09-15-2014, 04:42 AM
Saturday Night
You can buy prostitutes with food stamps if you go to Big Lots soon as they open on Sunday mornins. And you on't have to go through no fellas or nothin, you get it straight up with the girls. There's two em, a girl looks like she might be a little Spanish but still light skinned, almost pale, and anotha girl that's real skinny's got blonde hair but has it done pink or some otha funny color sometimes if you get lucky.
Joey and Parker go do that every once in a while, but mosly you can get the girl works at Save-a-Lot and on't have to give no food stamps. I tried it one time but she seemed uppity and, more than that, she act like a stuck up . . . I aint call no girls bitches now, I on't like to do that way. Still she gets funny when the first time I pulled the card out, and she prolly roll her eyes but I aint see it, it's just the impression I get off her.
The light Spanish girl looks pretty thin, though you come around the counter and look through the glass part what they have the watches and you see she got thick hips almost like a fat girl, but she aint fat so I reckon she looks pretty good. Though that young skinny blonde with the pink hair, she real skinny and bony, but she got enough goin on in the right places to do what you need to do.
Joey came around and picked me up couple weeks ago I guess, Parker was in the front seat so that I had to sit in the back. We stopped at Chic-fa-le, and we went through the drive-thru to get somethin eat fore we went. Parker had the seat back so far I hant have no room, but the floorboard was wet too, so I scoot over to the otha side behind Joey.
Parker said, "I'm gone eat the life right out this sandwich."
"Is that seat wet back here?" I aksed Joey.
"Yeah man, fu my dad left tha window down when he went to work," he said. "You got tha towel still back there?"
"I think I seen it down there."
"We is sposed to be down in tha floor we tried wipe it up earlier he got home."
"I'm eatin the Jesus and the Disciples outta this sandwich," Parker was sayin.
We pulled hard down onto the side the road, some big truck had to stop and back out, and when it moved we turned and went down that road. Joey had to stop in somewhere, and I thought it be funny if it was the first trailer I saw what's no bigger than a shed right there on the right as we first pulled in the road. It turned out to be the one right next to it that wontin much bigger.
There wont no car there. I remember Joey sayin they aint have no car and they was waitin for somebody to bring em somethin too, but he was goin on and see if they had anything anyway. A little girl was peekin out the door when we rode up, with some otha kid you could hardly see him behind her tryin look over her shoulder or under her arm. That door made me think how it's funny when them trailer doors open outwards like that, it looked cheap like a flap a cardboard movin in the wind how they stood there lettin it open a little then shuttin a little.
"I'll be back," Joey said, then he got out and walked over the trailer and smiled and stuck his head in the door while the kids were behind the door what you couln't see 'em.
He's in there bout five or ten minutes. "They said they aint got nothin. They waitin for sombody to bring them somethin themselves," he said. Then we left.
We drove straight over by the school where Parker knew somebody. That's where he goes in and I lends him bout, I reckon, eleven dollars. And me and Joey have to sit out there a little bit longer, bout a hour. I see that guy he came to see wont even there cause he pulled up by the curve and was takin groceries in while Parker musta been in there with the guy's girl. She aint all that good-lookin anyway, since I seen her before. I figure they just in there talkin, Parker aint no good with women anyway, cept they prostitutes. I got to thinkin bout a girl I met on Craig's List, wont but bout 14, wantin $200 for it, I figured I'd need more an that to pay my bail if I get caught with a girl that young. Though that blonde works in front a Big Lots can't be but 17 if she's that, and nobody had no trouble with her, and get that for $10 on food stamps.
Parker was in there a while with both a em, then he came out a hour or so with somethin for him and Joey. I on't do much pills so I wont much interested, though I take em if they offer. I on't plan on seein that eleven dollars back noway.
Next we was goin to the bowlin alley just to hang out. We used to go bowlin lot when we was younger, but we on't much get on with people in town, and they hang out there and the K-Mart parkin lot next store. We just were goin to sit there and play some music, lettin the bass rattle the car. I saw a boy I knew from school named Chad Adkins come out a the bowlin alley, still wearin that same cap he wore last time I saw him years ago with a fish hook on it. He was comin around to somebody's car, I on't believe he ever got to drivin eitha so it must be somebody else's car unless he started sometime since I saw him last time. But he was just comin around when these niggas came up and just jumped on him. All us in the car noticed it happenin at once. There was bout three niggas just jumped on him and was kickin and punchin. One a em had a baseball bat. Joey turned the car off and looked like he was wonderin whetha we should do somethin. "They gonna do that shit right in public anybody can see," Parker said not lookin at Joey but still watchin the fight. Chad was fightin back, he was whoopin on one a em, he was holdin his shoulder where he'd got hit by the bat, though the one with the bat didn't hit him no more, and the one Chad was whoopin on was gettin the worst a things though the third nigga was beatin Chad good on the back a the head.
It was funny that it seemed nobody else was around out there watchin. We just sat there in the car watchin the whole thing, and when they was done beatin on him the three just ran off, and Chad leaned over a car holdin his shoulder like it done got hurt really bad. He still had his cap on.
Chad Adkins was bruised and bloody, and you could see that clearly in the dim light a the parkin lot. Even the way the lights were made the blood look less real, like it was a movie or somethin. We sat there watchin but nobody came out a the bowlin alley or pulled in the parkin lot, and Chad leaned there on somebody's car with his head on the hood and his right hand up on his left shoulder where he'd been beat with the bat.
"I wonda what they was fightin for," Joey said.
"Probably they just jumped him for no reason," Parker said laughin.
"Well they done tore up his shoulder," Joey said. He had a serious look on his face and looked while Chad still leaned there on the car in lots a pain. "I wont let nobody do me like that. I'd find a gun and go after em," he said.
"If I had a gun," Parker said, "I'd lay out any mothafucker tried to put his hands on me. I admit, I aint gonna say I'm the best fighter in the world. But I would have a gun and somebody tried somethin like that with me and I'd show em what to expect."
We all were quiet for a few seconds.
"What you think, Joey?" Parker said. Joey nodded his head and Parker said, "Would you let somebody do somethin like that to you . . . if you had a gun on you?"
Joey kept noddin his head, "Naw." he said slowly. Then he stopped noddin his head.
A girl came out a the bowlin alley and was walkin to her car. She seemed not to know Chad, but as she seen him leanin there in pain she said somethin to him and they said a few things to each otha, I saw Chad sayin somethin still leanin on the hood a the car not lookin up, and the girl got her phone out and was callin somebody with a serious look on her face like she was callin a ambulance or a life savin crew or somethin. Chad just kept lookin down by the hood like he was lookin into his pain. The girl got off the phone after a few seconds and was sayin somethin to him, but Chad just held his shoulder and didn't seem to be sayin anything back to her.
Just then Joey turned on the car and I whatin expectin it cause it didn't seem like a time somebody want to leave and not see what happened, but the car was runnin a few seconds and I felt there wont no reason to stick around noway. Joey pulled the car slowly out its spot and drove slowly up in front the door a the bowlin alley and then out the side exit to the side road and back onto the main highway. I turned and looked back and all I could see was the cars in front a where Chad was, and I couln't see the girl.
We was goin west, away from where we lived. Soon Joey had drove us out a town and we was on the strip with no stores or houses on eitha side a the road on the way towards Maxville. I used to stay up in Maxville on the weekends when I was a kid cause my aunt lived up there, and my ma'd drive me up there to stay when I got out a school on Friday and come back to get me on Sunday night. I was thinkin bout how it seemed late whenever she came to get me, though it was only bout seven or seven-thirty. It must a been in the early months a school when it got dark earlier, like in the fall. I remember I didn't go up there every week, and I probly only went bout four or five times when I was ten or eleven or somewhere around then. I know I never went up there when Halloween was on the weekend, and I'd go trick-a-treatin in my neighborhood and sometimes ma would drive me to some otha places like that road off the highway kinda towards Maxville where rich people lived, the same as one a the places we would drive down when it was bout Christmas and they had the Christmas lights up.
