Justice For Eric Kleemeyer

Eric’s Story

Part Seven

Wasted Time

     Eric drove the four miles to the Moonlight Shopping Center finally driving up Kiely Blvd. and making a right into the parking lot. There was nobody there waiting to meet him which to Eric was more annoying than it was surprising, It seemed to him that some people didn’t believe other peoples time had any value all so of course they couldn’t care less if you were inconvenienced. The idea that you might have other things to do is irreverent.

     This is typical behavior of people who are the business of selling their wares in dark parking lots. The reason they do it is because they can. It doesn’t matter, their customers always wait

     Eric waited fifteen minutes. He sat there in his car getting more and more agitated. He was fairly conspicuous just sitting there all alone so he drove from the side parking lot into the major parking area that ran in front of the stores along the El Camino Real.

     There was nothing there but a few parked cars. He thought how much this really sucked and how he didn’t have time for this bullshit. He looked out towards El Camino Real and saw that there was a lot of activity going on. There were police cars and fire engines and emergency lights all having to do with something on the far side of the street. Either it was one hell of an accident or due to the number of fire engines something had burned up. What ever it was it seemed pretty clear that someone was starting the New Year off on the wrong foot.

     He went back by the bowling alley and parked. Still there was nobody there. Why are pot heads always flakes? He was starting to get really mad. How did he let himself get talked into this sxxt?

     Eric took out his cell phone to call Mike and ask him what the hell was happening. He started pushing the buttons only to realize the battery had gone dead. He had forgotten to put it on the charger that was just great he thought, what else can go wrong tonight.

     A little more time slowly passed and Eric had about all he was going to take. He had no intention of spending the entire night here waiting for nothing. Some people worked for a living and he needed to get home to bed. He had already used up his time for visiting his friend Sammy and probably blown doing his laundry tonight and to top it all off he had nothing to show for it.

     It was getting close to midnight. Five more minutes he thought and no matter what, I’m outta here. He waited impatiently and finally started the car up to drive away. Taking a final drive around to do one last check he looked over and spotted a familiar figure walking across the vacant lot. It was about time!

     Eric drove up on the guy and rolled down his window. It was a clear, crisp night.

     “What the fxxk” said Eric?

     “What the fxxk do you mean what the fxxk?”

     “Where the fxxk has you been. I’ve been sitting in this crxxxxy parking lot for almost an hour!”

     The guy motioned with his head towards the emergency vehicles on El Camino Real. “What are you…stupid? Half of Santa Clara’s finest are sitting right over there.”

     Eric looked over at the numerous police vehicles but there were fire engines and an ambulance there as well. “So whets the big deal, they’re all busy with whatever they’re busy with, they don’t give a sxxt about us.”

     “You can’t be too careful these days my friend.”

     “What’s that supposed to mean”

     “It means the candy stores closed for the night.”

     “You mean you don’t got no sxxt”

     “Not till tomorrow”

     “I’ve been waiting an hour.”

     “Hey, just 'cause you want to get arrested don’t mean I want to go with you. I said nothing till tomorrow, comprendo?”

     Eric was fuming. “Yeah, thanks for nothing” he said and stomped down hard on the gas pedal for effect. To his surprise the car didn’t just take off quickly as he intended but actually broke traction with a loud squeal and white smoke billowing out of the spinning tires.

     Holy cxxp he thought. This car is almost forty years old and it still has some balls on it. He let off the gas, gained control and turned towards the driveway exiting the parking lot.

     As he began his right turn onto El Camino Real he saw a policeman approaching him from the other side of the street. The policeman held up his hands and said “Stop”.

     Eric’s mind was racing. He could probably explain how he didn’t mean to screech his tires but he couldn’t explain not having a driver’s license. What was the big deal anyway? First of all he was on private property, and second of all what was the deal with the cop yelling at him like that. That wasn’t a real or official “must obey” way to stop somebody was it? Even if it was, what was the cop going to do about it, run after him just for pealing out. Eric knew two things, this was chicken sxxt and old car with gas beats cop on foot every time.

     With just a moments hesitation Eric continued his turn and started down El Camino Real. He stared straight ahead as he passed by all the other police officers. There were a lot of them. He continued down the street looking more and more in his rearview mirror. He fully expected to see the lights of a cop car come on and start chasing him but it didn’t happen. Maybe he had lucked out. He thought that if they arrested every young man that ever peeled out in a car they would have the entire population behind bars.

    It would be safer to get off this main road all the same. The first chance to get off of El Camino Real was the San Thomas Expressway and Eric made the right turn and quickly accelerated to the fifty miles per hour posted limit.

   He continued to monitor his review mirror but so far so good. He drove farther and farther away with no sign of any police cars he began to relax. That had been way to close for comfort but Eric had no reason to notice the SUV that had turned onto the expressway behind him because it had come from the other direction on El Camino and it sure didn’t look like any police car.

     Eric approached the intersection with Forbes Avenue and got into the left turn lane. When the light turned green he hesitated for a second. Should he continue going straight on San Thomas and then circle back to the apartment or should he turn left and go by his Mom’s house? Chances were she had already gone to bed. On the other hand if there was a cop car after him it would be wised to hang out at Mom’s for a while. A big SUV pulled in behind him in the turn lane.He needed to move so he decided to go by Mom’s and he made the left turn He drove the two blocks to Los Olivios Avenue and turned left traveling a few more blocks to Serra Avenue. As he turned right he noticed the SUV was still behind him but whoever they were they were not in any hurry because they had fallen well behind him by over a block.

     Two blocks in front of him, facing him to his right was his Mother’s house on the corner of Serra Avenue and Clara Vista Avenue. He slowed down and looked at the dark house. Just as he expected she had gone to bed. It wouldn’t be a big deal to wake her but she probably had work in the morning too and needed her sleep. He checked the rearview one more time. The only other traveler in sight was the slow moving SUV. From the look of it and the speed it was traveling it was probably some soccer mom out for an emergency diaper run or something similar. Eric always thought those little moms in their great big SUVs looked so funny when they came in for gas at CostCo.

     Eric decided it was probably best to just let mom get her sleep and he headed home to his apartment. From Serra Avenue he turned a right onto Scott. With all the excitement over Eric began thinking about Mike again. As he drove along he could already hear Mike whiney voice bitching about him coming home empty handed. The smell of his dirty laundry only served to make him more irritated.

     The way Eric figured things he had wasted an hour of his time, blown off visiting his friend, he still had dirty clothes, and to top it all off he could have been arrested.

     The road changes names from Scott to Newhall when it crosses Saratoga Avenue and as he drove on crossing Winchester Blvd he knew he was almost home. He had stopped checking behind him every second concentrating more on how he was going to deal with his very real confrontational roommate than any imaginary police force out to get him. Eric made a silent vow. If Mike said one word, just one negative word about him not getting Mike’s sxxt then Eric was never going to do another favor for him again…ever.

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