Gold Hill (27 page)

“
Leave a bone for the
Denver Post?”

“
Why force a good man to
face something awful?” the managing editor shrugged. “He only wants
to live what’s left of his life in peace.”

The publisher
blinked.

“
You know me,” the
managing editor said.

“
I do know you, that’s why
I’m asking,” the publisher said. “You’re always more than happy to
slit an artery or two.”

The managing editor
nodded.

“
Then what?” the publisher
asked.

“
You remember that we ran
a couple of stories about Rodney before and after he got
out?”

“
I remember.”

“
One thing he said was
that all he wanted was a chance to get Yvonne back and no matter
where she’d been or what she’d done, he’d take her back with open
arms,” the managing editor said. “There was something about the way
he said, even on the tape, I . . . ”

“
He had, like this light
that came from inside him,” Barton nodded. “I remember that. She’s
his real deal.”

“
If we say that Alvin
prosecuted Rodney to get Yvonne, we . . . ,”
the managing editor said.

“
It will come out,” the
publisher interrupted.

“
Maybe so,” the managing
editor said. “We can run with it then. In the meantime, Barton can
work through Rodney’s case. Is there any evidence that what we
suspect is true? And after Rodney and
Yvonne . . . ”

“
You old softy,” the
publisher smiled. “You want them to get back together.”

The managing editor
nodded.

“
Run it,” the publisher
said. “I’ll call the lawyers. Are you going to let his campaign
know?

“
After it’s on the
trucks,” the managing editor said.

“
After it’s printed,” the
publisher said.

“
Tonight then,” the
managing editor said.

“
Tomorrow morning is
fine,” the publisher said. “We don’t owe them anything.”

The managing editor
nodded.

“
It’s going to be an
interesting week,” the publisher said.

“
It always is,” she said
and she left the room. Barton hopped out of his chair and jogged
after her.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Four

Fire

Wednesday morning — 6:45
a.m.

Jeraine looked over at his
father. He didn’t say a word when Jeraine got into the old truck.
Bumpy just nodded and started driving.

“
You were going to tell me
what’s going on,” Jeraine said.

“
How much do you know
about my past?” Bumpy asked.

“
Um . . . ” Jeraine scratched his head.
“You went to East High School. You met Seth in the jazz band. They
let you try all the instruments until you settled on the standup
base. Uh . . . I know you lived with Grannie Louise
in town while Gramps and your brothers lived out east.”

“
That’s all?” Bumpy
said.

“
Um . . .
yeah.”

Bumpy made a guttural sound
that Jeraine couldn’t decipher.

“
I thought Seth would
have . . . ” Bumpy said. “Not even when you
were in prison?”

“
Seth?” Jeraine asked.
“That man is the Bank of Information – a lot of goes in but very
little goes out.”

“
That’s the truth,” Bumpy
said.

“
And anyway, why wouldn’t
you tell me?” Jeraine asked. “I
know
you’re sober, but I don’t know
why. You told the therapist when I was in treatment that you had
trouble with drugs and women too, but you never said boo to me
about it. And . . . ”

“
And?”

“
You’re supposed to be
telling me now,” Jeraine said. “Not asking me what I
know.”

Bumpy chuckled. Jeraine
scowled and looked out the window. They drove in silence until
Bumpy got on the 270.

“
How long are we driving
for?” Jeraine asked.

“
Couple hours,” Bumpy
said.

“
If you’re not going to
talk, I need to sleep,” Jeraine said.

“
Why aren’t you sleeping
at night?”

“
I am sleeping at night,”
Jeraine said. “But I have to get at least ten hours of sleep a day.
I only had eight last night.”

Bumpy scowled at Jeraine as
if he was lying.

“
Listen, Dad,” Jeraine
said. “I’ve lost every single thing I worked my entire life for. I
don’t have any money. I don’t have a record company or a recording
contract. I don’t even own my own house. I can’t go to med school
like I planned. I’m doing everything in my power not to lose
Tanesha. And Tanesha believes this treatment is going to help me
because that lady Delphie told her it was going to help me. So you
can believe I’m lazy or you can help me get better. It’s your
choice. Either way, I’m going to sleep for an hour because that’s
what my treatment plan says I need to do – regular one hour naps
throughout the day.”

With that, Jeraine crossed
his arms and turned his body away from his father. Bumpy looked at
his son for a moment then nodded.

“
What?” Jeraine
asked.

“
There’s no cure for
asshole,” Bumpy laughed.

“
That’s the truth,”
Jeraine laughed.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday morning — 8:45
a.m.

“
Where you think you
goin’?” her keeper said.

He didn’t look up from his
newspaper. He wasn’t a particularly nice man. Her daughter called
him her “keeper.” After more than twenty years, he was like a
familiar torn in her side. She smiled but he didn’t notice. He was
reading the Denver Post at a small white plastic table in the
middle of the four-plex lawn.

“
Today’s my monthly visit
with my daughter,” Yvonne Smith said. “Did I tell you she started
med school this week? My Tanni is in med school. Can you believe
it?”

Yvonne beamed at the man.
He shook his head at her but never looked up from the
paper.

“
I asked you where you
goin’,” he said.

“
I got twenty dollars,”
Yvonne said. “Mr. Aaron gave it to me to get something for my
Tanni. I’m goin’ across the street to get my Tanni’s favorite
flowers and a card.”

“
Can’t go by yourself,” he
said. “You ain’t allowed but one trip out by yourself a month. You
want to use it going across the street.”

