Post by John Cable on Nov 21, 2022 1:04:47 GMT -5
“OK, so two of the Yokohama's... but I need you to ask your dad if he can hang on to them until later. I forgot to send the truck by here so I don't have any way to get them back to the gym right now. I don't mind paying a little extra to hold them if I need to.” John says to an older teen boy with a mop of unkempt brown hair flopping over his face in a dark and dingy tire shop barely lit by a work lamp hanging on a tall rack of tires nearby.
“Uh... yeah, sure. I'll go check with him. Be right back.” the young man mutters lazily before plodding through the bay door in the back of the storage room that led to the offices and the receiving docks.
John heads out the front bay door of the storage room and makes his way onto what would pass for the sales floor and lobby of the shop. Just as he makes it into the room and start towards the water cooler, a plain wooden door opens from the back offices and an older gentlemen, graying and thinning brown hair flits away from the crown of his head in all directions and his work overalls are black and sooty, but his brown eyes are soft and kind, ringed with wrinkles and a warm smile is creasing his face as he makes his way towards John.
“John! Good to see you again. Jimmy told me you were out here, something about holding some tires for a gym until the truck got here?” he says smiling, his face screwed up in mild confusion as he asks for clarification.
“Yeah, I can't fit two of those Yoko's in my Jeep, so I was wondering if you could just hold on to them until I can get a truck to come pick them up. If not, no wo...” John start to explain, but the man interrupts softly.
“Um... John... there's a truck here for you already. Some really big bald guy in an honest to God Santa suit dropped it off here just a couple of hours ago. Said you said something about needing that truck... so... weird as it was... I just figured...” he trailed off as he became even more confused by the interaction he had had with the man earlier that day.
“I didn't... um... well damn. Can you show me the truck, George? And... you said some really big bald guy dressed in a Santa Suit dropped it off?” John asked, completely caught off guard by the situation entirely.
“Yep sure as I am talking to you... a Santa Suit, and yeah, sure I can take you back. It's out by the loading docks. I already put the tires on for you, but seriously... if I had a truck like that, I'd think twice about hauling tires with it. Damned things gorgeous. I threw some moving blankets down and had the guys be real careful loading it too... I damned sure don't want to have to see a repair bill on a thing like that! It'd probably ruin me.” the man said nervously, really hoping that John's confusion wasn't the bad thing he thought it might be, since he had already loaded the tires up for transport to the gym.
They walked through the dimly lit hallway past several small offices and then into the loading warehouse in the back of the business. John followed George through the room and into the back parking lot, and there, sitting as far away from the building and the loading bays as you could get it inside the fence, was Kayfabe Airline's one and only Axtgriff Inter-dimensional Chrono-Truck. John stopped dead in his tracks and gasped aloud.
George, worried, stopped too and turned to face John slowly.
“Are you OK? I didn't mess this up did I? I can take the ti...” the older man starts to apologize and plan for fixing the inevitable issues at hand, but John stumbles a step towards him and put his hand on the man's shoulder still staring at the truck across the parking lot.
“George... let me be very clear... there is NO problem. I do... um... need to know... just a few things though... uh... OK?” John stammers through his confusion and excitement to actually see the Axtgriff here, right in front of him.
“Uh... yeah, John. Sure thing. Um... what do you want to know, though?” George stutters back, still not really understanding what was happening or why this truck was such a big deal and why John was so stunned. So many questions swirled through his mind before John started asking some of his own.
“Big man... bald... dressed in a Santa Suit you said?” John asked about the man who delivered the truck first, having a few ideas, but the strange suit part was really throwing him for a loop.
“Yeah. He came by said you mentioned needing the truck and I figured it was meant to deliver the tires to the gym today. I mean... I uh... I wondered about why THIS truck to do that in... it's real nice and fancy after all... and the Santa thing kinda threw me, but I don't usually try to get into your business too far, John. None of my business after all, you know?” George says, still nervous at the events unfolding.
“OK, yeah... no... I get that George. You've always taken good care of me, and I appreciate that. So... um, you know what? I'll figure that out on my own, you know? Thanks, George. Hey if... if you were to pick a spot for a vacation, where would you go?” John asks sort of out of the blue changing the subject.
