Spacecraft

by Benjamin Broke

me to do the assignment. She gave me a two week extension and helped me with an outline and all this shit. She asked me how it was going every day, and I’d say like, ‘oh it’s tough, but it’s coming along’ or something, and of course I wasn’t doing any work on it. The day before it was due she tells me how much she’s looking forward to reading my paper and how she’s really proud of my effort and she even gave me a hug. How could I go back there without the fucking paper? It was so much easier just to stop going.”

  “Well, I never got as much pussy as when I was in high school. I would’ve stayed if for no other reason than that.” He said. We got off the freeway and after a couple of turns we were in front of the apartment building. He stopped the Jeep on the ramp to the underground garage. “Well, here you are in South Pas. I believe there was some talk of financial compensation?”

  “Oh. Right.” I said taking out my wallet. I pulled out a twenty and handed it to him. “Here you go pal.”

  “Thanks -and Nick? If you ever get around to actually killing a person, don’t call me. You’re a nice kid, but I’m not going to jail for you.” I got out of the car and shut the door. His Jeep disappeared into the garage. It was cold and I wished I’d worn a long sleeve shirt. I was missing my skate, walking seemed so slow and hard. My legs were fatigued, and I had to force myself to keep moving. I wanted to lie down right there on the sidewalk, but I knew I’d have to get up again, which would take more energy than to keep walking. I made it to Fair Oaks Avenue, which was empty that time of the morning. All the stoplights were blinking yellow. I crossed the street to the bus stop and sat on the bench. I concentrated on not falling asleep.

  About an hour later I realized that no bus was coming. For some reason I’d always thought they ran all night, but now I knew that I was wrong. I’d have to wait till daylight. The strip-lot was a good place to crash, but it was too far. I couldn’t imagine walking that far, and by the time I got there it would be time to turn around and come back. I walked toward an inviting patch of grass across the street and down the block from the bus stop. There was a three foot brick wall that bordered a Sav-On parking lot, and between the wall and the lot was a small strip of lawn. The Sav-On was closed and the lot was empty, so it was entirely out of view. I lay down on my side with my back to the parking lot and used my arms as a pillow. I was hidden and the grass was soft. Before I fell asleep I wondered why they would bother putting a strip of grass in a sea of asphalt. Someone had to mow this pointless patch of nature. I decided that if anyone asked, that’s who I was: the grounds keeper of the Sav-On parking lot. The thought made me smile as I drifted off.

  When I woke up I felt like dog shit. Both of my arms had fallen asleep and they flopped lifelessly as I sat up. I wiggled my shoulders until some feeling came back. After the pinpricks subsided, I realized that the Sav-On was open and there were some cars in the lot. I must’ve looked like a bum to the people who’d parked there. I stood and tried to smooth out my hair as I walked back up to the bus stop. My mouth tasted foul and I wanted to be home.

  An hour later I walked into Kate’s house drinking a strawberry Quik I’d gotten from the AM/PM. She was up reading the paper and having her morning coffee. She always had to work on Saturdays. I guess she knew I hadn’t been home because she didn’t look surprised when I walked in the front door. “Good morning.” She said, as if I might not have known it was morning.

  “‘Mornin’.” I said, gulping down my sugary drink.

  “I suppose you were out landscaping again?”

  “No. I was at a party… I pay rent, remember?”

  “Wow, all-night party, huh? Must’ve been fun.” She said.

  “It sucked. My friends left me stranded in Hollywood, and I wound up sleeping in a parking lot.” I said. I had no idea why I was telling the truth. I hoped it wasn’t because I wanted her to feel bad for me.

  “Oh, your friends… They sound like wonderful people.”

  “It wasn’t their fault. I left in a hurry and they had no way of knowing where I went, so it wasn’t like they ditched me.” I said.

  “Of course not, I’m sure they were worried sick about you.”

  “Why do you assume the worst about my friends?” I asked.

  “Let me tell you something, nobody has any ‘friends’ the way you mean it. Kids always think they have lots of friends, but when you get older you learn that everyone is just looking out for themselves.” Kate said.

  “Maybe you just have sucky friends.”

