i ask of you the truth - 6. room 14

by nick nelson

part six of ?

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to begin at the beginning, click here

“there’s the coke machine, right over there,” the motel owner, or clerk, or whatever he was, repeated to slim, as he put the key in the door of room 14 and opened it. “yeah, i saw it,” slim said. “it’s all filled up, just filled it up today.” “that’s good.” they entered room 14 and the clerk switched on the light, revealing a motel room, nothing more nor less. “looks good,” said slim. he took the key from the clerk and the clerk left. slim started to lie down on the bed. but then he decided to check the drawer of the table beside the bed to see if there was a gideon bible in it. slim liked to read the bible, even though he never did except in hotel or motel rooms. there was no gideon bible in the drawer, but there was a book. it was a paperback book. it was obviously a detective novel. the cover showed a man in a fedora and an overcoat that looked like it weighed thirty pounds, with his back to the reader, pointing a pistol at a blonde in a leopard skin coat, who was pointing a pistol at him. the leopard skin coat was partially open, and it looked like the blonde had nothing on underneath it. the book was titled i ask of you the truth by william wilson. under the title were the words, “she was as beautful as a butterfly, deadly as a rattlesnake!…” slim flipped the book on to the table, beside the little lamp. he probably would not read it. he was not much for reading, though he liked to read the bible sometimes. he lay back on the bed. i should get some sleep, he thought. it might be a long day tomorrow. first he would have to get to wiley’s place, probably through back roads if the bridge was not fixed, then he would have to listen to wiley’s jabber, and then at night he would have to deal with the general. wiley would probably have a woman. wiley was one of those guys who did not look like much, but somehow always had a woman around. and they usually talked as much as he did. slim was a little bit hungry. he was not starving, but he could use a couple of sandwiches or some fried chicken. not that he was about to go out looking for a restaurant in these back woods at this time of night. he remembered the clerk running on about his wonderful coke machine. he decided to get a coke. he had a couple of nickels in his pocket and he got up and took one out of his pocket and headed for the door. 7. a nice cold drink

i ask of you the truth - 5. slim

by nick nelson

part five of ?

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to begin at the beginning, click here

the bridge had washed out between middlevlle and thomasville, and slim decided to go back to a motel he had passed a few miles back, rather than try to find a way around to meet up with wiley, and maybe get lost in some back roads. and it was a good excuse not to have spend the night with wiley. slim trusted wiley - as much as he would ever trust anybody - but he was a talker, and slim was not much of a listener. slim turned the packard around and headed back to the motel, keeping within the speed limit as he had through his trip through the small towns and half-empty counties on his way to hook up with wiley. he snickered again at the motel sign as he approached it. “last chance motel”. last chance for what? they were almost two thousand miles from california and about a thousand from anything that could be called a desert. slim parked in front of the motel’s office, which was lit. there were no other cars parked in the front, and no other lights on that he could see. but the sign, and the part of it lit up to show “vacancy” , were bright and in working order, and the place did not look run down. it wasn’t the hilton, but it wasn’t abandoned or a total dump. there was nobody at the desk. there was a bell, and slim hit it. nobody showed up. slim took out his cigarettes and lit one, then looked around for an ashtray. there was one on the desk, half full. one of the butts in it had a glowing red ember. slim had almost finished his smoke when the clerk finally showed up. an old man, about fifty, wheezing slightly and snapping his suspenders. “howdy,” the old man greeted slim, hardly looking at him as he eased himself into the chair behind the desk. “howdy,” slim replied. “looking for a room?” the clerk asked, still not looking at slim, but checking the desk drawer for something. no, i came in to see if your ashtray was full, slim thought, but he just said, “yeah.” “one night?” “yeah, just one night.” “that will be three dollars.” the old man finally looked up at slim. whatever he had been looking for in the desk, it didn’t look like he found it. “all the rooms are the same price. got any preferences?” “preferences?” “front or back, first floor or second?” “it’s all the same to me. i just want a night’s sleep.” the old man nodded. “i got a room out back on the first floor, right beside the coke machine.” “that sounds good,” said slim. “everybody likes a nice coke.” he took a 2 dollar bill and a one dollar bill out of his wallet and gave them to the old man. “sign here.” slim signed as “richard hawkins” in big handwriting. “checkout is ten o’clock,” said the clerk. “i know in the big cities it might be eleven or even noon, but here in the wilderness we get up early,” he added with a smile. “no problem,” slim told him. “i want to get up early myself. i only stopped because the bridge is out up ahead. i hope it’s fixed by the morning.“ “yes, so i heard. where you headed?” “thomasville.” “i tell you what, if that bridge isn’t fixed i can give you directions to go around it .” “thanks. i see you’re a white man.” the clerk stood up with a key in his hand. “i’ll bring you around. it’s room 14.” when they stepped outside, the old man said, ”one more thing.” “what?” “my wife. if you get up real early, you might see my wife. she gets up before i do, most mornings.” so? slim thought. “the thing is, my wife is younger than me. a lot younger.” slim did not know what to say to that, but the clerk continued with a laugh, “the reason i’m telling you is, people think she’s my daughter, or maybe just a maid. but she’s my wife.” “oh.” “it’s always good for people to have right information, don’t you think?” the old man half turned to slim. “i couldn’t agree more,” slim said. “here we are, room 14. and there is the coke machine, filled it up just this afternoon.” 6. room 14

