There are many interesting people a Potato Chip Delivery Guy might meet on the road, but this story revolves around one… Goodwin.
Let’s meet the snack man himself Chris Merril, he is an average dude. Long curly brown hair with an unruly brown mustache and he stands five foot and eleven inches. I wouldn’t call him fat but I also wouldn’t call him skinny, can you blame the guy he literally is surrounded by snacks forty hours a week. His route takes him through the plain brown flat land of the Arizona desert, delivering chips to the many strange ma and pa type shops littered here and there along the shrubs and cacti. One of those shops is a Russian immigrant owned shop called “Tchotchke”. It’s a small plain brown building with a few out of order gas pumps out front. The store is more like a thrift store than a convenience store, with various knick knacks collecting dust on the shelves. Chris pulled into the parking lot ready to deliver his usual Friday delivery, twenty dollars worth of snacks. He sat in the driver’s seat staring down at an invoice when a mousy Mexican women knocked on his passenger window. Chris smiled as he looked up. “Hey, friend!” She called out returning a smile of her own. “Hi, Kylee!” He jumped out of the truck invoice in hand, the steady desert wind causing it to blow about. He grabbed the one box of chips for the store and followed her inside through the glass front doors.
Chris finished counting the few chip bags in the box when a bearded man with a sunken look approached them. This man was Goodwin the new hand at Tchotchke, he was a van lifer that had blown in a few weeks earlier. “This is Goodwin the new guy.” Kylee said stepping out from between Chris and Goodwin. They shook hands and did the usual nice to meet you’s. “I gotta get back to the front counter, Chris man take it easy!’ Goodwin said with a toothy grin protruding from his dirty beard. “Alright bro!” Chris replied. “Blessed!” came a shout from the front.
The morning was crisp and cold as the tires of the delivery truck crushed along the empty flat highway. “Welcome back to Paranormal & Jelly, have you heard of the cryptid the internet is calling The Bed Bug? Thought to be something akin to Nosferatu…” The podcast playing from his phone’s speakers suddenly cut off. “Great I forgot to charge you.” He said as he reached toward the USB cord hanging from his dash. Tchotchke appeared abandoned as Chris pulled open the door, box of snacks in hand. A head popped up from behind the register, it was Goodwin. “Blessed Chris man, sup!” He said as he rounded the counter. “Just you this morning?” Chris asked as he counted the five bags of today’s delivery. “Yeah man everyone else called out, it’s not like we have any customers anyway.” “So where are you from Goodwin?” “I am from everywhere man, but I was raised in Amish Country Ohio.” He frowned as he said this. “But I’ve been on the road for ten years now, ever since I left the army.” Goodwin helped him stock the few bags on the shelf and then Chris headed towards the door. “Try not to fall asleep!” Chris joked as he left. “Blessed Man!” Replied Goodwin.
“No Goodwin today?” Chris asked Kylee while he dropped the invoice off at the counter. “Nope he is off doing something up at the lake. Hey do you want to hang out tomorrow? I figured we could get to know Goodwin a little better.” “Yeah Bowling Alley as usual?” Kylee nodded. Chris’s delivery truck drove off onto the highway, the only vehicle on the isolated stretch of road.
“Hey, did Goodwin seem kinda off the other night at the Bowler rink?” Kylee scrunched her eye brows as she asked the question. “The meat thing right?” Chris winced a little. “Yeah like wtf, he only eats raw meat. I can understand keto diet but raw bloody meat is way out there.” She said while fake gagging. “Not only that but the way he freaked out on the waitress for the meat being ‘basically burnt’ I am pretty sure the burger was still breathing.” Chris said. “It was really odd but I still like the du.” Kylee was interrupted by the sight of Goodwin walking across dusty cracked wooden flooring directly to them. “What are you talking about?” He said as he took up a spot less than three inches from Chris. He took a long uncomfortable step to the left and replied. “Just something we heard about on TV, anyway how are you Goodwin?” Kylee shot Chris a worried look. “I’ve been blessed man, are you sure you weren’t talking about me?” Goodwin’s eyes flickered quickly between the two.
