Alice & Dorothy (30 page)

Dorothy slipped the woman her driver’s license and counted out nine of the twenty dollar bills. She still had five left. She wondered if any of the money they’d taken from Rabbit’s house with his drugs had somehow found its way back into her possession, then reminded herself she didn’t care, because love picked her and she would be better off if she just went for the ride.

The woman behind the desk had Dorothy sign a contract, and then made a copy of her license and the contract together. “That’s yours,” she said, handing the license and the document back. She scooped the cash off the table. “This is mine.” She disappeared behind an office door for a moment then came back without the cash. She grabbed a serving tray with an electric teapot and some instant coffee and tea. There was also a plastic cup of sugar packets and artificial whitener. A handful of little wooden stir sticks had been dumped haphazardly along one side.

“This is also for you,” the woman said. She held out a small brown envelope. “Your door keys.”

“Perfect,” Dorothy said. “Thanks a lot.”

“No problem. Your room is 202, right around the corner. Just give me a holler if you can’t find it, but it’s like right beside us. Should be no problem.”

“Thanks,” Dorothy said again.

The girls said goodnight to each other and then Dorothy walked outside. Someone was sitting in a silver car on the far side of the parking lot, but she gave it no more than a cursory glance. She found room 202 easily enough, and then stood in the parking spot and waited for Alice. When Rabbit’s car reappeared, she waved the girl in and motioned to the parking spot.

“Everything all good?” Alice said, sticking her head out the window.

“Yeah,
Easy-Peasy
,” Dorothy said. “I had enough for two nights, so I got that. There’s still, like, I dunno, a hundred bucks left.”

“Sweet!” Alice said. She parked the car, got out, and pulled a bag of food from the front seat. In her other hand she scooped up a six pack of beer. “Later we can go for more, if you want, the liquor store is right around the corner.”

She took Alice’s arm and walked her to their room. She fumbled with the tray in her hands while trying to get the lock to work, but finally managed to swipe the cardkey. A little red light turned green, and the door popped open.

The room inside had a green ceiling and pale yellow walls. There was a single bed against the wall, and a small flat screen television on an IKEA-style table beside the bathroom door. It smelled like pine needles, and when Alice hit the light switch beside the entrance the room was bathed in a soft yellow light from a pair of emerald lamps on either side of the bed.

“Fancy,” Dorothy breathed.

“Your favourite colour, too,” Alice said, and laughed when Dorothy elbowed her. She tossed the food on the bed and set the beer down on the table in front of the television.

“Seems familiar,” Dorothy said, putting the coffee tray down. There was a single cushion recliner-style chair facing the television, and she sat there.

“These motel rooms pretty much all look the same,” Alice said. “Same everything. Towels too small, lights too dim, bed too hard. Only thing that changes is the colour scheme.”

Cops?
Dorothy mouthed.

Get rid of them
, Alice mouthed back.

Dorothy shook her head, no.

“Get—,” Alice said, her eyes blazing. Then
GO
as loud as she dared whisper.

Dorothy stood up, scowling.
What do I do?
she mouthed.

Alice got up and headed for the bathroom. She pointed at the front door.

Dorothy approached the door just as a second, louder knock banged around the room. She leaned up and took a peak in the spy hole but the view was completely black.

“Hello?” Dorothy said.

“Ice delivery,” a man’s voice said. “You forgot to grab the bucket when you signed in, ma’am.”

She turned and looked back at Alice, with her head poking out behind the bathroom door. Alice shook her head once,
no
.

“Uhh, no thanks,” Dorothy said.”We don’t need any ice.”

“That’s fine ma’am. May I leave the bucket with you then? It’s supposed to be in the room anyway, I can’t believe they didn’t give it to you when you first signed in.”

Alice motioned for quiet. The girls stood motionless for several minutes as they listened for any hint of noise outside. Dorothy took another look out the spy hole. It was still black. Finally Alice shrugged. Dorothy nodded, and then turned the latch on the door. It snapped open with a click—

—and the moment the latch clicked open the door seemed to explode out of Dorothy’s hands, like she was holding on to a wall that
suddenly attacked her
, Or a big flapping rat trap that had snapped down on her. The door slammed inward, catching Dorothy square and sending her flying into the wall, and not just trapping her but biting into her with its brass tooth of a doorknob, and she screamed.

But all that was far away because all Alice saw was Rabbit with his foot out from where he’d booted the door, the instant that doorknob
clicked
he’d given it a good bash with his leg, and now he was standing there with two of the biggest black guys Alice had ever seen, and all she could think was
OHSHIT OHSHIT OHSHIT
.

Funny how when moments like this happen, your brain goes into overdrive and fragments everything into pieces; like your memory is trying to catch up to the moment as you are watching it happen, and you are in fact, remembering and experiencing things at the same time. In her mind, Alice saw that boot come down and Rabbit shout
BOOOOM
.

