Mad Dog and the Dream Ch. 01

Shaking, Ron forced his gaze away from her face. The skin of her shoulders was split with dozens of tiny lashes. Track marks lined the inside of her elbows. Her left breast was gone, the wound exposed but meticulously cleaned and cared for. Ron noted that, and understood.

Before he could look away, he saw the dried blood caked to her inner thighs, and was grateful that her legs were pushed together. He didn't want to know.

He stepped back, away from the scene.

"My god," he whispered, "The Doctor is here."

Andro didn't respond. Glancing at him, Ron noticed that he was looking into the room. He studied the wounded creature with pity...a powerful, emotional sorrow that seemed out of line with his personality.

Then, Andro shut the door. "You didn't know," he asked, "that Tony got married, did you?"

Ron shook his head. "She's his wife?"

Andro nodded.

Realization was upon him in an instant. "Tony turned Piero down."

Andro nodded again.

"How..." Ron looked at the closed door, and then away, "how long have they..."

"Almost two weeks. It was worse for them that it will be for you. When we brought them here there was a child. She was...very young. The Doctor..." his mouth twitched. For a moment his gaze shifted, as though he were thinking about something else. Then, it returned. "Tell me, Ron...have you ever traveled north?"

"What?"

"North. Have you ever gone north?"

"Never further than Wisconsin, no."

"That's a shame. You get far enough north, and the snow starts to take everything. You go even farther, you begin to reach places that feel like eternity. To see them, you would think that they were without hope or life. You would think that they were the void. But that's not true. Stay long enough, and you begin to see it. There is always life." Andro lit a cigarette, taking a deep drag. "Whatever the conditions, whatever the sacrifice, something always survives." He shrugged, turning away from the door and heading down the hallway. "Does that make them stronger, I wonder? The survivors? To struggle every minute for existence, to never stop fighting off that endless black void? Or are they just foolish?"

Ron didn't respond. He just followed the tall man back to where Piero waited.

"So tell me," Piero said, waving them in, "is Ron Melor a man interested in redemption? I admit I hope that he is."

Ron closed his eyes. "He is interested."

"Excellent! I can't tell you how happy I am to have such wise friends," Piero rubbed his hands together. "Of course, the Doctor will be disappointed."

Ron reopened his eyes, glaring at the fat man's amusement. "How can you keep working with him? After...after everything?"

Piero's smile diminished. "That's not your concern. It's enough that I do work with him, and that you know that I do."

"Andro..." he glanced at the tall man, who stood impassive, "Andro said there was a child."

Piero's face grew even darker. "I work with the man. I do not control him."

Ron nodded, closed his eyes, and sighed. He tried not to imagine what games the Doctor might have played with such a captive. He tried even harder not to wonder what it was like for Tony, to have to watch. He remembered that the captives appeared well-fed, and felt sick. "What is this redemption you mentioned, Piero? What do I have to do?"

Piero's face relaxed, his smile returning. "Come back to work. That's all. Just come back and do your job."

Ron shook his head. "You know that can never happen. You may be willing to forgive, but there will be others who can't. And if I go back home-"

"No, no, no," Piero waved his hands in annoyance. "Not Chicago. Not home. You can't do anything for me there. Here. Work for me here."

"Here?"

He nodded.

"But I thought-"

"I'm sure you did. And you wouldn't be alone. But I've decided that it's time we stop living in cages. Others will seek to limit us. We must not. So, while I will be going back East, Andro here will be staying. And whatever Andro says to do, you will do."

Ron swallowed. "It's not that easy."

Watery eyes rolled underneath thin eyebrows. "Don't you think that I know all of your arguments, Ron? Listen to me. You will not have to do much. You won't even be quitting your job as a...what...a teacher? How lucky for you that you never accumulated the police record most of your peers did. And how lucky for us, as well. See, there are people here who don't want my business, and in our little world your betrayal is a known thing. A very known thing. You will be able to complete the occasional...task...and nobody will ever suspect you. So long as you avoid getting caught or seen, you remain completely safe."

"My wife..."

"Needs never know. Just like she need never know of the Doctor, or of his sickness."

Ron sighed. "I understand. I'll do what I have to do. Just please leave my wife alone."

"Oh, Ron," Piero shook his head, chuckling. "You have no idea. No idea at all."

