Broken Sleep

by Bruce Bauman

  “He never did no drops. You gotta know he believes all drugs should be legal but that don’t mean he supports using them. Matter of fact, he threatened to boot my ass out over my intake.”

  She’s like a zombie with a voice that sounds like it’s giving GPS directions. I got no patience for her bull, so I volunteer that I been in jail, punched people out, been banned from my share a hotels and restaurants, ingested boatloads a drugs, and who knows what the fuck else she would disapprove of, but I ain’t running for nuthin’, and it got nuthin’ to do with Alchy.

  She asks if Alchemy ever propagated the idea of a revolution. That’s a laugher. I tell her that from the first day I met him he says how much he loves America. Since he made three, four hundred million bucks, even if he’s gonna piss it away, I says, “What the fuck is he revolting against?”

  Borden don’t smile. “Do you know he met with Malcolm Teumer when you toured Brazil in 2006?”

  “Nope. He was always meeting all kinds of people that I passed on. That some relative of Mose?”

  She don’t answer. Next up is “some of the women” in Alchy’s life. This subject does not thrill me. “Judging by his relationship to Laluna, would you say he has an attraction for very young girls?”

  “Who don’t?”

  She frowns. “Did he ever have relations with underage girls?”

  Her attitude sounds like she got some info. “What do you think?”

  “I think I asked you a question.”

  “Young ain’t underage. And if you know Laluna, she was never young.”

  “What about Miranda Wright? Did he have relations with her? Mr. Mindswallow, why are you laughing?”

  “ ’Cause you shoulda been a comedian.”

  I don’t explain Miranda is someone Alchemy created as a signal for us, ’cause I’m thinking that may sound more suspicious. I say Miranda was a young groupie I never met. She don’t give up. “So, did he have had relations with her?”

  “My rule was if you think he fucked someone, then he did. So, probably yeah. Ask her.”

  “Is it true that you and Alchemy and sometimes Lux, you engaged in group sex with the same women?”

  “Lady, you sound pretty damn pervey.”

  “Should I assume that is a yes?”

  “Assume what you want.”

  “Okay, one last inquiry. What do you know about the relationship between Jay Bernes and Alchemy? How long did it last?”

  “By ‘relationship,’ you mean how long did they hook up?”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  “What did Alchemy say?”

  “He didn’t. We spoke to her.”

  “She told you?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “I guess this confidentiality agreement goes one way, hah? I don’t know squat about Mrs. Mose and Alchemy.”

  “Let’s talk about Absurda and Alchemy and their relationship. How long did they date?”

  “That’s now a second ‘last inquiry.’ ” I stand up. “And who says they dated?”

  “I can’t tell you that. My purpose is to protect Alchemy. Did the three of you orgy?”

  I walk up to her and bend over so our noses is almost touching. “My purpose is to protect Absurda. The answer is NO.” I pick up that agreement and rip it to shreds. “And I hear any shit that don’t please me, that’ll be your partner’s face. So, Little Miss Scuttlebutt, you best be fucking careful.”

  78

  THE MOSES CHRONICLES (2018)

  Twilight of the Idols

  Moses did his best to avoid any more face-to-face meetings with Salome in any incarnation—live, cinematic, or papier-mâché. In past years, Salome’s possible presence, more than his disinterest in sports, led him to pass up the annual Super Bowl party. He thought this year would be no different until Alchemy texted that he was dropping by the office the Monday before the Super Bowl to invite the staff to the party. Alchemy also said he wanted to meet Moses in his office.

  “I need you to come Sunday. Salome will stay in her cottage or leave altogether. Jack Crouse wants to donate a million to the Nightingale Party. I told him no. Maybe the foundation could use it. He also invited himself to the party.”

  “I read that Crouse is now one of Barker’s handpicked ‘seers,’ so I guess, even if it goes to the foundation, you need to speak to Dewey.”

  “It gets trickier. Last night, we messed around with ideas for two new songs based on Salome’s latest drawings for Pearl Diver by the Black Sea.”

  “Are you thinking of re-forming the Insatiables?” Moses had suspected that someday Alchemy would miss making music.

