THE FABULOUS FEMMES OF FAIRDELLS  Part 3 
By Marlon G. Silversteel – silversteel2002@yahoo.com
Jack High Straight, Bluff, and Fold


Three amazing things happened during the Summer of 1987. I had just turned 15,
having finished my Freshman year at Fairdells High. Swim season had wrapped up
with a bang, and I was doing some Water Polo with the summer league. I was
really looking forward to a great break from school, hanging out with friends,
spending some time in the water ... and especially having more interesting
encounters with Kat, Jules and Dani!

My first opportunity came in late June, a couple of weeks after school let
out. It was a Saturday. My Dad spent a lot of his free time on weekends
working in the garage on his hobby car, a partially restored 1965 Ford Mustang
convertible, when he wasn't having to deal with clients or cases. It was a
cherry car, and my Dad was really proud of it. He had bought it a couple of
years earlier and enjoyed tinkering with it when he had a chance. I helped him
out on occasion, partly for self-serving reasons, because he had said that if
I did help him, I could drive it some when I turned 16 and got my license.

That Saturday was one of those occasions. My Dad had the front up on his
heavy-duty jack and was working underneath it for the most part that morning.
I was handing him tools and helping him with the intricate work when he needed
a second pair of hands. It was turning out to be a hot day already. We were
taking a break and having a drink when Julie walked up our driveway. She was
wearing a tank top and cut-offs, with her hair in a pony-tail. She looked hot
as hell! She was carrying a folder.

"Hey, John ... Mr. Madison ... " she called out, waving, as she walked up.

My Dad put his drink down for a second. "Well, hello, Julie," he replied in
his gentle baritone voice.

"Hey Jules," I said, smiling at her. I had my shirt off that morning, and was
only wearing a pair of jeans and work shoes. I noticed her eyes checking me
out a bit, just as I'm sure that she was aware of how much I was admiring her!

"You two working on the Pony again?" she asked.

"Oh, yes," my Dad said, looking back at the car. "She's coming along nice,
huh?"

"Can't wait until you can give me a ride in it, John," she replied, winking at
me.

"Well, that remains to be seen, right son?" my Dad stated before I could
answer, patting my shoulder. I sighed, a bit embarrassed.

"Sure, Dad," I said under my breath. I could tell Julie was loving it!

"So, what brings you by this morning?" he asked again.

"Oh, yeah," Jules responded, pulling out the folder and handing it to my Dad.
"My Dad said you needed these before Monday," she said. "He asked me to take
them over to you."

"Oh good, the Williams case!" my Dad exclaimed, checking out the contents.
"Good thing Preston remembered!" He was about to put them aside on the
workbench when my Mom's voice could be heard from inside the house.

"Alan!" she called out. "Phone call!"

"Be right there, Connie!" he replied. "Sorry, gang, I gotta run inside and
take this. I'll be back in a bit, John. Good to see you Julie, and thanks." He
took up the folder and hurried inside.

"No problem, Mr. Madison," she said.

I walked on over to her after my Dad had gone upstairs. "So, what's up,
Jules?" I asked.

"Not much," she answered. "Kind of a boring day. I was going to roller skate
downtown for a bit, or go see Kat, but it's so damn hot today!"

"Yeah, tell me about it," I agreed. "Good thing I'm in the shade!"

"So, show me how things are going on the car," Jules said, motioning over to
the Mustang.

"I didn't know you were into cars!" I exclaimed, surprised.

"Well, not just any car," she replied, coyly. "Just muscle cars!"

"Yeah, I'll bet!" I laughed, getting the joke. I walked her over to where my
Dad and I had been working on the front.

"I'm helping him with the A frame right now," I said, trying to sound like I
really knew what I was talking about. I picked up a tool and squatted down.

"Sounds fun," Julie replied, looking into the engine block under the opened
hood.

"Yeah, my Dad says we can get her fully restored by next summer, hopefully," I
mentioned optimistically. "About when I get my license!"

"I'm serious about you taking me for a ride, you know," Julie said, smiling
and squatting down with me as I started to slide under the frame.

"Me too!" I laughed. "I hope my Dad lets me take her out sometimes." I pulled
myself under and started to look around a bit, thinking I could do a little
something while my Dad was upstairs, something "mechanical" that might impress
Jules!

"Hey," I called to her, trying to sound like I was an automotive stud. "Can
you hand me a socket wrench up there?"

"John, are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked, a little giggle in
her tone, as if she knew I was trying to impress her.

"Of course I do!" I exclaimed. "Just hand me the one with the ... holy
shit!!!"

