Let Sleeping Dogs Lie V

'Throw That Dog a Bone!'

Caleb was drawing monsters on the sidewalk outside his house when he saw the man fleeing down the middle of Sherman street. He dropped his green chalk for a minute, and watched from behind the holes in the chain-link fence that surrounded his front yard. There was a torn milk carton, and some pop bottles on the grass outside his fence, and then a drain dropped down into the street. Beside the pile of trash was Elmer or 'Future Bum' as the neighborhood called him on account of his bad sunglasses. He was sleeping on the grass by the street like nothing ever happened in this whole wide world. There could be a dang bomb going off, and Elmer wouldn't twitch. Meanwhile this crazy white boy was sprinting like a spooked mouse right past his house at thirty miles an hour! O, well, it looked like today was gonna be another busy day. As Caleb watched, the white boy stopped at the intersection of Sherman and Center street. He paused, and looked back, and it was like he was looking back at Caleb, but then Caleb looked behind him, at the corner where the white boy popped out and saw a big looking dude, the size of the Hulk in a suit, stalking slowly towards the scared white boy. Hulk was taking his time, slowly closing the distance between them on the sidewalk. This Hulk guy looked kinda like the guy who came by his house to talk to his Mama, and told them they had to move on account of new business moving in. This Hulk guy looked more mean though, the guy who came to the door had a big smile, and a beard. Caleb remembered the guy at the door because his Mama looked so sad after he left.

"Fucking Microbrews popping up everywhere, it don't make no fucking sense," she had said to nobody in particular.

The Hulk guy suddenly pulled out a shiny silvery thing, and then Caleb recognized it as a gun. He looked back at the white boy, and the boy's face got even whiter. His eyes swelled up like balloons, and he turned to run just as a car turned off of Sherman to swing down Center Street. That's when the gun fired three times, and Caleb blocked his ears from the explosive sound. The white boy got all rubbery, and red ribbons started flying from his pockets. His body slammed backward into the car as it was turning, and bounced off the windshield, leaving a red stain on the car. Caleb was still holding his ears with his teeth tightly clenched, when the scared white boys' body pitched forward onto the sidewalk. Caleb glanced back to where his green colored chalk had rolled. It lay on top of his drawing of a green monster with red and yellow flames coming out of the mouth and nostrils. He then looked up at the white boys dead eyes that gazed back in Caleb's direction, but saw nothing, like the hamster that he found in it's cage last year. Caleb looked back for the Hulk sized man, but he was gone. Elmer slept soundly on his patch of grass without a peep.

*

Nick was looking everywhere for his .38. He looked under the magazines in the magazine rack. He looked in the secret cubby he had had specially made for illegal contraband shit by the fireplace and the bar. After closing that back up, he looked in the coat closet, and then started yanking all of the pots and pans out one by one. He thought he knew where he had left the gun last time, he just didn't know where the fuck it had got to now. In desperation he stalked back to the bedroom, and checked every drawer, and nook and cranny, though he had done this twice already. His wife, Linda, was sitting on the edge of the bed. She had a box of tissue, and there were dark worry lines around her eyes like a raccoon. She looked like a trapped animal, but Nick wasn't paying attention. She had a comb, and she kept nervously raking it through her hair while Nick continued his search.

"What the Hell are you looking for?..." Linda gasped between breaths. She was obviously distressed but Nick didn't have the time to care. After awhile of searching in vain he answered her briskly.

"My keys...They're the keys I need for work, goddamnit...My goddamn keys...damn it..."

"Your lying!...Your fucking lying again!...Why do you always lie to me like this, Nick?"

Linda burst into tears, and dropped her face into her hands. She sobbed heavier and harder then she ever had before. Without breaking stride, Nick ran out the bedroom door. The wood door of their luxury apartment slammed and echoed back to the bedroom as Linda continued to cry. Ginny, her daughter, walked into the bedroom and tried to console her mother.

"I heard you crying from my room. What's wrong, Mom?"

"What isn't wrong? ...Just...just leave me alone, ok? I don't feel well."

"Excuse me for living, Jesus!"

