“Fill her up, Doug.” Frank stepped down from the truck and took a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket. He smacked out a single smoke for himself and tucked the pack away again. “I’ll be right back.”
Doug was a big, baby-faced lug, but better company than nothing. He lumbered around the semi and began pumping gas. He looked off dumbly into the under lights of the station. Thousands of bugs swarmed in from the night, plastering their little bodies over everything like an insect meet and greet.
Frank was lighting up while walking towards the front door of the deli. He passed by a girl sitting at a small picnic table directly in front of the store, sipping on something from a Styrofoam cup. Her glasses hid her eyes, and a drab hoodie covered her head, but the headlights from his rig betrayed several red scrapes across her cheek. He chuckled, “Trick gone South, eh?” She did not react. He stopped next to her.
“Don’t say nothin’?” He reached out to turn her face towards him, but she lifted her hand and flinched. He laughed again and spit, “You know de customer’s always right? Well,” He sucked a puff from his cigarette and blew smoke in her direction, “It ain’t what’s comin’ outta’ the mouth as impo’tant as what’s comin’ in it, ‘eh sister?”
Typical.
She could hear the bell ding as soon-to-be-not-Frankwalked into the diner. “Well, Hello, Maggie. You alone?”
Poor Maggie. Alone with that piece of shit. The door closed behind ex-Frank, so there was no telling what heartfelt renderings Maggie might behold.
She watched the idling tractor. She watched big, stupid Doug. He squinted and his eyes chased moths while his mouth hung open. Was that maw supposed to be a fucking runway? Lily could feel the bruises as her mouth creased into a semi smile. Oh, Doug, how many hearts must you have launched with those boyish charms? Not one, I’ll bet.
She looked back down at her notebook, scribbling her words. She looked at them and concentrated, mouthing her lips to remember what she had written precisely. She smiled and looked up at Doug again before returning to her meditation.
“Hey, Doug! Doug!” Doug looked around, wondering where the noise was coming from. “Yo, Doug! Over here!” Finally, eye contact. Good job, Doug. “You hungry?”
“I—I want a hot pocket!” Doug called back. Delightful cuisine. Bon Apetite, Doug.
“Doug, now, I told you no more of those!” Wise words, ex-Frank.
“I want a hot pocket!” Doug insisted.
“I ain’t gonna argue with ya, Doug. They ain’t got Hot Pockets. I kin get ya a sandwich or some—“
“Baloney and cheese!” Doug shouted over the motor.
Ex-Frank walked out a little ways to catch Doug’s words. “Doug, I can’t hear ya over the motor.”
Nice pants. Ex-Frank had his belt undone. Lily turned her head slightly to catch a glimpse inside. Maggie’s smock was on the counter, but Maggie wasn’t visible.
“Oh, now you see somethin’ you like? Well, dah’lin’. Let me just squirt my load up in Maggie in there,” He thumbed back at Maggie, “then you can have a fuck.” He grinned wide at her and reached across her to smash out his cigarette in the tin foil tray, “Now how’d that suit you?”
She turned back and shrunk.
As he pulled back from her, he closed his eyes and inhaled her. “Yeah, that’s some natural shit right there. You can earn your twenty in about five.”
He looked over at Doug, who was busy waving hello. He waved back and went back inside. Twenty dollars? What the hell? I’m worth at least a hundred, Lily thought. “A hundred.” She said to no one. She covered her mouth and looked around. No one heard her. I’m worth at least a hundred, you cheap shit.
Lily fetched a cell phone from her jacket pocket. She tapped out a little pattern on the numbers, a practice dial. She looked at her paper and mouthed a few words. She looked at the phone again and at the paper. Finally she pressed the numbers and made the call.
“Hello?”
She paused for a moment. Say something, stupid. “Hello? David? Is this David Messing?”
“Yeah. It’s kinda late, who is this?”
“It’s um. It’s, Erica, David. Hi. It’s Erica.” She looked at her paper again and got her composure back. “You and I have an appointment tomorrow morning to look at some of the new homes in Cherry Bay. I am conform—“, she stuttered, “confirming our appointment and would like to extend my deepest sincerity for your time and consideration of me as a present and potential client.”
