County Line Road (4 page)

In a supply room at the hospital, Linda stuffed two bottles of pills in her sweater pockets. She closed the pharmacy cabinet, locked it and entered new numbers into the inventory list on her PDA. As she left the supply room and locked the door, she looked up and down the hallway cautiously. Then she headed for the nearest exit.

Outside, Linda took a cigarette break at a side door, far from the main entrance. This side of the building was concealed by construction scaffolding, currently abandoned and vacant of workers who left paint pails and rollers.

At the main entrance around the corner, Rich cruised by looking for Linda. He passed the hospital’s busy drive-up and drop-off zone where a line of cars waited under the covered drive.

Rich pulled up to the side of the hospital and saw Linda. He guided his motorcycle up the narrow sidewalk to where she was standing. He maneuvered it deftly around the point of a 90 degree turn without having to touch his foot down.

She moved off the path into some bushes as he turned off his bike.

“Stand over here, away from the new camera,” she said to him. “Don’t look up at it. Pretend you’re taking a piss or something.”

She reached her free hand into her sweater pocket and shoved the bottles in his hand.

Rich held his hand close to his chest and looked.

“This is only 100,” he said. “I told you I need more.”

“And I told you I’d get what I could get,” she snapped. She tossed her cigarette in the dirt and ground it out with the toe of her white nurse’s shoes. “My boss is only going to believe the software glitch story so many times.”

He stuffed the pills in his jacket pocket and looked around. He gave her some cash.

“I know a guy who wants steroids,” Rich said. “What can you get?”

“Lots,” Linda said. “You want the same you did?”

“If you say that again, I’ll blow your whole deal here wide open.” Rich said, pointing at the hospital. “Do we understand each other?”

She nodded.

“Get something for endurance,” Rich said. “And EPO.”

“That’s a cancer drug. That’s expensive. No way. Who wants it?”

“What do you care?” Rich said. “And besides, I keep client confidentiality.”

“A drug dealer with ethics,” Linda said. She swiped her ID card in the card scanner next to the door. “Next time you want to place an order, wait ‘til I get home.”

“I got customers,” he said.

“And I’ve got a boss.” Linda went inside and let the door shut behind her.

Linda put the cash in her purse and went to the break room for a cup of coffee. Another nurse was at the counter.

“You making new coffee, Corrine? Thank God,” Linda said. “It’s crazy here today. I’m going to need lots of caffeine.”

“This place is always crazy,” Corinne said, opening cabinets. “Where are the filters now? They were in here yesterday.”

Linda put her PDA down on the counter to open a drawer.

“Here they are,” Linda said and handed Corinne a pack of filters.

Corinne moved Linda’s PDA to make room on the counter so she could open the package and peel a new coffee filter off the stack.

“These always stick together,” Corinne said as she picked at the coffee filters.

“Oh, sorry,” Linda said. “Let me get that out of your way.” Linda tried to act casual about it but was nervous and began thinking Corinne might be spying on her.

She nodded to Linda’s PDA. “Is that new software working right?” She dumped out the last of the old coffee into the sink and refilled the carafe while talking. “I remember last month all those errors between the dispensing machines and the shipping records. What a mess.”

“Tell me about it,” Linda said. “I’m still sorting through the new shipment. We’ll see.”

“I meant to ask you, did you make that pasta dish from that new book you told me about?” Corrine asked.

“No,” Linda said. “The boys all had other plans. It was simpler when they were younger. Jimmy used to love my pasta. Now he’s always going out. The past three days he’s been moping around the house, staring out the window like he’s waiting for UPS to deliver a package or something. So moody.”

“That’s teenagers for you,” Corrine said. “Just be glad they’re not as young as mine. I’m so exhausted; I swear there must be more than 24 hours in a day because I feel every one of them.”

“I’d love to have a little kid around, but I can’t get pregnant,” Linda said.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Corrine said. “You never told me that before. Have you seen a specialist? We have a building full of them.”

“I know.” Linda gave a fake laugh. “I’ve seen a few. I just wish I’d met Earl when he was younger, and the boys too. We could have gone on family vacations. Their mother never took them. She was too out of it. Couldn’t even go to Disney World.”

“You can chaperone Grad Night when all the seniors go to Disney for graduation.”

