When the Women Come out to Dance (2002) (26 page)

Ben looked around. There was no door to a stairs goin
g down, only metal shapes housing the air-conditioning, n o place to hide. He could stay up here if Brother was afraid t o climb the stonework. But if Hazen was around--he couldn'
t be too far.

Ben got down flat on the roof, put his eyes over the edg
e and there was Brother with his gun raised, pointing straigh t up at Ben and firing in the night as Ben rolled away from th e edge and crawled back a few yards before getting to his feet.

He'd have to run and dive for the pool--the way he dove of
f the roof of a motel when they were filming at Angola, th e Louisiana State Prison, did it on a bet and caught hell fro m the stunt coordinator. "You want to lose your SAG card, asshole?" Hell no, it was worth $636 a day whether he worked a stunt or not. He remembered now the trouble he had at Denise's trying to get his new boots off in a hurry. He'd hav e to leave them on--goddamn cowboy boots when he ought t o be wearing high-top sneakers.

Brother surprised him.

Ben started for the edge--four strides and dive out as far a
s he could--and Brother's cowboy hat and shoulders appeare d above the roof edge, arms clinging tight to the tarred gravel , Brother trying to raise the gun and hold on at the same time.

The gun fired in the moment Ben reached Brother to kic
k him in the face: Brother going back, falling, Ben pressing t o keep his balance and then lunging out at the dark, Brothe r missing the balcony but not the concrete floor of the patio, a s Ben landed flat in the water in his wool shirt and his windbreaker and began swimming to the side of the pool, till he found out he could walk.

Denise opened the door. Ben gave her time t
o look at him wringing wet and say whatever she wanted.

She said, "You change your mind?"

VI.

The first thing Ben did, dripping on the kitche
n floor, was call Preston. Ophelia said, "Hey, Ben, love you r movies,'' and they talked a while. Preston wasn't home bu t she'd have him phone.

Denise helped him take his clothes off and put them in th
e dryer--shirt, jacket, socks, everything but his boots--poure d a couple of vodkas, and they stood in the kitchen, Ben in a terry-cloth robe stretched tight on him, while he told Denis e about Brother.

She said, "You sure you're not making it up? It sounds lik
e a movie. I can hear the score, 'You're the Reason God Mad e Oklahoma.' "

Standing there in the kitchen looking at each other, Be
n said, half singing it, " 'I work ten hours on a John Deere tractor just thinking of you all day.' "

Denise did the same with " 'I've got a calico cat and a tworoom flat on a street in West L
. A .' " and stopped there. She said, "But the song has it turned around. I'm here and you'r e the one in L
. A ." She said, "You're going back, aren't you?

Once you get Preston or someone to work your place?"

Ben hesitated. That was the idea and he could say yeah. H
e could say yeah, why don't you come with me? It was in hi s mind.

The phone rang before he could say anything.

Preston telling how Avery Grooms had been picked up o
n the detainer and what he found in the barns. "Ben, was a bi g Peterbilt tractor in one and all kind of truck parts in there.

Big Cummins diesel engine, crankshafts, axles. What they do
, Ben, hijack a truck, bring it there and go over it like ants taking apart a magnolia leaf. See, then they sell to wholesalers in that criminal enterprise. The diesel engine they can get six , eight thousand for."

"A lot of work," Ben the eight-second man said, "for wha
t they make off it."

"Yeah, well, these are working-type people, they don't know no better."

Ben told about Brother and Preston said, "I gave you m
y Smith, whyn't you shoot him?"

"It was in my bag, I didn't have time to get it out."

"If you had, would you've shot him?"

"If I couldn't club him with it. I've done it."

"You mean in a movie." Preston said he'd find out abou
t Brother and call back.

Once Ben's clothes were dry he peeled off the robe and go
t dressed, Denise watching, looking right at him as he steppe d into his shorts and jeans and pulled them up--the way he remembered when they were little kids and she always wanted to see his thing and he'd tell her to close her eyes or tur n around. Not now. He felt natural, the way he liked to think o f himself with Denise. More natural than with any woman h e could think of. Even Kim.

And there she was, bringing along the other women.

He wasn't going to tell Denise about them, but now h
e wanted to--even knowing pretty much what she'd say.

Preston phoned.

"City police and the sheriff both got the call, shots fired a
t the Shawnee Inn. They got over there to find Jarrett Lloy d Grooms, laying by the swimming pool unconscious, and too k him to Memorial. Brother's busted up cheekbones to toes , messed up his mouth, has knees that bend the wrong way.

They wrote him for having the gun and attempting to brea
k and enter.''

"They think he's a burglar? What about the shots fired?"

"Gun went off when he fell. They want to close it."

"They have Hazen?"

"No sign of him. He must've took off."

Ben hung up, gave Denise the report, and she said, "You'r
e staying tonight, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but I want to tell you something."

They were in the kitchen now, Denise pouring vodka.

"You know my mother left right after I was born."

"Your dad was dead and that part of her life, along wit
h you, was over."

"She died of drugs and alcohol."

"Yeah . . . ?"

"You remember Carl?"

"Honey, Carl leaves his imprint on you."

"His wife, my grandmother Kitty, walked out on him afte
r a year."

"Girls named Kitty don't think much of becoming grandmothers."

"Virgil's wife, my great-grandmother, died having Carl."

"I won't comment on that."

"And the girl I was living with, Kim, a stuntwoman, fel
l off a ladder at home and fractured her skull."

Denise said, "You're kidding."

"No, she did."