"What we goin this way for?" Parker aksed.
I could see the back of Joey's head, and somehow I could see he was feelin tense and bad. He didn't say nothin for a few seconds, then he told Parker, "I need to get outta town a while."
Parker didn't say anything. It was a sensible idea.
On the highway bout a third quarter to Maxville, Joey took a sharp right into a motel what's the first thing we passed besides gas stations since we left town. It was dark all over the gravel drive-way, you could see that one a the lights on the motel sign was out and the sign cast a big ole shadow over the bout empty drive-way where we pulled in. The bit a the sign was still on was flickin like in horror movies, there was a unreal shinin cast on the shady drive-way, and we sat in the car a few minutes, and I wont thinkin but then I guess Joey was upset, and Parker just sat there with his seat leant back just acceptin that we were here and that was OK with him. He still had the pills, and it was as well to do em in one a these old motels as at home.
We got out a the car and while Joey was in the office, me and Parker walked over and up on a porch front a a room we some reason thought we were stayin in. Joey'd said somethin bout a number, and there was obvious nobody in that room, and me and Parker both thought we was stayin in that room number. Parker had a disposable black and white camera with him in his pocket for some reason, and we took some pictures a each otha in the motel drive-way and up on the porch. There was a chair up on the porch next to the room we figured we was stayin in, and we both took turns sittin in it while the otha took our picture.
I always remembered that picture a me sittin in that chair and wondered what Parker did with it. Whetha he even ever got the film developed or what. I felt like that was a good picture a me.
But Joey came out and said we were goin somewhere else. We were there, and I on't know what was wrong with the place, I on't remember even considerin what at the time. "They got any liquor stores around here?" Joey said. And we did find one, and he got somethin, and we ended up in a smaller motel, after we drove around Maxville little while and was comin back, I remember fartha up the highway on the otha side a the road.
We went in and Parker cut on the TV, and Joey crawled in bed with his bottle. Joey was in the bed on the farside a the room by the bathroom and Parker sat on the end a the otha bed and turned through the channels. The lamp on the table across from Joey's bed next to the TV was on but it still was dark in the room spite the little lamp and the TV flickin. Some a the channels didn't have no volume, there was some good movies on them stations like Batman with Jack Nicholson and Happy Gilmore with Adam Sandler that aint all that good but has that hot blonde in it with the pretty smile.
We watched some dumbass reality shows, one a em was a rerun had Joey from Full House on it. "You know that song by Alanis Morrisette?" Parker aksed, " 'You Oughta Know'?" I told him I did. "He's who she wrote that about," he said. Joey smiled with his bottle, and I thought bout her writin that song bout that guy from Full House, and it seemed comical to me.
"They got any music channels here?" Joey aksed.
"I'll look," Parker said and changed the channel.
It seemed darker in the room to me, though the same lamp was still shinin and the TV still flicked.
Parker put it on a channel that was playin music videos, and it was funny because it was playin an old video by the band Countin Crows called, "Mr. Jones". I remembered I hated that song when I was a kid. I was at the county fair one time over on that road by the outskirts a town, and there was a ride me and my friend C.W. was in line to ride, and they was playin a bunch a Tom Petty songs they always played on the radio and that I liked but when we finally got to get on the ride they started playin that "Mr. Jones" song and I really hated it. Since then I realized how it was bout Bob Dylan, talkin bout Mr. Jones like in the Bob Dylan song, and it sounded better to me for otha reasons as I got older. It seemed sad to me.
That song was playin, I looked over at Joey on his bed with the light barely glowin on him off the table by the otha side a the room, and he looked unhappy though he was smilin with a tired, glowin liquor smile, and I looked at Parker who'd scoot back on the bed and looked half asleep, while I just lay on the floor on the side a the bed Parker was on by the window leanin back on my elbows listenin to the song. It came to the part that went, "Believe in me . . . because I don't believe in anything . . .", and I felt that real deep, and I felt sad but in a decent way, then it went, " but I wanna be someone who believes . . . who believes . . . yeah!" I felt a little better. I figured it was a hopeful song. And I looked up and over at Parker and he was just layin there with his eyes open like he was starin at the TV but not really lookin or payin attention to it, and then I tried to look over at Joey and I could hear him sleepin though I couln't get a look at his face.
After I could tell Parker was asleep, I curled up on the floor by the bed with a pillow and blanket I pulled off the bottom a the bed and listened to the commercials and music videos and the veejays talk low in the light in front a the table and the TV.
The little bit a light flicked in the room, though I felt sheltered from it in my dark place on the otha side a the bed. I could see a little the light under the window curtain from out on the drive-way if I looked hard at it. But I really couln't see it and barely the TV and little lamp eitha when I was turned to the wall by the window.
I laid there more than a hour just thinkin bout things. The noise from the TV sound low and soothin like Parker'd turned it down though he hadn't, and the flickin light from it and the lamp seemed dimmer from how it was fore Parker and Joey fell asleep, though it really wont. And I felt kind a nice there in the floor with that little glow up over me and that gentle noise a the TV barely where I could hear what anybody was sayin or what the music was. And so I was just layin there for two hours maybe, feelin tired and pretty good cause a that.
It was a few times I was almost asleep, I even felt I was dreamin, then realized that's all they were and I felt the dim light and heard the low noise from the TV again, and thought bout how I was there in the motel with Parker and Joey, and it felt a little warm bein there in a place I never slept or been fore with two people that I knew. It was both warm and sad to feel em there in that motel we'd never been fore. Things was just as strange for them, but they was asleep and I wont. And I couln't decide which was the most comfortable thing, to be asleep so easy or to be up awake feelin the strangeness a the place.
The little bit a light that hanged over the place and the soft noise a the TV made me feel like what it was to have one of those white noise machines what like my roommate had one time that I was in a hospital for a while. It was kind a like that in the hospital, though it was dark in your room and they dimmed the lights out in the hall after bedtime, it was still enough light that came in your door and you or your roommates usually left the door open a little ways, and you could feel the otha person in the room whetha you'd hear em sleepin or awake. Most a the time you didn't want to leave the door open yourself, but even if you closed it fore you went to bed, the otha person would leave it a bit open when he came in to go to bed. And he'd cut the light out in the room too if you didn't already. There was only one light, on the ceilin for all you in the room. I could hear Parker and Joey breathin, and Joey was asleep on the bed bout as far away as my roommate'd be in the hospital, so I thought bout him more than Parker who was too close and seemed to be sleepin deeper, though he wont drunk and'd fall asleep later.
I knew Joey was upset over his girl, Rachel. They had had a fight or somethin, and Joey needed to get drunk to deal with her. I on't think anything against Rachel, she was good-lookin and was worth puttin up with if you wanted a girl as fine as that. She would mess around with me when her and Joey first had met. I'd come over where they was stayin on Carlton Drive and fall asleep on the couch. I'd wake up feelin somethin doin me, and she'd be down there suckin me off a little but wont do it all the way, like she was just tryin to play games like girls do. But she did it a few times, and one time she made it where I went all the way but she pulled her mouth off just in time, then she went and acted like it was somethin I should've been embarrassed bout and teased me like a private joke all the cause she knew I didn't want to have to say anything in front a anybody else.
