We entered the roadhouse and I headed toward the head, leaving Max at the bar with the Sarsaparilla I ordered for him. As Henry follows me everywhere, including the bathroom, there was no need for additional subterfuge. We did the only reasonable thing. Henry and I climbed out the window.
Circling around to the front of the building I left a note for Max on the window of the cheese wagon, thanking him for his hospitality. In other circumstances, it would have been a pleasure traveling with Max, but we had promises to keep. (Yes, and miles to go before we could sleep.)
We found our way out to Highway 50 and began thumbing our way west toward Ottawa. I figured we could bunk with Dufus for a day or two before heading south again. We caught a ride right away, which is surprising for a woman with a dog in one arm and an axe in the other.
It was pretty late when I knocked on the door of Chez Dufus. Nobody answered. There was a note stuck on the door, though.
"Maryse... gone down to the On The House pub. Back soon."
Happily, the On The House is only a short walk from Dufus's house and Henry and I had not yet taken our evening constitutional.
Fifteen minutes later we entered the pub. Looking around, the only person I saw was a guy in a trench coat and fedora sitting at the bar throwing back some Pabst beers with whiskey chasers. I could tell Dufus had been there, though. On a side table was an empty bottle and a bunch of crumpled up papers with "30M2DoW" scrawled across the top along with a bunch of what I figured were swear words in both English and French.
I ordered a beer and sat down to see if I could get any clues from the discarded papers.
To be continued...
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Head on over to We Work for Cheese to check out who else is inspired by Nicky's & Mike's prompts for the 30 Minus 2 Days of Writing challenge.