"I mean about what you're thinking, that I could be nex
t in line. Tell me you're kidding."

"Carl's the one pointed it out. He said we don't seem t
o have any luck with women."

Denise said, "Carl?" She said, "Carl told you that? Car
l told stories, things he did as a marshal? My dad said most of i t wasn't true.''

"Your dad represented guys Carl arrested.'' "He predicted things, crops, the weather--where to fin d game--my dad told me about that, too. He said Carl was always wrong. You lived half your life with him and you didn't know that?''

"His stories were great,'' Ben said. "His predictions, I neve
r paid any attention to them. It's just, every once in a while I t hink about what he said."

Denise shook her head. "Ben, your granddad didn't kno
w shit. Remember that and you'll quit thinking of yourself as a lady killer."

"I thought you might fall on the floor laughing."

"That's too obvious." She finished her drink and looked a
t Ben in fluorescent kitchen light and said, "You're perfect fo r me and I've known it since I was a little girl. But you're to o glum." She took the drink from his hand and placed it on th e counter.

"Let's go to bed so I can wake you up."

Brother never showed. By the time Haze
n
realized it and quit talking to the waitress he'd had five Margaritas following a few beers earlier. He called the farm and let it ring. What was he supposed to do now, call the police?

Y'all holding my little brother? Call the hospital, see if he go
t hurt fucking up somehow? He probably sassed the trooper s and they put him in detention. Next they'd be out to the far m with warrants. Shit, it was time to move on. Tomorrow, afte r he'd settled accounts.

Hazen went out to the desk and took a room for the night.

Tomorrow he'd go to Denise's house first thing, before she lef
t for the real estate office, and have her call the famous movi e star nobody ever heard of and tell him to get his ass ove r there.

They were still in Denise's double bed unde
r the covers, putting off getting up. She said, "I imagined you'
d snore, but you don't."

"You do, a little."

"Really? No one's ever told me."

"I gave you a kick and you stopped."

"I suppose you want breakfast--eggs, the whole thing?"

"I like just a sandwich, if you have any leftovers."

"Leftover what, you think I cook dinner for myself ?"

"You know how?"

"Is it important to you?"

He said, "I haven't thought of Hazen once."

She said, "Then why bring him up."

"Later on I have to see a lawyer."

She said, "Let's brush our teeth and go for another, okay?"

"After you." He watched her get out of bed naked and g
o in the bathroom. He waited for the full frontal shot when sh e came out, and heard the doorbell. He got out of bed and wen t over to the bathroom to tell Denise through the door someon e was here.

She came out wrapping herself in a pink kimono. "It's th
e paperboy. He comes to collect once a month." She said, "Don'
t get dressed. Put the robe on and we'll have a cup of coffe e first, okay?"

She picked up her handbag from the vanity and went downstairs barefoot.

She was seriously thinking of selling the house
, but would hold on for a while, see what happens. It was wa y too big for one person, dark, sort of Victorian, frosted-glas s panels in the double doors of the entrance. She could see a figure waiting on the porch, a dark shape more than an actual person, opened the door and said to Hazen Grooms, "You'r e not the paperboy."

"What I am," Hazen said, "is hungover. You get horn
y when you're like that? Man, I sure do." He stepped inside an d took the lapel of her kimono between his fingers, feeling it , saying, "Honey, you're a sight for horny eyes. I bet you go t nothing on under there, have you?" He looked past her saying, "What I need more'n anything right now is a cold beer.

Get the spiders outta my head." He started across the foye
r saying, "I bet they's some in the fridge," and went on throug h the hall that passed beneath the staircase landing to the bi g kitchen in the back of the house.

Denise followed, handbag hanging from her shoulder, no
t saying a word. She opened the refrigerator, brought out a ca n of Bud and placed it on the table in front of Hazen. He said , "We not talking this morning. Still seepy-eyed? We could g o back to bed, you want." He popped open the can and Denis e watched him pour the beer down his throat, his Adam's appl e bouncing as he swallowed, watched him lower the can, hi s eyes shining wet, and say, "Jesus, I've come back to life."

She brought a glass ashtray from the sink and placed i
t with her handbag on the other end of the table from Hazen.

Now she took a pack of Winston and a Bic lighter from th
e bag, lit a cigarette and dropped the pack and lighter bac k inside.

"Gotta have that first smoke, huh?" Hazen said. "What I
w ant you to do for me is call Mr. Ben Webster, get him t o come over here."

"Why?" Denise said.

"Settle our business."

"I thought you changed your mind--your dad going bac
k to prison and all."

It got him to hesitate. "Where'd you hear that?"

"My cleaning lady."

"Your cleaning lady." Hazen squinting at her now. "How'
d she know?"

"What difference does it make?" Denise said, and ble
w smoke at him. "You're leaving, aren't you?"

Now he changed again, using his sly Jack Nicholson eyes.

"If I am," Hazen said, "we got one last chance to go upstair
s and fall in love."

She saw Ben in the terry-cloth robe too small for him appear in the doorway behind Hazen, and said, "I don't think Tenkiller would like it."

Hazen said, "Who?"

Now Ben came in past Hazen to Denise's end of the table
, looking around to say, "I wouldn't waste any time. I think yo u ought to get out of here's fast as you can."

Hazen put his beer on the table and stared at Ben in th
e fluffy skin-tight robe, the sleeves short of his wrists. "Jesu s Christ," Hazen said, "you go around in women's things , you're actu'lly queer, aren't you? One of those fellas likes to take it in the butt. You hear the one, the Indin goes in th e whorehouse with a bushel of corn?"