by Torsten Krol
“Okay.”
“Start walking,” he says, then he hung up.
Well, I could not ignore him because that would mean getting in trouble with Lorraine who would be expecting the Tuesday package as per usual tomorrow night for delivery Wednesday to the prison, and trouble with Lorraine I did not want. So I started walking, stopping to take a long leak between the house and the road, then when I got to the road I did what Donnie said and started walking towards town, asking myself if Donnie was smart to be so careful about not coming to the house or just nervous.
I walked and walked, smelling the night air and admiring the moon, still kind of drunk after all that beer and rum. Around fifteen minutes after I started, here comes a set of headlights, the first I saw since I started walking, this is a real back road with very little traffic as I have said before, so I’m expecting this is Donnie. He pulled up a little ways off and turned off his engine, then his lights. I kept walking and saw it’s the green Pontiac all right. I saw a cigarette lighter flame and then the little red dot of a smoke, then he got out of the car and leaned against the door, waiting for me.
“Lonely road,” he said when I reached him.
“Yeah.”
“You probably think I’m paranoid, but being careful has kept me out of prison.”
“Okay.”
“Now what we need to discuss here is the delivery date. No way am I doing things the way we did it before. I was okay with the regular Tuesday run even after Dean was on the news for murder, but now this other thing, this terrorism thing, that’s got me spooked. No way can we continue on as before under circumstances like that, it’s way too risky now with federal agents and whatnot hunting him down. Dean’s place is too hot for comfort from here on in, so we need to be doing things different. With me so far?”
“Uhuh.”
“Now I’ve spoke to my people about this and we think the deal should be as follows. Number one, I won’t be coming to the place anymore, ever, so a different place has got to be arranged for the handover. And number two, from now on, to cover the extra risk we’re taking in dealing with the sister and associate of a known terrorist, the price has gone up. From now on it’s two and a half, not two. Same package as before but the price has gone up, that’s just how it has to be with all this new dangerous element. Oh, and number three, the delivery day is Monday from now on, not Tuesday, just to make me feel safer, beginning tonight.”
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, so have you got the extra five hundred? I know it’s short notice but that’s the decision taken by me and my associates about this.”
“I haven’t got anything.”
“Nothing?”
“It wasn’t supposed to be until tomorrow.”
“Yeah, well, I explained about that, about the risk, so now it’s tonight. The sister, she’s the one supplies the cash, so give her a call.”
“I haven’t got a phone.”
He pulled a cell from his pocket and handed it to me. “Feel free.”
I had to think awhile before I remembered Lorraine’s number, then I called. She answered before the second ring. “I told you to stop calling me! So stop calling me!”
“I didn’t,” I said.
Silence, then, “Odell?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“What do you want?”
“Well, I’ve got Donnie with me and there’s been some changes.”
“Changes?”
“To the way things are getting done from now on.”
“About what?”
“You know...the package.”
“Package?”
Donnie snatched the phone right out of my hand and started yelling into it. “No names. From now on it’s Monday, not at the house and it’s two-five not two!”
Lorraine must have yelled something back at him because they started arguing. I went over to the side of the road and pissed again. I had certainly had my share of beer earlier, but then I’m under a lot of stress these days. I let them keep on arguing back and forth, just glad it isn’t me having to do it, then finally Donnie smacked his phone shut and says, “Bitch...”
He turns to me. “Here’s the deal. We’re going over to her place and she’ll be waiting outside with the two grand which she already got together for tomorrow, then we go to a cash machine and she gets the extra five hundred. Then you get your package. Get in.”
He turned his car around and we headed for Callisto. He says, “She’s some piece of work, that Lorraine. Dean used to say what a hardass bitch she is, that’s why I was happy to deal with Dean and not her, Dean was mellow. But she’s the one takes it behind prison bars for distribution, so it’s not like I can cut her out of the loop. Like to but no can do, uh-uh, so we’re stuck together like the shit and the shoe. I’m the shoe.” He laughed about that.
He hadn’t been to Lorraine’s place before and neither had I, so Donnie had to stop at a late-night convenience store with a gas station out front and look up her address in the phone book dangling all battered on a chain from the public phone in the forecourt. He come back to the car and started it up, saying, “Got it committed to memory. If I never went there again for twenty years I could find it, I’ve got a photographic memory. I could’ve joined a college program where they study brains, live brains in people not dead brains in jars. This university back east offered me a room and all I could eat for a month while they studied my brainwaves, me and some others with a mental gift, only I quit after the second day, too fucking annoying having them ask you questions all the freaking time and having these little wires stuck all over your goddamn head. Fuck that. I walked out. But I can remember stuff like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Uhuh.”
“Okay now ...it’s next left, then three blocks and turn right, then left again.”
Lorraine was waiting for us at the curb in front of this apartment block. They looked like pretty nice apartments. Donnie pulled over and she got in. “Turn right at the next street then keep going straight,” she said. No Good evening or anything. No Hi, Odell. Lorraine was pissed about all this on top of everything else she has had to deal with lately, which is understandable, so I didn’t take offense that she didn’t even look at me the whole time we’re in the car till we got to her bank and she tells Donnie to pull over.
