"I'll be right back." I ran outside to the parking lot and looked around for the motorcycle but it wasn't there. I ran to the corner and looked at the traffic, hoping to spot him.
"Goddammit!" I shouted loudly, startling an older couple who were walking past. "Sorry," I said to them.
"Need to learn some manners, young man," said the woman. Then she and her husband continued on their way, secure in the knowledge that they'd put that toilet-mouthed bum in his place.
I went back into the diner and took my seat. After a few moments I realized that I was sitting on something, and scooted over to reveal a couple of large, thick brown envelopes, held together by several rubber bands. I picked them up and saw the note Christopher had written on the top envelope: Don't go and do something noble. You earned this. I took my share, so don't worry about me. I left one of the computers plus some other stuff. Say hi to Tanya for me. You're one of the good guys, Mark. Thank you.
The envelopes contained money. A lot of money. A lot.
"You sneaky little shit," I whispered to myself. "What am I supposed to do now?"
I lifted up my head and looked around the diner: business people, blue-collar workers, teenagers, families with children who were scribbling with crayons on the placemats; signs advertising today's specials, signs about the circus coming to Riverfront Coliseum next week, fliers for garage sales, car sales, auctions for charity… and a couple of missing children posters.
I sighed, rubbed my eyes, and realized that I was crying again.
Missing children posters.
This is where you came in, son.
Don't I know it, Dad. Don't I know it.
"Mister? Is everything all right?"
I looked up to see our waitress standing by the table. This time she was looking directly at me, and seemed genuinely concerned.
"I'm very tired," I said to her. "I just need to eat and get home."
"You live here?"
I shook my head. "No. In Cedar Hill." I blew my nose on a napkin—it still hurt like hell—then wiped my eyes. "My friend won't be coming back."
"You want me to put his food in a doggy bag for you?"
"Sure. Thanks." I smiled at her. "How far is the bus station from here?"
After eating, I took a cab to the bus station where I bought a ticket to Columbus. I had about an hour to wait before the bus started boarding, so I walked around the terminal until I found an empty seat away from people. I opened the shoulder bag Christopher had left behind. The laptop was in there, as well as several CD-ROMs, more bottles of codeine pills than I could count—Christ, if security here decided I was suspicious-looking and searched my bag, I was in deep shit—and all of the credit cards and various garbage that had been inside my wallet.
He'd also left me the CD of The Marshall Tucker Band's Greatest Hits. (I listen to it every day. Tanya is now officially sick of it.)
I held the CD jewel case against me like it was a child, then realized how silly—if not outright crazy—I must look, put it back, closed and zipped the bag (I'd put the money in there before entering the terminal), and decided that I wanted something to drink.
I wandered over to one of the soda machines and bought my regular Pepsi. I popped it open just as my bus was being called. I nearly tripped over a little girl who was sitting on the floor beside a tired-looking young woman of about twenty-two was fast asleep.
"Mister," said the little girl. "My mommy and me don't have enough money to get home. Can you give me some money, please?"
I didn't even think about it. I reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of fifties and gave them to the little girl. "Don't let anyone see this, okay?"
"Okay. Wow. Is this a lot of money?"
"I'm guessing it's more than enough to get you home."
She rolled up the money and stuffed it into a pocket of her faded and too-small dress, then stood up and gave me a hug. "Thank you, mister. My mommy won't be so tired and worried now. We ain't had anything to eat since last night. We been here for three days."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. Thank you for the money."
"You're welcome."
Amazingly, the bus got into Columbus in time for me to catch the #48 Express that runs back and forth from Cedar Hill twice a day. The ride took about sixty minutes (I drive the route twice a day in under thirty-five both ways), and the passengers were dumped at the park-and-ride locations at 6:45 and 6:57, respectively. I got off at the second stop, which put me right in the middle of downtown, about a fifteen-minute walk from my house.
I don't remember the walk home. I was on autopilot all the way, except for one moment when an expensive motorcycle with a windshield and side compartments and a rack across the back seat passed me; for a moment I thought it was Christopher, but unless he'd gotten rid of his helmet, changed his hair color to red, grown it to his waist, and become a woman in the last five hours, smart money said I was wrong.
I rounded the corner of my street and quickened my pace. The world around me was a dark and threatening thing, and the sooner I was away from it, the better.
The front porch light was on and Tanya was standing outside, talking with Perry. From the looks of things—especially Perry's wildly-animated gestures—my wife and her brother weren't exactly reminiscing about the good times when they were kids.
As I walked up the steps toward the porch they stopped their arguing and stared at me, open-mouthed.
"What the hell happened to you?" said Tanya.
"Unfortunate pay-toilet incident. Let us never speak of it again."
Perry strode off the porch and right up into my face. "Goddammit, Mark, do you have any idea how much you're costing me? Do you know what that crook Cletus is charging me for—"
I drew back and hit him square in the mouth, knocking him to the ground. "Not really in the mood for a chat right now, Perry." He tried to get up but I placed my foot against his chest. "And just so we can clear the air, I never much liked you, either. Also—removing the engine warning light from a car is a criminal act, so before you start threatening to call the cops and have me arrested for assault, just keep in mind that if you do, we'll be sharing the same cell down at the city jail and I make a lousy roommate."
I pulled my foot away and walked up onto the porch, threw my arms around my wife, and wept.
Tanya did not ask any questions. She told Perry to go away, took me inside, helped me undress, then put me in a hot bath where she washed the road and blood from my body. She cleaned and dressed my wounds, reapplied the nose-splint and medical tape, then gave me some aspirin and put me to bed, sitting there until I fell asleep, her loved one's watch keeping all through the night. I woke up the next morning and put on my jackass suit that I wore like it was tailor-made for the next ten days, right up until she had to drive over to Columbus and bail my sorry ass out of jail for assaulting some college prick who insisted on telling me a dirty joke to entertain his harem. She chewed me a new one as we drove toward home, then I reached over and placed my hand on her leg, then gave it a little squeeze. "I'm sorry, hon."
"Uh-huh...?"
"I love you."
"You'd better." Her voice still sounded hurt but she managed a little grin.
We stopped for a red light. Still too ashamed of myself to meet her gaze, I glanced out at a telephone pole that was covered in fliers advertising everything from dating services to Goth bands to tattoo parlors and pizza delivery specials; most of these were ragged and torn and discolored, but one flier, deliberately placed on top of all the others so it faced the street, was new, and had been stapled in about a dozen places to make sure that the wind wouldn't tear any of it away. I thought about Denise Harker, and Arnold, and Thomas, and Rebecca, and my lost friend Christopher.