Desert City Diva

by Corey Lynn Fayman

  ‘Who’s out there?’ he called again. Someone spoke, out of sight.

  ‘You’re the guitar player. The Waters.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I remember you.’

  ‘I remember you, too.’

  ‘The Waters doesn’t play it right. The Waters must practice.’

  Macy stepped down from the trailer and took Rolly’s arm. ‘I think he plays great,’ she said.

  They heard scuttling noises, like a large beetle hurrying through the brush.

  ‘You think I scared him away?’ said Macy.

  As if in answer, a stuttered sequence of vocalizations began to emanate from the other side of the Tioga. They sounded like moans of sexual pleasure. They sounded like Macy.

  ‘Freakin’ pervert,’ she said.

  ‘Ooo, aaa … yes, yes, yes,’ the voice continued.

  ‘OK,’ said Rolly. ‘We get it. You heard us. What do you want?’

  The moaning stopped. There was silence. They waited.

  ‘Who is the golden eyes?’ the voice asked.

  ‘My name’s Macy. Who the hell are you?’

  ‘The Macy makes funny noises.’

  ‘Uh huh.’

  The man spoke again but his voice had changed, as if he were conversing with someone behind the trailer.

  ‘The Macy has golden eyes. The Macy has the key. The Macy is the Sachem.’

  Macy looked at Rolly. She shrugged her shoulders. Rolly thought about the woman at the Alien Artifacts store – Dotty. He remembered the gold doll at the store. Dotty had called it by the same name – the Sachem.

  ‘The Waters must practice now,’ said the man. ‘The Sachem has the key.’

  ‘The key to what?’

  ‘The Astral Vibrator,’ said the voice, returning to its previous tone.

  ‘What does the Astral Vibrator do?’

  ‘The Sachem is here. The Conjoinment is near. The Waters must practice.’

  ‘Who are you?’ said Macy.

  ‘I’m the cool Dionysian. That’s my religion.’

  ‘I’ve heard that line before,’ Macy whispered to Rolly. ‘It’s from one of Bob’s songs.’

  ‘You think it’s Bob back there?’

  ‘No. Do you?’

  ‘No. Not really. He’s probably heard Bob singing it.’

  The voice chirped. ‘Teotwayki!’

  Rolly chirped back, imitating the call. ‘Teotwayki!’

  They traded calls again. A light went on in one of the trailers nearby. Their bird calls had woken the neighbors.

  ‘Open the Astral Vibrator,’ said the voice. ‘The Sachem has the key.’

  ‘Who’s out there?’ It was a new voice, from one of the trailers.

  ‘Teotwayki! Teotwayki!’ the voice behind the RV called, sounding alarmed.

  ‘Shut up!’ said the voice from the trailer.

  The bird calls continued. They became muted and drifted into the distance. Rolly walked to the other side of the Tioga. No one was there. He listened as the last of the bird calls faded away. Macy walked up beside him. They stared into the darkness. Macy spoke first.

  ‘I gotta say, Waters, this is definitely the most batshit crazy date I’ve ever been on.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘What’s he talking about? About me having the key? What’s this Sachem thing?’

  ‘I don’t know exactly. Some kind of alien the UVTs believed in. That lady at the Alien Artifacts shop showed me a doll, a baby doll painted gold. She called it the Sachem.’

  ‘This guy thinks I’m an alien?’

  ‘It would appear so.’

  ‘Man, this is weird. It would explain a lot, though.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Like maybe I don’t have any parents. I mean, earthling ones. Maybe I came from that Oort place. You saw what Daddy Joe wrote in the letter. My little alien. He used to call me that. I used to think about it sometimes, being so different from the rest of the kids on the rez.’

  Rolly faced Macy, put his hands on her shoulders. ‘You are not an alien.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘I don’t sleep with aliens.’

  ‘Too late, Waters. You told me the stories. You’ll sleep with anyone.’

  Rolly pulled Macy close. She buried her face in his chest.

  ‘Do you think Daddy Joe’s dead?’ she said. It was the first chink he’d felt in Macy’s armor, the first hint she was vulnerable.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rolly said, holding her tighter. He kept one arm around her shoulders as they walked to the end of the trailer. ‘I still think he’ll show up.’

