2-7-21 - Breaking

 Breaking

IDEA - 2-7-21

by

Patrick Ryan

Two men are parked across the street from the Fleming's house, not directly across the street but at a diagonal. The man in the driver's seat has binoculars and is looking through the Fleming's kitchen window. Mark Fleming is making breakfast for his wife and their 6-year-old son. The suspicious man puts the binoculars away; that's the mark,  he says, the guy we need, I'm sure of it.  That's the way we get to her, through him.  Sandra Fleming, Mark's wife, finishes her banana, kisses Mark on the cheek, and grabs her pocketbook and keys. She gets into her BMW, backs out of the semi-circle driveway, and heads down the street. The suspicious men stay, they watch Mark get his son ready for school. Shortly after, Mark and his son exit from the house. Mark checks to make sure the door is locked. They pile into a mini-van and drive forward through the semi-circle driveway. This time the men follow at a distance. Two lefts and a right, the trip couldn't have taken more than 6 minutes. The two men watch down the street as Mark gets his son out of the mini-van and walks into the school. No one but the students and teachers are allowed in the building, so he waves goodbye to his son at that point and heads back to the mini-van. The two men continue to follow Mark, first to the supermarket where he picks up a few items, then to the drug store where he picks up a few more. Then Mark drives home. The two men continue to watch Mark sit at a computer, clearly suffering from some form of writer's block. Time is dragging on, the two men watching are falling asleep, and Mark has become frustrated. On the computer, he hasn't written more than a page. He pushes the keyboard away and leaves the house. The two men follow. This time Mark heads to the casino, more than 45 minutes away on the highway. The two men follow at multiple car lengths. They know where he's going; he's done this before. They watch Mark park the mini-van in a parking lot that is practically empty, and they park themselves in the last row. The two men follow Mark into the casino, where he proceeds to play Blackjack, loses, goes to a video poker machine, and fails again. Finally, about an hour later, Mark starts to head out of the casino, frustrated and discouraged. On the way out, Mark looks to his right, as if a higher power possesses him.  He senses something from that slot machine. The two men are sitting at another slot machine about 30 feet away. Mark puts a $20 bill into the machine and starts to push the button, nothing, nothing, nothing, the total left on the slot machine is under $2 now. He pulls the lever this time, success, the first time he won anything at the casino, today. On another one, Mark pulls the lever again, win, and another win. When it was all said and done, Mark won almost $500. He was tempted to try to win more, but he quit while he was ahead. Mark cashes out a ticket at the cash machine, takes one more look at the blackjack table,  looks at his watch,  grimaces as if he's making a sacrifice, and leaves the casino. The two men follow this time, meeting Mark at his car. We saw you were pretty lucky in there, one of the men says. Yeah, I guess you win some, and you lose some, Mark says. Do you want to turn that $500 into a hundred-thousand? Yeah, right, I got to go. I have stuff to do. Come on, Mark, we see you at this casino almost every day. We see your wife making six figures, driving that BMW; you're desperate to contribute your fair share. Mark is confused, how do you know me, who are you?