Hey, Alex. Dang, you haven’t been back here in a while. Sorry about what went down in the election. I was pulling for you. In any case, you want me to tell you what you missed? A few things have happened since you sojourned to Washington. Well, you had to have heard about Rick, right? Everyone around here knows about Rick, at least vaguely. His whole sitch was one of the few fun happenstances that happen-stance-d while you were away. You haven’t? I see you’ve come to me first, then. I’m honored. Alright, I’ll give you a quick run down. Just a warning, though, I wasn’t there for everything, so things might be a tad incomplete feeling.
Rick’s story began a couple years after you left. The second time, not the first. Anyways, you left for the government, after the incident, and we went about our normal lives. Then, fast forward through a couple of boring months, and out of the blue, he showed up. Rick. He went to Jim’s and asked for a place to stay, just for the month. Jim told him Jim’s whole deal, and the man started working at the bar. Not like Mikey or Phil, no. He just kept his head down and did his job. It was honestly really weird, and given this town, that’s saying something. In any case, I kept on trying to talk to him, because that’s my job as a council member, and as a drunkard, and he kept pushing me away. Linda said it wasn’t about me, that Rick just did that to everyone, but then one day I saw him chatting with Guy Alex, like having a really deep conversation, so that threw me for a loop. Clearly it was just some people he had a problem with, not everyone.
So, once Rick went off to his work, I basically attacked Alex in the street. Since everyone likes me more than him, people just generally looked the other way. I hit him a couple of times, then asked, “Who’s that guy and what does he want with you?”
Alex looked at me very confused. “What do you mean?” he stammered back. As I raised my hand to slap him again, he blurted out, “That’s just Rick, he chats with me every once in a while. Why’s that such a big deal?”
I lowered my hand. “Because as far as I can tell, he hasn’t talked to anyone else,” I replied.
Once again, Alex looked at me confused. “Huh?” he said, “But he’s such a laid-back guy. I mean, I can see why he doesn’t talk to you, being so, well, you, but you’d think he’d at least flirt with Linda a little. I mean…”
He stopped talking when I winced. “Really don’t need to be reminded of that,” I told him.
He smiled and shrugged. “What can I say, your boy’s got game,” he smugly stated.
I retorted, “Only when dealing with people who’re struggling through shit already.” Then, shaking my head, I asked, “So what do you two talk about, anyways?”
“Life mostly,” Alex said, nonchalantly, “He’s hiding from some powerful people, and evidently a friend sent him here.”
Now then, knowing you, I’m sure you’ve figured out who the friend was already. But I hadn’t quite put two and two together, so I went back to Jim’s bar for the whole story. A story that I was definitely not going to get from Rick. And once again, Rick blew me off. So that meant it was time to enact full Jo protocol. Remember the Jo protocol, for when he would go in his weird, hide from the world moods? Well, I was curious, so I started to follow him.
The first day of technically stalking the man didn’t result in much. He met with Alex around noontime. “What the hell, Alex?” Rick said, clearly upset by my inquiries the other night, “Why’re you going around talking ‘bout my personal stuff with some random chick?”
Alex shook his head. “No, no, Olivia isn’t some random person. She’s an old friend. I’ve known her since, like, junior high. Sort of dated her in high school, but it was never going to work out between us, and we just settled on being chill friends. She’s cool.”
“If she’s so cool,” Rick mused, “Then why don’t I know about her?”
Alex shook his head. “You know me, but you never heard about Liv? Who told you about this place in the first place?”
Rick’s eyes widened. “Oh, that’s Liv,” he said.
“Yeah,” Alex replied.
Rick shook his head. “Still, it ain’t cool, you talking about me without checking first. What if she told someone?”
“She wouldn’t,” Alex answered, “Only person she confides in besides me is currently in DC and rather busy at the moment.”
“Okay,” Rick countered, “Then what if someone overheard?”
“Fine. I’ll check with you before doing anything.” Alex had given up. That meant I was right to enact protocol, since he wasn’t going to help me anymore.
So, I continued my shadowing of Rick. He didn’t do much, then went to the bar. That was the easiest part of the shadow, seeing as I spent every evening in the bar anyway. So, casually drinking, I kept half an eye on the suspicious man working the back. Linda noticed, and when I approached the bar for a drink, she held it just out of reach and asked me, “So, why’re you watching Rick?”
I shrugged. “He’s cagey, I’m curious.”
She raised her eyebrows. “And what if I just told him that you’re watching him?”
I smiled. “Like he’d believe you. After all, I’m a respectable figure in the local community. How would I ever learn to spy on someone?” Linda rolled her eyes and gave me my drink. I returned to my table.
