"The Motel Mecca" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Martin Rhodes needed an easy part-time job for his last year of college and what he ended up with was the night-clerk position at the "Motel Mecca."

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Motel Mecca served middle-class families traveling through southern California, but in the present, it was a magnet for the very poor and small-time criminals.

Sometimes it was hard for Martin to look into the weathered faces of men and women who had been crushed by poverty and a world that only cared about the young and well-off.

One night a teen-age girl came in the office and Martin immediately pegged her as a runaway. He wanted to tell her to go back to whatever home she had, because Los Angeles had nothing to offer young girls except heartbreak, but in the end he remained silent.

About two weeks later, a nervous and sweating middle-aged man came in the office for a room. After he left, Martin looked out the window and saw the young runaway going into the room with the man.

For reasons he couldn't explain-even to himself, Martin became enraged and kicked in the door to the unit. The man looked at him in shock while Martin grabbed his flabby arm and tossed him into the parking lot. The girl just stared at him with a mixture of anger and shame.

Martin was fired that same evening, but not long after the county declared the motel a public nuisance and shut it down.

The last act of the Motel Mecca occurred when a wildfire incinerated the vacant buildings.

"A Saturday afternoon cruise" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Jerry was watching Saturday morning cartoons when his buddy David pulled outside in his new van.

Jerry had to admit the new ride was impressive- especially the mural of a nearly naked young woman painted on the side of the van.

David pulled into the street, and it wasn't long before they found two girls hitch-hiking.

The girls piled in the van, but they wanted to stop somewhere and pick up their stuff.

The house the girls wanted was way down in the valley and David reluctantly agreed to drive them.

 As they arrived, the girls went in to get their stuff and the boys waited in the van. Twenty minutes went by and one of the girls came out and told David that they had changed their mind and were staying at the house.

David was furious and roared away from the house. 

The next stop was a taco stand near downtown where the boys heard about a party.

The party was out in the woods near a slow-moving river, but most of the kids at the party were from a rival high school and it didn't take for David to get into a fight.

Jerry pulled David off some guy that was twice his size, and they were back on the road again. 

David drove to an outdoor basketball court so that they could shoot some hoops, but the court was at a church and some guy didn't like the nearly naked girl on the side of the van.

Five-mile Lake was one of the few places left to go, so the boys headed in that direction. It was a hot day, and the beach was packed with people.

Jerry found a girl he knew and luckily, she had an available friend who liked David.

After swimming for a while, the two couples decided to go to a movie. 

For once David seemed to be in a good mood, but all that changed when they got back to the van.

Someone had sprayed black paint all over the mural on the side and David wept at the sight of the ruined artwork.