“Oh, um... I guess I wouldn't mind going out to Colorado to see some of my late wife's family. Jimmy ain't seen them in a while, so I guess probably that.” George says after a few moments considering what he would do given the option.
“Hmmm. Alright then. Well I'm gonna go get these tires to the gym. Send that invoice over the office and they will handling the billing from there. I'll have your Christmas presents over by the end of the week, and I will be placing an order in a few months for a few of the gyms overseas, so let me know what I can get on more of those Yoko's shipped for in bulk pricing?” John asks as he makes his way across the parking lot and makes his way slowly around the sleek Axtgriff before trying the handle.
It opened silently. The door swung open smoothly, like it was on a fluid bearing rail.
“Damn.” is all John could muster at the truck of his dreams, here in reality, right before him.
On the center of the steering wheel right over the Kayfabe Logo, was a bright neon yellow post it note.
'You told me you might need this. H. Marx' was written in black sharpie script across the note.
“No. I am telling you to cancel your meetings this afternoon and meet me at the gym. I'm dead serious.” John says to the phone from inside the unique Kayfabe, one of a kind, Axtgriff, driving down the Floridian highway towards his gym near the beach.
“I am not about to just cancel my meetings, John. I have a business to keep up with here, and I do...” the Citizen says on the other end, really not seeming to have much patience for John's bullshit today.
“I am driving the Axtgriff right now... on the way to the gym on 8th.” John cuts him off in as monotone a voice as he can muster given the scenario right now.
“WHAT THE FUCK? Are you serious? How the...” the Citizen starts to question him about the absurdity of it, but John cuts him off abruptly.
“If you want me to answer ANY of your questions, cancel your day, and meet me at the gym. I will be there in 25 minutes.” John says just before tapping the red 'hang up' icon on the face of the phone as the scene fades to black.
The Floridian night was damp and miserable. The wet cold of mid winter had finally come, and the drizzle misted the whole of the city in a thick icy fog. The absence of the normal night life noises of a city the size of Jacksonville was strange and off-putting to a native who was used to the sirens and the traffic and trains at all hours of the day and night. On a normal evening, there would be a steady flow of cars through downtown all night heading to and from all over the massive stretch of land the county took up, but with the temperatures lower than normal and the wet weather seeming to stick around, the people who would have been out decided to not bother on this night it would seem, and just stayed home.
Normally, a night like this would be spent walking the downtown strips between the parks and the bars, handing out spare bottles of water and a few sandwiches to the less fortunate huddled around the buildings scratching at the sky of Downtown, but with the weather, most of the men and women who called the streets of Jacksonville their home had taken to shelters and hiding spots to stay warm and dry, and there really weren't many people out.
“Have you figured it out yet?” John asks the Citizen from the interior of the Kayfabe Axtgriff parked on top of a parking garage overlooking Jefferson Street.
“I mean... I think I have it mostly figured out, but some of this is a little above my pay grade, you know?” the Citizen replies sharply, seemingly none too happy about John's persistence about his understanding of the instruction manual opened in his lap.
“Yeah... no I get that. I was just...” John starts.
“Tired of waiting? Bored because there aren't people out tonight? Ready to do anything besides just sit here?” the Citizen snaps at him as he continues to read the section about the Chrono-Timed Engine and how it works.
“Well, time travel and dimensional hopping aren't to be trifled with, as you damned well know. The last couple of times you ended up stuck in a different dimension, nearly killed by the Queen of Hearts, then... you caused the need of a full scale dimensional clean up after your war with the Council of Shane's! So... to be honest... you get to just sit there while I figure out how this thing works without tearing the fabric of reality completely apart.” he chides in frustration.
“Yeah, man... sure thing. I'll just wait while you figure it all out. Good idea.” John says sadly as he reaches for the radio knobs.
As he touches one, a digital dial spools through strange numbers on the dash, and then John hits another button that looks like a power icon trying to turn the radio on to break the silence. When he does so, the entire truck starts to hum and vibrate.
“What did you just do?” he Citizen asks, accusation heavy in his tone.
“I just tried to turn on the radio!” John yells back at him, eyes wide, terrified of what is about to happen to them.
