Installment #10
Chapters 14 & 15
14
Walt rode with Vern in his Lincoln out to a 24-hour convenience station on the edge of the highway. The station had a deli case of pre-made sandwiches sealed in plastic wrap. Off to the side of the register, a couple of hard plastic booths looked out on the gas and diesel pumps.
Walt and Vern sat opposite each other in one of the booths. Walt eating a sandwich that evidently was made of dry cardboard sliced and colored to look like turkey. Vern drank coffee and absentmindedly wiped the table with a napkin though the surface was clean and dry.
“She’s a cutie,” Vern said, gesturing toward a scowling, obese woman working the register.
Walt slouched, trying to hide in the booth.
” Jesus, she’s heavyset, not deaf,” Walt said, whispering. “You’d scowl like that too if this job was all you had to look forward to.”
“Maybe. Or maybe she’s just mean white trash,” Vern said, talking louder than normal. “Pissed off because she didn’t win the lottery. Or because there’s something else she feels she’s owed. Oh, it’s all way overdue to honey over there. Just ask her.”
“At least I ain’t a weird-ass neat-freak like you,” the woman said.
She looked up from the register to the customer she was ringing up, a stocky man wearing matching jean shorts, a camo shirt and a confused look on his stubbly face.
“Him sweetie, not you,” she said, tossing her head in the direction of Vern and Walt.
Vern went from wiping with the napkin to meticulously folding, unfolding and refolding the napkin repeatedly.
“Man, what did that gal ever do to you?” asked Walt.
“She never done a thing,” Vern said. “Just like everyone else in this town. Lazy. Ignorant. Happy to stay that way. Sometimes I don’t know why I stay here.”
“Leave then. It ain’t hard. In a small town like this, all roads lead out and away.”
“Been thinking about making moves,” Vern said, refolding the napkin. “A lot lately. Go someplace else, start a new salvage yard. I like the business. Taking things people think are worn out and finding a use for them.”
“I guess I never thought of it that way,” Walt said. “In my line, people bring me an animal all full of life. Too full, if that’s possible. It’s my job to make it useful.”
“I’m sorry but I never cared for horses.”
“That gal is right,” Walt said, “You are an asshole.”
“If I remember, I think she said I was a ‘weird-ass neat-freak.’ That’s different from an asshole.”
“Guess she misjudged you,” Walt said with a shrug.
He finished his sandwich, then sipped his coffee before speaking again. He wasn’t exactly sober but he’d managed to pull back and even out. Mostly he was just tired.
“The sheriff’s deputy said Geri was living with some woman?” Walt said.
Vern nodded.
“Just roommates?”
Vern unfolded and folded the napkin.
“I could say they had this kind of relationship or that kind of relationship or whatever,” Vern said. “Let’s just say they were close. Leave it at that.”
“And nobody in town had a problem with it?” Walt said.
“Some did. The same folks who have a problem with Luther Blake marrying Cindy Ashton—he’s black, she’s white. Same folks who didn’t like that they used to show dirty movies at the drive-in and got it shut down. You know, the same old crowd of holy-rollers that don’t like anything new or fun or different. For their part, Joni and Diane, they didn’t play it up.
“Do you know this Diane?”
“Everyone knows Diane. Knows what an odd one she is. Didn’t surprise nobody when she ran away. It didn’t surprise me when she came back a lezbo neither. What surprised me was that she came back at all.”
“Man, you got nothing but good things to say about everybody, huh? Remind me not to get on the wrong side of you.”
“You already are, a little bit,” Vern said
“Oh, and how’s that?”
Walt watched as Vern looked down at the table, back to wiping hard on the scratched surface of the table. This one probably wipes his ass with a power washer, Walt thought.
“You loved her too?” Walt said.
Vern nodded. “And she loved me.”
“Sure she did,” Walt said. “She ever say it?”
“No. We never got that far along. We were friends and it just grew from that.”
“Well, you wouldn’t be the first to read something into Geri that wasn’t there. She had a way of making you believe in things without proof. You two ever…?”
Vern shook his head
“And what did this Diane person think of you and Geri?”
