Hazel's Hitchhiker

35: Locked Up

Joey

It took less than five minutes for Officer McDowell to lock me up in jail. It was exactly how I always pictured it would be. In fact, it was worse than what my mind had envisioned. It was like I had died and gone to Hell. Hopefully, this would all get settled as a misunderstanding and I'd be out of here by the end of the day. If it wasn't a fluke, I would obviously have to go to court and see a judge. Austin would be postponed. Worse, it might have to be canceled.

Sitting in the hellish cage, playing with my fingers, it came to my attention that I was the one that had the money on me. It was going to be hard for Hazel to bail me out. Shit, what a terrible situation to be in. A terrible situation indeed. With all this on my mind, I never paid attention to the fact that there were two other guys in here with me. One looked like he was passed out on the floor as he appeared to be overweight. Must have had a drunk night out. The other guy was sitting down normally with his eyes on the ceiling. This guy was an elderly man who definitely needed to shave off his beard.

"Watcha in for boy?" asked the elderly man who took his sight off the ceiling.

"For going five miles over the speed limit. But I really should've been arrested for a DUI."

The old dude began lightly chuckling. "Going five miles over the speed limit? Ya got some bad luck boy. That ain't no lie."

"What are you in for?" I asked thinking it must've been for something stupid.

"Eh, I said something that offended one of the cops. Told the cop that his wife was a cheatin' whore. He didn't like those words much. And because of that, he locked me up here. Been in this dump for the past year."

"Past year?" My eyes lit up at the fact which almost led me to choke. "You haven't seen a judge yet? Like what the hell happened to a fast and speedy trial?"

"Fast and speedy trial," his voice began chuckling again. "Boy out here, there ain't no American Justice. Sheep City is a small town that ain't never gets any attention. The cops know it and play by their own damn rules. Hell, the town only has one judge. We call him Judge Bobby D. Douglas. He's so old that he only comes in on Mondays and Tuesdays." His words took a break for a sigh with his sight taking a quick glance at the ceiling. "I ain't no betting man, but I'd say ya might be in here a while.

Without a doubt, that was the last thing my own ears wanted to hear. Damn, my own life already felt like a prison and now I traded my life for actually being in prison. Okay fine, jail. Couldn't a guy like me get some kind of break? Without another thought, my fists began banging on the cells and I began screaming at the top of my lungs. Damn it, there would be no freedom. There would be no basketball. There would be no Hazel or Austin.

"Shut up boy," one of the cops responded. "Don't make me come in there and beat ya ass."

Being in jail, an ass beating was the last thing that my body desired. Following directions, I stayed quiet and sat down. There had to be some kind of hope. Anything at all would do.

"Where were ya going anyways?" asked the old man.

"I was on my way to Austin to start school at The University of Texas at Austin." It's hard to know why, but my response led to my own laughter. "I was actually hitchhiking with this girl who tutored me. Her name's Hazel." Followed by laughter, there came a great sigh. "Hazel was on her way to Austin as well and agreed to give me a ride after the bus I was planning on taking wasn't able to take me."

"Hazel ya say?" a large grin took over the old guy's face. "That's a nice name. She sounds like a nice girl. She ya girlfriend or something?"

Great, first Craig thought there was something between the two of us. Now, this dude was asking questions about us. Was there something that I was missing?" Anything? Did Hazel know something?

"No, I suppose we're just friends. To be honest I'm not sure if we're even friends. She tutored me, but we never actually hung out beyond that. Maybe we're just acquaintances. I'm not even sure if we would've hung out once we got to Austin. Likely we would've gone our own separate ways." Yes, at this point I was just babbling and would've continued talking, but thankfully was interrupted.

"Boy, ya thinking way too much about this. To me, it don't sound like you two are acquaintances. It sounds to me like the two of ya are friends. She clearly likes ya well enough to give ya ass a ride all the way to Austin." He took a minute to pause and found a spot right next to me. Putting his hand over my shoulder, his rusty old eyes began looking seriously deep into my soul. "If ya ever get out of this dump, give that girl a kiss as soon as possible. I ain't playin' boy. Tell her how ya feel. Tell her. Don't wait around before it's too damn late."

"Uh, I don't know. I'm not sure how I feel. And who the hell knows how Hazel actually feels about me?"

"Well with that attitude, nothing will happen. Boy, ya need to think about this. Think hard. Is it possible that deep down in that young heart of yours that it could be possible that you might actually have some sort of feeling for this girl? Anything at all?"

Maybe he was right. Hazel was special. Sure, she might be a little bitchy, but I was enjoying her company. And the way she chewed on her sunglasses was hot. Hell, she loves Arizona Iced Tea. What could be more amazing than that?

"I suppose it's possible that I might like her a little."

Taking his hand off me, he spoke. "Well, there ya go. Ya like her a little. She might like ya a little. That's always how it starts. Small feelings develop into something big." Standing up and putting his sight on the cell, his speech was continued. "Don't be like me boy. When I was a young boy, there was this girl I had my eye on. We went to the same church. Sunday after Sunday, Jenny would always be there in the front sitting on her cute little butt. She had the finest Sunday dress that money could buy. Her lips were as smooth as a baby. Damn, Jenny was a special girl. Every so often, the church would have a potluck and I would work up the nerve to say hi to her. She'd smile and say hello back. Nothing more and nothing less. Things got interesting during my senior year when she stopped being homeschooled and became a student at the school I went to. We shared three classes together and were paired to do a group project with each other.

"How's the research coming along?" Jenny asked while holding a bright red apple.

"Oh, it's coming along."

"I can help you if you want. Maybe we can go to the library together and do some research together."

"Uh, It's fine. I'm almost done with my research. Shouldn't take no more than a good hour."

"Damn, I really should've taken her up on that offer to the library. It may not have been a date, but it would've been something." Tired of standing up, he chose to lay down on the floor. "About a month later, she started dating Paul. About a couple of years later, they got married and ended up having nine damn kids. Not to mention, but Paul turned her into a damn whore."

Not another word was spoken by this old man. It was clear that he lived some kind of sad life apart from Jenny. Poor guy.

"Joey," spoke a voice that came from a cop that entered the room. The other cop left the room. "Get up! We're getting the hell out of here."

In a split second, the cop took off the fake mustache and beard that laid on his face. It was none other than Phillip. Damn, Phillip was here to rescue me?

First Amber and now Phillip?! WOW! I appreciate all your support as this story reached 1K reads! Remember to comment and vote!

Have you ever been afraid of your own feelings for someone?

Is the old man right?

How do you think Hazel truly feels about Joey?

Thoughts on Phillip coming to the rescue?