Chapter 8
Friday morning arrived.
Kent woke up around seven-thirty.
He took a shower, shaved, and got dressed back in his same outfit of jeans, shirt, and black Converse sneakers.
He left his room and headed back to the Peach Tree Diner with his stomach growling the whole trip.
“Well, you are becoming my new regular,” said Edith when she greeted Kent by the cash register. “I might have to put your name on that booth,” she said with a light chuckle.
“I know, I can’t resist this superb home cooking.”
“Well, that the fine work of my husband, Homer,” said Edith. “What would you like sugar?” “French Toast again?”
“French Toast and coffee it is.”
“I have this blonde hair boy that every time he comes in here for breakfast, he eats French Toast. An adorable kid named Kent,” she said. “What’s your name, sugar?”
“I’m also named Kent,” he said.
“Well Kent, I’m Edith,” she said then winked at Kent then she walked away.
Kent glanced around the diner, and there wasn’t anybody he saw that looked familiar.
Edith walked back over and set a cup of coffee down in front of Kent then she walked away.
Kent started drinking his coffee when the front door of the diner opened and in walked twenty-four-year-old Warner Robins Police Officer Lester Peabody.
“Good morning, Lester. Want your usual?” said Edith.
“Yes, ma-am,” he said, salivating at the thought of his regular breakfast delight.
Edith walked away from the counter with Kent’s plate of four pieces of French Toast and four slices of bacon.
She walked over to Kent and set his plate in front of him. She walked back to the counter where Lester waited.
Kent kept an eye on Lester since he was the law, but when he saw him buy six glazed donuts, he knew this guy wasn’t a threat. He stared at his thick pieces of French Toast, and his stomach growled, ordering him to hurry up and eat.
Kent started eating while Officer Peabody let the diner with his donuts in a paper bag in hand. He was heading off to the police station.
After Kent finished his breakfast, he left the diner and headed back to the Peach Tree Motor Court.
He sat in his room and started to get nervous. Will tonight the real night? He wondered over and over while he paced around the room.
Kent was going stir crazy staying in his motel all afternoon.
It was now three in the afternoon, and Kent decided he better head on out.
He went into the closet and took the folded sketch out from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He shoved it in his blue jeans left front pocket.
He opened up the dresser drawer, reached inside and removed the Bell and Howell movie camera case.
He left the motor courtroom and headed off through the parking lot.
He turned right and started walking off down the shoulder of Route 12.
Five minutes after he walked down Route 12 he spotted a USAF C-54 Skymaster, taking off from Robins Air Force base. It was full of cargo and on its way to another airbase. He stopped and watched the C-54 ascend into the sky. He recalled those days when he and his daddy would get on base and watch the planes land and take off from the airbase. He smiled at those fond memories but then frowned knowing that it was Grant who got them access onto the airbase.
Kent walked for another twenty minutes, and he stopped on the shoulder. He reached in his jeans pocket and removed the folded paper. He unfolded it, glanced at his sketch, looked up and down the road. He saw a dirt road off to his left. He folded the paper and shoved it back in his jeans pocket.
He headed off down that dirt road.
He walked down that dirt road and wondered if this was Meyers’ old driveway to his cabin. He figured it probably was and kept on walking.
He walked about a quarter of a mile and finally saw an old wooden dilapidated cabin off to his left. “” That Moonshiner sure lived way out here,” said Kent while he scanned the area over. “No wonder it did moonshine, it’s so secluded. No one would bother you way out here.”
He scanned the area over recalling those crime book pictures of Angie’s dead body on the ground.
He saw the dilapidated front porch of Meyers’ cabin in the background and knew he was close to the spot.
He walked around the area and came upon a clearing that looked familiar from those pictures in the crime book. He glanced around the area and saw those two bushes he recognized from that crime book. “Perfect.”
He walked over to the bushes and saw this was a perfect place to hide he could be out of view from the dirt road and from the clearing. He knew this would be a breeze and would be saving his father’s life before sundown.
Kent nestled down behind the bushes. He opened up the movie camera case and removed the camera.
He found a spot inside the bushes where he could prop the camera up on some branches so he could discreetly record the clearing.
