Roomers Revisited Ch. 03

I woke up in a helluva hurry that morning. Kids' voices, smell of breakfast, stuff that plain doesn't happen in my life. Thinking about Jamie must have spooked me some, and I had a flash of pure paranoia that I'd accidentally committed without realizing. Calmed down some when memory started filtering back though. Figured that Annie must be trying to make some kinda gesture, so I went to see what was cooking. Sure felt weird having people in the apartment. I mean, Chrissie once in a while, the occasional overnighter, but in general it's just me in the morning, and a dam' good thing too.

Annie was doing something with a fry pan and eggs, kids were sitting at the table looking expectant. Shut up real quick when they saw me though, seemed to shrink into their chairs. Annie looked up, saw me, tiny smile.

'Hey, Doug. That nice girl tol' me you had a bad night, might appreciate breakfast. Said she got an early class, she'd see you later.' Her eyes turned to the kids and a shadow crossed her face. 'Doug, Lizzie, no call to be nervous. Big Doug's the guy I been tellin' you about, one who's gonna help us.' Jesus Christ. Kids were looking at me hard, so I sat down, put my hand out, shook theirs, real polite.

'Morning, guys. You wanna pass me that pitcher of juice, please? I'm kinda thirsty. You sleep OK?' They nodded and I figured that was a start. Annie put a big mess of scrambled eggs on the table, sat down and served all three of us, then poured herself coffee, looked at the kids.

'Get outsida those eggs and then you can go play. I gotta talk to Doug, make sure he understands everything. You guys good with that?' She sounded like she was talking to two small adults instead of her own children, and they seemed to handle it. Just kept on shoveling the eggs down like there was a famine due any time. I checked Annie out more carefully. Still kinda jumpy, but her eyes were the way they should be, and I let myself relax a fraction. The kids looked to have finished, so I unlocked the porch door, propped it open. Annie waved them off and they were gone. She poured me another coffee, then handed me an envelope.

'Four hundred seventy three dollars. Woulda been more except I was so dam' nervous, kept switchin' buses. Saved my goddam life, Doug. Not sure how to thank you, tell the truth.' She looked at her hands. 'Thought maybe you were still pissed with me.' Jesus Christ. I picked up the envelope and looked inside. Sure enough, a bunch of dirty bills. I was about to put it in my pocket when there was a dam' great click in back of my head and I realized I'd tossed it back to Annie. Shit, what now?

'You're gonna need walk around money, Annie, and you know dam' well I owe you plenty. You wanna tell me what the fuck's been happenin', who beat up on you, who hurt the kids, stuff like that. Ol' Ray start losin' his marbles?' She shook her head and her eyes filled with tears. Jesus, what did I say? I stood up, went to the porch door. 'Doug, Lizzie, we're gonna go sit in the front room, OK?' They were half way up my big pecan tree, but I got a wave from Lizzie. Good enough.

'C'mon an' tell me 'bout it Annie, take your time.' I took her hand, gave her a little tug, and she followed me obediently. Settled her on the couch, pulled her into my side. 'OK, girl. You don't say it, we can't fix it.' One big shuddering breath and then she began.

Shit, it took her nearly an hour, tears once in a while, body tensing at some of the things she was having to say. Kids checked us out a coupla times, but when they saw we was just sitting quiet they went back to playing whatever kids play at. I just listened.

Point number one was that Ray was dead, coupla months back. She told me that first, in a rush, like she wanted to get it outa the way, then calmed down some, started laying it out neat, wanting for me to understand, I guess.

Her and Ray got married in Nevada somewhere, carried on up to Idaho, settled down on his land, some kinda cabin he'd built, she said. And she'd got pregnant in about three seconds flat, and that had been Lizzie, and the next year she was pregnant again. Seemed ol' Ray never knew my name so when she called the boy Doug he paid it no never mind, and time went on, and everything was fine. They had a few head of cattle, she said, and she'd grown stuff, started a little farm shop, done some sewing on the side, hippy type dresses she sold to a store in Boise. Sorta lifestyle that woulda driven me mad after two weeks, but I guess it suited her.

So after a while something happened. Fact was, they didn't have enough cash money when they needed it. Feed prices went up, cattle prices went down, and when push came to shove and they had to pony up for insurance, stuff they needed, it was getting harder and harder. No-one's fault, she told me, just the way things went. So Ray got work, driving some guy's rig he told her, and he was bringing back pretty good money, and the kids were growing, and life was pretty sweet again. Meant she had extra chores, but she was happy enough, living her goddam dream.

Then she noticed he was changing some. Spending less time at home, acting kinda weird when he was there. Still a good husband, she said, still a good father, but the times when he wasn't were getting worse, and when she asked what was up he either went kinda quiet, like he was ashamed of something, or else real riled, going on about interfering women, they needed the money so would she quit snooping. Stuff like that.