Thinkin bout Rachel, wonderin where she was as we all lay there in a motel away from everthin, I knew she wasn't alone. Girls like her are never alone. If she has a man and he's asleep and can't be stirred, she'll do whatever she can with the closest man available. It could be me or Parker or anybody. Women they are like that. And though I can't say men are saints, I have all the reasons to know why a man would do somethin like cheat or worse just to deal with what he has been made to put up with.
Then I got a Alanis Morrisette song in my head. I actsly like the song, it's the one that goes, "I love you as much as I do . . . I couldn't help it . . . it's all your fault . . ." And I started thinkin bout that show again, and that guy from Full House had a harmonica on there, and I wondered if whetha he'd taught her to play the harmonica or she'd taught him or what, or they both knew.
I guess after that I was asleep, but I can barely remember any dreams, though I remember a little vaguely bout a girl I knew in school that I had dreams bout sometimes. She worked at a clothes store in the mall, so I saw her some times. I dreamed bout her a lot.
I could see the sunlight strong through under the curtain where I was layin when I woke up. I could hear Parker and Joey was still asleep, and I could see better and looked up and saw em sleepin. The TV and lamp still kind a had their haze-like hold over the room, and I could've went back to sleep but felt more excited since I was in a strange place and the light I could see under the curtain felt like it had more life to it than it would comin in my window at home.
Soon it was a lot lighter in the room and I went and used the bathroom, then I got the chair from the table and sat by where I been sleepin so I'd be sittin there when the othas woke up. Parker woke up soon after that, and he said somethin without movin, somethin bout what was on the TV. I saw Joey was awake a few minutes later. Both em just laid in the beds and I looked at the TV and could hear it, though it sounded like someone cut it down even lower than it had been, though I know they hadn't.
Joey got up out a the bed and went in the bathroom, Parker kept layin there like he was back asleep but I could tell he whatin. The toilet flushed and Joey came back out and laid down on the bed again. Parker said, "We gonna try hit up them girls by Big Lots?" I was glad he said it because I'd been thinkin bout that too, and it was gonna be too late by time we got down there.
"We coul try make it down thar, but I don't know if we can get thar fore somebody else a hooked up with em," Joey said.
When we went out the sun was bright and it felt early like it only did when you was somewhere way from home. I saw Joey squintin in the sunlight. We got in the car and nobody said anything, we pulled out onto the highway and was headin back to town.
"I could eat somethin," Parker said.
"Where yall want to stop and eat breakfast?" Joey said.
"Damn, it's up to you," Parker said. "I don't have no more money."
"I got some," I said, it bein the beginin a the month, I had still a lot a money left. "I want to eat some seafood," I said. And I startin feelin real hungry then.
"I been meanin to eat some good seafood for months now," Joey said. "Yeah, let's find somewhere and eat some fish and shrimp. Yeah," he said. "Where you think tha a good seafood place?"
"There the Sea Mast," I said. I'd been thinkin bout how I wanted to eat there for a long time, I couln't remember last time I ate there since I was little.
"I don't much care for seafood. But I can tryin get some crabs, I used to like to eat crabs," Parker said.
"I want some fish fillets, and some hushpuppies," I said. "And I can get some french fried potatas, and some onion rings, and some that tartar sause to dip the fish in."
"I don't know bout no onion rings," Parker said. "I can't really stand onions, they just don't taste like anything. I don't know, when I was younga I could't stand to eat or smell onions."
"I like onions specially with beer," I said, and I kept gettin more hungry.
"I could't take to em, I don't know," Parker said.
"So we goin to tha Sea Mast den? Alright," Joey said. We were drivin down the highway and I thought bout them girls over in Big Lots and I figured we weren't gonna try for em that day. I was too hungry to care much bout it right then. I kept wonderin though if the Sea Mast was open that time on Sundays, and I figured they was since church people be gettin off church soon. It seemed a good idea too since I hadn't been and ate at the Sea Mast in so long and I wanted to.
I was thinkin how we looked drivin around in Joey's car and how it looked so old. It was an old car and had a old smell. I got to thinkin bout all the old stuff I had smelled havin that kind a the same smell and had myself convinced that stuff smelled that way back then, I got a image a older people I knew back then and it seemin normal how everythin smelled. Then I figured it was the smell of bein old made stuff smell that way, that somethin in gettin old, mildew or fadin paint or somethin was the smells. And I started thinkin again bout onion rings and if they had beer at the Sea Mast and if you could get it since it was Sunday, and I thought it was the city and so I reckoned you can.
We was sittin at the table in the restaurant bout ten minutes and I already forgot bout the beer and onion rings. They took a long time makin what we ordered, and for some reason they ai even have any crabs so Parker was all uptight bout bein there and havin nothin he wanted to eat.
"Ah, you aint got no crab," he'd said when the waiter was over. "Then I don't . . . you got . . . ah I don't know. Man!"
"I'll give you guys a few more minutes," the waiter said.
"I know what I want," Joey said.
"OK, sir," the waiter said while he was gettin his notepad and pen back out.
"I'll get that flounder it says is a special, with some fried tatas and some . . . what can I get like a side stead a cole slaw?"
"What is it?" the waiter aksed, leanin his head like he wanted to read it. So Joey showed him on the menu.
"So you want extra fries instead of the cole slaw?"
"Yeah . . . just like a side . . ."
"All right, we'll do that." The waiter said and was smilin. "And you, sir? You need a few minutes," he said to me. I looked over at Parker who was concentratin hard on every page a the menu, and told the waiter I'd wait too.
By then I was really hungry. I knew what I wanted but couln't see where it all came togetha on the menu and figured I'd have to get a bunch a sides togetha. That happened all the time in restaurants, and I have to get one a the main courses but wanted some different stuff than what is was that comes with it.
When the waiter finally was back after a long time he told Joey he had his food gettin ready and asked him again to make sure bout wantin the extra fries. Then he aksed Parker what he wanted, I guess cause he wont lookin at his menu any more, but he still said he hadn't decided yet. The waiter aksed me and I pointed it all out, and he didn't seem to have no trouble like what he had with Joey wantin the fries stead a the slaw, I figured that had got the waiter prepared for what ever we might want to do. I got some regular fish fillets with fries and hushpuppies and he aksed me if I wanted extra fries stead of cole slaw but I told him I wanted the slaw too. He seemed satisfied with that for some reason, he kept smilin after I told him all I wanted.
"Oh I forgot to ask what yall wanted to drink, I'm sorry," he said.
"That's awright," Joey said like he wont thinkin much, then he said, "I want a pink lemanade."
I had looked and saw pink lemonade on the menu, I guess Joey had seen it too, but that's what he usually got anyway, but the waiter said they aint have it. "Oh, well, you got Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb?" Joey aksed smilin like he was disappointed a little but thought it was funny.
"We have Pepsi products, sir," the waiter told him like he wont thinkin much then eitha.
"Well then you have Dr. Pepper then?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well I'll get that I guess."
"OK. And you, sir, would you like anything to drink?" He said lookin at Parker.
"Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew be fine," Parker told him.
"You sir?" He said, lookin at me.
"I just want water."
"Water. OK. All right. I'll be right back. Your food is cooking," he said to Joey, "and I'll get your order in now," he said to me. Then he went away again.
Parker wont lookin at his menu any more, but he looked like he was thinkin bout what he was gonna eat. He looked like he was fixin to say somethin but he never did.
I started thinkin bout them Big Lots girls again, then I heard the song they was playin. It was that song, "One Headlight", by that band's got Bob Dylan's son in it. I was thinkin bout how I liked that song alright. Then I remembered that time I was over at Joey's house and him and Rachel was fussin over somethin or whatever, and Joey's car had only one headlight workin when he'd come and picked me up earlier and I said somethin bout that song, I was singin it or somethin, and they stopped fightin and started laughin thinkin bout the song and how the car only had that one headlight workin.
