by Glover, Dan
“I’ve never seen the apartment… care to show it to me?”
“Sure, I can do that, Allison. I’ll wait for you after work.”
“I better get back to my job now. I’ll see you at closing time. Don't forget we have a date, Billy.”
Allison stood on her tiptoes to give Billy a peck on his cheek as she hurried off.
Watching her walk away Billy accidentally brushed up against Yelena's arm with his hand. He started away afraid she might collapse again. But instead she began talking of things Billy had no knowledge of.
“Allison has a brother named Alex.”
Yelena was sitting at the bar and saying the words as if she was speaking to herself.
“Her brother is a dangerous man… he frightens her. She came here to escape the night frights that haunted her at home. Billy… you must look out for this girl… you must watch out for her brother. I sense he is coming here to do harm to Allison… maybe to kill her. This man is mysterious, like a shadow… I can almost see face… he is like your evil twin, Billy. You will know him when you see him.”
“Alex… is that the same man I keep dreaming about? No… how could it be him… I have these awful dreams of a man in shadows who disappears when I look at him. Only I know he’s still there… like a wolf in the darkest night, watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake.”
“It is the same man, Billy.”
Yelena tossed back another shot of vodka while looking at the top of the bar.
“This man is the key to your sanity, Billy… you are everything he is not, and he is everything you are not. You will know this man not by who he is but by who he is not.”
“I don’t understand what you're saying, Yelena.”
He wasn’t sure if Yelena was speaking to him or to the thick air.
“I don’t know anything about Allison or her brother… I don’t understand how I can help her…”
“Be here for her, Billy. Now… you better get back to the kitchen… Roger will holler again if it is not properly cleaned.”
As Billy went back to mopping the kitchen, he wondered what Yelena meant by saying he was going to be great friends with Allison. Billy had no illusions… he knew she drove a red Mercedes convertible because he saw her getting out of it that morning. The clothes she wore were expensive designer outfits.
Billy sensed that Allison lived a vastly different life style than he did. He would have never engaged her in a discussion if Yelena hadn’t prompted it by introducing them. Still, he couldn’t stop thinking of her… or her mysterious brother.
Chapter 14—Carnival
It was too easy to fool the marks.
They wanted so badly to believe that they fell for anything. Kirk taught him many sleight of hand tricks with a special deck of cards that seemed made for Oscuro's hands. While the men in the towns the carnival passed through seemed to harbor a secret disdain for the fast-talking barkers and the hucksters out to take their money that didn’t stop them from bringing their women along to prove how manly they were.
Though the puissant men disgusted him Oscuro's natural good looks and easy manner made it easy for him to attract any number of women but the only ones who held his fancy were slim and blonde with small breasts and eyes of blue.
"Remember, my friend, never shit where you eat."
Kirk seemed to understand the unspoken nature of Oscuro's nocturnal activities, the nights he stayed away until the early morning sun came creeping over the horizon. The old man read the papers and he knew who he was dealing with but he never judged Oscuro in a harsh light.
It was good to finally have a friend of above average intelligence to whom he could talk with. Harry Myers comported himself as a low grade moron despite the impressive list of initials after his name. The other inmates at Didi Hearsh were little more than blithering idiots and that was on their good days.
"Do you have any family, Kirk?"
By now, Oscuro had made enough money plying his trade that he was able to acquire his own RV but the two of them became great friends spending many evenings together over a bottle of cognac in a local bar or in Kirk's RV which was more spacious and accommodating than Oscuro's.
"I have lots of family. I'm not close with any of them, however. When the nature of my work became known I lost my license to practice medicine. I suppose I disappointed many people, including my family."
"If you don't mind my asking, what did you do? I mean to lose your license?"
"I was careless."
Oscuro didn’t press for an answer. He appreciated the old man's recalcitrance at speaking of his past. During the ensuing silence he thought of his most recent conquest, a young girl who seemed a twin for his sister at first sight but who had inevitably disappointed upon closer examination.
He met Mindy at the bar inside the Mermaid Motel just outside of New Brandon, the next town over from where the carnival laid over for a week. Oscuro took Kirk's words to heart about not bringing suspicions home with him. He had discovered The Mermaid had an all-night bar where many of the local women hung out, especially into the wee hours when all the good boys were home in bed dreaming of their next million and only the bad boys prowled. Oscuro, the dark one, the creeping menace in fair clothing might well have been the worst of all.
"I was a young girl's answer to all her problems."
Kirk seemed to be reminiscing the good times that had long passed him by.
"I performed late-term abortions for those in need. A lot of times the girls fooled themselves into thinking they were just gaining weight. They didn’t want to believe they were actually pregnant. By the time they finally realized that swelling belly of theirs wasn’t from too many cheeseburgers but rather from too much good timing, it was too late to have a conventional abortion.
