The Creeping Dead: A Zombie Novel (12 page)

Frankie shrugged. “I don’t understand a thing you’re saying. I just hear clucking.” Ted shoved him. “C’mon, Ted, haven’t you been curious? We’ve been talking about it all summer.”

“What if the fuzz is watching that place?”

“C’mon, Ted, it’s been going on all summer. Nothing’s happened.”

“Which means there’s probably nothing going on,” said Ted.

“I’m going to check it out, with or without you.”

“Really?” asked Ted. “No, you’re not.”

“I am too.”

“All right, but how are we going to do this?”

“You leave that to me,” said Frankie, winking.

Frankie’s winks always made Ted nervous, and with good reason.

***

Mario walked into his store sweating like a pig. He had sweat stains around the collar and under his arms of his shirt.

Marie looked up from her folding of tee-shirts. “Mario, are you all right? You’re white as a ghost.” She wondered if he found out about her parley with Billy.

“I had one hell of a visit at the nursing home.”

“Mama Sophia giving you a hard time again? After all you do for her, all the food you bring…”

“No, it’s not that. I mean, yes, she was being difficult today, but that wasn’t it.”

              Marie looked perplexed. “Then what is it?”

“A woman…my mother’s roommate stopped breathing.”

“What? Oh my God, Mario.”

“We heard these gurgling sounds, so I went to check on her, and she looked like she was dead.”

Marie came over and hugged him. He stunk of body odor. “Oh, that’s terrible, honey.”

“That’s not the worse part. I got the nurse, and a bunch of them came in to take a look, see what they could do. Well, not only wasn’t the old woman dead, she started attacking the nurses, trying to bite them while they worked on her.”

“Oh, my God. That’s terrible. Was she crazy?”

“The one nurse said she had severe dementia and that she had gotten a lot worse recently.”

“Jesus. You’re there all the time. Did you notice her getting worse?”

Mario shook his head. “No. I mean, she was brand new. It was the first time I ever saw her.”

“Is she all right now?”

“They put her in the locked dementia unit, to protect my mom and the other residents.”

“Is your mom okay?” Marie tried to sound convincing.

“She didn’t care one way or another.”

Good ol’ Mama Sophia. Marie smiled bitterly at this. Mario shook his head in exasperation and returned the smile.

“Well, why don’t you go for a walk and relax. I’ve got the store under control.”

“Marie, it’s one hundred degrees outside.”

“Go get an ice cream. Go sit in the shade somewhere. Calm down a bit. I don’t like seeing you upset like this.”

“Maybe you’re right. Goddamned heat wave.”

“I spoke to Johnny Wong. He said the town’s going to do rolling blackouts.”

“Great. I’d better go get that ice cream now.”

Marie smiled at her husband and kissed him softly on the lips. “Go enjoy. I’ll call you on the cell if I need you.”

Mario looked at her pensively. “Marie, I hope you would always need me.”

Marie felt a pang of guilt as soon as he said it. It wasn’t as if she’d done anything wrong. She’d never go outside of their marriage. She loved her husband. What she was doing with Billy was harmless flirting. It’d been a long time since anyone besides her husband looked at her that way.

Mario sensed none of this, and he left her to mind the store. He grabbed a vanilla cone and walked the boardwalk, looking for a shady spot, trying to lick his melting ice cream before it became a soupy mess.

Blackbeard’s was open, and it was air conditioned, so he decided to step inside. He was immediately greeted by cool, stale air and calliope music. He saw a bench free by the carousel, so he took a seat and watched the kids and a few parents go around and around.

He accidentally dripped liquefied ice cream on his shirt. It took its place amongst the other stains, but Mario didn’t quite care. All he could think about was Ms. Scott trying to bite the nurses. And those eyes.

Those eyes.

Mario nearly jumped out of his skin when the calliope music abruptly stopped and the entire arcade went dark. Some children screamed, and he heard parents consoling them.

“Don’t worry, everyone! Just a rolling blackout!”

Mario recognized the voice. It was Mike Brunello’s.

“Please be careful getting off the ride! I’ll give you free tickets so you can come back on when the power comes back! Not to worry!”

Parents helped small children off their horses. The older children dismounted unassisted. Fortunately, it was almost midday, so the arcade wasn’t completely dark.

Parents and children exited the ride, talking to Mike and receiving their free orange tickets, and left the arcade. After everyone had emptied out, Mike looked over and saw Mario sitting alone on the bench, finishing up his ice cream cone.

Randy walked up to the gate of the carousel. “Blackout?”

“Yeah,” said Mike. “Don’t know for how long. Why don’t you take a break. I got it covered. I’ll call you if the power comes back. Just don’t go far.”

“Thanks, Mike.”

Mike watched Randy go, and then he walked over to the bench and stood before Mario. “Is that you, Mario?”

“None other. Hi, Mike.”

“May I join you?”

“Of course.” Mario shifted over, and Mike slowly lowered himself into the bench, knees and back creaking.

“How’ve you been, Mike?”

“Oh, can’t complain. Some heat wave we’ve been having.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m wearing half of my ice cream on my shirt.”

“How’s Marie?”

“Oh, she’s good.”

“How about your mother?”

“I just saw her this morning. She’s fine. A pain in the ass, but that’s nothing new.”

Mike chortled. “Well, getting old ain’t for sissies.”

“Mike, I almost saw someone die today. My mother’s roommate. But then she tried to bite the nurses. Hell of a thing. They ended up putting her on a locked ward.”

“Well, she wasn’t quite so dead after all.”

“Maybe she’d be better off dead.”

“Oh, don’t say that,” said Mike. “Life is such a precious, wonderful thing.”

