Texasville (25 page)

“The doctor did a lot of tests,” Sonny said. “We won’t know until the results are in. There’s a lot of things I could have.”

“There’s a lot of things Duane’s already got,” Karla said.

CHAPTER 34

THE NEXT MORNING DUANE WOKE UP FEELING UN
expectedly optimistic. Normally, of late, depression had been just a part of his daily routine, like shaving. But this morning it didn’t come.

He took the
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out to the hot tub, but he didn’t shoot at the doghouse. He didn’t even get in the hot tub. He sat in a deck chair and watched the sunrise. The flats below his house became briefly beautiful as the sunlight filtered like a golden fog through the brown weeds and low mesquites.

He felt so good that he decided he must have been somewhat insane for the past several months. Only an insane man would take good ammunition and shoot it at a doghouse, even if the doghouse did look like a frontier fort.

Shorty lay on the eastern edge of the deck. The sunlight made him look like a spot of golden light with a dog’s tongue hanging out of it.

Duane had half an hour of peace, by which time the flats below the hill looked as ugly as they usually looked. Minerva walked out and handed him a cup of coffee. She had a disapproving look on her face.

“What’s the matter with you?” Duane asked.

“I don’t approve of that Junior Nolan living here,” Minerva said.

“It’s one more mouth to cook for.”

“Nellie’s getting married in three weeks,” Duane reminded her. “That’ll even things up.”

“If she gets married,” Minerva said.

“We rented the church and hired the preacher,” Duane reminded her.

“I think that Junior Nolan’s got designs,” Minerva said.

“Karla thinks he’s mainly just depressed,” Duane said.

“It ain’t Karla he’s got designs on,” Minerva informed him. “It’s Nellie. She’s a sweet-tempered girl and I love her. I’ve met worse mothers, too. She’s just got one problem.”

“Which is?”

“Laziness,” Minerva said. “She’d rather lie down than stand up. She spends half the day flat on her back, and that does draw the men.”

On that cheery note she went back in the house, to be replaced after only a minute or two by Karla, who picked up the phone that lay on the deck and carried it over to Duane.

“It’s your next girlfriend,” she said, handing him the phone.

“Who’s my next girlfriend?” he asked.

“Just lift the receiver,” Karla said.

He lifted it and listened to Jenny Marlow babble for ten minutes. Occasionally he held the phone out into space so Karla could listen too. Jenny was in a panic about the pageant. Rehearsals started in less than a week. She needed to see him badly. There were a million things to discuss. They were still hoping that Jacy would play Eve, but no one had asked her. Did he think Karla would ask her? Or Sonny? Or himself?

“Are you going anywhere today?” Jenny asked. “I thought I might ride along with you if you were going anywhere. I’ve done the pregnancy test of myself and it was positive.”

“Little Mike’s got a real high fever,” Duane said. “We’re waiting for a call from his doctor now. I’ll try to catch up on the pageant planning tomorrow.”

Abashed at the thought of a sick child, Jenny hung up.

“You’re a smooth liar, Duane,” Karla said.

“I try to be good at whatever I do,” Duane said, grinning.
“Besides, his fever might be up, for all you know.” Little Mike was prone to stratospheric fevers.

“It always cheers you up to know I hate your guts, doesn’t it?” Karla said. She herself looked quite cheerful.

“Do you want to ask Jacy if she’ll play Eve in the pageant?” he asked.

“No,” Karla said.

Shorty came over, wanting love, and tried to poke his nose between her thighs.

“Minerva says Junior is after Nellie and not you,” Duane said.

“That’s true,” Karla said. “It’s a wonder I haven’t blown my brains out. I’ve got a husband who’s a smooth liar, a house guest who wants to fuck my daughter, and a dog so dumb it don’t even know it’s not supposed to stick its nose up ladies’ snatches.”

She poured a little coffee on Shorty to distract him. It dripped onto the deck and Shorty happily licked it up.

“Where
are
you going today?” Karla asked.

“Odessa,” Duane said. “I had an idea just now. I’m going to sell the rigs.”

“We should have all seen the neurologist, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Karla said. “Nobody’s gonna buy those rigs. This is the bust, not the boom.”

“Twelve million’s just two digits and a bunch of zeros,” Duane said. “I’m tired of being paralyzed by a bunch of zeros. I’m gonna cut down the interest any way I can.”