*

Frank was on the way to meet Nick in the room behind the abandoned record store on Sheldon Street. For whatever reason, there was this tiny little vacant space behind a metal door in the alley that periodically got electricity in the only lightbulb in the center of the room only on certain days of the week. Stranger still, the metal door was always unlocked. One of the made guys had found out from some fucking crackhead about the room, and it had been a Mob spot for meetings ever since. The days the electricity worked were on Wednesdays, and sometimes Sundays. Wednesdays were more of a sure thing, though. Frank had made plans to meet Nick here with his newly recruited associate 'Jesus' from the Passion Play he had witnessed in Italy on his trip last weekend. The plans were to talk business, pass on this new recruit to Nick, and then after that they might go for a shvitz at their favorite little place around the corner, who the fuck can say? If this didn't make things right with Nicky and him, he didn't know what the fuck would. Frank walked down the alleyway, found the door, and tried it. It opened like a cracked safe, per usual, and Frank slid inside. It was pitch black, and Frank had to use his cellphone to navigate around, until he found the one light switch hanging like a tampon string from the ceiling. He pulled the string, and nothing happened. Frank waited for a couple minutes, using his cell to light the dirty little room. Frank felt a chill steal down his back. He heard the wheels of a car roll by somewhere. Finally, after about five minutes or so, the light came on with an electric buzz. It wasn't too bright, and it bathed the room in a sickly glow. Everything had a membrane of uneasiness to it. He saw a shovel and some boxes in the corner of the room. Even the walls looked filthy. Nick ducked in, followed by 'Jesus' who must have arrived at the same time.

"Oooh! Hey, it's the Man from La Mancha! Get over here!"

Frank motioned Nick over. Nick embraced Frank, and kissed him on both sides of his face. Frank signaled 'Jesus' to come over and join them.

"You gonna introduce me to this guy? Mr. Longhair, over here parked right next to me, and I was about to punch his cafone lights out when he went for the same door, but then I assumed you knew something about this, and I gave him a pass."

"Calm down, Nicky, he's a friend of mine. This guy is top rate, he's an actor and a made guy over in the wine country. That's why he looks the way he do. He plays Jesus in a play down in Italy. I just want you to take him for whatever job you need a stand-up guy for. I just suggest you call him 'Jesus' for now because his name is too fancy for the other earners to pronounce."

"Don't call me Nicky, Frank, I told you I don't like that shit. What are you, suddenly a consigliere, or what? We gonna do a sit down on this thing, or is this just some new shit from you I gotta take on without the nut? This is beginning to be a thing with you."

Jesus looked down at the ground. His long, brown hair covered his tan face, and he looked sort of like Cousin It from the Addams Family in a leather jacket and grey slacks by Calvin Klein. A car drove by in the opposite direction from the last one before. Frank, Nick, and 'Jesus' clammed up, and got real quiet(this wasn't a problem for Jesus who'd been mute the whole time) until they couldn't hear the motor no more. Frank took a big breath, and let it out slowly. Nick looked at Jesus, and sensed a twinkle in his eye that excited him. He secretly liked guys with long hair, and this guy was gorgeous. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after all, he thought. Suddenly the lightbulb hanging above their heads went out. Nice timing, thought Frank.

"Look whatever the fuck you wanna do, it's up to you. I just thought you could use the extra help. Jesus here was looking for some work, and he's really got no one but the family to turn to in the States."

"No, look, I'm sorry, Frank, I didn't mean to bust balls. We got a job with distribution in trash trucks that we could use some eyes on. I'm just gonna have to try Jesus out on some smaller jobs first, you understand. I don't need another empty suit hanging around."

"You see what I was saying, Jesus? This guy is gonna take care of you! "

Jesus looked up, and smirked a little. Frank slapped 'Jesus' on the back, and pushed him towards Nick. The two strangers shook hands, and flashed awkward smiles.

"Ok, well, I was thinking we could go get a shvizz at The Oakland, and get better acquainted. I haven't seen Angelika in years, and she gives the best massages. You game, Jesus?"

"Why don't you just let me treat our friend Jesus myself since I'm the one taking him on?"

"Yeah...sure. Oh, hey, how's it going with Anastasia at that Yoga place I turned over?"

