Abithica (5 page)

“Max! Who the hell’dja think I was?” His answer came as a roar, full volume. “And what’re you, some sorta trashy alien? You look like shit.” He turned on Faith like a bull seeing red. “What the hell’ve you done to her?” Without waiting for an answer, he was back to me again. “Jesus, girl, what’s up with that
hair
and where the hell’s the gold hoop I gave to you last Christmas? You weren’t ever supposed to take it off, ‘member? It was a symbol of our love. Mine’s right here,” he said pointing to his ear. His “gold hoop” was more of a rod his ear had grown around. Without it, there’d be a hole the size of a dime in his earlobe.

But he wasn’t finished. His gaze fell on our locked hands. “Jesus, what the hell is going on here? What’d this bitch tell you that could change our plans? You hate her, or didja forget?” He’d jabbed at Faith with a middle finger as he spoke, almost knocking her backward. “You were gonna rob her first chance you got. Now you’re choosing her over me? Is that it?”

“You
know
you’re not allowed to leave us, right, baby? Once in, always in. They won’t
let
you leave, know what I mean?” He shoved his face close to mine again, the glare turning to a sour smile.

“Look, she’s my mother, after all. You’re just a… a friend.” I had to say something that would calm him down. I practically gagged on the word. Given the choice, I’d have eaten a whole plateful of mackerel.

“Oh, I get it now.” It was as if a light had just come on inside his head. “You were gonna double-cross me. You were going to rob her yourself and split with all her loot. I’m right, ain’t I? You got some other dude on the side.”

“What are you two talking about?” Faith had dropped my hand. She was too hurt to look at me.

“Wake up, you stupid bimbo. Why did’ja think Sydney wanted this address before she’d go meet you at that restaurant? You so dumb you thought she was gonna send a thank you card after you came back here and saw she’d cleaned you out?” He laughed and snarled all at the same time.

“Sydney?” Faith was staring at me.

“Honestly, Faith, I don’t remember any of this. I think he may be right.”

Her next move was surprising—she actually took my hand again. “I have no idea why I should believe you, but I do.”

“What the
fuck
is going on here? Since when do you even
like
her, much less hold her hand? That’s bullshit!” He was shaking his head. “No… no… there ain’t no way I’m leaving without you, baby. I’m not buying into all this lovey-dovey crap. You’re up to something, and I want in. Why don’t I just sit down and you can tell me and bimbo here all about it?”

I shook my head, glancing nervously at Faith. “Not true! I’m not going
anywhere!
”

That was enough for Faith. She marched right up to him, the proverbial David versus Goliath, grabbed one of his wrists, and pointed at the open door.

“Okay, lover boy, I’ve heard all I’ll tolerate. It was interesting to say the least, but you pushed your way into my home, uninvited, and now I’m inviting you back out. There’s the door. Sydney’s not leaving with you. Now, on your way.”

“I ain’t goin’ nowhere, sweetheart.” He spread his legs, locked his knees, and crossed both arms, wearing a defiant expression, almost a leer.

To my great surprise, she simply stood on the tips of her toes and did her best to rub a hand over his bald head in three sweeping motions. She wasn’t really tall enough to reach the very top. “I wish… I wish… I wish you would leave.” Her final word accompanied a jerk of her extended thumb at the open door. Then she turned to me as though he wasn’t there.

“The best shoes to wear when you want someone to leave are boots with spurs, but who’d have thought we’d need them, right?” She didn’t seem at all afraid of him, even though I was. In fact, his expression was a mixture of contempt and admiration.

“Why didn’t you tell me your ma was so hot?” he asked, taking a step closer. She and I stepped back in unison, as if performing some sort of barn dance. “From all those marriages of hers, I thought she’d be an old hag by now,” he went on. “How many did’ja say it was?”

Faith paled.

“Please, Max, it’s time to go,” I said, trying to sound as stern as she had.

