The Bighead (33 page)

It must be my
imagination,
she thought.

But the etched scrawl at the bottom of
the gravestone reminded her of Aunt Annie’s penmanship.

(VI)

“
Miss Jerrica?”

Goop slid out of the shadows with
caution. He didn’t want to scare her like he done the other night.
She was traipsin’ about in the moonlight, back by the kiosk in the
garden.

But she didn’t seem startled at all
when she turned. “Goop? Hi!” she greeted as thought she were really
glad to see him. “I haven’t seen you since yesterday!”

“
I knows,” he said. “I
hadda go ta Roanoke, spend the night there inna motel, an’ git some
trim’n stuff fer Annie. But—”

She wasn’t herself, her
could see that.
Them drugs,
he realized.
It’s them
drugs she been sniffin’ upper nose.

The sight’a her, though, seemed to
lock in his head: her standin’ there in the dark, that big bright
smile’a hers, an’ that body livin’ an’ breathin’ beneath that
nightgown.

“
I’m glad you’re here,” she
said, her voice just as soft as the color’a her hair. “I missed
you.”

Missed me.
Keee-riiist.
Goop doubted that he’d been
missed by any gal he’d ever knowed, not that there’d been many. But
here was Jerrica, sayin’ just that, an’ lookin’ sweet as
ever.

“
I—I missed you too, Miss
Jerrica,” he said, tryin’ not ta tremble. “I’se been thinkin’ ’bout
you a lot.”

Her nightgown fell to her feet, and
then— There it all was, all that wonderful, tanned city body, them
hooters onner, all pure white against the tan, an’ nice
hard-lookin’ nipples stickin’ out the color’a radishes… Then her
hand reached out, cupped his crotch.

“
Awwwww, Miss Jerrica,” he
nearly stuttered. “There’s somethin’ I gots ta—I gots ta—talk ta ya
about—”

“
Talk later.” Her voice was
like a warm breeze, her smile lighting up the dark flower garden.
Above them, the heat lightning flashed, lighting her up ever more
so. More fer him ta see. More fer him ta love.

“
I need you real bad,” she
whispered, and squeezed harder.

But this weren’t right, was
it?
Them drugs,
he
thought, thinkin’ agin ’bout the evil of ’em.
I gots ta talk ta her ’bout them drugs…

She was kissing him, working her hot
tongue into his mouth, and working her hand into his pants.
“Christ, I missed you,” she whispered even more faintly. “I want
that big farm-boy cock in me so bad—”

Keeeeeeee-riiiiiiist…

She grabbed his hand, placed it right
into the middle of her soft, blond pussy, She pressed his finger
into its wetness, then retracted it. Next thing, she was sucking
his finger.

“
I’m gonna suck your come
out into my mouth,” she breathed. “Would you like that, Goop? Hmmm?
Would you like that?”

What could he say? What
would
any
guy
say?

“
I— I shore would, Miss
Jerrica. That’d be a might—”

She didn’t let him
finished. She was rubbing her body against him now, embracing him.
Her thigh raised up, rubbing the bottom of his crotch.
Aw, aw,
he thought. He
were about ta come right then’n there!

“
I gonna sit on your face
and suck your cock at the same time…”

She tried to haul him down to the
ground, just like the other night, her tits pressing, her pussy
leaving a warm wet spot on his pants leg. It was all Goop could do
to steady hisself. Somethin’ weren’t right, that was fer shore. She
weren’t herself.

Them drugs,
he thought.
Them
drugs…

“
Miss Jerrica, I gots ta
tell ya somethin’.”

“
Tell me later.” Her
fingers gently encircled his balls, gently squeezed them. “I want
your come in me first, then you can tell me anything you want.”
Then she squeezed his shaft, and again he almost came. “I want you
to fuck me, Goop, and squirt all that hot come right up into my
pussy. I wanna feel it…”

“
I saw what you was doin’,”
he flinched and finally said. “But I wants ya ta know, it’s all
right. I’ll’se help ya.”

“
What are you talking
about, Goop?”

“
I saw…” He clenched his
eyes close, swallowed. “I saw ya doin’ them drugs.”

Her kisses pulled back. Her hand
slipped out of his pants. “What…do…you mean?”

He grit his teeth.
He
hadda
tell her!
“I saw ya, Miss Jerrica. Don’t ask me how—that don’t matter none.
But I saw ya doin’ them devil-made drugs an’ they ain’t no good fer
ya. I wanna
help
ya.”

In the moonlight, her face
seemed to twist up. “You—
what?
Why you— You were
peeping
in my window?”

“
Naw, Miss Jerrica, but it
don’t matter—”

“
You motherfucking redneck
slime!” Suddenly her face was a slice of hatred. “You’ve
been
peeping
on
me! You goddamn redneck moron piece of
shit!
”

“
Aw, no, Miss Jerrica! Ya
gotta understand!”

At once she was hauling her
nightgown back on. “I understand that you’re a fucking backwoods
pervert, spying on people! What gives you the right to do something
like that! Jesus Christ, I’d have better luck with that goddamn
priest! You’re a piece of shit, Goop! A scumbag, no-account,
imbecile
piece of shit!
”

Goop stared at the words as
if they could actually be seen.
Naw, naw,
what’ve I done?
“Please, Miss Jerrica! All
we’se gotta do is talk!”

“
Fuck you!” she shouted. A
moment later, the back door slammed. She was gone, back in the
house, far away from him.

Naw naw naw,
he thought.
She don’t
mean them mean things she said. It were just them evil city drugs
makin’ her say them things.
He knowed full
well; there were only one thing ta do. Go up, right now, ta her
room, an’
talk.
Talk ta her ’bout this thing. And Goop Gooder turned to do
just that, when—

“
Hey, cracker.”