“That would only push Jimmy away more, me following him and his friends around. He’s so set on going to Clemson and living with his mom in South Carolina. He thinks it’s going to be heaven, but I hate to break it to him – there is no easy life.”

“You can talk ‘til you’re blue in the face, honey,” Corrine said. “We all have to find out for ourselves.”

A young male doctor came in the break room.

“Hi, Dr. Hanson,” Linda said, smiling and smoothing her hair back.

“Hi, Linda,” he said and turned his attention back to a young, pretty nurse who followed him. “Like I said, the skiing is much better in Aspen than Vail,” Dr. Hanson said to her.

“I’d love to go to Aspen,” the young nurse said.

Linda watched as the doctor ran his eyes over the woman’s breasts. Linda adjusted her own blouse. She remembered when she used to be the pretty young nurse all the doctors talked to.

“I gotta’ get back.” Linda smiled at Corinne and left the break room.

Linda walked back to the nurse’s station to upload the changes from her PDA to the computer.

A doctor walked up behind her. “Making your grocery list?” He said, looking over her shoulder.

“Oh, yeah,” Linda said, trying to act casual. “You know teenage boys. They eat you out of house and home.”

The doctor smiled, picked up a file and kept going.

“You still haven’t seen Allison since the party?” Double A asked Jimmy as they stocked the grocery store shelves with cereal boxes on aisle 12. “That was three days ago.”

“I’ve been jogging, looking for her,” Jimmy said. “I thought she was going to come by.”

“Maybe she’s avoiding you,” Double A said with a laugh. “Love ‘em and leave ‘em. Wait a minute — a girl just like you. How does it feel?”

“I am not like that,” Jimmy said.

“Yeah. Have you had a relationship that lasted more than two weeks ever in your life? No.”

“So what? A little variety is good for you. See it says right here.” Jimmy pointed to a cereal box. “Part of a balanced diet.”

“Girls aren’t fruits and vegetables,” Double A said.

“You ain’t seen them up close like I have,” Jimmy said. “There are some real nut jobs out there.”

Another bag boy came up the cereal aisle. “Hey Jimmy, Double A. Beatrice wants you bagging.”

“What?” Jimmy said. “Brendan, you can’t just make up stuff like that.”

The loud speaker came on: “All bag help to the front.”

“Told ya,” Brendan.

“I’ll put this cart back,” Double A said. “Tell her I’ll be up in a minute.”

Jimmy and Brendan headed toward the cash registers when Jimmy saw Anna.

“Hey, Brendan,” Jimmy said to the bag boy. “See that girl there? Yeah, ask her what she’s looking for and send her to aisle 12.”

“Why?” Brandon said. He rubbed his nose and sniffled.

“Just do it,” Jimmy said. “Aisle 12 - No matter what she’s looking for.”

Jimmy hid behind the magazine rack to watch Brendan approach Anna and point to aisle 12. She walked to the aisle. Jimmy followed at a distance.

Double A had kneeled down to put some cereal boxes that had fallen off the bottom shelf.

Half of Double A’s body was swallowed up by the bottom shelf as he reached in the back for another fallen cereal box. He extricated himself from the hole to meet a pair of tasseled loafers. His eyes moved up a set of round tanned legs that led up to the cuffs of khaki shorts and the shadow between the skin and the fabric.

“Hi, Double A,” Anna said.

He stared and blinked as if he’d just come out of a cave into the light.

“I need to get some mustard for my mother. Do you know where it is?” she said. “I wish they’d stop changing this store around. The bag boys don’t even know where things are.”

Double A had to stop his mouth from hanging open.

“Hi. Yeah, it’s on aisle three now.” He stood up and pointed, but then he regained his senses and realized that she would go away, so he said, “I’ll show you.” They started walking. He forgot all about the cart he was moving. “That was fun at the beach this weekend, wasn’t it?” he said.

A guy he worked with called out, interrupting, “Hey, Double A, up front.”

Double A looked up the aisle with desperation. “Yeah, just a minute.”

“Want to go out?” Double A surprised himself. “I mean sometime, maybe.”

“Yeah,” Anna said.

“Okay,” he said. He felt so good he laughed out loud.

“Anthony.” The manager’s voice broke into his reverie. “Up front.”

“I gotta’ go,” Double A said. “Uhm, Anna? Can I have your phone number?”

“What’s your cell phone number? I’ll call you, then you’ll have mine.”

