On the Beach excerpt #22
Pages 258-260 Catherine leaves for work, Pierce makes a surprise house call.
Catherine lightly twisted Lenny’s big toe until he opened his eyes. She was fully dressed with the long strap of her purse draped over her shoulder.
“Leaving?” Decker did not get up.
“Right, I’m in a hurry. I have to change and get ready to be at work in an hour.”
“I thought this was your day off.”
“Day off means previous day off. What a shift, I usually feel either a day late or a day early, and I always seem to be running late. Call me, okay? Ciao.”
She shut the door behind her, and by the time she started her car and drove away Decker was already back out; dead to the world.
A loud knock.
Decker opened his eyes. He suddenly felt threatened and alone, like a cornered dog, and he was certain that Efrem Zimbalist Jr. of the FBI was outside with a shitload of G-men all ready to arrest him and cart him away for some hideous crime.
“I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it,” he thought, even though, down deep, he felt as guilty as could be.
Another series of knocks.
“Who is it?
“Pierce.”
Decker was relieved. He got up, opened the door, and there on the front porch stood Jack Pierce, hugging the tiny waist of the cutest teenybopper Decker had seen all month.
“I saw your light on,” Pierce said. “You wouldn’t have one to burn would ya?”
“Sure, come on in.”
Decker walked across the room, turned off the TV and turned on the stereo. He heard Catherine’s voice.
“…that was the newest song from Green Day. Those kids are a little weird, sure, but they sure seem to be having a good time, and let’s face it that’s what it’s all about, RIGHT!...”
Decker sat on the couch and opened his stash box. Pierce and his young pretty friend sat across the room sharing a chair.
“So what’s happening, boss?” Pierce asked.
“Not much.” Decker was tearing apart a small bud. “No…no, I take that back. A lot is starting to happen I think. Things are beginning to stir, just starting to take shape…like I’m in the first phase of something…like I’m just beginning to plan to plan to make big plans.”
“Whoa, that’s not for me. The last big plans I made were years ago.” He looked at his date, her small ass squeezed between him and the bamboo armrest. “You comfortable babe?”
“Yeah.”
“Anyway, I remember I just got out of high school, and we had this bitchen trip all mapped out, we were gonna take our boards with us all over the world, the whole Endless Summer thing you know? It took us a year to save up and plan it all out. So anyway, here I was one minute looking forward to the best summer of my whole fucking life, then I get a letter from Uncle Sam, and the next minute I’m standing next to a bush in Vietnam.” Pierce shook his head. “No, I’ll tell you, bud, that planning for the future bullshit ain’t always everything it’s cracked up to be.”
Onward!
Amazon link to OTB: On the Beach