My cellular phone vibrated on the table in front of me. It was a text message from Mom. She wanted me to pick up her sequined dress from the dry cleaner. She was at the hairdresser, and the cleaner would be closed in the next 20 minutes. She did not have enough time to get the dress. I reluctantly agreed. I was playing Nautical III and could not leave the game. My team was depending on me to fight with them. The darkness engulfed our bodies as we ran through the alley, eradicating our enemies. I pounded on the button of the controller. I was enraged and empowered with each stroke of my sword as my enemies fell at my feet, defeated. I had to get to a safe zone before leaving the game and without dying. I looked at the clock at the corner of my screen. I had 15 minutes to get to the cleaners. I could drive there at that time. I muttered to myself as I continued playing.
My character crawled stealthily on the muddy ground obscured by the shadows. A masked warrior stood with his back to me. I raised my sword to strike the enemy and realized the fighter was Santiva, the Warrior Prince. I pressed the down arrow on my controller, which gave the command, to terminate the target. But before I could, my controller vibrated in my hand. I saw blood, and my screen went black like a candle blown out. I was so mad; I was so close to slaying my target, and I had compromised the mission and got eliminated in the process. In a rage, I threw the controller. It bounced off the cushions and hit a vase on the mantel. The vase wobbled, fell to the ground, and shattered into many tiny pieces. Now, I was going to get annihilated for real. What would I tell my mother? How would I explain to her my carelessness?
I hurriedly cleaned up the pieces of glass shards and jumped into my car, headed towards town. I did not have much time. It cost me dearly in time, stopping to clean up and hide the pieces of the broken vase.
It took more time than I had to spare. I drove above the 25 miles speed limit all the way, checking my surrounding for any hidden police cars. I parked the car and jumped out without locking the doors. The man who owned the dry cleaner was walking out the door.
“Sir!” I panted. “I would like to pick up my mother’s dress.”
His eyes opened wide from my sudden outburst. “I am sorry, young man, but the shop is closed. I am closed for the day.”
“Please, Sir! My mom needs the dress to wear to a luncheon, in an hour. She will kill me if I do not have that dress when she gets home. Please, I beg you; please, Sir,” I begged, dropping to my knees for dramatic effect. Anything to get him to open the door and give me Mom’s dress.
He looked at me and turned the key. “Get up!” He said. I have a proposition for you. To get this dress, you have to do something.”
“Anything! I need that designer dress.” I agreed. I stood up and looked him straight in the eyes behind the crooked glasses that rested on his nose. Based on the bags under his eyes, the gray hairs in his eyebrows, and his sagging jowls, I could tell he was elderly. “Look over there, he pointed. You see that car with the yellow boot on its front wheel; I want you to release it.”
“What the fuck!? Why should I do that? It is illegal to tamper with an impounded vehicle. You are a psycho, man.” My face went flushed from anger.
“Well then, have a good evening, young man.” He stepped toward the padlocks he needed to secure the shutter. See you tomorrow when I open the store. Only then will you get that dress,” he muttered.
“Oh, Fuck! Why me?! What kind of a proposition is this? This act is so unfair. Why would you want me to risk going to jail for this strange proposition?”
“You have 30 minutes to release the car, get the dress, and take it to your beloved mother for her party. No one will bother you while you work. Get moving. The clock begins now, tick-tock! Tick-tock!”
Without further thought, I rushed to my car and opened the trunk. I grabbed the toolbox and walked to the car parked under a tree near the fence. Although the car was kind of secluded, I was nervous. I began feverishly working on removing the boot. Sweat ran down the side of my temples as I worked. I forced the screwdrivers under the cap, I tried the pliers, the wrench, and the drill . The boot would not budge. If it were this easy to remove a boot, the authorities would not have used it to deem a vehicle inoperable.
“Fifteen more minutes, young man,” the old man shouted as he sneered at me.
I tried the hammer. I banged the center of the boot with the hope that it would malfunction and release its grip, but nothing happened. The hammer just dented the metal cap that covered the lug nuts. I had an idea. I grabbed my cellular phone and asked Google to show me how to open a wheel lock boot. I was so surprised to see so many videos. I was able to unlock the device and release the clamp.
I looked up with a satisfying grin on my face, but the man was nowhere in sight. The glass entrance door was closed, and the shutters pulled down. I was so focused on accomplishing the task that I did not hear or realize that the man had tricked me and had left the premises. I stood up and placed my arms on my head in disbelief. I grabbed my tools and put them back in the toolbox. The boot was off the wheel, but I had no dress as promised. I’ll be a dead man as soon as I get home. How will I explain all this mishap to Mom?
I placed the toolbox back in my car trunk and closed the door. I opened my car door to grab a bottle of water when I saw a garment bag on the backseat of my car. I was elated. How could this be, and when did he place the dress there? I laughed and laughed. Just then, I heard a car’s engine turn on and looked behind me. To my surprise, the man was in the car, behind the steering wheel of the car I had just released. He waved at me as he drove past. I jumped into my car and followed behind him and out of the parking lot. I will not be seen there alone where the crime was committed.
What a crazy twist of event. I can’t believe I broke the law. I hope I will not get in trouble. I hurried home to tell Mom all about it, and hopefully, the crazy story would change her mind from banishing me from the home I love. She laughed at my story and told me that I would have to replace the vase. What a relief that was. Mom got dressed, and she looked amazing. The measurement of the dress was flawless, and it fits her like a glove. She left for the party, and I went back to playing Nautical III.
Would you have done what I did? Please leave your comment below.
Ok, I said it!
This story inspiration came from “Write The Story” www.piccadilly.com titled A Strange Proposition From A Stranger. In this story, I had to include the following words: seguin, lock, force, luncheon, dented, cellular, measurement, designer, toolbox, and banish.
See if you can spot them throughout my story. Thank you for reading.
Great content! Keep up the good work!
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