A Little Boy At A Gas Station

I was washing my car early one morning, when a familiar face came walking down the street, Cock Robbins...Once a semi- pro and pro football player and now of days, a teacher and a football coach at the local high school...

"Hey Kev....I bet you didn't know that I play baseball in the off season did you?" he said as he sat on my steps...

"No, I didn't know that...I thought Football was your sport." I said.

"Oh it is...but I play some baseball... Semi-Pro Baseball....I'm on the Chestnut Hill Tigers..." he said
proudly.

"Everything is semi-pro with you, isn't it ?" I joked...

"Yeah, oh well...it pays a little bit....You should come out and see us play...it's really a good time.
bring Sepia a long too...she'd love it." he said.

"Okay Cock...When is the next game?" I asked...

"Two nights from now....I'll email you the driving directions.... It's cheap...$5.00 a person." he said.

"It's a deal." I said.

Cock Robbins wasn't lying.....Sepia and I attended his game two nights later and we had a great time...It was only ten bucks for the two of us and we had good popcorn, a couple of chili dogs and some cracker jacks and we saw a good baseball game with a lot of action too...

Cock hit a line drive single, two doubles and struck out twice...His team won the game, 10 -7....
During the game, I saw a guy I recognized and a cute little boy , who looked to be about seven.
I pointed them out to Sepia.

"See that guy over there...with the kid?" I said.

"Yeah, what about them?" she asked.

"That's the guy I told you about....that I went to see fight two weeks ago...That's Sailor Mike McCulley... He knocked this young kid out, who everybody said was the hands on favorite in the first round...He's been around awhile...I didn't think he had a chance against this kid, but he knocked him out." I laughed.

"Oh really???...Gives you hope huh??" she laughed....

"Oh hardy har har....one of these days Alice....To DA moon..." I laughed...

Sepia laughed too, as we filed out of the game....We saw Cock Robbins in the hallway.....

"Great game Cock..." I said.

"Thanks for coming Kev, Sepia....Hey did you see Sailor Mike, the boxer?? He was here tonight."
said Cock.

"Yeah...I noticed..." I laughed.

A little while later , We were driving home , when I noticed that my gas gauge was on "e", so I decided to stop at a near by gas station.

I accidentally qued in the wrong zip code , my work zip code instead of my home zip code and the
machine refused to take my ATM card...it told me to "See the Cashier"

"What's the matter Kevin?" said Sepia.

"I gotta go in and show my card to the cashier....I'll be right back.." I said.

"While you're in there, could you get me a Sprite?" she said.

"Sure." I replied.

"Hey Kevin...there's that boxer you were telling me about...Sailor Mike..." she said.

Sure enough...Sailor Mike was putting gas in his car....The little seven year old boy was with him.

I walked into the store , picked up a Sprite and told the girl inside to put twenty dollars on pump
number nine...when I heard a succession of gun shots!!!!!

I counted five....I ran to my car and crouched down....Sepia was already out of the car and ducking down behind the passenger side....I opened up the door and got my .38 smokeless out the glove compartment....I looked up....I saw Sailor Mike running after one guy...He had his pistol drawn.....Then I saw another guy get out of a car and run after Sailor Mike....I heard seven
shots....Then I saw the second guy run back to his car and pull off....The first guy was running down the street.....The car stopped...the door swung open and he jumped in... The car went flying
recklessly off into the night!!!

I ran over to Sailor Mike....He was laying face down in the street...in a pool of blood...He was dead! I heard a little boy screaming in horror.......Sepia put her hands over the little boy's face and held him close to her...

An hour later.....The police took statements from me, Sepia and the little boy....whose name was
Eddie. None of us got a really good look at the two guys except to see that they were black males and looked to be in their mid to late twenties...were wearing black slacks, black shoes and white t-shirts....Apparently, Sailor Mike had been robbed...but from the way this went down...This wasn't a robbery...this was a hit....I knew enough to know that...even if the cops didn't think so at the time.

A young, very attractive and shapely woman drove up a few minutes later...She came running over to the little boy, Eddie with tears in her eyes.......

"Oh my God, Oh My God, Eddie are you alright...Oh my God..." she was screaming...

"I'm okay mommy..I'm okay.." he said as he ran to her..

Sepia and I walked over to her....

"Is it true...Is Mike hurt?" she asked.

"I'm afraid he's more than hurt miss..He's dead." I said as she began to weep.....It was never easy to have to tell someone something like this...

I didn't know this woman or her son...but I could tell that they both had a lot of love for Sailor Mike. I didn't know who would want to kill him or why...but whoever it was...I was going to get to the bottom of this and make them pay.

(To Be Continued....)