Florida

It is late morning on avenue at a city bus stop. Under the awning of the laundromat stand a couple with two large bags of laundry standing in the shade on the sidewalk. A grey jeep passes the bus stop then suddenly slams on the brakes. The couple shakes at the loud screeching of the jeep’s tires. The jeep changes gear and revs backwards. Tires grind pavement as the vehicle comes to a halt in front of the couple. Out from the vehicle shouts, Mr Errington! The spikey haired bleach blond man steps forward to attempt seeing who is talking to him from the jeep. The dark figure leans forward inside the vehicle rolling down the tinted window revealing an elderly white haired man whose face and neck are red as he shouts in anger at the punk rocker, "Who are you with?!". The punk rocker looks surprised, steps back and says, " Why me?". The man hollars don't look sorry now that I caught you! The woman steps forward holering in a thick german accent , "You can't tell me what to do!" as she shakes her fist at the man in the jeep. The old man retorts, “ I may not be able to tell you what to do... BUT I CAN TELL HIM WHAT TO DO! , so stay QUIET!!”. “Mr Errington,... report to the office at 10am tomorrow!” The German woman responds,” You can’t do this, we are married. You can’t stop us!”

The old man replies, “you have meddled in my offices authority for far too long. This ends TODAY!”. The old man pauses then says,” report to my office at 10am.” The woman interrupts what the old man, “ He is mine, we are legal, you have no authority over that”. The old man is formerly angered and hollers, “ stay out of my business! Mr Errington report at 9am.” Again the woman interrupts, “ no, you stay out of our affairs.” The old man,”8 am report time.” The woman replies,” fuck you, you can’t talk to me in this manner.”

The old man responds, “ talk to you like what?! 7 am report time!” The lady responds,”no!”, The old man,” you are violated! Come into my office at 7am! You are violated!! At which the old man slams the Jeep into gear racing the engine peeling tires on pavement speeding off and leaving the couple in a cloud of blue smoke. The punk rocker’s heart looks like it has sunk. He looks at the ground in disgust and pain and says,“Where can I go to? What can i do? I am finished! Why did you anger him?” The woman responds,” he can’t talk to ME in that manner.” The punk rocker looks dazed and says,” you ruined me. Now i have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide and no way to beat this.” He Shakes his head as he looks at the ground in dread. The woman speaks softly to him, “ you can hide in Florida and find a job to raise money for a lawyer. This is so unjust. They can’t tell us what to do. We can get a place together down there, start over while raising the money for the lawyer.... maybe they forget about you and drop the case one day...”

The punk rocker looks saddened and speaks, “ It’s always Sunny in Florida. Fun in the sunshine state.” Then a spark of hope ignites in his gaze as he lifts his head upward to meet her eyes and speaks,” Dolphins swimming in the bay, cicadas singing in the rain, the fun is in the sun.”

The woman replies,” you need a break from all this struggling with the music anyway “

The punk rocker responds, “ it’s always Sunny in Florida” and hanks his head low. The German woman hugs him by the waist and the two walk off down the boulevard.