Quick Fixes: Tales of Repairman Jack (35 page)

Levi laughed. “Okay.”

Of course he’d tell Weezy. She’d eat it up.

But Jack hadn’t been talking about the dumpers.

“
I meant you. What did you do to those guys?”

The smiled vanished. “Nothing.”

“
But I saw–”

He stared straight ahead. “You saw a couple of guys slipping around on a mucky cripple bottom and getting stuck. That’s all.”

He was sure it had been more than that. But what exactly?

Saree turned to face him. “Yeah, that’s all it was, Jack. But what about you? What’s your talent? Is it being able to hide? Is that why I can’t see you?”

What was she talking about?

“
I don’t have any talent.”

“
Maybe you just don’t know about it yet. You’re hiding something, but that’s okay. You came back for me. I never expected that. I still can’t see you, but I like you.”

Jack had no idea how to respond to that, so he didn’t.

They dropped him off about a block from his house. As they raced off he saw their bumper sticker flash in the moonlight.

Piney Power.

He had an idea why those kids liked the sound of it.

4

“
I can’t believe all that happened without me,” Weezy said as they entered Jack’s house though the kitchen.

He’d waited till after school to tell her about it.

“
Believe me, you were better off at home.” He shuddered at a vision of that Tony guy holding Weezy’s head underwater instead of Saree’s. “While it was happening, I wanted to be
anywhere
but there.”

As they stepped into the front room where his folks were watching the 6:30 news, a TV reporter said,
“The two bodies found inside those barrels of toxic waste have been identified.”

Jack stiffened as he recognized the mug shots on the screen.

“
Anthony Lapomarda and Santo ‘Sammy’ Carlopoli have long rap sheets. Their bodies were found outside a South Philly body shop this morning along with two dozen barrels of toxic waste. More waste was found inside the body shop, along with a number of stolen cars. The suspected chop shop–”

He nudged Weezy and whispered, “That’s them!”

The old Piney’s parting words came back:
We’re all gonna have us a nice chat, then we’ll send ‘em home.

He hadn’t mentioned
how
they’d be sent home. He glanced at Weezy and found her staring back with wide, dark eyes.

“
Piney justice,” he said, feeling a chill.

His father looked up. “What?”

“
Nothing.”

Dad pointed to the TV. “That’s why we live out here. To get away from scum like that. You don’t have to worry about running into any of their sort in these parts.”

“
I guess not, Dad.”

At least not anymore.

Publishing History

“
A Day in the Life” © 1989 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
Stalkers
, edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg (Dark Harvest, 1989)

"The Last Rakosh" © 1990 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in The World Fantasy Convention 1990
Program Book
(11/90) (incorporated into
All The Rage
)

"Home Repairs" © 1991 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
Cold Blood
edited by Richard Chizmar (Ziesing, 6/91) (incorporated into
Conspiracies
)

"The Long Way Home" © 1992 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
Dark at Heart
edited by Joe and Karen Lansdale (Dark Harvest, 1992)

"The Wringer" © 1996 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
Night Screams
(NAL/ROC, 1996) (incorporated into
Fatal Error
)

“
Interlude at Duane’s” © 2006 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
Thriller
edited by James Patterson (Mira, 2006)

“
Do-Gooder” © 2006 by F. Paul Wilson. First published as a broadside from Lavendier Books (2006)

“
Recalled” © 2009 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
He Is Legend
edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet, 2009)

“
Piney Power” © 2010 by F. Paul Wilson. First published in
Fear:13 Stories Of Suspense And Horror
(Dutton, 2010)

THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE WORLD

The preponderance of my work deals with a history of the world that remains undiscovered, unexplored, and unknown to most of humanity. Some of this secret history has been revealed in the Adversary Cycle, some in the Repairman Jack novels, and bits and pieces in other, seemingly unconnected works. Taken together, even these millions of words barely scratch the surface of what has been going on behind the scenes, hidden from the workaday world. I've listed them below in chronological order. (NB: "Year Zero" is the end of civilization as we know it; "Year Zero Minus One" is the year preceding it, etc.)

The Past:

"Demonsong" (prehistory)

"Aryans and Absinthe" (1923-1924)**

Black Wind
(1926-1945)

The Keep
(1941)

Reborn
(February-March 1968)

"Dat Tay Vao" (March 1968)***

Jack: Secret Histories
(1983)

Jack: Secret Circles
(1983)

Jack: Secret Vengeance
(1983)

“
Faces” (1989)*

Year Zero Minus Three:

Sibs
(February)

The Tomb
(summer)

"The Barrens" (ends in September)*

"A Day in the Life" (October)*

"The Long Way Home"

Legacies
(December)

Year Zero Minus Two:

"Interlude at Duane’s" (April)**

Conspiracies
(April) (includes "Home Repairs")

All The Rage
(May) (includes "The Last Rakosh")

Hosts
(June)

The Haunted Air
(August)

Gateways
(September)

Crisscross
(November)

Infernal
(December)

Year Zero Minus One:

Harbingers
(January)

Bloodline
(April)

By the Sword (May)

Ground Zero (July)

The Touch
(ends in August)

"Tenants"*

The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium

Year Zero:

"Pelts"*

Reprisal
(ends in February)

Fatal Error
(February) (includes "The Wringer")

The Dark at the End
(March)

Nightworld
(May)

Reprisal
will be back in print by the end of 2011. I’m planning a total of fifteen Repairman Jack novels (not counting the young adult titles), ending the Secret History with the publication of a heavily revised
Nightworld
.

* available in
The Barrens and Others

** available in
Aftershock and Others

*** available in the 2009 reissue of
The Touch
 

also by F. Paul Wilson

Repairman Jack

The Tomb

Legacies

Conspiracies

All the Rage

Hosts

The Haunted Air

Gateways

Crisscross

Infernal

Harbingers

Bloodline

By the Sword

Ground Zero

Fatal Error

The Dark at the End

Young Adult

Jack: Secret Histories

Jack: Secret Circles

Jack: Secret Vengeance

The Adversary Cycle

The Keep

The Tomb

The Touch

Reborn

Reprisal

Nightworld

The LaNague Federation Series

Healer

Wheels Within Wheels

An Enemy of The State

Dydeetown World

The Tery

Other Novels

Black Wind

Sibs

The Select

Virgin

Implant

Deep As the Marrow

Mirage
(with Matthew J. Costello)

Nightkill
(with Steven Spruill)

Masque
(with Matthew J. Costello)

The Christmas Thingy

Sims

The Fifth Harmonic

Midnight Mass

Short Fiction

Soft & Others

The Barrens & Others

Aftershocks & Others

The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emproium

Editor

Freak Show

Diagnosis:Terminal