In the course of showing off, I had put some pressure on the frame with my
hand, not thinking about the jack holding the car up. It started to shift,
with me underneath! The Mustang's tires were off. There wasn't enough time for
me to slide out. I was going to be crushed by the massive weight of the
vehicle. The jack slipped with a grinding crunch, the car started to drop, and
then ...

It suddenly stopped. I opened my eyes, wondering if I had already been
smothered. I was still alive, underneath, the frame just a couple of inches
from my chest. I looked to my side. The jack was still lying flat sideways,
useless. What had stopped the car from falling? Then the car started lifting
again, the jack still on its side. It was hoisted about six more inches. I
didn't waste time. I slid out in a hurry and got to my feet, only to see ...

Julie was there, her hand gripping the front bumper on one corner, her lovely
muscular arm holding the Mustang up, preventing it from crushing me and
allowing me enough space to crawl out. She smiled at me, shaking her head, no
doubt at my foolishness, and gestured at the fallen jack.

"Well, don't just stand there," she said. "Get that jack back in place before
someone sees us. I can't set this thing down without tires, and I don't know
how I would explain this if your Dad came back now!"

"No shit!" I exclaimed, hurrying to set the jack up. I got it in place, and
Julie gently set the bumper back down, resting it securely in place. My Dad's
footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs a few seconds later. He opened
the door to the garage.

"Okay then," he said. "Well, ready to get back to work, son?"

I just looked over at Julie. It amazed me how she could keep such composure
after a little incident like that.

"Uh, Dad?" I said, not quite pulled together yet. "I think I need a little
more of a break this morning. Hey Jules, you wanna take a walk down with me to
the Freeze?"

My Dad seemed a little disappointed, but understood. "Well, if I'm still
working on the car later, you can help some more, okay?"

We said goodbye, and I grabbed my shirt from off the bench. We started walking
towards downtown.

"You just saved my life, you know?" I said to Jules after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah, I know," she replied, taking my arm. "Just don't get me into a habit,
okay? I mean, I know how much money your Dad has put into that car, and ... "

"Why you little ... !" I interrupted her, laughing playfully. She laughed and
started running in mock fear, with me chasing her.

We were still laughing and teasing each other as we lay out on the grass in
front of the Freeze, sharing some ice cream in the hot mid-morning sun.

The Fourth of July in Fairdells is always a big deal. There's a parade down
Main Street, with a Chili Cook-Off at the Livery & Mercantile, and then
Fireworks that night. That summer I got to ride in the Fairdells High School
Swim Team Float with the rest of the team. Dani and I both got a front seat,
and had a great time.

Dani's father, Saul Silverman, was a jeweler in town. Silverman's Jewelry was
located right on Main Street, and Mr. Silverman always opened up the store on
the Fourth to give friends and family a cool spot to watch the parade from. I
thought it was especially cool that summer that he opened it even though July
4th fell on a Saturday (the Silverman's were Jewish, and Mr. Silverman always
closed up early on Friday and stayed closed through Saturday in observance of
the Sabbath).

The day after, Sunday, I rode my bike downtown after church. It was a nice
day, and I always enjoyed seeing the debris left on Main Street after the
parade. They wouldn't clean up until Monday morning, and sometimes one could
find all sorts of cool stuff left on the street from the day before!

I was riding past Silverman's when I noticed that the light was on and it
looked like it might be open, which was strange. Mr. Silverman kept his store
closed on Sunday as well, as not to offend the Christians in town. Curious, I
pulled up next to the window and peeked inside. I saw Dani coming out of the
back with some small boxes in hand. I tapped on the glass, trying to get her
attention. She saw me, smiled, and walked over to the door, unlocking it to
let me in.

"Hey John!" she exclaimed, seeming excited and surprised to see me. "What are
you doing here?"

"Just riding down Main a bit," I replied. "Saw the light on. I thought your
Dad was closed on Sundays."

"Yeah," she said. "Normally he is. But yesterday was the parade and all, you
know. This weekend is inventory. We would have done it yesterday. So, he asked
me to help out today and get it done. Hey, you wanna come in for a bit? Pop
had to go home and get some paperwork, but he'll be back after a while."

"Sure, cool," I exclaimed, smiling, wondering if there was any hidden message
in that subtle bit of information at the end of her invitation.

Dani let me in and we headed to the back. I had never seen the back of her
Dad's store before. It was quite messy at the moment, given the circumstances.
There were boxes of merchandise everywhere with lists of item numbers, prices,
etc. It looked like she had been busy all morning.

