She regarded me with a sly smile, took the keys from me, and headed for the truck. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----