Cecil wiped his face dry and scowled sadly. “Yeah, okay. The message is received; loud and clear. Your thick-headed idiot of a son gets it now, Daddy. You hate me.”
“No. That ain’t the case. I love you with all my heart. I’m just not very fond of you is all,” Reginald admitted, turning to leave.
His father froze at the door, and Cecil could tell the man was searching for something else to say. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t undo the heartbreak or hurt Cecil any more than he had already been hurt. Cecil would never see his daddy in the same light again. He would always feel like the albatross; the cross to bear.
“Have a happy Halloween, Cecil,” Reginald finally managed for a farewell. He didn’t look back as he left the store.
Cecil sat there silently on the stool.
After a few minutes, a couple of trick-or-treaters in their early teens came into the store. One was dressed as a pirate and the other wore a ninja turtle costume.
“Trick or treat!” they announced, encouraged by the homemade sign on the building’s window that told them to come inside for free candy.
“You want candy!” Cecil bellowed angrily. He scooped the candy bowl up into his hands and tossed the entire contents of the bowl at the children. “Here! Here’s your candy, you fucking mooches! Get the hell out of here!”
The children screamed and ran out of the store. Once they were gone, Cecil shuffled sadly to the door. He flipped the store sign over to CLOSED, and then he turned off the lights. He helped himself to a six pack and drank it alone in the dark.
***
“Eat my pussy, Bubba!”
“I’m sorry, come again?” Bubba said, craning his head nearer to Lydia, one of the dancers at the Busty & Lusty strip club. It was loud in the joint and he had obviously misheard her.
Lydia, dressed in a sexy little black cat outfit, stood pluckily in front of him. “I said eat my pussy!” she repeated, bringing a plastic cake dish from behind her back. She pressed it into Bubba’s hands.
He smiled and tilted the lid up. A lopsided chocolate cake in the shape of a black cat sat there.
“Oh, wow, man,” Bubba said, grinning. “You made this?”
Lydia nodded. “It’s a Halloween cake. Now you can go home and eat my pussy!” she joked, laughing energetically.
Bubba blushed slightly and nodded. “Well, thanks, Lydia. That’s awful sweet.”
Lydia tugged at a strand of black hair that rested on her shoulder. “So are you working tonight?”
“No,” Bubba said, patting the breast pocket of his flannel, where an envelope was stashed. “Just came in for my check.”
“That’s a nice shirt,” Lydia said, pressing her hand against Bubba’s stomach.
“Oh, yeah,” Bubba said, admiring it himself. “My mama gave me this one.”
“How is she doing?” Lydia asked.
“She’s good; happy as a clam. She sent me a text this morning. She finally got her handicap plates.”
“Cool, rock star parking!” Lydia said, impressed. “She’s so lucky.”
Bubba nodded.
Lydia reached up and took Bubba’s cap off. She smiled playfully and put it on her own head. She touched Bubba’s hair.
“You have such great hair, Bubba. What is it, dark blonde? It’s hard to tell with the lighting in here.”
“Sandy brown, actually,” Bubba said, gently taking his cap back and returning it to his head.
“You take care of your hair. A lot of guys don’t know how. But you use product. I can tell,” Lydia said. “I just don’t know why you cover such a great head of hair with that hat.”
Bubba shrugged and smiled. Lydia started playing with her own hair again and stared at Bubba expectantly. She cocked up her hip and rested her palm there. She waited for him to make some kind of move, he suspected.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like Lydia. She was a looker. A little pale for him, maybe, and with that pitch black hair; Bubba didn’t have a tremendous fondness for those goth types and she definitely had that rich and dark flavoring. But still, he enjoyed the flirtation that existed between them. It was sweet, and it made him feel desirable. He didn’t want that to go away, but he had no intention of encouraging anything further from it. Hell, he couldn’t take Lydia home to meet mama.
He was particular about the women he associated with and bedded. Just because he worked at a jiggle joint didn’t mean he would screw anything that would grant him access. And besides, Lydia was a bouncer groupie. She had screwed every other strongarm at the door. He didn’t know why she had this fetish. Daddy issues, he figured.
Seeing that Bubba wasn’t being led to the water, Lydia decided to take the ball from his hands. “You want to have breakfast with me?”
“Well, Lydia, I’ve got something cooking tonight. But rain check me on that, okay?”
Lydia nodded and gave him a smile, but he could tell that she was disappointed and not used to being turned down. “Yeah, great. I mean, it’s no big deal. We all got to eat. Figured we could just do that together, you know?”
“Absolutely and I am down. Just not for tonight,” Bubba assured her.
“Well, I’m up soon. Enjoy the cake,” Lydia said, turning away and heading for the back.
“I’ll wash this and bring it back to you!” Bubba said, holding up the cake container.
Bubba looked around the club. It was packed and the girls wore outfits even more flamboyant than their regular sexy work garments. The Busty & Lusty always did it up big for Halloween. There was an all night Witches Brew drink special at the bar, and a larger than normal crowd of nicely dressed businessmen and good old boys in more casual, tough attire crowded the area.