“
BOOOOM!
” Rabbit shouted, stepping into the room. The force of the door knocked Dorothy flat against the wall, and she blocked the door from smashing into the wall by taking it in the chest with a puff of wind from her lungs. He’d had his thumb on the spy hole, such a juvenile trick. But an effective one. Down by his feet there actually
was
a bucket of ice, and Alice almost laughed that he’d put so much preparation into his trap. Almost laughed, but this wasn’t a
haha
kind of moment. This was an
ohshit ohshit ohshit
moment.

Rabbit had a gun in his hand. When Alice saw it, the Hater squealed in delight. It was her gun. And now Rabbit scooped up Dorothy under one arm, and she was semiconscious so she didn’t really know what was going on. Rabbit knew, and he put the business end of Alice’s iron against Dorothy’s temple.

“Ah, ah, ah, baby girl,” Rabbit said. His face was a mess; his jaw line was a solid, swollen bruise from his cheek to halfway down his throat. There were rich hues of reds and purples and a line of black where the toilet lid had taken him. When he spoke, he drooled blood and spit, and there were shards of teeth in his mouth that reminded Alice of the china smile the girl in the mirror had flashed. There was no sign of his gold grill. His smashed mouth made him slurr when he spoke, so he sounded high. “Don’t you fuckin’ move. You move a goddamn inch and I
shwear
I’ll make soup out of her pretty little face.”

One of the black guys moved around Rabbit and stepped carefully over to where Alice was standing by the bathroom. When he got within arm’s reach he put his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m just gonna reach in real slow and take it out, alright girl? No need to get jumpy, everything is cool, right?”

“Right,” Alice said.

Eazy pulled the gun out and then turned it on Alice. “Good. Eazy does it. Just the way I like it. Now put your hands on your head like they do on
Cops
.”

Alice complied. She laced her fingers together and rested them on the top of her head.

“Good.” Eazy stepped behind Alice and draped an arm across her chest. He was still holding the gun on her, and now he put it to her head. “Good,” he said again. “
Real good
.”

Rabbit pushed Dorothy toward Devon.

“Hold this bitch,” he said. He kept the gun, though. Devon grabbed Dorothy around the middle and put another arm around her neck. It looked like she was trying to carry a brown bear on her back.

Rabbit stalked over to where Eazy was holding Alice and slapped her in the mouth.

“Fuckin bitch,” he seethed. “I should kill you right now.”

“
Fuck you!
You’re a piece of shit!”

“
You smashed in all my fuckin teeth!
” Rabbit shouted. He thrust the barrel of the gun into her forehead hard enough to push her head back against Eazy’s chest.

“They were rotten anyway!” Alice shouted back.

Rabbit pulled the hammer. The gun clicked as the chamber rotated, and Alice stopped talking. “There we are. That’s better. That’s a girl. Keep your fuckin mouth shut. If you’re lucky I won’t kill your girlfriend first.”

Rabbit grinned, and his face split in a bloody tear filled with shark teeth. “So, baby girl. Where is it? Why don’t you tell me so I don’t have to hurt you.”

Alice watched his eyes for a moment. Hate poured out of them, heating the room and making it hot and uncomfortable. Finally she sighed and rolled her eyes.

Rabbit grabbed up Alice’s purse off the bed and pulled out the brick of heroin. He sucked his teeth when he saw the corner of the bag torn open. He held the corner up for Eazy to see. “Why the fuck everybody gotta rip the bag,” he said, disgusted. “Nobody can unwrap these things properly. They don’t realize what a pain in the ass it is to wrap a brick of junk. It takes time. Hey Alice, where’s the money?”

“Spent it,” Alice said. “On cheeseburgers and motel rooms.”

“You spent—,” Rabbit stopped, getting his temper under control. He took a couple deep breaths and then smiled. “Well, there’s one more thing you owe me for.”

“I don’t owe you shit,” Alice said. “You owe me.”

“Yeah right,” Rabbit said. He reached over and slapped Alice again, splitting her lip. “I thought I told you to shut the fuck up.”

“
Leave her alone!
” Dorothy shouted, struggling against the weight of the man on her back.

Rabbit chuckled. To Devon he said, “See this shit? Told you guys they were fucked up. They got guns in their faces and they still won’t quit talkin’.”

“You said it,” Devon said. He tightened his anaconda grip on Dorothy and she squealed in pain.

“What’d I say?” Rabbit growled. He lifted the gun in his hand and brought it down, hard, across the bridge of Dorothy’s nose. There was a wet
crack
, like a chef splitting chicken bones for stock, and Dorothy’s face broke open. She screamed at the sight of it.