He nestled the movie camera case at the bottom of the bushes.
The woods were quiet except for the songs of a few birds.
He looked over at Meyers’ cabin that was about two hundred feet away. He got curious, as to why the secret gay guys of Warner Robins and the airbase would choose this place. The woods were quiet, and this place was secluded, so he figured that had to be the main reason.
His curiosity started to get the best of him, so he walked off to the cabin.
Kent got to the dilapidated front porch of the cabin. He carefully stepped on the wooden slats. The slats creaked but didn’t break, and he safely made it to the closed wooden door.
The wooden front door creaked opened while he stepped inside the cabin.
He saw he was the living room that had a stone fireplace along the wall to the right.
He glanced up and saw there was a massive hole in the wooden roof.
He saw that all the windows of the living room had been broken and saw numerous rocks on the floor. He figured teenagers did this for kicks.
At the other end of the room were a counter and old wooden table. A window with broken panes was above the counter and to the left of the counter was a rear door. “The kitchen,” he thought.
He looked to the left and saw two rooms.
He went inside the first room and saw nothing but a mattress on the floor. The mattress appeared relatively new and figured the gay guys placed it there. Also on the floor of that bedroom were twenty empty Black Label beer cans, a few empty packs of Marlboro cigarette packs and lots of cigarette butts scattered all over the floor.
He left that room and went into the other bedroom and found it was bare except for ten empty Black Label beer cans.
Kent left the second room and went to the counter and glanced out that window. Out in the back about twenty feet away from the cabin was a dilapidated wooden outhouse.
Kent figured he’d seen enough and better get back to the camera in case Grant and Angie showed up.
He left the cabin and rushed back to the bushes.
He sat down nestled in the bushes and felt confident that this would be the perfect hiding place.
He sat and waited.
He waited and waited and swatted away some buzzing flies and other annoying flying pests.
An hour passed and nothing. The woods were quiet, and not even the gay guys came out to the cabin.
Kent figured that tonight wasn’t the night, so he packed up his camera from the bushes, placed it back in the case, and headed off toward the dirt road.
Once he got at the end of the dirt road, he ran across Route 12 and turned right and headed off down the shoulder of the road. He heard something and saw a C-124 Globemaster II airplane descending for a landing at Robins Air Force Base.
He got five hundred yards down Route 12 and saw a fifty-seven Ford Fairlane car heading down the road. He didn’t think anything of it until the driver glanced at him while her car drove past him. He recognized the driver as Angie Abbott.
He turned around the second heard the brakes of the Fairlane and the sound of the tires pulling off the road onto the shoulder.
“What are you doing walking again?” said Angie while she poked her head out of the opened driver’s window.
Kent smiled and turned around and walked over to her Fairlane.
He walked over to the passenger door window that was also rolled down. He leaned in the car and saw she wasn’t wearing her Piggly Wiggly outfit.
“Here you are again, roaming the streets,” she said and gave him a warm smile.
“I know.”
“I take it you’re heading back to the Peach Tree Motor Court?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Out seeing the sights again? But I have to admit there are not too many interesting sights around this part of town.”
“I was actually doing some filming,” he said and held up his Bell and Howell movie camera case.
“Filming what?”
“Meyers’ cabin. I heard an old Moonshiner once lived there. I thought I could film it as a documentary.”
“I also heard stories about that old Moonshiner. Now the cabin is a place for people to make out,” she said and had a grin that she’s familiar with doing just that.
Kent knew she smiled, thinking about Grant. “That’s what I’m hearing,” he said then paused. “You’re not coming from work at the Piggly Wiggly?”
“No,” she said and looked disappointed. “My boyfriend was supposed to meet me at the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly and take me out on a date. But he showed up and said he had to work tonight,” she said and looked at Kent with pouty lips. “And I had something vital to tell him.”
“Oh, I see,” he said and wondered what Grant was up to tonight.
“Oh well, maybe he’ll take you out for a date tomorrow night?” said Kent prying for confirmation.
Angie’s eyes lit up. “He did say we’d go out tomorrow evening. He promised,” she said, but still looked like something was bothering her. Kent had a hunch what this could be.