A purple glow starts to emanate from outside, and shines through window as the entire truck is enveloped by a mass of light whirling around the truck. Tendrils of bright hard light spiral and spin around the frame of the Axtgriff before it is entirely covered in light and then... POP... the truck disappears from sight in a puff of purple light and smoke.
“Oh shit.” John says flatly.
“Oh shit??? OH SHIT??? Seriously?” the Citizen screams at John from the passenger side of the Axtgriff.
“So... those buttons are NOT for the radio. Good to know.” John stammers a tad bit embarrassed at their predicament.
“No, John... I would venture a fucking guess those are not for the fucking radio!” the masked man shouts at him, flipping through the pages of the manual in his lap.
“Well, where do you think we are?” John asks slowly.
“Where? You ask where we are? How the fuck about WHEN we are John? Or maybe... WHICH fucking WE are WE now? This truck doesn't just go to other places on the globe or travel to other dimensions... it's a fucking time machine! We could have ended up in a different dimension AND a different timeline. God dammit, John!” the Citizen yells at him, frustration and the terror of being lost in the multiverse overwhelming him now.
“Look, Aaron...” John starts, but the Citizen stops him by slamming the book closed and tossing it on the floorboards.
“Don't fucking 'Look, Aaron' ME, John! What the fuck are we going to do now?” he looks at him, seething.
“I mean... I guess we need to figure out where, when, and what we are, right?” Cable says meekly, confused and embarrassed, worried and just a slight bit of terrified to boot.
The Citizen and Cable look out the windows of the truck, and there, surrounding them were massive trees of kinds they had never seen before. Trunks reached into the sky that were bigger around then the Axtgriff, and they both took in the sights of the prehistoric forest around them, looked back at each other, and gulped in unison.
“Um... I think maybe we went back in time.” John says flatly, staring in terror at the Citizen.
“You think?” the Citizen says with sarcasm dripping from every letter as it falls from his mouth.
“Well... I mean... I could be wrong?” John asks innocently.
“You could... but I doubt it!” Aaron claps back as he grabs the users manual from the floorboard and fingers across the chapter list before finding the 'Chrono Engine Settings' part and thumbs through the book to it.
John looks around nervously as Citizen flips through the chapter on the setting of the time machine parts, and after a few minutes, John reaches over without looking and taps Citizen right in his mask on accident. He brushes John's hand away absentmindedly as he reads, but John thrusts his fingers towards his face even more forcefully in response.
“Dude... I'm trying to read here!” he says bluntly shoving John's hand away again.
“Dude... You're going to want to see this..” John says in a whisper.
The Citizen looks up from the book, and towards John. He sees his stare going out the windows behind him, and slowly turns in his seat to face the window himself, and his breath catches in his throat.
“Tell me that that is NOT a God damned DINOSAUR!” Aaron whispers between gritted teeth as he stares out of the window eye to massive scaly eye, panic blooming in every fiber of his being.
“Uh... I would venture the guess... yes.” John whispers as he too is filled with an existential dread at the thought of dying right here, right now, millions of years before his ancestors were even a thought in their daddy's loin cloth.
The massive precursor to the chicken outside was looking at the truck like a pill bottle full of meal worms right about then, and the two of them were pressed for a solution to this particular dilemma, and their time was swiftly running out. A massive steam cloud spread across the window as the Dino sniffed at the truck and blew a warm gust of air from his nostrils at the strange smell, but it's curiosity had been peaked, and it was definitely interested in the newly found addition to it's prehistoric world.
“If it wrecks the truck we are super fucked!” John whispers across the cab.
The Citizen looks at the book, then to the window before whispering over his shoulder at John.
“Push the buttons.”
“What do you mean? That's how I got us into this mess in the first place.” John whispers back frantically.
The scaled monster outside nudged the window with its nose as another gout of steam fogged up the window and shook the truck gently.
“John... push the fucking buttons!” the Citizen whispered with a violent urgency through his gritted teeth.
This time, Cable needed no more urging, and he spun the dial the opposite way and smacked the button just like before. As it had earlier, the truck started to hum and vibrate softly as a purple glow began to envelope the truck. The Dino outside shrieked wildly and took off into the woods as the hard light tendrils swirled around the truck and once more... POP... and the truck was gone in a puff of smoke and a flash of purple light.
