CHAPTER 5
Alice could still feel her heart racing as she pulled into her parents driveway. Fortunately enough for her both of them were at work which worked towards her advantage because time was of the essence and she knew her mother would grill her concerning her walk out at work. For a big girl she managed to move pretty fast as she peeled her clothes off and jumped into the shower to get the Wendy's grease off her body. It was going to be one of her quickest showers she had ever taken but when a man as eccentric as Dirty Bird is on the loose there is just no telling what the DOW Jones just might be doing in the next week or so. Not that she ever had the extra funds to play the stock market but she had always overheard her parents discussing it quite a bit.
Alice didn't bother to jump on the bathroom scale for a birthday suit weigh in as she usually did after a shower but rather raced into her bedroom and tapped onto the google ap on her prepaid smart phone. She picked the business card out from her lacy bra and typed in the numbers 34.568456743 -76.764899054 and then tapped onto the RETURN KEY. Right away google maps popped up and zoomed into a map showing a picture of RiverLake Shopping Mall. Right away panic ensued as she pictured in her mind what mayhem Dirty Bird might be plotting towards her favorite shopping mall. Alice immediately flipped through her contact list and looked through the "Ls" section until she found her old friend Leah.
A grumpy voice answered the phone. It was definitely Leah. The two hadn't spoken with each other in almost two years but had known each other through work.
"Hello?"
"Leah? Hey it's Alice"
Leah recognized Alice's voice. "Oh hey girl how's it going? Mike still giving you a lot of shit over there at Wendy's?"
Alice grunted. "He relocated to another store like six months ago....hey do you remember working with that strange guy you guys secretly used to refer as Dirty Bird?"
Leah chuckled. "Big money man yeah...I think I remember that sneaky lil devil...did you know he was collecting a big fat unemployment check on the side the entire time he was kicking it with us?"
Alice chuckled a bit this time and whispered into the phone..."that dirty bird...how did you guys come up with that name?"
Leah blew cigarette smoke into the phone which Alice could clearly hear plain as day. "Mike gave him that nickname on a smoke break one day and we all thought it was funny so we all went along with it....Hey is it true he changed his name to Bob Miller and what are all the Facebook rumors about him sitting on a winning powerball ticket all these years?"
Alice could feel her hands shake and tremble just thinking about Dirty Bird and all the strange weird vibes the Wendy's girls would complain about when they stood within 10 feet of him. One of the newer cashiers had once stated that the first word that pops into her mind when she sees him is "Bomb". Alice finally spit out what her call to Leah was really all about.
"I think Bob Miller is planning to blow up the mall Leah...I'm not joking."
"Plupphhhhsssaattt"! Leah's reaction had caused her to spit her cigarette into the ground. "That guy? Yeah right! Listen girl...he might be a bit of a weirdo and grandma always warned of the quiet ones but he's a pranksta and far from a gangsta. It's in his eyes....what he do phone in a bomb threat or something cuz the girl at Arby's short chumped him on the curly fries?"
Alice tried to defend herself. "Well you did spend more time with him then the rest of us so I'm sure you would know but my daddy is good friends with the Police Chief and I don't think Dirty Bird would ever be stupid enough to reveal his entire history with you. I think he always had a crush on you you know"
Leah was looking to speed up the conversation. She was on her half hour lunch break at the retirement home and time was limited for herself too. It was bad enough she had to work two jobs just to come up with the monthly rent and drive a respectable vehicle that could actually get her TO her job.
"So what's this all about? I'm pressed for time."
"I'm saying that I've known this guy for over ten years and from what I understand he goes big with ALL his endeavors. A business man of some sort dressed in a lawyers suit visited me at work today but didn't say anything to me nor did he order anything."
"That's weird...was he good looking?"
"Oh absolutely...didn't take his Matrix sunglasses off either you'd think he was secret service or something."
Leah chuckled. "Like secret service would ever want anything from you?"
"I'm serious Leah...all he did was hand me a one sided business card that said "DIRTY BIRD IS ON THE LOOSE" followed by some weird numbers and then he stormed out the door."
Leah was now listening intently. "So why did you walk out like there was some kind of emergency?"
"It's Wendy's Leah...you really think that was my first rodeo? Remember the time three busses pulled in at once and I suddenly had my period and had to leave immediately? I keep finding ways of crawling back."
Leah chuckled clearly remembering the occasion. "So what do the numbers have to do with the mall?"
Alice held the business card in her hand. "I dunno but according to google these are some sort of a GPS coordinates that belong to the mall. You think he had a bad shopping experience of some sort and now wants to blow the whole place up? He did always seem to be short fused ya know. Had that "Stewy look from Family Guy like he secretly was plotting against everybody."
Leah was completely relaxed and taking all of Alice's assumptions like a grain of salt. "Agh...to us he's just Dirty Bird....you even admitted one day yourself you thought he was cute....maybe the rumors are true...maybe he did win the powerball...if that were the case he'd go back to spending all his time at the casinos and ponies..I seriously doubt he could muster up a beef with the mall big enough to carry out an attack....besides...he had a bit of a creative side to him...he's woman less ya know...maybe he likes you....maybe the man in the suit was merely a messenger working for him....maybe he just wants to meet you at the mall and take ya out shopping with that big fun pot he's got stored up."
With the talk of that it immediately put Alice out of defcon 5 Homeland Security mode. Did Dirty Bird secretly have a crush on her?
"So I need to get myself to the mall you think?"
More cigarette smoke blown into the phone. "Yup...and hurry. Get yourself a new dress while your there."
Alice suddenly thought of one more thing. "But the mall is huge! How am I to know where to meet or what it is I am to look for?"
"There was a lot of numbers you read to me Alice that came after that decimal point. You remember that nerdy kid that talked about M.I.T a lot?"
"Matty Charles? Yeah I remember that blond little goober" giggled Alice.
"I would give him a call and see if he can triangulate those GPS numbers and come up with a particular store or exact location...best of luck to ya sweetie...I gotta go."
"Ok thanks Leah."
"Oh and Alice just one more thing...."
"Yes?"
"Grandma told me it's always the quiet ones...be careful."