Ivanhoe Inn

Theodore Schneider was not a very smart man. He didn't excel at business, sports, technology or anything that would make his life well off. Ted spent his entire life working to take care of himself and people that needed him. The luckiest day of his life was when he married Peggy May. No matter what job Theodore held, he did it happily and gave it his all everyday. Grocery stores, warehouses, factories, even loading snacks onto airplanes, no matter the job, Theodore did it.

Years have passed. His wife was never able to give him kids, but he loved her anyway, and stayed with her. She beg and pleaded with him to go out and find a woman find a woman to bare his kids. She even agreed to help raise them as her own. Over time, he became more round and developed a deep fondness of alcohol, but still he went to work everyday.

Currently, Theodore works the overnight shift at motel, El Ocho.

A car pulls into the back parking lot of El Ocho. Few cars are in the lot. Ted gets out of his car and opens the trunk. He reaches for a can of beer, then another and one more for the road before reaching for the hotel supplies. He carries into the lobby of the hotel and steps around the front desk for the side door. The person behind the counter greets Ted. He nods at the counter person and goes into the back room where the washers and dryers and employ fridge is located to set the food down on the counter then punches the clock and says to the other person, “Sorry, I'm late. Won't happen again”

The front desk person punches out, grabs their stuff and Ted alone on his shift. He goes into the back room and puts away the groceries, then comes back to the front desk, and leans on the counter. Thinking out loud to himself, “Another boring night. No one comes into this place.”

Ted sighs a heavy sigh and smiles wide from ear to ear as he daydreams about his hotel and falls asleep leaning on the front desk counter that overlooks the lobby area. Just around 2am, a car pulls into the parking lot and parks in the handicap space in the hotel's front parking lot. A man towering tall at 4'10.5”, gets out of the Mercedes. Mr. Shauh, owner and president of El Ocho, enters into the lobby carrying a briefcase. He notices Ted and walks around the counter to stand next to him before speaking, “TED. TED. TED. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I DON'T PAY YOU TO SLEEP AT THE COUNTER.”

Ted raises his head, looks to his left and down a little to see Mr. Shauh standing there. He speaks up, “I. I. I...”

He looks up at Ted and raises a palm in front of him, “I need you to be awake. When you own your hotel, you can do whatever you want to do. Now do your job.”

Mr. Shauh goes into his office and shuts the door behind him. Ted stands up straight and looks out onto the empty lobby.

Inside the office, he places the briefcase on the desk and flips it open before looking at the giant self portrait hanging on the wall above the desk. The portrait swings to the side like a cabinet door to reveal the hidden safe. After quickly punching in the numeric code, the safe beeps a couple of times and pops open to show bundles of bundles of 100s. Mr. Shauh takes out a black little black book and opens it. He places two bundles into the hollowed out part of the little black book, and packs the rest of the safe contents into his briefcase. He closes his briefcase and the safe and puts the portrait back against the wall.

Ted is leaning on the counter as the office door opens up. He looks at him as he leaves the office. Mr. Shauh walks over to Ted, and starts speaking to him, “Ted Schneider, listen to what I'm about to tell you. I need to go away for some time, and I don't know when I will be back. Some people from the government may come looking for me. Well anyway, I'm going to my car. I'll be back shortly. Stay awake.”

He walks out the building through the lobby door with his briefcase in hand. And comes back in with an envelope. He flops the envelope on the counter in front of Ted, and takes a pen out of his pocket, “I need you to sign every page and keep this with you. It's a title transfer. After you sign, you'll be the new owner of this place.”

Ted takes the pen from him and taps his chin with it a few times before signing everything. Mr. Shauh sets the black book on the counter before walking around to the lobby side of the counter, “This book is going to help you out. Don't let no one know you have it.”

Ted's shift ends. Guests eat the prepared breakfast spread that Ted put out. As people eat, another person walks into the lobby and around the corner into the the office where Ted is standing. Ted looks that the person, “Time to go?”

He tucks the little black book under his arm as he leaves the front desk counter in the care of the person working 1st shift and goes out the back door to his car. The trunk pops open after he hits the button on the keys. Ted reaches for beer and another one and another one, then gets into his car before driving away. As he drives away, he passes a string of shiny black SUVs.