  “No. While we were playing, and I thought it was going really well, Laluna brings up that Crouse and Barker had come to the house to discuss doing a remix of the soundtrack she did for a new video. They convinced her to try their secret m-edit-ation orientation. It ‘revealed’ that despite having it all in the material world, she is ‘unfulfilled.’ ” Alchemy’s voice betrayed his exasperation. “I asked her again, ‘Do you want me to quit politics?’ She claims she’s on board as long as she doesn’t have to campaign. I asked if she changed her mind and wanted to join Lux, Silky, and Mindswallow, who are setting up a summer tour. She said no. For the two of us do a follow-up to Chansons? Possibly. Take a vacation? Yes, she wants to go far away from here, and without Persephone.” Moses had sometimes suspected that Alchemy steamrolled Laluna into having a child before she was ready. Regardless of how much she loved Persephone, maybe that had sparked Laluna’s restlessness. “And no, Mose, I have not been messing around.”

  “Is she?”

  “She says no. I asked if she wanted to spend some time away from me. Am I being too cloying or too patriarchal? Not at all. She does exactly what she wants. If anything, she’s spending too much time without me.”

  “Alchemy, I’m sorry. You should take that vacation. We’ll hold the fort here and leave you two alone. And if there’s anything else I can do, just ask.”

  “Thanks. I’ll rent a place far away where we can record some songs, just chill. If all goes well, when I return I’ll declare for the presidency in ’20.”

  “I’m sure you and Laluna will work it out. Take as long as you need. But I have to say that Laluna taking up with Barker and Crouse again—not good. If you don’t tell Winslow before he finds out, he may quit. We can’t afford that now.” Moses, lips tight, hesitated.

  “Mose, what? I see you thinking.”

  “I’m asking you now, as your brother, one last time, please consider again the negative possibilities of this campaign.”

  “Mose.” Alchemy’s one blue, one green eye drilled into him like twin laser beams. “You can step away. I can’t. I’ve spent many nights awake, speculating on every risk imaginable. I’ve crossed the Delaware. I’ve set the boats afire. There’s no turning back.”

  Three days before the Super Bowl, Moses was in his office reviewing Alchemy’s schedule and what would be the best time for him to take a long vacation. His phone beeped with a text message from Sidonna Cherry, whom they now kept on retainer. “Go outside. Now. Open the package in your office.” A messenger, standing astride her motorcycle, helmet still on, handed him an envelope, which contained a burner phone and a piece of paper with a handwritten note.

  It’s a free country if you can pay for it.

  After the 2000 election, American democracy is in a struggle for its survival.

  America has aided and abetted the overthrow of at least a half dozen legally elected governments since 1953.

  The Pasadena IVF

  Miranda Wright

  He recognized the phrases as comments he’d made while teaching at SCCAM and the name of the clinic where he had his sperm tested. Miranda Wright meant nothing to him. A few minutes later, Cherry called on the burner.

  “Moses, the Committee on Anti-American Activities has been holding covert investigations, and you and your brother are among those on their hit list.”

  Naïve
ly, he had never fully comprehended the breadth of the CAA’s audacity.

  “How do you know? Why are you telling me?”

  “Because I’m getting a goddamned subpoena.”

  “What the hell? Are you sure? Why?”

  “They don’t have to tell you that. But Parnell Palmer, the CAA chief investigator, and his creeps are not nearly as stealthy as they think they are. They started sniffing around me because I’m working for you. I sniffed back. They won’t get shit from me.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t tell me any more. Talk to Alchemy. Toss the phone. I’ll send another one next week.”

  The next day, Moses went to Cedars-Sinai to take his required every-six-months blood tests. Then he and Alchemy met for lunch at the Pig ’n’ Whistle.

  “Mose, how’d it go? That’s doozie of a bruise on your forearm.”

  “Yeah. Happens. No results yet. I’m feeling okay. Lately the void is emptying into a bigger void. And this is why.” He showed him the paper Cherry sent over. “According to Cherry, the CAA is investigating us. Who is Miranda Wright?”

