When Richard goes to see his daughter to celebrate turning
eightieth, she answers the door sobbingly and waves him off. Richard looks
through her front windows and sees that he is right to suspect problems.
As he drove, Richard nervously drummed his fingers against the
steering wheel. Ever since his wife’s funeral four years ago, Deidre has not
driven down for Thanksgiving. There were only calls once a week now.
Deidre appeared in the doorway, and Richard opened his
arms wide. He exclaimed, “Surprise!”
“Daddy? Why are you in this place?” With tears streaming down her cheeks, she enquired.
“I came to celebrate my birthday with you… it’s the big
eight-o!” Richard replied, but the joy
in his voice trailed off quickly. “What’s wrong, honey? Why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing; everything’s fine,” Deidre quickly wiped her tears and smiled a little. “I
just…I wasn’t expecting you, and this isn’t really a good time. Sorry, Dad, but
I, uh, need to focus. On my work, Look, I’ll call you. We’ll have dinner later,
okay? Sorry.”
Richard was left bewildered and heartbroken when Deidre closed the
door. There was a serious problem. Did Deidre have a problem?
Richard moved away from the front entrance, but he
stayed inside. He skirted the low blooming shrubs bordering the walkway and
crept up to take a quick look through the windows.
Deidre was in the sitting room with two burly males.
“Who was that?” In
an abrupt tone, one of them inquired.
“Nobody,” Deidre said,
trembling. “Just a neighbor’s kid… pulling a doorbell
prank and running away.”
“Back to business then,” the second man said. “You’re now six
months behind on your loan repayments, Deidre. Mr. Marco’s getting impatient.”
“I just need more time. Business is sure to pick up
again in the winter,” she pleaded.
The man said, “Time is one thing
you haven’t got, sweetie,” and drew his gun. “People
who owe Mr. Marco money don’t have a great life expectancy and end up feeding
the fishes in the lake…” He was aiming the weapon at her.
Fear immobilized Richard. However, the man quickly
turned aside, hiding the gun in the waistline of his pants, and walked back
with a disgusted expression.
“Look around this dump and see if there’s anything
valuable we can take to Mr. Marco, Danny,” he said. “She’s a businesswoman, so there must be a computer
or some kind of equipment around here.”
She exclaimed, “But I need those things!” “I can’t make money
without my equipment!”
The man gave his rifle a pat on the butt. “Boo-Hoo.” You
know, I may yet change my mind. Now stop being unappreciative.
Deidre was left sobbing on the floor as the men stormed
away after ransacking her house.
Richard couldn’t understand anything because Deidre’s
business was booming. That’s what she had told him, at any rate. However,
Richard now sensed that something was wrong. Deidre was in need of him.
From Deidre’s house, the men placed a number of
appliances in their car.
At last, they took off, and Richard went with them.
The men came to a stop at what appeared to be a pub, a
two-story brick building downtown. The door was unlocked even though it was
closed. Richard entered the facility unhindered by any staff members.
The men had moved to a big table with a number of other
burly men seated around it. One of them got up and strode in his direction.
“The club’s closed,” he growled. “Come back later.”
Richard said, “I’m here to discuss
Deidre’s debt.”
“Oh?” The man at the head of the
table stood up and gave Richard a long look. With the exception of a large scar
above his left eye, he appeared to be a gentleman. Mr. Marco, Richard surmised.
“How much does she owe you?” Richard asked.
Mr. Marco smirked. “A good samaritan,
huh? Deidre took out a business loan of $80,000 from me. She was supposed to
pay me back from her monthly profits, but she never made any.”
“I have about $20,000 in savings.” Richard gasped in terror, surprised that Deidre had taken
out such a large loan.
That’s not even close to what she owes us. Mr. Marco
let out a sigh. “But there’s something you can do to make up
the difference.”
Although Richard didn’t enjoy the sound of that, he
knew he had to take all necessary action to keep his daughter out of the
trouble she had gotten herself into.
He enquired, “What do you want me
to do?”
Mr. Marco waved Richard over to the table with a smile.
“My partner and I recently launched a small business
importing cars into Canada, but we’re having trouble getting the’merchandise’
across the border because some of the paperwork has been delayed. It should be
easy for a gentle, naive Grandpa like you to cross the border in one of our
vehicles.”
Richard was forced to nod in agreement. Later that
evening, he stopped beside a patrol to use the restroom at a gas station close
to the border town.
The German Shepherd in the back of the police cruiser started
barking at him and pawing at the window, and he said, “Jesus!”
Service dogs aren’t supposed to bark at strangers
until… Oh, dude.
The police dog went nuts as he hastily got back into
the Valiant and began reversing.
He was looked at by two police officers, who rushed out
of the gas station store and ordered him to stop. Richard stuffed the GPS app
in his pocket to stop the annoying voice instructions.
He threaded through traffic, pushing the Valiant to its
breaking point, leaving a trail of furious drivers who barely missed crashes in
his wake. Behind him, sirens began to blare.
Before long, Richard noticed a small, unmarked dirt
road heading into the jungle. He made a sudden turn and bolted into the trees,
leaving the road behind. Richard continued, despite how difficult it was to
manage the muddy trails.
