Armstrong
by Bill Bailey
 

Face

It's a Family Addiction
by Robert Baucom

 

Rachel Busnardo

First Boy
by Denise Brown
Third Place Winner, Fiction

 
Face
by Rachel Busnardo
  “Believe me because it’s the mother -fuckin’ truth.” Julian said as he exhaled a large cloud of smoke.

“I don’t know Jules, I mean, I’m just sayin’ it’s kinda hard to believe. Two ball corner pocket.” Rob replied as he draped himself over the pool table and squinted at his target. Julian’s dark brown eyes followed the two ball as it dropped in the hole. His pint was heavy in his hand even though it was only half full of Coors Original.

“You’re telling me that Face did that to you? The Face? I don’t know man, your face looks like shit—especially that gash” Rob pointed to his own left cheek “Good God, shouldn’t you get that stitched?”

“It’s nothing.” Julian interrupted and then took a drag from his cigarette.

“Anyways, I’m just saying dude, Face doesn’t just fight people, the dude kills people. My sister’s friend Jess-i-ca…no…Samantha! Samantha works for the DA or the DEA, or something like that, and she says that there is a file on Face this thick.” He held his hands about a foot apart from each other like he was playing the accordion “this thick with drug, weapon, theft.” he began to counting on his fingers “grand theft auto, illegal gambling, oh yeah, and murder, did I mention murder. You’re an idiot for going down there. Remember when we were kids and that dude Tony was stabbed to death on the South Side? You should just stay away from there all together man. Bad dice.”

“You’ve never even met Face. You have no idea what you are talking about you’re the fucking idiot.” Julian said setting his cigarette down in the ash tray. He snatched Rob’s pool stick from him bitterly. “Nine ball left pocket.” he said as he perched on the ground closed his left eyes, raised his right eyebrow, and concentrated on his shot.

“Whatever, so how do you know em’?” Rob asked. He was leaning against the table, arms crossed and his blonde eyebrows raised in interest, looking down at Julian who was about to finally make his shot. Rob never quite noticed how shiny Julian’s hair was; black and slick, you could see the blue and red reflections from the neon bar lights all around them on the back of his head. Julian held his breath as he gently slid the stick back and forth in his hand.

“Kittens.” Julian replied.

“Kittens?” Rob asked as he took a drag from Julian’s cigarette and then put it out.

“Yup” Julian hit the yellow-striped ball beautifully made a perfect obtuse angel across the table and fell in the left pocket. Julian grabbed his Coors, which was now almost gone, and sat on a tall wooden stool next to Rob. Rob just stared at him and waited for the story.

“This guy approached me on Eighth Street,” Julian began, “with a stack of these green flyers. I didn’t know what to make of him, I mean, he looked like he had money but he was dressed like a total fag. You know, he had on like brown dress shoes and shit with like a brown suit with orange pinstripes and an orange hat. Like one of those hats that old school gangsters wear but orange, not black with pinstripes, just bright orange, crazy shit dude. “Julian lit another cigarette.

“What did he say?” Rob asked?

Julian exhaled. “He told me he would give me fifty bucks if I plastered the streets with these flyers. He wanted me to put them on telephone poles and shit, it was a reward poster.” he said.

“Reward for what?”

“Kittens! Fucking cats!” Julian shouted.

Rob laughed at Julian’s sudden excitement. “Kittens huh, like a whole litter of kittens or just one cat?”

“It was a green flyer with two kittens on it, I hate cats but I’ll admit they were pretty cute. “

“What was the reward?”

“Ten-thousand bucks.” Julian responded.

“Wow, those must have been some pretty important cats.” Rob replied as he took a seat on the other wooden stool next to Julian.

“ Yeah, I know that now but at the time I was a moron. All I saw were those giant letters “REWARD” and I went crazy. I could use the money you know, that would be sweet, so I took the job. Whatever, I already had the fifty bucks, the weirdo paid that up front, and I could find the cats and be a hero, I had nothing to lose.”

“So what happened?” Rob asked.

“Well, as I was hanging up the posters I started going mad. All that money, I just wanted it, you know? Why shouldn’t I have it? And I felt lucky you know, like there was a chance I could actually find them. Before I knew it I had tucked the rest of the flyers in my back pocket, I didn’t even care about hanging up the posters because I knew I could find them. I knew it.” Julian said as he finished the rest of his beer. He picked his cigarette out of the ash tray but it had been sitting there smoldering for so long that it had gone out already. He looked at it annoyingly and just set it back in the cheap plastic ash tray.

“Did you find them?” Rob asked impatiently.

“Well, not really.” Julian replied.

“Not really?”

“Well I thought I had found them. They were in a dumpster behind Lucky’s General Store. I asked Lucky if he had seen any cats and he told me that there had been two kittens living by the dumpsters for the last two days. This had to be the same kittens on the flyer” Julian lit another cigarette “So I went out there and found them eating vomit, it looked like the cats in the picture, but the picture was black and white and I couldn’t really tell but this had to be them.” Julian said picking up his beer only to remember it was empty.

“Vomit?” Rob asked.

“Well, I don’t know what the hell it was but it looked like vomit. So I picked them up and threw them in an old apple box. The address on the flyer was 6845A, Eleventh Street, so I figured I would just go over there and drop them off. I was going to be a hero. This had to have been the same cats from the flyer. One was all black with a white belly and the other was solid black. In the picture the solid black one had a white foot but I figured the copier probably just fucked up. This had to be them” Julian said as he inhaled. Rob just stared him.