"Haven't heard a peep, and that's the way I like it."

Nick yanked down on Frank's lapel of his jacket in an effort to end the meeting. Frank took the hint, and used his phone to find the knob that always turned. Light poured into the little rendezvous room, filling it with the wild winds of approaching night, as Frank, Nick, and Jesus filed out into the blood red sunset.

*

Anastasia was tending the roses in her rose garden in the back of her house. There was several patches of black, red, and white roses. Her favorite were the white ones. She was wearing those special steel knetted gloves so she could handle the roses and forgo the painful thorns. She was paying particularly close to this one white rose that she felt really protective of, for whatever reason. Ana could sense the other roses where going through something, but she didn't feel like paying attention. She had entirely too much mulch around this one white rose, but she wanted it to survive more then any of the rest. Holding her nose to it, she was addicted to it's scent, but suddenly she became aware of it's stamen. The more she looked at it, the more it seemed to be growing out at her. She drew her head away from the rose to test the way she was looking at it, and lo and behold, it did seem to be growing! The white stamen burst out of the white rose, and sprung like a leapfrog from it's lovely rose lips. In a huff Anastasia tore the flower from out of it's roots, and threw it down on the pathway of the garden at her feet in revulsion. She now noticed the other roses around her waving from side to side. A row of black ones, and a row of red ones on the opposite side were moving together to the right and to the left like those California Raisin toys that danced to music. A white snake wriggled out from the flower at her feet. It looked to be an albino. It shivered, and hissed at her, staring up at her with it's red eyes. After completely discarding it's husk of dead skin, it advanced on her as she screamed.

Anastasia jumped up from her pillow, and sat up in bed. She was drenched in sweat. She had had the rose garden dream again. Her bedroom landline phone was ringing, but she didn't feel like answering it. Anastasia could swear she heard a dog howling from somewhere. She thought again, and wondered if it was Al on the other line. Maybe he wanted to talk to her about the Zoo. Maybe he wanted to call it off. Either way she had to face Al at least. Al was good people.

"Hello, is this Anastasia? This is Frank's friend Pearl. You might have seen me sing at the Blue Moon? This call is about Nick. I heard you and him had a thing, and he got you your new Yoga job. Anyway, his wife Linda caught him at some shvitz in downtown Detroit. He was giving this guy named Jesus a party with his mouth if you know what I mean. Anyway, you probably knew he swung both ways, that's not what this calls about. Linda shot him. She shot Nick with that Jesus guys dick in his mouth. The Jesus man's sailor went down with the ship, if you know what I mean. There was blood everywhere, it was really a bad scene. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know, because Frank told me, and said maybe I should call you. They got his wife over in lockup."

"No fucking way. That explains all the weirdo fucked up dreams I've been having!"

"Maybe so. Anyway, I hope this news don't stress you out too much, honey, although I don't see how it could with such a relaxing job! Y'know I've been thinking of coming over there? I've heard that Hot Yoga is actually really super healthy for you. Is that true?"

"We don't specialize in Hot Yoga. We do mostly Sivananda Yoga, as all the teachers have been trained in this type of yoga, and none of us have decided whether to buy into the trend, and go for the Hot Yoga thing yet. But I do recommend our course! The Sivananda training system aims to retain the vitality of the body and decrease the chance of disease."

Anastasia felt like a fradulent machine rattling off the tired list of benefits of her Yoga practice, but it was a part of her makeup now. Why didn't she feel anything for Nicky? Perhaps it was a real love that she felt for Al. Either that or she just didn't hardly give a fig about Nick anymore. She cared about him kind of, but it was more like a weight in her gut. She did think about Al alot, but who was to say what love was anyway? Better to just follow your instinct, and see what happens. In the distance Ana heard the dog howling again, and wondered who the neglectful neighbor was. Whoever the culprit, the howl gave her an inward chill, and prompted her to hop out of bed, and get ready for her class. Al would be waiting on her to bring the Cd Player and the music, but this time she thought she'd class it up a bit, and maybe bring her Dad's record player that she'd inherited from him after the cancer. She might be able to surprise Al a bit with all the things she knew about music. She could be a bit of a enigma at times, but so could anybody.

The End