Bubba walked over to the DJ booth and peeked inside, giving a nod to the shadow behind the microphone.
“How they hanging, Taylor?” he asked the shadow in the booth.
A young Hispanic male face wearing headphones peeked out into the light. “What up Bee Bee?” Taylor said.
They whipped their fingers around in the air as if reacting to something too hot to touch before slapping palms. It was a little juvenile, but Bubba always got a big kick out of their secret handshake.
“Busy tonight, huh?” Bubba said, watching as a stripper picked up dollar bills from the stage floor as her music faded.
“Yeah. Hey, we got some fresh blood in. Have you seen the new girl? She just started today. Finest piece I’ve ever seen, bro,” Taylor said, tapping a button on his console.
“She that sweet?” Bubba asked.
“I’m bringing her out now. Check it,” Taylor said, stretching back into the booth and grabbing his microphone.
“That was Amber burning bright on stage for your pleasure, ladies and gentlemen,” Taylor was obligated to say ladies, though there wasn’t but one female customer Bubba could see. “And we’re going to keep the fires raging as Red comes out now on stage. This is her hot debut, so let’s give it up for Red!”
Taylor hit the music. Burning down the House by the Talking Heads blared from the sound system. Bubba smiled, and waited for the silhouette behind the flimsy stage curtain to strut out into the glow of the colored foot lights. At the sight of the new girl, Bubba dropped the cake Lydia had given him.
“Shit on a shingle, man,” he muttered, and he wasn’t smiling anymore.
***
Cecil woke with a start, nearly falling off of the stool behind the register. It took him a moment to remember where he was and what was happening. It all came back to him, and a fresh bout of depression circled.
There were eight empty beer bottles in front of his eyes and he had fallen asleep with tobacco under his lip. He noticed the sticky brown stain on the counter that had drooled out of his mouth. Looking around, he spotted a half used paper towel roll near the register. He tore off a few sheets, and cleaned his chin and then the counter.
Bubba stepped into the dark store. “Hello?” he called. “Cecil? You in here, man?”
“Yeah,” Cecil
replied, spitting the flavorless chaw from his mouth and into a wastebasket near him.
Bubba found the light switch near the door and turned it on. He then flipped the store sign back over to OPEN. “What’s going on in here? Why were the lights shut off and the closed sign up?”
“Took a shit break,” Cecil said, rubbing the back of his neck. Slumping to sleep on the counter had given him a nasty crick.
“You left the door open,” Bubba noted. “Anyone could have come in and stole from you.”
“Well, everything looks pretty much the same as before,” Cecil said, clearing off the bottles.
“What are you doing drinking on the job?” Bubba said, counting the empties gathered before him. “Man, your daddy is gonna have your hide if he finds out.”
“Let me let you in on something, Bubba,” Cecil said, with a cheerless little grin. “My daddy thinks I am a waste of space. He told me what a piece of shit I am tonight. Far as I’m concerned, I got no daddy.”
“Cecil, come on, man,” Bubba said, resting a pudgy hand on Cecil’s shoulder. “There ain’t nothing more important than family. That’s all some of us got.”
Cecil moved Bubba’s hand away. “Your family ain’t nothing but Jesus freaks and drama queens, brother. But at least they take you for what you are. Shit, I thought my dyke cousin Sandra was the black sheep of the McGee clan. Bet my Daddy would promote her to run operations before me.”
“No offense, Cecil. I’ve met Sandra. The gal looks like a little workhorse,” Bubba said, drawing ire from Cecil’s eyes. “Well, maybe that ain’t a fair comparison,” Bubba threw on top of it.
Cecil looked at the store clock. It was ten pm. “Where the hell you been? I thought you were getting your check and coming back to keep me company.”
“Yeah, that was the plan,” Bubba said, still trying to settle on the best way to bring up his words. “I had a little hiccup. Ran into someone we know.”
“Yeah, and who would that be?” Cecil said, tearing open a fresh bag of chew and reloading his lip.
“You gotta promise me something first, man,” Bubba said. “Give me your word you ain’t gonna freak.”
“I ain’t promising you shit,” Cecil said, distrustfully. “What’s going on here, Bubba?”
“Best probably if I just show you,” Bubba said, going back to the store entrance.
He pressed the door open and stuck his face out into the night. “It’s okay. Just come on in here.”
A woman walked into the store. She wore brand new jeans that had a firm grip of her ass and a tourist tee shirt with the phrase DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS emblazoned on it, stretched wide by her generous bosom. She had lush red hair and bright green eyes. Sun freckles were lightly dabbed on her cheeks. It was Hattie Mae Reynolds. She smiled apprehensively at Cecil.
“Hello, Cecil.”
“Fuck shit cock-sucking son of a bitch!” Cecil screamed, as he pulled the bat his daddy kept stashed out from under the register. He ran at Hattie Mae, pulling the bat into the air with both hands.
