[Marvin's] World of Deadheads

by Paul Atreides

  “Really?” Marvin was genuinely surprised by the statement. “Is that true?” he looked at Mike and Tommy.

  Mike rolled his eyes. “Brody, I’ve seen hang-dog looks on people, but yours take the cake. You mope better than anyone I’ve ever met.”

  “Well, what can I say? Sorry. Hope I didn’t ruin anyone’s vacation.”

  Mel pinched Connie and gave her a now-look-what-you’ve-done glare. “You didn’t ruin anything, Marvin. How long had you been with her?”

  “About five years. We had the date set a few times, but things kept getting in the way.”

  The sound of the engines coming to life signaled the final approach to the marina and the crowd gathered along the rails to watch. The crew busied themselves with the last minute preparations to arrive in port.

  “I’m sure you have every reason and right to miss her, Marvin. It’s perfectly understandable. This,” Nancy swept a hand around the circle of new friends, “dying thing can be tough to adjust to. Anyway, I repeat, I’m sure Jenna remembered your birthday. You’ll get back to Dayton and find out you missed the party.”

  Marvin laughed. “Damn! If there’s one thing I hate, it’s missing parties — especially if they’re in my honor. Well, what do you say, hippie? Are you ready to head home?”

  “I’m cool with whatever, man.”

  “Home it is. Besides, I have this burning need and you’re the only one who knows how to serve up a good corned beef.” Marvin’s knuckles scrubbed the top of Tommy’s head. “This guy is the best chef in the region.”

  Tommy beamed a smile. “Thanks, dude.”

  The ship’s engines shut down and she slid alongside the dock with a tiny bump and scrape, the first mate tossed the bowline to the pier, jumped the rail and secured the line as the gangplank hit the deck.

  The group stood on the dock saying their goodbye’s, jostled by the departing passengers bumping through them. Marvin turned to Nancy, “You should come to Dayton sometime.”

  “I just might do that.” Nancy gave him a hug and kissed him. Then she held his eyes in a serious gaze. “You be good now, Marvin.”

  Mel, Connie, Nancy and Dennis planned to stay on St. Thomas for a few more weeks and walked in the direction of the beach. Mike, Marvin and Tommy followed the crowd to a line of waiting taxis. When they neared the curb, Tommy walked backward, turned to the departing deadheads and called out, “What do you say we do it all again this same time next year?”

  The four stopped and waved, “Deal!” drifted over the sounds of traffic and waves.

  “Far out, man!” Tommy put an imitation phone to one ear. “Have your people call our people!”

  -32-

  Other than the typical pranks Tommy loved pulling on the living, the trip back to Dayton proved uneventful. On the bus from the airport, he invited Marvin and Mike to the deli.

  Mike checked his watch. “He’s still open, though, Tommy.”

  “So what. Dude, it won’t be any tougher putting together a birthday dinner for Marv than it is getting our bagels and stuff every morning. Besides,” Tommy looked out at the lowering sun, “it should be getting pretty slow by the time we get there.”

  “I know it was my idea, but if you don’t mind, Tommy, I think I just want to get home now. Can I have a rain check?”

  “No problem, Marvin.” Tommy scowled and rolled his eyes. He knew Marv’s intent was to hurry back to check on Jenna, but decided to let it pass and looked to Mike. “What about you? You want something to eat, or do you want to head back to the hotel?”

  Mike tried to stifle a yawn through his answer. “I’m hungry, but I’m really bushed. You’d think after such a relaxing week, I’d be rarin’ to go. I wonder if it’s the air in the planes that does this… Anyway, let’s just go home.”

  “Whatever. I’m easy. So, tomorrow morning as usual?”

  The bus slowed for a red light and Marvin got out of his seat. “Well, this is as close as I’ll get.” He stepped through the side of the bus when it came to a complete stop and waved a hand in goodbye. “See you two jokers tomorrow.”

  When the bus pulled away, Tommy swiveled in his seat to face Mike. “So. Do you think he had fun? Does he realize that woman isn’t necessary to an enjoyable existence?”

  “Hard to tell,” Mike mused through another yawn. “Guess we’ll find out.”