“The Bed Bug, is thought to be human or at least human like. If the stories are true it can feed on any mammal blood, but they prefer human blood. I wonder if any of them work at blood banks, eeehhhh the thought gives me the chills.” Paranormal & Jelly played over the speaker of his truck, Chris shuddered, put the truck in park, and turned off the ignition. Tchotchke had no lights on and the parking lot was empty. He tried the door handle, the door clunked against the lock. He peered inside using his hands to shield the outside light, shook his head and started walking back to his truck. “Yo Chris man.” Yelled Goodwin from behind the hood of his old white camper van with New York plates. Chris walked over to the van. “Whats up with the van?” He looked into the engine bay. “Nothing too crazy, bad spark plug.” Goodwin said as he fought with the end of a wrench. “Right on, is the store closed today?” “Yup closed but the owners are letting me stay here in my van, it’s pretty sweet and beats the heck out of camp grounds.” Goodwin smiled his toothy smile.
“For the last three weeks we have been investigation the horrifying blood sucking Bed Bug here on Paranormal & Jelly. Today we have something special, a user submitted story of a real life encounter. Marcie from New York state writes in. Hi Jelly, last weeks episode covering the Bed Bug triggered a memory with me. I met a guy last year at a camp ground, he was clean shaven and seemed pretty nice. That night my dog went missing, we searched all over the camp ground but couldn’t find him. The guy came out of his van and asked what was going on I told him my dog had vanished. As we were talking I noticed he had blood dripping from his lip, I asked if he was OK. He laughed and said he liked his steaks raw it was a health food thing. He left about an hour later but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he had something to do with my dog disappearing. He had a strange facial expression like he was daring me to blame him or something. It freaked me out so bad and I miss my pupper so much. Do you think this was a Bed Bug sighting? Yikes Marcie that is terrifying, your poor dog I really hope for his sake that man wasn’t a Bed Bug. Thanks for listening to the show next Friday we will be hearing more of your stories about the feared modern Dracula, The Bed Bug. Sleep tight and don’t let the Bed Bug bite.” The speakers cut to Paranormal & Jelly’s outro song as he pulled into Tchotchke’s parking lot. There were cars lined across the dirt lot, leaving very little room for the delivery truck. Chris pushed his way through the crowded store to the front counter. “Pretty crazy huh!?!” Kylee yelled over the cacophony of unregulated tourist voices. “Why the crowd, is it Mardi Gras!” Chris joked. “There is a big concert up at the lake, some kinda blue grass thing. Goodwin is over by the soda fountain he will check you in, I can’t leave the register.” Chris made his way to the fountain were Goodwin was staring wide eyed at the tourists. “Man there are a lot of people, pretty exciting right Chris man?” A group of obese tourists in their signature Hawaiian button ups waddled by them. “It’s like a buffet out there…” Goodwin paused for a moment as his eyes followed a tall blonde women who was looking around confused. “I think I am going to head up to the lake after work, try to get a nice snack for the evening!” Chris chuckled uncomfortably at Goodwin’s comment.
“We have a lot of strange requests at the butcher counter, this one was by far the strangest. The bearded guy asked if we could get him a gallon of pig’s blood, fresh as possible. He had great timing as we just finished slaughtering and had a fresh bucket full. So I grabbed an empty water jug filled it up and brought it to the guy, I shit you not the guy said blessed and then started chugging the blood right in front of me. I almost passed out and threw up, this was about three months ago. Yuck, thanks for writing in Tony from New Mexico. Watch out butchers in The South West the Bed Bug has found a new pillow to hide under.” Chris turned off the truck stereo shaking his head, he reached for the handle of his truck door, “Ping Ping” his phone let out a tone from his pocket. “Hey Chris wanted to let you know Goodwin is crashing at my place for a few days, his van broke down and is in the shop.” The text bubble read, he tapped back a simple “bummer.” and proceeded to the store.
“How’s it going with the new roommate?” Chris asked Kylee on his next visit to Tchotchke. “Well better than I thought, the raw meat thing is really gross but otherwise he is respectful and clean.” She cringed a little and rubbed her calf. “I have a gnarly cut on my leg, I cant figure out were it came from.” She lifted her skirt slightly revealing her swollen wound, the gash was 3 inches long and deep. “Oh my god, you should go to the hospital, that thing looks deep.” Chris gasped as he peered into the void of muscle and blood. “How on Earth did you not notice it happen?” Chris looked shocked. “I wish I knew, I think it happened while I was asleep. I noticed it on Monday, it keeps reopening in the night. I put a wrapping on it before I go to bed and when I wake up in the morning I find the wrapping in my blankets covered in fresh blood. I must be itching at it in the night.”