The entire day passes as the sun sets. Ted sits in front of the TV wearing a super worn tank top and boxers. Empty beer cans lay scattered on the floor with his last beer opened in his hand as he turns to the 9 o'clock news to see the anchor talking about Mr. Shauh being wanted drug for trafficking and joint task force by the FBI and DEA raid El Ocho. He spits out the beer in his mouth and yells out, “Fuck. I gotta get to work see if I still have a job”

Fully dressed and partially sober, he leans over to kiss Peggy, who is asleep, and whispers in her ear, “At least it wont be boring tonight.”

Ted's little car turns into El Ocho parking lot just to be stopped by 3 people in tactical gear and a lot of letters written on their chest. They knock on the driver side front window. He cranks the handle to lower the window. Before he can get a word out, the riot gear people speaks loud and clear, “State your name and your business for being here.”

Beads of alcohol sweat roll down his face as he takes a couple of deep breathes, “I saw that this place was raided on the news. I wanted to check it out, and besides, I work here. My name is Theodore Schneider.”

One armored guard sticks his head into the car and points at the spot by the door, “You are to park your car right there. Go into the front door. Have a seat in the lobby. Someone will be with you shortly. Do I make myself clear?”

Ted wipes the sweat from his face and nods in an affirmative manner. The guard backs away from Ted and says, “Now. Mister.”

He rolls up his window and does exactly as told. As he drives away, one of them takes the radio off their hip and talks into it, “Sir. We have Theodore Schneider at the gate and sending him to the lobby.”

Sweating profusely, he walks into the lobby and has a seat at one of the tables. A tall, bald man with an eye patch, wearing a trench coat and a badge pinned to his Hawaiian shirt approaches and speaks, “You must be Theodore Schneider. Don't get up. Don't turn around.”

He stands in front him and continues speaking, “By our records, you have been working the night shift for 10 years. We have your address. We know you don't have kids. Taxes paid on time. You live with Peggy May. No criminal record. Not even a parking ticket. You have been on the straight and narrow your entire life. Just nod if this true. Correct me if I'm wrong.”

Afraid to get up, he just nods again. The agent gets in his face, “Tell about the last time you saw Kairen Shauh?”

Ted swallows a huge load of air and wipes more sweat from his forehead, “Last night when he came in and caught me sleeping before going into his office and closing the door. Then he came out and sold me this hotel for all the money I had on me. He left just as quickly. Normally, he just comes in few times a week to check up on the hotel and collect money from the previous shifts.”

The agent interrupts Ted as he babbles on, “Go back to the part about you purchasing El Ocho. Did you sign any sort of agreement?”

Ted nods again before saying, “It's underneath the desktop lobby computer where I hid it.”

He goes behind the front desk counter to retrieve and reads the contract before saying, “Well. Well. Mr. Schneider, looks like you own a hotel. I hope you don't run it into the ground. We searched the entire place and found no evidence of drugs. Since the former owner isn't here, we're done here.”

All of the agents pack up and clear out in under 20. The entire place now looks like a ghost town. Thanks to the feds, all of the guest were checked out in the middle of the night and issued refunds. Ted thinks to himself, “At least I don't have to set up breakfast.”

He goes out to his car to think and drink. Next to him is the little black book that Kairen Shauh had left with him. He flips open the book to the center only to find that it has been hollowed out and 20k just sits there. For the second time today, Ted spits out his beer and looks around to make sure that he's really alone before counting the money. He yells loudly, “20k dollars.”

Ted gets out of his car with the money and more beers, and heads back to the front desk. He pops one open, takes a few gulps, some paper from the printer and a cheap pen from the desk. After a few minutes of thinking, he starts writing down hotel names from all the times he thought about running his own hotel. He takes a few more gulps and empties the can before settling on a name. He looks down at the list and circles “Ivanhoe Inn.” Soon after, he begins to write down everything he wants to change to make. One more can lays empty on the counter. He goes over to the phone and looks underneath it for the employee call list to call everyone and ask them to come in this morning.

Morning comes quickly, Ted is slumped over the desk sleeping. He wakes up from his drunk slumber to find everyone in the lobby. He speaks out to everyone, “I'm the new owner. During the investigation, the feds checked everyone out and canceled all reservations for the next month. Take a month off with pay.”