Page 24 (1/2)
"What&039;s with sending ot a screw loose You know some fucked-up people" Jones sniffed, wrinkled his nose "You sree "Mr Jones, I need your help"
"It&039;ll have to be quick," Jones said "Bob&039;s saving an took Jones by the elbow, started easing him down the hall "Hoould you like to be a little an said, "One of our readers can&039;tin his heels, pulled his ar crazy?"
Morgan latched onto the oldhim "I&039;m desperate, Mr Jones Please"
Jones looked like a little terrier being dragged on a leash He looked side to side for some help, his eyes round with terror "There&039;s like a million people in there I&039;ll piss myself"
"You&039;ll be fine"
"I don&039;t have et thean said
"Oh, God I can&039;t breathe"
"You&039;ll be fine"
Morgan floundered backstage until he found the girl with the orange hair He told her about the change She didn&039;t understand Morgan said what the fuck was there to understand? The old guy would read instead of the black guy She looked unhappy but said okay
Morgan had fetched the old oading and pleading, but Morgan convinced Jones to read Jones looked pale and terrified Morgan had never seen the old ood luck and left hiroaned He belched acid I should have ordered a sandwich He went back into the lobby, found the men&039;s room Inside he bent over the sink and turned on the cold water, splashed his face He leaned on the sink awhile, took long deep breaths
Behind hian turned and looked into the bloodshot eyes of Professor Larry Pritcher He stood stiff, neck still in the brace The professor had tacked up a "wanted" poster offering a reward for infor to the person or persons who&039;d assaulted hian" Pritcher talked through clenched teeth "Hope you don&039;t mind if I don&039;t shake hands I can barely lift my arms"
"Did they uh ever find out who attacked you?" Morgan asked
"No I suspect a disgruntled undergraduate I was rather free with the F&039;s last semester My own injuries are of little consequence, but ed beyond repair"
"How&039;s the reading going?"
"Every poeo home except for the blizzard Take care, old boy"
Pritcher left the an splashed more water on his face, scooped some into his mouth, and sed He dried hied doo kids, torn jeans, skateboarder haircuts "Who&039;s reading?"
"So"
Wouldn&039;t that be nice, thought Morgan To live such a si
He stopped at the door to the auditorium Maybe he could Why not? Why couldn&039;t he just leave? Why should the skateboard kids have more freedom than he? Jones didn&039;t need him anymore He&039;d make or break on his own The dean expected hian&039;s show It had been his responsibility to get Ellis into shape for the reading But there was no Ellis The show, apparently, was a drag and would go down in history as thethat had ever happened in Green County
The hell if Morgan would stick around for that He headed for the door but stopped when he heard the girl with orange hair back at the podiu reading to introduce the old an told himself He&039;d stay for one poean could at least do that
The orange-haired girl said, "I&039;ve been asked to read this before we introduce our final reader" She had a card in her hand "The national weather service has issued a severe stor for eastern Oklahoma and parts of western Arkansas I&039;ve been told that Fues, but it will be a while before the roads are safe for travel"
A low, hopeless groan rose from the crowd
"But not to worry," she said "We have another fine poet for your entertaininally, Shere I&039;d like to introduce our next reader, Mr Fred Jones"
It took the old e He looked ridiculously sled The old man reached the podium, shuffled his papers, and wiped sweat off his forehead with a bony hand Morgan&039;s heart broke a little bit
He couldn&039;t quite see the bigwigs in the front row, but Lincoln Truman&039;s head leaned toward the dean&039;s Confused murmurs
"I&039;m Fred Jones," he said into the an couldn&039;t stand it He closed the door, turned around, and headed for the nearest exit He felt queasy, guilty His hand reached for the door and froze when he heard the laughter Aw hell, they&039;re laughing hiet out the door, he told hian couldn&039;topen the door in the back of the auditorium
And the cheers washed over hian blinked, rubbed his eyes to see if soe No It was the old ain and leaned toward the ster&039;&8201;" He read:
When I ca Easy in &039;72
in a baby blue Iray around the ears
And I don&039;t ives me trouble,
and the hands are kinkin&039; up
The hands are key
So when the dagos hiredmoulie shadow to do the bone work
The old man&039;s narrative unfolded He read it like a pro, voice spinning its an too was ift radiated fro
on a huht in some bayou shithole,
and Che was huffin&039; on the accordion,
and another bony , breathless racket
sounded like the time we leaned on Tiny Allen
in the homo bar
at the rotten end of Bourbon
The poeic, yet coan did not remember this one It hadn&039;t been in the stack of papers the oldto Little Mike on the phone
with Big Mike on the extension
and they say everything is jake back in Philly
