John Mackie - Hazardous Goods

Unlike most places on the Airport strip, Chucks was a standalone business — separate building, separate parking lot, separate entrance. Land alone was worth a fortune, but the owner rebuffed all offers. He ran a diner. That’s what he did, and it’s all he wanted to do. Besides, the entire property was toxic with fry grease and stale condiments.

One great thing about Chucks was the brightness of the place. Three sides lined with floor to ceiling windows, the place was awash with natural light. I doubt they spent a dime on light or heat, other than in the evenings or the middle of winter. They most certainly did not spend a cent on air conditioning during the warmer months, resulting in a greenhouse-like sauna effect.

The glass walls were lined with booths and standalone tables filling the spaces in between. The entire back wall was a long counter, with two cash registers on one side. On the other side of the counter, a group of men who all appeared related slaved away over countless hot plates, fryers, cookers, and every other type of grease-generating device known to man. That might have explained the thin film coating the aforementioned windows. A sign over the cash said “All Breakfast. All Day.”

I pushed through the door and the accompanying wave of heat. A tide of scents washed over me — fryers that ran full out from dawn to dusk and grills that warmed the meats of every animal outside a zoo.

Chili and Jin sat by the windows on the East wall, out of the direct line of sunlight and thus a good five degrees cooler than the West wall at this time of day, which seemed to shimmer in the heat. The moment they spotted me, I felt my shoulders relax. Good to see some old friends.

“So you’re a partner in the business?”

“Yeah. The original plan was for me to earn my stake in the business over three years, then Clay would retire and I would earn out his half of the business. But now, I’m not sure. If anything, the whole thing may be accelerated. Either way, I end up owning the company.”

“So you manage the office? Sales?”

“Yeah. Manage the staff, sales, deal with customer issues that need to be escalated. And I drive a route too.”

“No kidding? Donnie Elder in a delivery truck?”

“Yeah. Well, not a regular route. Depends on what the delivery schedule is for the day. Right now, with Clay off work and business hopping, I’m on the road. Welcome to the world of small business.”

Jin had a bemused look on his face.

“What?”

“I just can’t picture it.”

“What?”

“Six months ago, you’re sitting in the boardroom, battling it out with the IT guys and the creative goofs at Pathway on the Version 3.0 Campaign. And you gave all of that up to drive a van and manage a five man office?”

“Jealous?”

“Shit, yeah.”

For the next two hours we traded stories about the goings-on at the company since I had left, and also a lot of great memories. We also chatted about Arcane, and my first week on the job.

“The guy had a gun ?”

“Yeah. Can you believe it?”

“Shit. What did the cops say?”

“Well, we didn’t end up reporting it.”

“Why the hell not? Nah, I take that back. Officer, I was robbed at gunpoint. What did they take? Harry Potter’s wand and a magic lantern.”

“Harry Potter’s wand was stolen? That’s gotta hurt.” Chili was the perpetual smartass among my group of friends, which is saying a lot, when you consider the company I keep. “Yeah. No cops. Not that we’re doing anything wrong, but it just gets a bit weird.”

“You should talk to Amy, she’s pretty cool about that stuff.”

Hm. That was an interesting thought. Jin’s cousin Amy was a police officer in Toronto. Quite attractive too, I seemed to recall. Might not hurt.

“You don’t think she’d mind?”

“Nah. You can do it off the record, if you want. Cost you lunch, though. And she eats like a heifer. Why don’t I get her to give you a call?”

“That’d be great.”

“Yeah,” Chili with that sly grin on his face again, “that’d be great, alright. Donnie-boy’s hoping to get some uniform action . Nurse, check. Stewardess, check. Maid — nah, I’ve been to your place, you don’t have a maid.”

Like I said. Perpetual smartass.

Just before we left, Jin handed me a plain white file folder. I glanced inside and chuckled.

“We had everybody sign it. Never had a chance to say goodbye, so we figured this was the next best thing.”

“Ha! That’s great. Thanks guys.” I stared down at one of the few mementoes from my days at TechnoSoft. It was a good reminder that it wasn’t all bad memories. “He still pissed?”

“Oh yeah. No one can even say your name around the office without him losing it.”

“Good.”

We said our goodbyes, and agreed to get together again in a few weeks. When I got to my car, I dropped the file onto the passenger seat and headed over to the hospital for a quick visit with Clay and Harper.

I had a nice surprise at the hospital when I ran into Kara there. I paused at the door, a little hesitant about adding to the crowd, but Harper waved me in.

“Hey.” I shook hands with Clay, who sat propped up in bed. His color was back to normal, and he seemed in good spirits. I mouthed “Hi” and gave Kara my best smile.

“Hey yourself. Kara was just bringing me up to speed on things. Sounds like I’ve left the place in good hands.”

“Well, Kara can take most of the credit for that. She’s the one keeping us from destroying the place.”

“Oh, she did that for me, too. It’s always been that way.”

I took a few minutes to update Clay on my visit with Helen Findlay at Sun, and the drop-in by BOA.

“These BOA guys — what do you think of them?”

I had my own significant reservations, but I wasn’t about to share them with Clay yet.

“Oh, they’ve been around for years. Tend to stay out of our way, but they’ve had some changes at the top in the past year and a half. May see more of them, if they decide to play a more active role. I would cooperate with them, but don’t go out of your way. It’s never been real clear to me where they fit in the overall scheme of things.”

That jibed with what I had seen and heard.

“Any other players I should know about? People who may not have our best interests in mind?”

“Hm.” Clay took a sip of water, glancing at Harper for a moment. “It’s maybe not a bad idea for you to do some reading. Kara, can you pull a few of the reference texts from storage? Also, there are a few file memos, and that history that was written by Charlie Carter.”

“The author?”

“Yes. He wrote a book called The History of Occultism in Toronto a few years back. It’s a decent overview of some of the older players, not a bad introduction to some of the basics as well.”

“Hm.” Charlie Carter. Cool. He was one of my favorite authors. When the Axe Falls was on my top five list of scary reads.

“That one’s in my office, bookshelf just inside the door.”

“Great. Thanks.”

We chatted for a while longer, and Harper invited me to a barbeque she was hosting the following weekend. Sort of a welcome home party for Clay. It seemed like a good chance for me to meet some of Clay’s customers, colleagues and friends, so I promised to be there.

Soon after that, Clay’s nephew Willis showed up, and Kara and I excused ourselves. On the way down to the main floor Kara confessed that she had taken the subway in, since she hated driving downtown. I offered her a ride home, through I was a little unsure about the whole employer/ employee/boyfriend thing, but figuring I would take things as they came for now. Odds were I would get nowhere, anyways.