i ask of you the truth - 4. joe and molly

by nick nelson

part four of ?

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to begin at the beginning, click here

night. a dusty road. a packard drives down the dusty road with dimmed lights. a factory on the horizon. a few lights are on, in the upper floor. * molly is sitting at the kitchen table. joe enters. he goes to the refrigerator and takes out a bottle of beer. “so how did the meeting go?” “all right.” joe sits down with the bottle of beer. he looks at the bottle. “oh, yeah, i should get a glass, right?” “suit yourself. did you come to any great decisions at the meeting?” “just to keep fighting.” molly sighed. “is that all you want to do, joe? fight? fight, fight, fight, your whole life? you go to war and fight, then you come home and you want to fight some more. you men!” “it’s because i went to war that i want to keep fighting, molly. we fought to defeat the fascists in europe - now we have to fight the homegrown fascists - the bosses and fat cats!” “let’s talk about something else.” “all right.” joe takes a sip of his beer. “what?” “i went to sears today with rhonda and looked at the refrigerators.” “why? what is wrong with the one we’ve got? it works o k.” “most of the time. but i don’t want the refrigerator breaking down. i don’t want the refrigerator breaking down when the baby comes.” “well,” joe said uncertainly, “ the baby won’t be here for a while.” “but i can look around for something good, can’t i? let’s not argue about it, o k?” “o k’ “oh, i almost forgot, a letter came for you today.” “a letter? what is it from, the army?” joe was still getting letters from the army and the government. “no, it’s a real letter, from a person. from charles - charles somebody. hold on, i’ll get it.” molly got up from the table. “charles?” joe called after her. “i don’t know any charles. any charles who would be writing me a letter.” “here it is - charles - charles legrand.” “legrand? that must be slim - slim legrand!” “and who is he - some old army buddy?” “no - i wouldn’t - i wouldn’t exactly call him a buddy,” joe replied thoughtfully. 5. slim

i ask of you the truth - 3. the strand

by nick nelson

part three of ?

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to begin at the beginning, click here

pete had a little trouble finding the strand movie theater. he walked past it twice before finally seeing the little sign that just said - strand theater. it was the smallest theater he had ever seen. it had no marquee, and the ticket booth did not face the street, but was tucked into the side of the little lobby. just as mike, the guy from the market, had told pete, a sign above the ticket booth said - all tickets 15 cents before 4 o’clock. and as mike had predicted, pete had never heard of the movies. a single poster in the lobby, beside the box office, described the main feature. it was called “i ask of you the truth”. the stars were listed as lawrence tierney, dan duryea, robert ryan, gloria grahame and marie windsor. the poster also announced “introducing tony mendoza” and “with orson welles as ‘the general’”. a smaller poster below the main one said simply - second feature - seven guns from diablo, with kermit maynard. pete could not tell from the poster if “i ask of you the truth” was a western, a gangster movie, or a war movie, although with “orson welles as the general” he supposed it must be some sort of war movie. he decided to buy a ticket. a fat faced girl with a pageboy haircut gave him ten cents change for his quarter. she then ripped a ticket herself and gave pete half. pete looked around. he did not see a concession stand. “any popcorn?” he asked. “just the machine over there.“ there was a vending machine on the other side of the door into the movie. pete walked over to it. it sold candy bars, gum, and little boxes of crackerjack. “any cokes or sodas?” he asked the girl. “no.” “no?” “you could have brought your own.” “why time does the show start?” the girl looked at a little clock she had in the ticket booth. “seven minutes.” pete considered this. “any cartoons and stuff?” “no, just the show - the two movies. and a newsreel.” pete still had the strawberry turkish taffy he had bought from mike. he decided to forget about getting his own coke. there was a water fountain beside the vending machine and he took a drink from that. the girl in the ticket booth wrinkled her nose when pete made slurping sounds at the fountain but he didn’t notice. pete entered the theater. it was the darkest theater he had ever been in. it was pitch black. pete could not tell if it was full or if he was the only one there. he waited for three whole minutes but his eyes still could not get accustomed to the dark. finally the screen lit up - sort of - with the newsreel. with the little bit of light, pete groped his way to a seat. there didn’t seem to be anybody else in the theater, but he could not really tell. 4. joe and molly

i ask of you the truth - 2. tell them mike sent you

by nick nelson

part two of ?