I try to explain the zydeco shakedown,
and how it&039;s so different fro
e&039;d bear down on thetoilet-paper et it
So I ask Big Mike if he relassblower over on Sullivan the brrrrpt da bript brip chingle chingle bript
e riddled his display cases with Mac-10s,
the nine-lass,
and I think he&039;s starting to get zydeco
And we laughed and laughed
and wondered if the Motor City fellas
do it to S the building It was right up their alley A whole generation who&039;d thought poetry had to be about flowers and bumblebees Now they&039;d heard poetry on steroids Gritty Extrean stayed to hear three th Perhaps they enjoyed it for the wrong reasons Maybe there are no right or wrong reasons ItDean Whittaker wanted, but Morgan thought it was beautiful
forty-four
Even over the blizzard, Morgan still heard the kids cheering The snow an didn&039;t care, didn&039;this face His sht had finally happened Morgan ducked his head into the wind, put one foot in front of the other toward Albatross Hall He wanted to find Valentine, have a drink, toast to Fred Jones&039;s success It was after working hours, and thehands Finally, he found the slot, inserted, turned the key, and pushed the door open They grabbed him by both arms, rushed hian hit hard He flipped over, looked up at ten black ht yellow suit pointed down at hian nodded "Okay" "Anybody else in this building?" "I don&039;t think so," Morgan lied "What&039;s up there?" The black guy in charge pointed his gun at the ceiling "Dor here?" "My office I left souns pointed at hi here of any value What do you want?" "We&039;re gonna go upstairs and kill everyone we see" Morgan gulped What the hell&039;s going on? "What you want to do, Zach?" one of them asked The man in yellow said, "Fan out and search the floor We&039;ll work our way up If Maurice said they were here, then they&039;ve got to be here someplace" "We ain&039;t seen Maurice" "We&039;ll find hiuy?" Zach&039;s hench motion to the head "Don&039;t shoot They&039;ll hear it upstairs," Zach said "Just knock hian The butt of his pistol caan&039;s eyes flickered open He saw only darkness He closed his eyes and opened thee He rubbed the back of his neck, climbed to his knees He tried to stand and lost his balance His hand flew out and he grabbed so and didn&039;t offer any support He fell forward into a pile of clattering ite fell on him, plastic and heavy He didn&039;t try to stand this time, crawled forward, a tentative hand in front of hies A door He felt his way up until he found the knob He twisted it, fell forward into the light, a clattering wad of brooms and mops An eered and stood, felt the back of his head again Swelling He looked at his hand No blood How long had he been in the closet? Morgan checked his watch No more than five er, out of the way Who the hell were those guys? What had the gang leader said? He&039;d ordered a search floor by floor If Morgan acted quickly, he could make it upstairs in time to warn Valentine Or he could save his own ass and run away like a little girl It shamed him a little that he paused an extra few seconds to decide He bolted for the stairs, legs still wobbly He didn&039;t pause at any of the lower floors although he wished he knehere the gangsters were Possibly they were already ahead of him Perhaps he would find only bodies on the fifth floor He didn&039;t stop to think about it, bounded up the steps two at a time When he reached the fifth floor, he collapsed, lay sprawled on his back, heaving for air His lungs ached for breath His stomach churned and burned with alcohol His brain spun with the knowledge of ied the maze to Valentine&039;s office He threw open the door, stumbled in, startled a "whoa" out of Jenks "There&039;s a bunch of black guys coainst the doorja his shirt to hi terminal velocity His eyes took in Valentine&039;s office, darted around the rooo, who sat in a corner chair with his head in his hands Morgan frowned What was his student doing there? Then Morgan saw Jenks His eyes shot wide "You!" Jenks looked confused "Yo, Professor What are you doing-" Morgan leapt, hands outstretched, a feral screa the air He hands went around Jenks&039;s throat, and both men tumbled to the floor "Where have you been, you stupid son of a bitch? I&039;et fired because of your sorry ass" "Get hian!" Valentine leapt on Morgan&039;s back, heaved him off Jenks Jenks rubbed his throat "He&039;s crazy" DelPrego had watched the whole altercation unfold, hadn&039;t an deflated in Valentine&039;s grip "Fuck it Just fuck you" "These younghere with me," Valentine said "Those men downstairs are killers" "No time for this story now," Jenks said to Valentine "We need a way out of here" Jenks went to Valentine&039;s desk, where Bob Slad to see the guns because he was afraid he&039;d need them He tucked the38 into his belt and checked the load on the Old-West Colt Wayne DelPrego sat up from his chair He looked pale and distracted In a low, even voice, he said, "Giveat hiht in the head" "I&039; you" Maybe it was the eerie calo&039;s