CHAPTER 22
(9/16/2017) 19:00hrs
It was a dinner talk that neither one of them had been looking forward to but both of them knew the importance of the dinner talk. The white table cloth that separated them apart was barely visible in the dark corner where the two sat in Bob's private dinner room Pterodactyl VIP section. A dark secluded dinner table where the only lighting came from a small black candle that emanated smells of licorice.
Neither Bob Miller or his private attorney Evan Rogers was in a good mood today. The dinner talk was taking place at Mr.Rogers behest for he had insisted the conversation could wait no more. They were both suited up in dark brown Armani suits. With Bob's just a tad bit shinier of course.
Evan poked around at some lamb meat with his fork while Dirty Bird poured way too much ketchup on his turkey burger that he was finding to be a little dry.
"I don't know why you eat that shit when you can afford lobster or at least a well cooked steak."
Dirty Bird licked the ketchup from his fork. "Mom mom used to cook me this stuff when I was a kid....cooked it for pop pop all the time...it's extremely lean and healthy for you...did I ever tell you how long Pop Pop lived for?"
Evan shook his head then pushed up on his coke bottled glasses.
"99 freaking years...that's with many years smoking a pipe too....this stuff tastes good with ketchup."
Evan chuckled. "You do what you gotta do Bird Man. But that's why I brought you here to talk...if you want to see that 99 years we have simply GOT to slow down or you're gonna have to take a spot under a bridge with everyone else."
Bob put the fork down and began teasing the candle's flame with his index finger. He always did this when he was nervous.
"So what's going on? Talk to me."
Sandy haired Evan reached from the empty chair adjacent to him and picked up some papers. They were full of numbers that he knew Bob wouldn't like. "Were going broke and fast. Fifteen dollars an hour to flip a burger every five minutes? Come on Bob...we have to get serious....we drawl good revenue from the casino but how long do you think that's really gonna hold up?"
Bob had a look of disappointment then let out a sigh. "We can't milk this out any longer can we?"
Evan shook his head no.
"So it's show time?"
Mr.Rogers shook his head yes.
"Got any ideas how to expedite our big show?"
Evan hemmed and hawed and tried to fish for an answer. That's when none other than Bob's current best friend Screw Tooth Bill barged into the dark room to interrupt their meal. He had been secretly ear hustling from around the corner the entire time.
"I got an idea you Dirty ole Bird!" He joked.
Both Bob and Evan jumped from their seats simultaneously.
Bob couldn't help but spit out at record speed "what the fuck?"
As Bill entered the room and had no qualms pulling up a chair and sitting next to Mr.Rogers.
When ballsy Screw Tooth Bill made it clear he intended to sit in on the meeting Bob finally consulted his friend.
"Bill! My buggo! How the hell did you know we were in here?"
Bill was never ashamed to show off his junk yard traffic teeth.
He teased them both."Could smell both of ya a mile away...just followed my nose Yogi Bear style."
The candle flame slowly started bending in Bill's direction as if he was bringing some new energy to the table. Bob always insisted on candle light meetings like this because his mental illness often misguided his idiosyncrasies and gesticulations that never matched what he was actually thinking.
Schizoaffective disorders were often known for confusing people. It always made it extremely difficult to extract the truth you were looking for from Bob. On the flip side his condition made him an amazing poker player.
Bob laid a hand on his buddy's shoulder. "So what do we do here Bill? Mouthpiece here is saying were going bankrupt and I don't like to lower my pride."
Bill cringed. "Well for starters...do you even realize that your island here is entirely off the grid? And I mean ENTIRELY OFF THE GRID."
Dirty Bird's impish smile could barely be seen amidst the candle's flame. This was all part of his well orchestrated plan.
Of course he already knew this.
"Yeah so? What's your point Bill?"
"What's my point? Were right somewhere along the edges of the Bermuda Triangle AKA the Devil's Triangle....ain't no GPS coordinates out here nor could anybody's cellphone possibly work if they wanted it to....If your satellite run free wifi hubs that we all piggy back off of take a shit we're all fucked."
