And Another Thing...

      I was stinking drunk by then, overstepping, teeter totting, knuckles scrapped and slightly ragged, i pushed open the driver side door and fell out of the car. The asphalt was cold, coldness made the rugged rocky blacktop feel harsher than it really was.Up and coming, a pair of headlights, i worked myself up onto my haunches and hid behind the car. Were they following me? How the hell did they find out where i lived? I thought i lost that tail way back behind the reservoir, I saw it with my own two eyes, the car sliding sideways into the mud wall. But, no, it couldn't be, they were back now, the headlights were coming closer, i scrunched myself into a ball hoping that i could become smaller and smaller until i eventually disappeared. The fear was a small ball of knots in my stomach.
      The car slowed as it passed me, and pulled up 2 spots and parked. Through the shadows and ricochet of the moon i saw that they were both wearing hats, cigarette glowing faintly like two firefly's. I slowly crept behind the rest of the cars picking up rocks and putting them in my coat pocket. Pulled out my cell phone and dialed the station.
"Harvey? Hey it's me. Yeah I know i owe you for last weeks game. Hey clear your ear for a second, i'm looking out my window and theres a couple of punks throwing rocks at houses, they're in a small Hudson.... Send over a car, put a little fear in them huh? Thanks. See you Sunday. Oh, and don't forget my fucking watch huh?"
        I stopped between a big long Chrysler and a Ford coupe, laying down with my head on the curb. The sky was relatively clear, Venus shinning off in the distance somewhere like a giant eyeball, starring down at me. Gods eye. Gathering the rocks into a fistful of tiny boulders, I gave them a mighty fling into the windows of the house in front of the Hudson. There was shuffling inside of the house, and the perimeter lights flicked on, the Hudson was illuminated now, driver and passenger both startled, the car rumbled to life and i heard the parking brake being released. Everything was happening slowly then, the house owner coming out onto his porch with shotgun in hand, and the small Hudson that the two men were in began trying to make it's escape. Some yelling went on, and I saw this as my opportunity to run. I grasped at my coat flaps and dashed across the street, low, low dashing, as if the war was on, and if i didn't keep my head low a bullet would catch me right in the temple. I held my hat on my head with one hand and my coat closed with the other while running across the street. I made it to the sidewalk and didn't bother to inspect any further, hustling up those steps and onto my doorstep. I fumbled with my keys and put them in the lock. More yelling, and then finally, a shotgun blast. I kicked open the door with my foot and dashed inside, closing it behind me and double bolting it. Then i put the chain on for good measure, one can never be too safe.
      She was laying there on the couch, bundled up in an old thick blanket under the front windows. Her long hair was spread over the pillow and her little fist were balled up holding the blanket under her chin. I saw those gorgeous eyes peering at me through the dark in the white light the television gave off and i melted then. Instantly forgetting everything that had happened in the last hour, watching her lay there curled up like a cat under a car muffler on a cold morning. Loving her was like being drunk and rich.
"hey."
"hey."
      i rushed over to the windows and shut the blinds. I peered out between the Venetians watching for the Hudson. It was gone now, the neighbors lights were off, everything was back to normal. It was quiet and desolate out there, not a soul in sight, the night was done with everything, it sucked everything into it's silence and anyone who wasn't inside of something may have just as well been dunked into that black sprawling hole of silence. It was the cold, dark battlefield after a ten years war. Everything dead and still after several burst of action.
      Walking towards the bar to pour myself one, i could feel those eyes tracking me in the dark. She didn't say anything yet, probably figuring out my mood, seeing how she would play this one. She was intuitive like that. I grasped for the first bottle with shaking and sweating hands pouring into my coffee mug, not bothering to throw out the stale coffee from the morning, and shot it down my throat with regularity. I poured out another and asked her if she would like one.
"looks like you're going for both of us."
     i chuckled, she knew what was where. i poured her out a small one and sat in the chair next to the couch. I leaned back and threw my hat on the table.
"You're sweating."
"It's a hot night." - this while she curled up in that blanket like meat in a burrito.
 "Whats the deal?"
"It's been a rough one dear."
"You're drunk aren't you? You've been drinking. You smell like piss and whiskey."
"hey, hey, hey, don't start with that shit huh? I had a few."
"No. I can tell. You're shot to hell. Hold out your hand."
"Why do i have to hold out my hand?"
"Why do you not want to hold out your hand? Whatcha hiding?"
