A Tale of the Cosmos

The autumnal woods were crunchy and sparse and Theo could see the brick building through the trees. His arm rested on a moist patch of mud barely covered by thin leaves and his breath bounced off the fallen log in front of him. “Ya sure they ain’t there today?” He asked Tom. Tom was laid out next to him. Wiry and thin, his sweatshirt did little to hide his diminutive stature.

“Yeh,” he grunted, looking back at Theo with his bloodshot blue eyes, “They’re strict church idiots, like that chicken place.”

“So ain’t no one up in there even in the middle of the day? And the stuff is just all sitting there not locked up?” Theo was concerned. He’d stolen before, and he’d stolen tools before, but he’d never stolen tools in the middle of the day.

“Nah man, I’m tellen ya, ain’t no one in there and ain’t no one lookin’ after the tools.” He smiled and his brown teeth seemed to match the leaves around him. Theo unconsciously sucked at his own teeth.

“Aight, then what about cameras and shit? They got those right? Ain’t no way the cops’ll know?” Theo had been burned once by cameras he didn’t see; he spent three weeks in a correctional facility and didn’t intend on returning.

“They do, but they jes fo show. Ain’t no one recordin’ nothin, the Addison’s are cheap sonsabitches I’m tellin ya.” His smirk didn’t instill confidence, but Theo believed him. The Addison’s were odd people. They went to church and all, but that didn’t stop people from whispering about them. Most of the folks who worked for them never left, and those that did leave almost always had an axe to grind. Tom swore up and down that they were related to Charlie Bessette, Vermont’s very own axe murderer.

More still thought they ran some sort of sex cult up in the mountains. It was all nonsense of course. In Theodore’s opinion most folks, especially those he hung around, were just jealous of all that money. Four mechanic shops and two car dealerships did that to people. Guys like Tom always thought others were lying, stealing, and manipulating because that’s what they had to do to make any money. Theo wasn’t so sure. He liked drugs, like a lot, and he knew they were killing him, wasn’t much more to think about after that.

Theo let out a sigh, “Aight man, if we gonna do this, we should just do it.” He pulled the ski mask out from his pocket and put it on. Tom muttered his agreement and did the same. They locked eyes for a split second, Theo grabbed his crowbar and clutched it in his right hand. Checking the straps on his back pack he stood up with Tom and said, “Remember, just what you can fit in your back pack. No power tools with serial numbers and no electronics, jes the shit we can pawn off to your guy.”

“I know the fuckin’ deal man,” Tom pouted, “lets jes get this shit done.” He nodded toward the mechanic’s shop and began walking quickly through the woods. Theo knew no one was listening for their footfalls, but he still cringed at each crackling leaf.

They were careful to come from the woods behind the shop so that the cars on the road couldn’t see them, and Tom’s car was parked in a neighborhood about a mile’s walk south through the forest so that they weren’t seen driving in. Hell, Tom, though he was an idiot, was even careful to switch which car he was driving. In Middletown all the cops knew who was driving what and what they liked to do. Sometimes they got pulled over just minding their own business. Course the cops didn’t see it that way, they didn’t like that Theo never had a driver’s license or that Tom liked to sip some booze while out and about. Assholes.

The brick building stood quiet in the autumn breeze. Theo, out of caution, took one more look around the parking lot to make sure no one was watching. “Cummon man, break that shit.” Tom urged him.

With a small effort, Theo pried open the padlocked door. The iron lock groaned briefly before snapping. He winced at the loud sound but suppressed the natural urge to run away. His brain told him no one could have heard anything.

The shop inside was lit only by one of those glowing Coors signs. Shadows erupted from silent toolboxes and the grey floor matched the dull darkness tugging on the corners of the room. It was like someone had slipped a pair of sunglasses on Theo’s face without him noticing. Something about the room gave him chills, but he’d had those before. Stealing stuff was fun and horrifying, but it wasn’t that thrill he was after. He wanted to sink deep beneath the waters of his unconscious. To warm himself beneath the bubbling waters of ecstasy. Yeah, he wanted to steal just to get his next fix. He knew that was wrong, but honestly, he didn’t care.

“Aight,” Tom said next to him, seemingly unaffected by the same eerie feeling Theo had, “Snap-On box is over there.” He pointed at the tool box just beneath the lit Coors sign. “And I think the box over there,” he pointed at the opposite wall, “has stuff jes like it.”

Theo nodded and walked over to the Snap-On box without saying a word. He opened his backpack and set it open on the floor. Grabbing tools by the handful he was only as picky as he felt he needed to be. Stuff like sockets, extensions, he left. But anything that held the attachments he took, those were worth the most. Shelf by shelf he emptied the toolboxes as quick as he could until he thought his backpack couldn’t carry any more. Only a minute had passed and his bag must have been almost a hundred pounds. He grunted with effort but managed to slide it back around his shoulders.

“Aight man, lets get the fuck outta here,” he said to Tom. Tom, of course, was busy rolling up one of the shop’s nudie posters. The kind that are usually in the bathroom or some other dude space. “Dude, are you fuckin’ serious, you got the internet.”

Tom shrugged and smiled, “Souvenir.” He said.