Rescue Fantasies (Part 11) (733 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by fried-green-potatoes (View user info) at 2006-01-15 17:09:50 EST
http://www.ubersite.com/m/72067 (Part 1)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/80255 (Part 2)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/80857 (Part 3)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/81155 (Part 4)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/69317 (Part 5)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/81435 (Part 6)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/81735 (Part 7)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/82005 (Part 8)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/82334 (Part 9)
http://www.ubersite.com/m/82357 (Part 10)
At the Keystone Luncheonette, Faye ruled the roost. John walked through the door and spotted her immediately, cracking four eggs at once with big, almost manly hands and dumping the contents on a hot griddle behind the counter. It was an impeccable, one-motion maneuver that came from years as a short-order cook—one that she didn't even bother to watch, preferring instead to peer over her shoulder as she traded insults and flirts with six or seven regulars seated at the red plastic stools along the bar. Faye was decked out in a worn white sweater over a server's uniform made of yellow polyester. She squeaked along the greasy tile floor in gum-soled white sneakers, freshening one cup of coffee after another. Her tough skin and lively blue eyes complemented the playful smirk on her lips. And her hair, tied back and shoulder length, was now that I-don't-give-a-shit-anymore shade of gray favored by many women over 40. She was the prototype waitress for an eggs-at-any-hour diner, and the only thing missing was the name stitched above her breast.
"Whatcha need, hon?" she asked as John took a seat at the end of the counter.
"Just coffee will do," he replied, barely uttering the words before the black brew was poured and placed in front of him.
"Fixins on the counter, sweetie," Faye said as she turned back to her eggs over easy. She was back to freshen the cup in less than five minutes.
"We don't get many out-of-town types late Sundays," she said as she poured. "Did you lose the main road, hon?"
"No. I was passing near Ellington and, well, I promised someone I'd pay respects," John said, nodding to the cemetery wall that loomed outside the diner's plate glass window.
"Is that a fact, now," Faye said, a note of interest building in her voice. "You're kin to someone here?"
"Not really. I work with a woman from Ellington. At a newspaper in Washington. We've been seeing each other for a while. Maybe you know her—Jan Burns?"
"Janie. Course I know her," Fay said, wiping her hands quickly on a counter towel. "She been doin' ok since she left?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Of course, the thing with her daughter... I guess that doesn't go away too quickly. Like I said, I thought it'd be nice for her if I swung by to pay respects."
"Well now... that's, uh, good and decent...Did ya find what ya need?" Fay asked. Her eyes were fixed on a piece of counter. It was clean, but she was wiping it down hard anyway.
"Took me a while," John said, eyeing the woman closely. "Funny thing. All those Burns stones up on the hill... and little Kylie stuck in the corner like that... How do you suppose that happened?"
Faye's head snapped up. She was wringing the towel in her hands as she stared at John.
"Billy! Come here and watch it for me!" Faye yelled to a bus boy who was reading a magazine in one of the booths. She slipped around the counter, pausing a second to put her hand gently on the back of a sheriff seated there. "See that fat ass here don't sneak no pie while I'm gone, or his wife'll skin me."
The night had turned colder, and Faye wrapped the sweater tight around her chest as she moved outside with John. She spied the outline in his shirt pocket and reached in to take a Marlboro; John felt the tremble in her hands as she took the flame from the match.
"What you want with Jan and Kylie, mister?"
"I just want to know what happened."
"What does Jan say?"
"She still can't talk about it."
"Well then, maybe that oughta give you a clue," Faye said, cocking an eyebrow.
"If I knew what happened, she wouldn't be living alone in Washington having to deal with it. That's all I'm trying to...."
"Mister, it don't matter where you gotta deal with it...You just gotta, that's all... You go to work one day. You come home. You walk in the bedroom and find your little girl..." Faye stopped as her voice began to falter. "You find your little girl with no face and her head sprayed all over the room. You gonna tell me there's any place—Ellington or Washington or Timbukfuckingtu--that makes that easy? ... Listen, why don't you get in your car and..."
"Jan didn't find her," John interrupted, "the grandfather did."
"Yeah, so?"
"What was he doing here? He lives outside Poughkeepsie, right?"
"He's got his old doctor down here, down to the VA hospital. He drove down to see him and visit his girl and his grandbaby."