  ‘Little Alien DJ, that’ll be my new name,’ she said. ‘I’ll make some Space Disco mixes, or maybe Bleep Techno.’

  ‘I have no idea what that means,’ said Rolly.

  They turned the corner of the trailer. Rolly stopped and pulled Macy back. ‘Someone’s coming,’ he said.

  They watched a dark figure approach the Tioga. The light from the window of a nearby trailer caught the man’s face as he passed.

  ‘It’s Cool Bob,’ Macy said.

  They waited in the shadows, watching. Bob entered the dark space between the two vehicles, then into the light again as he got close to the Tioga. He was carrying a box. He set the box down and knocked on their door.

  Rolly stepped out from the end of the trailer, keeping Macy behind him.

  ‘Hey, Bob,’ he said.

  Bob peered over at him. ‘Hey man,’ he said. ‘That was some righteous riffage you laid on the Slabbers last night.’

  ‘Thanks. I had fun. What can I do for you?’

  Bob indicated the box. ‘He liked how you played. He asked me to give this to you. The vibrator thing. He said I should give it to you.’

  ‘What about your van?’

  ‘It’s been returned to my domicile. Accountability justified.’

  Macy stepped out from behind Rolly.

  ‘Hey Macy,’ said Bob. ‘Your new boyfriend’s a killer.’

  ‘Much cooler than No Pants, huh?’ Macy said.

  ‘Way cooler.’

  Rolly and Macy walked over to Bob.

  ‘You wanta’ come in?’ Rolly asked.

  ‘No worries,’ said Bob. ‘Just wanted to make the delivery.’

  Rolly looked down at the black box. ‘Is this the Astral Vibrator?’

  ‘He wants you to practice. He said you were worthy.’

  ‘What’s his name, Bob? Can I talk to him?’

  Cool Bob smiled. ‘See you later,’ he said. They watched him walk away until he disappeared from view.

  ‘Oww!’ said Rolly. A stinging pain shot through his ankle, like a sharp needle.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ said Macy.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rolly said, stumbling towards the door of the Tioga. ‘I think something just bit me.’

  SIXTEEN

  The ER

  A spider loomed in the darkness. It was huge. It had long fangs that gleamed like glittering gold sabers. Rolly turned to run, but his legs wouldn’t work. It was like running in deep sand. The spider captured him in its web. It bit into his leg with its giant gold fangs.

  He jolted awake and looked around. The light in the emergency ward of Brawley General Hospital seeped under the edges of curtains surrounding his bed. It was a strange shade of green, like something you’d see on the bridge of a movie spaceship. He felt better now, stronger and clearer. There were no giant spiders.

  The monitoring equipment had been unhooked from his arm. He checked his left leg, lightly wrapped in white gauze. His leg felt better, too. His stomach felt settled, with only an occasional flutter to remind him of the dry heaves and retching he’d endured a few hours ago. He was going to live.

  A nurse entered the room, pushing a wheelchair. She looked young enough to be a high-school cheerleader.

  ‘Looks like we’re awake,’ she said.

  ‘We are,’ Rolly said.

  ‘How’re you feeling?’

  ‘OK, I guess. W
hat time is it?’

  ‘Almost eight. We’re ready to check you out. Your mom’s here.’

  Rolly raised up off the pillow, rested on his elbows.

  ‘My mother?’

  ‘Yeah. She’s a real sweetheart.’

  ‘How’d she get here?’

  ‘Well, most people drive their cars.’

  ‘No, I mean, how’d she know I was here?’

  ‘Your friends called her, I guess. They had to leave. Let’s have you try standing up now.’

  Rolly lifted himself to a sitting position, then swiveled his legs so they hung off the bed.

  ‘Be careful,’ said the nurse, taking his arm. ‘Your left ankle and lower leg might hurt a bit when you put weight on them.’

  Rolly slid down from the bed. A hot pain shot through his left ankle as his feet touched the floor. He leaned against the nurse for support. Her hair smelled like freshly cut grass.

  ‘Just take your time,’ she said.

  Rolly waited for his head to clear. He nodded at the nurse and took his arm from her shoulders.

  ‘Have you ever used crutches before?’ she said.