"I have to get this finished by tonight," she sighed. "Hey, can you stay and
help?" she asked. "I would really appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem," I said. Dani gave me a notepad and pen and explained the
routine. I spent the next several minutes cataloging various types of jewelry.

I was about to take a break when the chime rang up front. Dani was a bit
startled.

"Shit, I forgot to lock the door when you came in!" she exclaimed. "Pop's
gonna be pissed!" She set her pen down and headed for the front. "Hey, Pop!"
she called out, assuming it was her Dad coming back to the store. I followed.

"Pop, I'm real sorry, I ... oh!" Dani stopped in her tracks near the counter.
It wasn't Mr. Silverman. There were two men dressed in jeans and polo shirts
standing near the entrance. I didn't recognize them, which meant they probably
weren't Fairdells locals. Dani didn't seem to either.

"I'm sorry to startle you, miss," one of the men said. "We were driving by and
noticed the light on, figured you might be open. Nothing else on Main Street
is." Which was true. It was Sunday after all.

"Can I help you with something?" Dani asked, a little wary. "We're actually
closed today. Just doing inventory."

"Oh, we're not shopping," the other fellow stated. "We just needed directions.
We took a wrong turn and seem to be lost, that's all."

"Oh, well, in that case," Dani said, sighing in relief a bit, and looking more
at ease. "Well, where are you trying to get to?"

The men started with an explanation. I was troubled by something, however. The
store had a large window in front facing Main Street. I didn't see a car
parked outside, which seemed strange. Were these guys on foot? Also, in order
to get this far on Main, assuming they were really lost travelers, they would
have had to have come from Fairdells Avenue, which connected to the highway.
The corner of Main and Fairdells had a 24 hour Gas Station that was open on
Sundays (one of the few places in town). That would have been the sensible
place to stop and ask for directions.

"Sorry," Dani finally offered. "I'm not familiar with that street. Are you
sure it's in Fairdells? It might be a Centerwood address, that's the next town
down the highway."

"Hey Dani, I'm going in back for a sec, okay?" I whispered to her, trying not
to attract attention, hoping that I could get to the phone in the office. I
wasn't liking how this all looked!

"No, I don't think so, boy," one of the guys suddenly said, pulling a gun out
from the back of his jeans and aiming it at us. The other guy reacted swiftly,
pulling the door shut and locking it, and then closing the blinds on the
window.

I froze. Dani backed up a step, but I was behind her. The gunman gestured more
forcefully with the weapon.

"Don't move, either of you!" he ordered. His partner was now at work with a
spray can covering the lense of the security camera near the door.

"Lenny," he said to his partner, "I'll hold these two here. You get in the
back and get busy with the stuff, okay?"

"Got it," the other man replied, and moved past us to the back where he began
gathering up jewelry for theft.

Dani and I hadn't moved. I wasn't sure what was going on in her mind. I was
scared shitless! Part of me hoped that Mr. Silverman would return soon, but
then he might be caught in the middle of this too! What were we going to do?
They were going to rob him and cost him thousands!

"You two," the gunman said, gesturing again with the pistol. "Over there, away
from the counter ... NOW!" We walked carefully in the direction he was
pointing.

"We've been casing your joint for a while now," he continued. "Your Hymie Old
Man is gonna make us rich, Jew-Girl!"

That pissed me off! "Hey, shut the fuck up you ... !" I started, not thinking
at all of what I was doing.

"John, no ... !" Dani started to say, but the gunman was in my face.

"What did you say to me, Kike-lover?" the man demanded arrogantly. He grabbed
me and pulled me away from Dani, shoving me against the wall.

"Better watch it, boy!" he yelled at me. "I got the gun, remember? And I ain't
afraid to pop a smart-ass punk kid like yourself ... or your Jew girlfriend!"
He pointed the gun at Dani for emphasis.

I could see that Dani was extremely upset at my getting hurt for trying to
defend her. I knew what she was capable of doing, and I was curious as to how
she would deal with this situation. I also knew that she must have been
concerned about our safety, about the possibility of one or both of us getting
shot. Despite who she was and what she could do, she wasn't bulletproof ... or
was she?

Meanwhile, the gunman had repositioned himself near one of the glass cases and
had ordered me to move back in closer to Dani, so that he could keep his aim
on us both. We were standing about three feet from the front counter, and
about two feet from the doorway that led to the back. I could still hear the
guy's partner at work, trying to collect the goods. The gunman was getting
impatient.

"Hurry your ass up, Lenny!" he shouted to the back. "That Jew Silverman's
gonna be coming back any minute!"

