Bloodbrothers (23 page)

***

That night Stony picked up Annette for dinner. He was moody and silent. Chubby's little talk yesterday was like a pebble in his shoe.

Stony humped away, but his heart wasn't into it. Finally, he began to lose his hard-on. Annette stared up at him, nervous beneath his automatic-pilot thrusting. Stony pulled out, rolled on his back shielding his eyes with his arm. Annette lay next to him wondering what the hell happened, where he went to.

"You didn't come?" She leaned on her side, facing him.

"Yeah, I came."

"Don't bullshit me, you did not." Annette had a broad, freckled face. Her eyes were the slightest bit crossed, that and the fact that she had the disarming habit of licking her lips whenever she talked to a guy she liked gave the impression that she was always dizzy with lust.

"How do
you
know?" Stony raised his arm from his face.

"When somebody comes in you, you know it."

"You know, Annette, when you talk like that, you got no class." Stony absently played with her long red hair, then dropped his hand to his side.

"Oh! Excuse me, Mister Firstnighter! I din't notice any cuffs on
your
underwear."

"Now you talkin'stupid. I just meant, ah, forget it." Stony sat up and reached for his cigarette pack wedged between the bed and the wall. Annette sat up and took one from the pack. "Hey, Annette, how many guys you ever slept with?" She leaned away from the offered light. Stony mistook the blush of anger in her face for guilt.

"I don't know," she answered coldly.

"More than ten?"

"You mean this week? Or just the weekend?"

"See that shit? There you go again!" Stony stared at the smooth stumps of two fingers on her left hand.

"I don't like questions like that, Stony." She started dressing.

"What the hell you gettin' so defensive about! I just ast you a simple question. Whadya got, a guilt complex or somethin'?"

"A guilt..." Annette froze, half-dressed. She was beside herself with rage. Bewildered and furious at the sudden change in Stony, she looked at herself, then at him. "What the hell am
I
gettin' dressed for! I
live
here!
You
get dressed!" She pointed a finger at Stony. "An' get the hell outta here, you goddamn nowhere asshole!" Stony casually ditched his cigarette, slipped into his jeans and shirt. "I ain't nowhere." Stony tucked in his shirt. "I'm just somewhere you ain't." Inside, his guts were falling apart. He felt like a little kid slugging his best friend in the back of the head just to see what would happen. As he sauntered to the door, he threw one out: "Give my regards to the janitor."

"The
who?
" Annette stood in her panties and unhooked bra staring incredulously at Stony.

Stony tried to look flip and cool but felt the bile shooting up. He left quickly, quietly closing the door behind him.

Dazed and in pain, Annette looked around her for a clue to what had just happened.

T
UESDAY AFTERNOON
Stony heard his name paged over the hospital PA system. He felt like Ben Casey as he trotted down the hall in his hospital whites to the phone at the nurses' station.

"Stony."

"Butler! What's happenin'? They catch those guys yet?"

"It's mine."

"What's yours?"

"The store. Frank wants out. He says he'll sign it over to me for free. He's movin' down to Florida."

"Whoa! Hold on."

"It's mine. Butler's Hosiery Palace."

"Wait up. What the fuck do you know about that shit? You don't know how to run a business."

"I'll learn, man, my own goddamn place."

"Hey, last week you were talkin' summer job, now you're talkin' life career."

"I can really make it though."

"Hey, c'mon, Bobby, be right! You wanna spend the next thirty years there in that little hole?"

"I'll expand."

"Expand what? Your uncle's dyin' in there; whatta you gonna do, sell panties until you're sixty? An' how many times you think what happened yesterday is gonna happen again? Some lady comes in to buy stockin's in the
A.M
., her kid holds you up in the
P.M
., right?"

"I'll take care a that."

"What with? You gonna sell girdles with a Saturday Night Special under the counter? What's witcha head, Butler?"

"I already ordered the sign."

"What sign?"

"Butler's Hosiery Palace."

"Fantastic. You awready ordered the fuckin' sign so that's it for the next thirty years, you ordered the sign."

"Stony ... I'm fuckin' scared."

"Don't do it, Bobby."

"I want it."

"How much juice you think you're gonna get outta your life runnin' a fuckin' hosiery store?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I want that fuckin' store."