“Well, I better get back to my room at the Peach Tree,” said Kent.
“I hope to see you again.”
“Oh, I can imagine you will,” Kent.
Angie wondered what he meant by that but figured their paths would cross again since they’ve run into each other during the past two days.
Kent walked away and headed down the shoulder toward the Peach Tree Motor Court.
Angie pulled her Fairlane back onto the road and tooted the horn to say “Good-bye.”
Kent looked saddened. He really wanted to save Angie’s life, as he felt she was such a sweet kid. Anger built up inside of him when he thought of how Grant was using her. “Sex toy,” that’s what he said considering that’s why he wanted Angie. “Sex toy.”
Kent walked to the Peach Tree Motor Court and went to his room. His stomach growled, so he placed the movie camera case back in the dresser drawer.
He left his room and walked off to the Peach Tree Diner.
A little while later, he entered the Peach Tree Diner.
“Welcome back,” said Edith the second she saw him then grabbed a menu.
She walked him to his booth. “Want some sweet tea?”
“Yes, ma-am.”
Edith winked at Kent then walked away.
Kent looked at the menu and decided on what to eat for supper.
“Ready to order?” said Edith while she placed a glass of sweet tea in front of him.
“I’ll have your catfish dinner.”
“Excellent choice,” said Edith and then she took the menu and walked away heading back to the counter.
Kent glanced around the diner and saw it was starting to fill up quickly.
Ten minutes passed, and Edith brought Kent his catfish dinner with Okra and hush puppies.
He started eating and continued to glance around the diner. He didn’t recognize anybody.
After eating his catfish dinner, Kent paid his bill and left the diner.
He got a little way down the shoulder of Route 12 when he had his strange déjà-vu feeling. He turned around, and his eyes widened when he saw a blue nineteen fifty-one Chevrolet Bel-Air. It pulled into the parking lot of the Peach Tree Diner. “I know that car.”
He watched while the Bel-Air parked in the parking lot. His eyes lit up the second he saw his daddy, mom, and himself as a six-year-old boy get out of the Bel-Air. He wanted to run over there to them but knew that would be way too strange.
He walked away, smiling at his old memory he witnessed.
Kent walked back to his motor courtroom, sat on the bed, and watched The Adventures of Jim Bowie on the TV.
It was now eight that evening, and the sun started dropping below the horizon.
Kent was bored and the TV show The Ray Anthony Show was not very entertaining for his taste. And since Saturday was approaching, he started to get nervous.
He paced around the room.
The sound of some commotion in the room next to him caught his attention. So he plastered his ear to the wall by the head of his bed.
He wasn’t sure he was hearing what he thought he was hearing. It was. It was the sound of a bed squeaking and a woman moaning in ecstasy. “Someone’s having some fun tonight,” he said and felt jealous.
After the woman let out a loud orgasm scream, then the room next door got quiet.
Five minutes had passed, and he heard the door next to his room open and close.
He jumped off his bed and ran to the windows. He just had to see that lucky guy. So he peeked through the curtains.
He saw a man and woman outside.
They walked over to a red fifty-seven Ford T-Bird. “Wait, he looks familiar,” Kent quietly said. “Real familiar.” After a few seconds of looking at this guy, Kent realized who he was. “Grant Bowers. That’s Grant Bowers,” he said while he saw Grant was escorting a hot brunette to his T-Bird.
He watched while they got inside Grant’s T-Bird. The T-Bird started up, backed out of the parking space, then drove off through the parking lot then pulled out onto Route 12. The T-Bird was shortly out of view as it raced down the road.
He knew that that woman wasn’t Angie and he knew why Grant canceled his date with her tonight. “That’s the reason why Friday wasn’t the day. Grant had another woman to poke.”
He returned to pacing back and forth in his room, thinking, wondering if tomorrow was really going to be the day. He figured in high probability it would be and couldn’t wait to nail Grant. But he still thought about sweet Angie.
He stripped out of his shirt and jeans down to his tee shirt and boxers. He left that sketch in the front pocket of his jeans.
He climbed into bed under the sheets. He closed his eyes and was sound asleep in ten minutes.