For starters, I'm thankful that there will be a continuation of the adventures of John Cable and the Citizen in the Axtgriff by Kayfabe airlines. I am sure someone is gonna be mad that it ended up on it's own adventure before being a reward, but... to be honest... who wouldn't take it for a joy ride if they had the chance?
Don't worry... eventually the truck makes it back to their warehouse, and due to the timey whimey nature of the Axtgriff's abilities, it will in fact be back before the awarding of the truck, however... if you want to know more about the history of the Axtgriff in the future... or the past actually... I guess... tune in to the Splat! Network for future World Series of Wrestling episodes and find out where we ended up and how that truck can change the world one day... but for now...
I'm thankful that even at my age, I still have my health, sort of... and that I can still take part in a career that I love so much. Sure, some days are a little rougher than others, and the aches and pains are getting more persistent, but I have to be thankful that there are still companies that want to take part in my career and trust me to carry the show to the best of my abilities, and deliver the best programming I can for their fans.
That said... I am most thankful to the Breeders out there.
All around the world, my fans have supported me through thick and thin, good and bad times, wins and losses, both in and out of the ring. They have shared with me in the loss of my Father, the late great Hank Winthrop... and through the roller coaster of my marriage to the late Jessica Gold-Cable. They were there with me during my recovery from a near fatal accident years ago, and through the bitter wars fought through the years across many companies. They were there with me when I was young and handsome... and into my old age where beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. They supported me through my several court battles, and through the building of the New Breed Foundation from the small start up that made sure the homeless of Jacksonville received fresh water and food to the global charity organization that it is today...
Without all of you, every single one of you out there watching and working and producing this amazing sport we love... there would e no place for me in this world... and for all of you, I am thankful.
This holiday season... spend time with your loved ones, and make sure they know that you're thankful for their influence in their life, just like I am thankful for all of you. You never know how many days you have left to tell someone how you feel about them, so don't wait. Tell them today, so you can be thankful that they know, and that you didn't miss your opportunity to share it with them while you could.
“Uh... yeah, sure. I'll go check with him. Be right back.” the young man mutters lazily before plodding through the bay door in the back of the storage room that led to the offices and the receiving docks.
John heads out the front bay door of the storage room and makes his way onto what would pass for the sales floor and lobby of the shop. Just as he makes it into the room and start towards the water cooler, a plain wooden door opens from the back offices and an older gentlemen, graying and thinning brown hair flits away from the crown of his head in all directions and his work overalls are black and sooty, but his brown eyes are soft and kind, ringed with wrinkles and a warm smile is creasing his face as he makes his way towards John.
“John! Good to see you again. Jimmy told me you were out here, something about holding some tires for a gym until the truck got here?” he says smiling, his face screwed up in mild confusion as he asks for clarification.
“Yeah, I can't fit two of those Yoko's in my Jeep, so I was wondering if you could just hold on to them until I can get a truck to come pick them up. If not, no wo...” John start to explain, but the man interrupts softly.
“Um... John... there's a truck here for you already. Some really big bald guy in an honest to God Santa suit dropped it off here just a couple of hours ago. Said you said something about needing that truck... so... weird as it was... I just figured...” he trailed off as he became even more confused by the interaction he had had with the man earlier that day.
“I didn't... um... well damn. Can you show me the truck, George? And... you said some really big bald guy dressed in a Santa Suit dropped it off?” John asked, completely caught off guard by the situation entirely.
“Yep sure as I am talking to you... a Santa Suit, and yeah, sure I can take you back. It's out by the loading docks. I already put the tires on for you, but seriously... if I had a truck like that, I'd think twice about hauling tires with it. Damned things gorgeous. I threw some moving blankets down and had the guys be real careful loading it too... I damned sure don't want to have to see a repair bill on a thing like that! It'd probably ruin me.” the man said nervously, really hoping that John's confusion wasn't the bad thing he thought it might be, since he had already loaded the tires up for transport to the gym.