  Rolly nodded. After the car accident, he’d been on crutches for two months.

  ‘OK, hang on to the gurney here if you need to,’ the nurse said. ‘We’re going to put you in the wheelchair first to get you out of the hospital. We’ll give you the crutches to take home.’

  She grabbed a pair of crutches and handed them to Rolly. He took them, placed them under his arms.

  ‘OK on the height?’ the nurse asked, stepping back and assessing the adjustment.

  Rolly nodded. ‘They’re fine.’

  ‘Let’s go see your mom and get you checked out.’

  The nurse took the crutches while Rolly lowered himself into the wheelchair. She handed them back to him and pushed him out to the waiting room. He spotted his mother in the corner, engaged in conversation with a young Latino woman and her two children.

  ‘Mrs Waters?’ said the nurse. ‘He’s ready to go.’

  Rolly’s mother said goodbye to her new friends and walked over to Rolly. ‘How do you feel, dear?’ she said.

  ‘I’ve felt better,’ said Rolly.

  ‘You’ve got all the instructions?’ said the nurse.

  ‘Right here,’ said Rolly’s mother. ‘I took care of the insurance.’

  ‘He’s all yours then, I guess,’ said the nurse.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Rolly’s mother.

  ‘Yes,’ Rolly said. ‘Thanks.’

  The nurse returned to the emergency ward.

  Rolly looked up at his mother. ‘Does Dad know about this?’ he said.

  ‘Alicia can worry about your father,’ she said. ‘It’s you I think we should worry about.’

  ‘Sorry you had to drive all the way out here.’

  ‘That’s all right, dear.’

  ‘The Waters men sure cause you a lot of trouble, don’t we?’

  ‘That’s my cross to bear.’

  ‘How did you get here?’

  ‘I drove my Mini, of course.’

  ‘No, I mean how did you find out I was here?’

  ‘A woman called. She told me what happened.’

  ‘Macy?’

  ‘I don’t remember her name. I don’t think she told me. She said they’d brought you here but she had to leave. There was something important she needed to do.’

  ‘Did she say what it was?’

  ‘No. I don’t think so. She gave me the address and the phone number for the hospital here, and asked if I’d be able to come over and get you. She said you’d been bitten by a black widow spider and that you wouldn’t be able to drive.’

  ‘What about the Tioga?’

  Rolly’s mother looked perplexed. ‘I don’t understand, dear.’

  ‘We drove out here in Dad’s RV,’ Rolly said. ‘Alicia let me borrow it.’

  ‘Was it some sort of romantic liaison you had with this Macy woman?’

  Rolly shook his head. ‘It’s business,’ he said. ‘She’s looking for someone.’

  Rolly’s mother stared down at him, parsing his statements, assessing their truthfulness.

  ‘We have to stop somewhere,’ said Rolly. ‘To check on the Tioga. I’ll explain on the way.’

  ‘All right, dear,’ said his mother. It was what she always said when her vigilance meter had peaked, the needle pegged to red. She had stored up a lot of questions.

  His mother wheeled him out of the hospital. He waited while she went to pick up her car. His leg still hurt, but the nervous weight in his stomach worried him more. It might be the last vestiges of spider poison, but an uncertain certainty roiled his belly; the feeling that Macy had a secret she hadn’t shared with him. He worried that she’d gone rogue, extemporizing on the events of last night. Macy had the diddley bow and the Astral Vibrator. She knew they were valuable. She might even know why.

  It took thirty minutes for them to drive to Slab City from Brawley General. He spent most of that time explaining what had happened to him over the last several days. His mother had always been embarrassed by his day job, almost to the point of denying it existed. When asked, she told people her son was a musician. Macy Starr’s case seemed to intrigue her, though. Looking for a young girl’s missing parents was more reputable than his usual assignments, even noble. At least he wasn’t digging up dirt for divorce lawyers and ambulance chasers.

  At any rate, by the time they reached Niland, his mother had finished her interrogation and returned to her usual state of enthusiasm. New adventures were afoot, after all. They pulled off the main road and passed Salvation Mountain. She reminisced about her year on an ashram in New Mexico, reflecting on the aesthetic and spiritual appeal of stark desert landscapes.

