Beep, beep, beep, beep chimed the alarm clock at seven-thirty in the morning. Paul reached over, turned off the alarm and grabbed his pack of cigarettes. "Another fine day in paradise!" he said as he stretched and yawned. Paul Cheyney was not your average guy. He was tall and lanky with blonde hair, blue eyes and was in his thirties. Everyone who he had ever met had told him that he looked like a celebrity, but Paul did not think so.
He may have his own cars and may have a decent job, but he was certainly no celebrity and no hero, or so he thought. He was his own person and did not like when people thought of him this way. He lit his cigarette, went into the kitchen, turned on the coffee pot and said, "Can't go anywhere without wake-up fuel!" While the coffee was brewing, Paul sat at his kitchen table and began making a list of things he needed to do, like he did everyday.
As he thought about what needed to be done, Paul took a drag of his cigarette and reflected on the previous nights' escapade.
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"Paul you made it, man! This is awesome!" Enrique yelled from across the bar as Paul entered. Enrique was Paul's boss and best friend. Enrique had invited Paul and a few other guys from work to go out to the bar, and Paul had agreed to go for two reasons and two reasons alone; he never got out much and Enrique was celebrating his 40th birthday. Enrique would always give Paul a hard time about not getting out.
He would always say that Paul wasn't allowed to go out because his girls wouldn't let him. When Enrique referred to Paul's girls', he was referring to his two cars Jane and Janet. When Paul was not at work or hanging out with Enrique, he was working on them. Jane was a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro and Janet was a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T; Paul's pride and joy. "So did your bitches let you out to play?" Enrique asked with a loud chuckle, followed by a hiccup as he shook hands with Paul.
Paul looked at Enrique, smiled sarcastically and said, "Funny Enrique! Did you start the party without me?" He finished his question with a fake hiccup, imitating Enrique who was already drunk. Paul only put up with Enrique because he had known the man for more than ten years and soon he would be the sole owner of Enrique's shop; The Bump N' Grind Body Shop. Paul and Enrique had been best friends since high school so Paul knew when something was wrong or not right with Enrique. Enrique was being forced to retire early due to a malicious battle with cancer.
When Paul found out about the cancer, it nearly devastated him. The cancer had only been found two years ago, but it was such a rare form of cancer and was spreading so fast that it was killing him, and Enrique was trying to deny it. Naturally, Paul told Enrique that if he didn't start getting treatment right away that he would kick his ass himself, all the way to the treatment center. Paul may not like the way that Enrique treated him sometimes, but he still cared about his best friend. He didn't know what he would do without him.
Enrique stumbled up to Paul and handed him a beer and said, "Drink up, Paul! Enjoy my birthday with me!" Paul gladly accepted and smiled as he chugged the beer. When Paul finished, Enrique handed him another beer and smiled. Paul saw a twinkle in his eyes and was sure that Enrique was drunk, but he could also see the pain behind his smile. Paul felt saddened after he finished his second beer and he grabbed another and chugged that one too.
The cancer was getting worse and Paul did not know what to do or what he could do for his friend, so he sat thinking for a while. While he sat and thought, he had a few more beers before grabbing his keys. He picked up his seventh, unfinished beer bottle and tapped his keys on the bottle loudly, but being careful not to crack or break it. At that moment Paul began to second guess himself, but it was too late. Paul had the attention of the entire bar.
The music had stopped and it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop and every eye was on him. Paul made his way to the center of the bar floor, at the same time he was thinking of what he was going to say. Paul stopped and looked around and gazed everyone in their eye, and then he spoke, "Ahem," he started as he cleared his throat, "I would like to make a toast! Standing, well stumbling, in this bar tonight is an amazing person, a great boss and a person whom I admire." Paul paused and looked around the bar again; every eye was still on him. Paul started again, "Tonight he celebrates his 40th birthday and I am honored to know him and not only call him my friend but my best friend."
Paul stopped again, turned towards Enrique and pointed to him as he began speaking again, "This man has been there for me when times got rough and he is still here for me now." Paul stopped his speech and go the attention of one of the waitresses. He whispered something in her ear and she turned away and immediately headed towards the bar. A few moments later the waitress returned with two more waitresses. Each waitress held a tray that contained several shot glasses.
The glasses had been filled with shots of Crown Royal, and the waitresses began distributing the shots to everyone at the bar. Enrique was the first one to receive his shot and then Paul waved Enrique over to where he was standing. Enrique and Paul embraced each other in a side-hug when Paul began speaking again, "Enrique is battling a very rare form of cancer. He gave me a job, made me a partner and I will be forever grateful. I could not have asked for a better friend. So, on the count of three, please take a shot with me and help to celebrate the life of my friend. Enrique, my friend, Happy 40th Birthday old man! May you have the best birthday and many more to come! One...Two....Three." On the count of three, the entire bar, in unison, yelled happy birthday to Enrique, followed by erupted clapping, yelling and whistling.