  “There aren’t any friends on earth that aren’t using each other for something. Could be something simple like money or clothes, or it could be something else. Maybe it’s sexual, or they feel smart around someone who’s dumb, or pretty around an ugly person. Think about it, why would any two people logically decide to be friends? You think friends are people who just magically like you.” She said.

  “Well, maybe I magically like them, so I know it’s possible. Why can’t I just enjoy someone’s company? You should learn to trust people, not everyone is out to use each other Kate.”

  “In one way or another, they are.” She said.

  “I have friends that just make me laugh, you know? They’re fun to be around.” I said.

  “Okay so what if they stopped making you laugh and they weren’t fun to be around anymore? Would you still hang out with them?”

  “No, I guess not.” I said.

  “No of course not, because they would have nothing to offer you anymore. Or more to the point, you couldn’t take anything from them anymore. If you’re not getting anything from them, why be their friend? Why bother? You think there’s love between you and your friends? Trust me, it’s just a bunch of people who know each other and love themselves.”

  18

  “That’s fucking insane.” Michael said. “Do you think this guy’s still after you?” We were sitting on his back porch. I’d come from Don’s house where I went to get my skate. I had to walk the whole way there, and he wasn’t even home. His sexy mom let me in to get it, but she missed her opportunity to bed me. I also wanted to see Don to find out what happened after I left the party, but he was already at Scott’s house getting ready for their club gig. I decided to skate to Michael’s and tell him about the incident.

  “I don’t know, I hope not. I mean, he knows my first name, that’s all… Unless Don or Scott told him more. I don’t think they would’ve. I’m not too worried. He’s a rich kid who thinks he’s all hard. I doubt he’d really kill me as revenge for his dog, you know? He might try something though. He thinks he’s a gangster. He’s the type of guy that’s seen Scarface a million times. You should’ve seen him at this party -walking around like he was Pacino or something.”

  “A wanna-be is way more dangerous than an actual gangster. You gotta be careful man. Don’t kill no more dogs for awhile. Maybe just a Chihuahua or some shit, but no big ones.”

  “Yeah, I’ll try to control by bloodlust.”

  He snapped his fingers. “Oh, man! I forgot to tell you, our bunker works. We didn’t kill any pets or anything, but Jeremy and me had a fucking crazy night last night. We were over on El Molino trying to get this girl to let us into her house, she wouldn’t let us ‘cause she isn’t allowed to have company when her parents aren’t home or something. Anyway, we were in front of her house, just skating around, waiting for her to come out, and this cop car turns down the street. We didn’t even plan it or anything, we just took off running. We ran through her backyard and tossed our skates under her porch. We hopped her fence and ran to the next street, and the fucking cop was there waiting for us -so we just ran past him! We smoked his ass! We went into another backyard and the motherfucker got out of his car and tried to chase us on foot…”

  “Why were you running?”

  “Just for the fuck of it. The question is- why was he chasing us? I mean, as far as he knew, we hadn’t done anything wrong, you know? He just assumed we did since we were running. We made it to Jeremy’s yard and went down
the hole. The cop was right on us, but when we hit the rat hole it was all over. We stayed under there for about an hour, and when we came out again? No cop. Luckily Jeremy’s mom wasn’t home, because the pig saw us go into his yard. He might’ve knocked on Jeremy’s door, I don’t know. But that shit was funny as hell. You should have seen this fat-ass cop trying to chase us. He was all bright red and sweaty and shit.”

  “I wonder what he thought you guys did.” I said.

  “Who knows? We have to do that shit again though.”

  “Let’s do it tonight.” I said. “There’s nothing better to do.”

  “Alright, but we absolutely can’t get caught or my brother will kill me. He’s sure you and him are gonna make a pile of money tomorrow at the flea market.” He said. “He already got the guitar and everything. “

  “Hey, you sure he won’t be mad at me if I fuck it up?” I asked. “I’m not sure about this one.”

  “You got it dude, you won’t fuck it up. The way you handled those bitches at my Uncle’s house, this should be a piece of cake for you.”

  “What ever happened with that? Did you hear anything? Was your Uncle pissed?”

  “Plenty pissed. I went over there that night and broke the window in his back door. I didn’t tell you that. It worked -my Auntie called my Grandma when they got back from Texas