Stony massaged his temples. "Lissen, Butler, my fuckin' head is splittin'. I feel like really bent outta shape about somethin'. I really don't know what to tell you now, you know? Maybe I'm not the greatest person to check this out with."

"I ain't checkin' it out, Stony, I'm tellin' you what's goin' down. You wanna come down to the store tomorrow, help me out?"

"I don't know, Butler. I really can't think straight."

"Hey, Stones, lemme explain somethin'. I really dig where you're comin' from, you know? I'm hip to what's been goin' down in your head with yer old man an' shit. See, like maybe you're too on top of everything right now to not take the store personal, you know? Like, the trick with a lifetime gig isn't to run away from home. The trick's finding somethin' you want so fuckin' bad you can taste it, family business or whatever. You with me? Now your idea of a heavy-duty trip might be somethin' entirely different from what I'm into. I mean, you might think it's just a little pissant store, but I see it as a stake, baby. It's
mine.
I don't take orders, I don't pick up a paycheck. I don't kiss ass. If a nice piece a tail comes in an' I wanna slip her a free pair a pantyhose I don't gotta worry about the boss findin' out.
I'm
the fuckin' boss. I sink or swim on my own power, man. And that's as legitimate and honorable a trip as gettin' off on kids, O.K.? I told you I'm shittin' bricks now, I mean, I really got the shakes, but it ain't because I'm goin' in there with my head up my ass. I'm scared because I'm so goddamn close to I-T,
it,
my dream. Now how many guys our age can say that? And another thing, I really fuckin' respect what you want, you know? And I would really, really dig gettin' some of that respect bounced back my way, O.K.?"

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T—found out what it means to me."

"Hey, I'm not fuckin' witchoo, Stony."

"Butler, what you want from me? You know how I feel about the fuckin' store. I'm not gonna jerk you off. It seems your idea of movin' in life is goin' from the bedroom to the bathroom."

"Don't be such a fuckin' big shot, De Coco. You still playin' summer job musical chairs?"

"Uh-uh, baby, this one's for keeps."

"Yeah, right, an' next week you gonna be runnin' with your daddy."

"Hey, Butler, what the fuck you call me for?"

"Right now I couldn't tell you, but whatever it was you ain't got it." Butler slammed down the phone.

"Cunt!" Stony stormed down to the day room.

"Hey, De Coco!" Tyrone threw a checker at Stony as he walked into the room. It bounced off his arm.

"Hey, grow up! Hah?" Stony snapped. Tyrone's face dropped.

"You fuckin' kids." Stony stomped around the room collecting garbage. "Look a' this goddamn place!" The six kids in the room shrank from his presence. "Whatta my supposed to be in here, the goddamn maid?"

"You sound like my mama," Derek said sullenly.

"Baby, this afternoon, I'm everybody's mama!"

***

When Stony got home he slammed the bedroom door and sulked until the next morning when he had to go back to work. That was it for Butler. At the hospital he tried to get his act together, but he was going through hell doing it.

"You ever see a tiger?" Derek snarled, curling his fingers into claws at Stony.

"At the zoo." Stony was busy picking up assorted debris from the day room floor. That morning Mrs. Pitt had told him there was a chance he could be in charge of the day room in a few weeks' time. Stony disappointed her by not jumping at it. He didn't, because he was still in a shit-ass mood about Butler and because he hadn't yet told her he had to split for two weeks come next week. But there was also another reason, something else going down that Stony didn't understand. A nagging fear like he had signed a contract without reading all the small print. Not that he thought that anybody was out to fuck him over. Something about consequences. Something about his last phone conversation with Doctor Harris and leaving home.

"You ever see a lion?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, at the zoo." Stony was distracted.

"Where you at today, De Coco?" Tyrone peered at him.

"Huh?" Stony stood up, his arms filled with junk.

"You sure ain't here."

Stony did a double take, then smiled.

"I'll tell you, you talk about bad animals." Stony dumped the stuff in a white plastic garbage bag. "You know what the meanest animal in the world is?"

"A lion?"

"A snake?"

"Nope, it's a two-headed Italian kabooni."

"He's lyin' again." Derek raised his eyes to the ceiling.

"No, really, man. The kabooni got two heads, one on each end."

"Then how do he shit?" Tyrone challenged.

