Installment #25
Chapters 45, 46 & 47
45
“…We rode the bus over to Darwin City to play the Bears,” Randall said. “We was getting killed. This was back when they had that black kid, Huggins. Remember him? Charlie Huggins. He was good, wound up playing for Navy. Anyway, one play Huggins takes off around the end, away from me. I was an outside linebacker so I had contain, you know, stay home just in case they’re running a trick play like a reverse or something.
“Anyway, I see we managed to string it out and I’m all excited because for once we stopped Huggins. So I let up a little. Next thing I know I’m flying. I’m seeing stars. I feel like throwing up and crapping my football pants at the same time. I hit the ground hard and, completely on instinct, I bounce right back up. Figure I’m going to kick someone’s ass. I look around. Not a Darwin City player around me. No one except Vern is even close to me, just me and him alone on the empty side of the field. I was woozy, you can imagine. Made absolutely no sense to me. I’m thinking the kid who cheap-shotted me and run off or something. Then I see Vern reach a hand out to me. Giving me a hand, right? Heck no.
“Instead he reaches into my facemask. Not a poke in the eye but, I swear, like he’s trying to tear my eyes out. I pull away. He locks onto my facemask and jerks me to the ground, face first. Now I got a new pain shooting through my neck. Vern steps on my hand, with football cleats, mind you. Manages to get one good kick into my nuts before we’re swarmed by coaches and refs. By the time I can finally stand and hobble off the field, I’m thinking—What the heck?
Next day, Elaine tells me—she and I had been dating about a month then—she tells me Vern’s been calling her, asking her out. She’d been polite about it but it got to be too much. Finally had to tell him off. All I can figure is, he jumped me because of that, on account of she wouldn’t go out with him on account of me. Of course, they kicked Vern off the team. You can’t trust a guy after a thing like that, you know.
“Thing is, I wished they’d have let him practice just one time before they cut him. I’d have drilled him like a woodshop project, over and over. I guess I could have just jumped him after school or something. But I don’t know, that didn’t feel right. It’s funny, Vern and I are on speaking terms now, of course. Every once in a while he’ll bring up our football days. But him cheap-shotting me never comes up. Amazing. No need for me to bring it up, but that jackass could at least apologize.”
“That’s funny,” Sheriff Cady said.
“What? That he cheap-shotted me?”
“No, that you tell me that story like I never heard it before.”
“Heck, it’s a high school football story,” Randall said over the walkie-talkie. “If you could only tell them once, what would be the point of playing high school football?”
Sheriff Cady watched Vern’s Lincoln emerge from the salvage yard and go tearing down the highway.
“Vern’s headed out north on Cherry Road. Why don’t you go and keep an eye on him.”
46
Geri sitting at the kitchen table touching a quart of peanut butter ice cream to her swollen cheek when she heard Vern in the doorway behind her. She started to turn, see if he had the money but caught herself.
“You pull another tooth?” Vern said, laughing as he crossed the living room to the kitchen.
He dropped five thousand dollars, tight rolls of twenties, fifties and hundreds in a plastic grocery bag, on the kitchen table in front of Geri before noticing her face.
“Christ, what happened?”
Geri looked away, eyes welling. She tried not to look at the money.
“Geri, what happened, baby?”
Vern scooted a kitchen chair over next to her and sat down. He took the tub of ice cream from her and gently tilted her jaw into the light. Geri pulled back her chin from his hand.
“It was Walt. Vern, I’m so sorry.”
“Walt? He hit you? What the hell? You mean he knows you’re alive?”
“I went to him.”
Vern sat back in the kitchen chair. “You did, huh? Nice.”
Vern shook his head.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Geri said. “I’m horrible. I know it.”
“Why would you do that?” Vern said, not angry but genuinely seeking an answer.
Geri put the ice cream to her face again.
“I don’t know. You know how some people, no matter how bad they are for you, you just can’t get them out of your system?”
“Oh yeah,” Vern said. “You mean like they can get you to do stupid things, like run around trying to convince everyone that someone is dead when they’re not. Which is kind of hard to do when the supposedly dead person is walking around talking to people behind your back. Yeah, I got an idea what that’s like.”
“I only saw him yesterday,” Geri said. “Baby it was all his idea. My daddy’s fine, fit and healthy. Walt was here earlier. He followed you. Out to the junkyard. He was going to watch you, see where you hid our money. He’s probably cleaning us out right now. Baby, we got to go to the yard. Now.”
“Whoa. Our money? That he even knows about…damn it, Joni…Geri,” Vern said.
He rubbed his eyes.
“Man, I don’t know what to think anymore. I could have sworn you’re smarter than that. What’s going on with you?”
“All right, full confession—me and him were going to run off together with the money. That was his idea. But as soon as you left, he stormed in calling me a whore and a slut and punching me. I don’t know how many times. Vern, he just kept on hitting until I passed out on the floor. Woke up and he was gone.”
Geri watched as the muscles in Vern’s jaw began to flex. She thought she heard his teeth grinding faintly.
“I’m sorry Vern. I hate me too.”
“Oh for chrissakes.”
“I do,” Geri said. “I do, I do, I do. It’s awful, I see that now. If I could take it back…but I can’t, and there’s no time anyway. We need to go get our money.”
Geri pushed back out of her chair. When her knees buckled, Vern caught her falling toward him.
“You stay here,” Vern said, leading Geri into the living room and situating her on the couch. Geri lifted her face to Vern’s.
“Could you ever kiss a face that looks like this?”
Vern considered it, then leaned in close to her face. As gently as possible he put his lips on hers.
Over Vern’s shoulder, Geri could see Diane peeking out from the coat closet, crouching, gun at her side. Geri could just make out Diane’s silent mouthing of the words, fucking whore.
“Ouch,” Geri said, pulling her face away.
“Sorry,” Vern said.
“Go on, Vern. Get our money.”
Vern squeezed Geri’s shoulder before heading out the door.
47
“I am sick and tired of watching you kiss all your boyfriends,” Diane said as she set foot out of the closet.
“Wait!” Geri said, getting up from the couch.
Diane halted in her tracks. Geri watched out the picture window as Vern rummaged around under the dome light of his Lincoln. Geri retreated into the kitchen, returning with the small bag of money. The tires on Vern’s Lincoln screeched as he peeled out of the driveway.
“Okay, you can come out now,” Geri said, tossing a roll of hundreds to Diane. “Suck on that, it’ll make you feel better.”
Diane dandled the roll of bills in the hand that was not holding her gun.
“Should have just let me stick this gun in his mouth, make him tell us where the hell he hid all of it.”
“That would be one way of doing it,” Geri said. “Nice gun. Smith and Wesson?
“Yeah.”
“Daddy give it to you?”
“What’s your point?”
“Nothing,” Geri said. “Other than he sure gave you a lot of nice stuff.”
“Sure did. Everything I could have asked for and nothing I did.”
“Whatever,” Geri said. “But rattling that gun over Vern’s teeth would only solve one of our problems. This way—my way—everyone pulls their weight. Walt finds the money for us. Then Vern gets rid of Walt for us.”
“Think he can do it? I’m no fan of Walt’s but, straight up, Walt and Vern? I’m thinking Walt.”
“Oh, no doubt. Except I know for a fact Vern’s keeps a .357 under his seat. Advantage Vern,” Geri said.
She walked over and put a hand to Diane’s face.
“All that leaves is for you to solve Vern for us, baby. “Then we’re off.”