David Wiltse - Into The Fire

The big man had finally noticed Nahir in the booth.

"I want gas," he said.

Duh, thought Nahir. No kidding. Although schooled in politeness at home, he found that the insulation of the booth led one towards a degree of insolence that only absolute security could nurture. No one could touch him in his little booth. The glass was even bulletproof. There seemed little need for civility when the worst that could happen as a result of rudeness was a dirty look and a nasty remark. What were they going to do, drive away without gas? A few did, but if any had ever reported him to the manager, he had never heard about it.

"You have to pay me first," Nahir said, making no effort to conceal his contempt.

The man seemed bewildered by the statement.

"I want gas," the man said, I and then, as if clarifying things, he added, "for my car.'

Nahir made a big display of seeing the car for the first time. "Oh, for your car! Why didn't you say so?"

The man nodded. "Gas for my car."

Nahir could not believe this moron.

"Pay first," he said. He turned back to his book. Let the goon figure it out, or not.

The man scowled at him. "I don't like that," he said.

Nahir sighed deeply and looked away from his book, letting the man know how tired he was of the whole conversation. He turned the microphone on so that his words were issued into the night.

"You don't like what? Paying? Sorry, chief, that's the way the system works. Pay now, gas later."

"I don't like the way you talk to me," the man said.

Nahir leaned his face right against the glass, grinning contemptuously.

'I'm not here to talk to you. I'm here to throw a switch that allows you to pump gas, after you pay for it. Got it?

Too hard? You. Money. Give me. I. Gas. Give you."

"I could kill you," the man said.

Nahir smirked.

"Ooo," he said. "Oooo."

The man smashed his fist into the Plexiglas in front of Nahir's face.

Nahir jerked back, startled, and the man struck the glass shield again and again, hitting it with the power of a club.

"Hey," Nahir cried. "Hey, calm down." He looked out into the night for help. The station was lighted in the unreal sodium light, but outside that oasis was a desert of blackness.

The man kicked the cage in the metal siding below the glass. Nahir heard the thuds as if he were on the inside of a drum. People had hit the glass before, but no one had ever attacked the metal. He did not know how strong it was; he hoped it was strong enough, they wouldn't have built it that way if it wasn't strong enough, would they?

The man was hurling his whole body at the shack now, slamming with his back and shoulders with his full weight behind the blows. The booth groaned and shuddered. Nahir thought he heard the whine of bolts giving way. He was being attacked by a hurricane of rage, and the storm had worked its way to the door of the booth. The door was held by a dead bolt, but that was secured only by screws. The door bucked and crashed as the man alternately yanked on the handle, then threw himself against it. Nahir could picture the screws popping and the giant catapulting into the booth.

"I'll give you gas," Nahir shouted. "Please stop! I'll give you gas.

Fill it up, fill it up!"

It was not until Nahir remembered to use the microphone and his voice reverberated through the empty Chattanooga night that the man seemed to hear him.

"Free gas!" Nahir shouted, crying with fear now.

"Free gas!"

The giant stopped and nodded once as if he found the notion reasonable, then returned to his car and turned on the nozzle. He watched the pump rather than Nahir.

With the giant looking away, Nahir dialed 911 and whispered frantically for help. The huge moron returned to the booth and Nahir quickly hung up.

"No charge, no charge," Nahir said, waving the man away.

"I want some money," the man said. His voice was perfectly calm, as if it were the most ordinary request.

"Yes, sir, how much would you like?"

Oh, no, I confused him, Nahir thought. The giant was actually considering sums.

"Why don't I give you all of it?" Nahir asked.

"Yes." The man nodded.

Nahir opened the cash drawer and took out half the money. It occurred to him that he could pocket the rest and report all of it as stolen. The giant was certainly too dumb to know the difference. Nahir was proud of himself for recovering his wits so quickly despite the incredible stress. He had turned a bad situation into something positive for himself.

He put the giant's share of the money into the revolving drawer and slid it out.

"That's all I have," Nahir said.

"That's okay. Thank you."

"No, I thank you." For a moment Nahir thought the comment was too much, that the moron might react again, but he walked to his car and started it up. "Y'all come back now, you hear?" ahir said, doing his best cracker twang.

Nahir waggled his fingers in a parody of a wave, then froze as he realized the man had put the car in reverse and was driving backwards straight at the booth, and very fast.

Cooper thought he had to do something about the Oldsmobile. The rear end was badly smashed after driving over the snooty clerk at the gas station, and it sounded as if it was scraping against the tire. He could steal one from somebody else, but not this late at night, not unless he got real lucky and saw someone just getting into or out of a car. He had never learned how to steal a car without a key. Somebody had tried to explain it to him once, but Cooper found it confusing and far too much trouble when all you really had to do was take somebody's key away from him. He decided to wait until morning when lots of people were getting in and out of cars, then he would drive back to that Dairy Queen where he had seen that girl. She was a cute little girl with her hair all braided like that. She didn't look anything like Mayvis, but she smiled when she took his order and seemed real helpful.

He wondered if he couldn't get her to help him the way Mayvis did and then maybe she'd do some of the other things Mayvis did for him. He had already found a good place in the woods where he could take her.

The Reverend Tommy was more agitated than usual when he finally returned to the trailer after the show and the increasingly extended meeting with fans and converts that succeeded the revival meeting itself He should — never have let Aural do any actual healing. Now that she helped him out by laying on hands, the people could not get enough of her.

"Did you see her tonight?" Rae did not need to be told that he was referring to Aural.

"During the show? Of course."

"No, not during the show. Afterwards-did you see her afterwards?"

"No, darling, I hurried back here to get ready for you."

Rae was wearing a new magenta teddy and she touched it with both hands, hoping for a reaction. She didn't think the color was the best for her complexion, but Aural had helped her to find one that was cut long enough to hide the thickest part of her thighs and it was available only in magenta.

"Well, you won't believe what she's up to now," he said, paying no notice to her lingerie.

"What is it?" Rae asked cautiously. Tommy expected Rae to share his outrage over Aural's ever-rising stature, but Rae not only liked Aural, she was becoming increasingly indebted to her for her tips on how to make Tommy her sex slave. His bondage was a long way from complete, but Rae felt she was making progress. He hadn't noticed the teddy yet, but he might later when he took it off her.

"She was standing on a box, " Tommy said. "Can you believe that? A goddamned box."

"She was standing on a box?"

"Don't you get it? The box makes her taller, taller than anybody. There she is, her head above everyone's, her goddamned little face shining like she's an angel. She does enough of that onstage. The last thing I need is for her to be carrying a box around so everyone can gawk at her offstage, too."