Sausage

Wayne Gibbous makes it to Knoxville by dawn. A Red Roof Inn will be home for a couple days. He reeks of sour milk. Soaking in white dampness for most of the night will lead to such a stench. A quick shower and a change of clothes will erase the physical marks of the previous night, but emotionally, he's a mess. It's one thing to get taken by a scam or bested by an equal competitor, but last night, Gibbous took it on the chin from loose change. Wayne finds himself in a bizarre, cosmic game of heads or tails. This quarter has him over a barrel - a barrel lacking any monkeys, or perhaps chock full o' monkeys - angry monkeys. Heads or Tails. Heads or Tails. Call it in the air. Wayne just needs to regroup. Tails or Heads. Tails or Heads. It's all up in the air and the outcome's not certain, but if he doesn't get on some firmer ground, and soon, El Cuarto will surely some out on top. Heads or Tails. Tails or Heads or Tails.

But the Quarter is not the only issue... there's a whole cast of characters in on the plot, and Wayne has yet to get any backup. But first, a shower. The water drowns out the world beyond the shower walls. A half hour later, pruny and clean, he steps out.

Outside, he hears the dogs. Too tired to towel, he falls onto the bed and falls fast asleep and falls out of favor with the waking world that is stirring to life. (A portion of this short paragraph is credited to American of great repute, John Clemens)

He wakes up a little after noon. The sun is streaming through the window like a window stream of sunlight. He turns on the TV and sees "Rudy" on some movie channel. Watching the last fifteen minutes makes him glad he slept through the rest of the movie. Unmoved by the inspirational Notre Dame football story, he heads to the vending machine to get a drink and a snack. Right, right right right... he's only got enough change for either/or. Mountain Dew it is. On his way back he pauses in the sunshine and takes in the hotel view. Parking lot with of a few parked cars. Trash can full of trash. Ash tray on top full of ash. Sky with no clouds. Then he sees it.

Across the street in the McDonald's parking lot a pair of binoculars are pointed right at him from the driver's seat of a big refrigerated delivery van. It has a big blue outline on the side that once must have had a logo in it, but now is empty. The word "Sausage" is in small blue letters below the big blue box. Why is someone in the sausage van spying on him? Why is there a sausage van? What is a sausage van? Who is the sausage man? What is sausage? There's so much Wayne Gibbous doesn't quite get and, being a vegetarian from birth, sausage is one of them.

Gravy, too.