“Dear Paranormal & Jelly, Matt from Arizona here, boy do I have a freaky story for you regarding your Bed Bug. A month and some change ago I met a bearded man who called himself Goodwin, he was living out of his van traveling across the country. I run a landscaping business and he asked if we had any work, I offered him a few days of laying concrete for a nice warm bed and twenty bucks an hour. The first few days of working with him he was great, but on the fourth night he started acting very strange. He kept asking me questions about my medical history and my blood type, it’s his face that scared me the most. It was as if he was eyeing plates of food in a restaurant while he waited for his order. Anyway that night I woke up to a sharp pain in my calf. Looking down into the darkness, I saw eyes staring back at me. It was Goodwin he had his tongue pressed into my leg, lapping at the wound like an affectionate dog. I kicked him in the face hard, he let out a hiss like an angry snake and burst out of my room. I could hear his footsteps as he ran out of the house, his van started and he peeled out of the drive way. After filling a police report I stood in my living room shocked by what had just happened, there in the corner by the couch was the dude’s backpack. I found a handful of fake ID’s from many different states, all with different names but the same bearded toothy grin. The police never caught the guy to my knowledge.” Chris’s jaw dropped, he ran inside of Tchotchke without bothering to grab his deliveries for the day. Kylee wasn’t there but the owner of the store was. “Is Kylee out today?” Chris asked eyes wide and short of breath. “She is in trouble, hasn’t shown up all week. Why do you know what’s going on with her?” The shop owners face switched from anger to worry. “No I don’t but I think it has something to do with Goodwin.” Chris chewed on his name. “You might be right about that he called in yesterday to let me know he quit and wouldn’t be coming in.” Chris rushed out of the store to his truck. “Answer…answer, please be OK.” Chris dialed Kylee for the sixth time. The phone went straight to voicemail on his next attempt, He called the local Sheriff’s Department explaining the situation to the deputy that answered. “We can do a welfare check if you would like.” The deputy said with a dull surly voice. “Yeah fine, thank you.”
Chris stared at his phone from the seat of his delivery truck, a tear dripped onto the blank screen. “Please be OK Kylee.” Chris sniffled and waited quietly for the Sheriff’s call. His screen lit up. “Is she OK?” Chris blurted out. “Well here is the thing, nobody answered the door. Lights were off and nothing looked out of place, we can’t really do much with out probable cause. If you don’t hear from her in a day call us back.” “OK, thank you.” Chris whispered as he looked out the window. “I don’t need fucking probable cause, I need her to be OK!” Chris slammed his hands on the steering wheel.
The delivery truck roared past an endless expanse of tan desert sand, Chris glared ahead focused and stoic. “I hope he is there, I’ll kill him if he hurt her.” Chris growled as he rounded a corner street on the outskirts of town. He slammed his truck into park outside of a brown stucco house. “Kylee, are you in there?” Chris pounded his hands on the door. His calls met silence, the sound of Chris’s hard breathing was the only noise to be heard. Chris walked around to the back peering through windows as he went. His hand touched the back door handle, he took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Her kitchen seemed perfectly normal, a few dirty dishes in the sink, an empty coffee mug on the counter, and her set of keys sitting in a wooden bowl. “Kylee!” Chris yelled his voice cracking. A shifting noise sounded from the back bed room, followed by a whimper. Chris’s feet ripped his body through the hallway, he collided hard with the bedroom door throwing it open. There on the floor slowly writhing was Kylee, she was pale and hardly conscious. Blood leaked from slashes all over her arms and legs, Chris knelt down beside her and with a finger he brushed the bloody tangles away from her eyes. “It’s going to be OK Kylee I promise.” He gently kissed her forehead as he held her in his arms.
“Dear Paranormal & Jelly, long time listener and first time submitter Chris from somewhere Arizona here, I have the finale for your Bed Bug series.” Chris’s hand rested on Kylee’s thigh, she smiled over at him from the passenger seat of his delivery truck.
Leave a Reply