Bobs Burgers: A Tina Tale

Chapter 10: The Zeke

I put on a long sleeve black shirt I had, and some compression pants to wear under my coveralls. It was supposed to be an extremely cold night, but Wonder Wharf stayed open 365 days a year, no matter the weather. I threw a ski cap onto and pulled it down to cover my ears. I wanted a break from wearing my contacts, so I put my glasses on. I looked in the mirror, then down at my watch. 

Time to go.

There were light flurries happening as I got into my car. I hoped it wouldn't get icy tonight, my car would do OK but it would be a slow way home. So much time had passed since the incident. I had missed Christmas and New Years, and we were heading into the end of January. I had been too numb to be able to even understand what had been going on around as the cloud hung over me. 

I made it up to Wonder Wharf, and saw Zeke's red truck. Immediately, I felt a swirling of anxiety hit the pit of my stomach. Instead of parking next to him as I had done for months before the incident, I parked several spaces away.

"How long will I have to wait for you again?"

It rang in my head again, as I passed his truck to walk through the front gate. I rubbed the side of my head. I really didn't want to think about it anymore. I walked around most of the night, fixing minor problems with the rides. It was pretty cold, there weren't many people out on the wharf. I kept looking at my watch, it was agonizing looking at my watch seeing only minutes had gone by.

Logan came by as I was trying to get the tea cups but up and running, not a difficult task. He looked like he was looking for someone, and walked past me. Then turned around, looked me dead in the face.

"I didn't recognize you with your glasses. You've been wearing your contacts so much,"I got the ride going, and the operator thanked me. I looked at Logan indicating I was paying attention. "Have you seen Zeke?"

I shook my head no. "His truck is here through."

"I know, it's been here since this morning."

"Have you checked the office? Didn't he have a meeting with you yesterday?"

"He did, but he didn't show for work today, and he's not answering his cellphone. I haven't checked the office. I am starting to get worried, he hasn't missed a day of work since we got this up and running."

This peaked my interest, and worried me. "Want me to go looking with you?"

"Can you spare the time?" Logan looked at his cellphone. "It's only 10:30, I know you're off in 30 minutes. Help me out then?"

"Sure. Text me where you're at and I'll look in the opposite direction."

Suddenly, I found myself looking around the park. 11:00 pm came so slowly, and I texted Logan.

[Me] You find him?

[Logan] Come to the office.

The office was on the other side of the park. I started walking, feeling the cold nip on my nose. It had gotten a lot colder and the snow had started falling with heavier flakes. I saw the office ahead, and made my way inside.

"Zeke, you have got to get up." Logan was trying to get Zeke to stand up. Immediately, I could see beer cans and an eighth of whiskey half gone on the desk. He was very inebriated, and thought this was a joke. "Do you have any idea how lucky you are I found you and not someone else? If it had been someone else I would have had to fire you." Logan was being serious, Zeke started to giggle.

"This isn't funny, time to get you home." I walked over to him, Logan had one of Zeke's arms over his shoulder. I then followed suit and did the same with his other arm. I could smell the pungent alcohol off not just his breath but his clothes too. 

"Tina, I want you take him home. I need to clean all this up so no one sees. There are so many violations here he wouldn't have a leg to stand on." We got him out of the office trailer, and Logan locked it behind us with the deadbolt which turned out the light, in an effort to keep Zeke's screw up literally, behind closed doors.