Installment #18
Chapter 31
31
Walt parked his truck in front of his motel room. As he opened the truck’s door the dome light lit up the interior of the cab in the prairie night. The fight had sobered him up some.
But between the pool hall and his motel, Walt had managed to find the town’s liquor store. Supplies. One less thing to worry about.
His plan had been to go straight to his motel. But as he pulled out of the liquor store’s gravel lot, he’d cracked the seal on the bottle and taken off to explore more of the town’s back streets, sipping as he drove. It looked like a nice enough place, he thought. But no telling what all goes on behind closed doors around here.
Now, sitting in the yellow light of his truck, Walt tipped a half-empty whiskey bottle into his mouth. Too far back. He fell out of the truck.
He rolled around in the gravel for a while, laughing, until finally he kicked the pickup door shut. Careful to keep the whiskey bottle upright, Walt crawled on his hands and knees to his motel room door.
Tired, he rolled over and rested on his back for a moment, still amused. He looked up at the weathered metal awning hanging over the doors that led to the rooms holding their secrets. Through the crack running down the middle of the drawn, heavy drapes Walt could see the light on inside his room. Must have left them on.
Walt rose to his knees. He tried to slide the key into the lock and failed.
He dropped the key, collapsing in laughter again. He went on laughing as his motel room door opened. Walt, lying on his back, looked upside down at the doorway. Looked at the woman in the doorway awash in light from inside the motel room
“Oh Jesus, those rednecks down at the pool hall killed me,” Walt said, his laughter dying out.
“No,” Geri said “I’m your angel. Your guardian angel, Walt.”
“Horseshit. God doesn’t turn people into angels. Totally different breed of cat, those angels. Even if He did, God sure as hell wouldn’t turn you into an angel.”
Geri knelt down over Walt.
“Well, hell, it was worth a try, baby.”
Walt climbed to his feet, blinking and shaking his head to clear it.
“So you’re not dead,” Walt said.
“You tell me, baby. Think you can crawl on in here before somebody sees me? Sorta trying to keep a low profile around here.”
“Six feet under’s pretty low,” Walt said, staggering inside.
He considered putting his arms around Geri. Instead, he moved past her to the mirror.
Geri closed the motel door and locked it. Walt looked over his wounds: Swollen jaw, a few cuts. He looked into his own eyes as he tended to his wounds.
Stay cool. Be calm.
He stole a glance at Geri’s reflection. She caught him looking.
“Surprised to see me, Walt?”
“Yes and no.”
“What happened with,” Geri said, making a circle in the air at Walt’s face. “With all this?”
“Some boys showed me a good time. It’s nothing. How about you? Side of your face looks a little puffy too.”
Geri sat on the foot of the bed.
“Sweet tooth.
“Uh-huh. Geri…or Joni or whatever the hell your name is.”
“Geri, baby.”
“Uh-huh. I got some questions, Geri baby.”
“I got some answers.”
“Thing is, I’m not sure I’ll believe them,” Walt said to her reflection.
“I know you’re mad, baby. I understand. But you have to see my side. Did I ask you to come looking for me? What happened, happened. No excuses. Stumbling into the middle of all this when you did, I can see why you’re so pissed.”
“Oh, and when we took time off, as you called it, you failed to mention you were running off with someone.”
“Diane? You talked to her, right? What did she say?”
“Said you’re dead.”
“See.”
“Please.”
Walt’s head was still spinning from the booze and from seeing Geri. The shock of her living face had sobered him up a little. He wasn’t drunk but he wasn’t not drunk.
“She thinks I’m dead,” Geri said. “Don’t worry about Diane. You’re so suspicious.”
“Oh for chrissakes, you’re so—”
“—I’m kidding. Of course you are. But you jumped the gun, baby, that’s all.”
Walt turned to face her.
“Meaning?”
“You didn’t let it play out. I’m about finished with this town. Where do you think I was heading next?” Geri said.
She laid back on his bed, stretching her legs.
“Tulsa time, baby,” she said, smiling.
“What about your buddy Vern?” Walt said. “He knows you’re alive, right? That goose chase he led me on makes some sense now. Does he fold his underwear all nice and neat before slipping into bed with you?”
“Vern? Me and Vern? Seriously?”
“Yeah, I guess not. You probably get more out of Vern by putting the carrot way out in front of him where he’ll never get it.”
“Walt, I don’t think you really appreciate what I’ve accomplished here. And just when I was getting so lonely, good old Walt showed up. Right when I need him.”
“Need me? I’m not helping you deal drugs.”
“Don’t knock it, it’s good money,” she said. “But that’s over now, anyway. I’m retired.”
“Are you trying to get me to believe you planned on coming home?”
Geri rolled onto her side, pulling a knee up close to her chest.
“Would you have me?”
“The fake name. Fake death. I don’t get it,” Walt said.
“Think about it this way. What happens on the road stays on the road. I move on, it all stays behind.”
Walt looked at her lying down on the bed. Unable to take his eyes off her body curving all over like a dangerous road. He forced himself to turn back to the mirror, to her reflection.
“Who was the girl?” Walt said.
“What girl is that, baby?”
“The girl in your grave.”
“Oh her,” Geri said, sitting up on the bed.
She fiddled with the television remote bolted to the bedside table, trying to work it free.
“She belonged to some biker friend of Vern’s. She was nobody, Walt. All doped up and dying anyway. Some kinda cancer. Look, Walt, don’t you dare blame me for knowing what I’m doing.”
Geri spun the remote around on its bolt, then came up behind Walt at the mirror. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to yell.”
“You’ve done worse to me,” Walt said.
“Yes, I have. I am so, so sorry for all that,” Geri said, slipping her arms around Walt’s chest. “Let’s leave this town. Go back to Oklahoma. How’s my Boulder doing?”
Encircled in her arms, Walt turned to face her and put his arms around her waist. “He’s good. I wondered if you were going to ask about him.”
“You know I love that horse. Best gift you ever gave me.”
Walt thought about the Navajo blanket draped over Diane’s couch. Geri pulled Walt in close.
“You’re my two men,” Geri whispered.
“Let’s leave town tonight,” Walt said. “I’ll check out of my room, pick you up. Where’ve you been hiding?”
“Aw, that’s so sweet. I want to leave town too, baby. But not tonight, not yet. I need you to do something for us.”
Before Walt could ask her what she had in mind there were two loud bangs on the door.
“Walt, you alright in there? This is Sheriff Cady.”
Walt looked to Geri who was muffling her giggles with her hand. She was electric with that nutty look of hers in her eyes. A wild gleam that used to scare and excite Walt every time she offered him shoplifted candy or turned to smile at him as she ran a red light.
“Walt, you okay?” Sheriff Cady said. “Just come to check on you, is all.”
“Yeah, hold on. “Let me put some pants on.”
Walt began to strip off his shirt and shoes. He pointed to the bed and mouthed: Under the bed. The bed.
Geri shook her head, still covering her mouth. The desire to strangle her rushed through Walt. It dawned on him why he was there in the first place: Kiss her or kill her?
Walt clenched his teeth and tried to drill into her with his eyes as he mouthed the words: Now! Now damn it!
Geri moved quietly toward the bathroom.
Walt shook his head, pointed again to the bed.
She shook her head back at him, blew him a kiss and closed the bathroom door.
Walt stood there unsure what to do. Finally, he took a breath, then opened the door for the sheriff.