CHAPTER 18, EXCERPT 3
But now he could see his little house up ahead—the syrup can. A small red car was in the driveway… and that pretty blonde from his dream was standing next to the red car and staring at him with a look on her face like that famous painting you were always seeing. The one where this guy is on a bridge or something, his mouth stuck in a grotesque oval… The Scream—man, that’s it… the blond girl had that look, that scream-face… He hoped she wouldn’t scream… would cut his head in two.
What was her name? And why was she standing in front of his house? Looking at her gave him a pleasant feeling but his brain wouldn’t allow it to stay. And then he was back in that disgusting bed, pouring on the cement to cover his self-loathing, that foul smelling winged thing on his back…
Man, it was obvious, Frank Ford was fucking crazy.
Nikki.
Her name was Nikki and she was his girlfriend and he fucked that whore… drugs were ripping his life apart… Jesus, man, did he get clubbed? Poleaxed? Was he losing it? Lost it? Did Ray-Ray off himself?
Nikki was coming toward him now still ready to scream. Maybe. Frank was trying to open up and feel that good vibe he knew was once there but his heart had a lock on it. Wouldn’t open. Only blackness… no sunshine… sunshine hurt his head….
Could she tell he fucked that whore?
She looked sad… he hoped she wouldn’t cry… didn’t think he could stand that… he was always making women cry… Nikki, his mom, Sack’s girlfriend…
Then pretty blond Nikki, staring at him with blue eyes the size of hubcaps, her lips pinched together, said, “Frank, my god, what happened? Where have you been? Are you all right? My god, you’ve got blood all over you.”
So, which question should he answer first?
He was trying his damnedest to think up a story, some kind of explanation for his lost night, but the pieces just would not fit together. So he let it flow like vomit. “Uh, I don’t really know, Nik. I just can’t remember. Went over to Bay City with Waverly to find some things out about Ray—Keith knew this waitress there that talked to Ray the last night he was seen—then we came back to Zenith and stopped at the Metro to see Meagher… and I can’t remember anything after that… I think someone poleaxed me.”
At least the scream face was gone. Now she looked sad, knowing….
She came in close and hugged him and he saw the darkness cover her face as she stepped back, her mouth twisting into something scornful, her nose crinkling.
What he deserved….
As the pretty blond Nikki stood there staring at him with her arms across her chest, Frank bent over at the waist and began puking on the ground, hands on his knees. It splashed on his boots and on her clean white canvas tennis shoes and then she was dancing backward and he was trying to make it better but nothing worked anymore and what’s the point of trying because you always end up back where you started and he had fucked that goddamn whore Judy. Someone poleaxed him… drugs were bad… booze was bad… Frank Ford was bad…
And then Nikki was taking his hand and leading him away from the pile of vomit to her little red car. Go little Honda.
“Get in, Frank,” she said. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“Okay,” he said, crouching into the passenger seat of the tiny car. “Who’s gonna pay for it? I don’t have any Blue Cross. Did somebody poleaxe me?”
Nikki shrugged and looked into his eyes. Frank saw water collecting at the bottom of her lovely blues. He watched her walk around the little car and get in behind the little steering wheel.
(End of Chapter 18)
Ebook and paperback now available at all online bookstores for $2.99 and $15.95!
BarnesandNoble.com direct link https://bit.ly/2KrFGEh
Amazon.com direct link http://amzn.to/2CPeDPT
Ebookit.com direct link https://goo.gl/xDC1yi
Leave a Reply