Deadly Compromises by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 28

Bobby left his Amarillo motel before sunrise on February fifteenth, speeding to Castillo. As when he first drove this route to the town the sun was rising over the mountains behind him and this time seemed to be reflecting off his rear view mirror, partially blinding him as to what was behind. He didn’t care. The flat land clearly showed signs of new green growth, though it was not yet tall enough for Bobby to guess what the sprouts would eventually become. He passed over the spot where the two perfectly straight, two-way roads made a cross. He thought; “Some things never change.” He was pleasantly surprised to see that the gully had some water in it this time and two little boys were already there. They were too excited about a fish one had on a hook to notice his solitary car in the stillness. He didn’t try to take any more glances at the mountains behind him, but took a hard, surveying look at the gigantic, jagged ones ahead. He knew that this time he was staying, no matter what. Before he left Jersey City he gave his landlord notice that he was vacating his apartment and made arrangements with someone to have all his stuff stored in a

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warehouse. There was no possibility of turning back in his mind.

He drove through the quiet, sleepy town, just beginning to show signs of life, as he saw some store owners or employees opening up. He continued on to Romero Road, where he parked and noticed that the car clock said 7:45AM. He didn’t want to wait in the car, so he decided to take an early walk. He couldn’t see anyone there and it was an unusually warm winter morning, at least 40 degrees already, with a cloudless sky, a bright sun and no wind. Sometimes spring sprung early in Castillo.

He walked to their usual meeting spot, hidden from the rest of the world, near the river, enjoying the warmth of the sun getting higher and higher over the mountain. Its brilliance reflected off the water, doubling the effect. It seemed to make a wide yellow line crossing the river and came directly at him.

Because of the rising heat he didn’t feel compelled to keep moving and sat on the edge of a three foot drop off in the land, perhaps, where once a wider river flowed. He lit a joint and was completely relaxed.

Strange thoughts started passing through his undisturbed mind. He thought about Kelly and the belief that some people would consider them hedonistic. But to him that was a puritan

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loser’s game of unnecessary sacrifice. When you’re a teenager you’re considered too young and should be focusing on school.

When you’re a young adult you’re supposed to be concerned with making money and taking care of the kids. When you’re old, you’re just too old. The only time any kind of hedonism is acceptable, is for the first month after marriage. This struck him as so absurdly a loser’s game; he started laughing out loud right there. He quickly looked around to see if he had any company.

When he saw that the coast was still clear, he again slipped into reverie. Scientists say they can prove that time bends. It seemed obvious to him that given enough space, anything that bends will eventually form a circle. Maybe the scientists have only, so far, detected part of time. He wondered why no one else was here on such a warm, beautiful winter day. It’s Sunday. He surmised that all the good people were at church or yard sales. He made a mental note to ask Kelly if the church had yet cornered the market on yard sales here, as was old news back east. There they had apparently discovered that the leasing of parking lot space to vendors could be quite lucrative, not to mention tax free. All the nice, smiling vultures waiting after the end of service warms further the heart of the lonely revved up by the Reverend. Now,

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left to their own long day, wouldn’t it be nice to bring home that big eyed picture of an animal and chat a bit before retiring to obscurity, thinking that their god sees them as a good, suffering person. Somebody once said that nobody ever lost a nickel underestimating the intelligence of the American public and the church adopted the phrase, making it a sin not to believe and included it in the Acts of Paul, posthumously.

Bobby really didn’t care other than obtaining amusement in times of wait. How many people had this glorious institution been responsible for killing? It’s an improvement that now their covert activities were only concerned with taking the people’s money. He again couldn’t help laughing.

He realized that he had been there for a while without his desired company. He decided to walk back to the car to check the time. His was still the only one parked there. He turned on the engine, to see that the clock now read 9:08AM. His dreamy, good mood got its first dent of the day. He again left the car, looking around for Kelly. There was always the possibility that she walked here and they could have missed each other.

He slowly walked back to the river meeting spot.

Nervously, he paced, thinking of all the bad things that could have happened. In the stillness, he could hear the river,

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brushing against the shore, eating its way into the land. Then he heard a noise, a rustling in the brush and he saw her. The sun illuminated her black hair, giving it the appearance of a fuzzy circle around her head.

She saw him and each walked quickly in the others direction. They were both so out of control that they collided when they embraced. Her glasses fell to the ground, not breaking. She pulled away, picked them up and put them into her jacket pocket.

“You’re late,” Bobby said in exasperation.

Kelly made a small laugh and flatly said; “I’m close. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t wear a watch either.”

He shut his eyes, sighed and put his arms around her again.

After a few seconds, he broke away and said; “What do you do when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object?”