He took a narrow road that went downhill. Subsequently,
he noticed a tiny elevation and felt instant regret.
Now the car was wedged into an awkward position, perched on a
small elevation over a large river. When Richard attempted to go back the way
he had come, the tires spun in an attempt to lose traction.
The car was actually sliding toward the water.
“No!” Richard applied the parking
brake as hard as he could, but it was ineffective.
With a loud splash, the car’s nose struck the river,
causing a wave of dark water to rush over the bonnet. In a desperate attempt to
get out of the sinking car, Richard pushed open the door.
Richard felt the automobile door close against his legs
due to the water’s pressure. With the interior filled with the river, Richard
splashed around in panic.
He tipped his head back, took a final breath, and
hauled himself beneath as the water level slowly rose to his face.
Richard forced his way through the gap and thrust himself upward
toward the surface. Inhaling deeply, he started to swim in the direction of the
riverbank.
Richard became aware of how near death he truly was
upon reaching shore. Thankfully, he was still breathing. Still, he had to take
action with the $80,000. Richard decided to hitchhike home.
“I need to mortgage my house,” he told the bank assistant. “And
I need the cash in my bank account fast.”
While the bank staffer processed the paperwork, Richard
impatiently waited. He gave it a start as he heard Deidre’s call.
“A few guys from a nearby gang stopped over to inquire
about you, Dad.What’s taking place?”
“Tell them I’ll be there soon. I arranged to pay off
your debt for you. I don’t understand why you didn’t come to me first, Deidre,
but this isn’t the time to discuss that.”
Richard hung up the phone and signed the documents. The
only way to assist Deidre was to give up the house where he had made memories
with his family, even if he didn’t want to.
A few hours later, he pulled his rental car into the
club’s parking lot and made his way to the entrance.
“Dad, hold on!” Deidre
hurried toward Richard, and he looked back.
“I won’t let you face those thugs alone,” she said. “I still don’t understand how you found out
about this mess or how you got the money to repay them, but the least I can do
is stand by you while you save me.”
Observing the resolute expression in Deidre’s eyes, Richard
realized he would be unable to persuade her to part ways. The guys led him and
Deidre to the table as soon as they got inside the club.
Richard set his duffel bag on the table, containing the
cash he had taken out following the closing of the mortgage.
“Here’s the $80,000 Deidre owed you plus another
$15,000 to cover the cost of your car. I, uh, got into some trouble, and the
car ended up in a river.”
Mr. Marco beat his hand against the table and screwed
his mouth in fury.
“You’re going to give me a meager fifteen thousand
dollars? When you enter here and claim to have sunk the $100,000 shipment
concealed in that vehicle? “That is not even close to covering what you owe me
right now.”
The criminal took hold of the duffel bag and hurled it
at one of his goons.
“You know, Deidre, I really believed in you, but
sometimes, in business, you’ve got to know when to cut your losses.”
His coat jacket held a gun, which he took out and aimed
directly at Deidre’s forehead.
Richard pulled Deidre behind him. “No,
please! This is all my fault! Don’t punish her!”
“Well, you made a good point.” The gangster shrugged, and the next moment, Richard was
staring down the gun barrel.
Abruptly, they heard sirens from the cops outside.
Loud gunfire erupted, shaking the room, and Mr. Marco turned to
flee toward the back.
Crawling under the table were the father and daughter.
The club was in disarray, and Richard knew he had to do whatever it took to
bring his daughter to safety when he met her terrified eyes.
After tipping over a table, Richard and Deidre
positioned themselves in a corner. There, they hid until the cops came to take
them away. Thank goodness, Mr. Marco was found.
“Are you certain you don’t have any heart-related
health issues?” In the ambulance, Richard
shook his head at the paramedic.
At the sight of the police detective approaching the
ambulance, Richard took a deep gulp.
The investigator questioned sharply, “Sir,
what were you and your daughter doing in this club today?”
Richard gave them the rundown on Deidre’s loan and how
they were going to return it that day at the club. With any luck, he wouldn’t
have to bring up the car he sank in the river.
The detective glanced at Deidre. “If
we hadn’t found a car full of contraband in the river, we wouldn’t have been
here to rescue you. You shouldn’t be taking loans from such disreputable
people, miss.”
“A car in the river?” With nervousness, Richard enquired.
“It was registered to Mr. Marco’s cousin, which was
exactly the lede we needed to take this gang down,” said the cop.
Richard exhaled a sigh of calm. He was safe.
When he and Deidre gave their statements, the police
released them.
I really apologize to you, Dad. Richard’s car was
parked in front of them, and Deidre apologized, saying, “I
dragged you into this whole mess.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I
didn’t know how to tell you. How does anyone tell their father that they’re a
huge failure?”
“You are not a failure!” Richard put his hands on Deidre’s shoulders. “Maybe
your business idea didn’t work out as well as you’d hoped, but you tried, Deidre.
I wish you’d felt comfortable enough to tell me what was really going on in
your life. Heck, I just wish you felt you could be as close with me as you were
with your mother,” he continued. “I
don’t think you’ve been ‘fine’ for quite a while now.”
Richard put an arm around Deidre as she started
crying. “It’s okay, honey,” he
comfortingly said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
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