Before Bill could finish his statement Mr.Rogers quickly got up and closed the door to the adjoining room. This conversation was about to get hot and heavy. Dirty Bird finally lowered his head a little and brought his evil little smile into the light. For the very first time Bill had witnessed a dark side of Dirty Bird that actually scared him. Dirty Bird's pupils looked like they were swimming with legions of demons. Even Bob's voice was becoming scary.
"We already know all of this Bill....it's all part of the fucking plan."
Bill was lost. "What fucking plan?"
Bob grinned again. "The television show that we haven't told anyone about where we publicly humiliate the Wolves right here on this Island by exposing the X-Files on national television back at the states and get all these assholes to confess on live television."
Bill's eyes grew bigger than a greedy whore counting her hundreds. He was slowly piecing all of this together.
"Holy shit man! Lemme guess...you're just gonna oogt scoot and boogie and leave all these people here on the Island? This place has no GPS coordinates. Sailors and planes have been disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle for years....Even the fucking Navy won't be able to rescue these people....if you shut down Miller Wifi these people have no way of signaling for help."
Dirty Bird steepled his hands together and grinned. It was like his teeth were triangulating like a shark's.
"So what's your idea Bill? I can't screw over my peeps and I don't want my Fuglies knowing I'm going broke...how do I get my Fuglies the fuck off my Island before they figure out my plan for the Wolves?"
Bill brought him up to speed. "A lot of them are already getting home sick so I think they might not mind leaving anyways. I don't know if you know this or not but on the female end of things I'm overhearing much talk about the ladies getting disturbing vibes just when they stand within ten feet of you...ever notice they're constantly folding up their cleavage when you come around? Women are smart...they can feel you're up to no good Bob."
Evan chuckled and Bob advised his private attorney to shut the hell up. To the best of his knowledge the hookers out west he always played Cowboy with never felt any funny "vibes".
"Okay Bill...maybe there's more than just a game of tic-tac-toe here. You twos want me to bring out crayons so you and my attorney can spar in a game of never ending tic-tac-toe? Cuz I've got a far more important game of chess going on here.
What's your fucking idea you came in here with? How do I get my Fine Underlings Giving Love Year round the fuck off my Island safely on a good note?"
Bill's fear of Bob was finally waning ever so slowly but waning none the less. "Been doing some reading about all these islands out here Bob....Did you know that a lot of the Islands out here are nothing more than a ticking time bomb?"
When Bill said Time Bomb the flickering flame of the candle immediately stagnated for quite a bit until somebody broke the ice. Even Bob could feel the eerie silence from the candle.
"Time Bomb? That's funny Bill...you want me to tell my guests there's a fucking bomb on my Island? What lemme guess....some ISIS pirates smuggled in somehow and we all got to get the fuck out of here?"
Bill chuckled. "Bird man you're a dumbass sometimes...no bomb...did I say bomb?"
Evan immediately defended his client. "Technically you did Bill... Your verbatim words were "ticking time bomb".
Bill chuckled. "You're right technically I did....but no...we don't need a panic around here in that degree....what I meant was these islands secretly have volcanoes that can erupt at any given time....we blow smoke up their ass about OSHA snooping through here and a newly discovered volcano we knew nothing about and we can still walk away like roses instead of chumps."
Dirty Bird liked this idea. He repeated what Bill had just said. Even articulated it rather slowly. "Like roses instead of chumps. I like that Bill."
Bill soon found himself reaching for a victory dinner roll. "Shit happens I guess...they can't be mad at ya for something ya knew nothing about."
Bob then found himself reaching for a dinner roll as well. He chewed on the roll almost as hard as he chewed on Bill's idea and then concurred once more.
"I think I like that idea a lot Bill...a newly found underground volcano according to the experts about to erupt any day now. Who wouldn't vacate at the thought of that?"
Even Evan was impressed. He nodded along with both of them. Dirty Bird picked up one of four binders and held it up like a Bible.
"There's still something I have to do before we close down Miller Island." He said still proudly flourishing the black 8X11" leather binder, "Would you like to take a peek at the X- Files?"