Dani had obviously forgotten this, because her facial expression changed at
hearing her father's name. She looked at me, worried.

"Pop!" she whispered to me, fear and concern in her eyes. "They're gonna kill
him if he tries to stop them!"

"I said shut up, Jew-bitch!" the gunman yelled at her, sticking the gun closer
to her face. I could see Dani's jaw clench with anger, and with anxiety. Her
incredibly strong hands were clenching into iron fists at her side. I wondered
how much longer she could take it before trying something, even if it was
risky!

Her chance came quite unexpectedly. The other guy finally came out from the
back with a stack of jewelry boxes in his arms. He made his way around the
counter to the front where his partner was standing. In doing so he had to
pass me and Dani. I would never have even tried it, or thought of it, but Dani
did. He passed right next to her, just close enough for her to stick out her
lovely foot and trip him.

"Okay, Jack, I got the ... oh, shit!" Lenny lost his footing and his grip on
the five or six boxes he was carrying. He fell on the ground hard, face first.
The boxes went flying out front, a spray of jewelry flying towards his
partner.

"Lenny, what the fuck ... ?!" Jack shouted, but it was too late. He tried to
catch some of the delicate pieces that were going to be his score. He slipped
on some pearls that rolled under his feet, falling himself and dropping the
gun.

"Dani, what are you doing?!" I screamed, watching in panic as she fell on the
jewel-carrying crook. She landed him a hard right with her fist. The guy
dropped once more like a sack, out cold.

"John, grab the gun, quick!" she shouted at me. I was kind of in a daze, but
made a move and tried to recover the fallen pistol. I wasn't fast enough. Jack
had composed himself quickly and had grabbed it again. He was leveling it at
Dani.

"NO!!!" I cried, trying to stop the guy, but he fired just as Dani got to her
feet.

A shot rang out. A bullet was fired right at Dani's stomach. I squeezed my
eyes shut, not wanting to see it. My eyes opened to see Dani flinch a bit at
the report, but not move. She didn't buckle. She didn't fall. And I didn't see
any blood! I was amazed. Apparently, Jack was too.

"What the ... ?!" he muttered, looking at his gun for a second, and preparing
to take a second shot. He didn't get a chance. In his distraction, I had just
the opportunity to take a quick swipe and knock the pistol out of his hand,
right towards Dani.

"Dani ... the gun!" I called out, just as Jack let loose a punch, hitting me
squarely in the jaw. I staggered back, blood trickling down my mouth and nose.

Dani grabbed the gun, palming it firmly. Jack refocused his attention on her.

"Give me the gun, you stupid Kike!" he snarled, pacing towards her like a
trapped, desperate animal.

"You want it?" she responded, breathing heavily, fire in her eyes. "Fine!
Catch!" Before I could say anything, she had tossed him the gun, he had caught
it, and had fired again straight at her.

Or tried. What he failed to notice was the fact that in the couple of seconds
that Dani had possession of the pistol, she had squeezed the tip of the nozzle
shut with her powerful fingers, bending the metal into an airtight slit where
a perfectly round hole had once been. Jack pulled the trigger, recoiling with
the blast that not only blew the gun to bits, but blew his hand off as well!
He howled in pain, dropping to his knees in agony.

Dani was on him in a second. She grabbed him by the scuff of the neck,
hoisting him up and glaring at him venomously.

"This is for me, my family, and every other Jew you've insulted in the past
few minutes!" she seethed. She then threw him backwards, his body hurling
towards the front door, crashing through it with a deafening shatter. He
landed in a pool of metal, wood and glass, unconscious.

"Damn!" I whispered, looking at Dani. She looked back at me, tears in her
eyes, still getting over the shock of the encounter. She rushed over to me,
putting her arms around me and kissed me. She wiped some of the blood from my
face, and managed a burst of laughter that was half laughing, half crying.

"John, can you please do me a favor?" she asked, regaining her composure.

"Sure, anything," I replied, in no place to argue.

"Can you please call my father at home, then call the police, while I dispose
of this thing and try to think up a good story?" she said, holding up the
molested pistol and pointing to the mess.

"Dani, you're really something else, you know that?" I laughed, taking her and
hugging her close.

Mr. Silverman arrived a few minutes later, relieved that his daughter and I
were safe. The police came and did their thing as well, hauling off the two
thieves, and taking our statements (which had been talked out and synced up,
thank God!). I had to get a few stitches, but was fine in the long run. It did
make for the most exciting Sunday I had ever had, and have had since! And I
got to see one of my muscular feminine friends in action once again ... not
the last time to be sure.

(to be continued)