“Fine with me.” He held out his left hand, tattooed with the same symbol I wore. He saw me look at mine, then back at his. “That’s right, baby,” he scoffed. “You and I are committed, got it? C-a-m-i-t-i-d. Ain’t no takin’ it back, either. You know what they’ll do to you if you cross ‘em. Let’s go!”

“Apparently you misunderstood me,” I said, gently as I could. “I’m staying. You’re leaving.”

Instead of another threat, he switched back to Faith.

“So, hot thang, what was this big news you broke to her yesterday that has her feeling so loyal all of a sudden? Wouldn’t be another poor slob you found to rip off now, would it? Some sucker who’d fall for you? Sydney thought it would be that. She was gonna rob you blind, then tell you off and never see you again. Even told me how just she was gonna do it.”

Faith didn’t even shoot me a quick glance. She reminded me of a beady-eyed badger—on uppers. “That… Kojak… isn’t any of your business.”

“It’s true, then.” He sneered. “You told her you were getting hitched again. What’ll this be, stupid sucker number fifteen? Or were there a couple others since you and lovey-dovey there lost touch? You really shoulda been a hooker, ya know, standin’ on some corner wearin’ boots and panties and somethin’ see-through on top. How much did these guys cough up in gifts and favors and jewelry and shit all these years? How many knew they were way past sloppy seconds and all the way up to dumpster diving? Did’ja tell your latest what he was getting or has he already guessed?”

“That’s enough, buster! You’re history. Now out!” I literally stuffed him outside, amazed when he didn’t resist or hit me. Even more surprising, he stood there while I shut the outside iron grillwork screen and latched it. The heavy wood front door followed. I snapped the deadbolt hard enough so he’d hear it.

“Suit yerself,” he yelled, “but this ain’t over, not by a long shot. Don’t screw up, Sydney. You know what’ll happen to you if you do, hear me? There ain’t no place to hide from them, no matter where you run to.”

His last words didn’t sound as loud. He was leaving, but I knew I’d see him again. Unfortunately, he was as much a part of my new assignment as Faith was. I re-opened the inside door and watched him turn the Harley around. Without so much as a glance backward, he shot me his middle finger and peeled out of the driveway. Some of the gravel actually sprayed against the house.

“Lovely, Sydney,” Faith said behind me, shaking her head. “That boy was simply lovely.”

Madera Canyon

Max’s noisy departure made Faith’s stony silence all the more deafening. Back at my now cold bowl of chili, I tried several times to find her talk button, but failed. More disturbing was what Max had just tossed into my new assignment. If I was as bad as he said, then Sydney was the most despicable host I’d ever inhabited. Time to break the ice with a change of subject.

“Do you have to work today?”

“Oh, my…” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, dear! I need to get ready. How about you? First you said you didn’t know if you had a job, which is a little hard to believe, but can you at least remember going to the same place somewhere, every day? Remember being paid in some way?”

Three questions back for my one, even when she was pressed for time? Incredible! I wasn’t getting through on the memory bit.

“I wasn’t lying, Faith, really. My mind’s a total blank before Gillie’s. I had no idea who Max was or that I’d ever seen him before.”

“But you knew who our president was, and some recent events in the world, so how can you remember those things and nothing about yourself?”

Back to eating in silence. Scoop chili with spoon, insert into mouth, chew, swallow. Repeat. Music would be great right about now. I couldn’t stand it. Had to say something, anything. She was on her way out of the kitchen. As long as I was careful with my words, maybe I could learn more about my vile host. Nothing so far had produced clues about the breakup, but it must have happened when Sydney was in high school. I needed to know more about that, and a lot more about whatever was burned into my hand. Who was Max talking about when he said “they,” and what were the rest of his threats all about?
“There ain’t no place to hide from them, no matter where you run to.”

“Faith, would you mind if I came to work with you? I could entertain myself.”

She paused in the doorway. “Will you stay here with me another night then?”