“Diane doesn’t like me. Diane doesn’t like nobody.”
“I’d like to talk with this Diane person,” Walt said. “If she was a guy, I’d probably slug her.”
“You saying you won’t slug Diane just because she’s a woman?”
“I am.”
“You some kind of chauvinist?” Vern said, grinning. “Sure you don’t want to take a swing at her? Might make you feel better.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Afraid of getting your ass kicked by a woman, aren’t you?”
“Haven’t met a woman yet that could kick my ass,” Walt said. “Not physically, anyway.”
“Ever fought a woman?”
“I told you I don’t hit women.”
“Then how do you know one wouldn’t kick your ass?”
“Are you saying I should hit a woman?”
“I am not saying you should hit a woman,” Vern said. “I’m saying a woman would kick your ass because you wouldn’t hit her back.”
Walt ignored Vern’s egging.
“Ass kicking or no,” Walt said, “I’d still like to meet this Diane woman.”
“Well, tonight is your night to get lucky with a lesbian, my friend,” Vern said, pointing out the window. “She’s filling up her truck right now.”
Walt twisted around in the booth to look out the window. A woman in a white T-shirt and overalls was pumping gas into a pickup truck. Walt did a double-take.
“Son of a….”
15
Walt walking quickly toward the woman pumping gas. Vern, hoping Walt might actually take a swing at her, hung back a little. This might be fun to watch.
The woman at the gas pump looking up as Walt and Vern approached.
“Hello, Amber.”
“Oh my god,” the woman said. “You finally figured it out.”
“Wasn’t hard,” Walt said. “I didn’t even start looking until yesterday. To be honest, I wasn’t looking to find you…Diane is it?”
“Holy shit, you two know each other?” Vern said.
“Hey Vern,” Diane said. “See you’re still the sharpest blade on the pocketknife. Your nails are looking good, by the way.”
Vern shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.
“Nice to see you too, Diane,” he said.
“If you had shown up a month ago,” Diane said to Walt, “you would have found a package deal. Not your package, I’m afraid. Nothing here for you, Walt, then or now. Who’s minding the horses anyway?”
Walt fought the urge to slam his fist into her smart mouth. Good old Amber or Diane or whatever. Different name, same smart mouth. A pretty mouth though. Even looking so plain without the makeup and the big hair and wearing clothes, she was attractive. No wonder Geri ran off with her. Guess that girl-girl show they used to do at the club wasn’t all show business after all.
“Horses are all taken care of…Diane. Do I have that right?”
“Grow up, Walter. You’ve spent enough time with strippers. Did you think Amber was my real name? Do you know anybody named Amber who isn’t grinding on some loser’s lap?”
“I didn’t know anybody named Joni either.”
“My tank is full,” Diane said, returning the nozzle to its cradle. “I’m done here. So are you, Walt. Go home.”
“Amber, wait,” Walt said, cursing himself for letting pride get in the way of what he was truly after. “I’m sorry. I just want to talk.”
“What the hell would we talk about,” Diane said, climbing into her truck.
Walt, sighing, looked up at the starry night. His attention was drawn to the lights glowing over the gas pumps and all the flecks orbiting the lights. Moths flapping and zipping erratically around the incandescent warmth. Sometimes too close.
“Her,” Walt said, approaching the driver’s side window. “Just talk about Geri.”
“You didn’t know her.”
“And you did?”
“She’s dead now,” Diane said. “That much we both know, don’t we?”
Smart, pretty mouth.
“It’s late,” Walt said. “Let’s just talk. Doesn’t have to be right this second.”
Diane fired up the truck. She sat at the wheel, woman and truck idling.
“I’m busy most of the day tomorrow,” she said finally. “If you want, stop by my place in the afternoon, after three. Your buddy here can tell you where it is. Oh, and call me Amber again, swear to God I’ll punch you in your damn throat.”
Diane gunned the truck, whipping out of the parking, heading back toward town.
“Vern, I better get back to the El Ranchero,” Walt said as they watched her taillights fade into the darkness. “If this day gets any weirder, I want to be asleep so I miss it.”