  “Jeez, I’ve never seen the likes of him before.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, at first he seemed to take the transition in stride, you know? The shopping for the suit, her making the arrangements. The funeral itself. But then… I don’t know. What do you think happened?”

  Mike sat silent for a while. “Maybe it’s just what he said, maybe he misses her. Isn’t there anyone you miss?”

  “Dude… I live in the present. The past is so… past. My folks taught us that on the commune.”

  “You mean, ‘live for the moment’ kinda shit?”

  Tommy nudged Mike to signal their impending exit from the bus. “No, dude. Live in the moment. Big difference.”

  Mike followed him off the bus. “For the moment, in the moment. Whatever. My moment right now is to get back to the suite and sleep the sleep of the dead.” Tommy laughed. It took Mike a few seconds to realize what Tommy found funny. “Ah, the truth shall set ye free! Can I have an Amen, brother?”

  “Amen, brother!”

  In the hotel room, they shucked their clothes and fell onto the bed. Tommy kept tossing and turning.

  “Tommy, if you can’t sleep, go watch some TV.”

  “Sorry.” Tommy propped his pillow against the headboard and sat up. A few minutes later he got out of bed, turned on the shower and stepped under the hot spray. The warm water always helped when he felt a depression coming on, or if he needed to think something through. He stood, head tilted back, eyes closed, and jumped when Mike touched his side.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Turn on the side heads and slide over a little. Let me get under the water.”

  Tommy turned the valve and adjusted a shower head, moved to give Mike some room and closed his eyes again. The two stood side by side under the cascade. Tommy broke the silence in a whisper. “I do, you know.”

  “Do what?”

  “Have people and things I miss.” Tommy choked back a sob. His tears ran freely down his cheeks, mingling with the water. He turned toward Mike and buried his face into a shoulder.

  Mike wrapped his arms around his friend. “Hey… Hey, I didn’t mean… I mean, we all do. And, Brody’ll be okay. Some of us just take a little longer to adjust, is all. You know that, don’t you?”

  Tommy lifted his head a bit and nodded. “Sorry… It’s…” He leaned back into his own space. “The odd thing is, I guess… He reminds me of my brother. He’s older than me, like Marvin, and he was always smacking me upside the back of my head, making fun of me and stuff too. But he always made me laugh. Like Marvin. I heard my folks say he cried like a baby when he heard about me getting killed in the robbery at the deli. I didn’t know what to do for him, how to help him. So, I guess it just bothers me to see Marvin unhappy and I don’t know what I can do to make it better.”

  A lot of Mike’s questions were answered in those few words. Tommy had been a deadhead for so much longer than he or Marvin and Mike sometimes had to remind himself Tommy was younger; though nine or ten years may not seem like a lot, a guy goes through significant emotional growth during his twenties. He wrapped a hand around one of Tommy’s and squeezed. “Would you like to go see your brother? We can you know.”

  Tommy shook his head. “No… I promised to help Marvin. I can’t do that if I’m out on the west coast.”

  “You’ve done a lot for Brody. It’ll get better. He’ll get better. He’ll figure this out. So, if you want to see your brother, we should go.”

  “Dude, no. Really. I — it’s better if I stay. It’s been such a long time, I’m sure Gene is fine now. I can still help Marvin, though, and that’s what I’m
going to do.”

  “Okay, then. Come on,” Mike pulled him close and hugged him, “let’s dry off and get some sleep.”

  Mike turned off the water, pulled a towel from the rack and draped it over a motionless Tommy, dried himself off, then pulled Tommy’s towel and patted him dry. He dropped them both into a damp heap on the marble tiled floor, led his friend to the bed and tucked him in. Minutes later they were both fast asleep.

  ***

  It didn’t surprise Marvin to hear Jenna’s voice coming from Mrs. McClaskey’s place as he walked toward the condo. She’d been spending a lot of time with the old lady. Well, when she wasn’t chained to her desk writing briefs for lawyers who reaped the benefits of her skills without having to pay the higher wages of a paralegal. Marv went through the door to what he still considered his condo, and rummaged through the cabinets looking for the bottle of scotch he knew should be there.