Bubba immediately wrapped himself around Cecil.
“I knew you were going to overreact!” Bubba hollered, wrestling Cecil to the ground.
“That demon bitch killed Conrad!” Cecil screamed, hatefully trying to squirm out of Bubba’s hands.
Cecil lurched up and Bubba hauled him back down. “Just calm yourself and listen, man!” Bubba pleaded, pulling the bat free from Cecil and putting his friend in a headlock.
“She’s got you twisted!” Cecil figured, chaotically clawing at Bubba’s arm. “She’s playing with our heads again! Snap out of it!”
“If I were manipulating you, you certainly would not want to kill me,” Hattie Mae said calmly.
Cecil eyed her. “You ain’t here for revenge, woman?”
Hattie Mae shook her head. “I’m here to thank you, Cecil.”
Cecil’s curiosity fell her way, and his anger and muscles relaxed.
“All right, Bubba, you fat bastard! Get off of me!” Cecil grumbled.
“You gonna calm down and listen to the explanation?” Bubba said, panting, sweating and leaning his weight on Cecil.
Cecil nodded quickly. “Yeah, just get off of me! You’re crushing me, man!”
Bubba loosened his grip. Cecil lifted himself to a sitting position and stared at his friend. Both men were red-faced and breathing hard.
“I swallowed my damn chew,” Cecil said, clearing his throat.
“There’s a story here, man. You gotta listen to it, okay?” Bubba asked, not ready to go another round with his friend.
Cecil looked back over at Hattie Mae. “So what do you want to thank me for, demon?”
Hattie Mae smiled and her eyes got cloudy. “When you burned down the house, something happened,” she explained. “The curse, my curse, it was lifted.”
“What are you talking about?” Cecil asked.
“She ain’t a succubus no more,” Bubba added. “She’s human now. Like us, man.”
“What?” Cecil said, his eyes going back and forth between friend and fiend. “How is that even possible? You were a demon in service to hell. You should have just gone back there once the old house was lit up.”
Hattie Mae nodded in agreement. “You’re right. I should have. I remember the house burning all around me. I saw Conrad. He went up like dry wood; poor thing. And finally, the roof collapsed on the place. And then things are hazy. I woke up this morning naked in the woods. I found the road and a nice elderly Christian couple picked me up. They dressed and fed me, before dropping me off downtown. I eventually found my way to the Busty & Lusty and I got myself a job; because somehow I knew that Turner works there.”
Cecil arched an eyebrow at Bubba. “Turner? Thought only your mama calls you that.”
Bubba shrugged. “Well, it is my name, man. Hattie Mae can use it if she wants.”
“Still, one thing kind of bugs me in all of this,” Cecil maintained. “How’d you know Bubba works where he does? How did you find him and us?”
“I’m not sure,” Hattie Mae confessed. “I just knew where to look. I think it’s the curse. I can practically see the energy of it around the two of you.”
“Well, that might be a sight a hellion could perceive,” Cecil said, still sizing Hattie Mae up suspiciously. “But I thought you were human now.”
“I am,” Hattie Mae insisted. “But I was a demon an awfully long time. I’m still connected to the netherworld and I can feel that connection. That’s why I want to help you.”
“Help us?” Cecil asked. “You’re going to help us?”
“Yes,” Hattie Mae continued. “You helped lift my curse; I want to help lift yours.”
“How do we do that?” Bubba interjected, anxiously.
“I’m not exactly sure. But I have to try. We can contact a mage or shaman who knows how to treat this. I know I can get rid of it for you,” Hattie Mae said, confidently. “Just give me some time.”
Bubba regarded Cecil happily. “How about that, man? She’s gonna help us get rid of Rosalita’s curse.”
“What, she gonna look up shaman in the phone book?” Cecil said doubtfully.
“I’m gonna teach her the internet, man,” Bubba said. “She’ll have all kinds of places to go there. Besides, you got a better way at handling this business?”
Cecil shrugged in resignation. “Okay, she can help us. But, let’s see what she can manage before we throw her a parade, all right?”
“Fair enough. Okay. Well, we got a mess of groceries in my Pontiac,” Bubba said, turning to Hattie Mae. He handed her his keys. “Why don’t you head over to the trailer park and get settled in.”
“Settled in?” Cecil said, smelling a skunk.
“Sure. Hattie Mae is going to stay with us, ‘til she gets back on her feet,” Bubba informed Cecil.
Cecil shook his head. “Man, this just keeps getting better by the minute. She’s staying with us? Her?”
“For a spell,” Bubba said, gesturing
to Hattie Mae. “But we get a benefit or two. Hattie Mae told me she likes to cook. And we could both use some home cooked meals.”
Hattie Mae nodded. “Cooking is my passion. But, if Cecil isn’t comfortable, I can always find another place.”
“No,” Bubba said, sternly. “You don’t have anybody and we can help you get up to speed. Things have changed a bit since you was human. We’ll help you get the lay of the land. Ain’t that right, Cecil?”
Texas Strange Page 32
