Further Adventures (37 page)

“Perfect,” David comes back. “That’s a perfect comparison. The only difference is a Kleenex is clean when you take it out of the box.” He lights a cigarette & drags in a lungful before he has anything else to say. “You think I don’t know what attracts a woman? It’s obvious that you don’t so I’ll keep it simple—Good Looks…Money…Success. They come and they go Ray. It’s all a temporary arrangement.”

“When I see how you ended up so miserable I think somewhere there’s justice in life.”

“Proves my point.”

“It proves what happens if you behave like a barnyard animal. Here’s your whole philosophy of life: what do I eat—when can I sleep—who can I f—”

“Say the word Ray!” (I will not say it I stick to my Principles.) “That’s you all over. Act like you’re too delicate to stand the sound of it.”

“It’s not delicate. It’s standards. High ideals isn’t something a sea slug like you can appreciate!”

“A minute ago I was a barnyard animal. Now I’m a sea slug.”

“I demoted you lower.”

“You
amateur
.” He laughs at me. “Mr. High & Mighty. Low is the only level there is.” He flicks his cigarette butt out the window. “Everything else is in your imagination. Tell me how you ended up with your high aims and all?”

“Not like you.”

“
Exactly
like me.” He leans back & looks me over. “You want to hear what women hate about you? Interested?”

I hold up a fingernail not the pinky either the middle one. “From the expert.”

“You said it. It’s not your unappetizing face. It’s not your pathetic bank account. It isn’t even because you blew your only chance of success because you refused to whore yourself around. You scared them off with that radioactive mutant imagination of yours. As ugly as a hairy wart on the end of your nose. You scared Annie right into my bed.”

“Oh sure. Because I had the nerve to act like we had a future together. What’s so ugly about such a romantic intention?”

“Y’know it must be because women get pregnant. They know what a crock romance is. They watch it go from this…”—he cradles his
arms—“…to this.” He points at his old face then he points at mine. “If it’s temporary it’s beautiful pal.”

“My emotions for Annie never went.” I try & swallow with my dry mouth. “I don’t want this conversation anymore. I had beautiful emotions,” I say.

“Whatever you say.” David shakes his head. “You don’t look very happy about it.”

“I’m not happy.”

“You never aimed low enough.”

GOOD-BYE ANNIE LASALLE!

“Tell me what on Earth did I do to deserve such treatment from you. Such disrespect.”

Annie is sitting behind me I can see her face reflecting in my window. Bars of light on her hair roll over & under her curly blond perm when she swivels her head. She leans forward & her Voice screws into my ear—

“You embarrassed me,” she answers.

“By the nice presents?” She nods at me Yes nor she does not stop nodding nor I do not stop for a breath. “By buying you lunch? Or dinner once in a while? By calling you on the telephone? By treating you like somebody special when you gave me the chance to? For crissakes Annie—because I singled you out?”

“Lucky me.” She twists her knife. “You treated me like you were the special one Ray not me.”

“It was special how you made me feel. I peeled my skin back to show you. Out of everybody I showed you the tender feelings I had.”

“You never gave me a choice.” She laughs at me her hard laugh it sparkles for a second like splinters of glass. “You cornered me with all that flowery attention. I didn’t want the honor!”

This mistake depresses me if by her it was only flowery attention!
So I hasten & correct this. “It was enthusiasm! I thought women appreciated it when a man shows some enthusiasm,” I say.

“You selfish crumb! It’s all
my
fault?” Annie slumps back out of the Light & she has a lot more to say to me now I can not see her face very clear. “Everything you did came with a fishhook in it. You bought me flowers to show what a passionate man you are. I hated it. After dinner in a restaurant
every time
you pawed at my hands across the table. Every squeeze went into me like a electric shock with you waiting for me to squeeze you back. Why didn’t you take the hint when you couldn’t get me on the phone? By the way if you’re still thinking my sister forgot to tell me you called or I lost your phone number listen to this—I DIDN’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU. I don’t even
remember
half the things you wrote me in those letters every other day. Those newspaper clippings! What did anybody discovering the planet Pluto have to do with you an’ me? You embarrassed me almost every day. The way you watched me walk down the hall waiting for me to tell you what a wonderful man you are…”

“I couldn’t give up on you so easy.”