  “Dammit! Jesus H., Jen, where the hell is my scotch? You never drank much of that stuff… What’d you do, give it away?” He grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, and crossed the hall to the old lady’s place. Laughter rolled through the room.

  Jenna, Mrs. McClaskey, and Larry, sat around the dining room table. A hunk of corned beef on a platter dominated the center, a lonely looking half of a knish remained on a rack beside Larry and a half full bowl of green beans with slivered almonds was situated between Larry and Jenna. The aroma of the corned beef still hung in the air and Marvin breathed it in with appreciation. “God, that smells good.”

  Larry sighed, wiped his mouth and leaned back in his chair. “Thank you. That was really excellent. Kudos, Mrs. McClaskey.”

  “Oh, you’re quite welcome.” She studied them both for a moment. “But, please — you should address me as Colleen. That goes for you as well, Jenna. I feel as if we’ve become good friends, family really. And it’s silly to keep being so formal, don’t you think, dear?” She didn’t wait for an answer and scooted her chair back to stand. “Now, why don’t we retire to the living room and have that small sip of scotch.”

  “Let me clean up for you a bit and put the leftover food away, Mrs. McClaskey.”

  “My heavens, no! Jenna, just leave it there. I’ll take care of it all later. And, dear? Honestly, I want you to call me Colleen.”

  Jenna made a mental note to at least try to force a new habit and nodded. “On one condition.”

  Mrs. McClaskey bristled the smallest bit. “And that would be?”

  “You let us,” Jen gave Larry a meaningful glance, “both of us, help you clean up before the end of the evening.”

  “Oh, go on,” came with the smile and wave of a hand and Mrs. McClaskey led them into the other room where the bottle and three glasses waited on a silver serving tray.

  Marvin stood in the corner and watched the three of them abandon what was left of his favorite meal. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to follow them and filch a glass of scotch, or stay and eat. His hunger got the better of him and he devoured the food while he listened to the chatter.

  “Now, you never told me how the golf outing went this morning. Did you enjoy it, dear?”

  Larry scowled at Jenna. “We missed our original tee time.” Then a smile broke across his face. “But she’s almost a natural.”

  “I wouldn’t say that.”

  Marvin’s ears pricked up. “You golfed? Since when do you golf?” He shoved the last bite of corned beef into his mouth, left the can of beer on the table, moved into the other room and sat on the couch next to Larry.

  “Hey! Shooting under one-hundred on a par seventy-two course your first time out, that’s pretty damned good, if you ask me,” Larry stated.

  “Why did you miss your tee-off, if you don’t mind me asking.”

  “Well, Mrs. — Colleen,” Larry corrected himself as the scowl returned to his face, “it seems Jenna felt she had to go into the office.”

  Marvin laughed. “You may as well get used to it because that’s not about to change any time soon.”

  “I had to make some changes on the Pratt brief. Robb needs it for court first thing Monday morning. What was I supposed to do?” Jenna asked in defiance.

  “Robb has a whole pool of paralegals at his beck and call.”

  Jenna opened her mouth to make a retort but was interrupted before she could utter a single word.

  “Now, now, it’s water under the bridge, as we used to say. There’s no need to argue about it now.” Mrs. McClaskey sighed softly.

  Marv chuckled. “Damn! I was enjoying that. You should’ve let them keep going. Maybe this creep would back off a bit.”

  “My, how things have changed since my day,” Colleen continued. “But, I realize it’s important for young ladies to be able to support themselves. Just think, what would have happened, where our girl would be right now, if she wasn’t capable of supporting herself. Besides, Jenna, didn’t you just tell me something about a promotion?”

  Larry turned to a smiling Jenna. “Really? How come I didn’t hear anything about this?”

  “Because Jo didn’t want anyone to know. Evidently, Robb said if the brief is good enough to convince the judge to allow this new evidence, I become the newest paralegal in the firm.”

  Marv sat stunned, his mouth hanging open. “Holy shit! No kidding. I think that deserves a toast.” With the focus on Jenna, he quickly pulled a glass through the door of the corner china cabinet and poured a good amount of scotch. The only evidence of his pilfering was a barely detectable sloshing of the amber liquid after he set the bottle back onto the tray.