for part one, click here

the seventy-five cents his grandmother had given him was burning a hole in pete’s pocket as he stood on the sidewalk. it was a nice day. “too nice” to spend it in a movie theater, but where else was he going to go? but first, there was the little business of “looking for a job”. pete had found the perfect place to “look for a job”. a little market - mike’s market - four blocks from his grandmother’s apartment. it didn’t seem to do much business, and was pretty much a one-man operation. the owner, whom pete assumed was mike, was always there. sometimes in the afternoon there was a teenage boy, a nephew or cousin of the owner, helping out. pete had asked a couple of times if the guy was hiring, and was told to forget it. when pete asked if he knew anybody else who was hiring, mike told him he was “just off the boat” and did not know anybody in america, although he did not speak with any kind of foreign accent. now pete decided to try a third time. the second time mike had seemed a little annoyed, but this time he just laughed. “you again!” “i don’t suppose you changed your mind about hiring?” pete asked. “no, my good man, I did not.” pete looked around the little store, which was empty of customers. the store sold mostly fruit and vegetables, but had cigarettes behind the counter and candy bars in front of the counter and an old fashioned ice chest with coke and pepsi and other sodas. “i didn’t see any harm in asking.” pete said. “how about any harm in buying something?” mike asked him. “i don’t have any money. that’s why i’m looking for a job,” pete answered quickly. “come on, you don’t have a nickel for a candy bar? how about a nice turkish taffy?” mike pointed to the display of candy bars below the counter. “ a nickel, and it will last all day. and build strength in your teeth. we got vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, take your pick.” pete decided to humor mike. “o k, i’ll have a strawberry turkish taffy.” he gave mike one of the three quarters his grandmother had given him, and mike put in the cash register and gave pete two dimes change. “that wasn’t so tough, was it?” mike asked, in a friendlier tone now that pete had bought something. “i guess not,” pete admitted. “you see, if you get a job - somewhere else, not here, you’ll have more money and you can buy more candy. that’s the way it works.” “right,” pete agreed. he tried to smile. “so now where are you going? going to look someplace else?” “maybe. i thought i might go to a movie first.” “movies, huh? where do you go?” “usually the palace or the roxie. i like the roxie, they have a new show three times a week.” “ever go to the strand?” “the strand? “ pete considered this. “never heard of it. where is it? downtown somewhere?” “no, it’s just over on 88th street. it’s small, you could walk right by it and not see it. and they got a new show - a new double feature - every day. and they got movies they don’t show anywhere else. movies you never heard of.” “huh.” “and it’s only fifteen cents. for the matinee. and only two bits at night.” “wow. maybe i’ll check it out. on 88th street?” “yeah, 88th and ninth avenue. tell them mike sent you.” “i’ll do that.” pete wondered if he would get extra popcorn or something if he told them mike sent him, but he did not say so to mike. 3. the strand

i ask of you the truth - 1. pete

by nick nelson

part one of ?

