The Artful (Shadows of the City) (11 page)

Red looked at Dodger with pleading eyes. “She needs antibiotics. She needs it really bad, they all do. We had a sweet deal and steady flow of the stuff ‘till recently. Things went south with my supplier basically. To make matters worse, we had a nasty flu going around camp a couple weeks back. We kept the worse in here, they came down with pneumonias. I don’t have to tell you how bad it can get for someone her age with no meds. I hate to do this to you, cuz, but Smith is in a lot of trouble, so are all of you guys if the rumors are true. You really need to find him, and I know where he is. But the information isn’t gonna come cheap. You have to understand. I wouldn’t normally do this to you. But I need your help.”

Dodger was unmoved, so I stood between the two. “Of course, we would help her, even if we didn’t need your help,” I said.

Dodger put a heavy hand on my shoulder and pulled me aside. To her, he said, “You know we been black-listed. There aren’t many places we can raid now. Our place was swarming with Suits last we checked, can’t make it to our stash. I don’t know what you want us to do. No way are we setting foot into the Empire.”

“Dodge, you’re a smart guy. You know there is one other place.”

He sighed. “You sure you don’t want me to just have sex with you?”

“Please, Dodge, I need this one favor.”

“I don’t know,” he said.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I shouted. “We have to help her! Red is practically family. We can’t turn our back on her kid.”

“Twist, ever been to the Cathedral of Eden?” Dodger asked.

“No, I never been.”

“You know who runs those parts?”

I never met them. But I heard rumors. I had seen the victims. “The Sons of Adam…”

“There’s a reason we don’t go over there, Red,” Dodger said with a heavy heart. “Not even I’m foolish enough to deal with them.”

Red looked down in defeat. “You have to understand, I don’t want to force you, but I have no choice. Either you do this for me, or you’ll never find Smith.”

Dodger rubbed his hand across his face. “I better see some tits for this.”

It felt like I was a little kid, being told to wait outside while the grownups talked about grown up things. Except, as Dodger put it, “Go check on psycho, while I try and get into Red’s pants… head.”

I stood outside Red’s tent. More than agitated, I felt left out. We were supposed to be a team, and more than once Dodger went about things on his own, only letting me know bits and pieces of his complex puzzle, as if I were just along for the ride. It made me angry. I had a right to be part of whatever was going on. Hell, if I were going to brave the Sons of Adam with him, why should I not be involved? I wanted to barge in and demand fair treatment. I wasn’t a sidekick. I was his partner! I kicked around some loose pebbles before I walked away in defeat.

I found Gia at what would have been the center of the camp. She was lazily swinging back and forth on a chain link swing set, letting her bare feet run up and down on the grass, massaging the ground with her delicate toes. She leaned over on the left chain with the pensive stare of the greatest thinker, looking off into the great unknown. I sat on the swing next to her, surprised by the smile she gave me, the sparkling eyes and quiet chuckle. Her smile was so rare, and it managed to make my stomach flutter with anxious tension.

“You’re in a good mood,” I said.

She giggled and continued staring deeply into my eyes. I rubbed at my nose and mouth, uncomfortable, and unsure of myself. I quickly looked away, feigning interest in a couple chasing each other about in the distance. There was a slight breeze, pushing over grass and blowing her hair in my direction, I could smell a hint of lavender mingled with sweat, but it was overpowered by the strong smell of weed.

I gave her a stern look, and she held the joint to my lips. I didn’t smoke, but it warmed my heart that she wanted to share. I wondered if it still held the residue of her saliva. Clearly, she thought we had reached that point where we could openly share bodily fluids. I shook with excitement as I took the joint from her and inhaled deeply. She smiled at me and leaned back, pushing her feet up into the air and gaining momentum. I watched her swing back and forth like a pendulum as reality started to flicker.