They walked through the dimly lit hallway past several small offices and then into the loading warehouse in the back of the business. John followed George through the room and into the back parking lot, and there, sitting as far away from the building and the loading bays as you could get it inside the fence, was Kayfabe Airline's one and only Axtgriff Inter-dimensional Chrono-Truck. John stopped dead in his tracks and gasped aloud.
George, worried, stopped too and turned to face John slowly.
“Are you OK? I didn't mess this up did I? I can take the ti...” the older man starts to apologize and plan for fixing the inevitable issues at hand, but John stumbles a step towards him and put his hand on the man's shoulder still staring at the truck across the parking lot.
“George... let me be very clear... there is NO problem. I do... um... need to know... just a few things though... uh... OK?” John stammers through his confusion and excitement to actually see the Axtgriff here, right in front of him.
“Uh... yeah, John. Sure thing. Um... what do you want to know, though?” George stutters back, still not really understanding what was happening or why this truck was such a big deal and why John was so stunned. So many questions swirled through his mind before John started asking some of his own.
“Big man... bald... dressed in a Santa Suit you said?” John asked about the man who delivered the truck first, having a few ideas, but the strange suit part was really throwing him for a loop.
“Yeah. He came by said you mentioned needing the truck and I figured it was meant to deliver the tires to the gym today. I mean... I uh... I wondered about why THIS truck to do that in... it's real nice and fancy after all... and the Santa thing kinda threw me, but I don't usually try to get into your business too far, John. None of my business after all, you know?” George says, still nervous at the events unfolding.
“OK, yeah... no... I get that George. You've always taken good care of me, and I appreciate that. So... um, you know what? I'll figure that out on my own, you know? Thanks, George. Hey if... if you were to pick a spot for a vacation, where would you go?” John asks sort of out of the blue changing the subject.
“Oh, um... I guess I wouldn't mind going out to Colorado to see some of my late wife's family. Jimmy ain't seen them in a while, so I guess probably that.” George says after a few moments considering what he would do given the option.
“Hmmm. Alright then. Well I'm gonna go get these tires to the gym. Send that invoice over the office and they will handling the billing from there. I'll have your Christmas presents over by the end of the week, and I will be placing an order in a few months for a few of the gyms overseas, so let me know what I can get on more of those Yoko's shipped for in bulk pricing?” John asks as he makes his way across the parking lot and makes his way slowly around the sleek Axtgriff before trying the handle.
It opened silently. The door swung open smoothly, like it was on a fluid bearing rail.
“Damn.” is all John could muster at the truck of his dreams, here in reality, right before him.
On the center of the steering wheel right over the Kayfabe Logo, was a bright neon yellow post it note.
'You told me you might need this. H. Marx' was written in black sharpie script across the note.
* * * * *
“No. I am telling you to cancel your meetings this afternoon and meet me at the gym. I'm dead serious.” John says to the phone from inside the unique Kayfabe, one of a kind, Axtgriff, driving down the Floridian highway towards his gym near the beach.
“I am not about to just cancel my meetings, John. I have a business to keep up with here, and I do...” the Citizen says on the other end, really not seeming to have much patience for John's bullshit today.
“I am driving the Axtgriff right now... on the way to the gym on 8th.” John cuts him off in as monotone a voice as he can muster given the scenario right now.
“WHAT THE FUCK? Are you serious? How the...” the Citizen starts to question him about the absurdity of it, but John cuts him off abruptly.
“If you want me to answer ANY of your questions, cancel your day, and meet me at the gym. I will be there in 25 minutes.” John says just before tapping the red 'hang up' icon on the face of the phone as the scene fades to black.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The Floridian night was damp and miserable. The wet cold of mid winter had finally come, and the drizzle misted the whole of the city in a thick icy fog. The absence of the normal night life noises of a city the size of Jacksonville was strange and off-putting to a native who was used to the sirens and the traffic and trains at all hours of the day and night. On a normal evening, there would be a steady flow of cars through downtown all night heading to and from all over the massive stretch of land the county took up, but with the temperatures lower than normal and the wet weather seeming to stick around, the people who would have been out decided to not bother on this night it would seem, and just stayed home.
