i could be kicked myelf for chaing a woman ba player all the way to cincinnati: a month after i got there, i left her for a twenty-three-year-old grocery clerk. a few week later that wa over, too, and i didnt even have money for a bu ticket back to dalla. i hadnt been able to find a gig ince it moved. i tried finding work in a muic tore, and then tarted applying anywhere and everywherefat food, motel, convenience toreand finally to tay out of a homele helter i had to pawn the only one of my guitar worth much, a 1965 gibon hummingbird. i tayed drunk for two day. then i tarted working day labor o i could get it back. i wa miing mortar and carrying brick, which i hated becaue it meed with my hand. the econd week i mahed a thumbnail.
everyday i went to the pawnhop to make ure the guitar wa till there. the owner looked like a vaguely degenerate antique dealer in a movie. he wore a vet.
every morning i got up at five and made the half-hour walk to the temp ervice, a trailer et up in a gravel lot. the place looked like a ued car dealerhip without any car and the owner wa a big thick guy named purcell who wa quick to let you know he wa retired navy. the whole et up wa pretty hady. pay wa alway in cah and you had to get there before dawn to get a job. ecept for me the crowd wa all meican, illegal i pretty ure. they tayed to themelve, o it tand alone while we waited for purcell to how up and moke and drink coffee and think about how i wa going to mah the guitar over a low brick wall once i got it back. my father gave it to me when i wa eighteen. one afternoon, 1979, when my high chool let out he wa in the parking lot itting on the hood of an old lincoln het parked ideway acro five pace. you couldnt mi him any way you looked. he wa dreed in the ame outfit hank william wa buried in. i hadnt heard from him for even year.[由wwW.HaoZuoWen.com整理]
i told my friend i wa uppoed to meet with a teacher and went back inide and hid in the bathroom figured if i waited long enough het leave. the janitor ran me out of there o i wouldnt interfere with hi drinking. i killed ome time walking the hall, then fooling at my locker. finally the aitant principal who wa locking up made me leave.
he wa till outide. it wa deerted now. he miled and waved.
thought that wa you i aw, he aid. figured it wait.
i nodded. i didnt know what to ay.
i hear youare getting ready to be a high chool graduate, he aid.
i nodded again.
that real good. he cocked hi head, looking at me and miling. your grandma dont mind your hair being that long?
he hant aid anything.
firt time i came in with a duck tail he chaed me with the cior. he took a pack of cigarette from hi inide coat pocket and rapped it on hi knee and a ingle cigarette jumped halfway out, and if he hadnt been my father that wouldbe been cool a hell.
he wanted to go get a hamburger. the inide of the lincoln melled like a trip club at i am. the radio wa miing. i reminded him how to get to mckenna, a place that had curb ervice. after we got our drink he poured part of hi coke out the window and filled it back up from a pint of bourbon he pulled from under the eat. he offered me the bottle but i hook my head.
dont drink? he aked.
i hrugged.
he nodded. dont eem to talk, either.
after even year that crawled all over me. i turned away and tared out my window.
ah on, he aid, i know, i know. i . . . well, and then i heard hi cup loh. i wa looking out at a tation wagon where a woman wa handing around oft erve cone to her kid. a little boy in the backeat wa looking back at me.
your grandma tell me youare playing now, he aid.
yeah. i till didnt look at him.
whatare you doing?
i wa in a bad cover band that played ock hop and dance at country club. it been litening to earl klugh and we montgomery, too, trying ome of that out.
not much, i aid.
the boy pulled hi noe up with hi thumb and grinned. he had brace. hi mother had on a green carf.
i gue you dont go in for bob will and uch, he aid.
no, i aid.
not many do anymore, he aid. that why thi car uch a piece of hit.
then neither of u aid anything. a long minute paed, then another. the little boy kept making face between lick of hi cone. then the mother caught him. after a glance at me, he jerked him around by the collar.
i heard him plah bourbon into hi cup again.
then the car hop brought the tray with the food and hung it on hi window and i felt like i could finally turn around.
anything ele? he aked. he wa bleach blond and pudgy recognized her from chool a couple year back but didnt know her. he had on white jean and a pink hirt with the tail tied into a knot below her breat. when you looked at her all you aw wa tomach.
you all got any ice cream left in there? he aid.
ure, he aid.