"He can't, man, that's why he's the meanest animal in the world."

Neither of them laughed. Tyrone whispered to Derek, hand over his mouth, his eyes darting at Stony. "Oooh," Derek howled, slapping his knee. "You know what he said, De Coco?"

"Don't tell him, man!" Tyrone giggled.

"He say your
mama
a two-headed Italian kabooni."

Stony shrugged. "I didn't even know you'd met her."

They broke up, rocking back and forth in their wheelchairs like hinged rocking toys.

"I'll tell you really though." Stony sat down. "You know who's
really
a two-headed kabooni in my family? My brother!"

That broke them up even more.

"You think I'm kiddin'? I'll bring him in."

"When?"

Stony thought for a second. Albert was the same age as these kids. "Now! You just stay there." He sprinted down the hall to the pay phone. It felt crazy, but the idea of bringing Albert to the hospital had been nibbling at his mind for a week now. One of the many thoughts he'd been having in the last week without understanding what put them in his head.

"Ma? Is Albert there? Lissen, do me a favor ... put him in a cab and send him down here ... yeah ... yeah ... so take a minute out...
I'll
pay for the cab, O.K?...just put him in a cab. No, no. Just do it, O.K.? Thanks." Stony ran back to the day room. "One two-headed Italian kabooni comin' up!"

Stony met the cab at the hospital entrance. He threw the driver two bills and hustled Albert into the hospital. "C'mon, kiddo, I wancha to meet some guys."

"Doctor Harris?" Albert was bewildered at being back in a hospital, but he dug taking the cab ride by himself. He walked down the corridors like his head was on a revolving turret. He held onto Stony's hand and wasn't afraid. Stony was frightened enough for both of them. Albert had a way of saying things to people.

Derek and Tyrone looked up when Stony entered the day room with his brother in tow. The three eight-year-olds stared at each other in silence, their mood a mixture of embarrassment and curiosity. Stony wanted to say something witty about kaboonies but it didn't seem appropriate. Disengaging himself from Stony Albert sat down on a folding chair facing Derek and Tyrone.

"You De Coco's brother?" Tyrone asked.

"How come you so skinny?" Derek asked.

Albert smiled at Stony. He looked back at Derek and shrugged, his feet dangling below the seat. His eyes wandered to the stacks of games strewn over the floors and tables.

"What's your name?"

"Albert."

"Are you an Indian?"

Albert looked at Stony.

"Yeah, he's an Indian! He's my brother, right?"

"How come he don't talk?"

"Albert, talk."

"I dunno what to say." He hunched his shoulders and curled back into his chair.

"He dunno what to say."

"Do you play all these games?" Albert asked them.

"Nah, they broke," said Tyrone. "What grade you in?"

"Third."

"I'm in fourth," Derek said.

Albert walked over to a stack of games on a Formica table. "I got this one at home," he said, pulling out a Chinese checkers box. "Do you know how to play?"

Stony watched in amazement as Albert laid out the board on the floor", set up the marbles and started explaining the game to Derek and Tyrone. The three boys played for over an hour. Stony straddled a folding chair, his chin on the backrest, and watched Albert through that hour. His brain was on fire. This was the first time he ever saw Albert play with kids away from the house. He was loose. Relaxed. Yelled a lot. Laughed a lot. Derek and Tyrone dug him. He had balls. Real stones. Out of the house he came alive. He could take care of himself. Himself. Maybe Albert didn't need him around all the time after all. Stony felt confused. The expression "ace in the hole" popped into his head.

"Hello!" Stony snapped out of his thoughts as Mrs. Le Pietro approached Albert.

"Hello." Albert smiled up at her.

"Who're you?" She checked a list of names on her clipboard.

"Albert!"

"Albert, huh?" She rechecked her names.

"Uh, he's my brother." Stony walked over.

"Oh! He's not a patient? I'm sorry, he'll have to leave immediately. Hospital rules. No children under fourteen as visitors."

"Oh, man!"

"Aw!" Derek and Tyrone protested.

"Sorry, boys, when you get well you can play all you want." She shook her head.

"Ten more minutes?" Albert whined.

"Sorry."

Albert struggled to his feet, brushed the knees of his dungarees. "You wanna come to my house?" he offered.