“You two are coming with me,” she says. “It’s too risky, a woman alone at night in front of an ATM.”
We all got out and went across the sidewalk to the ATM. Lorraine punched buttons there for a half-minute with Donnie and me standing right behind her on the lookout for thieves and bandits. The machine poked out some money like a long green tongue and Lorraine took it, then we got back in the car and drove away.
Donnie says, “I’m gonna drop you both off at the movie theater downtown while I get the package from a certain place, then I’ll be back to make the exchange, okay?”
“Fine,” said Lorraine, very grumpy.
He stopped in the parking lot of the Metrolux and says he’ll be ten minutes, fifteen at the outside, then away he went. Lorraine dug a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and lit one up with a Bic.
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
“I quit last year, it’s just very nerve-wracking at the moment. Want one?”
“No thank you.”
She looked over at the theater standing all lit up in the middle of the parking lot.
“I haven’t been to the movies in a long time.”
“Me neither.”
“I couldn’t even tell you what’s playing nowadays. Couldn’t even tell you who the big stars are. I used to be right on top of the movies, now I don’t give a shit.”
“Who was calling you up?”
“Huh?”
“Who were you yelling at on the phone when I called?”
“None of your business, Odell.”
“You sounded really mad, so I wondered.”
“Well, stop wondering and mind your business. That Donnie, what a pri
ck, him and his fucking associates. This is a complete ripoff. They’re just taking advantage, you know that. I can’t afford to break off with them, though, it’s an established pipeline and it works. I couldn’t put that together with anyone else and have it go so smooth. It was Dean got it all started and I don’t have Dean anymore. You could say we’re lucky they accepted you as a substitute. But it’s a fucking ripoff anyway.”
“Was it Cole?”
“What? What are you saying? No it was not Cole. Why would I be yelling at Cole? Cole’s a friend.”
“Well, then, who?”
She flicked ash from her cigarette and blew smoke over me which I pretended she hadn’t. I’m not looking for a fight, just information.
“Why would I tell you anything private? Why do you think I should do that?”
“Uh, because we’re ... partners.”
“Partners in crime, you mean.”
“Uhuh.”
“That’s got nothing to do ... Oh shit, I guess it has, once we get the lawsuit started.”
“Against Chief Webb?”
“That’s who it was. I made a big mistake and called him up to let him know what I think about him, maybe I was a little drunk, anyway I gave him an earful, especially about the truck, which he denies he’s got anything to do with that, by the way, I mean really denies it.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Yeah, pretty much, only too late to keep from telling him we’re planning on getting a lawyer to get him back for it. That and the fucked-up interview.”
“You told him?”
“Didn’t I just tell you I told him? Yeah, I told him. It won’t make any difference, it just means he’ll respond quicker with his own lawyer when ours does a dump on him. It makes no difference at all hardly, anyway it’s done. He kept calling back to abuse me over the phone after that, the prick.”
“That’s not how a Chief of Police is supposed to act,” I said.
She blew more smoke, then says, “Odell, sometimes I think you fell out of the sky the day before yesterday. Nobody acts like they’re supposed to act. Not the politicians getting fat on lobbyist money, not the woman-chasing TV preachers, not the cops and not me neither, that’s why I don’t complain like I should. Only someone that fell out of the sky and didn’t know shit about how the real world operates would even bother complaining about how things are.”
“Well, then ... so why did he keep abusing you on the phone?”
“It’s personal,” she says. “Andy and me have known each other a long time now. People that know each other a long time, every once in a while they fall out and have a big argument about something, so that’s what happened, okay?”
“But what was it about if it wasn’t about the lawsuit?”
“Didn’t I just now say it’s personal? That means between him and me. Not you, get it?”
“Okay.”
She says, “Andy just has got into this habit of treating people like they’re suspects at a crime scene, like they did something wrong so he can lord it over them.”
“You’re not doing anything wrong, Lorraine.”
“What? Jesus, Odell, you think running drugs into a state correctional facility is work for angels? You think Donnie’s an angel? Is Dean? It’s a dirty world with not enough cash to go round, so you have to do some grabbing and stabbing just to get by without falling under the wheels, that’s how it is on God’s green earth, okay? Come Friday you’ll be doing it too if Cole takes you on.”
“Is Cole part of it?”
She flipped her cigarette away. “You know too much already. Wait and see. Maybe Cole won’t take you on if he sees what a starry-eyed baby bird that just fell out of the nest you are. You’ve got to grow up, Odell, and stop acting so weird. Has anyone ever told you you’re weird?”
“A couple times.”
“Well, they did it for a reason. So stop being that way and get with the program.”