I reckon Rachel aint that bad a a girl, and that's what I was thinkin sittin there feelin hungry though it aint botha me too much waitin for my food since I felt I didn't have much anything else to do, and I was thinkin how Rachel was pain to deal with but she was a pretty fun girl and I never had to deal with her much. I didn't like her much really, but it was good to know her. She was just anotha person to me. But there was plenty worse.
Otha things bout the song made me sad. It reminded me a otha things, with certain sad lyrics it had. I remembered though how later Joey and Rachel had fought bout whetha she was goin with us when Joey took me home, but a course she wanted to, so she agreed to go. And then when we was right on that road right off the one where they lived that song was playin in the restaurant came on, and we only had that one headlight, and they'd remembered I was singin that song, and it was funny.
Then that song went off, and right away they played that song, "Champagne Supernova". I started thinkin bout that girl I knew who worked at the mall, and I was sad again. More sad than I was. Really sad. And it went on for a while, and I was thinkin bout back in school, and tried to remember all the times I heard that song and the girls I knew back then. I kept feelin sad, and the song went off. But it didn't make no difference. Then the waiter was back, and he had our drinks, but he aint have nobody's food, not even Joey's.
"I guess I just get some shrimp and some cocktail sauce," Parker told the waiter after he'd put down the drinks.
"OK, shrimp and cocktail sauce. All right then. I'll be right back. I'll try to get all your plates out here in no time. It's about ready," he said, and walked away after lookin like he was holdin back a smile for some reason.
"Damn I'm hungry," Parker said a few seconds after the waiter left.
"Me too," Joey said. And I saw him smilin and remembered again how he must a fought with Rachel again, and figured he was still feelin bad bout things.
It was still takin a long time for our food to get done, and Parker said he had to go to the bathroom, so Joey had to get up so he could get out.
Joey yawned like he was a little frustrated but kept smilin like he does. And I thought bout that liquor he had last night, and figured he must a drunk it all fore he went to sleep cause I hadn't seen it since. I thought for a few seconds how people that work in motels and stuff find empty bottles of liquor and beer and stuff after people leave, and then I thought what if there was somethin left in the bottle what if they drink it themself. I thought bout how if I might do somethin like that, though it wouldn't do much, it would be somethin to do. Then I thought how bad off I'd be if I was workin at a motel or somethin or whatever. Then Parker came back and I tried to listen to the music again, but they wont playin anything good.
"Shit I'm hungry," Parker said. And I looked across at Joey, and he was smilin a little.
We sat for maybe fifteen more minutes, then they brought the food over. They had Joey's, mine and Parker's all at the same time. They aint have those little tables they sat next to the table like in the Chinese places. They just sat it alright down on the table after aksin us which a us got what. There was two a em, one had two a our plates, then the otha had Joey's plate and anotha plate with his fries for some reason.
Once they left we was eatin like starvin bums. We passed the ketchup bottle round, it was bout empty, but we made OK with it. I drank my water quick after a few bites. I was thirsty and couln't remember last time I drink anything. I figured Joey be thirsty too, but he barely drink much out a his glass for a while while he was eatin. And Parker had ate most all his plate fore any a us had done anything.
I was thirsty and hungry, and the waiter came back out and was fillin my glass out a pitcher every few minutes. It was like he was gettin that done really fast now, after he maybe had nothin else to do, and I was drinkin so fast. He just came out and refilled my glass every time I had drunk halfway through it. One time he even brought out anotha glass full to the top, with ice and a lemon stickin on it, even though I didn't have no ice in my glass the rest a the time.
We was all done eatin in bout twenty minutes after they brought all the food out. I was full, and Joey didn't even finish eitha a his plates, while Parker was done eatin his six pieces a shrimp and just sat there satisfied with most a his little bowl a cocktail sauce still full.
Then we was back in the car goin back to Joey's house for some reason, but I on't remember why. I kind a wanted to go home anyway. We got to the house and went in for a few minutes. Rachel wont there, and Joey went in the bathroom a few minutes and me and Parker just sat in the livin room. When Joey came out a the bathroom he aksed us if we wanted to go on home, and Parker said he was kind a tired and might go back to bed a little while when he got home, and I said I guessed I wanted to go home too.
Then we was out in the car again headin on the road where that "One Headlight" song had come on that time, and after a few minutes we heard a sireen, and Joey said, "Godamnit! what tha hell?!" then we pulled over by the ditch and waited for the cop to come round to Joey's window.
Joey rolled down the window and the cop aksed him to come back with him a minute. Then Joey came back and got in the car with a smile on his face and his face a little red, and Rachel came and opened the door on the otha side the car and got in the backseat next to me.
Her face was really red, and she been cryin. She was still whimperin or like sobbin a whole lot. She reminded me a my six year old cousin when she had been cryin like that and then would just sit still and quiet and just whimperin and sniffin a little with her face all red.
We started drivin again and nobody said nothin. Rachel sat next to me and I didn't think bout the black and white pictures or the hazy light and noise in the motel. She was still whimperin and I tried not to look at her much, but when I looked at her a few times she was lookin real calm and just starin straight ahead like she wont thinkin nothin and was just suited to just be sittin there ridin in the car. But I knew her, and though I thought she might be OK this time, I knew she really wont.
Then sure nough she started up talkin. "Whear yoo beeen?" She said all sweet and kind a concerned soundin.
"I jus had a get out a town a while," Joey said real matter a fact with her.
"You could a caalled," she said, still sittin and starin calm but her eyes was big like she wont thinkin right inside her head.
"Yeah, but I didn't want to, didn't think I had to take tha trouble. If don't nobody else think they need to tell nobody nothin then I don't have any reason to. Why should I?" He said.
I looked over at Rachel and she was noddin her head kind a fast and funny like, like she wont thinkin bout a whole lot but maybe she was thinkin bout somethin so hard you couln't see no sign a it on her face, and still had her eyes real wide and funny.
"I mean, I don't really have ta tell nobody nothin bout what I'm doin, do I?" Joey said. "Nobody else seems to want a make tha trouble to tell somebody. I on't got ta tell nobody nothin either."
That must a been it for Rachel, cause right then she hauled off screamin. "You left me!" She shouted. "You just took offa in left me. I did't know where you was!"
"Well," Joey said.
"Nothin! You left me! And I did't know where you was a nothin. I was alone. You coulda been anawhere, and I wont know nothin!"
Joey smiled. "I just went outa town a little while. Nothin to be gettin all bended out a shape for . . ."
"I not bended out a nothin, but you went off an left me! I was all alone! An I did't know if you'd evva come back or nothin! How can you do that! You do that ta me?!" Her voice was startin off high then gettin real high each time she finished a sentence. Like she was blowin up in short little splosions each sentence she said.
Joey didn't say nothin else, and Rachel was sobbin real hard again but she wont cryin, and she just looked tired and hurt.
The cop had seen her walkin down the road with a faroff look in her eyes what's bad as if she'd been walkin down naked or in her underwear or somethin. She wont in no trouble, but the cop just needed to dump her on somebody could look after her, I guess.
Me and Rachel never got along, and I could feel her resentin me just sittin there beside me. She kind a liked me anyway though, I knew cause she was always messin with me and them times she put me in her mouth and stuff. She liked me cause she was crazy and I'd been in the hospital, and sometimes she'd call me and we'd talk and stuff.
We let Parker out cause we passed his house first, and Rachel got out to get in the front seat. She still wont cryin or sniffin no more.
Nobody said nothin else. And when they let me out I just went in my room and laid on my bed thinkin bout that girl that works at that store in the mall.