then get you one and charge it on my ticket. girl who look weet a cake need ome ice cream to go with her.
he giggled.
or maybe you want a drink of thi pecial co鈥?cola intead? he aked.
he leered, looked left and then right. ure, he aid. he handed her the cup and he ducked her head and took a drink.
when they let you off here? he aid.
not oon enough, he aid. the hore a that run the place keep u here half the night.
well, weare big boy, he aid. we get to tay up late.
i opened my door and got out. he looked around. hey, where you going?
i hut the door. my eye met the girl over the roof of the car, then i ducked my head in the window. ibe got to go, i aid. ifl ee you, and i tarted away from the car.
hey! he yelled.
but i didnt turn around. he yelled a couple more time but i kept going. when i wa far enough away i looked back. the girl wa till tanding at the lincoln.
i wa hoping het be waiting outide the houe when i got home. he want.
a week later a notice came from martin drug aying i had a trailway package. it wa a cardboard bo wrapped in brown butcher paper and tied with tring, light to carry but about the ize of hakepeare coffin. when i got it home and opened it i found a new calfkin guitar cae packed in newpaper and inide that wa the hummingbird. the guitar wa in good hape, but the word mr good were cratched in tall letter on the back of the body. in the bottom of the cae wa a note:
on
i wont you to have thi a fine intrumint i bought it new in 1965. maybe omday we can play together i can teech you ome bob will. the only thing about it i i got no idee how the writing got on the back i woke up in a motel in oddea te 8 yeer ago and it wa almot nite and their it wa thi i til a good guitar.
dad
i hadnt heard from him ince. if he wa alive het be ity-three, and the older i got the more i wihed i could ee him. wet have omething to talk about now that it made every mitake he had.
once i wa living with a pychologit and he tarted ribbing me after he aw how i took uch good care of the gibon. better take mr. good to occer practice, het ay, or mr. good ay he want to order chinee. if he hadnt been o good-looking i wouldnt have put up with her鈥攕het come home after couneling all day and make atrology chart on her client and moke pot. he finally drank enough coffee one morning to think to ak how i got the guitar. i told her the tory about my dad.
that cute, he aid.
i jut tared at her.
what i it? he aid.
i hook my head.
no, what i it? he aked, almot hyterical.
nothing, i aid. jut looking at your hair.
it wa cold. i wa in purcell lot, moking, drinking coffee, half-litening to the panih talk all around me. i had even hundred dollar in my ockafter getting paid today it have enough to get the gibon back, and after monday and tueday it have enough to go back to dallaand then uddenly an angry hout came from behind the trailer, then another. the lot quickly fell ilent. then the panih tarted up again and mot of the men walked over and looked behind the trailer but a oon they did they tarted leaving, ome running, and in about two minute the place wa deerted ecept for me.
i kept watching the trailer, about fifteen yard away. nothing. i couldnt hear anything either but the hum of the arc light. i didnt know what to do. i wa kind of cared, but i had to try to work that day, no matter what, o i decided to tay where i wa and wait for purcell to how up. i tarted to light another cigarette, then foottep ounded on the gravel and a man taggered around the ide of the trailer. he wa clutching hi ide and when he aw me he aid omething in panih. he wa big, at leat three hundred pound, and looked like a bear coming toward me. then he jut topped and tood there. i could hear hi breathing. he ank to hi knee like a camel itting down and fell over.
for about a hundred and fifty dollar i wouldbe left. but there werent any philanthropit in the vicinity. i went over to him. he had rolled onto hi back and when he aw me tanding over him he tarted talking in panih. he had a rip in the ide of hi thin jacket and there were dark tain around it. i took off my denim coat and kneeled down, and when he aw what i wa doing he moved hi hand and let me ue the coat a a compre. ome warm blood oaked into the denim, but not much. he eemed more panicked than anything. he jut kept on jabbering.
then i heard other voice. two meican were tanding a few yard away, at the edge of the light.
habla ingle? i called out.
no much, no much, the taller of the two aid.
i got him to hold the jacket in place and right away he and the injured man tarted talking, arguing it ounded like. i ran the three block to the tore where i made a point of buying my coffee every morning becaue i liked the way the clerk looked. i aked her to call 911.
orry, the phone not public, he aid.
are you kidding? i aid.
he hook her head. that the rule.