“Going bankrupt would cut it down,” Karla said.

“Yes, but I don’t want to go bankrupt,” Duane said. “I didn’t do all this just to go bankrupt.”

“I don’t think I’ll spend much money for a while,” Karla said, looking off across the pastures. “Now that I realize it was just a broken heart that was bothering me I probably won’t need to.”

“Why’d you start wearing blank T-shirts?” he asked.

“Because my heart’s broken and I got no more to say,” Karla said.

“See if you can ease Junior out,” Duane said. “Messy situations just tend to get messier, particularly if they involve Nellie.”

“If I send him back home you’ll never get to see your new girlfriend,” Karla reminded him.

“Send him back anyway,” Duane said.

He called Shorty and raced to town, hoping to get a little cash and be on the road before Jenny Marlow began her rounds.

He found Ruth in the office. She had just put on her running clothes and was doing stretching exercises behind the desk.

“There’s three messages on the machine from Janine,” Ruth said.

“I’m in a big hurry,” Duane said. “If she calls again tell her I had to go to Houston.”

“Where are you really going?”

“Odessa,” Duane admitted.

“She sounds desperate,” Ruth said.

“I don’t know if she’ll last the day.”

“She’ll last the day,” Duane said.

“I didn’t think you was the kind to leave a desperate woman in the lurch,” Ruth said, looking at him sternly.

Duane went into his office and called Janine, who did indeed sound desperate.

“I think I’m pregnant by Lester,” she said, in a tiny, trembling voice.

Duane sighed.

“Somebody must be making a fortune off fertility drugs in this country,” he said, reflecting that a worst-case scenario would have Jenny pregnant by Dickie, Janine pregnant by Lester, Nellie pregnant by either Joe, Junior, or Bobby Lee, and Suzie Nolan pregnant either by Dickie or himself. The fact that the last two hadn’t been suggested or confirmed offered only slim grounds for hope.

“I wish it had been by you,” Janine said.

“I wish it had been by nobody,” Duane said.

“Now that stupid Jenny doesn’t even want to give him a divorce,” Janine said. “She says she’s pregnant too, but Lester says that’s impossible. When can you come and see me?”

“It’ll have to be tonight, after the meeting,” Duane said. “I have to go to Odessa right now. You just hang in there. This is not the end of the world.”

“Are you sure you’ll come?” Janine asked.

“I’m sure I’ll come,” Duane said.

Ruth was outside, jogging in place. She had already worked up a good sweat.

“Looks like you’d leave that stupid dog at home sometime,” Ruth said.

“That dog’s the only person who really loves me,” Duane said.

CHAPTER 35

DUANE SET OFF TO RACE OUT OF TOWN, THE MEN
ace of Jenny Marlow much on his mind, but as he was passing the Dairy Queen he saw Jacy’s black Mercedes parked there. She was probably waiting to meet Karla. They met almost every morning.

On impulse he stopped and went in.

Jacy was sitting in a back booth with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. She had been for her swim in the lake—her hair was wet. She had a towel over her shoulders and occasionally fingered the wet ends of her hair.

“Howdy,” Duane said.

Jacy looked up without friendliness. Her swim goggles had left faint marks on her face.

“Run along, Duane,” she said. “I don’t like you anymore.”

“Why not?” he asked, startled.

“Because I think you’re behaving like a horse’s ass,” she said, her blue eyes cold.

“I might not be quite as black as I’ve been painted, if it was Karla doing the painting,” he said.

“You’re probably blacker,” Jacy said. “Karla still loves you. She doesn’t even think you’re a horse’s ass. I figured that out for myself.”

“Do you want to play Eve in the centennial pageant?” he asked.

“Eve?” she said, caught by surprise.

“The director asked me to ask you,” he said.

Jacy stood up and scattered a little change on the table. She wore a T-shirt and running shorts, plus the towel.

“I suppose you’re playing Adam, right?” she asked.

“Not necessarily,” he said. “Adam hasn’t been cast.”

Jacy walked past him and Duane followed her outside. She went to her car.

“Well, at least I asked,” he said. “Call Jenny Marlow if you’re interested. She’s the pageant director.”

Jacy looked amused. “That poor frantic thing who’s married to Lester?” she said. “She’s a director?”

“It’s just a pageant in a rodeo arena,” he reminded her.