  “No one you need to stay awake worrying about. I also talked to Cherry yesterday.”

  “Maybe the CAA knows about the Pasadena IVF, the doctor who tested my sperm before, or the doctor who injected the sperm?”

  “So what if they do? The Pasadena clinic has no connection to me. And my doc never knew I gave him your sperm. Mose, this is terrific. My—our—approval ratings are through the roof. Those appearances with Louise definitely helped. Cherry is right, we are scaring everyone.”

  “They’ve scared me back.”

  “Intimidation is their business. I won’t blink first.”

  “Should we ask Cherry to do more recon?”

  “Hold off. You rest. I’m going to need you more than ever. And don’t worry, I got this.”

  79

  MEMOIRS OF A USELESS GOOD-FOR-NUTHIN’

  Dancing in the Dark, 2018

  Me, Lux, Silky, and a few friends been jamming at the Echo, billing ourselves as the Ables ’cause we’re working on touring together in the summer. We asked Laluna. She ain’t into it. I’m hoping she changed her mind when she calls me the Friday before the Super Bowl. I ain’t going to their party, ’cause I don’t want Carlotta to work for Alchy (I want she should quit altogether). It’s real curious when Laluna asks me to meet the next day in Elysian Park at Fix for coffee.

  I get my double espresso and stroll to the patio, where Laluna is singing and playing behind a paper sign that reads NOW PLAYING—MARIA. This Maria got long blond hair, sunglasses, and no piercings in her lips. Not doing our stuff but some trad Gypsy music. She warns me off with a shake of her head. I sit alone. I give a coupla youngsters an autograph and take a pic with them. Most people in L.A. are cool about leaving you alone after that.

  Laluna don’t take off her wig when we walk down Echo Park Boulevard. I ask why the hell she’s in disguise and say if she wants to play we can all jam, with or without Alchy. Again, no thanks, and she tells me she enjoys the anonymity. She’s done “being a ‘star.’ ”

  “Laluna, what’s Alchy say?”

  “Call me Maria.” I don’t know if she means just for now or forever. I ain’t going there. “I don’t need his permission.”

  Her phone rings and she looks unhappy and declines. It rings again two minutes later. “Jack, I can’t talk now … All is good. I’ll see you at the party.” She shoves the phone back in her pocket. “Ambitious, stop making that face. I’m exploring many new things and kinetic m-edit-ation is one of them.”

  “Lal—Maria, I don’t know Crouse and I ain’t as smart as you or Alchemy, but that fucker Barker is a con man supremo. Alchy can blind you with his spieling, but he is genuine. He ain’t no scambooger.”

  “I appreciate your concern, but I didn’t ask you here to discuss that. Do you know any woman or women Alchemy was in love with?”

  “Nope.”

  “Never in all of those years?”

  “Nope.” She seems like she don’t believe me. “Only him, best I ever met at keeping secrets.” Except maybe Laluna. “Is Alchemy fuckin’ around on you?”

  “No.”

  I eyed her.

  “Ambitious, I am certain he is not.”

  I buy that now because he’d never risk losing Perse. She, more than Salome or Laluna, is his kryptonite.

  “What do you know about Absurda’s abortion?”

  “Just that she had one when she was sixteen and still living in Fond du Lac.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yes. What’s goin’ on?”

  We walk a bit without her answering. I figure she’ll talk when she is ready, which she does. “Nathaniel donated his papers to Magnolia College, and Salome couldn’t bring herself to look at them, so Alchemy and I dug our way through thousands of pages. He never threw anything out.”

  She hands me a crumpled piece of paper from the Riverhead Abortion Clinic, dated November 13, 1996, and the name Amanda Akin is typed on the top. I’m guessing Laluna don’t know that is like six weeks after we broke up.

  “Look at the emergency contact.”

  It’s faded, but it reads goddamn Nathaniel Brockton?! That makes no sense. She never would’ve fucked him. Or him her. “You show this to Alchemy? He say it was his?”

  “He was there when I found it. He and Absurda weren’t ready to raise a kid. Because of the publicity, Nathaniel went with her.”

