Giving Shit

“Are we going to be spending the night there?” she asked Edward Julian Watson. She blurted this question, as if it had come out of nowhere.
Putting his chin in his hand and shrugging his shoulders; all with such seriousness, he asked, “Do you want to?”
“It’s up to you, but you need to let me know.” She looked away from his face.
“Alright.”
“Alright what?” she asked, looking up towards him.
“Alright we’ll stay,” Edward Julian Watson had decided.
And Becki was suddenly nervous.

The next day, she found the number for the highway hotel. She dailed that number and made the reservation.
And Becki was calm.

When the night and the day was almost done, they went to the hotel to check in.
Becki smiled and said her name to the short, dark man bulging behind the desk. He looked at her oddly. He tapped his whole hand on the top of the reservation book, before he pointed a finger at her. “I know you.”
Becki smiled at him and she winked quietly. “Of course you do, Manny.”
“You owe me money.”
“What?” Becki stepped back.
“Yeah,” he waved his finger faster and started shaking his head. “You owe me money.”
“What?” Becki asked again. “I owe you…what?”
“Money. Lots of money. You lived her for free!”
“I lived here for free? What?”
“For free! You lived here for free! I know who you are. It was a long time a go, but I know who you are. You owe me like three thousand dollars.”
“I what?”
“You owe me…you owe me three thousand dollars!”
“I owe you three thousand dollars? For what?” Becki asked.
“I told you-you lived here for free!”
Becki looked over her shoulder and she smiled at Edward Julian Watson. “Run”, she said.
And Edward Julian Watson’s eyes bulged, but the rest of him stayed motionless. “What?” he aked.
Turning to face him and starting to laugh; all with such seriousness, Becki repeated, “Run.”
And so they did. Back to the car.
“It’s time to get out of town. Let’s just go to your place.” She was still laughing.
And Edward Julian Watson decided again. “Alright.”