sidewayz glory Read Free Page B

Shinchou on the phone, and she said she’d pick him up at noon.
    Noon came and went and Shinchou didn’t show.
    The afternoon dragged on. Kennin tried to call a few more times, but she didn’t answer.
    At six p.m. Leon stuck his head into the room. “Ride didn’t come?”
    Kennin didn’t reply. The answer was obvious.
    Leon let out a low sigh. “Give me ten, dawg. I’ll be back.”
    Fifteen minutes later Leon returned wearing his street clothes—jeans and a gray UNLV sweatshirt—and pushing a wheelchair. “You ready?” he asked, then grinned. “Just kidding. I know you been ready since noon.”
    Leon helped him into the wheelchair. Out in the corridor they went through a puke green door marked HOSPITAL PERSONNEL ONLY, and then through another door. A pair of metal crutches was leaning against the wall. Leon looked around to make sure no one was watching, then picked up the crutches and put them in Kennin’s lap. “Here’s a goingaway present.”
    Kennin held the crutches in his lap, and Leon pushed the wheelchair through another door to the outside and past a sign that said EMPLOYEE PARKING LOT. For the first time in nearly two weeks, Kennin breathed fresh air. It was midNovember and, at six thirty in the evening, already dark. Kennin felt a chill and shivered.
    â€œYeah, it’s gotten a little cooler these last few weeks,” said Leon. “Down into the low fifties at night.” He stopped the wheelchair next to a bright red Chevy Silverado with big chrome rims and tinted windows.
    â€œNice ride,” Kennin said.
    â€œThe poor man’s Escalade,” Leon quipped, opening the passenger-side door for Kennin and helping him in. Kennin’s blue fiberglass cast went from his hip to his ankle, and moving around wasn’t easy. Once he was comfortable, Leon got into the driver’s seat. “Where to, Captain?”
    â€œNorth Las Vegas,” Kennin said. “Trailer park called the Sierra Ne-Vue.”
    â€œOh yeah,” Leon said as they pulled out of the hospitalparking lot. “The high-rent district.” This too was a joke. If Las Vegas had a slum, the Sierra Ne-Vue was probably it.
    Twenty minutes later they passed the dead brown palm trees at the entrance to the trailer park.
    â€œThat one,” Kennin said, pointing at the trailer with a bright yellow ’vette parked outside it.
    â€œWhoa, nice ride,” Leon said when he saw the ’vette. “That yours?”
    â€œNo,” Kennin replied.
    â€œSorry to hear it,” Leon said.
    Not as sorry as I am to see that car,
Kennin thought.
    They pulled up next to the ’vette. Leon was helping Kennin out when the door to the trailer opened and Jack the jackass and Shinchou came out. As usual, Jack was wearing a black cowboy hat, a black shirt, and lots of gold jewelry. Even though it was getting dark, Shinchou was wearing a pair of sunglasses. But Kennin could see that the left side of her face was swollen and bruised.
    â€œWhat happened?” Kennin asked, leaning on the crutches.
    Shinchou’s hand immediately went to her face. “Nothing. I banged myself.”
    Kennin didn’t believe her. “I meant at the hospital. You were supposed to pick me up.”
    â€œOh, sorry.” His sister hung her head. “I forgot.”
    â€œHow’s the leg?” Jack asked.
    â€œWhat do you care?” Kennin asked back.
    Jack’s face hardened. “You ought to show more respect, pardner.”
    â€œI show respect to people who deserve it,” Kennin replied.
    Jack slid his hand through Shinchou’s arm and led her toward the ’vette. Kennin’s sister was unsteady on her feet and almost stumbled.
    â€œSo what did happen to your face?” Kennin asked.
    â€œI told you, I bumped it,” she said.
    â€œHow?”
    â€œButt out,” Jack growled as he opened the ’vette’s door for