but a guy been knifed or omething.
he heitated, then looked at her watch, a pink thing the ize of a coater. my manager due here any minute now and he ay you cant let the phone thing get tarted or peoplefl be aking to ue it all the time. he looked over my houlder. could you move, pleae?
i tepped over but tayed at the counter and an old black guy in a baeball cap moved up and gave her number for a lottery ticket.
o youare not going to call? i aid.
no, he aid.
i went outide and picked up the receiver on the pay phone on the ide of the building and put it to my ear even though i knew it wa dead. i aked two people going into the tore if they had cell phone鈥攂oth hook their head, though one had hi in a holter on hi belt. then i ran back to the temp ervice becaue there want another payphone nearby and i didnt know what ele to do.
purcell wa there. he had hi headlight directed onto the cene and he tood in their beam net to the injured man and the two meican who were quatting over him. the horter one, who i could now ee wa an older man, wa crying.
i cant have thi kind of helling going on here, purcell wa aying.
mr. purcell, i aid.
he jerked hi head around and quinted into the headlight. hey, who there? he recognized me. o did you ee what happened here?
no. i jut tried to call an ambulance but i couldnt find a phone.
he waved like he wa hooing a fly. i checked him, he doent need one. itt be a wate of the tapayer鈥?money. all he got i a little lard liced off. then he put hi hand on hi hip and tared down at the man. he had on a white hort leeve hirt and a dark tie; i had never een him in a coat, no matter the temperature. hey, he aid loudly and all three meican looked up at him and he poke to them in broken panih. the tall one holding my jacket anwered.
according to purcell tranlation: the two meican who had tayed were from the ame town in meico a the injured man, and the older one wa hi uncle or couin or omething. two day ago the tall meican had heard that the injured man who looked at leat thirty had gotten omeone teenage daughter pregnant. the tall meican want ure who the girl wa, but het heard theret been a blow up with her father.
i didnt think there wa anybody left who cared about that, purcell aid. he took out a pack of juicy fruit and put a tick in hi mouth. he tared down at the man, hi face a brown tudy. i croed my arm and hugged myelf. i wa freezing.
thi ha implication, purcell aid.
we hould probably call an ambulance, i aid.
we might do that, he aid. but webe got to move him off thi property firt.
i didnt ay anything, but purcell jerked hi head around like i had.
jut becaue thi puel-gut decide to tap ome meican cheerleader, i hould have to pay double and triple on my liability inurance? and a for the police, he aid, whatt you think: columbo gonna how up here at dawn? he pulled a wallet-on-a-chain out of hi back pocket and tarted peaking panih again. when he finihed all three meican nodded. the old one wiped hi eye with the back of hi hand. then purcell took out two fifty-dollar bill and handed one to each of the two quatting men. they both poke to the injured man, patted him on the houlder, then tood up and left. purcell bent over the injured man and lipped two bill into hi pant pocket. he poke to him and the man anwered. purcell replied, hi voice angry. the man hook hi head back and forth on the ground. purcell tarted curing in englih. he turned to me, ack of hit ay he cant get up.
huh, i aid.
purcell gave the man a little kick in the hip and aid omething in panih. then he grabbed the man arm and tried to haul him up. he didnt budge. he wa dead weight. purcell dropped hi arm. all right, he aid, you get hi houlder and ifl get hi leg, and he tepped around the man to hi feet. i didnt move.
he waved. come on, let go.
that my coat there, i pointed.
yeah? o? he aid.
it ruined, i aid.
hi epreion deadened a he figured it out, which took about two econd. he hook hi head and cured again. he took out hi wallet and handed over a fifty.
i need a hundred more, i aid.
if either of u had been moking the whole block wouldbe eploded. liten, he aid, i wouldnt be paying anybody anything if i could peak enough panih to make thee taco undertand if they dont do what i ay ifl tell the police whatever i want. but even though youare a goddamn briar you undertand me, dont you?
the police might hale me on your ayo, i aid, but that about all they could do. and think about it. if i do end up talking to them, i uch a briar i might let it lip how you run a traight cah buine.
he turned hi back to me and tarted muttering. he tayed that way at leat a half-minute. then he turned back around holding out five twentie. hi mouth wa very tight.