He got in his pickup, feeling depressed. To his surprise she strolled over and looked in. Shorty, who normally would have attacked, put his head between his paws and made a submissive little squirming motion.

“Hello, puppy,” Jacy said.

“Where are you going, Duane?”

“I have to go to Odessa,” he said. “It’s the worst town on earth.”

Jacy reached in and scratched Shorty between the ears. She no longer looked hostile. It seemed to Duane that she looked rather lonely.

“I might like to see the worst town on earth,” Jacy said. “I’ve certainly seen several of the runners-up.”

“Come with me,” Duane said.

Jacy leaned her elbows on the pickup window. She seemed in no hurry to make her decision. Duane didn’t feel quite so relaxed. He had the feeling that either Karla or Jenny Marlow would drive up any minute.

“Hop in,” he said. “The scenery’s not much, but we could catch up on one another.”

Jacy gave the inside of the pickup a calm scrutiny. The whitish carpet of dog hair on the seat did not escape her attention.

“Let’s go in mine,” she said. “You can bring the puppy if you want to. My car’s just as messy, but it’s more comfortable.”

Duane considered the ramifications of leaving his pickup parked at the Dairy Queen all day, where it would be noticed in turn by Karla, Jenny, Suzie and Janine, not to mention Bobby Lee, Eddie Belt, Lester Marlow and various others.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “Follow me down to Olney. It’s just fifteen miles. I’ll leave my pickup there. I’ve got this paranoid man who works for me. If he sees my pickup and can’t find me he’ll start the rumor that I got kidnapped by Libyan terrorists or something. By the time we get back they’ll have called out the National Guard.”

Jacy scratched Shorty between the ears again. “I don’t think that’s the reason you want to hide your pickup, Duane,” she said, giving him a skeptical, almost angry look.

She walked back to the Mercedes and got in. He thought he had driven her away, and for a moment was not sure whether he was glad or sorry.

When he pulled out onto the highway, the Mercedes was still parked at the Dairy Queen. But before he had gone five miles he saw a black car in his rearview mirror. His spirits immediately rose—he knew he was glad he hadn’t driven her away.

“You better be on your best behavior, Shorty,” he said sternly.

Shorty whined guiltily at the thought of all the bad things he might do.

CHAPTER 36

“
YOU DRIVE,’ JACY SAID. “I THINK I MIGHT WANT A
nap.”

They had parked side by side in the parking lot of a grocery store in Olney.

“You sure you don’t mind if I take this dog?” Duane asked. He saw that the inside of the Mercedes was quite messy. The floorboards were strewn with old fashion magazines, empty yogurt cartons and little yellow boxes that had once contained film.

“Bring the puppy,” Jacy said. “I like to study people and their animals.”

She evidently felt no need to begin her study at once, though, because she settled herself in the back seat, made her towel into a pillow and slept soundly for almost three hours. Occasionally Duane heard her stir, but only to shift her position. He was in the sandy hills east of Big Spring before she sat up, her face still blank with sleep.

“Find a town, Duane,” she said. “I need to pee.”

He stopped for gas in Big Spring. When Jacy came out of the
restroom she stood for a moment looking at the bleak, scrubby hills. Then she opened both doors and snapped her fingers at Shorty, who quietly got out of the front seat and crawled in the back. The sand was blowing a little.

“Odessa’s uglier than this, huh?” Jacy said. “I’m not sure I believe that. Why are you going there?”

“I’m in debt,” Duane said.

“I know, twelve million,” Jacy said. “Karla told me.”

“There’s a man in Odessa who might help me out, if he’s there,” Duane said. “I’m sure your father knew him.”

Jacy slumped against the door. Her hair was a blond tangle and she seemed without energy. The countryside was dotted with oil pumps. In places the thin grass itself looked as if it had been smeared with oil.

“You’re right, it’s getting uglier,” Jacy said. “Maybe you’re more truthful than I think you are.”

“Not really,” Duane said.

On the way into Odessa they passed a large motel. It was called the Oilpatch Inn and had a neon rig as a sign.

“Are you gonna be a while with this man my daddy knew?” Jacy asked.

“I could be an hour or two, if he’s there,” Duane said.

“I think I’d like a motel room, then,” Jacy said. “I didn’t bargain on a sandstorm.”

“Oh, this isn’t a sandstorm,” Duane said. “This is just a breeze.”