You can buy prostitutes with food stamps if you go to Big Lots soon as they open on Sunday mornins. And you on't have to go through no fellas or nothin, you get it straight up with the girls. There's two em, a girl looks like she might be a little Spanish but still light skinned, almost pale, and anotha girl that's real skinny's got blonde hair but has it done pink or some otha funny color sometimes if you get lucky.
Joey and Parker go do that every once in a while, but mosly you can get the girl works at Save-a-Lot and on't have to give no food stamps. I tried it one time but she seemed uppity and, more than that, she act like a stuck up . . . I aint call no girls bitches now, I on't like to do that way. Still she gets funny when the first time I pulled the card out, and she prolly roll her eyes but I aint see it, it's just the impression I get off her.
The light Spanish girl looks pretty thin, though you come around the counter and look through the glass part what they have the watches and you see she got thick hips almost like a fat girl, but she aint fat so I reckon she looks pretty good. Though that young skinny blonde with the pink hair, she real skinny and bony, but she got enough goin on in the right places to do what you need to do.
Joey came around and picked me up couple weeks ago I guess, Parker was in the front seat so that I had to sit in the back. We stopped at Chic-fa-le, and we went through the drive-thru to get somethin eat fore we went. Parker had the seat back so far I hant have no room, but the floorboard was wet too, so I scoot over to the otha side behind Joey.
Parker said, "I'm gone eat the life right out this sandwich."
"Is that seat wet back here?" I aksed Joey.
"Yeah man, fu my dad left tha window down when he went to work," he said. "You got tha towel still back there?"
"I think I seen it down there."
"We is sposed to be down in tha floor we tried wipe it up earlier he got home."
"I'm eatin the Jesus and the Disciples outta this sandwich," Parker was sayin.
We pulled hard down onto the side the road, some big truck had to stop and back out, and when it moved we turned and went down that road. Joey had to stop in somewhere, and I thought it be funny if it was the first trailer I saw what's no bigger than a shed right there on the right as we first pulled in the road. It turned out to be the one right next to it that wontin much bigger.
There wont no car there. I remember Joey sayin they aint have no car and they was waitin for somebody to bring em somethin too, but he was goin on and see if they had anything anyway. A little girl was peekin out the door when we rode up, with some otha kid you could hardly see him behind her tryin look over her shoulder or under her arm. That door made me think how it's funny when them trailer doors open outwards like that, it looked cheap like a flap a cardboard movin in the wind how they stood there lettin it open a little then shuttin a little.
"I'll be back," Joey said, then he got out and walked over the trailer and smiled and stuck his head in the door while the kids were behind the door what you couln't see 'em.
He's in there bout five or ten minutes. "They said they aint got nothin. They waitin for sombody to bring them somethin themselves," he said. Then we left.
We drove straight over by the school where Parker knew somebody. That's where he goes in and I lends him bout, I reckon, eleven dollars. And me and Joey have to sit out there a little bit longer, bout a hour. I see that guy he came to see wont even there cause he pulled up by the curve and was takin groceries in while Parker musta been in there with the guy's girl. She aint all that good-lookin anyway, since I seen her before. I figure they just in there talkin, Parker aint no good with women anyway, cept they prostitutes. I got to thinkin bout a girl I met on Craig's List, wont but bout 14, wantin $200 for it, I figured I'd need more an that to pay my bail if I get caught with a girl that young. Though that blonde works in front a Big Lots can't be but 17 if she's that, and nobody had no trouble with her, and get that for $10 on food stamps.
Parker was in there a while with both a em, then he came out a hour or so with somethin for him and Joey. I on't do much pills so I wont much interested, though I take em if they offer. I on't plan on seein that eleven dollars back noway.
Next we was goin to the bowlin alley just to hang out. We used to go bowlin lot when we was younger, but we on't much get on with people in town, and they hang out there and the K-Mart parkin lot next store. We just were goin to sit there and play some music, lettin the bass rattle the car. I saw a boy I knew from school named Chad Adkins come out a the bowlin alley, still wearin that same cap he wore last time I saw him years ago with a fish hook on it. He was comin around to somebody's car, I on't believe he ever got to drivin eitha so it must be somebody else's car unless he started sometime since I saw him last time. But he was just comin around when these niggas came up and just jumped on him. All us in the car noticed it happenin at once. There was bout three niggas just jumped on him and was kickin and punchin. One a em had a baseball bat. Joey turned the car off and looked like he was wonderin whetha we should do somethin. "They gonna do that shit right in public anybody can see," Parker said not lookin at Joey but still watchin the fight. Chad was fightin back, he was whoopin on one a em, he was holdin his shoulder where he'd got hit by the bat, though the one with the bat didn't hit him no more, and the one Chad was whoopin on was gettin the worst a things though the third nigga was beatin Chad good on the back a the head.
It was funny that it seemed nobody else was around out there watchin. We just sat there in the car watchin the whole thing, and when they was done beatin on him the three just ran off, and Chad leaned over a car holdin his shoulder like it done got hurt really bad. He still had his cap on.
Chad Adkins was bruised and bloody, and you could see that clearly in the dim light a the parkin lot. Even the way the lights were made the blood look less real, like it was a movie or somethin. We sat there watchin but nobody came out a the bowlin alley or pulled in the parkin lot, and Chad leaned there on somebody's car with his head on the hood and his right hand up on his left shoulder where he'd been beat with the bat.
"I wonda what they was fightin for," Joey said.
"Probably they just jumped him for no reason," Parker said laughin.
"Well they done tore up his shoulder," Joey said. He had a serious look on his face and looked while Chad still leaned there on the car in lots a pain. "I wont let nobody do me like that. I'd find a gun and go after em," he said.
"If I had a gun," Parker said, "I'd lay out any mothafucker tried to put his hands on me. I admit, I aint gonna say I'm the best fighter in the world. But I would have a gun and somebody tried somethin like that with me and I'd show em what to expect."
We all were quiet for a few seconds.
"What you think, Joey?" Parker said. Joey nodded his head and Parker said, "Would you let somebody do somethin like that to you . . . if you had a gun on you?"
Joey kept noddin his head, "Naw." he said slowly. Then he stopped noddin his head.
A girl came out a the bowlin alley and was walkin to her car. She seemed not to know Chad, but as she seen him leanin there in pain she said somethin to him and they said a few things to each otha, I saw Chad sayin somethin still leanin on the hood a the car not lookin up, and the girl got her phone out and was callin somebody with a serious look on her face like she was callin a ambulance or a life savin crew or somethin. Chad just kept lookin down by the hood like he was lookin into his pain. The girl got off the phone after a few seconds and was sayin somethin to him, but Chad just held his shoulder and didn't seem to be sayin anything back to her.
Just then Joey turned on the car and I whatin expectin it cause it didn't seem like a time somebody want to leave and not see what happened, but the car was runnin a few seconds and I felt there wont no reason to stick around noway. Joey pulled the car slowly out its spot and drove slowly up in front the door a the bowlin alley and then out the side exit to the side road and back onto the main highway. I turned and looked back and all I could see was the cars in front a where Chad was, and I couln't see the girl.
We was goin west, away from where we lived. Soon Joey had drove us out a town and we was on the strip with no stores or houses on eitha side a the road on the way towards Maxville. I used to stay up in Maxville on the weekends when I was a kid cause my aunt lived up there, and my ma'd drive me up there to stay when I got out a school on Friday and come back to get me on Sunday night. I was thinkin bout how it seemed late whenever she came to get me, though it was only bout seven or seven-thirty. It must a been in the early months a school when it got dark earlier, like in the fall. I remember I didn't go up there every week, and I probly only went bout four or five times when I was ten or eleven or somewhere around then. I know I never went up there when Halloween was on the weekend, and I'd go trick-a-treatin in my neighborhood and sometimes ma would drive me to some otha places like that road off the highway kinda towards Maxville where rich people lived, the same as one a the places we would drive down when it was bout Christmas and they had the Christmas lights up.