“Good idea,” he said. He gave her the number as they walked up the aisle.

She entered the number in her phone and waited for his voice mail.

“Hi. Double A,” she said into the phone, smiling at him. “Call me later.”

“You bet,” he said.

“Thanks for the mustard,” Anna said and waved the bottle. She got in the express lane, and Double A ran over to bag the bottle for her, but the manager redirected him.

“Register 4,” the manager said.

He looked back at Anna to catch her eye and almost bumped into another customer. “Sorry.” He saw Anna laugh, and he didn’t mind.

“You’re going to get fired,” Jimmy said to him.

“I don’t care,” Double A said. “I got her number.”

“All right!” Jimmy said.

After their shift, Jimmy and Double A walked out to Double A’s car. They both started unbuttoning their work shirts in the heat.

“You want a ride home?” Double A asked him. “It’s 500 degrees out.” He took his cell phone out.

“No,” Jimmy said. “I’m going to run. Look for Allison again.”

“I can’t wait to call Anna,” Double A said. “Do you think I should take her to the movies? You and Allison go with us, okay?”

“If I can find her,” Jimmy said. “Don’t want to be alone with her?”

Double A looked terrified.

“Don’t worry. I’ll let you know later. You working tomorrow? Can you keep this in your car for me ‘til then? It’s clean.”

“Sure,” Double A said. He opened his car door.

Jimmy tossed his work shirt and apron in the car. “We have to get tickets for the concert. They go on sale tomorrow.”

“I’ll be logged into Ticketmaster.com at 9:59 am, finger ready to click,” Double A said.

“I gotta’ find Allison to let her know,” Jimmy said. “Maybe I’ll just buy an extra ticket anyway. I’ll call you later.” He started to jog off. “Hey! And let me know what you see on ebay!” he called to Double A and waved.

“Your dad really needs to buy a computer!” Double A yelled to him. “Get with the 21st century!”

“Ha!” Jimmy said. “Then he’d have to spend money! See ya.”

Jimmy ran alongside a wooden fence where a horse in the pasture joined him and trotted with him on the other side of the fence. Jimmy smiled and ran faster. The horse galloped faster and made it to the end of the fence before Jimmy. The horse turned around and whinnied at him and left, trotting back into the field where other horses stood in the shade of a tree.

Jimmy continued to jog through the Ranches neighborhood, past Jeff’s street. It was hot and humid, but he enjoyed the feeling of the heat and sweat.

As he jogged on the road, he heard a car behind him so he moved over to the edge of the pavement. There wasn’t much room on the small, two-lane road. A canal ran along one side, and pastures and houses were on the other.

The car did not pass, but lingered behind him. He inched over a bit more, slightly annoyed that the car did not go by.

The car revved its engine, and Jimmy had a weird feeling. He turned around and saw the blue Mustang and Allison grinning over the steering wheel.

Her hair was wet, and Jimmy liked the way it hung in her face.

She pulled up alongside him. She lowered the window.

“Hey! Where have you been?” Jimmy said.

“I’m right here,” she said. “But you’re out there in the heat, getting sweaty without me. Not nice.”

“I can change that,” Jimmy said and reached for the car door handle.

She hit the accelerator and the handle slipped from his grasp faster than candy taken from a kid. She hit the brakes and skidded to a stop a few feet away.

“I’ve seen that on TV a hundred times,” he said. He strolled to the car and reached for the door handle again.

She hit the gas again, but only for a second, just enough to make him miss.

He stood in the street with the heat of the late afternoon sun burning his back and radiating up from the black asphalt at him, creating waves of a mirage on the street, as if Allison’s car were just an illusion and once again here he was, standing empty handed in his life. He approached her again, but warily this time.

“Tell me something,” she said through the open window to him. “You don’t think I’d let just anyone get in my car, do you? What are you going to do for me?”

“Anything you want,” he said and meant it.

She popped the door lock open the door for him.

“That I like. Get in, before all the A/C disappears.”

She turned up the air conditioning and the fan blew cold air on Jimmy, raising goose bumps on his legs. She gunned the engine and took off down the road. “Let’s go on the highway. Get some speed going.”

“Fast is good,” Jimmy said. He pulled the seatbelt across his chest and clipped it in. He could just see the curve of her breast peeking out of the buttons of her shirt from his angle. The lace edge was as inviting as a neon sign blinking ‘Touch Me’.