  When they arrived at Slab City, Rolly directed his mother to the Tioga’s old camping spot. The Tioga wasn’t there. They drove around looking for it, to no avail. Macy had taken it. He didn’t know where or why she had gone.

  His mother pulled the Mini to a stop across from The Range.

  ‘What shall we do?’ she said.

  ‘Let me think,’ Rolly said.

  ‘Perhaps she’s gone home.’

  Rolly checked his phone again. He’d called Macy from Brawley but she hadn’t called him back. She hadn’t left any message. His phone indicated there wasn’t much signal in this part of the world. The battery had run down. His charger was in the Tioga. He looked out the window. A man dressed in shorts and a carpenter’s belt stepped out on the stage at The Range.

  ‘It’s Bob,’ he said.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Cool Bob. Honk your horn.’

  His mother tapped on the horn. Bob turned to look at them. Rolly rolled down his window.

  ‘Hey, Bob, it’s me, Rolly Waters, the guitar player from last night.’

  Bob walked over to them. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘You doin’ OK?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m OK.’

  ‘You were looking kinda gruesome the last time I saw you.’

  ‘You were there, weren’t you? You helped me get to the hospital?’

  ‘Yeah. I tied on a tourniquet and took you down there in the rocket ship.’

  ‘I remember. Thanks for taking care of me.’

  ‘Macy was freaking.’

  ‘Yeah, I expect so. Speaking of which …’

  ‘I’ve seen folks bit by spiders before, but I never seen it that bad. You were seriously messed up. Explosive. I just got the rocket ship clean.’

  ‘Sorry about that. Have you seen her?’

  ‘It was really trippin’ me out. Scandalous.’

  ‘Have you seen Macy? Do you know where she went?’

  ‘I think she went home.’

  ‘To San Diego?’

  ‘There was some odious spirits blowing through here last night.’

  ‘I’m feeling better now. I’ll be OK.’

  ‘It was Macy that found him, you know. That’s why the police are on location. At the hot springs.’r />
  ‘Wait. What are you talking about?’

  ‘Macy’s old boyfriend. No Pants. He’s dead. Extinguished.’

  A cold shiver ran down Rolly’s bad leg. It was at least eighty degrees outside.

  ‘What happened?’ he said.

  ‘They sink before they float. That’s what the cops told me. Never knew that before. Didn’t see the guy down there ’cause the water’s so cloudy.’

  ‘You found him?’

  ‘Macy did. We went to the hot springs after we got back from the hospital. We were both stressing, you know. She suggested we take a soak, get some relief on the musculature. I’d already gone back to my place when she comes running and shouting, all naked. I went back to the springs and saw the guy floating around. That’s when I called the cops.’

  Bob stroked his beard, looked down at the ground. ‘People are kind of hating on me,’ he said. ‘They don’t like having cops around.’

  ‘What can you tell me about Macy’s boyfriend?’ said Rolly.

  ‘No Pants? He was mucho inquisitive,’ said Bob. ‘Really bugged people. Pestilential.’

  ‘Macy said he broke into your trailer; that he was looking for something?’

  ‘Yeah, assuredly. With massive intent.’

  ‘You think he was looking for drugs?’

  ‘That’s what Macy conjectured. I didn’t really peg him for a tweaker, though.’

  Rolly stared out the front window, wondered if he should talk to the police. He decided against it and turned back to Bob. ‘I saw Macy talking to him last night,’ he said, ‘when we were playing at The Range.’

  ‘Yeah, I discerned that encounter too. They looked kinda quarrelsome.’

  ‘He didn’t like her being here, I guess. Said this was his territory, for some reason. That’s what she told me, anyway.’

  ‘He asked a lot of questions. Like you.’

  ‘What kind of questions?’

  ‘He was looking for someone, asking about gold. He brought another lady the last time he was here. Couple of weeks ago.’ Bob lowered his head and peered into the car to see who was driving.

  ‘This is my mother,’ said Rolly.

  ‘Hello,’ said his mother.

  ‘Hello,’ said Bob. ‘You got white hair. I thought maybe you were the same lady.’

  ‘Oh, no,’ said Mrs Waters. ‘I don’t think we’ve met before.’