"What we goin this way for?" Parker aksed.
I could see the back of Joey's head, and somehow I could see he was feelin tense and bad. He didn't say nothin for a few seconds, then he told Parker, "I need to get outta town a while."
Parker didn't say anything. It was a sensible idea.
On the highway bout a third quarter to Maxville, Joey took a sharp right into a motel what's the first thing we passed besides gas stations since we left town. It was dark all over the gravel drive-way, you could see that one a the lights on the motel sign was out and the sign cast a big ole shadow over the bout empty drive-way where we pulled in. The bit a the sign was still on was flickin like in horror movies, there was a unreal shinin cast on the shady drive-way, and we sat in the car a few minutes, and I wont thinkin but then I guess Joey was upset, and Parker just sat there with his seat leant back just acceptin that we were here and that was OK with him. He still had the pills, and it was as well to do em in one a these old motels as at home.
We got out a the car and while Joey was in the office, me and Parker walked over and up on a porch front a a room we some reason thought we were stayin in. Joey'd said somethin bout a number, and there was obvious nobody in that room, and me and Parker both thought we was stayin in that room number. Parker had a disposable black and white camera with him in his pocket for some reason, and we took some pictures a each otha in the motel drive-way and up on the porch. There was a chair up on the porch next to the room we figured we was stayin in, and we both took turns sittin in it while the otha took our picture.
I always remembered that picture a me sittin in that chair and wondered what Parker did with it. Whetha he even ever got the film developed or what. I felt like that was a good picture a me.
But Joey came out and said we were goin somewhere else. We were there, and I on't know what was wrong with the place, I on't remember even considerin what at the time. "They got any liquor stores around here?" Joey said. And we did find one, and he got somethin, and we ended up in a smaller motel, after we drove around Maxville little while and was comin back, I remember fartha up the highway on the otha side a the road.
We went in and Parker cut on the TV, and Joey crawled in bed with his bottle. Joey was in the bed on the farside a the room by the bathroom and Parker sat on the end a the otha bed and turned through the channels. The lamp on the table across from Joey's bed next to the TV was on but it still was dark in the room spite the little lamp and the TV flickin. Some a the channels didn't have no volume, there was some good movies on them stations like Batman with Jack Nicholson and Happy Gilmore with Adam Sandler that aint all that good but has that hot blonde in it with the pretty smile.
We watched some dumbass reality shows, one a em was a rerun had Joey from Full House on it. "You know that song by Alanis Morrisette?" Parker aksed, " 'You Oughta Know'?" I told him I did. "He's who she wrote that about," he said. Joey smiled with his bottle, and I thought bout her writin that song bout that guy from Full House, and it seemed comical to me.
"They got any music channels here?" Joey aksed.
"I'll look," Parker said and changed the channel.
It seemed darker in the room to me, though the same lamp was still shinin and the TV still flicked.
Parker put it on a channel that was playin music videos, and it was funny because it was playin an old video by the band Countin Crows called, "Mr. Jones". I remembered I hated that song when I was a kid. I was at the county fair one time over on that road by the outskirts a town, and there was a ride me and my friend C.W. was in line to ride, and they was playin a bunch a Tom Petty songs they always played on the radio and that I liked but when we finally got to get on the ride they started playin that "Mr. Jones" song and I really hated it. Since then I realized how it was bout Bob Dylan, talkin bout Mr. Jones like in the Bob Dylan song, and it sounded better to me for otha reasons as I got older. It seemed sad to me.
That song was playin, I looked over at Joey on his bed with the light barely glowin on him off the table by the otha side a the room, and he looked unhappy though he was smilin with a tired, glowin liquor smile, and I looked at Parker who'd scoot back on the bed and looked half asleep, while I just lay on the floor on the side a the bed Parker was on by the window leanin back on my elbows listenin to the song. It came to the part that went, "Believe in me . . . because I don't believe in anything . . .", and I felt that real deep, and I felt sad but in a decent way, then it went, " but I wanna be someone who believes . . . who believes . . . yeah!" I felt a little better. I figured it was a hopeful song. And I looked up and over at Parker and he was just layin there with his eyes open like he was starin at the TV but not really lookin or payin attention to it, and then I tried to look over at Joey and I could hear him sleepin though I couln't get a look at his face.
After I could tell Parker was asleep, I curled up on the floor by the bed with a pillow and blanket I pulled off the bottom a the bed and listened to the commercials and music videos and the veejays talk low in the light in front a the table and the TV.
The little bit a light flicked in the room, though I felt sheltered from it in my dark place on the otha side a the bed. I could see a little the light under the window curtain from out on the drive-way if I looked hard at it. But I really couln't see it and barely the TV and little lamp eitha when I was turned to the wall by the window.
I laid there more than a hour just thinkin bout things. The noise from the TV sound low and soothin like Parker'd turned it down though he hadn't, and the flickin light from it and the lamp seemed dimmer from how it was fore Parker and Joey fell asleep, though it really wont. And I felt kind a nice there in the floor with that little glow up over me and that gentle noise a the TV barely where I could hear what anybody was sayin or what the music was. And so I was just layin there for two hours maybe, feelin tired and pretty good cause a that.
It was a few times I was almost asleep, I even felt I was dreamin, then realized that's all they were and I felt the dim light and heard the low noise from the TV again, and thought bout how I was there in the motel with Parker and Joey, and it felt a little warm bein there in a place I never slept or been fore with two people that I knew. It was both warm and sad to feel em there in that motel we'd never been fore. Things was just as strange for them, but they was asleep and I wont. And I couln't decide which was the most comfortable thing, to be asleep so easy or to be up awake feelin the strangeness a the place.
The little bit a light that hanged over the place and the soft noise a the TV made me feel like what it was to have one of those white noise machines what like my roommate had one time that I was in a hospital for a while. It was kind a like that in the hospital, though it was dark in your room and they dimmed the lights out in the hall after bedtime, it was still enough light that came in your door and you or your roommates usually left the door open a little ways, and you could feel the otha person in the room whetha you'd hear em sleepin or awake. Most a the time you didn't want to leave the door open yourself, but even if you closed it fore you went to bed, the otha person would leave it a bit open when he came in to go to bed. And he'd cut the light out in the room too if you didn't already. There was only one light, on the ceilin for all you in the room. I could hear Parker and Joey breathin, and Joey was asleep on the bed bout as far away as my roommate'd be in the hospital, so I thought bout him more than Parker who was too close and seemed to be sleepin deeper, though he wont drunk and'd fall asleep later.
I knew Joey was upset over his girl, Rachel. They had had a fight or somethin, and Joey needed to get drunk to deal with her. I on't think anything against Rachel, she was good-lookin and was worth puttin up with if you wanted a girl as fine as that. She would mess around with me when her and Joey first had met. I'd come over where they was stayin on Carlton Drive and fall asleep on the couch. I'd wake up feelin somethin doin me, and she'd be down there suckin me off a little but wont do it all the way, like she was just tryin to play games like girls do. But she did it a few times, and one time she made it where I went all the way but she pulled her mouth off just in time, then she went and acted like it was somethin I should've been embarrassed bout and teased me like a private joke all the cause she knew I didn't want to have to say anything in front a anybody else.