“Get to the freakin’ point already.” Rob snapped.

Julian exhaled. “OK OK, so I get there and this other guy, this time in just a white t-shirt and jeans, nothing faggoty, answered the door. It was like some old warehouse or something, just a big building with no windows and nothing inside of it. It was really creepy but whatever. I showed him the cats and he said that Face was going to be so happy I found them. “ Julian said

“Face likes cats?” Rob asked.

“Apparently, I was like “Face? What the Fuck?” I guess even drug lords and murderers have a soft spot for kittens but whatever all I cared about was the money anyways. So he led me to the back end of the warehouse. It smelled old and dusty in there and all the lights were off. There were just a few dim floor lights along the path to this giant metal desk that had a dim fancy lamp on it. I was really creeped out man, I won’t lie. The whole thing creeped me the fuck out. “ Julian said.

“But the money gave you courage right?” Rob asked.

“Yeah! The money, I was excited about getting the money I didn’t even care. “

Rob nodded.

“So behind the desk there was this giant office chair but the back was turned to me so I couldn’t see who was sitting in it, and the fag in the orange was sitting on the desk. He asked to see the cats so I showed them to him, he studied them and then walked around to the front of the chair and handed them to whoever was sitting in it. “

“Face?” Rob asked.

“Exactly but then Face put them down on the ground in the box and whispered something to the orange guy. The guy said he was sorry and thanks for all my help but these weren’t the right cats. I was like what the fuck? These were the cats in the picture, I told him to put a better picture on the flyer and then maybe I wouldn’t have wasted my time trying to help. I was so pissed that they weren’t going to give me the money. I told that faggot that he was lying and that those were the right cats and that this was all just a scam and he could go fuck himself. See if I ever help him again.” Julian said as he picked up his cigarette and took a drag again.

“So since you were talkin’ shit Face stood up and kicked your ass eh?” Rob asked growing impatient.

“No, not exactly. I just stood there and Face whispered something to the orange dude and then him and the other guy got up and left. “

“Then Face kicked your ass?” Rob interrupted.

“Well not right at that moment. First Face turned around and I saw the notorious Face in the light and now I understand the rumors because it was a face that you don’t forget.” Julian said.

Rob opened his mouth to interrupt but Julian just put out his hand and shushed him.

“I cannot describe that face to you even if I tried, just believe me it was shocking. So there I was face to face with The Face. We talked for a little bit and I don’t know what came over me but my anger subsided. We basically just shot the shit for a little while and then the guy in orange came back over to me all pissed off. I don’t even know where he came from he was just there all of a sudden, pissed. I thought everything was cool I didn’t know what the fuck was going on. But you see I forgot to take those flyers out of my back pocket and the orange guy saw it and he was pissed. He pulled them outta my pocket and slammed them down on the desk. Face just stared at them, I fucked up I knew it. I tried to explain but the orange guy just kept saying that The Face doesn’t like it when people don’t do the jobs that they are paid to do.” Julian said as he took a quick drag.

“Face sounds like a scary dude.” Rob commented.

“Scary dude doesn’t even come close to describing The Face. “ Julian said.

“So he kicked you ass then or what?”

“Basically the other dude left the room and it was just me and Face. I tried to defend myself and to be honest I don’t remember much. I remember my right eye starting to throb and I remember touching my cheek and then seeing the blood on my hand. All there was were screams and flashes and blows to my head. I got a few good hits in though, I know that for sure. Believe me all this week it will be The Bruised Face because of me. Next thing I remember is waking up in the gutter on Seventh Street.“ Julian said with a nervous laugh.

“Wow, I guess Face has a softer side with the cats and all. Plus he didn’t kill you, but what’s with the dude in orange? It’s so fucking weird man.” Rob said standing up.

“I know, you’re telling me.” Julian put out his cigarette. “I gotta take a leak dude, this beer went straight through me, I’ll be right back.” Julian said.

Rob nodded and went back to making his shot he couldn’t remember if he was stripes or solids so he stood there for a moment, just staring at the table with his stick in his hand. He looked up and saw Julian disappearing behind the wall with the giant red neon Budweiser sign that had a red, white, and blue American flag underneath it. His eyes wandered to the right where something caught his eye. The front door opened and very attractive woman came through.

Her standing in the doorway, letting in the light into the dark bar, was like a solar eclipse and Rob couldn’t stop staring at. She darted her eyes around the room until she saw a nearby table with a man in a navy blue suit and a neon green tie. She walked up to him and hugged him and then headed over to the bar. Rob admired her tiny body, only about 5’3, which was a good height for him because he was kind of short. Her hair was down to her hips, dark black and she had eyes to match it. Her skin was not at all pale but it wasn’t tanned either, it was just perfect, and the tight blue mini dress she wore radiated her beauty across the dimly lit bar. Rob gravitated towards her like he was floating on some invisible radio wave.

Once he got to the bar she was already comfortably sitting in a stool near the end. He could see an innocent glow that surrounded her face, like a dream. He was intoxicated by her beauty and felt like he was going into some kind of shock. He raised his hand ready to tell Roger, the bartender, to get the lady whatever she wanted, on his tab naturally, but Roger spoke first, not noticing that Rob was standing there.

“Hey Face! I haven’t seen you around here in a long time! The usual?” Roger asked.

Rob just bit his tongue, turned around, and walked away.

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