“The nurse said she had severe dementia.”

“Oh, well I guess that’s a different story. A terrible thing, to have your mind gone but your body persisting.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well, Jesus Christ, Mario, I didn’t come over here to sit in the dark with you and discuss death.”

Mario looked sheepish. “Sorry, Mike. I didn’t mean to be a downer.”

Mike looked around the arcade. “It’s always a downer to see this place so quiet. Even in the morning, when we first open up, it’s a bit disconcerting. When all of the games and the carousel get fired up, it’s always such a relief.”

“You really love this stuff.”

“Damned right. Smuggler’s Bay and this arcade are a little slice of heaven for me. I get to stop and watch the young families come and make memories without exactly realizing they’re making memories.

“These young folks live in the moment, and the younger folks have their whole future ahead of them. Before I retired here and started working at Blackbeard’s, all I had were the past and memories. Now I’m a part of these young folk making theirs.”

“You know, I never thought of it that way.”

“Sure, Mario. You’re a part of it, too. When a kid comes into your shop and buys a tee-shirt, that tee-shirt becomes a memento of the fun summer they had. Every time they put on that shirt, they’ll think back to this summer. As they come back, year after year, they’ll collect more mementos.”

“Yeah, but tee-shirts don’t last forever. Memories fade.”

Mike thought about his Mary. He remembered her, but it was true, the memories had faded. They were most vivid in his dreams, like she was actually there with him. However, when he woke they were like faded pictures of a bygone era.

Mike and Mario looked up as they saw a dark silhouette stalking across the arcade toward them. The hair on the back of Mike’s neck stood up.

“Mike, what are you doing sitting on your duff?”

“Good morning, Nancy.”

She barely regarded Mario with a cursory look, and then she turned on Mike. “When did we lose power?”

“A few moments ago.”

“And the place cleared out that quickly?”

“Well, there’s not much for them to do with the carousel and the games turned off.”

“Dammit, these blackouts cost me money.”

“How ’bout I treat you to an ice cream, Nancy.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Mike. By the way, this little bit of down time counts as your break. Where’s Randy?”

“I told him to take a break and that I’d call him when we got power back.”

“Do you think you run this arcade, Mike? So now you’re in charge of Blackbeard’s? Well, I might as well go home then. You obviously have the situation well in hand.”

Mario looked down at his feet, suddenly feeling very awkward.

Mike didn’t appreciate her sarcasm or her condescension. “Maybe that’s not a bad idea, Nancy.”

“How
dare
you? Call up Randy and tell him to get his pimply ass back here. When he does, you go home.”

“Nancy, I didn’t mean—”

“You haven’t begun to see mean, Mike Brunello.” She stormed off to the office in the back.

Mario exhaled as if he had been holding his breath throughout the whole exchange. “I’m going to get going, Mike.”

Mike smiled. “Always good to see you, Mario. Say hi to Marie for me.”

“You got it.”

Mario stood and left the arcade. Mike was alone.

He stood, gripping the back of the bench for support, and dusted off his lap. He didn’t have anything on his lap, but it was one of those many old man gestures he’d adopted of late.

He walked around the dead carousel and straight back to the office. The door was half-closed. He knocked twice.

“Who is it?”

“The boogeyman. Who do you think?”

The door swung open and Nancy was sitting at her desk in the dark. “What do you want, Mike? I’m busy.”

“Doing what, Nancy? You’re sitting here in the dark.”

“Well, that’s what I found you doing a moment ago, and you called it work.”

“Nancy, why do you have to be so mean sometimes?”

“I’m not being mean. I pay you loafers to work, so when I find you loafing, it makes me angry.”

“For crying out loud, the arcade’s lost power. I sat to talk to Mario Russo for a moment. There was no harm done.”

“Mike, I work my ass off for this place even though I never asked for it. I could’ve loafed around, too, and watched it go down the tubes, but I understand the importance of personal responsibility.”

Mike shook his head. “Nancy, I don’t think you realize how seriously I take this job. I love this place, and I love it when the kids come in here and have a good time. Just before, when the power went out, I gave everyone on the carousel free tickets so they could come back and enjoy the ride they paid for.”

“So now you’re giving away free rides. It’s a wonder I’ve managed to keep this place in the black. Maybe I’ll take it out of your pay.”

“But they’ve already paid for the ride. Not giving them free tickets would be cheating them.”

“Well, I suppose it’s better than giving them a refund. What you don’t seem to realize is that this is a business, not your own personal retirement theme park. If I don’t make money, we don’t stay open. If we don’t stay open, you don’t have a job. Comprende?”

Mike felt his patented cool begin to melt away. “Nancy, why do you insist on talking to me like I’m less than human? I work hard for you. I have feelings.” He began to sway a bit and gripped her desk for support.

“Wh-what is this? What are you doing?” she asked looking startled by his sudden disequilibrium.

“My blood pressure,” said Mike, putting his hand on his forehead.

Nancy jumped out of her chair and lowered him into it. “Sit down, you old fool.”

Mike plopped down into the chair and gripped the arms while the room spun around him. He was on the hypertension-go-round, and he felt like he wasn’t fully strapped in when the ride started. He took a few deep breaths, and the ride began to slow to a stop.

“Jesus, Mike, do I need to call you an ambulance?”

Mike held up a hand. “No. No, I think I’ll be all right. I forgot to call Randy to come back.”

Nancy frowned. “I’ll do it. Why don’t you take a few moments to collect yourself and then go home? I’ll take it from here.”

“I said I’ll be okay,” insisted Mike. “I’m always okay when I’m here. What the hell am I going to do at home?”