Fish Farm by Walt Sautter (top rated books of all time TXT) 📕

of the car.
“I’ll go up and get a couple of bungee cords to tie the trunk lid down.”
Jack returned and secured the lid. They got into the car and headed off towards Larry’s.
They rode along, engaged in the usual jabber with Jack’s eyes constantly looking in the side view mirror, fearful that the box might slip from its resting place in the trunk.
After twenty miles or so, he began to relax, confident that it was secure, and stopped his continual glancing in the mirror.
“Hey, Jack what’s that cop want?”
“Cop! What cop?”
“He’s right behind us with the lights going”, answered Petey.
“Better pull over “, Jack replied nervously.
The car slowed and rolled to a stop at the road side. Petey rolled down the window reached for his wallet as the cop walked up to the car.
“How are you gentleman doing today?”, the cop asked.
“What’s the problem officer?”
“What’s in that box in your trunk?”
“A television. We’re takin’ it up to a friend.”
“Television, huh”
Jack’s heart was racing top speed. He felt as if it was to jump from him chest at any moment. He swallowed hard and remained silent.
“Yeah, we’re takin’ to Larry at ‘Larry’s Fishin’ Hole’”.
“Oh, you mean Larry Fine. I know Larry, known him for years. He’s okay. I used to call him ‘Fine Larry’, cause he use let me take my kids up there all the time to fish for free. He was great.
I don’t know how he ever made any money. Everybody I ever met there was fishing for free! But that was Larry for you.
I guess the fish he sells wholesale is what keeps him going.
Anyway, the reason I stopped you is you have to have a flag on that box. Like a red piece of cloth will do it.”
With that the cop glanced in the back side of Petey’s car littered with old newspapers and clothes.
“There’s a flannel shirt in the back seat that looks kinda red. Take that and tie it on the bungee and you’re set to go.
And by the way, tell Larry that Tim Harbor was asking about him.
Have a good day”.
Jack reached into the back seat and grabbed the shirt, stumbled from the car in nervous exhaustion and tied it on the bungee. He got back into the car and slumped into the seat as they pulled out and continued to Larrys.
They reached Larry’s turn off. A hand lettered sign was hung over the Larry’s Fishin’ Hole sign. It read, ‘Sorry – No Fish are Bitin’ Today – Closed for Repairs’. They rode down the dusty, bumpy road to Larry’s house.
Larry was sitting out in front, with a cigar in hand like usual.
“You got it here alright I see.”
“Hope it’s gonna work okay after that ride down your road there”, answered Petey.
“Oh, it’s gonna work just find”, replied Larry’s with a slight grin.
All three walked to the back of the car. Petey reached to untie the bungees.
“No, leave ‘em on “.
“Well, how are we gonna get it out of trunk and into Larry’s?”, asked Petey.
“You didn’t tell him?” asked Larry.
“No, I didn’t but I guess I gotta now.”
“Listen, Petey, there’e no TV in there. Let’s go over here and sit down for a minute.
Jack then proceeded to tell the whole story start to finish. Petey sat silently, in an almost trance-like state as the tale unfolded.
“You gotta be shittin’ me!”, Petey exclaimed in an astounded tone as Jack finished.
“I couldn’t tell you, because I thought maybe you wouldn’t let me up here if I did.”
“Probably, wouldn’t have”, replied Petey, “But guess what, it’s too late now.
So what happens now?”
“Well, we’re gonna get rid of that ‘TV’ now once and for all”, answered Larry.
“If you wanta come along and help that’s okay, but if you’d rather just stay here and wait, that’s okay too. Let me tell ya though, it aint gonna be pretty.”
“In to deep now. May as well go for the whole ride. Let’s go”, replied Petey and with that, all three got into the car and drove down towards the fish ponds.
As they approached the ponds, Petey saw the wood chipper next to one with the shoot pointed out over the water.
“Holy shit! I think I’m gettin’ the idea. Aint gonna be pretty is right!”, exclaimed Petey.
They backed the car up to the mouth of the chipper and all got out. They wrestled the box from the trunk onto the ground. Jack pulled out a pocket knife and cut the box open. He rolled the plastic bag out. And slit it open.
There he was just as Jack had left him.
“Don’t smell too bad considerin’ its been a bunch of days now”, said Larry.
“Jesus Christ! That’s one of the guys that forced me down to the bank that day. One of those Fireman gang guys. As a matter of fact, he was the boss man”, exclaimed Petey.
“He won’t be any more collecting, that’s for sure”.
“Start the chipper let’s get this over with”.
“Wait a minute Jack”, said Larry.
“You don’t think I’m gonna feed my fish all that cloth, do ya. We gotta get him undressed. Those cloth pieces will kill the fish.. Here gimme the knife. You pull off the shoes and belt and I’ll cut off the rest”.
Soon, the body lay naked next to the machine.