"Yeah. Well. What kind of business are we doing here, exactly?"

"The best kind. Now go home, Ron."

"What? I need to know-"

"Almost nothing. You need to know almost nothing. And Andro will tell you the rest. Andro," he turned to the tall man, "we will be talking. Frequently."

"Of course."

Ten minutes later they were back in the car, riding an on-ramp onto the highway. Ron sat in the passenger seat, now, his hands absently holding his seatbelt as a child holds a stuffed animal or a protective blanket.

"What will I tell my wife?" he asked the window. But it was Andro who responded.

"What," he asked, "will you tell yourself?"

Ron nodded. Then, he turned to look at the tall man. "That stuff you said about my wife," he said. "Was that all true?"

Andro gave him a look of mild annoyance. "Wake up, Ron."

They rode silently for a while, until they reached the Melor home.

"You've invited me in," Andro stated. "And that's very polite of you." He swung into the driveway and killed the engine "It's a rarity these days, politeness. There should be more of it."

Ron grunted. "I'll do what I have to do, but I'm not bringing you back into my home. Once was too much."

The tall man gave his passenger a long, examining look. "You know what a brave man does, Ron, when he dies? That a coward never does?"

"What's that?"

He opened the door and climbed out. "He smiles. Be sure to do a lot of that." He straightened his jacket and ran a hand through his hair. "You go in first, then invite me in. Keep it simple."

Stepping inside the front door, Ron was almost immediately confronted by his wife. She stood in the kitchen entryway, hair back in a ponytail and dressed in sweatshorts and a tanktop. It was her housework outfit. She'd been home long enough to do some cleaning.

"Where on earth did you go?" She asked. "I called the school." Her tone and her face were concerned, but the squint in her eye told him that she suspected she wasn't going to be satisfied with his answer. Ironically, it occurred to him that nothing short of being kidnapped by mafia hitmen would probably justify vanishing and lying about where he was, and that was the one excuse he couldn't use.

"Uh, it's complicated, I guess. But..." a small noise from behind the door told him that Andro was impatient. "...well, I sort of ran into an old friend, and-"

The door opened a little further, and Andro peaked his head in. "I hope I'm not getting you in trouble, Ron, I..." he stared at Maddy, who in turn was staring back. Her expression was strangely fearful. "Maddy?" Andro blurted out. "Maddy?" Ron turned to stare at him in confused shock. "Ron," Andro continued, "you didn't tell me your wife's name was Maddy!" With that he threw the door open and came rushing in. "This is incredible! What a coincidence!"

Ron was rendered speechless, both by this sudden change in the hitman's behavior and by his wife's equally stunned silence. He watched as Andro came up to Maddy and offered his hand. She took it, looking uncomfortable and maybe a little guilty, but Ando kept up his cheerful demeanor.

"Ron, you won't believe this," he said. "I told you I'd been in town for a few days, right? It's more like a week, really. Well, ever since I got into town I keep running into this woman. She gave me directions to a few places, she told me a little about the town, and now she's standing right here! I'm sure she must have told you. First we were in line together at Razzy's Deli, and while we were waiting we got to talking. She helped me figure out where I was going, and told me about some of the better places in town to eat. We both had a little time, so we sat and had lunch together. Then, just yesterday, we ran into each other at the supermarket. And now here we are! Isn't that incredible?"

Ron looked at Andro's big smile, finding no hint of the madman he'd spent most of the day with, and then at his wife's ashen face, the guilt still lingering there. He thought about what Andro had told him before...Maddy was at the supermarket, she ran into a man, someone she was glad to see, and they talked for an hour. She neglected to tell you. She lied about it.

"That is incredible," he said with a feigned excitement he didn't think sounded convincing. "Really." He swallowed, and then continued. "Maddy, hon, this is A-"

"Hey, she knows my name, Ron. Really, tell me you see how spectacular this is! It's almost like fate...or like that joke your dad used to tell us. Remember, the one where the punchline was 'The brave man smiles and the coward eats shit?'"

Maddy gave Ron a questioning look. He may have kept secrets from her, but she did know some things about his family. He'd told her the truth...that his father was a dour, humorless man. But Ron knew what Andro was really saying. Smile. Be happy, while I play my little game. The image of Tony's wife, dead as she was alive, flashed through his mind.

He smiled. He held his arms out. Some animals adapt.

