GB96 s2 - Working Girl Part 6

Ellen is working out well. Almost too well. She doesn’t have Stef’s natural affinity for machines, but she’s frankly a little bit smarter, and that makes up for it. The plan to take on more business while taking the strain off Mr. Gibson is working. It’s not an overnight miracle and not everything goes perfectly, but it doesn’t take long for positive patterns to become noticeable.

Mr. Gibson quickly finds, true to your prediction, that long hours are necessary. So he has to make good on his promise to fix Stef’s motorcycle. There’s irony in him sitting outside the shop, working on the bike while Ellen and Stef do the real work inside under an F-250.

The summer heat means a lot of breaks for Sprite. When you’re lucky, Stef and Ellen remember to invite you. It’s one of those evenings; the air swarms with bugs, but Mr. Gibson has a zapper hanging at each corner of the garage. Mr. Gibson has gone into town to bring back a pizza, and you, Ellen, and Stef sit on stools drinking soda around the motorcycle. It doesn’t look like much compared to those bikes that those jerks are riding through town all the time.

“Who are those guys?” You can’t help but ask. The howl of their bikes is difficult to miss. There was always a moronic university student or two with a sport bike to wake people up at odd hours, but you don’t remember all the motorcycle noise in Gurlberg before you went to California. Maybe you’ve just forgotten it.

“They sell weed,” Ellen says readily. “I’ve heard it from like forty people.”

“Isn’t that like the dumbest idea ever? They ride motorcycles,” you remind them. “It’s like the worst thing to try to use to transport stuff.”

“I think they use cars,” Stef says.

“We already have **** dealers. There’s Heather and Robin and Bobby,” you say, counting on your fingers. “That guy behind the Metro Mart. That other hippie guy that’s at the farmer’s market.”

“Well, I don’t know about the hippie guy, but the idea is that Bobby and them get their weed from these guys,” Stef explains.

“Oh,” you reply. “Where were they getting it before?”

“Uh, you know that house on Forest Park and Chester?” Ellen asks. “I think they got it there.”

“Huh,” you say. “What happened to those guys?”

Ellen looks at Stef. Stef shrugs and looks at you.

“You don’t think the bikers did some Godfather stuff, do you?” you ask.

“They gave my dad a fucking heart attack,” Stef says bitterly. “I’d believe it. Probably fed those guys to the gators.”

You shudder. You like smoking weed as much as anybody, but reality is dark.

“Why not sell real ****?” you ask.

“I guess there’s enough money in weed. I mean, those bikes cost as much as cars. And they all wear like forty pounds of gold,” Ellen says. "Even my mom doesn't have that much jewelry."