"So what happened after he found her?"
Faye sighed, pushing a plume of smoke into the cold night sky. She had that nervous habit many old smokers do: picking a stray piece of tobacco off the tip of her tongue even though she was now smoking filters. It bought her a second to think.
"They just buried her, that's what happened. Buried her quick, loaded up the car and moved to her daddy's place for a spell, where he could keep an eye on Janie. Couldn't have been more than 10 days between when she died and when they left. I was at the curb waving when they headed off. Just got into Janie's car and drove away. They ain't been back since....Listen, mister, I got to get back inside..."
"Where's the other car?"
"What?"
"You said the grandfather drove down for a visit. Then they both drove off in Jan's car. What happened to his car?"
Faye just stared at him for a second, plucking at the imaginary strand of tobacco on the tip of her tongue.
"Who's Dee?" John pressed.
"Who?" Faye asked weakly.
John let the question hang.
"Just some girl... some girl Kylie used to run with...pretty...blonde, tall type...didn't know her, but Janie wasn't keen on having her around."
"Why not?"
"She was wild, that's why. Her folks done drugs and they let her run wild. She was a push-out kid, if you want the truth. Didn't have no home. Her folks never give a shit."
The woman turned to go back inside and John moved to block her path.
"Why is Kylie buried in the corner?" he asked sharply.
"Because... because it don't fuckin' matter, that's why!" Faye shouted as she flicked her cigarette into his chest and pushed him aside, heading for the door. He noticed tears welling in her eyes. She stopped and the entrance and returned to him, pressing her face just inches from his.
"Dead is dead—you hear me—dead is dead!" she hissed. "One piece of ground and one marker is as good as the next..... Jesus, mister, what is it with you and places?! Washington... Ellington... up the hill... down the hill...what fuckin' difference does that make ? You think they lie over there...just lie over there... under that cold ground.... readin' their names spelt backwards till kingdom come?"
She turned for the door and stopped again.
"You say you're for Janie? Want to help her? Get the fuck out of here and don't come back!" she said as she reached for the handle.
John moved to the grey sedan across the street. Through the window, he saw Faye push Billy aside as she ran to the Employees Only bathroom.
"You get what you needed from Faye?"
John turned to see the hole-digger standing by the cemetery gate, rolling up a long utility cord and calling it a night.
"Yeah, thanks... Thanks a lot."
"I wasn't lying about Walnut, was I?" the kid asked with a mischievous grin.
"Walnut?"
"Dee... Dee Gutierrez," the kid continued. "She got the nickname Walnut in school and, well, it kinda stuck.... Walnut...hard... hard bitch—that's how she tried to come across... And she was dark complected, too. Like a Walnut... Kinda favored Kylie that way, come to think of it."
A thought struck John about 10 miles down the road. He probably should have asked how to spell "Gutierrez."
For the marker.
User Reviews
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2006-01-22 22:44:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Now just whose rescue fantasy is this, anyway?
I know I'm pathetically late on the reviews, but you wanna watch the editing with the last few installments...
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2006-01-20 10:21:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think I might see where this could be going. Either way, continues to be a great yarn.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-01-19 11:03:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oooh. Dee's a bad girl.
Submitted by fried-green-potatoes (user info) at 2006-01-16 11:50:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
ubmitted by Circe (user info) at 2006-01-16 11:36:43 (#)
Ranking: 2
I got nothing, dude. I'm allergic to the caterpillars infesting my yard and my hand has ballooned to freakish proportions... the twins tried to kill themselves at the aquatic centre today....
My life is the anti-roller-coaster of non-excitement.
----
You owe me brilliance...and I'm a small-minded asshole who nurses hurts and grudges like a 7-year-old, so don't think you can weasel out.
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2006-01-16 11:36:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I got nothing, dude. I'm allergic to the caterpillars infesting my yard and my hand has ballooned to freakish proportions... the twins tried to kill themselves at the aquatic centre today....
My life is the anti-roller-coaster of non-excitement.
Submitted by fried-green-potatoes (user info) at 2006-01-16 11:26:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jeez, Circe... we gotta let that slacker grandfather have something to say in this story! (two installments).
Make me happy--post something today!
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2006-01-16 11:11:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ho-leeee shit.
So.... what did she find her daughter doing?
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2006-01-15 22:29:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
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