BOOM (3 page)

Allison smiled. “That was sweet of you to say. Whoa, Jeffrey
Walls has got a sweet side.”

Jeffrey smiled down at the table. “Don’t get an occasion to
show it much.”

Allison reached over and touched his hand lightly.

“You should. It’s nice to see a man who knows how to treat a
woman.” Jeffrey kept looking down at the table, hiding his blushing cheeks.

“What kind of art do you do?” He looked at her now, wanting
her to really see him.

“I paint. I like drawing too but painting is my passion. I
can really release a lot of things through my painting.”

“That’s good,” he said. “It’s good to have something that is
just yours and yours alone. To be able to….express yourself.”

Allison licked her lips and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“Yeah well, I need something. Working at Hi Tech isn’t the most emotionally
rewarding thing ever. Especially with Darryl and Donovan running the show.” 
They both laughed. It was easy to laugh together. Comfortable.

“Griffin hates art. He thinks it’s a weird hobby. He prefers
video games and football.” Jeffrey shook his head.

“He doesn’t strike me as the emotional type.”

 Allison smiled.

 Allison’s phone started to chirp from her purse.

“Hello….Yeah, I’m having lunch…..with Jeffrey.” She paused
while listening to the response. “Stop it, Griffin. That’s mean.” Jeffrey
pretended to study his food.

“Yeah, we’re at Chow’s. Okay, that’s fine. I love you, too.”
He winced at the last line.

Allison flicked off the phone. “That was Griffin. He’s going
to swing by and pick me up.”

“Hmm.”

“This was really nice. We should do it again.” Allison
smiled again.
So beautiful.
“Oh, I have to leave some money for the
food.”

“No, no.” Jeffrey waved her off. “I insist. It’s my treat.”

Allison reluctantly put away her wallet. “Okay, but next
time it’s on me.” There was a loud growl from outside as Griffin pulled up in
his new Charger. He had bought the car a few weeks back with his largest
commission check yet. It was bright yellow with black racing stripes. Jeffrey
had to admit it put his Altima to shame.

Allison got up from the table and headed out the door. “See
you back there.”

He watched as she ran to the car and jumped in the passenger
side. Griffin kissed her hard, giving her a little bit of extra tongue just for
Jeffrey’s benefit. Then he turned and pointed his fingers into a gun and shot
it through the window at his nemesis. They both waved and Griffin drove off in
a wail of rubber.

Jeffrey pulled his wallet out and threw down some bills. He
got up from the table and headed back to work.

He never touched any of his food.

(tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick
tick tick)

That night Jeffrey sat in front of his television. He
flipped through the channels, stopping briefly at every one, not really seeing
what was on the screen. He looked up at the clock hanging in the small kitchen.
It was a little after 2 am.

Jeffrey got up and pulled the weights and medicine ball from
the closet. He began to do bicep curls in the middle of the room. Dressed in
only his underwear, sweat began to drip down his lower back. He dropped the
weights and started mountain climbers. His breath came in strong huffs as he
pushed his body to the limit.

Back off the floor, now it was jumping jacks. His head was
pounding but in a good way. He could feel the blood pulse in his temples,
almost in time with the sounds.

(tick tick tick tick tick)

He plopped back down to the floor and began pushups. On and
on and on past 30, now 50, finally out of breath when he reached a hundred. He
grabbed the towel from the floor and wiped the sweat from his face and chest.

Back to bicep curls. He began noticing changes in his
physique about two weeks ago. His arms were becoming muscular and more defined.
His chest was also bigger and he began to see the beginnings of a six pack
around his stomach. It made him feel good, these physical changes. He was a
skinny, gangly kid in high school which carried over to college. Besides
gaining the “freshman fifteen” his first year, he was still the same kid from
earlier. His skinny build stood awkward when he was next to girls and
especially next to other guys. The guys were all bigger than him, all athletes,
the type the girls found attractive.

Like Griffin.

Jeffery began to shadowbox, something he only started doing
this week. He punched his way around the living room, throwing jabs and
overhands at imaginary opponents. And the opponents were always the same.