Goop stopped, turned. Didn’t quite
reckon who’d said it, but didn’t care. Didn’t like ta be called a
cracker by no one. The moon shined in his eyes when he turned. He
clenched his fist, fixin’ ta kick some serious ass,
blinked—

Smack!

Goop went down. Somethin’ hit him so
hard upside the head he could barely see a second later. Alls he
could do was huff an’ feel the hard ground ’neath his
back.

“
Lookit this big cracker!
Hey, Gomer Pyle!”

“
We’se gonna kill him right
here?”

“
Naw, no way. We’se gonna
have some fun first!”

Goop’s vision struggled somethin’
fierce. Two blobs’a faces looked down, two fellas, but that’s ’bout
all he could make out.

And Goop couldn’t move…

“
Lets me tell ya something,
ya big cracker,” the one grabbed his collar an’ said. “That prissy
priest-lovin’ city blond ya got yer eye on? We’se gonna ass-fuck
her so hard she gonna shit blood. Then I’se gonna jack my dicksnot
up her nose an’ cut her skin off real slow like, ya hear? I’se
gonna kill me that city bitch, core her ass out like a apple an’
make her eat her own shit an’ thens bury her.” A chuckle in the
dark. “An ya knows what, cracker? Ain’t nothin’ you gonna be able
ta do about it.”

Goop heaved, summoned every ounce’a
strength his big body had ever called. But that whack on the
head—

He couldn’t move barely a
muscle.

“
Drag him back the ’Mino,
Dicky,” the voice said. “Hail, let’s do a job on him ’fore we dump
his cracker body in the woods,” A thumb and index finger squeezed
his face. “Hear me, cracker! We’se gonna do a job on you like ta
make the devil puke!”

—
| — | —

SIXTEEN

(I)

“
There are a whole lot of
people you can piss off and it doesn’t mean shit,” Jesus said in
the dream. “But one of ’em isn’t THE SON OF GOD!”

Alexander trembled.
What did I do now?

“
What do you think I am,
some kind of an asshole? Some rube moron out of the hills? Didn’t
you and I have a big talk last night?”

“
What have I done, Lord?
Forgive me in my ignorance, but what have I done wrong
now?”

Jesus took the pack of Lucky’s out of
Alexander’s shirt pocket, tapped one out, lit it. But the King of
Kings was wearing not only a crown of thorns but a Danzig t-shirt:
black, in white letters. He smoked deep.

“
You may be able to
bullshit the little people, priest,” Jesus said, “but you can’t
bullshit Me. I’m Hosanna the Highest, I’m the
Messiah
for My sake!”

“
I’m not bullshitting,
Lord,” Alexander spake back. “Please, I beg of Thee. Tell me what’s
wrong?”

Jesus tapped an ash. “You’re still
lusting after that blonde and you know it.”

“
I swear to You on high, I
WILL NEVER LAY A HAND ON HER.”

“
That doesn’t matter!”
Jesus bellowed. “If the sin is in the heart, it’s as good as if
it’s been committed!
You
know
that!
Didn’t you read the Jimmy Carter interview
in
Playboy?
He
wasn’t much on foreign policy or the deficit, but at least the guy
had the balls to admit his Christian sins!”

“
Forgive me,
Lord.”

“
Keep
your goddamn eyes off that blonde! She’s a cokehead and a
nympho! And what are you? Christ, man. You’re a
priest.
That’s
My
black cloth you’re wearing,
My
collar of faith around
your turkey neck. The Morning Star is laughing so hard at Me, I can
hear him all the way from the goddamn abyss! You’re making me look
like a
schmuck!
”

Alexander croaked, “I will do anything
in reparation, my God. Anything. I swear.”

Jesus’ long dark hair hung
in His face. “You wanna do something for
Me?
Then do
this!
Stop being a hypocritical
dickbrain!”

“
Yes, Lord!”

The Messiah’s face inclined
forward, shaggy hair and beard. “You got any idea what hell is
like, any idea at all? I’ve
been
there,
man. And it ain’t no picnic. You
should see the shit that motherfucker pulls down there. You
want
that?
”

“
No, my Lord!”

Jesus took a last toke of the Lucky,
jerked His head. “Then get your shit square, brother.” He flicked
the butt.

“
Yes, yes! I will, I
swear!”

“
Swearing to Me doesn’t
mean
crap,
man,
unless you mean it to yourself. You got any idea how many broken
promises I hear? Shit, if I had a nickel for every one, I’d make
Bill Gates look like a fucking toilet attendant.”

“
Everything I say to You is
from my heart.”

“
Then make
damn sure
it is.” Jesus’
holy face turned clement; He’d simmered down. “Because if you
don’t, you’re lost.”

Alexander nodded with such vigor he
thought his neck might become dislocated. “Your will will be
done.”

“
Thanks for the butt, man.
I gotta book. But—”

“
But
what,
my Lord?”

Jesus’ lips screwed up. “The ghosts
are back. They want to see you again, and there ain’t nothing I can
do. So all I can say is just suffer, like Job, you know? Hack it.
Walk it like you got a pair.”

The nightmare sailed, into blackness.
And then—

“
Supplantation.”

“
Ever comes the
morrow.”

“
You are such a silly
little priest!”

“
Must still be thinking
about that blonde drug addict.”

“
Or maybe the old
lady!”

“
Unto you, Father, I
commend my spirit.”

“
Really, Grace! What you
should say is this: Unto you, I commend my fist!”

Laughter, evil chittering…

Now two more visitors were
at hand. His night-suitors had a face now—
faces
. Abbess Joyclyn and Sister
Superior Grace. “It feels so good to be purged,” Joyclyn said. “It
feels so good to transpose…”

Grace leaned over, grinning. “Shit,
you’re a psychologist. Haven’t you ever read Freud or
Jung?”