SILVER PARK DELUXE

I make all the cars I work on perfect. That’s what I do. Just because the big head Chris from Park County asked me to come down and work for him don’t make me his slave.

Sometimes you do things for money.

There’s a lot of things people do for money. My Uncle Robbie, for instance, got busted driving 200 cartons of cigarettes across state lines from Virginia. I don’t know how the cops knew he was holding those cigarettes. I’m sure somebody said something. Somebody always says something and that’s how people get fucked—opening their big mouths.

Chris the big head came right down to my place, driving up in his dirty Ford, the sweat on his face was wet in the sun like a copper penny. He stepped out, grinning with his razor blade teeth, and said to me, in his whiny voice:

“We need to talk about the delivery last month,” he said.

I wiped the grease from my hands and threw the towel down into the engine of this new car I found—been working on it for two weeks now. It needed all kinds of work. I found her out by the highway, totally abandoned—one of those beautifully sleek Dodge Challengers. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had my buddy Jimmy take me out and pick it up. Because that’s what I do—I make cars better than they were before.

“Excuse me,” I said to him. Now this guy Chris is in my face about this delivery business.

Chris is angry. “You know what I’m talking about. Now if there’s some kind of thing we can work out, that’s fine. But you need to come clean about this.”

“I delivered every one of them to the lot. If something happened to them on your property, that ain’t my problem,” I said.

“We can work it out, Charlie.” Chris said, walking right up to me, chest out with hot anger in his eyes. I’m wasn’t scared though. I can’t remember the last time I was scared of a man.

“Last I checked, you and I are square,” I said

He put his hands on hips like he was my mother. I couldn’t stop to grin a bit.

“You son of a bitch. I told you I wanted those cars back at Silver Park. All of them,” he said.

“And I delivered them. As promised,” I said.

“Then what really happened?” Chris asked.

I noticed when Chris got mad his nostrils flared like he was a baby pig. I bet that sweat was on his face the whole drive from his place outside Park County. Coming all the way to get mad at me about this delivery business.

“What happened, Chris?” I said, pulling out a smoke and lighting it.

“What happened, Charlie, is that I noticed one of those cars went missing.”

“Oh yeah, which one?”

Chris backed up a second. He stood, looking at me, dead in the eyes. “Mind if I have a look around at your garage?”

He pointed down the two acres to my little garage. It could only fit two cars and maybe a cycle in there at one time. I already knew where Chris was going with this.

“You want to look around at my garage? I see. You want to look over there in my garage for a car you think you got missing, Chris. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. That’s what I’m saying.”

“Because if that’s what you’re saying, then you’d be saying I’m a thief, right?”

“Look, Charlie, I’m willing to let this go…”

I stepped towards him, hacked deep in my throat, and spat down right at his feet and smiled.

“Have at it, pal,” I said, gesturing over to the garage.

*

Lacey smoked my last cigarette. She laid under the sheets, her body all curves from the silk. She had that chestnut hair I like, like sweet milk chocolate. Her freckles were little brown stars on her bare shoulders.

“Lacey, that’s my last cigarette,” I said.

“So?” She whispered.

I pulled my shirt over my head and slicked my hair back in the mirror.

“So, you always smoke all my cigarettes,” I said.

“Seems only fair,” she said.

Lacey was demon smart, too smart sometimes. She knew me better than I knew myself. I suppose that’s what happens when you sleep with someone long enough. You get to know them and they get to know you. Sort of like fixing a car engine by yourself. You get to know all the gears, all the parts, when you get your hands dirty. You get so good that even driving down the street you can hear if anything is wrong. It’s the same thing with people.

“Seems fair what? I asked, standing by the window.

“I only smoke when you’re around,” Lacey said, blowing out a cone of smoke to the ceiling. “And that’s not that much.”

I went to her. Her eyes were cold. They were always cold. She was the queen of neutral. That’s why I liked to fuck her. It brought a little water to her eyes.

I kissed her forehead. “I’m going to work.”

Lacey snuffed out the cigarette by the bed and sat up. “Are we going to talk about it?”

I stopped by the door and turned to her. Now she was getting smart again.

“What are you talking about, Lacey?”

“The car.”

I closed my eyes and felt the breath slip out of my lungs. “What about it?”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I already did it.”

“What?” She let the silk sheet fall and her breasts were out and she didn’t care. Modesty was gone. Money does that to people. “So you did do it then?”

I smiled. “That’s what I said. But what did I tell you? Don’t fucking say a goddamn thing.”

“I didn’t. I haven’t,” Lacey said.

“You better not,” I said.

“Well, when are we leaving?” There was a little brightness in her eyes.

I rubbed my forehead. “I didn’t say ‘we’ were leaving. I said I had to leave for a while and take care things in New Orleans. Then I’ll be back.”

Lacey sprang up from the bed, now fully naked, and walked over to the closet. She started sliding the dresses hanging across the rack in the closet, trying to find the right one. She picked the blue one and slipped it over her body. “You’re a fucking asshole,” she said.

“Oh yeah?”

Lacey stormed right at me and I thought she was going to hit me.

“Yes. Asshole Number 1,” she said, bringing up her pointer finger to my face.

“And why is that? I’m doing some shit, Lacey. You understand? I need to handle some business. I’m going to see Robbie and give him some money. Then I’m going to New Orleans to take care of some things. Then we will meet up. Clear?”

Lacey went back to neutral—dark like the desert at night.

“You know what. Don’t even worry about me. Okay? You hear me Charlie? Don’t even worry about me,” she said.

