“That’s good,” Andy said. “It’ll blow the smell of this lab around, maybe. Make it harder to pinpoint. Oh, by the way, while you were gone, two guys dressed in black came lookin’ for ya.”
Sherry gasped and put down her beer.
“Yeah, said they were from the Secret Service.”
She stared at him a moment, then her eyes narrowed. “Andy, you cruel shit. Don’t do that. It scares me.”
Andy laughed. “You’re so easy to scare,” he said before turning around and leaving the kitchen, laughing.
The wind knocked over a few of the big green garbage cans, the ones that were empty. Dry, brittle branches, especially from oak trees, were broken off by the powerful wind and dropped on top of trailers or in the middle of the road that looped through the trailer park.
The speckling of light that came through the swaying trees was in constant movement as it was gradually extinguished by the setting of the sun.
Sunset did not bring a respite from the heat.
Trailers shuddered and shook in the wind.
Inside the trailers, people were on edge.
In unit thirteen, Roderick Cramer and his wife Chrissy argued loudly as their baby wailed in its crib.
In unit two, Donna Huber slapped her eight-year-old several times, her hand flying back and forth, because she caught her getting into her makeup.
In the Snodgrass house, Hank shouted at Muriel, “Shut up woman, my God, can’t you just shut the fuck up for five Goddamned minutes? My ears are ringin’ from all your fuckin’ yappin’! And you can’t stay on one topic for more than thirty seconds. Just give it a fuckin’ rest for God’s sake!”
The wind clawed at tempers and made emotions bubble to the surface like blood from a cut.
The darker it got outside, the darker it got inside.
Anna danced to an old Rod Stewart song with a strong beat. She was topless, and she danced to emphasize her breasts. She worked the pole for a while, then moved slowly across the stage, peeling off pieces of her costume. She made her way down the runway, where there were already a lot of dollar bills, and some fives.
The whole time, there was a man seated at the runway bar, on the left, who seemed to be enjoying her performance more than the others. He was beefy and balding and he had a beard and mustache. He wore a blue shirt open over a white T-shirt. He kept whooping and hollering as she danced, raucously encouraging her to continue disrobing.
She’d been there for a couple hours. The hardest thing had been to keep smiling while she was dancing. That was important, smiling. But it was hard to smile when your mind was full of blood and gore and death.
Anna moved out on the runway, down to her G-string and heels.
The beard-and-mustache whooped and slammed his hand down on the stage, slapping a ten-dollar bill down.
Anna danced his way and shook the merchandise just for him.
“Yeah!” he shouted. “Fuckin’ beautiful!”
He reached out and wrapped his big meaty hand around her calf and moved it up and down.
Her smile cracked. She tried to pull her leg away from him.
He closed his hand on it and pulled.
Anna started to fall backward and her arms flew out at her sides. She tried to compensate by throwing herself forward, but she overcompensated.
Anna fell face-first off the runway.
Reznick took Kendra on the floor and they both let go and got a little wild as the two little dogs watched them curiously a few feet away. Afterward, they lay side by side on the carpet, both naked, staring up at the ceiling. Reznick got up and got the ashtray from the table, returned to his spot on the floor and lit a cigarette.
“When does your mommy usually get home?” he asked.
“After two.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course.”
“Huh?” She turned to him. “Why’d you say ‘of course?’”
“Oh, well, uh… “ He shrugged. “I just figured, because… dancers work late.”
“Oh. Yeah.” She rolled over and put an arm and a leg across him, smiling.
Their bodies glimmered with sweat.
“I like doing this with you,” Kendra whispered.
“Yeah, it’s not bad, I’ll tell ya that.”
“Did you really want me the first time you saw me?”
“The very first time. I undressed you with my eyes. I held your breasts with my imagination.”
Kendra giggled. “And Mommy was lying right there.” She giggled again.
“Yep. Right there.”
Reznick got up and found his glass empty. He made himself another drink and took a few swallows. He sat on the couch, still naked.
On hands and knees, Kendra crawled over to him, knelt before him, and rested her arms over his thighs, smiling up at him.
“You sure like that vodka, don’tcha?” she said.
“Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This vodka and me, we’re old friends. We’ve been apart for a while, but we’re together again. Together again.” He took another drink, moved it around in his mouth a little, then swallowed, let it glide down his throat, burning as it splashed in his gut.
It kept away the bad thoughts. It kept the backs of his eyelids black, the way they should be.
Kendra lazily reached out and stroked him.
“Mmm,” he said, “that’s nice.”
“I’m glad,” she said.
The trailer trembled from the force of the wind.
Two of the other girls and Maxie, the bouncer, rushed to Anna’s side. Maxie, a bald mountain of a man, bodily ejected the unruly customer from the club while the other two girls helped Anna up.
“How bad you hurt?” Wanda said.
“My back,” Anna said, wincing. “My back hurts.”
“Oh, shit,” Desiree said. “I hope you don’t got a back injury. Back injuries suck. C’mon, let’s get you back to the dressing room.”
Paul, the manager, followed them back there, eager to see if Anna was okay.
Her back radiated pain from one spot next her left shoulder blade, and she hurt her right knee. The knee would probably result in nothing more than a bruise, but she was a little more worried about her back.
“Look, Kitty,” Paul said, “I want you to go straight home and get off your feet after that nasty fall. You hear me? You need to see a doctor? I’ll pay for the first visit. Okay? Now, I don’t want you to think about involving a lawyer in this, all right, honey?”
“Don’t worry, Paul, I’m not gonna sue you,” she said, wincing at the pain in her back. “It wasn’t your fault, it was that damned drunk out there.”
“Well, he’s gone.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer to go home, though.”
“You go on home and I’ll let you keep all your tips tonight, sound good?”
Anna had to smile. He was nervous – he really was worried that she might sue.
“Sounds good to me,” she said.
In less than ten minutes, Anna was in her car and on the road, headed home.
Afterward, Kendra got a washcloth and soaked it with warm water, and returned to Reznick in the living room. She cleaned him up and then kissed him. He smiled as he buried his fingers in her long hair. She went to the bathroom and got rid of the washcloth, then came back and lay down on the couch with her head in his lap.
“Oh!” she said. “Match Game is on again! This is one of my favorite shows. It’s so funny. Charles Nelson Reilly makes me laugh,” she said with a laugh.
“Yeah, that Charles Nelson,” Reznick said. He took another drink of icy vodka. “He’s a riot.”