Let The Good Times Roll.
As Gordie was running down the main street to the garage, Chris was sat on Jillian Mackenzie's front step drinking a coke. Jillian was inside talking to her mom and he didn't like to intrude. He had woken that morning early, determined to get out of Jillian's hair but she had assured him repeatedly that it wasn't necessary. She had seemed a little shocked at his appearance and Chris wasn't surprised, he knew he looked like hell. Almost the whole left side of his face was covered in an angry purple bruise; around his eye was a blood red ring. His face was swollen and sore and his left eye only opened a little. His rib cage was covered in a blue-purple bruise and there were several little cuts on his cheeks, neck and arms.
Sat in the shade Chris felt inconspicuous and that was somewhat comforting; he wanted to disappear into the ground. This wasn't the worst beating Chris had ever taken from his father. Back in sixth grade after the whole milk money disaster his dad had broken his wrist. He wasn't worried about his appearance, cuts heal, and scars fade. It was the mental wounds that you had to worry about. Chris was broken, dying inside. Around his heart seemed to be a hard case that thickened each day, eventually nobody would get through to him. That was the way to survive; no one could touch him. Thinking this Chris smiled to himself, and though it was a broken, awful smile he felt a flicker of happiness. Survival was all that mattered.
Gordie arrived at the garage out of breath and saw that though Eyeball was indeed there, so was Ace and Billy Tessio. Wonderful, an audience was exactly what he needed.
"If it isn't Lachance" Ace called out in a sickly sweet tone. "What you after you little sonofawhore?"
"Where's Chris?" Gordie asked and he felt a little shake in his voice. Goddammit.
"How the fuck should we know?" Billy Tessio snapped. "You're his fuckin girlfriend, not us."
Eyeball and Ace laughed appreciatively. Gordie tried not to react but it was so hard. He felt anxious and in ordinary circumstances you never let a guy get away with a comment like that. It was pussy to allow a guy to say shit like that without even calling them on it.
"Where's Chris? Come on Eyeball, if you know just fucking tell me!" Gordie was desperate.
Eyeball had been idly messing under the hood of the car parked out front but now he jerked his head up and looked at Gordie more carefully. Eyeball and Chris weren't close at all, and ordinarily Eyeball would have been laughing at this little show, but the fact was he knew Chris had been in some serious shit last night with Mr Chambers and the memory of his own run-ins with his dad were still pretty fresh.
"Maybe I know," he said carefully.
Billy glanced over at him in surprise. Then, "yeah maybe we know, but why should we tell you?"
Gordie glanced carefully between the two older boys. Billy was bluffing no doubt about it; he knew shit. Eyeball on the other hand did know something.
Ace leaned against the car. "I saw that fucking sumbitch last night," he said. "Maybe I'll tell you where he went."
"Fuckin' tell me man," Gordie cried. "Shit it's important!"
Eyeball came to stand next to Ace.
Gordie swallowed hard he felt out of his depth. Generally his path rarely crossed the Cobras anymore and if it did Chris was usually with him. Without Chris, Gordie felt about twelve years old again, except this time he didn't have a gun.
"What you gonna do for us if we tell you?" Eyeball asked.
"What do you want?" Gordie asked warily. With these guys it could be anything.
"What do you got Lachance?" Billy asked.
"I'll fuckin' pay you!" Gordie cried desperately. "Just tell me where Chris is!"
"How much?"
"Five dollars" Gordie said then seeing their sceptical looks, "ten dollars." The fact that he didn't have ten dollars seemed of little importance.
"Okay," Ace said. "When you going to give us the money?"
"Tomorrow," Gordie promised.
"He was at the Mackenzie house. Take Sunset right down to the church and then that little street just off it. Fuckin' Rivers edge or some shit, she lives at number ten," Eyeball said, then spat on the ground at Gordie's feet.
"Thanks," Gordie managed. "I'll bring you the money tomorrow."
"Go find your girlfriend kid," Billy said.
"Fuck you" Gordie said evenly, once he could overlook but fucking twice? No way could he ignore that.
To his surprise Ace and Eyeball didn't move to attack him or anything and even Billy looked kind of bored by the whole thing. Guess some things do change.