"The laws forbid late-term abortions in just about every state. So for a price I provided a needed and worthy service to girls who either didn’t want to bring a life into this miserable world or who were forced by circumstance to rid themselves of that tiny little fiend growing so insidiously inside of them. Oh, they all thanked me. The money was good too. I didn’t do it for the money, however."
"How did you get caught?"
"One of the girls went home and promptly died from an infection. It had nothing to do with me, mind you; she was a filthy little thing. I never smelled a ranker thing in my life. But her boyfriend pointed the authorities my way. I had to leave town rather quickly or risk imprisonment, which I wouldn’t have survived."
"Why wouldn’t you have survived, old man? Are the penalties that harsh?"
"Well, let's say I had an addiction that I needed to feed."
"You're a drug addict."
That seemed to explain a great deal. Oscuro knew doctors were notorious for abusing prescription drugs since they had easy and unlimited access to them. It made sense. But Kirk laughed and shook his head.
"No, my boy... if only it were that simple. I am no drug addict. My choice of poison is far more insidious."
"Were they still alive?"
"The fetuses? Oh sure, many times they were still alive."
"What did you do with them?"
"I knew a Chinese woman who used all the fetuses I could provide her. She made specialty dishes for a select few who could afford such little luxuries. Live ones were especially treasured and garnered a small fortune."
"Did you ever partake?"
"The Chinese believe such delicacies confer a sense of youthfulness and a more robust constitution to those fortunate few who are able to imbibe."
A far-away look in Kirk's eyes revealed an old lust still smoldering there.
"The down side is: once tasted, a person is haunted by the indescribable deliciousness of that treat for the remainder of their life."
"So you did."
"I had to know, Oscuro. That's really how it all started. As I said, the abortions had nothing to do with the money, not really. There was something far darker at play."
"Is that Chi
nese woman still around?"
"No matter if she is or not. I know the recipe but I can no longer provide the needed ingredient for the delicacies she made. I no longer have the social skills I once enjoyed."
"Did it?"
"Did it what?"
Kirk rose to open a cabinet, taking out a fresh bottle of cognac to replace the one they had emptied.
"Did the delicacy confer youthfulness?"
"How old do I look?"
"I don't know, maybe seventy?"
"I turned ninety one last month."
"Come on, Kirk. That's impossible."
"Of course you're right, my young friend. I am drunk and my tongue is running more than it should. Here, have another drink."
Chapter 15—Sunshine in a Bag
"After you, my lady."
Billy followed Allison up the stairs to his apartment. She seemed to limp, favoring her right leg, and she stumbled on the top step. Billy reached out to hold her so she didn’t fall. His hands cupped her round squeezable ass for just a moment. When she turned around he thought she might slap him but instead she brought her face up to his kissing him on the lips and then more hungrily, searching his mouth with her tongue. Allison pressed her body against his before breaking away from him, staring at him… a feral look in her eyes. Billy unlocked the door with shaky hands, turned on a light, and stepped aside as she entered the apartment.
Allison wrinkled her nose while flaring her nostrils as if she smelled something disagreeable. Billy noticed she seemed reluctant to sit on the old sofa in his living room as she instead walked around investigating the apartment, opening the doors to his closets and the drawers in the kitchen as if looking for something she might have forgotten there in a previous life.
“What’s this?”
Allison held up his old bible she pulled from one of the drawers in the kitchen.
“Is this yours or did it come with the apartment?”
“It’s mine. It used to belong to my father and when he left he gave it to me. I gave it to my mother. When she died I took it back.”
“It’s full of photographs.”
She opened it to peer inside its pages.
He studied her face while she gazed at the bible. Her lower lip was pierced but she wore no jewelry in the piercing. Billy hadn’t noticed that before… or maybe it wasn't a piercing at all but a scar… he couldn’t be sure now. There seemed to be a series of scars running from right on the edge of her mouth to just under her chin. He wanted to look closer but averted his eyes, afraid of being rude by staring at her. She might think him a pervert and leave.
“Yes… my father used to take pictures of me growing up. He’d keep them in the bible so they wouldn’t get lost. He used to show me pictures of when he was a kid but I didn’t know any of the people in those photographs. He said there are pictures in there from long ago.”
“Is this you?”
Allison held up a black and white photograph with a little boy of maybe three or four years old sitting on a chair by a table. The boy didn't face the camera… he seemed preoccupied with someone talking to him when the picture was being taken.
“I think so… is there a date written on the back?”
“It says 1982.”
Allison turned over the picture.
“So it must be you. You were really cute, Billy.”
“What do you mean, I was really cute? Do you mean I outgrew it?”
“Oh… you know what I mean. And by the way… what did you mean when you told Yelena that I’m sunshine?”
Allison put the photograph back in the bible and returning it to the drawer. She turned to face Billy with full pouty lips and a secret smile in her blue eyes.
“I’ve had people tell me I’m beautiful. I’ve had people tell me I’m a knockout. But no one ever said that about me before.”
“You’re warm and wonderful.”
Billy lowered his eyes at first. She was almost too beautiful to stare at for long. Like the sun, she might damage his eyes. Finally he raised them to look into hers.