She blinked her eyes a few times and then said; “Silly, that’s easy. Of course, you redefine words.”

“God, I’ve missed you, Kelly.”

“I miss you too, honey boy, but some of my time was quite occupied. I got the scare of my life.”

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Bobby’s eyes widened with concern and said; “What happened?

Are you all right?”

She said; “Yeah, I’m fine now.” She recounted her last visit to police headquarters in the company of McKenna.

He sympathized, saying; “That was really nasty. You did so great, you can probably handle anything.” He held her around the waist and they hugged for a few seconds, kissed, then again broke apart. Bobby looked at her, felt her ordeal and seriously said; “Maybe I can come out of retirement for one more hit.”

Kelly’s expressive face showed interest, though she remained silent.

He said; “A McKenna torture job.”

With glee she said; “Let’s burn the fuck.”

He smiled and replied; “Ice doesn’t ignite well. We’ll have to scald him.”

She kissed him passionately. He looked directly into her eyes, resolutely shook his head from side to side and said;

“Don’t ever even consider the possibility that I would hurt you in any way. I should have been with you. From now on you can always count on me. I’m staying forever this time.”

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While they embraced she lowly mused; “It would be different this time though.”

Bobby wasn’t sure of her frame of reference and looked at her questioningly.

Kelly said; “I’m talking about McKenna. We’ll be killers.”

Unfazed, Bobby said; “Maybe that’s the way to join the human race. They all do it. I’d just love to see the look on his face, while he endures protracted, intense suffering and he knows exactly why, with you laughing and spitting on him.”

They again kissed and held each other. She facetiously said; “Fantastic. If anyone bothers us we’ll just kill them.”

Bobby caught her inflection, made a silly smile, wrinkled his forehead and rolled his widely opened eyes at her.

She laughed and wondered out loud; “What next? I got the insurance check. We’re rich; we can do whatever we want.”

He said; “Maybe we’ll be the Nick and Nora Charles of our generation.”

“Who were they?”

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“They were a married couple in five movies made in the 1930’s. They knew gangsters and other interesting people. Got high regularly.”

She didn’t know of them, so she looked at him sternly and repeated; “Whatever we want, right?”

“Pretty much. The mob might still come looking for you to get the money back.”

Her voice rose; “For me?”

“Maybe. Maybe they’ll come looking for me, too. They have ways of finding out about things like insurance money.”

“How do you know?”

“I really don’t. I probably saw it in some old B movie.”

Kelly again spoke in a higher than normal pitch; “What are you trying to do to me? I was right in the first place. You are some kind of nut. First, you make me an accessory to murder, then a murderer and now a mob target. What next?”

He calmly replied; “The ill-tempered wife of a nut. You should be glad. We’re not that easy to find. And point of order; I did not make you an accessory to murder, a murderer or a mob target. I did make you an accessory, but not to murder,

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to an execution. You chose to become an executioner and you may or may not be a mob target, regardless of me. Maybe, if we deign to be human, we’ll become murderers someday.”

“If you had just done your job I wouldn’t have gotten involved at all, no matter how you interpret it.”

“If I had just done my job, the mob might come looking for you anyway.”

She lapsed into thought, but was obviously upset, frustrated.

Bobby held her and said; “Kelly, the only thing I’m sure of is that I love you. I never expected to meet another girl so wonderful.”

“I’m not so sure that I love you. I’m completely confused.”

“Please trust me, Kelly. I don’t have any perfect answers that always work in this world.”

“What world are you in?”

“The same one you are. Look, you’re forcing me to become a poet to answer you. I see it this way. We’re standing here with a mountain across the river. People have probably already

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crossed and climbed it. But they didn’t leave me a map, unless you happen to have one.”

He paused. She was silent.

Bobby continued; “Even if we get up the mountain, there may be another more difficult one behind it. I know neither of us can do it alone. We both also know that this side doesn’t have any prizes worth the effort, so what’s to lose?”

She laughed, “Where do you get all that crap?”

“I really don’t know. I never talked this way until I met you. It’s probably your fault.”

He reached out his arms to her, just as she was doing the same. They held each other. Both simultaneously said; “I do love you.” A warm, gentle breeze come out of the south, ending the stillness.

After a minute, she broke away and queried, “What do you think we’ll be doing when we get to the other side of the first mountain?”

Bobby looked around for a few seconds, turned back to Kelly, smiled and with a hint of tentativeness, said; “We’ll lock hands and then we’ll watch the day orbs rise from the depths of the sea bed.”

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Kelly smiled, looked into his eyes and moaned; “Oh, shut up.”

An operetta played.

Definitely Not the End

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