Ulee’s face floated up in front of Jeffrey. He dispatched it
with two left jabs and an uppercut. Peirce followed and was taken care of the
same way. Donovan came into view and Jeffrey unleashed two strong left strikes
and an uppercut to his boss’ chin. The big man slammed backwards and was
replaced with Darryl.

Jeffrey quick jabbed Darryl twice above the eye bringing
blood into the older man’s vision. He stepped back and ducked in with two hard
body blows and another round of jabs to the head. He was toying with Darryl,
leading the man back and forth, directing him with his punches. And with each
jab, with each crossover thrown:

“Tick.”

An audible sound escaping from Jeffrey’s lips. He was as
unaware of the vocalization as before.

“Tick.”

Jab.

“Tick.”

Jab. Jab.

“Tick, tick.”

Huge uppercut and Darryl was knocked out. Jeffrey flicked
sweat from his face and went in for the last round.

Griffin danced his way in front of Jeffrey. This round was
different. Griffin was harder than the others. He knew how to fight back and deflect
Jeffrey’s shots. Jeffrey pushed in.

Straight jabs to the face landed, but Griffin shrugged them
off. Jeffrey ducked and weaved as Griffin answered with jabs of his own. Back
and forth, they exchanged punches looking for an opening in the other’s defenses.

“Tick, tick.”

Jab.

Jeffrey cut to the right and landed a body shot to Griffin’s
kidneys. Griffin’s guard came down for a split second and Jeffrey landed three
rights to the body and followed with a left crossover to the face. Griffin
staggered back and Jeffrey closed with a flurry of punches. One two, one two,
the furious onslaught staggered the bigger man.

Jeffrey bent at his knees and brought up a stupendous right
uppercut that floored Griffin.

“BOOM!”

Jeffrey’s voice thundered throughout the small apartment. A
neighbor began pounding on the ceiling from downstairs, yelling for the noise
to stop. Jeffrey swayed in the middle of the room. His mind was fogging up and
his eyes were stinging with sweat.

Slowly, his head cleared. Jeffrey brought his hands up and
wiped his eyes clean. He was drenched with sweat, but his body felt cool in the
late air.

“Boom,” he whispered to no one.

The apartment was still and quiet in the early morning.
After a few minutes, new understanding dawned in his thoughts.
The apartment
was quiet. Why was it so quiet?

The ticking had stopped.

Boom.

VI.

Sleep still did not come even after the noise had left.
Jeffrey used the rest of the morning to shower and sit comfortably on the
couch. He did not feel fatigue, only a numbness that pervaded his body from
head to toe. The images on the television floated by his eyes, helping time
pass as if in a slow moving dream.
Girls Gone Wild
ads, penis
enlargement infomercials, and old episodes of
Andy Griffith
flickered on
the screen.

The sun peeked over the horizon and the apartment was bathed
in natural light. Jeffrey got ready for work. He looked in the bathroom mirror,
shaving cream slathered across his face. The ticking was gone, but behind his
eyes he could see a pulsation, a nervous energy forming. He could feel it
moving around in his skull.  His eyes were still hollow looking, but this
morning they seemed very alive.
Predatory.

He did not know where that thought came from and shook it
away.

He dressed in his shirt and tie, and combed his hair in the
mirror.

His stomach rumbled. He realized he was hungry. But not just
simple hunger. He was ravenous.  

Jeffrey walked to the fridge. It was pretty empty. The milk
had gone bad a few weeks ago. And the only other thing on the shelves was a
container of leftovers which he really did not want to open.

He glanced at the clock.
Plenty of time before work. I’ll
stop somewhere and load up with a big breakfast.

He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.

To his disappointment, Ulee and Pierce were not out this
morning. It was a little odd since they rarely missed an opportunity to mess
with Jeffrey. He looked around the apartment complex and saw no sign of them.
Shrugging he walked to the car and punched the unlock button on the key chain.
The locks clicked and Jeffrey grabbed the handle.

His hand clamped down on something squishy and wet. There
was cloth material stuck to the underside of the handle and when Jeffrey pulled
his hand away from the door, he noticed blood covering his fingers. The object
fell from the door to the parking lot, hitting the asphalt with a tiny splat.