Moving forward, he put one hand on Andro's arm and one on Maddy's shoulder. "This is perfect! I can't tell you how great it is to know that my wife and my oldest friend have this chance at friendship! I mean, the two people I love and trust most in this world. Who would have thought."

"Ron," Maddy's voice carried a message, and that message was 'what the fuck is going on?' "Why didn't you tell me you were going out to meet a friend?" Her eyes flicked over to the tall man.

"Actually, that's probably my fault," Andro said, his voice dripping with apologetic humility. "I have a way of bringing up some painful memories for Ron, as I'm sure you know."

Maddy shook her head.

"You...don't know?" He looked to Ron, a question on his face, then turned back. "I'm sorry. It's not my place." To Ron: "You should have told me not to say anything."

Maddy sighed. "Well, someone's going to tell me what's going on." She looked at Ron, who shook his head. He was too exhausted by this charade to even think of a lie. Rolling her eyes, Maddy turned on Andro. "Out with it," she said.

He shook his head. "I don't think Ron would want me to do that. I'm really sorry."

"No," Ron said, knowing his part, "go ahead and tell her. It's okay."

Andro looked at him a moment, as though searching, and then sighed. "When we were younger, Ron and I were...I guess you could say we were ambitious," he chuckled. "Naïve, but ambitious. We started a company, something we thought would let us make our own way in the world, and it was really touch and go for a while. Not, like, regular start-up problems. More like, 'our butts are on the line' kind of touch and go. Ron got cold feet and sold me his half. Not long afterwards, things just started exploding. I offered to sell back to him, but he had devoted himself to teaching by then. I don't pretend to know, but I always wondered if maybe he felt a little bit ashamed, like he'd bailed on me. You know what I mean? He just acted differently, like he felt like he'd left a man behind," he looked at Ron with an unreadable expression, "even though that's not really what he did. After that, our friendship just...disintegrated. It became awkward, you know? Not the difference in our incomes, but I guess...hell, I don't know. Maybe I was a reminder to him of what he almost had. He never said anything about it, he just stopped making the effort to call. And then he stopped answering his phone. And then, well, he moved. And now," he shrugged, "business has called me here as well. I was hoping that enough time had passed for us to be friends again. And it seems like it has. In fact, I even offered Ron a job. Nothing big, just a little extra work for the next six weeks. He'll be done before school starts. It will pay a lot better than teaching, and give me a chance to give Ron a teeny bit of the money he missed out on...money he really deserves." He held up his hands apologetically. "If it's okay with you, of course."

Maddy glanced at Ron. "How much money, can I ask?"

"Three grand a week," Andro smiled. "Eighteen altogether."

Her eyes widened. "Wow. That is a lot. That's like, half a year's salary! I...I guess it's okay. What kind of business is it?"

Andro shrugged. "When we started out, it was mostly sales. Small niche goods. Items that have a relatively small market, but sell high...and for big profit. We weren't really all that different from, say, a high end art dealer...only we didn't have the prestige."

"And now?"

"And now we have the prestige. What I'm hoping Ron will agree to do is what he did the first time around...help get a new office off the ground and running. His talents in that area proved...invaluable, before."

"Oh." Maddy seemed to be gathering herself together, calming down, suddenly realizing that her attire and manners needed minute adjusting. "Why don't you two have a seat in the living room, and I'll go get cleaned up and get some drinks."

Andro held up his hands. "Thank you, but I'm afraid I only just stopped to meet the lovely, if spirited, woman that Ron spent all afternoon talking about. I have some things to do." His eyes lit up. "Actually, I've been told that there is a bookstore on the West side of town that has a fantastic atmosphere, and I thought I'd spend the evening there. Poisoned...Parchment, or Pencil. Something like that. Anyway, I know where it is." He flashed a smile. "Ron, if you'll pop back out to my car, I'll get you that address you needed before I go."

"Oh. Okay."

As soon as the door shut behind them, Ron turned on him. "What the fuck was that?" he half whispered, half snarled. "You've been stalking my wife, haven't you? You've been fucking following her around town, setting up these little meetings."

Andro gave an easy smile. "Maybe I'm not. Maybe it's a coincidence."

"Like hell."

Andro lifted his gaze to the starry sky. "Do you believe in guardian angels, Ron?"

"Fuck you. Answer my question. Now."