“Okay, I’ll start her up and we’ll get to it.
Oh, get that old plastic shower curtain out of the back seat so we can cover the shoot. I don’t wanta get all splattered”.
Jack got the curtain and put it over the shoot as Larry started the chipper.
“I think we gotta go head first so his arms don’t get stuck”, said Jack and Larry agreed.
They lifted the body and guided it into the shoot. The motor began to accelerate as it devoured the body. A red, pulpy stream gushed out over the pond. The water churned as the fish rushed towards the spot where it landed.
The water pooled bright red as the particles hit and then within seconds the color disappeared as the fish swarmed.
Petey watched for a second or two and then walked to the side and began to vomit.
Jack and Larry continued to feed the final portion of the corpse into the machine.
Then it was over. Larry turned off the chipper and all three stood silently for a moment with a distant gaze.
Jack broke the silence.
“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“Wasn’t so bad! It was fuckin’ awful!”, cried Petey.
“Yeah, you’re right, fuckin’ awful. But it’s done”, agreed Jack.
“Now we gotta hose down the machine and burn the clothes, bag and box. We don’t want a trace left , not so much as a fart”, replied Larry and with that it was finished.
They all went back to the house and Larry took some beer from the fridge and they went out to the front yard and sat down.
Larry looked up as they sat.
“What the hell is that? I thought I put up the closed sign?”, he said as he spied a cloud of dust coming up from the roadway.
Coming into view was a police car.
“What the hell!”, exclaimed Jack with his heart pounding in his throat.
The car pulled up and stopped. Larry squinted to see who was in the car. The door opened and Tim stepped out.
“How it going?”
“Not bad”, replied Larry in the calmest voice he could muster.
“I saw that closed sign out front and I wanted to bring my kid over tomorrow to do some fishing. Are you gonna be closed tomorrow too?”
“No, back in business tomorrow”, replied Larry.
“Great!
How’d you guys make it here with that TV. How did it work out? It was just kinda hanging out of the trunk and I was wondering if you made down this road here without it falling out?”
“Yeah, we made it down okay”, replied Jack.
“How’s it workin’? Reception not too good around here ya know?”
“Aint hooked it up yet”, answered Larry.
“Want a beer Tim?”
“Not when I’m drivin’ the car here”, and he pointed to the police car.
“But thanks anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow then. So long boys. It was nice seeing you again. Have a safe one home.”
And with that he got back in the car and drove away.
They all exhaled in unison as Tim pulled out.
It was a long ride home. Not much was said only, Petey telling Jack that he wasn’t holding any grudges.
To be quite honest, he felt a perverse sense of satisfaction.
“ One less smart ass thug”, he thought to himself. and anyway, nobody really killed anyone. It was an accident.
Even if he had been killed, so what.
“A prick that probably deserved it”, he thought.
Chapter 5
Jack strolled out the front door of his building and headed for his usual daily smoke at the bench. He sat and lit the cigar with several long, slow draws.
It had been a week since the morbid task had been completed.
Mrs. Murray had returned from the hospital and was doing well. The doctors attributed her remarkable recovery to the medication she was taking. Jack, however, was pretty sure that the removal of the bag from the closet contributed even more to her improvement than did the medicine.
Jack had told her as soon as she arrived home that the bag and its contents had been removed. She never even asked how, where or when. He certainly never would have told even if she had asked. Her only response overwhelming relief at its disappearance.
He’d spoken to both Petey and Hal several times since. Small talk, bench talk. Neither of them said anything to Hal about the trip to Larry’s.
“Hey, Hal how you been”, asked Jack as Hal approached the bench.
“Not bad. Not bad.”
“What’s you hearing around the neighbor?”
“Well, yesterday, a guy in the building next to mine was tellin’ me that he heard some street talk”.
“Street talk? What do you mean?”
“Stuff about that gang of young bastards, you know, they call themselves ‘FM’, the Firemen”.
“So, what did he hear?”, asked Jack eagerly.
“Well, this guy tells me that that one was their leader is nowhere to be found. He just kinda went off into thin air. Nobody knows.
Those punks seem to be thinkin’ that he took off with pretty much all the money. He was like the safety deposit box for the gang. He used ta carry it around with him all the time and when ever any of ‘em needed cash he just peeled it off to them. He used ta give chits, like little pieces of paper tellin’ ‘em how much cash they had comin’.
I think he probably did it that way to keep control over them all. Ya know, the guy that’s got the cash always got the power.”
“You said he always kept the cash on him? In his pocket?”, asked Jack with surprise.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m not sure about any of this. I’m just tellin’ you what this guy told me”, answered Hal.
“How come the rest of them went for that arrangement? Why didn’t they just demand their money up front?”
“I don’t know. I guess because Sandman was a pretty merciless dude. I heard that he got crossed by one of them one and he went and cut one of the guy’s eyes out. He was just a mean bastard. He