“Whoa, “ David chuckled, “Erica, it’s not an interview. We put you on the books and I’ll show you the houses, ok?” He yawned.
“Yes, David, and thank you. May I get directions to the houses in question so as to…”
“Erica, hang on. Hey.” She was trying to stick to the script, but he could sense she was nervous. “Look, meet at the office ok? I will meet you at 8 a.m.. Don’t worry about anything. Think of it as a relaxing ride looking at some houses." David yawned again, "Look, I'll drive you everywhere and take care of everything. Is this your first time?”
“First time?” She was taken by the question. First time at what? What was he implying?
“First time shopping for a house? Exciting isn’t it? So hey look, I’m going to. Wow. It’s late. You should get some sleep, ok? Long day tomorrow.”
“I don’t sleep much.” She said feebly.
“Well, ha ha. Ok, well, I’m going to get a little more sleep and then we’ll meet, ok?”
“Ok, David. I sincerely thank you again for everything.”
“Bye, Erica.” And the phone disconnected.
All in all, “A” for effort, Lily. She smiled, sincerely happy. She did it. David was going to show her houses tomorrow. She stood up with a little bounce. I hope the houses are nice, she thought as she walked across the street to the gas pumps.
David was so nice to spend the whole day with her. She reached under her coat.
Doug had finished and was walking in front of the truck to her, “Frank is getting me the Baloney and.”
“Cheese” She helped him complete his sentence. He wasn’t going to be saying much with that foot long spike slid up underneath his ribs. As he tripped backwards she pushed that serrated screwdriver as far up inside Doug as she could go. She must have punctured something good because Doug was not doing too well catching his fall. She had filed the makeshift blade down far too much, though, as it broke apart inside of Doug when she tried to pull it back out again. She had barely three inches left sticking out of the handle, but more than enough. She threw herself on top of the pile of Doug and hammered down onto his head and neck, decorating his soft parts with holes. Doug let out a tremendous cough of blood which seemed to trigger each hole of his ruptured throat and face to bleed out at once.
She got up to her feet and climbed up into the cab. Oh, she wasn’t going anywhere in this rig. She released the parking brake and slid the gear into first. A cacophonous grind alerted ex-Frank, who was still inside, pulling his pants up and hobbling to the door. But she had found second. Ex-Frank barely got his last obscenity out of his mouth before she drove the gore of Frank’s smashed carcass through Maggie’s screaming bitch face.
The cab made it completely through the diner and was now parked calmly, ignition off. Lily checked the last of her messages while she was climbing out of the cab. Her little yellow Charger was waiting for her. She pulled a long trash bag from under her coat and opened it up. She stripped down to bare skin, laying everything into the plastic bag. When she was done, she tied the bag shut and double bagged it. She thought that she wouldn’t mind having a pool so much, but that she’d love some yard. Maybe a dog. Maybe not a dog.
She pulled some fresh clothes from the trunk, and dressed up. She hopped into the front seat and adjusted the mirror. She laughed when she saw all of the blood in her face. “You are a lousy criminal,” she said matter-of-factly. She wiped her face into some towels and threw them behind her seat.
She drove the car out onto the street, made a left, and travelled on. The sun would be coming up soon. We can’t be late for David.
3 comments:
There are so many avenues you can take with this story. The one thing I admire about your writing is how the characters unfold on their own by the clever manipulation of only a few words.
I am also intrigued by the main character because it is a female serial character. Gore is always welcome in my world.
Awww... I agree, Al Gore is pretty amazing. Manbearpig might have destroyed us all if not for his poignant alacrity.
Excelsior!
I think it would be great if Lily "blended in" with everyone. I picture her as being kind of mousy, a little timid looking but with a rage that burns deep inside.
I picture her as a quiet, shy, nerdy girl who never speaks up and then has something awful happen to her that unleashes the beast within. Hmm...kind of like May
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