by Mark Finn
 
Start from the first chapter
Jump to Table of Contents
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Otto and Stacy Make Good

The hotel room was dark. Only the glowing red numbers on the alarm clock offered a hint of illumination. 4:27.

"Stace?" whispered Otto.

Stacy mumbled something.

"You awake?"

"I guess so," said Stacy.

Otto propped himself up on one elbow. "Know what I was thinking? If we left right now, we could be back in Spokane by, like ten tonight. You know, at the Stump, they have that Sunday night special, the two buck longnecks?"

"Mmm, beer," said Stacy. "What about Chris?"

"Fuck him, he's flying back," said Otto without malice.

"No, how are we going to get to the trucks?"

"We'll call a cab."

Stacy thought about it for a minute. "Can you spot me?"

"Yeah," said Otto. He moved under the covers. "Get dressed, let's blow this Popsicle stand."

"Man, what if I get tired?" asked Stacy. "I barely got any sleep."

Otto leaned over to pull his boots out from under the bed. "Stace, those bikers gave us a shitload of speed, remember?"

Stacy smiled in the dark. "Hey, will you let me call the cab?"

"Be my guest," said Otto. He turned the television back on and sat back to wait. The Three Stooges were still slapping each other around, but Otto found that watching them now was giving him a mild erection. He flipped the channels and found Cartoon Network. "Cool, the Herculoids!"

Ten minutes later, he had to remind Stacy that he wanted to call the taxi. Stacy talked into the phone, his eyes never leaving the prehistoric rhino that shot balls of energy out of its horn.

<

Chris Threadgill slept the sleep of the truly wicked; Hillary snored delicately, tucked under his arm and spooned up against him. They were both naked and smelled of pickles and pot. It had been an adventurous night, made all the more exhausting by the fact that they weren't too stoned to not remember anything. Sleep was the only thing that kept them from total embarrassment. Now, as they slept, their bodies orchestrated touches of genuine intimacy just to spite them both.

Hillary wouldn't remember the dream she had, where her mother was telling her that god speaks to us through drug use, and that she wants to give her the family condor as a leaving the house present. When Hillary walks outside, she's looking at a bird the size of a piper cub, and Chris Threadgill is sitting on the neck, holding the reigns, and singing, "Sunshine of Your Love."

The only image of his dream that Threadgill would be able to hold onto was bringing everyone in Spokane Krispy Kreme donuts that were laced with pot, so the more they ate, the nicer everyone became. Why didn't he think of this sooner, he wondered. Even as he dreamed, he could hear Otto and Stacy's voices outside his door, and he thought, fleetingly, they had better not take my car again.

Hillary sighed and rolled over, prompting Threadgill to roll with her. The left side of his face rolled right onto the cardboard insert of a Little Debbie cupcake wrapper and stuck there, presumably forever. They both slept on, unaware.

 

 


Next Chapter
 
 
Contents

Chapter One: The Navel Adventures of Larry Croft
Chapter Two: 1123 Miles to Tempe
Chapter Three: Enter the String
Chapter Four: The Waiting is the Hardest Part
Chapter Five: Rutlege's Story
Chapter Six: The Plot Thickens
Chapter Seven: The Fifth Man is Revealed
Chapter Eight: It's a DRY Heat
Chapter Nine: Preparing to Lam
Chapter Ten: The Mislaid Plans of Mouse and Man
Chapter Eleven: The Danger of Talking to God
Chapter Twelve: Anchors Aweigh, Let's Go Men
Chapter Thirteen: The End is Near
Chapter Fourteen: Roll to Hit
Chapter Fifteen: Six Feet of Beef Stick for the Soul
Chapter Sixteen: Hello, My Name is Indio, California
Chapter Seventeen: Threadgill Takes Charge
Chapter Eighteen: The Players on the Other Side
Chapter Nineteen: On the Road to Perdition
Chapter Twenty: Welcome to Tempe
Chapter Twenty-One: The Game is Afoot
Chapter Twenty-Two: Should Have Known Better
Chapter Twenty-Three: Test-Run at the Waffle House
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Supply Run
Chapter Twenty-Five: The Backhoe
Chapter Twenty-Six: A Frank Discussion
Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Brief History of Larry's Van
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Go Speed Racer, Go
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Owner of the Thumbscrews
Chapter Thirty: Brain Teasers
Chapter Thirty-One: Frick and Frack Check In
Chapter Thirty-Two: Scouting
Chapter Thirty-Three: The Stakeout
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Food Fight
Chapter Thirty-Five: Time to Dig
Chapter Thirty-Six: Deep in the Night
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Paydirt
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Phallus of Ebon Keep
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Otto and Stacy Make Good
Chapter Forty: Thieves in the Night
Chapter Forty-One: Critical Failure
Chapter Forty-Two: Downtown
Chapter Forty-Three: The Hoosegow
Chapter Forty-Four: An Emergency Breakfast
Chapter Forty-Five: Two Early Phone Calls
Chapter Forty-Six: Threadgill Meets the Gang
Chapter Forty-Seven: Back to the Van
Chapter Forty-Eight: Five Days Later
Epilogue
Table of Contents
 

About the Author

Mark Finn is the author of Blood & Thunder: the Life and Art of Robert E. Howard, which was nominated for a World Fantasy Award. He also writes excellent short stories, essays, articles, and reviews. In addition to his regular gig at the Vernon Plaza Theater, he can be found intermittently on The Clockwork Storybook blog and RevolutionSF, holding court or damning with faint praise.