  “That’s terrific! And the income to go along with the new title?”

  Jenna beamed. “As far as I know.”

  “Well, this calls for a toast.” Larry held his glass up and waited. The three clicked the tumblers together and held them in place. Other than a slight tingling in Larry’s left side he blamed on his golf swing, they didn’t know Marvin’s glass was right up there with theirs. “To our brightest star. Congratulations.”

  Mrs. McClaskey stopped short of drinking. “And a Happy Birthday to Marvin. Wherever you are right now, I hope it’s a good place.”

  Jenna flinched.

  Larry shot her a quick look. “Is this his birthday? Was all this for him?”

  Jenna nodded and tried to prepare for Larry’s poor reaction.

  Mrs. McClaskey put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, dear. I’m afraid I just let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.” She looked at Jenna. “I’m sorry, dear. I’m such a fool of an old woman.”

  Marvin smiled and hoisted his glass toward Jenna. “You remembered! Just like Nancy said you would. And you two did this for me? I hoped when I saw my favorite meal, but… thank you.” He leaned into Jen, kissed her on the cheek, and hoped Larry would stomp out in anger.

  Jenna looked at the floor and rubbed a hand against her cheek to brush away the stray hair that had tickled her face.

  Larry frowned for a split second and quickly recovered in a smile. “No. You know what, I think it’s great. It’s nice you remembered him. You should. He was a big part of your life for a long time and I hope you’d do the same for me if the situation were reversed.” He raised his glass and waited for them. “Happy birthday, Marvin!”

  “Son of a bitch!” Marv lowered his glass to his side. The three raised the toast to Marv while he glowered and then turned to Jenna. “I don’t believe this. He’s actually a nice guy? Dammit! Well… don’t think for a minute I’m willing to let this go on.”

  “Come on, Larry. It’s getting late. Let’s help Mrs. — Colleen — clean up and then we should be going.”

  “Now, there’s no need to rush out of here. Honestly. I enjoy the company.”

  “I know it’s still fairly early, but I’ve had a long day. I’m afraid if I don’t get to bed soon, I’ll nod off right here.” Jenna moved directly into the kitchen and stood in front of the cupboards. “Where will I find containers for the leftovers?”

  “What leftovers?”


  “Come on, Larry, don’t eat that stuff just because it’s there. Let Colleen have it for her lunch tomorrow.”

  “Now, Jenna, don’t chastise him. He’s a growing young man and I’m glad he liked it.”

  “Jen, hon, I’m not eating a thing. I’m saying it’s all gone.”

  “Hey! Don’t call her Jen!” Marv threatened. “That’s what I called her. And you certainly may not call her ‘hon.’ Keep it up, buddy, and I might take you right along with her.”

  Jenna walked into the dining room and stared at the empty dishes. She gave Larry a questioning look and noticed the beer can on the corner of table. “Now, where the heck did that come from?”

  “Oh, crap!” Marvin snatched the can from the table and it disappeared from sight.

  Jenna shook her head and mumbled. “Maybe I’m more tired than I thought.”

  “Why do you say that, dear?” Colleen asked, gathering the dirty dishes.

  “I could’ve sworn there was still food left and… for an instant, I thought I saw a beer can on the table. I must be seeing things.”

  “A beer? God, you are tired. I better get you home and into bed fast!” Larry winked at her and Jenna smiled.

  “I don’t think so!” Marvin threw a punch that swiped right through the left side of Larry’s face.

  Larry flinched and a strange look came into his eyes. “Unh.” He rubbed his temple. “Damn. What the hell was that?”

  Jenna turned to him, concern in her voice. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know. It’s… There was just this odd tightness, a tingling. Just for a second. I’m fine now.”

  “Oh, my. Perhaps you better sit down. Go sit in the living room. Jenna and I will have this cleared in a jiffy and then we’ll be in to join you. We can have a final night cap before I send you two scurrying across the hall.”

  “No, I’m… I’ll be fine. Really.”

  Marv took another swing, this time into the solar plexus.