“Here, sit on this towel, you sweaty bastard.”

He wasn’t sure if she was mad for a second until she smiled and set him at ease.

She pulled a towel from the back seat and shoved it under his legs, grinning the whole time.

“Hey, gentle with the merchandise,” Jimmy said. “I’m in line for a track scholarship, you know. These legs are very valuable.”

“Track, huh?” she said. “Nice legs.”

“Not bad legs yourself,” he said.

He lifted himself up to let her tuck the towel in.

“Your arms broken? Fix it yourself! I gotta’ drive.” She laughed at him.

“Okay, okay. But this towel is more wet than I am.” He looked in the back seat and saw her gym bag. “Did you just work out?”

“Yeah, at the Everglades Athletic Club,” she said.

“La-de-dah,” he said. “Only rich people go there. But you must be rich, look at this car — Satellite radio, navigation system, OnStar — everything. You get ebay on this?” He looked at the screen more closely.

“No,” she said with a laugh. “What are you looking for?”

“I like what I see here,” he said and gave her a once-over.

“That is such a bad line.”

“Sounded bad, didn’t it,” He looked around the interior of the car. “So when did you get this car?”

“Changin’ the subject?” she said. “About a month ago. When we moved here from Oregon. My dad got it for me, as a bribe. I did not want to move.”

Jimmy almost said, Aren’t you glad you moved now and met me? But thought the better of it. Too desperate.

“Are you a senior?” Jimmy said.

She nodded Yes.

“Hell of a time to move,” he said. “Did you already have plans to go to a college there?”

“Nothing definite. Life kind of got put on hold last year,” she said. “Where are you going?”

“Clemson,” he said. “If I get the scholarship. I’m no A student, so if I don’t get it, it’s ‘You want fries with that?’ for the rest of my life.” He made his best southern accent.

“Good accent. Where’s Clemson?” Allison said.

“It’s in South Carolina, where my mom lives,” Jimmy said.

“Yeah? Talk like that, and you’ll fit right in. What, do you live with your dad here?”

“And my brother and Linda.”

“Who is Linda?”

“Evil stepmother.”

“Poor Cinderella-Boy,” she teased.

“Hey. She’s manipulative and you have to stay away from her.”

“She ought to meet my mom,” Allison said. She stopped at the red light. “Let’s talk about something else. It seems like a lot of people around here are into sports. Do you know my neighbor, Cassie? She invited me over when I first got here. Her room is covered with a hundred trophies.”

“You say that like trophies are a bad thing,” he said. “I have a few.”

“So do I, but I can still see the walls and carpet,” Allison said. “She has wall-to-wall trophies. Doesn’t she do anything else? That can’t be healthy.”

“Ain’t much else to do around here,” he said. “Although I could make a suggestion if you’re bored.” He rubbed her leg.

“Not at the moment, but I’ll keep you in mind.”

Allison accelerated and passed a dump truck.

“Look at all those rocks flying out of that truck,” she said. “Scratch my hood.”

“Get used to it,” he said. “One thing we got plenty of around here, dump trucks and torn up roads. I can’t wait to get a car.”

“Yeah? What are you getting?”

“I’m still looking,” he said. He knew it wouldn’t be this nice. His father already told him to look for used cars only.

She changed the radio station.

“Hey, this band is coming to town,” Jimmy said eagerly. “Tickets go on sale tomorrow. Want me to get you one?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Don’t be so enthusiastic,” Jimmy said.

“Woo-hoo!” Allison yelled, making Jimmy jump. “How’s that for enthusiasm?”

“Better,” he said.

She laughed. The sound of her laugh made him happy. She wasn’t laughing at him, but he could hear in it that she thought he was funny. It made him feel good about himself.

They zoomed down the highway.

“Uhm, that was my exit,” he said, pointing. “Back there.”

“Let’s go for a ride. Use up some gas,” she said. “My dad pays the bill.”

“Won’t he get pissed? My father is always complaining about gas prices, Double A too.”

“Double A?”

“My best friend.”

“My dad probably won’t even notice,” she said. “That’s his specialty.”

“Who’s poor little Cinderella now?”

“Two points for you. After this I’ll take you back to your house so you can get a shower. How big is the shower in your house?”

“I’ll make room, believe me,” Jimmy said.