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JAILBIRD , Part 2
Part 2, conclusion
"Fish, I think," replied Bill. "Who cares. I don't live ta eat, buster... I eat ta live. Anyways, I got someth'in more important on my mind, like stay'in free. I'll tell ya right now Penguin," continued Bill, talking as he ate. "I ain't go'in back ta the pen. If they catch me, it's all over."
"Whaddaya mean?" said Penguin, finishing his burger, turning over boxes and old newspapers as he searched for anything else that wasn't rotten or swarming with flies.
"I mean," answered Wild Bill, true to his name. "They'll have ta kill me before I go back there."
"I'd say that decisions' already been made for us, wouldn't you?" said Penguin.
"I'd say yer right," replied Bill. "C'mon, lets get movin'," he added, getting to his feet. "I don't feel comfortable stay'in this long in any one place. Just makes it easier for 'em ta track us down."
"Just a minute," replied Penguin, feeling certain that he'd caught a glimpse of some French fries lodged between two empty cartons of eggs.
"We don't got a minute," answered Bill impatiently. "You can stay if ya want, I'm movin' out, pronto."
Jumping from the dumpster, Penguin's feet had only just touched the pavement when Bill yelled out, doing his best to get Penguin's attention. There, just leaving the restaurant parking lot was a rusty old pick-up truck, sputtering its way toward the main highway with Bill running close behind it. Jumping into the back, with Penguin in hot pursuit, Bill did his best to conceal himself from the driver who was - as Wild Bill realized, when he peered in through the back window - a very old man dressed in overalls, and fortunately for Bill, couldn't hear very well. Catching up, Penguin noisily hopped into the bed of the truck, but went unnoticed, as Bill watched the driver lean to one side to adjust his hearing aid and turn up the volume on his radio. "We're in luck. He can't hear worth a damn," said Bill, referring to the driver. "Is this perfect or what?"
"I've seen better accommodations," replied Penguin. "But I suppose it'll have ta do. Where do ya think he's headed?"
"We're headed south, ain't we? On highway 65. An accordin' ta my calculations - an the sign we just passed a course - we should be headed straight for the Buffalo River in beautiful northern Arkansas. Imagine that," continued Bill, leaning back on the hard metal surface of the truck bed. "Me an you baskin' in the sun by the river bank, all the food we can eat an nuthin' ta do but take in the views an relax. All we gotta do is stay away from the tourists an we'll be fine."
"Whaddaya mean, 'all the food we can eat'?" asked Penguin.
"I thought that'd get yer attention," said Bill. "There's a shit-load a fish, ain't there? An a whole bunch a other goodies I bet..., you'll see."
"Leftovers from the tourists?" asked Penguin. "Sounds good ta me."
"You got it buddy boy. An the best part is, we're free. We can do what we want, when we want, an nobody's gonna tell us different."
"Oh man," said Penguin. "I can hardly wait. When do we get there?"
"I dunno exactly, but do me a favor will ya."
"What?"
"Don't call me man, I hate it."
"Here we go buddy boy," said Bill, as the old truck made its way over the bridge which connected the banks of the beautiful, green, rushing river beneath. "This here's our stop. Unless a course you'd like ta go home with the old guy here an end up on some farm, grazing like an animal."
"What are you talking about? I am not an animal," answered Penguin, angry with Bill for thinking of him in that vein. "I do not graze."
"Forget it, would ya. C'mon, let's move out!"
Getting off the truck was about as difficult as getting on - which was not very easy - but when the old man slowed down at the opposite end of the bridge to avoid an armadillo in the road, the two companions seized the opportunity and jumped off. Unable to control their legs from the momentum of the moving truck, Penguin and Wild Bill both fell, and rolled the rest of the way down an embankment which met the side of the road where the bridge terminated. "Ouch!" exclaimed Penguin, rubbing his head. "I think I hit my head on a rock. Lets hope we don't have ta do that again. Those last few feet really hurt like hell."
"Yeah, I know what'cha mean," said Bill. "Which reminds me of an old joke about keep'in yer shoelaces tied cause a trip's better then a fall, get it? Trip, fall, a little play with semantics there, get it?"
"A course I get it, it's just not very pertinent, that's all."
"Why?" asked Bill.
"Cause I ain't wear'in any shoes, for one thing."
"Just a technicality, that's all. Hey," continued Bill, getting to his feet to have a look around. "Would ya look at this place, it's beautiful!"
"Yeah," answered Penguin. "An the best part is, there ain't no people around."
"I hear ya. No people, but a lotta potential friends at large, that's for sure," replied Bill, drawing Penguin's attention to a pair of Cardinals who were bathing themselves and drinking water from the river.
"An some what ain't so friendly," observed Penguin, referring to a pair of hawks that were circling overhead, watching their every move.
"I see what'cha mean," said Bill. "But at least out here, we're free. Free from any man who thinks he can keep us in a pen, plump us up on steroids and execute us like some kinda lousy convicts. It turns my stomach just ta think about it. We'll just have ta watch our step, that's all. You watch my back an I'll watch yours, just like when we was back in the pen, right?" Extending a large white wing, Wild Bill reached over to his friend as a man might shake hands or pat another on the back. "Right," agreed Penguin. "Birds of a feather, flock together. Now where's all the grub you were talkin' about. Ya made this place sound like a non-stop banquet. Whadda we do for food?"
"Hmm...," said Bill, about to do one of those things that should come naturally to any red-blooded American turkey in the wild. Bending at the hip, he picked up a fat juicy beetle on its way into the forest and finished speaking as it crunched in his beak under pressure. "Try the insects here - gulp! - they're delicious."
***The End***
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