While Checking the Weather

I stepped out of my room early this morning, checked the weather and heard a voice a few dozen feet to my right: "Excuse me sir; do you have a cigarette?"

I turned, and two young bearded men; about four rooms down; were standing by a stairwell and looking my way.

I don't like being asked such things; especially when it's the wrong time of the day to ask me anything and they were too close to my comfort zone. I answered: "You need to get the **ck out of here."

Bearded boy 1, with the checkered pants and hoodie: "What's wrong with you?"

Bearded boy 2, in jeans with a hoodie: "Leave him alone, he must be having a bad day."

Checkered pants started walking across the parking lot, toward the fence separating the the hotels and said: "What's your problem?"

I answered: "Are you staying here?"

He answered: "Yes" and kept moving.

His sidekick, who I was watching out of the corner of my eye, crossed the parking area, without moving closer, and soon joined his buddy.

As they walked away, I could hear checkered pants ranting and they soon disappeared in the adjacent parking lot.

I stepped back into my room, finished preparing for work and was ready to go within 5 minutes.

I was cautious when I left my room. As I was driving toward the exit, I saw sidekick about halfway from the end of the hotel and checkered pants walking down the middle of the drive.

I slowed down, waited for a reaction and checkered pants soon squeezed between a missing slat in the fence and was gone.

I told the night manager, and a fellow worker said the police were in the parking lot before he left for the project.

I stopped and spoke with the manager when I arrived this evening. They evicted a few people this morning, which is good, since I was told by another fellow worker he watched checkered pants exchanging something between a car that stopped and soon pulled away.

Drugs? Probably. In my motel? Nope. I'll be watching. In my book, there's no season on drug dealers.