orangetoughguy | log post II

That or he thought you tasted pretty good. [Chew, chew before more of the booze.] Worth a bite anyway.

[Woah now. Going to get on him about the weather? Larry shakes his head.]

That kind of shit you think is hard for a few months.

[Yeah, he said it. He'll wait for a cigarette.]

Do I? [Taste good, he means, but the question and the look that goes with it is brief.]

Never heard of it but okay. Keep goin'.

[Freddy waves his cigarette at Larry, urging him to tell him a story.]

Yeah. Of course you do. [There's a look that goes with that. It doesn't last too long. More on his plate to go through.]

Sometime you'll have to see for yourself, I mean, it's hard to describe.

[Inhale and exhale of second hand smoke it's about the next best thing.]

I earned a few dollars a week doing chores so when the fair as around, I did my best to pinch every fucking penny. So finally fair time, except the price of entry well...I dunno it was more than what I expected I got in and didn't have much else. Not at first.

I wanna see it.

[He confirms for Larry without saying the other implied words and questions, like when or how. Why ought to be a given; he's already told Lawrence Dimick that fucking felon makes him fucking happy. Going to a fair with the old man in his hometown? Fucking sweet.]

What came second? [Puff puff.]

You will. Then you'll know exactly what I mean.

[And that's as far as he wants to go on the matter. The moment is too good to wreck so soon. Can't it be like this a little longer? Besides, the kid wants to hear the rest of the story. The old man's got to deliver.]

I went walking around the fairgrounds and I got to noticing that people drop their pennies, nickels...small change that don't make a difference but I thought well, if five people lost a nickel that's already a quarter. So before I even enjoyed anything I went scrounging for more play money.

[He pauses to finish off the beans.]

My biggest cash out was by the concession stands.

[That phrasing doesn't go over the kid's head at all but Freddy doesn't really have any idea how to address it without wrecking the moment, this story. Maybe they can save it for later. He pushes his now empty plate aside to smoke and drink up the Corona.]

You were pickin' money off the floor? [He says with great amusement.] Were you looking up skirts too?

[Cause every stupid little boy knows that trick real well or something. Not that Freddy Newendyke ever did it. Really, he didn't.]

[Napkin to clean off his face of anything then he gets out a smoke.]

Sure was. I didn't know what kind of a mess it made my clothes. Even dusting it off still had some shit on my knees.

[Not literal shit, he hopes the kid would know. Larry flicks his lighter a few times. Looks like it might need a refill.]

I was trying to be a good boy. I can't help if accidents happen.

[Meaning yes.]

Man, you are dirty.

[Freddy says this like he doesn't know but the shit eating smug look on his face says he does. Very very well.]

So what'd you spend it on?

Me?

[He even turns his head to check if there is someone else Freddy would be talking to. No? Shrug. Though he knows that smile well. No disputing that he isn't dirty in his way.]

I bought tickets to go on the rides. The bumper cars and the ferris wheel were my favorites. I also got to play a few games.

The ferris wheel was the closest I could get to a skyscraper for a little while.

[He nods, still amused, still fucking charmed.] You win anything neat?

There was a roller coaster too, I had to make a choice between the ferris wheel or the coaster.

[He exhales to one side as a courtesy.]

I got a Snoopy dog.

[With his cigarette and open hand he shows how big this plush animal was....looks like about a foot and a half.]

They had those back then?

[He's totally kidding, Larry, honestly he is. But the old man can take a shot at the kid if he really wants to. Freddy can take it.]

Oh yeah. They were made out of woolly mammoth skin and stitched together with porcupine needles.

[On the exhale this time he lets it all roll out his nose giving the kid a look.]

Your mother must have been sprouting out of the cabbage patch then right?

[He can keep on goin' really.]

Oh yeah I heard they used Elvis Presley to get the crops ripe and ready.

[Only because it sounds like the old man could be ballsy enough to go there.]

All in the hips.

[His tongue slides from one side of his lower lip to the other.]

Though if that doesn't work, well...

[Larry lets that hang in the air awhile with his cigarette smoke. What's gonna stop him from going there.]

The man's gotta give all he got.

[Oh he's riding the same wavelength. Fuck they're in public though and that big bird is still hanging in the air. Not the one right out the window, the other one.]

So where's Snoopy now?

[It's not a subject change, just reigning the hormones in. A little bit.]

[Ah so he is catching that. Larry finishes off his beer. As for his cigarette he'll grind the end of it in in his napkin.]

He hung around my cave awhile then I gave it to a girl.

[Shrug right on there.]

Because you liked her or because you wanted something out of it?

[He's not doubting Lawrence Dimick's gentlemanly behavior at all but boys will be boys and this one admitted to upskirt accidents.]

Because I liked her and I didn't know what to get her.

[He takes a look at his fingernails, then folds his hands like a gentleman.]

Didn't have much money again. Funny how that works out.

It was a joke.

[As if Larry didn't already know but maybe it was bad timing too or the fact that jokes are his go-to crutch. He puffs on his cigarette and sips again.]

Did she like him? [And you?]

I think it was a few days before I got something out of it.

[Is he kidding? That's up to you to figure out Freddy.]

She loved him. Liked me enough.

[Right now he can't tell. Whether that's Larry's fault for being ambiguous, Freddy's fault for thinking too much, or both who really knows.]

What was her name?

Vickie Flagler.

[He leans back and crosses his arms.]

We went to the same school.

[The snort that comes out of his regal roman nose can't be helped.]

Vickie Flagler. Vickie. Flagler.

[Yeah he's trying out her name on his tongue because it sounds a little funny. About as funny as Freddy Newendyke and that's not even the real name. Not quite real anyway.]

Victoria Flagler. But she's absolutely a Vickie.

[It's amusing to hear him try it out.]

Flagler's not so weird.

[Not like Newendyke.]

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