The way she was talking, sounded like she was explaining stuff to herself as well as me, so I sat quiet, tried to think where in the world I was gonna find somewhere for them to live that wasn't gonna cost me an arm and a goddam leg. Like I said though, better to let her go at her own pace.

She got there in the end. Long and the short of it was that Ray wasn't just driving the rig: he was muling all kinds of shit for some local operation, and he ended up skimming, or sampling the merchandise, or both. And being a dumbshit he blew it, finished up with a bunch of biker rednecks wanting his hide for lampshades. Course, he went on the lam, and the rednecks planted themselves in Annie's front room, right next to the phone, just in case he tried to call her. Which, being a dumbshit, he did. One of the soldiers held a knife to Lizzie's throat and the other grabbed little Doug's neck real tight and they watched while she told Ray sure it was alright, no-one around, come on home, all the stuff they'd told her to say. So he turned up two days later and they asked him real serious where the money was, hurt him plenty, she said, and when they were convinced he didn't have any left they took him away. Came back an hour later, told her to get the kids into the goddam truck, it's time to move house.

I reckon she skipped some stuff after that. Six weeks in a shithole cabin somewhere with a bunch of degenerates, wondering if they were gonna kill her too, what they were gonna do with the kids, shit, it ain't something you want to dwell on. I guess she had to put out for whoever was around, clean up after them, stuff like that. They took her into town a coupla times, once to empty her account, give them all her cash, second time to some store where they were eighty-sixed, buy stuff they told her to. That was when she called me, I guess. Took her back to the shithole, she carried on doing the chores, carried on putting out, carried on worrying herself to death about the kids, and a coupla weeks later she picked herself a mess of weird looking mushrooms, fixed a real tasty stew, served it up that evening. Two of them ate plenty, she said, but the third one wasn't so hungry, so while the two were passed out puking blood on the floor, he was wondering what was happening, had the strength to start beating up on her. Was feeling kinda groggy though, and she got loose, smacked him on the back of the neck with a piece of two by four, grabbed the kids and the truck keys, took off. Drove into town, collected the money, dumped the truck, started catching buses. She kinda ran down and squirmed round to look at me.

'Nothin' else I could do, Doug. That Lucas, the mean one, he was startin' to look at Lizzie, and all I could think of was try to kill them. Wasn't even sure the 'shrooms were poisonous. Just kinda hoped.' She sounded very tired. All I could think was whether they were dead or not. Triple homicide makes more waves than food poisoning.

'Jeez, Annie, I hope to hell you killed 'em good. You ever been fingerprinted?' She shook her head and I reached for the laptop. Didn't seem like there were any stories outa Idaho about dead rednecks. Googled names, places, nothing got thrown up. She watched me for a while, then touched my arm.

'They made me trick Ray and then they killed him, and they were gonna use me up and kill me too, and the kids were so scared...' Her voice trailed away, and I pushed the laptop aside, put my arm round her again. She tensed for a second, then put her head on my chest and began to cry. I didn't say nothing, just held her gentle, stroked her hair. I guess she had a right. Sure made my chest wet though.

Nearly two months worth of tears is what she had stored up, and it took a while. Half way through, the kids came in and I smiled, I guess, pointed them to the armchair. They squashed into it together, watched real solemn, and after a while Annie began to calm down, noticed they were there. She wiped her eyes, but stayed leaning on me.

'Doug, Lizzie, I tol' Big Doug what's been happenin' so now he understands, and I got upset while I was tellin' him so I started cryin' and he was huggin' me to make me feel better, same as I do with you. You understand?' These kids were real good at nodding, so they did some more of that and Annie relaxed some. 'What am I gonna do, Doug?' Hell, I didn't have a fuckin' clue. Her problem mostly. So we talked for a while, working out what she wanted, and it kinda boiled down to a home and a job and feeling safe. Sure, Annie. No sweat. Felt real irritated about the extra work she was laying on me, but the clicks were in this too, Christ knows why, and they wanted me working. Plus, like I said, she knew way too much about my money and how I made it.

Well, shit. The next coupla weeks were sorta busy. Pretty goddam expensive too. Doctors' bills, dentists' bills, more clothes, food, the list went on. Plus renting an apartment was gonna be kinda pricey, plus she had no more work experience than Paris Hilton, which ain't a great resume filler.

Course, I was on my rug in the bay window when the solution arrived. Sounded crazy, so I fought it, but every time I discarded the notion it came right on back. Truth of the matter was I couldn't think of a better way to fix things without having her hanging round my goddam neck forever, and if I worked it right I could maybe look at it as an investment, not a goddam expense. Shit, you play the hand you're dealt, I guess.