Pick-me-up
Page 36
*****
Two hours later, Katelyn leaned heavily on Tim as he led her to Angel’s rusty Caprice Classic. The bitter chill revived Katelyn a little, but she was content to be led and let her tired eyes shut. Angel had handed them the keys and said she’d be out soon. Anyone who knew Angel knew her version of “soon” meant anywhere from a few minutes up to an hour. Tim slid her into the backseat, went to the front to start the car and then joined her again in the backseat. The old car’s heater was blowing cold air, but soon warmed. Katelyn had leaned into Tim and shut her eyes. She opened them slightly as he moved and she fell into his lap. She repositioned her head on his leg, tucking her legs up to curl on the remaining seat beside her. She shut her eyes again.
“Hey, while you’re down there,” Tim joked. Katelyn couldn’t even raise the energy to slap his leg at the perverted comment. She felt his hand working at getting under her shirt. She didn’t protest, but just ignored him. After getting no reaction from her, he gave up.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Tim sounded suspicious now.
An alert went off in her brain and she tried to focus in on it. The pills. She didn’t want to tell him. What if I tell him I took something from Angel and he gets mad? Will he use this as an excuse for him to get high?
“Don’t feel good,” she mumbled. She didn’t feel the sting of her sore tongue anymore, even though it still felt like a rubber ball in her mouth.
“Alright, little girl, you just go to sleep.” He sounded satisfied.
Katelyn nodded off, only vaguely aware of his movements and the radio. Sometime later, she was pulled into consciousness when the car began moving. Angel’s voice sounded angry.
Katelyn was semi-awake, but couldn’t quite bring herself to sit up. She caught bits and pieces of conversation.
Angel: “Damn asshole, I could see what he was doing. Who the hell does he think I am? Like I owe him or something? Hell no.”
Tim: “What did he do?”
Angel: lower talking and then “and that carpet whore was there when I got back.”
Tim: “Maybe it wasn’t his fault.”
Angel: a lot of cussing and “I didn’t see him making a point to get her out of my chair, even after I told her where to go. Hell, he probably asked her to be there tonight for all I know.”
Angel continued to curse Oli, but Katelyn found she could easily block it out until she heard a car door slam. The car had stopped and was turned off. She opened her eyes and quickly shielded them against the rows of lighting beaming down from a gas station canopy. She heard the identifiable sounds of metallic bumping of a pump nozzle being placed in the tank and then the rush of liquid pouring into the tank below her. A few minutes later the pump stopped. Katelyn waited for the expected sounds of a nozzle being removed. Nothing happened.
She lifted her head, which was foggy and heavy. She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes. Her vision cleared and Katelyn looked ahead at the gas station. They were still in Des Moines. There were a couple of cars at the rows of pumps beside her, but more cars were in the parking lot just in front of the store. It looked like a hangout.
Outside the store, a few bums stood around, and the rest of the people coming in or out of the store looked rough. Katelyn suddenly didn’t feel safe. Then, two men with pants sagging farther than she thought possible made a show of walking up to the store from the side parking lot. Katelyn looked closer at the cars parked in the lot and saw most were running, the exhaust causing a steam effect as the hot air hit the cold. There were people in all of them.
One of the thugs detoured and went to the back window of one of the cars. A tinted window rolled down, and a brief conversation ended with a loaded hand shake just outside the window. Katelyn saw the exchange. The thug’s hand quickly sank into his pocket and came out empty. He glanced around, and Katelyn ducked.
Katelyn locked the doors. She peeked up to look at the store again. Angel came out the front. Katelyn relaxed. Angel had a pissed off expression on her face and took long strides toward the car. She halted midway and looked back at the same tinted window just vacated by the thug with the saggin’ pants. Katelyn saw Angel’s expression turn from slightly cautious to one of recognition. Angel talked with elaborate hand motions. Angel pointed toward the car and then past the parking lot. She nodded her head a few times slowly in agreement or in response to whatever was being said by the mysterious backseat stranger.
The glass door to the gas station opened, and Katelyn saw Tim walking out. He had a Sprite and a packaged burrito in his hands. He walked up to Angel and his face also registered recognition of the backseat stranger. Katelyn’s curiosity peaked and she decided she would go see the mystery person. Before she could get up the strength to check her hair in Angel’s rearview mirror, the mystery man came out of the car to greet Tim.
Tim switched his food to one hand in order to complete a hand grip greeting with an incredibly tall man decked out in street wear. His pants competed with the earlier guys in sag level. He held himself in front of his groin while he walked bull-legged to keep the pants up in the back. He had a blue handkerchief hanging from his back pocket.
Angel seemed to take Tim’s presence as a chance to get away. She headed toward the car again, her face sinking back to a frown. Katelyn leaned back in the seat and tried not to appear concerned.
Angel saw her through the window as she came up beside the car. She vented loud enough so Katelyn could hear through the window. “Mother Fucker says I can’t pay until the damn pump’s put back.” Angel completed the act with more force than necessary.
Katelyn rolled down her window. Even the task of turning the handle seemed too much. “Who is thah?” Her tongue still got in the way of her words.
Angel caught her glance at Tim’s direction. “Oh, Manny. He’s from East.” She seemed to regret what she said next. “He’s friends with Christian,” the distaste dripped from her words. “Let me go pay so we can ditch this place.”
Katelyn watched her pass Tim and say something to him briefly on the way in. The exchange triggered Manny to dig out his phone. Tim did the same, but he momentarily looked towards Katelyn in the car. Katelyn was sure he couldn’t see her clearly. She hid behind the headrest just in case.
He promised. Tim promised he wouldn’t have anything to do with Christian and his crowd. He promised he wouldn’t use again. Katelyn lowered her eyes as Tim and Angel made it back to the car.
“Hey, look who’s joined the living.” Tim slid in beside her. “Balls Cold!” he yelled and put his cold hands on Katelyn’s neck to prove his point. She cringed at his touch and shrugged him off. The feeling of the necklace chain around her neck remained. She reached up and found the pendant slightly off center after her nap.
The ride back to Northrup was relatively quiet as they listened to a CD. Angel kept cracking the window to vent the car while she smoked. Katelyn silently ran her finger around and around the pendant’s circle as she stared out at the black fields dotted by occasional county road streetlights. She lost her thoughts in wondering where each of the roads went. She’d worry about the other stuff another day.