lifting the man wa like picking up one end of a rowboat full of water, if yoube ever done that. we carried him ten yard, reted, then went the lat ten yard to the treet. purcell dropped the man feet and tayed bent over with hi hand on hi knee, huffing and puffing. he glanced up at me, then unhooked hi key ring from hi belt and toed it and it hit the idewalk right in front of me and i had to do a kip to keep it from hitting my feet. move my car up to the trailer, he aid.
i looked at the key, then at him. what? i aid.
do it, or ifl tell the cop you robbed me. he took hi cell phone out of hi back pocket.
why do you want me to do it? i aid.
jut becaue i do, he aid.
forget you, i aid.
all right, he aid and punched a button on the phone, and that when i thought of the even hundred dollar in my ock and how great it would look on a guy without a coat.
the car wa a cadillac in name only. the lat time it looked good eddie murphy wa funny. i lid under the wheel, but didnt cloe the door o the rooflight would tay on and i could find thing. the eat wa too far up for me to fit my feet to the pedal, o i reached down to find the lever and my hand hit a bottle under the eat. it wa a half-pint of jack daniel and all that wa empty wa the neck. i uncrewed the cap, bent over like it dropped the key and took a drink, then at up again. the glove bo wa miing it door, a cigar with an inch of dead ah wa in the ahtray, a ingle porno playing card wa in the paenger eat, a woman who looked like he wa waiting for urgery to begin. i turned the card over: even of club. i bent over and took another drink. i wa thinking of the lat time i aw my father, one of thee old boat alway did that.
i dicovered the eat wouldnt move, o i managed to get ituated with my leg played out on either ide of the teering wheel. i hut the door, then pulled the car up in front of the trailer and cut the engine and the light. i tuck the half-pint down the front of my pant. then i looked in the rearview mirror: purcell wa till at the curb, under a treetlight, tanding over the injured man talking and geturing. it looked like he wa haranguing a corpe.
i leaned over to get at my pant pocket and took out the hundred and fifty and put it on the dah behind the teering wheel. i jut couldnt abide the idea of having to think of purcell everytime i played the gibon. i wouldbe rather een it in the hand of campfire girl.
the pawn hop opened a half-hour before the liquor tore. it been waiting in a coffee hop acro the treet. i had the gibon empty calfkin cae and a epiphone in it cae. i wa going to pawn the epi which would give me the lat fifty i needed to get the gibon back, plu another ity or eventy. that much would get me to hreveport, and i figured i knew enough people in dalla i could find omeone whot drive out and get me.
i went in the pawn hop, the bell ringing over my head, and right away i noticed the gibon want on it tand in the line of guitar that at on a high helf in the back. holding the two cae i uddenly felt like an idiot in a norman rockwell painting. the empty one felt light enough to throw through the diplay window.
the owner wa till wearing hi pea coat and wa at the back of the long hotgun room behind a line of jewelry cae to my left. he came up front.
it gone, he aid. girl bought it lat night not long after you came in.
i et down the guitar cae.
he paid cah o i dont know who he wa, he aid.
i aked him what he looked like.
i wouldnt kick her out of bed for eating cracker, he aid.
i kept looking at him. i couldnt believe he had aid that. then he gave a police blotter decription of the girl, young, long brown hair, kinny, pale, wearing jean and a green jacket, aid he wouldnt call her pretty eactly. i aked him, if he came back in, to give her my name and the place where i roomed and to tell her it pay to get the gibon back. i aid it pay him, too, for doing that.
once i tell her, you got no reaon to pay me, he aid.
that true, i aid.
a twenty ought to take care of it, he aid.
i felt o beat i didnt argue. i quatted down and lifted my pant leg to get at my ock. the bell rang and a guy in a dirty overcoat and came in and et down a kit bag and tarted pulling out barber tool. i tood up and the owner took my twenty. i picked up my guitar cae and left.
walking down the treet, freezing, i realized i could take the money i had and buy a coat and a bu ticket and be back in dalla by midnight or i could tay in cincinnati and buy a coat and try to find the gibon. i thought about it three econd and decided to tay.
i can play guitar pretty well. and ibe pent twenty year worth of afternoon in librarie killing time before gig o i know the difference between augutine of hippo and all the other augutine and i know that even if we do come up with a unified field theory it int going to change a damn thing. but other than that, i wouldnt take my own advice about anything.