Normally, a night like this would be spent walking the downtown strips between the parks and the bars, handing out spare bottles of water and a few sandwiches to the less fortunate huddled around the buildings scratching at the sky of Downtown, but with the weather, most of the men and women who called the streets of Jacksonville their home had taken to shelters and hiding spots to stay warm and dry, and there really weren't many people out.
“Have you figured it out yet?” John asks the Citizen from the interior of the Kayfabe Axtgriff parked on top of a parking garage overlooking Jefferson Street.
“I mean... I think I have it mostly figured out, but some of this is a little above my pay grade, you know?” the Citizen replies sharply, seemingly none too happy about John's persistence about his understanding of the instruction manual opened in his lap.
“Yeah... no I get that. I was just...” John starts.
“Tired of waiting? Bored because there aren't people out tonight? Ready to do anything besides just sit here?” the Citizen snaps at him as he continues to read the section about the Chrono-Timed Engine and how it works.
“Well, time travel and dimensional hopping aren't to be trifled with, as you damned well know. The last couple of times you ended up stuck in a different dimension, nearly killed by the Queen of Hearts, then... you caused the need of a full scale dimensional clean up after your war with the Council of Shane's! So... to be honest... you get to just sit there while I figure out how this thing works without tearing the fabric of reality completely apart.” he chides in frustration.
“Yeah, man... sure thing. I'll just wait while you figure it all out. Good idea.” John says sadly as he reaches for the radio knobs.
As he touches one, a digital dial spools through strange numbers on the dash, and then John hits another button that looks like a power icon trying to turn the radio on to break the silence. When he does so, the entire truck starts to hum and vibrate.
“What did you just do?” he Citizen asks, accusation heavy in his tone.
“I just tried to turn on the radio!” John yells back at him, eyes wide, terrified of what is about to happen to them.
A purple glow starts to emanate from outside, and shines through window as the entire truck is enveloped by a mass of light whirling around the truck. Tendrils of bright hard light spiral and spin around the frame of the Axtgriff before it is entirely covered in light and then... POP... the truck disappears from sight in a puff of purple light and smoke.
* * * * *
“Oh shit.” John says flatly.
“Oh shit??? OH SHIT??? Seriously?” the Citizen screams at John from the passenger side of the Axtgriff.
“So... those buttons are NOT for the radio. Good to know.” John stammers a tad bit embarrassed at their predicament.
“No, John... I would venture a fucking guess those are not for the fucking radio!” the masked man shouts at him, flipping through the pages of the manual in his lap.
“Well, where do you think we are?” John asks slowly.
“Where? You ask where we are? How the fuck about WHEN we are John? Or maybe... WHICH fucking WE are WE now? This truck doesn't just go to other places on the globe or travel to other dimensions... it's a fucking time machine! We could have ended up in a different dimension AND a different timeline. God dammit, John!” the Citizen yells at him, frustration and the terror of being lost in the multiverse overwhelming him now.
“Look, Aaron...” John starts, but the Citizen stops him by slamming the book closed and tossing it on the floorboards.
“Don't fucking 'Look, Aaron' ME, John! What the fuck are we going to do now?” he looks at him, seething.
“I mean... I guess we need to figure out where, when, and what we are, right?” Cable says meekly, confused and embarrassed, worried and just a slight bit of terrified to boot.
The Citizen and Cable look out the windows of the truck, and there, surrounding them were massive trees of kinds they had never seen before. Trunks reached into the sky that were bigger around then the Axtgriff, and they both took in the sights of the prehistoric forest around them, looked back at each other, and gulped in unison.
“Um... I think maybe we went back in time.” John says flatly, staring in terror at the Citizen.
“You think?” the Citizen says with sarcasm dripping from every letter as it falls from his mouth.
“Well... I mean... I could be wrong?” John asks innocently.
“You could... but I doubt it!” Aaron claps back as he grabs the users manual from the floorboard and fingers across the chapter list before finding the 'Chrono Engine Settings' part and thumbs through the book to it.
John looks around nervously as Citizen flips through the chapter on the setting of the time machine parts, and after a few minutes, John reaches over without looking and taps Citizen right in his mask on accident. He brushes John's hand away absentmindedly as he reads, but John thrusts his fingers towards his face even more forcefully in response.
“Dude... I'm trying to read here!” he says bluntly shoving John's hand away again.