It was a tampon.

A used tampon.

Jeffrey looked at his fingers. He slowly turned around,
staring down the surrounding apartment buildings. Nothing moved but a few birds
chirping in the trees. But he could feel them. They were watching him right
now.
Probably yucking it up real hard. Ulee and Pierce. My two best friends.

Jeffrey took out the small white handkerchief he kept in his
pocket. He wiped his hand off, staining the bright white material with crimson
streaks. He threw the hanky to the ground and when it landed he said:

“Boom.”

He got in the car and drove from the lot. He stopped at the
same gas station from the day before and used the bathroom to wash his hands.
His appetite had left him with the nastiness of the trick.

Jeffrey stared into the dirty mirror. The eyes were still
very alive. And now his head was burning, his skin felt like it was on fire. He
leaned against the cracked sink and breathed deeply. Soon the sensation passed.
He slammed the bathroom door closed behind him and got back into his car.

It was cleaning day at work. Every Thursday, the storeroom
was cleaned from top to bottom. All the electronics and appliances were wiped
down and the floors vacuumed. It was a one man job and that one man was
Jeffrey.

“Sorry chum,” Darryl said the first time he told Jeffrey he had
to clean. “You
are
the low man on the ladder.”

Jeffrey did not mind the cleaning. It kept him from having
to talk to anyone else (Griffin) and gave him an excuse to stray near the
receptionist area where Allison was. It was hard to make any sales though. Most
customers thought he was the janitor and never asked him for any kind of
assistance. Darryl was always watching the salespeople like a hawk and was
always getting on Jeffrey to increase his sales on Thursday. He would also turn
around and tell Jeffrey that he had missed several spots of dust on top of the
televisions and that he needed to also wipe down each individual knob on the
stereo systems.

“Cleanliness is next to Godliness, Walls.” Darryl would walk
around pointing out the various places that Jeffrey had missed with the duster.
They always seemed to be places no customer in their right mind would seek out.

He was dusting the washer and dryer displays, stealing
glances at Allison as she answered the phone and filled paperwork. Every now
and then she would look over at him and smile. He nodded and kept cleaning. He
felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Griffin.

“Yo Walls, how’s it hanging?” Griffin was all smiles this
morning. He had secured Salesperson of the Month for the seventh time in a row.
Jeffrey looked over the taller man. Griffin had his dark hair slicked back with
mousse and his goatee sheened with wax.

Griffin smiled a million dollar smile. “You have fun taking
my girl to lunch?”

Jeffrey continued dusting the top of the dryer he was
working on. “It wasn’t anything serious.”

“Oh, I know. I mean, nothing against you pal, but she’s way
out of your league. Just look at those tits. They’re beautiful.” Griffin winked
at Jeffrey. “Believe me I know.”

Jeffrey stopped dusting and watched as Griffin walked over
to Allison. She was on the phone and Griffin lightly slapped her on the rear.
She turned and playfully slapped his hand away. She looked over at Jeffrey,
slightly embarrassed. Jeffrey wanted to throw up.

A second tap landed on his shoulder. He turned around and
faced Darryl.

“Why don’t you come back to the office, Walls? Donovan wants
to talk to you.” Jeffrey threw the dust rag into the wastebasket and started
walking back to Donovan’s office. He turned just in time to see Darryl wiping a
finger over where Jeffrey had just dusted, look at it, and shake his head in
disappointment before following his salesman to the back.

Donovan was signing paychecks when Jeffrey entered. Darryl
closed the door and took his seat behind Jeffrey. Jeffrey sat down and looked
at Donovan.

“How is everything this morning, Walls?” Donovan looked up
from the checks. Even though it was cool in the office, there was sweat already
collecting on his brow.

“Fine. I’m having a good day so far.”

“I’m glad you are because I’m not.” Donovan eased back into
his chair. His bulk rode hard on the worn leather and he placed his hands
behind his head.  “I’m here signing checks this morning. And I’m sure you know,
giving away your money can put someone in a really sour mood.”