Project Sabertooth Page 15

lowered myself under the windowsill. Slowly raising myself up, I got to see very well, for almost all had their backs to me. The one facing my direction was apparently giving them instructions on how to set something on their cell phones. So as not to get caught, I returned to Moby to wait for them to leave. While sitting there just whiling away the time, it hit me like a sledgehammer. All the previous cramps were pretty bad, like little earthquakes pushing and clamping down on everything. But this was like Mount Vesuvius erupting farther back in my intestines with a flaming ball of pain rolling outward in all directions, making my lungs stop, and it was all I could manage to control my bladder. I managed to reach over to the passenger seat for my leather bag and fumbled around for the prescription bottle, and then fought a battle just to get the child proof cap off. I popped one of the pills and hoped for an instantaneous miracle of relief, which unfortunately took a lot longer than I had wished for. I tried to keep an eye out in case the others would leave, but the pain was making my eyes tear up and my vision was blurred to the point of near blindness.

  After about ten minutes the pain started to recede, either on its own or due to the Morphine pills, courtesy of my friendly Oncologist. But it reminded me of when we were young kids, driving around and smoking pot to get high. I looked at the tachometer on Moby and could swear that it was moving slightly, even though the keys were in my jeans pocket! That was when the door to the Mosque opened and they all came out onto the patio in front of the door. The majority of them lit up their cigarettes while the last one out locked the door behind him, and pushing on the doorknob to satisfy himself that it was secure. As they started to walk away I got quietly out of the car and locked it up. My only chance was to follow them and see where they lived, because any action on my part would be simple suicide for me. I realized that I was somewhat stoned from the pain pill as a mental picture of the newspaper headline popped into my head. “Seventeen men beat man to death!” So I kept my distance and walked behind them and hoped they all lived in the same place, or at least a couple of the candidates on my list.

  We walked through lots of little paths which were obviously shortcuts for the people living in the area, and eventually we ended up at the train station. They proceeded to go to track two and as I walked up the steps, I caught up with them. It was a very scary situation for I had no idea if they had any notion of just who was attacking their little band of terrorist, so I simply whistled and waited as the train started to pull into the station. At that point in time I remembered that: a) I had no train ticket, b)I had almost no money in my wallet thanks to all the stuff I purchased at the gas station this morning, which meant that c) if I got caught riding without a ticket, I truly was going to have problems with the police! The fine would be €40 but without the ability to pay straight away, they would call the men in green and of course they would just love to put me through the system again! So seventeen supposedly terrorist and one really stoned American got on the train. I went towards the front of the wagon where I could sit in one of the seats which face sideways, and also gives a good view of who embarks or departs from the wagon, and tried my best to get my mind straightened out.

  I caught myself loosing my concentration when I stared out of the moving wagon, just watching the scenery go by, so I decided to act like 95% of all the other commuters and play with my cell phone to learn just what it all could do. But, then I realized that I had left it in Moby, which I hoped would not get stolen, inclusive cell phone, before I could return. Ishmael's uncle would really be mad if the cell phone got stolen and I was not so sure if it could be traced to him. Or to me for that matter! Then we pulled into the main station in Heilbronn and was happy to hear that everybody had to disembark as it was the last train from that direction. Problem was however, my group decided to walk across the platform and board the train on the other track! I walked towards the next wagon and getting in, continued the journey with them. Now we were heading back in the direction of Stuttgart, and knowing this train would be more controlled for tickets than the other one. I got checked twice in one day once, so chances where good that I would be nabbed. If so, then it was my fate, and I was anyways so high on the medication that I seriously couldn't care less. My priorities were now a) be free of those cramping pains and, b) find out where they were heading to.

  As we pulled into the small town of Besigheim, my three photogenic boys stood up, and muttering something in Arabic to the others, got off the train. I waited, or rather my brain was idling, and then I also stood up to leave. I just barely made it out as the train doors were closing shut. Then the tour of the town began, as they slowly meandered down the different streets in the direction of the middle of the town. Walking through the main street we passed an old water fountain at the intersection of two little roads, and I paused to look into where there should have been water as my boys took a left turn into a side street. I gave them about thirty seconds lead and then also turned into the side street. About ten yards up ahead they had stopped and were deep in some serious discussion, getting louder and louder. So I bent down and petted a cat that was sleeping on some pillows next to a store and waited to see what would happen. As they quieted down and started walking again, I stood up, and I immediately became dizzy and disorientated. Closing my eyes and calming down, I took a deep breath and then opened my eyes again. What I seen almost made me laugh out loud, for the little side street was called `Türkengasse' (Turk road)! Man, if the shoe fits then put it on! I proceeded to follow them again and where the road split, they took a right turn, now going up a slanted back road behind the houses in the main part of the city.

  Stopping to give them a little space so I would not look like I'm following them, I saw an archway which was built in 1544. Another little thing which made me smile, because America was still in the making at that time! They walked until we came to a fence where it dropped off for quite a long ways, and looking down made me dizzy again. And still they kept walking, and I was seriously hoping that it would end sometime soon, for I was loosing my sense of direction. We finally went down some stairs, crossed the road and went towards the public swimming pool. Now this really got my interest going, because I didn't think they were going swimming today in this weather. Then I seen them turn into a driveway going to some newly built garrison type buildings made for the refugees. It all made sense now, especially since the pain pill was slowly wearing off, that they were actually going home! All three pigs in the same house, and this bad wolf was going to blow it down. I just had to recuperate and figure out how to get it effectively done without hurting any innocent bystanders. And with my head clearing up I realized that I still had to retrieve Moby. I would need him to get here faster than the train, and also to get out of town quickly when it was finished. As I retraced my steps back to the train station I passed the fence where it dropped off like a cliff by the ocean. `Well, I thought, if I can't blow them back to Allah then I could at least throw one over the fence!' Back at the train station I had a strange premonition when my train came to the platform, so I sat on one of the benches and patiently waited. And sure enough, right before my train was ready to depart, one of the ticket conductors stepped onto the train. So I waited and took the next one towards Kornwestheim. Dropping in at the store, I bought some premium lunch-meat for Sabertooth, including a box of dry cat food. Going up the stairs, I realized that I forgot to get a beer for myself, and then thought what it would do combined with the pain pill, and so I put it out of my mind. It was bad enough walking around a strange town while being stoned like some `60's hippie! Opening my apartment door, I was greeted from a cat dragging my balcony curtains behind him. Apparently he was getting tired of being left alone! Freeing his one back foot from the curtain, I seen that the curtain rod had sustained considerable damage from his fight to get free of the curtain. Attempting to straighten the rod I was perplexed at how he could get it so bent up! In the end I left it laying on the floor next to the balcony windowsill. The curtain was a total loss what with all the hole
s clawed and bitten into it, so I went out into the hallway and threw it into the garbage container door, where it slowly flattered downward into oblivion.

  After feeding the cat and putting a cereal bowl full of dry cat food on the kitchen floor for him, which he observed with a look of cat skepticism, I made my way to the restaurant to talk to Gunéy about getting my car. Gunéy was out buying supplies for the restaurant, so I told Ishmael what had transpired yesterday. “You were told to stay away from here, but okay. So you know where the car is, and it's not a problem to drive there to get it.” He said. “If I knew how to drive there, which I can't for the life of me remember!” I answered. “Was your cell phone on when you left?” He asked. “Sure”, I said. “Good, then I'll ask my uncle to trace it by GPS.” And with that he showed me the door and said to leave immediately, so I told him I was going to the park. He nodded and walked briskly into the back kitchen. So I simply wandered around the park, just wasting time