Once Paul had finished his speech, Enrique hugged Paul and cried. He looked at Paul and said, "Thank you, Paul! This has been the best birthday ever!" Paul slapped Enrique on the back and said, "Your welcome, old man! Now drink up and enjoy your birthday!" They both chuckled and drank some more beers, and at that point the rest of the night was a blur.
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Paul snapped back to reality when he realized that the cigarette that he had been smoking burned his fingers. He tossed the smoldering cigarette in the ashtray quickly. He looked at the clock and it was already nine o'clock; he was late for work. Paul jumped out of the chair that he was sitting in and said to himself as he ran to his room, "Damn it! Well the first thing to do today is to get my ass to work. I am not the owner yet!" he said as he quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and T-shirt and got dressed.
He slipped on his shoes, sloshed some coffee into his thermos, grabbed his keys and headed out of the door. Paul ran and jumped into his Challenger, revved up the engine and shifted into reverse. He started to back out of his driveway until he remembered that he had forgot his cellphone, "Damn it, Paul!" he exclaimed "Get your shit together man, you are already late!" Paul shifted the car into park, quickly got out of the car and ran into the house. He realized then that he had forgotten to turn off the coffee pot, his wallet and even forgot to lock the door behind him.
He left the house, making sure to lock the door this time, and headed for the shop. In order to get to the shop, Paul had to drive by the Hi-Tech Computer Corporation. It was a large corporation that covered an entire city block; it looked like a school campus. Paul stopped at the traffic light right outside of the corporation because the light was red. He had the sudden realization that there was an eerie silence as he waited for the light to change; it just seemed weird.
It was quiet, too quiet and he was the only vehicle in sight. There wasn't even another car coming in the opposite direction like there usually was. Paul looked at his watch and it had only been twenty minutes since he left his house, "C'mon light, I don't have all day!" he said as he waited. At that moment the light changed to green and Paul slammed into first gear and peeled out. As the car started moving, a black bag suddenly landed on the hood.
It must have been heavy because it landed with a loud THUD. The sight and sound of the bag falling on the hood of the car, startled Paul causing him to come to a screeching halt. Paul didn't know what to think and said, "What the hell?" He sat and stared at the bag for a few more minutes while he tried to figure out what had just happened. He slowly leaned forward, looking out of the windshield, and looked up.
There was nothing nor anyone that he could see from the street, so Paul got out of the car. He looked around and looked up to see if he could see where the bag might have come from. He stood outside of the car and scratched his head. This was very unusual; the bag must have come from somewhere, but where? That Paul could see, there weren't any open windows on the building that the bag could have fallen from.
There was no one on top of the building, that he could see anyway, that could have dropped it. Paul grabbed the bag and noticed that there was a huge dent in the hood where the bag had landed, "Damn it, this is bullshit!" he exclaimed furiously. He hauled the bag, inside of the car violently through the drivers side door, climbed in and tried to get to work before anything else unexpected happened. By the time Paul made it to the shop, he was an hour and a half late for work, with a dent in his hood and a black gym bag with unknown contents inside of his car.
He was about to open the bag when he saw Enrique headed his way, "Oh shit, this is not going to be good. He looks pissed!" Paul let out a loud breath and hung his head and decided at that moment to save the peeking in the bag for later. Enrique saw Paul get out of the car and yelled while shaking his fist, "What the hell are you doing Paul?" Paul was right, Enrique was pissed. "You're an hour and a half late. I've been trying to call you all morning because I was worried about you, man! You got really trashed last night! I'm glad you are okay and everything but quite frankly I am surprised that you did not wind up wrapped around a tree or something!" Enrique finished. His face was red and his eyes were full of concern.
Paul put his hands up in the air and hung his head down as a sign of defeat. "Alright, alright I am sorry! Yes, I am late," Paul said as he paused and looked at Enrique, "I have had a weird start to my day! You wouldn't believe me even if I told you! But I am here, safe and sound and ready to work. I am late, but ready to work. Forgive me?" Paul finished.
He tilted his head sideways indicating that he really was sorry. Flustered, Enrique ran his hands through his hair and paced back and forth for a few moments until he stopped inches from Paul's face.
He dropped his arms to the side; he really wanted to punch Paul in the face really badly. Paul was preparing to get his ass kicked. He knew that pissing Enrique off was not the best of ideas, but it wasn't like he did it intentionally. He knew that he had hurt his friend. Paul watched Enrique's stance change and watched as he balled his hand into a fist.
Here it comes, this is really going to hurt, Paul thought to himself. Enrique reared his fist back and threw it towards Paul, but stopped just inches from his face. His fist turned into his index finger and he pointed at Paul, "Don't you ever do that to me again, ever! Now get your ass inside and get to work!" Enrique scolded.
After the scolding, Enrique embraced Paul in a side-hug and the two walked into the shop. Paul still had an eerie feeling. He felt as if he knew that something very big and very bad was going to happen but he didn't know what. He felt that this bag had landed in his lap, and that it soon would be the cause of his misery.