Gia seemed to freeze on the backward swing, held in the air as if the world was put on pause. I stared up at her, her head thrown back, hair wild about, arms and legs extended in a graceful posture. She seemed perfect for a second, I felt like I could grasp the meaning of existence, and it lay within her fragile form.

This made me laugh hysterically. Why? I couldn’t tell you, but it meant something, I believed it did. The laughter was just proof that I had unlocked some kind of hidden meaning. As if to answer my unspoken thoughts, she was released from her paused state and slowly, much too slowly, descended.

She smiled and her voice echoed, drowned by the sound of my heart beating, of sweat dripping, the swan song of crickets, of cells splitting. At one point I could hear it, the virus we all had, the thing that made us all equal, no matter how much money or meds we had. I heard it coursing through my veins, through her veins.

I placed my hand on hers; it was like we became one. Sharing emotions, thoughts, and fears without as much as a word, just a unified existence. She leaned over and kissed me, delicate lips lightly touched my cheek. I smiled; it felt like my lips would stretch forever in an endless pose of fancy. She laughed, and the sound echoed as she kissed me again. My whole body went rigid with delight. The world around us faded into opaque. We stared into each other’s eyes for an eternity.

“Pretty intense, huh?” she said. She sounded like she was underwater.

“Yeah…” I managed to mutter.

She smiled. “Was that your first time?”

“Yeah.”

“Aw! I took your virginity!” She leaned over and kissed me again! I had to admit I enjoyed it. I could feel the tightening in my pants. With great effort, I hid the horror from my face. If she noticed, she gave no indication. I wanted to make an excuse to leave as quickly as possible, but she was so beautiful, and, at that moment, she and I were the only people in all of existence. “What do you think?”

“You’re beautiful…” I was thinking it, and there my mouth went, talking with a mind of its own. The shock of what I said almost stopped my heart, but her renewed smile shocked it back to life.

“Your flattery will get you nowhere, least of all my pants.”

“No, no… I didn’t mean it like that. I just, I was just…”

“Calm down, I was just joking. Thank you for the compliment.” Only then did I realize she was still holding my hand. My head seemed to clear up as well, existence going back to normal. “It doesn’t last very long, but it was intense. You did pretty good for your first time.” Her voice was almost completely back to normal.

“Thanks, I think. Where did you get that stuff?”

“Some guy gave it to me, they actually aren’t that bad. For a bunch of nomadic hippies.”

“Yeah, Dodge and I run into them from time to time. Red is really cool. She’s run with us before on special raids. You pretty much never know who to trust these days, so we take friends where we can.”

“Twist, can I ask you something personal?”

“Sure.”

“What’s your deal?”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t quite figure you out. Dodgie, he’s simple; he’s a jerk who lives on a pedestal of his own devising. As annoying as he is, I get it. Everyone has their own way to get through life. His way is crapping on it. If you convince yourself you don’t give a damn about anything, nothing can really hurt you. I guess I’m similar that way. I try not to care about anything; there’s always too much at stake when it comes to caring. I apologize if I ever come off as bitchy, but you know, caring… it’s a bitch.”

“You!? Bitchy? Never!”

“But you don’t seem as jaded. I don’t know, you and him don’t seem to fit. I can see why you guys are so close. But I know there is more to you than his shadow. You are not as hopeless, yet you let the hopelessness lead you.”

My heart stung when she implied I might be Dodger’s shadow. This was a fact of life I had come to deal with, being excluded from Dodger’s meetings, being called his shadow by Just Stan and now Gia, and the way she called him Dodgie. It all made me angry.

“I’m not his shadow! We’re best friends. Why is it that I have to be his shadow? He’s more to me than a brother. Is that so wrong?”

“Not at all, it’s just I see something in you, that you aren’t letting out. You are content with contentment.”

“Is that so bad?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. Back before the fall, the world thrived on thinkers, achievers, visionaries. Now, it’s as if everyone has given up. Wallowing around, content with scavenging, living day to day. Dosed out of their heads.” She took another pull of the joint. “Finding any way possible to escape the here and now. It’s kind of sad.”