voice Jenks nodded and handed the Colt to DelPrego Valentine thuun "I knoay downstairs Follow ed the crazy turns of the fifth floor, and stopped at a door with the word ELECTRICAL on it "Here?" asked Jenks Valentine opened the door, and Jenks recognized the fireman&039;s pole he&039;d helped the custodian carry It descended through a wide hole in the floor Before Jenks could say anything, Valentine leapt on the pole and slid down Jenks followed The fourth floor whipped past and the pole ended There was an alar second of free fall, and Jenks landed on a dusty an landed on top of hian said "I don&039;t have a lot of pole experience" They o hit The four of them were in an abandoned classroom Valentine cracked the door to the hall, took a peek "I don&039;t see anyone," Valentine said "The stairs are directly at the end of the hall We go down to the first floor, and there&039;s an exit outside right there" "Let&039;s go," Jenks said They filled the corridor, stalked the hall with long, deteruns at their sides, jaws set, eyes hard The door to the stairwell flew open and three gangsters filled the other end of the hall Jenks recognized Red Zach&039;s men They saw Jenks and the professors, and their hands went into their coats Valentine, Jenks, and DelPrego lifted their guns as one The gangsters fired at the saunfire Dust fell froan hunched against the wall, ar ripped through the fabric He heard yelling, realized it was hie sprayed the first gangster He dropped his gun, screamed The other two fired back Jenks fired three times The first bullet ide The next two struck hoster who&039;d been sprayed with the birdshot lifted off his feet, a new red hole in his chest The thug next to hiround a long second before going still The last of Zach&039;swildly over his shoulder The door banged shut behind hi in the air "Dear God," Morgan said "We got to move," Jenks said "They heard the shots" They ran for the stairs DelPrego paused over the bodies of the dead black men He stuck the Colt in his belt and picked up the two fallen pistols, heavy automatics, one nickel-plated Jenks looked back "Fuck that shit, Wayne Let&039;s go!" They flen the stairs, feet barely touching each step The exit led the snow and sleet "Where&039;s DelPrego?" Morgan shouted over the wind Jenks turned around, saw DelPrego wasn&039;t behind him "Shit"
These were the o held the pistols like white-knuckled death He&039;d scour Albatross Hall, and all would fall before hieance He found them on the second floor They stood in a cluster, a half dozen of the on the floor above DelPrego ran toward theuns leading the way Their faces turned, eyes wide, screao didn&039;t hear There was only the hot buzzing, blood pressure pounding hot in his ears He squeezed the triggers as fast as he could The hail of lead shredded the group, one gritting teeth, grabbing an ar auto, he screaroup He kept squeezing the triggers even after his gun was e Another bullet plowed a deep groove into his left shoulder Blood gushed with each heartbeat He lay on his side, dropped the empty pistols, and pulled the Colt fro the tile floor, and shattered the ankle of one of the gangsters The gangster screaet ahold of his ruined ankle The puddle that formed under his shoe was thick and red and spread rapidly Two er felt the pain, only the dull impact He fired the Colt one ain His eyes looked up, dull and unblinking The smile was faint and oddly peaceful
forty-five
The three of theainst the blizzard, looked back at the door they&039;d used to escape Albatross Hall DelPrego did not coan shouted over the blizzard "H-he was r-r-right b-behind us" Valentine had fled the building with only a light jacket He was turning blue "His eyes," Jenks said "He had a crazy look I think he&039;s going to do so" "Can soan asked "Get hio "I better find him before-" "D-don&039;t be a f-fool," Valentine said "You can&039;t go back in-" Valentine&039;s head jerked around Morgan and Jenks followed his gaze Distantly, figures took shape They reat, hard, square chunks of granite Shoulders Hands deep into the pockets of their long dark coats, hats pulled low to cover eyes A ragged line of the forht They did not heed wind or cold, only advanced like a silent, grihosts "Jesus," Morgan said "He ain&039;t going to help you" Jenks&039;s hand tightened on his pistol Valentine clutched the shotgun to his chest "No shells l-left" They an, Jenks, and Valentine Behind the line of ainst the cutting wind, thin hand holding a cloth cap on his bald head He held on to the arm of one of the bruisers The san and stopped "The reading ell," Fred Jones said "I should kick your ass, but I enjoyed it" "Who are these roup with sleet Bob S away Jones&039;s thugs continued to march past "The kid told me about his troubles" Jones nodded at Jenks "I called a few old pals to couy from University of Arkansas Press was there Asked an&039;s mouth fell open "That&039;sto freeze your balls off," Jones said "Bob, bring the car around and pick us up" "Right, boss" Soing to keep the cops off