EExcerpt for Autumn Leaves

Sample Chapter For AUTUMN LEAVES by Candace Gold

Peewee Boyd had gotten up twenty-five hundred miles away in
Phoenix with a throbbing headache. He had endured his last
embarrassment and cringed under the weight of the last insult
hurled at him the evening before. Today he’d show them all. They’d
have to find someone else to pick on because he had had enough.
He was leaving and doubted he’d ever be back.

Peewee didn’t get the nickname because of his size. He was
average height for a man at five feet ten inches. In fact, everything
about him was average, except his mental capacities. He was a pint
low as most would put it. Some said it was because he was the
runt of the litter, being the last of nine kids and got the least of
everything.

Whatever the case, Peewee was the one everyone had teased and
made fun of for thirty-one of his thirty-two years. The first year he
had been given the benefit of doubt.

Well, he had just about had it. He was tired of being the butt of
every damn joke and would show them all real good.

* * * *

Kate got stuck in traffic and feared she’d miss Peter’s call. Luckily
the phone was still ringing as she opened the door to the
apartment.

“Hello,” she breathlessly said, after having clumsily dropped the
receiver.

“Hello, babe, it’s me. What did you do, jog home?”

“Oh, darling, it’s so good to hear your voice. I got stuck in traffic
and almost missed your call.”

“I’m glad you didn’t. It’s good to hear your voice, too. I just
wanted to let you know that I arrived safely. I’m going to pick up
my car rental and head out for the hotel. I’ll call you tomorrow at
six your time to let you know how the interview went.”

“Good luck, Peter, though I know they’ll want you the minute they
see you.”

“Not too biased, are we?”

“Not when it comes to you.”

Peter laughed and said, “Love you.”

“Love you, more. Drive safely.”

“Bye.”

“Bye, Peter.”

* * * *

Peewee decided to head for Texas. He was sure he’d make it big
there. He’d find himself a woman and a job, the order of which
mattered little. The only thing that kept him from following his
dream was a set of wheels. Peewee didn’t own a car. Since he
couldn’t afford one, he’d have to steal it. His friends did it all the
time when they needed fresh wheels. He couldn’t figure out how
to hotwire one, so he’d have to car jack one. How hard could it
be? He had a gun and he knew how to use it. Besides, how many
people would argue with a man pointing a gun at them?

Now that Peewee had decided how to get his wheels, he had to
figure out the best place to get them. While sitting in his tin-can of
a trailer, slaking his thirst with a beer, a car rental commercial came
on the TV. It took a few moments, but eventually his mind made
the connection. A crooked grin spread across Peewee’s freckled
face as he got up and shut off the TV. He grabbed his gun and
slammed the trailer door behind him.

* * * *

That night lying in bed, Kate missed the closeness of Peter who
liked to cuddle. When they had first started sleeping together, she
would joke that he was like a security blanket because he liked to
cuddle so much. Thinking about Peter, she eventually dozed off
into a restless sleep.

She began to dream. She was standing on the sidewalk of a busy
city street when she witnessed a car accident. She could see the
flames shooting into the air, but she couldn’t see who was driving.
The nightmare was so vivid, so real, that she woke up drenched in
her own sweat, gasping for breath. Fearing that it was some kind
of a premonition, she began to tremble. She only prayed it was
somehow connected to her irrational anxieties that often plagued
her and nothing more. Despite her attempts to reassure herself of
this, Kate couldn’t sleep a wink after the nightmare, and she tossed
and turned until it was time to get out of bed.

* * * *

Peewee hitched a ride to the strip near the Sky-Harbor Airport
where most of the car rental companies were located.
Remembering the Dollar Rental commercial, he hung out there and
waited for an easy mark.

He watched as a tan car pulled away from the parking lot and head
toward the exit to be checked out by a guard. The car then went
about three hundred yards or so and pulled over to the side. It
looked like the man had pulled out a map and was studying it.

Peewee smiled and headed over to the car. He knocked on the
driver’s side window. The man rolled the window down to ask what
Peewee wanted.

Still smiling, Peewee said he needed a ride. Before Peter could
react, the stranger had pointed a gun in his face and was in his car.

“If you want to see the sunrise tomorrow, you’ll just drive,” the
stranger said in a menacing voice.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Just drive. Are you deaf, man?”

Even though Peter was being cooperative, Peewee had taken an
instant dislike to the handsome man sitting next to him. He’d wager
that he never was made fun of.

Peewee decided to show him who was the better man. He would
kill him.

Peter was afraid. He had no idea what the guy with the crooked
smile was capable of doing. He certainly didn’t want to upset him,
so he did his best to cooperate. And yet, he wondered what the
man was after. If the man had meant him no harm, he could have
just taken his money and the car in the beginning. Instead, the man
was making him drive to a desolate area.

Peter felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He realized
that he was going to have to do something soon, before he was
told to stop the car.

“Stop the car.”

Too late, Peter thought, though he knew he had to do something.
He stopped the car. There was no room to maneuver in the car.
He got out. The stranger slid out after him, the gun still aimed at
Peter’s head.

Suddenly Peter pivoted and turned into the other man, knocking
the gun from his hand. The element of surprise was still on Peter’s
side and he slugged the guy in his gut. The man doubled over and
Peter hit him again, knocking him to the ground. On instinct, Peter
charged for the car. He opened the car door and was about to
jump inside when he heard a noise. Almost simultaneously he felt
a jolting pain on the side of his head which knocked him to his
knees. The second shot hit him in his back. Then the world around
him suddenly went dark.

“Thought you’d outsmart ole Peewee, did you? Well, I certainly
showed you,” Peewee said, dragging Peter’s body to the side of a
ravine and letting it drop. No-one would find the man for days or
even weeks. By then, Peewee would be long-gone in Texas.

He felt great. The last time he felt this way was when he did Mabel
in her beat-up Chevy. Getting back into the car, Peewee sped back
to Mesa to collect the stuff he was taking to Texas.

Only Peewee never made it to Texas. He was going at an
excessive speed when a motor cyclist cut him off. He had to
swerve sharply to avoid hitting him, but ended up directly in the
path of an oil tanker. The brakes on the truck locked and it
slammed into the car Peewee was driving, creating an inferno.