Thinkin bout Rachel, wonderin where she was as we all lay there in a motel away from everthin, I knew she wasn't alone. Girls like her are never alone. If she has a man and he's asleep and can't be stirred, she'll do whatever she can with the closest man available. It could be me or Parker or anybody. Women they are like that. And though I can't say men are saints, I have all the reasons to know why a man would do somethin like cheat or worse just to deal with what he has been made to put up with.
Then I got a Alanis Morrisette song in my head. I actsly like the song, it's the one that goes, "I love you as much as I do . . . I couldn't help it . . . it's all your fault . . ." And I started thinkin bout that show again, and that guy from Full House had a harmonica on there, and I wondered if whetha he'd taught her to play the harmonica or she'd taught him or what, or they both knew.
I guess after that I was asleep, but I can barely remember any dreams, though I remember a little vaguely bout a girl I knew in school that I had dreams bout sometimes. She worked at a clothes store in the mall, so I saw her some times. I dreamed bout her a lot.
I could see the sunlight strong through under the curtain where I was layin when I woke up. I could hear Parker and Joey was still asleep, and I could see better and looked up and saw em sleepin. The TV and lamp still kind a had their haze-like hold over the room, and I could've went back to sleep but felt more excited since I was in a strange place and the light I could see under the curtain felt like it had more life to it than it would comin in my window at home.
Soon it was a lot lighter in the room and I went and used the bathroom, then I got the chair from the table and sat by where I been sleepin so I'd be sittin there when the othas woke up. Parker woke up soon after that, and he said somethin without movin, somethin bout what was on the TV. I saw Joey was awake a few minutes later. Both em just laid in the beds and I looked at the TV and could hear it, though it sounded like someone cut it down even lower than it had been, though I know they hadn't.
Joey got up out a the bed and went in the bathroom, Parker kept layin there like he was back asleep but I could tell he whatin. The toilet flushed and Joey came back out and laid down on the bed again. Parker said, "We gonna try hit up them girls by Big Lots?" I was glad he said it because I'd been thinkin bout that too, and it was gonna be too late by time we got down there.
"We coul try make it down thar, but I don't know if we can get thar fore somebody else a hooked up with em," Joey said.
When we went out the sun was bright and it felt early like it only did when you was somewhere way from home. I saw Joey squintin in the sunlight. We got in the car and nobody said anything, we pulled out onto the highway and was headin back to town.
"I could eat somethin," Parker said.
"Where yall want to stop and eat breakfast?" Joey said.
"Damn, it's up to you," Parker said. "I don't have no more money."
"I got some," I said, it bein the beginin a the month, I had still a lot a money left. "I want to eat some seafood," I said. And I startin feelin real hungry then.
"I been meanin to eat some good seafood for months now," Joey said. "Yeah, let's find somewhere and eat some fish and shrimp. Yeah," he said. "Where you think tha a good seafood place?"
"There the Sea Mast," I said. I'd been thinkin bout how I wanted to eat there for a long time, I couln't remember last time I ate there since I was little.
"I don't much care for seafood. But I can tryin get some crabs, I used to like to eat crabs," Parker said.
"I want some fish fillets, and some hushpuppies," I said. "And I can get some french fried potatas, and some onion rings, and some that tartar sause to dip the fish in."
"I don't know bout no onion rings," Parker said. "I can't really stand onions, they just don't taste like anything. I don't know, when I was younga I could't stand to eat or smell onions."
"I like onions specially with beer," I said, and I kept gettin more hungry.
"I could't take to em, I don't know," Parker said.
"So we goin to tha Sea Mast den? Alright," Joey said. We were drivin down the highway and I thought bout them girls over in Big Lots and I figured we weren't gonna try for em that day. I was too hungry to care much bout it right then. I kept wonderin though if the Sea Mast was open that time on Sundays, and I figured they was since church people be gettin off church soon. It seemed a good idea too since I hadn't been and ate at the Sea Mast in so long and I wanted to.
I was thinkin how we looked drivin around in Joey's car and how it looked so old. It was an old car and had a old smell. I got to thinkin bout all the old stuff I had smelled havin that kind a the same smell and had myself convinced that stuff smelled that way back then, I got a image a older people I knew back then and it seemin normal how everythin smelled. Then I figured it was the smell of bein old made stuff smell that way, that somethin in gettin old, mildew or fadin paint or somethin was the smells. And I started thinkin again bout onion rings and if they had beer at the Sea Mast and if you could get it since it was Sunday, and I thought it was the city and so I reckoned you can.
We was sittin at the table in the restaurant bout ten minutes and I already forgot bout the beer and onion rings. They took a long time makin what we ordered, and for some reason they ai even have any crabs so Parker was all uptight bout bein there and havin nothin he wanted to eat.
"Ah, you aint got no crab," he'd said when the waiter was over. "Then I don't . . . you got . . . ah I don't know. Man!"
"I'll give you guys a few more minutes," the waiter said.
"I know what I want," Joey said.
"OK, sir," the waiter said while he was gettin his notepad and pen back out.
"I'll get that flounder it says is a special, with some fried tatas and some . . . what can I get like a side stead a cole slaw?"
"What is it?" the waiter aksed, leanin his head like he wanted to read it. So Joey showed him on the menu.
"So you want extra fries instead of the cole slaw?"
"Yeah . . . just like a side . . ."
"All right, we'll do that." The waiter said and was smilin. "And you, sir? You need a few minutes," he said to me. I looked over at Parker who was concentratin hard on every page a the menu, and told the waiter I'd wait too.
By then I was really hungry. I knew what I wanted but couln't see where it all came togetha on the menu and figured I'd have to get a bunch a sides togetha. That happened all the time in restaurants, and I have to get one a the main courses but wanted some different stuff than what is was that comes with it.
When the waiter finally was back after a long time he told Joey he had his food gettin ready and asked him again to make sure bout wantin the extra fries. Then he aksed Parker what he wanted, I guess cause he wont lookin at his menu any more, but he still said he hadn't decided yet. The waiter aksed me and I pointed it all out, and he didn't seem to have no trouble like what he had with Joey wantin the fries stead a the slaw, I figured that had got the waiter prepared for what ever we might want to do. I got some regular fish fillets with fries and hushpuppies and he aksed me if I wanted extra fries stead of cole slaw but I told him I wanted the slaw too. He seemed satisfied with that for some reason, he kept smilin after I told him all I wanted.
"Oh I forgot to ask what yall wanted to drink, I'm sorry," he said.
"That's awright," Joey said like he wont thinkin much, then he said, "I want a pink lemanade."
I had looked and saw pink lemonade on the menu, I guess Joey had seen it too, but that's what he usually got anyway, but the waiter said they aint have it. "Oh, well, you got Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb?" Joey aksed smilin like he was disappointed a little but thought it was funny.
"We have Pepsi products, sir," the waiter told him like he wont thinkin much then eitha.
"Well then you have Dr. Pepper then?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well I'll get that I guess."
"OK. And you, sir, would you like anything to drink?" He said lookin at Parker.
"Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew be fine," Parker told him.
"You sir?" He said, lookin at me.
"I just want water."
"Water. OK. All right. I'll be right back. Your food is cooking," he said to Joey, "and I'll get your order in now," he said to me. Then he went away again.
Parker wont lookin at his menu any more, but he looked like he was thinkin bout what he was gonna eat. He looked like he was fixin to say somethin but he never did.
I started thinkin bout them Big Lots girls again, then I heard the song they was playin. It was that song, "One Headlight", by that band's got Bob Dylan's son in it. I was thinkin bout how I liked that song alright. Then I remembered that time I was over at Joey's house and him and Rachel was fussin over somethin or whatever, and Joey's car had only one headlight workin when he'd come and picked me up earlier and I said somethin bout that song, I was singin it or somethin, and they stopped fightin and started laughin thinkin bout the song and how the car only had that one headlight workin.