“When I see people they remind me of different things… some people remind me of animals… like Roger… he reminds me of an owl, a wise old fellow… other people remind me of places or things… Yelena reminds me of the wind. It helps me to remember them when I see them again, otherwise I forget their names. My memory isn’t what it used to be. You remind me of sunshine and the sky.”
“I like that, Billy, thank you. You’re not going to forget my name, are you?”
“You’re welcome… and no, Allison… I don’t think I’ll ever forget your name.”
“And why is that?”
Allison brushed a curl from Billy’s eyes.
“You have such wonderful hair!”
“We’re going to be great friends… remember? Yelena said so.”
“She’s an odd old bird, isn’t she? But I like her. She makes me laugh. And she likes to drink as much as I do.”
“She scares me.”
Billy felt like he was admitting to a deep dark fear that only he sensed.
“She tells me things about myself that I thought only I knew.”
“They say she’s psychic… she can see the future… that she knows things that no one can know.”
“Who says that, Allison?”
Billy wondered if others had the same experience with the old woman as he did.
“I do. Plus I’ve heard talk around Twenty Nine Katz about it… do you have anything to drink?”
“I have some Sam Adams Boston lager in the refrigerator.”
“Do you have anything stronger? I don’t really care that much for the taste of beer… and it would probably make me fat if I drank as much as I wanted.”
“The idea of you being fat is hard to imagine… you look fantastic, Allison.”
Billy murmured the words almost self consciously, feeling his face turn a slight shade of red.
“I have vodka and orange juice… and ice. I’ll make us a couple screwdrivers.”
When Billy went into the kitchen to make the drinks, Allison followed him. He heard her walking up behind him when all of a sudden a scarf being tied around his eyes startled him. Hands on his hips spun him around… and then hands were on his belt unbuckling it.
“Now… how about that drink?”
Allison was smiling that smile of hers and licking her lips as she undid the blindfold and pulled up his pants for him.
“I hope I didn’t embarrass you… I always wanted to do that to someone when I first met them. Did you like it?”
“It was the most amazingly erotic thing that ever happened to me, Allison. I never expected it.”
“Good. Life is much more interesting with a little surprise now and again… isn’t it?”
She pulled one of the two chairs out that sat by the table to sit down in it while Billy made the drinks.
“Make mine extra strong, please.”
Billy made two extra strong drinks and they sat at the kitchen table talking. Allison told him about growing up in southern California with parents who worked in the movie industry and about how she and her brother were raised by a nanny.
“So you're rich?”
“I had everything growing up except the presence of my parents.”
Allison polished off her drink and walked to the counter to make two more.
“We had a huge house right on the ocean… we went to private schools… we wore designer clothes and were given credit cards and new cars to drive. I guess you could say we were spoiled rich kids. All I really wanted though was to spend a little time with my folks.”
“You do have a great car.”
“It belongs to my mother… she let me borrow it for my trip. She’ll probably tell me to keep it. That’s how she is. Originally I planned on being gone for a week or maybe two. But when I found this place, I fell in love with it. The first day I came into the tavern I had a terrible hangover… I’d been drinking the night before and got up way too ea
rly. Roger fixed me a Bloody Mary and then he left on his break so Lisa took over.
"She took pity on me and made a few real drinks for me, extra strong, like these we’re drinking now. We got to talking and one thing led to another. She rented me a room at her house and helped me land a job. So here I am. I may never go back to southern California. I really like Lisa. I never made friends very easily growing up… she’s the first real friend I think I’ve ever had.”
A wistful look blossomed on Allison's face which left Billy wondering if she liked women instead of men. With what had transpired only moments ago, he doubted it, but life was strange.
Allison downed her drink in a gulp. Standing and stretching, she looked up at the clock that was Billy's only ornamentation in his living room.
"It's late. I should go."
"You can stay here, Allison. I have room."
She sniffed the air as if she smelled a fart, grimaced faintly, and walked out the door.
Chapter 16—Mona Lisa
Lisa worked as a bar maid.
Many of the men called her Mona, especially churlish Lester, mostly after he'd had a few, and his companions laughed about it and slapped their knees as they howled, hilarious only to each other. Billy didn't get the joke but then again he'd never been to a museum and he'd forgotten all the art he'd ever been taught. Watching her he could tell by her mannerisms that Lisa didn’t like being called Mona. But like him she never let on to the customers. She just smiled and did what she did. He noticed she wore a smile a lot like his.
“What's your name?”
She asked the question late one night as they closed up. It was unusual for her to stay that late. Normally she worked the morning and early afternoon shift. He'd been too shy to approach Lisa or indeed to say a word to her but he knew her name by hearing others speak it; he couldn't quite understand why she didn't know his name as well. They'd been working together nearly a month now. But then in between the space of her speaking and him answering, he reasoned that she did know his name... it was most likely her way of starting a conversation that he himself didn't quite know how to start.