“
No,” Yvonne said. “I’m
going to lunch and getting my hair done. Today’s my day with my
daughter. I get the whole day off. That’s what Mr. Aaron said. I
wrote it down if you want to see. Her friend Heather’s coming to
get me at noon. We’re picking Tanni up at school.”

“
Guess you can’t go across
the street then,” he said.

“
You don’t seem to be
doing much,” she said. “Come with me. You know those girls don’t
get up for a couple hours. We’ll be back long before
that.”

He gave her a sour look. He
reached for his cigarette pack and found it empty. He looked up at
her.

“
I need cigarettes
anyway,” he said.

She waited while he hefted
himself out of the chair. After years of beating on Johns and
hookers, his hips and knees were shot and pimping didn’t come with
great medical insurance. He moved like a man a decade older than he
was. He made a show of locking the other girl’s doors before
walking toward the sidewalk.

“
You’re wearing your new
dress,” he said.

“
I always try to look my
best for my lunch date,” she said. “I look forward to it all
month.”

“
I know,” he
said.

He took her elbow and they
made a slow journey across Fourteenth Avenue.

“
Someday, when my Rodney
is home from prison, I’m going to shop here,” Yvonne said when they
reached the other side of the street. “I’m going to drive my car
here, load up on groceries, and drive home to make him dinner.
Maybe Tanni will come over. And someday, she’ll even bring her
kids.”

Her keeper scowled at
her.

“
I’ll wave to you when I
pass,” Yvonne said. “Only seven more years now.”

“
What makes you think he’s
a gonna want the likes of you?”

“
Because Rodney and I are
one soul, two bodies,” Yvonne said. “We belong together, no matter
what.”

He grunted something that
she didn’t hear. They went inside the grocery store and immediately
stood in line at the service desk. He wanted a pack of Winston
cigarettes. When the woman brought the pack, he decided on a carton
instead. After the cigarettes, he decided to get a lotto ticket and
a few scratchers. Yvonne checked her watch a few times to make sure
she hadn’t missed Heather. After scratching off the tickets, buying
more, scratching a few more, and finally winning five dollars, he
said they could go look at flowers.

“
Look who it is!” Yvonne
saw a familiar face in the flower section. “Delphie! It’s my friend
Delphie!”

He grabbed her arm and
turned her to face him.

“
Did you set this up?” he
asked in a mean tone. “You know you’re not allowed
visitors.”

“
Of course not,” Yvonne
said. “I’m going to lunch today with Tanni. Why would I risk
that?”

His eyes seemed to scour
her very soul.

“
Plus, you’re the one who
sets up visits with Delphie,” Yvonne said. “You bring me because
she’s my friend and gives us a discount.”

He released her with a jerk
and she ran over to hug Delphie.

“
What are you doing here?”
Yvonne asked.

“
You know Jill is on bed
rest, right?” Delphie asked.

“
Tanni said twin boys,”
Yvonne beamed at having remembered.

“
That’s right! Good
memory,” Delphie said.

“
I wrote it down,” Yvonne
said.

“
Well, Valerie’s trainer
decided she needed some different food to lose the baby weight for
her next movie and Jill was craving ice cream,
and . . . ” Delphie leaned in to whisper to
Yvonne. “I knew you’d be here.”

Yvonne hugged Delphie
again.

“
I was looking from over
there,” Yvonne said. “I don’t see any yellow tulips. Do
you?”

“
Let’s look,” Delphie set
her red shopping basket on the ground and began going through the
flowers. “There’ve got to be some here. Why don’t you check over
there?”

“
Ok,” Yvonne trotted over
to an area by the desk and began looking through the flowers. Her
head was down when she heard her keeper get a phone call. She stood
up to look at him. He scowled at her and gestured for her to hurry
up. She smiled to herself and took her time. He would wait as long
as necessary to be able to ask Delphie one question for
free.

“
I don’t see any over
here,” Delphie said.

“
I don’t either,” Yvonne
said.

“
What are you ladies
looking for?” asked a clerk as she came out of the back.

“
Yellow tulips for my
daughter,” Yvonne said. “She started med school this
week.”

“
Congratulations,” the
clerk said. “I think I have some in the back. Do you mind
waiting?”

Yvonne looked over at her
keeper. He was still on the phone.

“
We’re fine,” Delphie
said. “If you don’t mind checking, I think you’ll find some on the
bottom shelf in the way back on the left.”

“
Delphie’s a psychic,”
Yvonne explained.

“
I’ll definitely look,”
the clerk gave Delphie an unsure smile and left the flower
area.

Delphie and Yvonne settled
in to chatting. Because Yvonne wasn’t able to remember anything she
didn’t write down, Delphie did most of the talking. Yvonne knew
Delphie well enough to know that Delphie was talking about nothing.
Yvonne didn’t care. At noon she would see her daughter, her
med
student daughter.
She laughed at Delphie’s jokes and listened intently to the patter
of Delphie’s voice. Just listening to her friend, Yvonne felt calm
and happy.

“
Today’s going to be the
best day of your life,” Delphie threw in the middle of her flow.
Yvonne’s eyebrow raised and Delphie nodded. Yvonne smiled to
acknowledge that she’d heard her friend. Delphie continued
chatting.

“
Oh great, you’re still
here,” the clerk said. “Sorry it took so long.”

“
Did you find them on the
bottom shelf?” Yvonne asked.

“
No,” the clerk gave
Delphie an irritated look. “Top shelf on the other
side.”

“
My mistake,” Delphie
smiled and took two bundles of yellow tulips wrapped in plastic.
“Sorry.”

The tone of Delphie’s voice
surprised Yvonne more than the words or even that Delphie had made
a mistake. Yvonne turned to really look at her friend.