“Dude... You're going to want to see this..” John says in a whisper.
The Citizen looks up from the book, and towards John. He sees his stare going out the windows behind him, and slowly turns in his seat to face the window himself, and his breath catches in his throat.
“Tell me that that is NOT a God damned DINOSAUR!” Aaron whispers between gritted teeth as he stares out of the window eye to massive scaly eye, panic blooming in every fiber of his being.
“Uh... I would venture the guess... yes.” John whispers as he too is filled with an existential dread at the thought of dying right here, right now, millions of years before his ancestors were even a thought in their daddy's loin cloth.
The massive precursor to the chicken outside was looking at the truck like a pill bottle full of meal worms right about then, and the two of them were pressed for a solution to this particular dilemma, and their time was swiftly running out. A massive steam cloud spread across the window as the Dino sniffed at the truck and blew a warm gust of air from his nostrils at the strange smell, but it's curiosity had been peaked, and it was definitely interested in the newly found addition to it's prehistoric world.
“If it wrecks the truck we are super fucked!” John whispers across the cab.
The Citizen looks at the book, then to the window before whispering over his shoulder at John.
“Push the buttons.”
“What do you mean? That's how I got us into this mess in the first place.” John whispers back frantically.
The scaled monster outside nudged the window with its nose as another gout of steam fogged up the window and shook the truck gently.
“John... push the fucking buttons!” the Citizen whispered with a violent urgency through his gritted teeth.
This time, Cable needed no more urging, and he spun the dial the opposite way and smacked the button just like before. As it had earlier, the truck started to hum and vibrate softly as a purple glow began to envelope the truck. The Dino outside shrieked wildly and took off into the woods as the hard light tendrils swirled around the truck and once more... POP... and the truck was gone in a puff of smoke and a flash of purple light.
* * * * *
For starters, I'm thankful that there will be a continuation of the adventures of John Cable and the Citizen in the Axtgriff by Kayfabe airlines. I am sure someone is gonna be mad that it ended up on it's own adventure before being a reward, but... to be honest... who wouldn't take it for a joy ride if they had the chance?
Don't worry... eventually the truck makes it back to their warehouse, and due to the timey whimey nature of the Axtgriff's abilities, it will in fact be back before the awarding of the truck, however... if you want to know more about the history of the Axtgriff in the future... or the past actually... I guess... tune in to the Splat! Network for future World Series of Wrestling episodes and find out where we ended up and how that truck can change the world one day... but for now...
I'm thankful that even at my age, I still have my health, sort of... and that I can still take part in a career that I love so much. Sure, some days are a little rougher than others, and the aches and pains are getting more persistent, but I have to be thankful that there are still companies that want to take part in my career and trust me to carry the show to the best of my abilities, and deliver the best programming I can for their fans.
Also... I'm thankful to all of you... honestly.
You... who put in hours and hours of hard work every week to hone our craft and make this industry what it is. Wrestling is a purpose for me, and without it, I have no doubt I would be lost or dead, and without talents like yours... each and every one of you... this industry wouldn't be as fulfilling or meaningful as it is to the millions of fans out there who support us, so to all of you... thank you.
That said... I am most thankful to the Breeders out there.
All around the world, my fans have supported me through thick and thin, good and bad times, wins and losses, both in and out of the ring. They have shared with me in the loss of my Father, the late great Hank Winthrop... and through the roller coaster of my marriage to the late Jessica Gold-Cable. They were there with me during my recovery from a near fatal accident years ago, and through the bitter wars fought through the years across many companies. They were there with me when I was young and handsome... and into my old age where beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. They supported me through my several court battles, and through the building of the New Breed Foundation from the small start up that made sure the homeless of Jacksonville received fresh water and food to the global charity organization that it is today...
Without all of you, every single one of you out there watching and working and producing this amazing sport we love... there would e no place for me in this world... and for all of you, I am thankful.
This holiday season... spend time with your loved ones, and make sure they know that you're thankful for their influence in their life, just like I am thankful for all of you. You never know how many days you have left to tell someone how you feel about them, so don't wait. Tell them today, so you can be thankful that they know, and that you didn't miss your opportunity to share it with them while you could.