As the night came to an end, and people began to file out, Rick sat down at my table, across from me. I smiled and nodded at him. “Hello,” I told the man, “Finally want to talk?”
He gave me a half smile. “No. You already know pretty much everything,” he said.
This bugged me, because no way I knew everything, right? But I nodded. “Then this is one of those mobster kinds of things, sit me down, try to keep me quiet? No need to worry about that, I’ve got no one to tell.”
“Really? You’ve got no friends, or neighbors, or people you care about, or anything?” he asked.
I smiled. “Oh, I’ve got all of those. Fortunately for you, though, I’ve got one confidant, and she’s busy.” I was, of course, talking about you, but that’s obvious, right?
He nodded, “Alex told me as much. I guess I’ll have to take your word on it.”
I furrowed my brow. “One person saying something is hearsay, two becomes corroborated evidence.” Not actually true, but it sounded legal-adjacent.
He laughed. “That isn’t exactly how eyewitness testimony works, but I get the sentiment.”
That told me he had knowledge of legalese, meaning he was either a lawyer type, or someone who’s dealt with the legal system from the other side. And given how quietly and infrequently he talked, he didn’t feel like a lawyer. I decided to keep on following. There was something there, something I was missing.
I continued to follow him for three whole days. In that time, he talked with Alex one more time, about basically nothing. The news, pretty much, and sports. Why he talked to Alex and no one else, I still don’t know. He snuck off to the old town once, to work out as far as I could tell. He ran up and down the old, falling apart buildings, across rooftops and around lamp posts. Some weird kind of free-running where occasionally he just stopped to do pullups or keep perfectly still horizontally holding onto a column or other exercise-y things like that.
The only other odd thing was a suspicious phone call he took at four in the morning, two days after the conversation with me. He was sitting on the roof of the bar when someone called him. Opening up the flip phone, he immediately asked, “What is it?” There was a brief pause, and he nodded. “Alright. I get it. Sorry, by the way.” He paused to let the other person speak. “Alex told Liv,” he said, answering whatever question the caller had asked. Another pause, longer than the previous one. “Yeah, I know,” he said, “But it wasn’t my call.” He sighed as the words hung in the air. Then, after a while, he asked, “So, how much longer you think?” The person on the other end must have answered something less than ideal for Rick, because his response was a half whispered, “Fuck.” Then, taking the initiative again, he asked, “So, you got a job for me, once I get out of here?” Whatever the answer to that was pleased the man, because Rick smiled, and replied, “I’ll see you then, in that case.” He proceeded to hang up the phone and break it in half, saying to himself, “I love doing this.” He slid down off the roof, tossed one half into the sewer system near the bar, and putting the other half in his pocket.
The following day, on his excursion into old town for exercise, he tossed the other half into a pile of junk that used to be some old house or mining equipment or something. You know, that pile of junk about a block from the mine, across the big road from the old clubhouse? And before you ask, I checked, the sim wasn’t in either half. Don’t know where it is. Anyways, nothing suspicious happened that entire day, and I figured that was enough. I still didn’t know who he was or who put him here, but I was pretty sure he was a criminal type, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to cause any trouble, so I returned to my normal life of drinking heavily and talking with the people. Just because we had some wanderer hiding here, didn’t mean the residents’ problems had all disappeared.
He remained with us for another week and change. Then, as abruptly and quietly as he had come into town, he left. Took the bus out, saying goodbye to Jim and Alex and no one else. I only learned he had left because he wasn’t working the bar that night. According to Alex, Rick had said that everything was clear back home, and he had a job to do. Jim said that Rick apologized for leaving on such short notice, but a friend needed him back home. I don’t know which is true, but I suspect they both were. At least, partially. He seemed like one of those, it’s-not-lying-if-everything-you’re-saying-is-technically-true, types of people, you know? So, my money is on his friend gave him the all clear on whatever was going down back where he was from and asked him to help out in some nefarious business. No way to confirm that without talking with his friend, and I’m not going to do you like that.
Anyways, a couple other things happened around here in the last half decade, too, but I figure I should start with the important one. Well, important to your life, anyways. Because thinking about Rick’s actions, a couple days after he left, I realized what you’ve probably known since the start of the story. Rick was one of Jo’s “friends”. Figured you’d want to know that he sent someone this way. What with everything that went down. I know you don’t want to think about it, especially not with the whole primary loss that just happened, but you should at least consider talking. He may not be a good person, but I think he’s better than he was. Maybe. Woah, woah, it’s up to you. Go, have fun, ignore me. Talk with other people about shit that’s gone down. I can tell you more about everything later. By the way, I never said thanks for what you did half a decade ago. So, thanks. I needed that.