“No, mister, I think we gonna stay. We ain’t got nothing else to do.”

“Okay, ladies. It’s your choice, but I wish you’d reconsider. I can give you a ride to wherever you’d like to go, and old Dewayne here isn’t going to interfere—are you, Dewayne?”

I jabbed him with the pistol again, but Dewayne did not feel inclined to make a reply.

“Okay then, it’s your choice. Now, watch this.

“Dewayne, let’s me and you step to the front of the truck. Okay, now take three steps to the right. Now, down on your knees with your fingers laced together on the back of your head. That’s good, that’s real good, Dewayne. Now, cross your ankles behind you, and sit back on your heels.”

One of the girls called out, “Oh my God! He’s going to kill him!”

Dewayne’s body began to tremble in expectation of the shot.

I walked to the rear of the van, always keeping my gun on the kneeling Dewayne. The girls looked at me in fear and puzzlement as I passed the open door of the van. When I came to the rear of the vehicle, I took out my knife, flipped open the blade, and stabbed it deeply into the sidewall of the tire. The air whooshed out in an explosive burst. I stepped to the front of the van and did the same thing to the front tire. The van dropped low on its side. Both girls giggled aloud this time.

“Dewayne, much as it grieves me to lose your company, I’ve got to go now. But if you like breathing air and feeling that old heart beating in your chest, you’ll stay just where you are until you’re damn certain I’m long gone. ’Cause the next time I have to deal with you I’ll put something on your ass that Mr. Clean won’t be able to take off. Also, tell Leon we met. He’ll know who I am.”

I turned and backed away, walking sideways with my pistol at the ready. I really would like to shoot that boy, I admitted to myself.

I got in my car and pulled away. I drove in a wide arc around and behind the van so that I could keep an eye on Dewayne as I made my departure. As I hit the pavement at the front of the lot, I cast a glance in the mirror and saw him still kneeling in the gravel with his hands behind his head. Then he got up and ran to the van.

Good luck with those tires, Dewayne. That should keep you occupied for a half hour or so, even here, where, as the sign out front says, We Fix Flats 24 Hours a Day.