Bitch: Puncture (book 2)

The trucker pulled out a shotgun and began to climb up the side of the trailer, yelling the whole time.

I ran back and barked.

He looked down at me and yelled, “Get outta here!” He swung the gun towards me and I ducked under the trailer.

Boom! The ground behind me erupted. Then a hiss and clatter of small stones.

“Get lost! Somebody better come get their fuckin’ dogs because so help me I’m gonna shoot ‘em if they don’t. Ya have to keep em’ on a leash.”

“What are you shooting your mouth off about?” An older woman with grey and black braids sauntered up.

“Are these your dogs?”

“No, they are not my dogs. But I still am not clear what you need a shotgun for. Are you afraid they are stealing a car off your truck?”

“If that mutt shit in the back of the pickup, I’m gonna put a bullet in its head.”

“Do you work for the police or something? Since when do you need to shoot dogs that haven’t done anything to you?”

“Look lady if these aren’t your dogs then this doesn’t concern you. So I’ll kindly ask you move the fuck along and mind your own bees wax.” And then he cocked the shotgun for emphasis.

I stepped out from under the trailer and looked up at her. She looked nice enough in her tie-dyed outfit, kind grey eyes. She squatted down and held her hand out for me to sniff. She reeked of patchouli and weed. I went for it. I didn’t even bother sniffing her. I ran right up and into her arms and licked her face.

Ugh, Tabbouleh! Not my favorite, but the vinegar was tangy. A little hummus flavor, and thankfully no makeup, that stuff was disgusting.

“There, there, you’re a good girl aren’t you?” She looked up at the trucker. “See a little kindness goes a long way.”

“That’s only one of them, I’m talking about the one in the pickup truck bed. That’s the one I want gone.”

He glanced around and saw another trucker in boxers and a wife beater with a pistol in hand, arms crossed and shaking his head. The unintended result of his shot in anger was that he had woken a number of people at the rest stop, who didn’t appear to be too happy about it. A family had been sleeping in their car next to the bus and the children were huddled close to the parents. The trucker was starting to lose his nerve and his anger was evaporating quickly into embarrassment at his rash behavior. “I just... I’m responsible for these trucks. And I don’t want to have to clean up dog... stuff. Ok? I was just trying to get him out of the truck and off my rig. I didn’t want to kill it. I just want it out. Ok?”

“Why don’t you put the safety back on so you don’t shoot yourself by accident climbing around? That way you can have your hands free. And I’d like to try a little kindness.”

“I’m not letting you climb around my truck. You fall off and I’d get sued.”

“I have everything I need right here on the ground.”

“Fine. But I’ve got a schedule so I can’t be screwing around all day.” He looked at his watch impatiently.

“C’mere boy. C’mon,” she said.

The other sleepy trucker climbed back into his truck. And the family hustled away back to their car. She continued to call to Apoc, but he didn’t peek his head again. Finally, I barked, ‘C’mon’.

Apoc glanced over the side.

“Get off ya’ mutt!”

“C’mon down here. Get off the nice man’s truck.”

Apoc glanced off the back and backed away again. He didn’t see a way down.

“Lady you have two more minutes and then I’m going to go up and throw him off.” He glanced pointedly at his watch while still hanging on the side of the trailer with one hand, shotgun in the other.

‘C’mon Apoc.’ I barked again.

He looked again at the back and whined. He disappeared again. I heard his toenails on the truck bed. Was he getting ready to jump?

“One minute lady.”

‘C’mon Apoc, c’mon,’ I barked.

“Why don’t you shut that mutt up?”

“You know you, and the attitude are not helping the situation. It’s obviously frightened. And you shooting for no reason made it worse.”

Just then Apoc hopped up onto the cab of the pickup and onto the hood with the sound of flexing sheet metal.

“Get off the... What the...” the trucker grabbed for the gun with both hands, and forgot to hold on to the trailer. “Woooooof!”

He finished on the ground on his back, the wind knocked out of him. He was still grabbing at the gun trying to breathe in.

Apoc jumped from the hood into the truck bed of the truck below and than out the side of that truck and onto the ground. He hit the ground running and headed straight for the far side of the bus. I followed him.

He rounded the front of the bus and hippie lady and I rounded the back at almost the same time.

“Whoa! You are big boy. You must be full blooded wolf by the size of you. I thought you were a cow at first.” She spoke smoothly, and held up her hands placating. Apoc fixed her with those eyes and she closed her mouth and froze.

Apoc glanced at the open bus door and then back at her. I nudged her and then ran over to where he was and looked back at her. I nuzzled him to say. ‘See he’s nice, or he can be.’

“Wooooolf, Woooolf!” The trucker had gotten his breath back and we could hear his boots on the pavement.

The older woman walked towards Apoc and I. She looked at us both for a long moment before she spoke. “This is my house. Are you two going to behave if I let you in there?”

I nodded vigorously.

She looked at me in surprise. And waved her arm. That was all I needed, I bolted onto the bus with Apoc right behind me.

“Did you see the wolf?” The trucker said under the windows. “I thought it ran this way around the front of your hippie dippy bus.”

“You know what they say, about the boy who cried wolf. Besides, it didn’t look like a wolf to me. But I think it ran off that way.” She pointed down past the cars towards the trees at the edge of the rest stop.

“That was a wolf lady. Wild. Those things’ll tear you to pieces, they eat everything. Best kind of wolf is a dead one in my book.”

“Well thank you for your deeply informative views on the subject of nature, and how things should be.”

“Hey screw you, you old bat. I only came over here in case it was rabid and had to be put down. That thing could have torn you apart in a second. I was just going to help. What are you one of those beatnik, tree hugging, bong smoking, animal rights whacko activists? You probably think we should be protecting those animals.”

“Well, we are standing in the middle of their territory, I mean it was theirs first. And no I’m not a whacko, I just am just pro-life, in all it’s forms, even yours. Why kill something if you don’t have to?”

“Oh go paint another peace sign you tie-dyed ole’ loon.” And with that his boots ground away. He was muttering something about, “No good deed...”

She climbed aboard the mini-bus and slid the door shut. She fired up the engine, and slowly rumbled out of the parking lot. “I think it’s best to put some distance between us.”

I could see out the painted window and saw the trucker climbing up on top of the trailer. He looked in the back of the truck and then looked at the sunk in cab of the pickup and shrieked in anger, and I could hear some colorful words and cussing,even over the rumble of the old mini-bus engine.