after all.”
“You think that, fool?” Rolly said. “Snitches get stitches, everybody knows that.”
He shrugged. “It’s not always about what works, Everett. Okay, if I’d thought they were telling the truth I might have considered it. But my legs were tattered rags, what was left of the bones looked like a pile of cottage cheese – I could tell they had come off just by looking and smellin’ at ‘em when the pigs lifted the sheet to taunt me.
“I couldn’t feel them anyways,” Rolly said. “I was already crippled from the waist down, I wasn’t about to add being a punk bitch rat to the burden.
“They didn’t have enough physical evi dence to indict, so they had to cut me loose as an innocent bystander after they lopped me.” Rolly punched Everett on the arm. “There’s worse things than being in a wheel chair, bro.”
Everett turned to face Rolly, leaning one shoulder against the wall with his hands still in his pockets. Padded biker’s gloves encased Rolly’s big broken knuckled hands. He’d let his hair grow out all the way to his shoulders, with a ‘Murderball’ baseball cap perched on his head at a jaunty angle.
“How’d you wind up in jail ?” Everett asked. “Heard something about you working some fool over with your slapjack.”
“You heard right,” Rolly said. “One of my kids turned up with a big shiner on her cheek. She told me it was her mom’s boyfriend did it, and I had me a little chat with him. Guess I wasn’t nice about it, he dimed me from the ER.
“Almost lost my job over it , that would have sucked. All I got was probation and time served though – the whole courtroom from the Judge on down laughed at the dickwad, getting his ass beat by a gimp and all.”
“I was true blue, wasn’t I?” Rolly asked, commanding an answer despite his smile. “Tell me I always had your back.”
“You were totally true blue, Rolly,” Everett said. “No one ever carried you, and you held up your end all right.”
“I was always balls out , I was a torpedo – and this is what it bought me,” Rolly said, tapping at the wheel of his chair.
He studied Everett’s face, shaking his head. “My clueless partner. My dopey friend. You don’t get it, do you? I’m happy, Everett. I’m okay, I don’t need saving, by you or anyone else.
“You and me , we made our choices a long time ago. We survived, we won, and that was enough. In the hospital, it was like some Zen thing happened to me. I wasn’t in control anymore, I was trapped. Nothing to do but watch the DVDs in my head over and over. They weren’t very nice movies Everett. But you know that, don’t you?
“T his is the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t have to lie in bed anymore wondering when I’m going to get chopped. I don’t have to worry about the Man coming to put me away. The worst thing that’ll go down in my life is already over. These kids, they need me. They’re happy when I roll through the door.
“No one was ever happy to see you and me com ing, Everett,” Rolly said.
He laughed as he started rolling inside toward those happy screaming kids. “We both hung up our guns, Everett. You and me are Citizens now, like it or not. Some masquerade, huh? We sure got them conned.”
Chapter 3 : The Storm Giants
At his second destination, Everett sat in his car for a while before entering the hospital. A woman had left a message with Larry, who forwarded it via one of the throwaway cellies Everett had stockpiled up in Mendocino. The woman refused to identify herself, and said Everett’s mother was on her deathbed in Union City. When Everett phoned the hospital in question it had panned out, so here he was.
He sat beside his mom’s bed with his back to the wall and his hands folded in his lap. She lay festooned by the garlands of tubes and wires that were pretty much all that was keeping her alive. Everett tracked the hospital’s background noises even as he searched her sleeping face.
“You think that, fool?” Rolly said. “Snitches get stitches, everybody knows that.”
He shrugged. “It’s not always about what works, Everett. Okay, if I’d thought they were telling the truth I might have considered it. But my legs were tattered rags, what was left of the bones looked like a pile of cottage cheese – I could tell they had come off just by looking and smellin’ at ‘em when the pigs lifted the sheet to taunt me.
“I couldn’t feel them anyways,” Rolly said. “I was already crippled from the waist down, I wasn’t about to add being a punk bitch rat to the burden.
“They didn’t have enough physical evi dence to indict, so they had to cut me loose as an innocent bystander after they lopped me.” Rolly punched Everett on the arm. “There’s worse things than being in a wheel chair, bro.”
Everett turned to face Rolly, leaning one shoulder against the wall with his hands still in his pockets. Padded biker’s gloves encased Rolly’s big broken knuckled hands. He’d let his hair grow out all the way to his shoulders, with a ‘Murderball’ baseball cap perched on his head at a jaunty angle.
“How’d you wind up in jail ?” Everett asked. “Heard something about you working some fool over with your slapjack.”
“You heard right,” Rolly said. “One of my kids turned up with a big shiner on her cheek. She told me it was her mom’s boyfriend did it, and I had me a little chat with him. Guess I wasn’t nice about it, he dimed me from the ER.
“Almost lost my job over it , that would have sucked. All I got was probation and time served though – the whole courtroom from the Judge on down laughed at the dickwad, getting his ass beat by a gimp and all.”
“I was true blue, wasn’t I?” Rolly asked, commanding an answer despite his smile. “Tell me I always had your back.”
“You were totally true blue, Rolly,” Everett said. “No one ever carried you, and you held up your end all right.”
“I was always balls out , I was a torpedo – and this is what it bought me,” Rolly said, tapping at the wheel of his chair.
He studied Everett’s face, shaking his head. “My clueless partner. My dopey friend. You don’t get it, do you? I’m happy, Everett. I’m okay, I don’t need saving, by you or anyone else.
“You and me , we made our choices a long time ago. We survived, we won, and that was enough. In the hospital, it was like some Zen thing happened to me. I wasn’t in control anymore, I was trapped. Nothing to do but watch the DVDs in my head over and over. They weren’t very nice movies Everett. But you know that, don’t you?
“T his is the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t have to lie in bed anymore wondering when I’m going to get chopped. I don’t have to worry about the Man coming to put me away. The worst thing that’ll go down in my life is already over. These kids, they need me. They’re happy when I roll through the door.
“No one was ever happy to see you and me com ing, Everett,” Rolly said.
He laughed as he started rolling inside toward those happy screaming kids. “We both hung up our guns, Everett. You and me are Citizens now, like it or not. Some masquerade, huh? We sure got them conned.”
Chapter 3 : The Storm Giants
At his second destination, Everett sat in his car for a while before entering the hospital. A woman had left a message with Larry, who forwarded it via one of the throwaway cellies Everett had stockpiled up in Mendocino. The woman refused to identify herself, and said Everett’s mother was on her deathbed in Union City. When Everett phoned the hospital in question it had panned out, so here he was.
He sat beside his mom’s bed with his back to the wall and his hands folded in his lap. She lay festooned by the garlands of tubes and wires that were pretty much all that was keeping her alive. Everett tracked the hospital’s background noises even as he searched her sleeping face.
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