I reckon Rachel aint that bad a a girl, and that's what I was thinkin sittin there feelin hungry though it aint botha me too much waitin for my food since I felt I didn't have much anything else to do, and I was thinkin how Rachel was pain to deal with but she was a pretty fun girl and I never had to deal with her much. I didn't like her much really, but it was good to know her. She was just anotha person to me. But there was plenty worse.
Otha things bout the song made me sad. It reminded me a otha things, with certain sad lyrics it had. I remembered though how later Joey and Rachel had fought bout whetha she was goin with us when Joey took me home, but a course she wanted to, so she agreed to go. And then when we was right on that road right off the one where they lived that song was playin in the restaurant came on, and we only had that one headlight, and they'd remembered I was singin that song, and it was funny.
Then that song went off, and right away they played that song, "Champagne Supernova". I started thinkin bout that girl I knew who worked at the mall, and I was sad again. More sad than I was. Really sad. And it went on for a while, and I was thinkin bout back in school, and tried to remember all the times I heard that song and the girls I knew back then. I kept feelin sad, and the song went off. But it didn't make no difference. Then the waiter was back, and he had our drinks, but he aint have nobody's food, not even Joey's.
"I guess I just get some shrimp and some cocktail sauce," Parker told the waiter after he'd put down the drinks.
"OK, shrimp and cocktail sauce. All right then. I'll be right back. I'll try to get all your plates out here in no time. It's about ready," he said, and walked away after lookin like he was holdin back a smile for some reason.
"Damn I'm hungry," Parker said a few seconds after the waiter left.
"Me too," Joey said. And I saw him smilin and remembered again how he must a fought with Rachel again, and figured he was still feelin bad bout things.
It was still takin a long time for our food to get done, and Parker said he had to go to the bathroom, so Joey had to get up so he could get out.
Joey yawned like he was a little frustrated but kept smilin like he does. And I thought bout that liquor he had last night, and figured he must a drunk it all fore he went to sleep cause I hadn't seen it since. I thought for a few seconds how people that work in motels and stuff find empty bottles of liquor and beer and stuff after people leave, and then I thought what if there was somethin left in the bottle what if they drink it themself. I thought bout how if I might do somethin like that, though it wouldn't do much, it would be somethin to do. Then I thought how bad off I'd be if I was workin at a motel or somethin or whatever. Then Parker came back and I tried to listen to the music again, but they wont playin anything good.
"Shit I'm hungry," Parker said. And I looked across at Joey, and he was smilin a little.
We sat for maybe fifteen more minutes, then they brought the food over. They had Joey's, mine and Parker's all at the same time. They aint have those little tables they sat next to the table like in the Chinese places. They just sat it alright down on the table after aksin us which a us got what. There was two a em, one had two a our plates, then the otha had Joey's plate and anotha plate with his fries for some reason.
Once they left we was eatin like starvin bums. We passed the ketchup bottle round, it was bout empty, but we made OK with it. I drank my water quick after a few bites. I was thirsty and couln't remember last time I drink anything. I figured Joey be thirsty too, but he barely drink much out a his glass for a while while he was eatin. And Parker had ate most all his plate fore any a us had done anything.
I was thirsty and hungry, and the waiter came back out and was fillin my glass out a pitcher every few minutes. It was like he was gettin that done really fast now, after he maybe had nothin else to do, and I was drinkin so fast. He just came out and refilled my glass every time I had drunk halfway through it. One time he even brought out anotha glass full to the top, with ice and a lemon stickin on it, even though I didn't have no ice in my glass the rest a the time.
We was all done eatin in bout twenty minutes after they brought all the food out. I was full, and Joey didn't even finish eitha a his plates, while Parker was done eatin his six pieces a shrimp and just sat there satisfied with most a his little bowl a cocktail sauce still full.
Then we was back in the car goin back to Joey's house for some reason, but I on't remember why. I kind a wanted to go home anyway. We got to the house and went in for a few minutes. Rachel wont there, and Joey went in the bathroom a few minutes and me and Parker just sat in the livin room. When Joey came out a the bathroom he aksed us if we wanted to go on home, and Parker said he was kind a tired and might go back to bed a little while when he got home, and I said I guessed I wanted to go home too.
Then we was out in the car again headin on the road where that "One Headlight" song had come on that time, and after a few minutes we heard a sireen, and Joey said, "Godamnit! what tha hell?!" then we pulled over by the ditch and waited for the cop to come round to Joey's window.
Joey rolled down the window and the cop aksed him to come back with him a minute. Then Joey came back and got in the car with a smile on his face and his face a little red, and Rachel came and opened the door on the otha side the car and got in the backseat next to me.
Her face was really red, and she been cryin. She was still whimperin or like sobbin a whole lot. She reminded me a my six year old cousin when she had been cryin like that and then would just sit still and quiet and just whimperin and sniffin a little with her face all red.
We started drivin again and nobody said nothin. Rachel sat next to me and I didn't think bout the black and white pictures or the hazy light and noise in the motel. She was still whimperin and I tried not to look at her much, but when I looked at her a few times she was lookin real calm and just starin straight ahead like she wont thinkin nothin and was just suited to just be sittin there ridin in the car. But I knew her, and though I thought she might be OK this time, I knew she really wont.
Then sure nough she started up talkin. "Whear yoo beeen?" She said all sweet and kind a concerned soundin.
"I jus had a get out a town a while," Joey said real matter a fact with her.
"You could a caalled," she said, still sittin and starin calm but her eyes was big like she wont thinkin right inside her head.
"Yeah, but I didn't want to, didn't think I had to take tha trouble. If don't nobody else think they need to tell nobody nothin then I don't have any reason to. Why should I?" He said.
I looked over at Rachel and she was noddin her head kind a fast and funny like, like she wont thinkin bout a whole lot but maybe she was thinkin bout somethin so hard you couln't see no sign a it on her face, and still had her eyes real wide and funny.
"I mean, I don't really have ta tell nobody nothin bout what I'm doin, do I?" Joey said. "Nobody else seems to want a make tha trouble to tell somebody. I on't got ta tell nobody nothin either."
That must a been it for Rachel, cause right then she hauled off screamin. "You left me!" She shouted. "You just took offa in left me. I did't know where you was!"
"Well," Joey said.
"Nothin! You left me! And I did't know where you was a nothin. I was alone. You coulda been anawhere, and I wont know nothin!"
Joey smiled. "I just went outa town a little while. Nothin to be gettin all bended out a shape for . . ."
"I not bended out a nothin, but you went off an left me! I was all alone! An I did't know if you'd evva come back or nothin! How can you do that! You do that ta me?!" Her voice was startin off high then gettin real high each time she finished a sentence. Like she was blowin up in short little splosions each sentence she said.
Joey didn't say nothin else, and Rachel was sobbin real hard again but she wont cryin, and she just looked tired and hurt.
The cop had seen her walkin down the road with a faroff look in her eyes what's bad as if she'd been walkin down naked or in her underwear or somethin. She wont in no trouble, but the cop just needed to dump her on somebody could look after her, I guess.
Me and Rachel never got along, and I could feel her resentin me just sittin there beside me. She kind a liked me anyway though, I knew cause she was always messin with me and them times she put me in her mouth and stuff. She liked me cause she was crazy and I'd been in the hospital, and sometimes she'd call me and we'd talk and stuff.
We let Parker out cause we passed his house first, and Rachel got out to get in the front seat. She still wont cryin or sniffin no more.
Nobody said nothin else. And when they let me out I just went in my room and laid on my bed thinkin bout that girl that works at that store in the mall.