our backs for a little bit, but we got to uys will finish here They knohat to do" Jenks yanked on Morgan&039;s sleeve "Wayne" Morgan said, "One of ot to look for him," Jenks told Jones "Nunzio!" Jones waved over one of the long coats The guy had big, red cheeks, black eyes "Mr Jones?" Jones jerked a thuuy inside He lost a laht This way, kid" Morgan watched Nunzio lead Jenks back into Albatross Hall The building looked like soar Allan Poe tale-dark stone, s like vacant eyes, the snow piling at the corners Morgan looked down, saw that Jones had latched on to his aran hooked arms with Jones, stood close to shield him from the wind Jones let hian&039;s ear The old an leaned forward, cupped his free hand around his ear to block the howling storet uy," Jones said "He says he&039;ll leave a slot in the schedule open this fall" Morgan said he&039;d help Dull gun blasts echoed froht flashed in the s "W-what are they doing?" asked Valentine "Sweeping up," Jones said A sudden flurry of shots like a spurt of microwave popcorn, flashes from the third floor Jones&039;s car pulled up on the sideith S sedan carved dirty furrows in the white snow Morgan opened the door for Jones Valentine went around the other side They clioing to be okay?" Morgan looked at the dark s of Albatross Hall "They&039;ll be fine," Jones said "I need soood look at the old an took his hands They were luan put the hands between his own, rubbed hard "It was like you said," Jones muttered "When I knew I had the crowd They loved it I could feel thean pulled the old narled poet Morgan&039;s deus ex o&039;s body His head ached froave up, let them roll hot and salty down his cheeks and over his lips Down the hall, Nunzio dragged a gangster&039;s body by the ankle, pulled hi It had been at least five unshots Jenks pushed himself to his feet He felt tired, a hundred years old, like he&039;d been awake for a week He looked at the last body Nunzio had put on the pile "You know any of these?" Nunzio&039;s hand swept over the pile "A few," Jenks said "The one on top is Red Zach" Jenks studied Zach, the slack, expressionless face Eyes glassy and dull It seemed impossible that this o he&039;d been Zach&039;s go boy, running errands He had even hoped to be like Zach one day, but now theone Even Sherone, with no faone For Harold Jenks, only the whole, orld remained
forty-six
It took an hour for Bob Shts worked Poas out in various neighborhoods Fortunately, the roads were nearly deserted, ained soood heat and Smith flipped it to full blast Jones offered Valentine a spare bedrooan&039;s porch light told him he was one of the fortunate feho still had electricity He bid everyone good night, rushed up the steps and into his little house He found the thermostat and thumbed the heat up until it clicked on He stood over one of the vents, let it bloared every cabinet until he finally tuned up a half-full bottle of Cutty Sark he didn&039;t relass and sat at the kitchen table still wearing his coat Valentine had told Morgan about Jenks That was the kid&039;s naan still wasn&039;t sure he understood what had happened
He wondered if Ginny were okay, vaguely wished she ith hi alone, wasn&039;t really sure how he felt His night had been a horror of dead bodies, yet Morgan felt relief he wasn&039;t one of the hier remember Annie&039;s face It didn&039;t seem like part of the saiven hian drained the Cutty Sark
He was so tired but forced hiood
No towel on the rack when he stepped out of the shower He dripped and shivered as he walked to the hall closet, feet slapping wet on the floor
Morgan didn&039;t even see the laainst his forehead, and Morgan went down, blinked blood out of his eyes He climbed to his knees, shaken, opened his ht hiue, s curled aardly under hi face of the man over hily familiar
The man&039;s left arauze, blood spots seeping through
"Oh, no" Morgan heard his own voice, small and without breath It sounded like fear
Deke Stubbs laughed, a loicked ht rean rolled over, wiped the blood out of his eyes His head throbbed
"You thought I was dead?" Stubbs shook his head "Nope But I can see how you odda ocean"
Stubbs kicked Morgan hard in the ribs, and Morgan whuffed air, went into a fetal position Stubbs kicked again A third ti his side, wondered if a rib had cracked
"I want to tell you so, Jay old boy," Stubbs said "When you&039;re halfway through your own arm with a saw, you really learn how to hate I&039;ve killed you so ination, I&039;ve lost count"
"Please" Morgan backed away, tried to stagger to his feet but froze when he saw the automatic in Stubbs&039;s only hand
"In one scenario, I shove broken glass up your ass for an hour before I put a bullet in your head" Stubbs stood close to Morgan, stuck the barrel of the autoan&039;s teh, everything&039;s too quick for you You&039;re going to learn about a whole new bright world of pain There&039;s going to be jagged things and sharp things and fiery hot things, and it&039;s all for you"
Morgan said, "I just wanted out of the car I thought it was sinking"