Part 18 (1/2)
Loony looked at Stone again.
”I know how it sounds, but this is the real thing. : Clyde, he's moved into my head, like it's some kind of doll house, you know.”
Pausing, Loony said, ”Yeah, sure.”
”I know you think I'm crazy, but he tells me we got to do this.”
”Don't care if you are crazy,” Loony said, then added quickly, ”Not that I think you are. I mean you say we got to do this thing, then we'll do this thing. I'm for whatever you say. I like being told what to do. Me, I f.u.c.k up too much. And Stone, he likes it too.
Huh, Stone?”
Stone nodded.
”You see, Clyde's inside me now,” Brian said. ”Living in my head.”
”Sure,” Loony said. He'd been sniffing paint thinner, and nothing sounded odd to him.
”I say we get her soon,” Brian said.
”Say when. Tonight if you like.”
”No. I'm not wanting to go off half-c.o.c.ked. We've got to wait until the omens are right.”
”Omens?”
”Signs.”
”Like what?”
”October twenty-eighth.”
”What's with the twenty-eighth?”
”Clyde's birthday. We go then.”
”Sounds good to me. One night's as good as the next.”
”No. That would be the night. The night of Clyde's birthday. He would have been eighteen. He wouldn't want me to wait any later.”
”Twenty-eighth it is.”
”Okay then ... Is someone in the car?”
”Yeah.”
”What the f.u.c.k you doing with someone in the car? Who is it?”
”Jimmy and his old lady.”
”Who?”
”Don't get mad, now. He's been helping us out.”
”How?”
”He works at the courthouse.”
”I don't want the f.u.c.ker's life history. I want to know what you're doing with him over here. That's what I want to know.”
”He's a friend, I tell you.”
”You mean he bought you a tube of glue.”
”He works at the courthouse-”
”What's that got to do with s.h.i.+t?”
”I'm trying to tell you. Calm down and listen.”
”Make it good.”
”It's good. I thought maybe he could help us out, on account of he works at the courthouse. Thought maybe he could give us the inside dope on Clyde, but Clyde hung himself, did himself in.”
”He's in my head.”
”Well, right. Sure. I mean . . . thought Jimmy could maybe tell us how the jail was set up and all, thought we'd get Clyde out of there, but he hung himself . . . and that was all of that. But this Jimmy, he's been letting us stay with him.”
”He know about us? What we did?”
”Well . . .”
”Well what?”
”Well . . . kind of.”
”s.h.i.+thead!” Brian slapped Loony across the ear.
”G.o.dd.a.m.nit, man,” Loony said. ”He's been helping us. He wants to be one of us. I mean Clyde used to bring in different people.”
”He had the good sense to choose. You don't,”
”He's all right, ain't he, Stone?”
Stone nodded.
”Great, Stone says he's an all-right guy. I mean, that's what I was waiting to find out, if Stone thought he was an all-right guy. I let you two a.s.sholes out of my sight for a minute-how long you been living there?”
”Since that night we decided not to go back to The House anymore. Listen to me.”
Loony moved close to Brian. ”You'd be proud of me. This guy is a patsy. He's scared of us. He plays like he's our friend, and in a way he is. He wouldn't do nothing to upset us on account of his girlfriend. We've never told him what we'd do, but I've sort of hinted.”