He didn't. Instead, he opened the driver's side door, leaned down, and picked up a piece of paper. On it, he wrote an address. "Go to this address tomorrow. Be there by eleven. Plan to get home around seven."

"Goddamn it, Andro! Answer the question! Are you following my wife around?"

Andro just shook his head. "Look, Ron, whether you believe in guardian angels or not will determine how I answer. Really. So, again, think about it. Do you believe in guardian angels? Or do you not?"

Ron thought again about Tony, and Tony's family. "I don't."

"Well, then," Andro flashed another smile and climbed into the car. "There you are." He started the engine. "Maybe I just figured it would make your life easier if your wife had positive thoughts about the man who will be taking you away from home, so I started greasing the wheels a bit. Or maybe," he raised one eyebrow, "maybe my mommy never told me she loved me. Maybe she was real mean to me, and now I have a desperate need for all women to like me. Maybe I even get real angry when they don't. Angry, and violent." He leaned out the window and looked back up at the night sky. "It's always so hard to read these situations."

Ron put his hand on the roof, as if by doing so he could keep the car from leaving. "You knew that The Poison Pen is Maddy's favorite bookstore, didn't you? That she loves to read. You knew. That's why you mentioned it."

"Is that what it's called? I keep forgetting the name."

The window rolled up, and Ron stepped away as the car pulled away.

Coming back through the front door, Ron found his wife still standing in the kitchen entryway, her eyebrows raised in annoyance.

"Care to explain?" she asked.

"You, uh, you got most of it," he scratched at the back of his neck. "I just wanted to...to be sure everything was cool between he and I before I brought him over."

"I still don't get the lying. And I don't appreciate it."

You mean, Ron thought, like meeting a strange man twice and hiding it from me? Or lying about why it took you so long to get home?

But he didn't say it, trying instead to let the anger flow out of him. It pissed him off that Andro had been so easily able to shake his faith in his wife. In less than a single day, he had brought to harvest an entirely new and destructive paranoia. Ron had never doubted Maddy before. Their connection had been so complete, so immediate and so warming, that the very idea that one would cheat the other in any small way seemed offensive.

And now?

Ron looked at his wife. Had she really done anything wrong? He didn't doubt that all she'd done is be friendly to someone who was new in town. But running into the man twice? Standing around talking to him, like old friends, for an hour? Lying about it to her husband? It was compounded by the fact that Andro was obviously an attractive man. He was taller, fitter than Ron, well dressed, and had a handsome face.

And Maddy had stood around talking to him in the grocery store and then lied about where she'd been. Lied straight to Ron's face.

The idea of Maddy being around someone as dangerous and unstable as Andro had another effect as well. The dark reality of her unknowing danger bred fear like an unstoppable mold. He was tempted to find some subtle way of warning her against the tall man, but Andro's last message before leaving resonated. Giving Maddy reason to fear or hate Andro was just asking for trouble.

"I'm sorry," he said. "This is all down to my bad judgment. Believe me."

Maddy smiled, coming up and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Well, I do believe that. And I do love you." She kissed him, a lingering but closed-mouth kiss, and then pulled back.

He looked down at her. "It's so weird that you two ran into each other. What a small world, eh?"

Maddy's face didn't change, except that the smile left her eyes. "Yeah. Small world." She studied his face. "We just talked, Ron. He was new here, and I was being polite. It didn't seem important enough to mention."

"Okay."

"You're not mad?"

"No. I wasn't accusing you of anything."

"Good," the smile returned to her eyes, "because you're in no position to be accusing anyone." Her hand slid down his front, and she grabbed him by the belt. "But you could be."

He thought of Tony.

He thought of Tony's family.

"I, uh...I'm not really in the mood right now. Can we just...cuddle?"

She gave him a funny look. "How manly of you."

He kissed her, and said, "Well, we both know who has the balls in this relationship."

She pretended to scratch herself, and grunted. "Fuckin' men," she drawled. "All you ever wanna to do is talk about yer feelin's."

He batted his eyes. "And you women only want the one thing."

She grabbed his waist and pulled him to her. "That's because you've only got the one thing, honey."

Sleep came unexpectedly easy that night. He only woke in the night to pee, although when he did he stopped to look at his wife's serene face, and to try and picture how Tony's wife might once have looked, as she slept. Some animals adapt.