Now this was harsh critical talk from a woman I had strong feelings for, so it hurt to hear her calling me this baby bird out of the nest thing, trying to make me feel small. If she only knew all the trouble I have gone to about Dean, digging him up and putting him here and there without letting on to a soul, she’d be impressed about that and have to quit saying I’m weird. It takes concentration and smart thinking to do what I have done this past week without getting caught, and if she thinks I’m all innocent and dumb like a baby bird she’ll have to change her mind when Condoleezza tells the cops to back off from me because she understands how Dean was killed accidental so they should go easy on me. That will be some kind of a big surprise to Lorraine, all about how I killed her brother and hid him away all this time without spilling the secret like most guys would. If Lorraine wants the strong silent type that knows how to make all the right moves she’ll have to admit this is what kind I am, not some baby fucking bird.
“You’re not such a dingaling as you look, Odell,” says Lorraine, “it’s just this impression you give, okay? Ditch the dingaling and show me the real man, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’m not so much mad at you as I’m mad at myself. I never should’ve called Andy and told him. Now he’s prepared. I should’ve waited, but I had a few drinks and got mad and called him at home. He hates to be called at home, especially by a woman. It’s his wife always picks up the phone and she gets real suspicious when there’s a woman asking for Andy. He told me this a long time ago. So that’s where I went wrong, calling him at home. I know that’s what made him madder than he ought to be about the lawsuit thing, it’s because now he’s gonna catch hell from his wife about who that woman is that called. That’s why I wouldn’t want to get married, all that shit that goes on between husband and wife, the suspicion.”
“It’s not always that way.”
“Sure it is. What, your mom and dad got along great?”
“No.”
“There you go, it’s all bullshit.”
She got out another cigarette and fired it up, like she needs to be doing something with her hands to keep her from pulling her hair out or whatever. I never saw her so nervous and distracted by everything as this. Usually Lorraine was on top of things and giving orders like she knows exactly what she’s doing and everyone better jump, but tonight she’s somebody else, just barely keeping it together with the help of a Marlboro.
I said to her, “How would you feel if you found out Dean isn’t running from the law like everyone thinks he is?”
“That’d be just fine, only that’s not how it is. See, this is what I mean about you being weird.”
“No, I mean if he’s dead, not running.”
“Well, that’d be a different thing if he’s dead. That’d be the end of all this shit flying around, all this crap about the karaoke thing. Fox News practically put a laugh track to that, making him look stupid ... They’d all quit laughing if he’s dead. Only he isn’t.”
“But what if he was?”
“Odell, you’re pissing me off again. Dean is my brother and I don’t want you jinxing things by talking about him that way. Every time I turn on the news I’m expecting to hear he’s been gunned down somewhere in a shootout with the FBI or someone . . . Don’t talk that way, please, I don’t want to hear it.”
“So you’re saying it’d be a relief if you found out he’s dead.”
“No I did not say that! Christ! I hope he gets across the border to Mexico and starts a new life down in South America or someplace, even if I never get to see him again.”
“So you don’t want to get told he’s dead.”
“That’s right, Odell, you’re getting the picture at last. Thank you for being so upbeat. I really go for that kind of optimistic talk at a time like this.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s just wait for Donnie Dickhead and not talk anymore.”
“Right.”
So that’s what we did. She smoked three cigarettes before Donnie got back and pulls up next to us. He didn’t get
out of the car or even turn off the engine, just shoved a package all taped up exactly like the other package last Tuesday out the window and wiggled it, then pulls it in again while Lorraine digs in her purse for the cash, which then they exchanged these two things.
“I need a lift home,” she says.
“Get in.”
Lorraine and me both got in and Donnie drove away directly to her place and stops again with the engine running while Lorraine got out. I started to get out behind her but she says for Donnie to take me home too.
“I’m not running a taxi service,” he says.
“You brought him here so you can take him home again.”
I was halfway out the door and she pushed me back inside again and shuts it.
“Go on,” she says, and Donnie kind of hissed but he puts the Pontiac in gear and away we went back across town again.
“Some kinda bitch, all right,” he says. “How do you tolerate it, man?”
“Lorraine’s okay, just under pressure right now.”
“Hey, we’re all under pressure all the time. You and me, we’re not losing our cool, right? Some can handle it better than others. So who stole your truck?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said before you knew.”
“Well, now I don’t.”
“That’s Dean’s truck. Maybe Dean come back and took what’s his, you think?”
“No.”
“Nah, he wouldn’t be dumb enough to come back here and go driving around in a truck with his name on the door, that’d be too stupid. They got the mowers too?”
“Everything.”
“The world is full of thieves, from the White House on down. That’s why it’s a waste of time trying to earn an honest living, those thieves just take it all back in taxes. All those big-time CEOs, they’re thieves too, ripping off their own people and their own stockholders, they don’t care, so why should I? The cops do shakedowns and lawyers are so crooked you could open a bottle of wine with one of those bastards. Now dealing, that’s different. That’s providing a resource people want and you provide it for them at a reasonable cost with just enough markup so you can make an honest buck and feed your family, no bullshit and fake promises. I can go to sleep at night knowing I did nobody no harm, just provided a service people genuinely want and need. If I was doing something bad I wouldn’t feel that way, now would I?”
