on.
There was another search going on down at the beach, the
crucial difference being that I was the object of that search, and the
pursuers weren’t an army of heavily-armed mustachioed guerrillas,
but merely one attractive young blonde woman.
“Hey Jake,” said Hugo to me as I came up to him on the beach,
“there’s this awesome-looking babe hunting around for you. She said
its really important that she finds you, too. Bro’ you’re in there! She’s
hot!”
“Really? What did she look like?”
“Pretty, blonde , babe—I don’t know, how do you explain how
someone looks when they’re good-looking? If she had a huge nose I
could describe her better. Listen, she went towards Noi’s restaurant.
Maybe you can head her off at the pass.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said and walked over to Noi’s. When I got there,
I was surprised to see that Noi had painted over the part of his sign
that said “hallucinogenic cuisine.” I sat down and ordered a late
lunch.
“Sorry, no Chicken Pot Pie,” said Noi.
“Okay, how about some Pot Roast?” I tried.
“No Pot Roast, Jake. What, you think I’m crazy? With all these
cops I throw all my pot in the ocean. You have cornflakes.”
“Fine, give me cornflakes then.”
I sat chewing on the stale corn flakes for a few minutes, and then
got up out of my chair only to suddenly sit back down again. So that
was who it was that Hugo was speaking of! As soon as I recognized
her, sheer panic made me dive under the table.
“Jake what the fuck…?” said Noi.
“Shut up Noi, just shut up for a minute.” Thoughts surged
through my head, and I heard footsteps coming closer. Then she
spoke:
“Hello, are you Noi? Yes, I’m a friend of Jake Rippy’s and I was
told that he comes here often. Its very important that I speak with
him…where do you think he might be? A Buddhist monastery? (That
doesn’t sound like Jake.) Over that hill? Okay thank you. Listen, if
you see him, tell him that Greta came looking for him. Thank you.”
Shit. Everything was falling apart. Greta had come to track me
down. After I left Ramat Mechasel, my condition was undoubtedly
relayed to every man woman and child who even shared a glass with
me, and Greta certainly did much more than that. We had discussed
BIG AMERICAN BREAKFAST
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