Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (dark books to read TXT) 📗

Janice said with a light smile, her voice as reassuring as ever. “I know.”

She walked closer, leaning to wrap her arms around him. As he embraced her, he began carefully with respect. When his hands made their way down to her lower back, her eyes lifted to meet his with a smile. "I'm the one supposed to be hugging you, silly," Janice said with a big smile as they both loosened apart.

"Well,” David said while he climbed into his car. “I've got to go pick Tony up when his shift ends at the Sunset Diner so we can catch up and figure out what's going on this afternoon.”

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"Why me?" David slapped the steering wheel as the long country road twisted through pastures and forests, eventually giving way to traffic lights and stores. While struggling to find the perfect song, he wondered why Janice would give not just her time, but herself to such an arrogant jerk like Vance. But his bias was apparent even to himself.

"He's been there a few times when I really needed it and he does make Jan happy," he mumbled, still unsatisfied with

anything he could find to listen to. "So, it is what it is." David looked ahead and slowed down, his destination now within view.

The big, yellow sign towered over the surrounding buildings to welcome locals and newcomers alike. Standing out among the many shops that lined Central Avenue, the Sunset Diner's slate gray paint contrasted against the reddish-brown brick that composed the new stores leased within old buildings that surrounded it. The nearby mountains to the west offered the perfect backdrop every evening when the sun fell behind them. In the morning, it was a place for senior citizens to agree about politics and argue about the weather, only to later transform into a hub for the young and old alike.

Parked across the lot from the entrance, David waited in his car. He slid his phone from his pocket, searching for a reply from Tony. Nothing. Then, as his thumb hesitated above the call button, a huge form stepped out of the glass double-doors. He could tell right away by the tan complexion and calm, confident stride that it was Tony. His black, curly hair was a little shorter than when school let out, but it still complimented the thinly trimmed facial hair that wrapped around his chubby face. David stepped out of his car and walked quickly toward him, but Tony stopped with a glance at his shiny wristwatch.

"Hold up, little bro," Tony said before turning back toward the entrance to pull out his wallet. David watched him stroll casually over to the old blind man that asked for sidewalk donations. The beggar’s dirt tanned shirt matched the color of his remaining teeth and his pale, white eyes stared blankly through his sagging face as he rested on the other side of the parking lot against the stone wall of the diner.

"It's all I got left." Tony could be heard saying. He and the man exchanged a few words before Tony strolled back toward David.

"Some things never change," David said as they got into his car.

David impatiently watched the line of cars in his rearview mirror, waiting for an opportunity to back out. Finally, a slow-moving minivan began to inch forward and he clicked the lever in reverse, easing off the brake. The radio blasted loud female vocals and Tony chuckled. David quickly hit the scan button. "Put it on whatever," he said with a shake of his head as he continued rolling out from between the tightly packed parking space.

"Stop!" Tony shouted, swinging around to look behind them. David slammed the brakes with a short screech, inches from the passenger side of a black and white police cruiser, now stopped in place behind them.

"Shit," David said. "Tell me it's not Benning." He stared through the rearview as the driver side opened to a head raising above the other side of the police car. When the cop stood to his feet, his silver and brown hair became visible before he placed his cap on his head and turned his face toward them.

"Ha ha!" Tony said with a clap of his hands. "It's Benning, alright." Tony's bright white teeth shown through his carefree smile. David scowled with a shake of his head. "It's fine, little bro," Tony said, laying his head back and lowering his eyelids as he rested his huge arm across the passenger door.

"Easy for you to say." David felt his eyebrows tense while he watched Officer Benning methodically march around the front of the police cruiser toward David's side of the car.

"Just play it cool, man," Tony said with a slight raise of his fingers from where his hand still rested.

As the officer's boots tapped closer to David's door, he watched impatiently through the sideview mirror. Officer Benning's tall, thin figure approached with commanding presence while David slowly rolled down his window. "Sorry about that, I was-"

"License and registration, please." Benning's deep, deliberate voice demanded from mere feet away. David scrambled through his back pocket to drag out his worn wallet from where he sat.

"Relax, boys," Benning said as David looked to see his menacing grin fixed on him. "I remember y'all."

David loosened his arm, lifting his hand with a smile. "I was trying to change the radio station, when I noticed-"

"Where you boys heading today?" Benning's stern voice betrayed the smile still stretched across his face.

"He's taking me home," Tony said calmly with a slight turn of his head.

"Not hanging out at the cliffs or the lake anymore?" Benning asked. "I haven't noticed any beer bottles or litter in a while." The air hung silent as David looked back and forth between a grinning Benning to his left and a silently relaxed Tony to his right. "Well, then." Benning tipped his hat. "Pay more attention next time. Y'all be careful out there." Tony laughed quietly as Benning stepped back to his patrol car and pulled into a space across the parking lot.

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Along the road, familiar places from their childhood ratcheted the