A pair of cross eyed headlights raced up the stony driveway and pointed to the facade of the barn making a big round fiery circle which gradually diminished as Vinny pulled the big Tacoma into the driveway. It was 3am and the Gadget Man was stacked and pissed off like a professional gambler coming home from a rough night. He had smashed into an 8 point buck on his way home from the bar and messed the front end of his truck up pretty bad. Especially the right headlight which shone more to the left than the left headlight did.
Vinny evidently was not having a good night and the knuckles on his right hand were bleeding from punching the inside roof of the cab out of frustration. What was Bridget's problem anyway? Why had she been acting weird all day?
Vinny opened the driver's side door and spewed Sunday night's dinner all over the driveway. He didn't even bother to check out the damage to the front end of his truck, but rather ambled towards the trailer with a nice warm bed on his mind.
A stray black cat raced past him nearly tripping him and ran towards the barn. Wasn't coming across a black cat supposed to be bad luck?
Vinny followed the cat with his drunken eyes and watched the black cat leap onto a rusty metal barrel that had been flipped upside down then quickly jumped off and ran to the other side of the barn. At first Vinny thought nothing of it and proceeded towards the trailer when he stopped abruptly in his tracks.
The rusty metal barrel.
Had he accidentally left it there? Didn't he usually keep it outside on the other side of the barn? Vinny felt himself sobering up faster than a crew pit working on a race car. He sprinted towards the barrel to investigate. After noticing it was neatly propped under the window it was obvious that someone had been snooping around. Bridget maybe?
Vinny opened the combination lock and stepped inside the barn. Everything seemed to be in order and nothing had been tampered with. The Gadget Man quickly scoured the inside of the barn counting tools and making sure nothing disappeared. When he was satisfied he zipped up his black leather jacket, relocked the barn door, and went inside the trailer to sleep away the rest of the morning.
Once inside the trailer, his gastric stomach churned hastily telling him if he didn't go to bed soon and lie still, he would be spewing all over the floor once again. Vinny held a hand over his stomach, took short breaths, and realized there was one more thing he had to do before the night was over. He sauntered over to the bedroom dresser and flicked on the LCD screen to his laptop. The laptop had a wireless receiver plugged into it and had a yellow video cable wire running into the VCR. The wireless receiver received signals from a micro-cam with the lens about the size of a pinhole hidden inside the barn. That's why the Gadget Man always left the lights on inside the barn because the VCR inside his bedroom accurately recorded any activity taking place inside the workshop when he wasn't around.
Vinny anxiously rewound the tape and then pushed play. A vivid picture of inside the barn came on the screen and everything looked legit. The Gadget Man pushed the fast forward button then sat at the edge of the bed and yawned. Moments later he thought he was hallucinating when he saw a uniformed figure dancing around on the screen.
Vinny pushed the pause button and gaped in disbelief. Like an objecting lawyer jumping out of his chair, the Gadget Man sprung from the bed and glued his face to the screen. No, no, no! It couldn't be could it? Sure enough there was his brother Alvin snooping around and tampering with things.
Vinny slung the remote across the room and it splattered against the wall causing the casing to pop off and triple "A" batteries flew out. The adrenaline running through his body sobered him up so quickly he found himself digging through the closet searching for the left over ransom money from the Anderson kidnapping.
Vinny hoisted a black Jenson book bag over his shoulders and then rummaged through his sock drawer for some fake IDs. He was no longer safe living it up out here in the bucolic environs. It was time for the Gadget Man to go on the lam.