Giving Shit

"Are we going to be spending the night there?" she asked Edward Julian Watson. She blurted this question, as if it had come out of nowhere.
Putting his chin in his hand and shrugging his shoulders; all with such seriousness, he asked, "Do you want to?"
"It's up to you, but you need to let me know." She looked away from his face.
"Alright."
"Alright what?" she asked, looking up towards him.
"Alright we'll stay," Edward Julian Watson had decided.
And Becki was suddenly nervous.

The next day, she found the number for the highway hotel. She dailed that number and made the reservation.
And Becki was calm.

When the night and the day was almost done, they went to the hotel to check in.
Becki smiled and said her name to the short, dark man bulging behind the desk. He looked at her oddly. He tapped his whole hand on the top of the reservation book, before he pointed a finger at her. "I know you."
Becki smiled at him and she winked quietly. "Of course you do, Manny."
"You owe me money."
"What?" Becki stepped back.
"Yeah," he waved his finger faster and started shaking his head. "You owe me money."
"What?" Becki asked again. "I owe you...what?"
"Money. Lots of money. You lived her for free!"
"I lived here for free? What?"
"For free! You lived here for free! I know who you are. It was a long time a go, but I know who you are. You owe me like three thousand dollars."
"I what?"
"You owe me...you owe me three thousand dollars!"
"I owe you three thousand dollars? For what?" Becki asked.
"I told you-you lived here for free!"
Becki looked over her shoulder and she smiled at Edward Julian Watson. "Run", she said.
And Edward Julian Watson's eyes bulged, but the rest of him stayed motionless. "What?" he aked.
Turning to face him and starting to laugh; all with such seriousness, Becki repeated, "Run."
And so they did. Back to the car.
"It's time to get out of town. Let's just go to your place." She was still laughing.
And Edward Julian Watson decided again. "Alright."

Giving Shit

Edward Julian Watson had enough. He was going to quit the television business.
He decided this on the airplane ride back from Jamaica. It had been his first vacation in eight years.
Yes. He was quitting the television business and Edward Julian Watson was going into the travel business.
He told his mother, by telephone, when he arrived home. He had promised to call her first.
"I am going into the travel business," he said.
"Oh, I see," she replied. "And the television business?"
"I am quitting it."
"Oh, I see," she said. "You are being stupid."
"Well, I made it home safe, Mother. I will see you for lunch tomorrow." Edward Julian Watson ended the conversation.
He told Bob three days later.
I am going into the travel business," he said.
"And the television business?" Bob replied.
"I am quitting it."
"You're firing me, man?"
"Not if you want to move to Chicago. Hey, buddy, close up the store tonight. I am going to leave." Edward Julian Watson ended the conversation.
"Who ya seeing tonight?" Bob wanted to know.
"Just Becki," Edward Julian Watson said, leaving the store.

A week later, Becki was at the doctor's office.
"You're joking, right?"
The look on Becki's face made the doctor want to lie to her. But the Socrates in him could not allow it. "Unfortunately, no I am not. I am sorry, Becki."
"We can clear this up?"
"Yes, Becki, we can clear this up."
While the doctor explained how, Becki did not listen. The doctor handed her a pink pamphlet. "Do you have any question for me today?"
"No," she replied.
"Perhaps you will, after you read the pamphlet." He handed her a prescription. "Come see me next Wednesday."
On her way out of the office, Becki walked through the waiting room. She saw that other woman, Julia. She was sitting in one of the green chairs, with her hand in her lap and wearing very much the same look Becki herself had worn only twenty minutes beforehand.
Becki noticed the dark brown hat on Julia's head. It made her think of the green one she was wearing.
And then she knew.
Edward Julian Watson had given her head lice.
Becki's pharmacist was located across the road from where she worked and she wandered and wondered slowly, on her way over there. She noticed the big red-lettered signs Edward Julian Watson had put up in the windows of Star Television.
GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!
THIS MONTH ONLY!!