“What does any of this have to do with me?”

“I don’t know it’s probably the weed talking, but I see something in you, I hear it in your voice. You aren’t like the rest of us, you care too much. It’s a good thing. In a world of sheep, we need more shepherds… only you are too busy following the biggest wolf.”

As if on cue, Dodger emerged from the shadows. “Hey, you guys decided to start a party without me?” He took the joint and sat cross-legged in front of us. “Now, Twist, when I said to keep an eye on Psycho over here I didn’t mean get high with her.”

Gia made an annoyed face at Dodge, but there was something about the way she let her eyes linger that stirred butterflies of jealousy in me. He blew a puff of smoke in her face and lay back in the grass.

“Here’s the deal, lil’ lady,” he said in his best western impersonation. “Twist and I have to go round up some supplies. Now we don’t know when we are coming back. Hell, we might not come back at all. But men have to do some men work.”

“Please,” she said. “I’m manlier than the two of you put together.”

“We’re leaving her?” I asked, sounding a little more panicked then I would have liked.

“Yeah, no point dragging her out there. Plus we are used to each other, complement each other, we know how each other works, we can be in and out in a flash together.”

Gia rolled her eyes.

“And she already seems to be making herself at home.” He took another drag and handed the joint back to her. “Red said you can have one of her tents and hold tight.”

“Who the hell do you think I am? I’m not a baby. How the hell are you going to sit here and make arrangements for me? How do you know I don’t want to come along? Where are you going anyway?”

“Stir up some trouble with The Sons of Adam.”

“So?” she asked “What’s their deal?”

“A bunch of crazy religious freaks.” I scowled. “We try to avoid them at all costs. Their followers, the Angels, run the streets above 110th. It’s like a totally different world up there from what I’ve heard. Are you sure about this, Dodge?”

“You’re the one who wanted to help the kid. We need the information, and the only way she’s budging is if we help her.” Gia shot me an “I told you so” glance.

Dodger was proving her point―he was a wolf. He didn’t care that a little girl was in pain, dying. It all revolved around what he wanted. Lucky for the little girl, her being saved was simply an added bonus.

“Come on, Dodge,” I said, intent on proving her wrong. “You know you’d do it if we didn’t need the info. You wouldn’t let Red’s kid suffer.”

“Ah, guess we’ll never know.” He sat up and jumped to his feet. Leaning over, he held his face inches from Gia’s. “So, when’s the last time you had a good go?” He humped the air in a juvenile manner.

“You’re such a pig! Mind your own business!”

“I’m making it my business.”

“Why do you want to know?”

“If it’s been a while, I should probably go slow. If not, it won’t hurt, not too much at least, when I get real rough. I guess it doesn’t matter; either way, it’s gonna be my business.”

“Oh, God, please! Twist, get this weirdo away from me!”

“Come on, Dodge,” I said. “Leave her alone, that’s way out of line!”

He stood, holding up placating hands. He pulled back his lips in a wolfish smile, moonlight reflecting off his teeth, moistened with hunger. “Fine, fine…” He put his arm around her and pointed at a tent close to the perimeter. “But when you are ready to play with the big boys, you just head over there, okay?” She brushed his arm off. “Twist, I’ll see you tomorrow. We gotta be up bright and early, try not to get too faded, will ya?”

He walked off without looking back once, a determined stride that radiated confidence, the complete opposite of my unsteady, nervous steps and hunched-over posture. I tried talking to Gia, but my words were obviously not sticking. She seemed lost in thought, so instead I settled for just sitting in silence, sharing her company.

A minute or two later she stood up, smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her bra. She handed me what was left of the joint and kissed me goodnight. I watched with a longing and burning pit in my stomach as she walked toward Dodger’s tent. I hoped and pleaded to whatever gods were left she would veer off somewhere else, but we all know that was completely delusional. She crawled into his tent, and the opening was quickly zipped closed.