“I… sure. I’d love that.”

“I’ll find you those tennis shoes. We haven’t much time before we have to leave.”

* * *

Half an hour later, wearing a pair of Nikes with the laces double knotted, I clambered back into Faith’s car. I got a good, wide-awake look at her adobe house once we’d backed out of the garage. It had deep, wrap-around porches with comfortable rustic-looking furniture. The land alone probably cost a fortune, and that wasn’t even including the house, so she was financially well off. Maybe Max hadn’t been that far off the mark with his guestimate of her various husbands. At least a few of them had been rich, probably the most recent ones. That would naturally mean that Steven was pretty well off himself.

We were heading down a well-maintained dirt road when I saw civilization in the distance, spread left and right across a valley filled with fields of yellow deer grass, scraggly mesquites and gently rolling hills. Where the heck were we? California? Nevada?

“Faith, what’s all that down there in the valley?”

She pointed far left. “Over there is Green Valley, straight ahead is Sahuarita, and over there to your right is Tucson. That’s where we’re going.”

Southern Arizona! If she hadn’t said Tucson, I’d never have guessed, since the other two names were blanks in my memory. She had the car’s top back up, so I rolled the window down and let the scenery relax me for what seemed like no more than a minute or two.

“What’s wrong, Sydney? Can you talk about it? Is it about Max?”

“No, just thinking.” She must have been studying me as she drove.

“Well, you look very sad about whatever it is. You need to tighten your laces then. Snug them up right from the bottom, so the entire shoe is hugging your foot.”

I thanked her and went through the motions, remarking at how they
did
feel loose. That seemed to lighten the mood immensely. I resolved to use her shoe philosophy whenever I wanted to find that talk button of hers again, if ever.

As it turned out, she managed the shoe department at Dillard’s in the Tucson Mall, men’s shoes as well as women’s, with several assistants reporting to her, and she insisted I see where she worked before she set me loose. As we passed the mall’s play area, three young children fell into step beside us. Actually, they were on my side, marching along as if I was some kind of Pied Piper from their storybooks.

All the other kids stopped their playing to watch our every move.

I suddenly realized I’d completely forgotten another rule, which ranked right up there with the Don’t Get Attached rule. This was the Avoid Crowds At All Costs Because They Totally Suck rule.

Frick! How could I have forgotten? Crowds were
always
bad news. No matter where I went, everyone stared. Apparently they could sense me lurking inside whomever I had as host at the time.

Children were the worst, yet here I was, the walking, talking, exotic “bug” they just had to touch.
Don’t look. Pretend you don’t notice them.
I was doing pretty well until a girl in a red dress glued herself to my leg like a leech. She was no more than four years old.

The girl’s mother had seen the whole thing. “What are you
doing
to her?” she demanded. “Why is she acting like this? If you don’t let her go, I’m calling security!” She sounded totally irrational, really nasty.

Faith, who’d kept on walking, turned and swooped back to my rescue. “Excuse me, madam,” she said, using a tone I hadn’t heard before, “I believe you’ve got that all backwards. It’s
your
daughter’s odd behavior you’re seeing here.
My
daughter was walking along, minding her own business. Instead of calling security, you should be teaching your child about personal space and manners.”

While the two women glared at each other, the girl’s grip on my leg had gone from mere holding to dear-life desperate. Daddy arrived on the scene, scowled at me, then turned to his rebellious pre-schooler.

“Trianna, I’m counting to three,” he warned, sounding stern. “If you’re not over here by the time I’m done, you’ll have to stand in the car on the way home because your hiney will be too sore to sit.”

“Attaboy,” Faith cheered, staring down mommy as if they were about to step into a wrestling ring.

Daddy never even got to say “one.” The girl peeled herself away and ran to him. Mommy trailed the pair, but Faith wasn’t letting her off that easily. “Now,
that,
my dear, is parenting. You should try it sometime.”