Last Bender

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
          “Who’s driving?”   I asked.
          “We got a driver. Get in,” he said, holding open the front door.
          “No good Church. Wanda Watts told me only two.”
          “I said get in. We got it all figured out. You’re working for me now, remember?”
          “Wait a minute. No one said anything about me working for [...]

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
          Helen drove me into town. Lives moved in and out of the empty windows and half-demolished walls. A kid washed her doll in an open fire hydrant. She was barefoot and dirty with nowhere to go. I thought of my sister Mary in a little denim dress with her own toothbrush and a [...]

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
          “What about the guy in the car?” Helen asked from the curtain.
          “What about him?”   I asked back.
          “He’ll attract flies, won’t he?”
          “She’s right,” said Linda from the bathroom. “They’ll be lookin’ for him.”
          “They already are,” Helen said. “Look.”
          A black sedan eased into the parking lot and drove up [...]

CHAPTER FORTY
          Helen’s big hair devoured her head. The black satin robe emblazoned with dragons reached halfway down her legs. It was loosely tied with a tattered belt and I could see portions of her tattoo. She blocked the door and peered at us myopically. “It’s late,” she said. “I gotta work tomorrow.”
          “Quit breakin’ [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
          After a while I got used to the guy kicking and moaning in the trunk. It was easier to get used to than the bugs flying in my mouth on the highway back to town. Linda dropped me off and I followed her in my car to her place, listening to the radio, [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
          Linda drove a bulbous hunk of metal golden rod. The engine purred and rocked beneath its shining hood. The view from the seat was of some luxuriously painted moon rising against a bleak planet. She gripped the enormous calfskin steering wheel and glided into traffic. People overflowed the sidewalks, danced between cars stilled [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
          Two thumbtacks of light were pressed into my eyes. I sipped scalding, bitter coffee from a bowl. To my left, on a quilted pot holder arranged diagonally on a tile trivet, sat the percolator. Across the room, eyes distant, fully dressed, amused and slightly contemplative, sat Wanda Watts, with a loaded brandy snifter [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
          Barca Langousto was tucked away in a quiet residential block on the east side, occupying the first two floors of an old brownstone. Standing guard by the coat check was a formidable Maitre D’, in cut-away coat and tails, wearing the prosperity of his belly with comfort. As soon as I stepped in [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
          Nothing I did then qualifies as thought. He dragged me into his car and jerked out a three-point turn. The tires squealed. He sped through a stoplight, crossed the double yellow line, and drove straight into a pack of headlights separating slowly as they started towards us through the fog. There was a [...]

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
          By the time I reached Clara Turback’s place the daylong squalls of rain had stirred the city up from the bottom. The air smelled like fish. The facades of buildings winced beneath a sooty rain. It drilled the puddles and plopped on windscreens. Pigeons huddled and shivered in eaves and awnings. People dashed [...]