“You were desperate.”

“Sí sí. He’s a desperate kind of a man. A starving kind of desperado sometime. I think so.”

GOOD-BYE AMELIA VASQUEZ!

“You lost me.

“You lost me,” Amelia says. She is not coming at me very angry but she is disappointed is my guess. “It’s such a bad time and I fine out I can’t depen’ on you. By Tres Osos I know what soft kind of a man you are Ray.”

I think this opinion is not 100% fair since I was blacked out in her bed at the time. Or what did she die thinking? While Nilo was kicking
her around the kitchen I was hiding in bed with the blankets & pillows over my head?

“He was in your bed?” Annie gasps.

“I take him there sure.”

“Did he kiss you? You
let
him?”

“Sí sí.”

“Eewy!”

“And more with him.”

Annie wrestles this thought into her brain this picture of a real woman who takes my manhood serious. “He French-kissed you? With his tongue in your mouth?”

“Sí sí.”

“Eew! He’s got such fishy lips!”

“I don’t let him kiss me so much.” Amelia lets the Truth come out. “He’s no very bad for a lover. I take worse mens in my bed.”

“I might be sick.” Annie turns very chalk white.

“Out the window,” I say & I open it for her by the remote button. Such fresh air blows in & hits my face it spurs me. “What does this business about my lips matter so much? So what I’m all left feet in the mattress dancing department! You judge me on
that?
”

“You think you know somethings better?”

“Of course! How I wanted to help the helpless and defend the defenseless for one thing.”

“Good job,” they both say very sarcastic.

“How come a man’s principles don’t count with you? Asleep or awake they were inside me Amelia.”

“You don’t make a difference to me now. Hm?” Amelia’s brown face sinks down under the brown sand. “What you think is nothing. What you do is something.”

I can tell you a true thing about the sporty women in those tennis shorts they wear in Los Angeles California & the manner they tie their
shirts in the Calypso style it is a very fetching sight to a man. I do not have the appetite to slow down & linger on them I just want to make a point here concerning the geography i.e. it affects the fashion the wild canyon is their Scenery. It is the same even if it has a road going through it from end to end even if it has a house in every cranny it is the same wild place underneath.

A house or a trailer park can not hide the Prehistoric ground. The bends of the modern asphalt travel in the direction of the curves of the hill & the fences tiptoe around the edge of the sharp Ravines below. That canyon did not get buried under Civilization it is the same place underneath it was in the Ancient days when lizards & insects enjoyed it all to themselves. Unless a Earthquake crumbles it into the Pacific Ocean or some other Act of God rubs it out Know the lizards & insects & red ants or whatever will still be there when dirt clods & weeds cover over that asphalt 10 Feet thick.

“Amelia! I should have trusted your advice more…I should have treasured your love more…I should have stayed awake…I should have stayed where I belonged back East…I should have known my human limits…”

“You should’ve put air in your back tires.”

A wiggle from the rear end of the Raymobile & the alarm bells went ringing in my ears—& the next second the wheels swerved out from under & the road turned into Vaseline—I went skidding sideways around a curve downhill—the back whipped around it spun me straight into the powdery mountainside & bounced me by my front bumper—I punched my Brakes with both feet it did not stop me spinning it pulled me by the rear backwards across the oncoming Lane & crashed into the fence out of control—I ripped right through it & then the Force of Gravity took over—

I am plunging down into the boulders & shrubs & like a idiot I am trying to steer in a straight line! With my fingers wrapped around the
wheel going white & my molars locked together the Raymobile is sliding down like a bobsled—rocks crashing under the axles & the skinny bushes slapping the windows & plastering my windshield—I can see black smoke from the motor & a spray of steam when the hood peels off & the whole car rolls over so I am going down 100 M.P.H. on my doors—the shrieking & squealing of metal tearing comes on top of the smell of burning rubber & when I plough into the gravel at the bottom I am not happy I survived that bumpy ride I am scared I am going to get burned to a crispy noodle—my seat belt is jammed it hangs tight it hangs me there in the driver’s seat—

It is a good Ford buckle but it did not stand up to a screwdriver + Panic so I did not get burned to a crispy noodle I survived unbroken which is not how the Raymobile ended up. My dear car my dear Friend ended up very pathetic on its side helpless in the dirt like a crashed bomber which left broken pieces of its body stuck in the bushes above. A hubcap over here & the exhaust pipe over here the side mirror & rear bumper over there. And my door was on the ground a few feet away in the water of the gully. Hereby I pay my Final Tribute to that beautiful car let me put it like this: I have a tear in my eye when I tell you the Raymobile died so I could live.