"aww hell." - i held out my hand and tried to keep her steady, but she shook like a fiend.
"I KNEW IT!"
"ahhhh.. don't start in. It was a tough one already."
"Where'd you go?"
"The Boar"
"Hmph."
"What?"
"Who went with you?"
"I went alone."
"You went to see that hussy didn't you?"
"Which one we talking bout?" - I loved to poke at her in this fashion.
"The BLONDE ONE!" - She sat up then and pushed the blanket off of her. She was so beautiful, even in her sleepwear.
"No, no, no. I told you, ain't nothing doing. We're all over. It's just you and I."
"I bet. She buy you a drink?"
"No. I sat over in the corner by the chalk board with my head in the notebook the whole time. I was writing see?" - I pulled out my pocket book and showed her the scribbles.
"So she wasn't there?"
"No, she was there, but I ignored her the whole time. We didn't even glance at each other."
"Of all the damn bars, you have to go there."
"I like it there, they carry my rye. and it's cheap."
"Sure. Why are you sweating?"
"They followed me home."
"Who? HeR?"
"no, no no. the suits. they been following me all goddamn day. They think i'm wrapped up in all of it somehow."
"i think you're a dirty stinking liar."
"oh lay off won't you?"
"I knew something was up. I felt it in my bones. I'm perceptive about this kinda stuff."
-Just then the phone rang. I let it ring. I didn't want to get up.
"Fine. I'll get it." - She sprang up and reached for the handle. It stopped ringing then.
      I don't know what happened next. It all went down too quick. The sounds were slow and drawing, glass shattering, loud pops, my ears were ringing. I didn't know what my body was doing but i shot out of that goddamn chair and leaped over the coffee table and tackled her to the ground. The television broke our fall and we rolled into each others arms as we hit the carpet. I put my body over hers to protect her. The glass continued to shatter and rain down over us. I could hear the bullets whizzing and burying themselves into the drywall above our position. When the shots slowed down I kicked over the coffee table and put her behind it.   I nabbed the shotgun that was taped to the bottom of it and put my hat back on it's proper head. Those son of a bitches were in for some hell. I crawled for the back door and opened her up. Jumping over the railing into the back alley. My ankles took a mean shock hitting the ground, i almost couldn't walk after that, thinking i broke both of them in one foul leap, but gaining momentum i made it over to the high wood fence and stuck the nuzzle of the gun chest center. They never came, and i could hear the Hudson revving up around the corner, I positioned myself atop some trashcans and laid her steady, with the Hudson in it's sights, i was going for the big time, i aimed for the driver side and shot her one good. The kickback was nothing like i remember and i landed back on my ass. Scrambling up, I peered through the door and saw the Hudson jump the curb and clip a tree. It skidded back towards the opposing side of street and onto someones lawn. I pumped once for luck and another for insurance.
      Two figures were still seated there as I mosied up. Sitting back a minute i saw the driver kick open the door and fall out. The passenger was next and I dropped him with the butt to the back of the head, then hit him in the face for good measure. The lawn owner came out and I screamed to call the coppers. I took their guns, their wallets, and their phones.
      When i got in she was sitting in the middle of the room with the blanket over her head. There was a kitchen knife in her hands. A big long sucker with a shining blade.
"hey."
"hey."
      I came over and hugged her. We fell onto the carpet and starred into our respective eyes.
"I love you."
"I, i, i love you too."
"I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?"
"I'm sorry i was bad jealous girlfriend."
"hey, don't sweat it. I've been bad jealous boyfriend, i think this makes us square."
"yeah."
"That was a close one."
"Yeah."
"Listen, when you can hear the time clicking away, it really puts things into focus. We could both be dead now, or one of us could be dead and the other has to live with the burden of leaving off on the bad foot. I don't want that. We belong together. Like ketchup on meatloaf. You're my rib woman. All this other shit out here, it's just pointless babble, but you and I, that's what matters most."
"um."
i put my finger to her mouth.
"shhhh.. don't say anything."
      I grabbed her chin and pulled her mouth to me. Just like in the movies. That's what they do at the end right? They kiss? So we kissed then. But this woman i had been kissing for four years tasted new that night. That night it tasted unique. It tasted like the beginning and end. Every kiss after that, every touch, every small bit of paradise felt like the first and last time, and each time i held it, burying it deep into my mind, so that when my clock did run out, and i was laying on my back, those last few moments would be with her. My rib.