If you missed a previous chapter, you can find them archived here: Bike Mechanic Chapter Archive
5. Civil Disobedience
Seward didn't say anything for a few minutes. Instead he felt the need bang on something. He walked around the counter to his workstation and picked up a bent wheel rim and a truing mallet. Seward took a couple of swings at the rim, thwacks and twangs rang though the otherwise silent shop.
In-between his hammer swings, he could hear Inez trying to tell him something, but the ringing in his ears blocked everything out. Until he thought he had heard her say something about Al and a railroad. He let his shoulders sag, and he put the mallet away. "Come again?" Seward turned around. "What was that about Al?"
"He told me that you were part a railroad."
Seward snorted.
"Can you…I don't know." If she would have been blond, she would have flipped her hair off her should. She wasn't. So she demanded, "Make me disappear."
"Disappear? Disappear. Did you even bother to read my activism manifesto?" Seward raised his hand. "Don't. I know you didn't. Abby's characters might have cut and run, but I sided with Henry David Thoreau. Civil Disobedience without a face is nothing more than a pointless criminal act."
"Thoreau never said that."
"Your right. He didn't, but I did." Seward pulled a small leather box out from under near the register. He opened it and paused. "If no one takes credit for an act of extreme activism, it becomes a random act of violence."
Inez shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Is that why you stuck around and got arrested? We just thought you were sloppy."
"Sloppy?"
Inez took a couple of aggressive steps forward. "Yeah, sloppy."
"I took responsibility. Taking responsibility is not sloppy." Seward didn't back down. Instead, he let Inez invade his personal space. She was close enough that he could feel the heat from her body, but they weren't touching. "Thoreau spent time in jail for tax evasion. He stood up for what he believed in. He followed thought."
"The laws are different now. The acts are different."
"No. I disagree."
"You can disagree all you want, but I'm not going to jail." Inez stepped back. She turned her back to Seward. "Al told me that you might not want to help me, so he gave me a few other names, but he said to try you first." Inez pulled out a wad of bills. "If you need money…"
"Put your money away."
"So you'll help?"
"Yeah, I'll help." Seward stared to line up index cards on the display case. "But not until you tell me more about Al."
Inez picked up one of the cards. "What are these?"
"The railroad."
"What do you want to know about Al?"
"How is he?"
"Not good. I had to get special permission to visit him in the hospital."
"Let me guess…"
"He has lung cancer, but he couldn't stop talking about the good old days."
"Well, they weren't so good."
"You should go see him. I could tell you where he's staying. I know that's not how it works, but you should go see him. He seemed lonely."
"We're all lonely, and you're right, it's not how it works." Seward took the card back and placed it on the counter. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"You're sure." Seward looked into her eyes and saw a fierce quality that he could admire. "You only get one chance at this. If you answer any of the questions incorrectly, or I feel that you'd put the railroad at risk, I'll stop. You'll be on your own."
"I'm ready."
Seward flipped over the first card.
0 comments:
Post a Comment