It was my Honor to drive you over rough miles & smooth ones
. Rest In Peace!

Likewise I sat down for a rest to catch my Breath but I did not get 1 Minute of peace. The sight of my car door torn off like a chicken wing hit me bad enough but worse I saw how somebody’s dirty hands tampered with it. Where the vinyl lining got scraped off underneath that ripped skin a $100 bill was flapping in the breeze. I do not think the Ford Motor Company stuffs money inside Country Squire station wagon doors on the assembly line! So I investigated further & I examined very close. I stopped counting when I had $5,000 in my hands plus something extra—grimy white powder I will say a nice Sample of Merchandise from Newberry’s traveling drugstore.

Maybe it penetrates direct into your skin when you touch it I think so because I felt funny from then I almost fainted. My head & my stomach started aching me terrible but my Senses did not go. I saw the gun poking up from under the back wheel & this worried me if a Child would find it & play with it like a toy how dangerous it is so I dug it out & took it with me.

And I picked up my briefcase out of the mud & a few pages of my Official File which I found floating in the stream. Then I got the idea of how dangerous this item is i.e. even more dangerous for me personal in this situation because how am I supposed to explain it to a normal person passing by? Or a law enforcement officer arriving to help? How can I explain all the background facts on the spot if all the Evidence is piled up so high against me?

CONGRATULATIONS NEWBERRY! YOUR PLAN WORKED PERFECT SO FAR!

You made me act against my Will you made me go against my Good Judgment. You made me do what you wanted me to so you had me in your Power.

You made me think like a Criminal!

I did not hang around & stew in my sorry juice I did not wait for the Los Angeles Police to find me beside the Scene of the Accident I got away as fast as I could climb to the boulders on top of the rim wherefrom I saw a sight that wrenched my heart very bad. Oh my long lost Raymobile! Broken pieces of its skin & bones on the side of the hill & its corpse lying in its Final Resting Place.

Also my condition was not too hot i.e. mainly around my rib area. I believe I got a permanent injury in that crash. The pains in my head also the sharp pressure cutting in. I lament how this broke me in half how this terrible business gave me Low Desires. I mean revenge therefore I defeat my own purpose. He made me suffer this way so he should suffer likewise.

Off the side of my eye I saw the black & white Police car halt by the hole in the rail where I crashed through. Then a ambulance parked behind also a tow truck so you had half a dozen persons hiking down the slope. The Officers crawled all over the car wreck to search for the driver & when they found the Bloodstains from the Mexican & Nilo on the backseat I watched them very close.

In the freezing cold I stayed put but the idea of a warm Police Station did not tempt me it did the opposite. It ashames me in this late time of my Life now the Police are not my partners in Crime Stopping anymore they are my stumbling block. What fat tears I cried in my shirt! “Help…help me…” I kept my Voice down to myself because who can save me from this can hurt me more. “Ooh-hoo…help…” The words did not leak through my fingers they only bubbled on my lips but I did not stop crying I did not hold in my tears I let the sticky rivers come rolling out.

You can say I overdid the excitement on the physical side. Dr. Godfrey if you are reading this you will diagnose my symptoms & Conclude it is a case of exhaustion nor I do not deny I was pooped out on all fronts but behind the rock I started to shiver from the force of it. My hands dropped in the dirt like dead birds. I did not hear a Sound anywhere around I do not think I was completely in the Land of the living because my only view was the Ocean & the bonfires of the Sun shrinking down on the other side.

Ergo you can answer me it was a Optical Illusion on my part SO WHAT. If you are a Psychiatrist you can analyze it came out of my delirious inner thoughts SO WHAT. Or if you are a Scientist you can explain it to me by the curvation of the Earth plus a disturbance in the Atmosphere etc. but I know by my personal experience what I saw. That sheet of clear Light it flashed before my eyes & sent cold heat roaring through me when I witnessed the Green Ray—