“Lacey…”

“Don’t. Just leave. And don’t come back. Do not come back. I’m done with this.”

“Lacey…”

She turned and went to the window. “It’s stupid what you did. It’s stupid for me even thinking you wanted me to be a part of any of it. You’re going to get caught. You hear me, Charlie? Chris knows what you did. Everybody knows.”

I felt the anger build and my fists clenched. I’ve been here before with Lacey. It makes you want to explode. But not this time—not this time.

“Lacey. I told you. I want you to come. I just have to see Robbie. Then I’m going to New Orleans. Then I’ll find you. I’m not going to lose you.”

Lacey looked over the shoulder, the orange light of the sun glowing through the curtain behind her. “You’ve already lost me. Now leave.”

There was nothing else to do. Her eyes were dead. I turned and left.

*

Robbie looked good for a guy who’s been in prison for 5 months. His hair was longer, and the fat in his face was gone. He was a drinker. The time in prison must of have flushed him out. He looked slighter too, like he been lifting the weights. Jail was good for him.

“You don’t look that good though,” Robbie said.

“I’m fine, man. Everything is okay,” I said.

“You don’t seem like it. Charlie. Talk to me. What happened?”

I looked around the visiting area. There were others sitting at a couple tables, some old peoples wives visiting their husbands in orange.

“Let’s not worry about that right now,” I said, “Listen to me. You are all set, Robbie.”

Robbie smiled. He was always my favorite Uncle. Maybe because he was bad like me. We would drink to sunrise some days, just talking about nothing. We never had a fight or a foul word. That was rare in this world.

“Really. Come on now, Charlie, don’t fuck with me.”

I grinned. “Robbie, you are set. When you get out of here, go use the account number I told you. You going to be fine.”

“Oh, Charlie get over here!” He stood up and hugged me, almost breaking my back. “Charlie, I love you boy. Your Daddy would have been so proud.”

“Down over there,” one of the guards yelled out from across the room.

Robbie rose up his hands. “Sorry, sorry.”

We sat back down.

“And what about New Orleans?” He asked, leaning in close.

I nodded. “I leave tonight.”

“Alone?”

I knew what he meant. I nodded again. He knew what I meant.

“Well, that’s a shame.” He said, crossing his arms.

“It is. It’s just not safe.”

“You think she’d…”

I looked over to the small room window. The sun was just going down. The sky was getting to be that beautiful red rash across the black-clouded horizon. “I don’t know.”

Robbie kept talking. I started to fading out of the conversation. Everything was going to be fine. Robbie would be fine. He would be set up when he got out, or least set up enough to make a fresh start for himself. He wasn’t a bad guy and he certainly didn’t deserve to be in prison. The money I put in his account would give him that toe up. That’s all he really needed. That’s all we all ever needed. Just a toe up. Then things would be just fine.

*

The road was long into the darkness—all except for the little white tickers in the center of the road, glowing from the headlights of my Deluxe. The car purred down the road. There was not a glitch with this ride for sure. I pushed hard on the accelerator and felt the buzz of the engine vibrate the steering wheel like a mantra. I turned on the old radio and some Hank Williams came on. I passed one of those green highway signs and in white it read: New Orleans 95.

It felt good to get out of Park County. It felt good to be away from my goddamn town. Sometimes you stay in a place for too long and it starts to rot you from the insides. Everything familiar becomes like a curse, a bad luck charm. That bar you drink in every night you start to hate. All the faces you know, babbling about the same things, the same problems, everyday—no one ever finds the solution because there isn’t one.

Then there’s the restaurant I had my first dinner with Lacey. She was happy at the beginning. I guess everything is better at the beginning.

New Orleans was a fine town and the people I had to meet there were all right. I’m not saying they were the kind you’d invite over your Mother’s house for dinner, but they were not liars and they were not fools. This whole world was going to be destroyed by liars and fools. That’s why you had to get yours now before the whole thing blows up in our faces.

The night was black and thick like syrup—enveloping everything around me. I rolled down the window. The roar of the engine rumbled out and the wind tunneled in. I turned the music up louder to combat the wind. Some commercials came on full of gibbering, silly men, selling blenders and vacuum cleaners—nothing nobody was going to buy just because they heard it on the radio. The world was liars and fools.

The commercials weren’t even done by the time I saw the flashing red and blue lights behind me, getting closer in my rearview. They were speeding up fast. There was no place to turn off the road. I pushed harder on the accelerator. They couldn’t be for me. It was already too late and all the money had been put away. There were two cars shining their headlights over the black highway.

Everybody does things they have to do. I could tear this Deluxe right off the road and ride on through the desert, kill the lights and hide out. I could pull over and pretend my car broke down, maybe even ask one of the police officers for some road-side assistance. Or I could just push hard on this accelerator and outrun these sons of bitches.

It all came down to someone talking. Someone had to. That’s how people got busted. Because someone somewhere said something. Maybe it was Lacey. Maybe Chris used his big head for once.

It didn’t matter now. I pushed hard on the accelerator when the rock and roll music exploded through the speakers back on.

Things were going to be what they were going to be. I shouldn’t have said anything to Lacey. I should have kept my big mouth shut. It didn’t matter now. Not out here in the desert highway with three cops behind me, flashing their red and blue lights.

I turned the radio way loud, swung the Deluxe off the road, and pushed the petal to the floor. Dirt poured out behind me, drowning the lights. If they were going to come get me, they’d have to drive through the desert to get me. I hope they knew their cars as well I knew mine because I fixed this Deluxe just right.