  Damn it. After all the time when he finally convinced me the shit between us was my fault, he was fuckin’ lying to my face. I wanna go crush the bastid’s head.

  “Why you showin’ this to me now?”

  “Just come to the party tomorrow.”

  “Where the fuck is he?”

  She clamped my wrist. Held it tight. “He’s out of town on political business for the day. Please, please don’t contact him before.” I’m sizzling and she can see it. “Come late if you can’t control yourself. We’ll talk after everyone else leaves. I need to settle some things once and for all.”

  “You ain’t the only one.”

  80

  THE MOSES CHRONICLES (2018)

  At Close Range

  Alchemy’s call interrupted Moses and Jay’s leisurely breakfast at the Saturday morning Venice farmers’ market. He was calling from the Santa Monica Airport before jetting to Arizona for an impromptu meeting with Vulter. He anticipated Moses’s question. “I am not partnering with her.” He needed Moses to meet their lawyer Kim Dooley later that day at his apartment, not the offices or Jay’s apartment. “Things are happening fast and more is going to happen. See you tomorrow. And don’t be late. Don’t be late.”

  While waiting for Dooley, Moses paced in his small living room. He stopped by the mantelpiece that held Hannah’s menorah and his father’s medal, constant reminders of his reconfigured identity. He still called himself a secular Jew, but the changes in his identity manifested themselves in the most unexpected ways—when he heard the subtle anti-Semitic slurs that popped up too often, he rebutted them with the authority of the outsider instead of the defensive stance of the “victim.” He’d always wished he could tell his mom about the meeting with Teumer. She’d be proud. How lucky he felt that she raised him. At least he didn’t have to explain the wild complexities of Persephone’s birth to Hannah and why she would be, but couldn’t be, a grandmother. Most of all, he hoped he had finally lived up to Hannah’s expectations that he act like a mensch.

  Dooley was all business and no questions allowed. The documents she presented named Moses chair of the Nightingale Foundation board—replacing Alchemy—and assigned him, along with Alchemy, as cosignatory of its financial disbursements. He was also named cotrustee on Persephone’s and, astonishingly, Salome’s trusts. He was removed from all official positions with the Nightingale Party. Moses assumed the CAA investigation necessitated the suddenness of these changes.

  Louise Urban Vulter, with her sunbaked freckled skin not
covered by makeup, hair not in its typical bun but in a ’50s-style pageboy, and dressed “Arizona” in jeans, flannel shirt, and cowboy boots, greeted Alchemy as he deplaned from a private jet at the Scottsdale airport. She seemed a bit taken aback; he was looking less and less like a youthful and fearless Apache warrior and more like a ravage-featured, once proud Indian now confined to the Whiteriver reservation. Nobility and optimism did not guarantee success—in fact, more often the opposite occurred on the political battleground.

  On the ride in her Range Rover to the Scottsdale Gun Club, they resumed their friendly barb-tossing rivalry. Vulter chided him because his love of shooting didn’t stamp out his desire to ban so many types of guns. He kidded her back, asking why any true hunter needed a semiautomatic weapon. The talk turned serious when they arrived at her private parking spot and stood face-to-face outside the car.

  “What’s so important you had to fly to Arizona to take target practice for an hour?”

  “You took the CAA assignment, right?”

  “Can’t tell you anything about it.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell you. You received a report saying Miranda Wright and I had sex when she was only fourteen and she got pregnant and I paid oodles of cash to cover up the affair and her abortion.”

  The corners of Vulter’s mouth twitched ever so slightly. She tilted almost imperceptibly back on her boot heels, forcing a glacial expression.

  “Thank you.”

  “Alchemy, for what? I can’t help you.”

  “You can lie but you can’t hide …”

  “… When you’re standing naked at my bedside …” Vulter laughed, blushing, as she sang an off-key version of the line from “Eight Is Just Enough,” on which Absurda and Alchemy shared the lead vocals.

  “Louise, why’d the IRS and your committee stop looking into Godfrey Barker and his church?”

  “Who says we were?”

  “Fine, you weren’t. Who most wants to discredit me so I go away?”

  She shrugged.