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CHP 1 Test
CHP 1 Test
CHP 1 Test
I
It was September 20th. The pot was at 65 million, after
taxes thatd be 45 million give or take. The winning ticket was
sold at a 7 Eleven on a road no one but locals drive on. It stood
alone with a parking lot 3 times its size though only 5 spots
would ever be used at one time. This exact 7 Eleven is the one
our boys used for their ritual, Billy said the odds were better
because no one went there but Jacob knew it was horse shit. It
didnt matter where, just the numbers.
The numbers were always the same as the week before,
it was a list ascending, then descending, by ones. Billy said it
helped the odds, Jacob didnt care. The man behind the counter
was short and balding, he always wore a shirt 2 sizes too large.
He knew the boys by name and always had their tickets ready
when theyd walk in. After a fifteen minute ride from their
shared apartment Jacob swung his 95 Chevy Cavalier into the
closest spot to the front door. Billy slammed the passenger door
as he got out, Jacob yelled at him. There were only two other
cars in the lot beside Jakes, the clerks and one he didnt
recognize, a Crown Vic. Jacob could hear his engine clicking
and cooling as he left it.
Hey Marco! Jacob belted as he and Billy walked
through the door. Billy nodded in Marcos direction but went
directly to the line of refrigerators on the back wall. Jake walked
up to the counter.
Jacob my boy, feeling lucky this week? Marco pulled
a stack of tickets from behind the counter and shot a cheery
smile Jakes way. Marco had worked this 7 Eleven for longer
than the boys had lived in the area, he was one of the first
people they met 3 years earlier.
Jacob laughed, Only in my dreams sir. So hows the
family?
Jake and Billy went to that 7 Eleven the first day they were in
town, moving van and all they pulled into the lot 3 years ago
last February. Billy had to use the bathroom and Jake needed to
stretch his legs. Billy slammed the door, Jake yelled. Jacob
stood leaning against his car out front of the lone convenience
store, he pulled a cigarette up to his mouth and found out his
lighter was empty. Jacob went into the store to buy a new one,
he and the clerk hit it off, end of story.
ooo
In the back Billy was following his finger down the
glass of the refrigerators trying to make up his mind. As he
walked along the back wall waiting for a revelation to come the
owner of the third car was standing in the furthest aisle from the
door. The man was on the phone and making a seemingly life or
death decision between gummy bears and gummy worms. Billy,
noticing the man, became more conscious of his surroundings
and instinctually started eavesdropping. He still didn't know
what to drink.
People-watching was a pastime of Billys, he was a
psych major before he dropped out during his freshman year. He
came from a long line of college dropouts. He liked seeing the
differences in people, just didnt like doing the work. He knew
the stuff, just didnt know how to use it. Billy took a quick look
at the guy. The man was wearing a grey suit with a white button
down and he looked tired, really tired. His black tie was loose
around his neck and his horn rimmed glasses were making their
descent lower and lower down his nose. The phone was in his
right hand. Billy could hear a small voice on the other side of
the call but couldnt tell what it was saying.
2
The man looked up from the aisle and out into nowhere.
No... I understand The voice went on and on, he took a
heavy breath in. Look... you know Ive been trying, Ive been
following her for 2 weeks.. The small voice got larger. The
man stopped, pulled the phone to face him and started saying
loudly and split up ....Look...I .cant...cant.hear you.
I..Tunnel. He hung up the phone and said ..Bitch.. His
tired eyes looked up towards the ceiling and he took one more
breath in. When the man caught sight of a guy standing four feet
away he questioned how tired he really was, itd been 3 days
since he'd slept after all. Billy stood completely still with his
right ear aimed at the man. He'd missed the classes on subtlety
and stuck out like a sore thumb with a neon green Fuck Global
Warming shirt on. The mans face blinked slow and confused.
He looked around for anyone else to confirm what exactly he
was looking at. When his eyes came back to Billy he had
grabbed a RedBull and started walking back to the front. The
man watched Billy walk away and said quietly to himself
fuckin kids. He started to dial another number.
ooo
Billy walked back to the front of the store. He pulled
four wrinkled, machine washed bills from his pocket and slid
them across the counter. He popped the lid of his RedBull, said
Keep the change Marci Mark and kept going. Marco pulled
the bills toward him and shoved them in the register.
The kids are good. Genevieve started elementary school on
Monday and Henrys almost potty trained! Marcos enthusiasm
over his son's relationship with the toilet made one of Jakes
eyebrows shoot up, but he never had kids, what would he know.
Wonderful! Tell Henry Im rooting for him. Jacob
looked around for where Billy went, found him backed up to the
height strip on the door with his hand over his head. Jake paid
Marco and grabbed the stack of tickets. He looked down at a
stack of papers and read the headline, SEVENTEEN CATS
SAVED FROM SINGLE TREE. The paper was local and the
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II
The man from the 7 Eleven wasted no time at all, he
hopped in his 15 year old Crown Vic and took off up the road.
In the backseat was a blanket and a pillow, his bed for the past
two weeks. He drove with one hand on the wheel and a Slurpee
in the other. In the passenger seat was a messy stack of papers
and notebooks covered in red ink from a cheap pen; notes filled
every margin.
The town the man had just come from was behind him
now and riddled with failed attempts. He never caught the name
and frankly didnt care to but it was Jacob and Billys town. He
rolled in about a week and a half earlier after tracking the girl
150 miles from his home, he figured she was hiding out with a
friend in the area. He was partially right.
She was on the run and he was hired to find her, the deal
was a good one that a friend had hooked him up with. His
workload had been non-existent for almost two years after the
scandal so he jumped on the chance immediately and packed up
his car with all the secondhand surveillance equipment he could
muster.
It took three days once he got to the town. He found her
in a coffee shop on the corner of a busy street and he began
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