there are people whose existences and facilities can be summed up in a single word. pete jones was such a person. he was a bum. it promised to be just another day for pete when he was greeted at the breakfast table by his grandmother, who had been his sole source of support for many months. “going to look for a job today?” “i don’t think so,” pete replied, as he blew steam off his cup of instant coffee. “let me guess - you are just not in the mood.” “it’s not that i’m not in the mood - this just isn’t a good day.” “oh, i know - it’s either too early in the week or too late.” “exactly.” “which is it?” “i don’t know - what day is it today?” “wednesday.” “oh. are you sure?” pete’s grandmother showed him the morning newspaper, which clearly showed that it was wednesday, may 6. pete himself hardly ever read the newspaper, or much of anything except the racing form if he had a few dollars to bet with which he had not had lately. “so it’s not too early or too late in the week, is it?” pete shrugged. “i guess not.” “so, are you going to look for a job?” “i don’t know, it really doesn’t feel like a great day for it.” “great or not, i think you should give it a try.” “you got any grapefruit juice? i told you, i don’t like this orange juice.” “you want grapefruit juice? you want grapefruit juice, big fella, instead of lousy orange juice? well, by golly, if you went out and earned some money of your own you could buy all the grapefruit juice you want, ever think pf that? you could buy your own grapefruit tree.” “i was just asking.” “maybe you could get a job picking grapefruit. you could put one in your pocket when you went home at night and then you’d be all set.” “there’s no grapefruits to pick around here. they’re all 10,000 miles away in florida or someplace.” “oh well, in that case i guess there’s no way you can look for a job.” “all right, all right, i’ll look for a job. you don’t have to be the spanish inquisition about it.” “this morning?” “yes, this morning. can i finish my coffee and my orange juice first?” “i guess.” pete began slowly taking alternate sips of the orange juice and the coffee, constantly blowing on the coffee and swirling the orange juice in the glass. “you think you could give me fifty or sixty cents - for lunch? “ “lunch?” “yeah, in case i’m out all day looking for a job. i’ll need to keep my strength up. it might be kind of warm out.” “you spend the whole day looking for a job? that would be a first. that i’d pay to see.” “so you’ll give it to me?” “yeah, i’ll give you sixty cents. i’ll give you seventy-five cents - six whole bits. but i don’t want to see your face before the sun goes down.” 2. tell them mike sent you

weekend - 8. on the high seas

by nick nelson

part eight of eight

to read previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here

everything seemed to go smoothly. victor, cleo, and joanie got into the other dimension through the portal in the back of mister green’s deli. as they waited at a dock to get on board the cruise ship in their capacities as a butler and two maids, cleo and joanie ran through the routine with victor again. he told them he had it down. they got on board and took up their positions in a little waiting room. through a small porthole in the room victor could see the blue sky and calm sea. cleo gave victor his signal and he went through a small door into a larger room with a large window on what looked to victor like a bluer sky and a calmer sea. there were couches along the walls, but they were empty. four persons were seated around a table in the center of the room. there were coffee cups on the table, and cards, but they seemed to be just talking, not playing cards. victor recognized hillary clinton , who was seated with her back to the window. a woman who sat across from her must have been angela merkel. a man who victor thought was vladimir putin faced the door victor had walked through, and looked up when victor entered. a bigger man with his back to victor had to be george soros. not that victor really cared who was who - he just wanted to speak his lines. which were? victor’s mind went blank. “why are you staring at us like an orangutan, fellow?” vladimir putin asked victor. “we have excellent vodka, if you would like some with your coffee,” victor heard joanie whisper from behind the door. “we have excellent vodka!” victor shouted, as loud as he could, “if you would like some with your - your - “ “coffee!” joanie whispered so loudly that the four players must have heard her. “coffee!” victor shouted. the players, except vladimir putin, laughed. george soros turned around and asked victor, “how much is that coffee per ton, eh?” and the two women laughed. victor tried to collect himself. “we have excellent vodka, if you would like some with your coffee,” he repeated in an almost normal voice. hillary clinton laughed. “we heard you the first time,” she turned to angela merkel. “ nellie, where do they get these people?” nellie? “i don’t know, “ angela merkel/nellie replied. “what say you, nicky?” she asked george sproos. suddenly cleo appeared at victor’s side, in her maid’s uniform. “we apologize for any awkwardness,” she smiled sweetly at the players. “please understand we have had a long journey… “ “understand?” vladimir putin replied. “i think i understand only too well.” he had already stood up and now he produced a pistol which he leveled at victor and cleo. “something is very wrong here. why has the sky turned yellow? why is it raining frogs?” the sky outside had turned yellow and it was raining frogs. cleo grabbed victor’s arm and dragged him behind the door he had entered from. “let’s haul ass!”, cleo shouted, and victor and joanie followed her running down a corridor onto the deck. the sea was churning with frogs and rain and victor thought he saw a sea serpent but he jumped into the water with cleo and joanie and as soon as they started swimming they heard shots … somehow they made it to shore. the yellow sky had turned black and the frogs had stopped and the sea serpent and the bullets had not got them but rain was pouring down. “now what?” victor asked. “there’s a country road.” joanie pointed into the darkness. “i guess we just follow it until we find a dimension embarkation point.” they started down the road. the whole time they followed it, cleo and joanie argued about whether victor , “the rookie” , was to blame for the fiasco. cleo taking the view that he was, and joanie sort of defending him and insisting the whole thing must have been fucked up to begin with. “the committee will have to decide,” they both finally agreed. with that they lapsed onto silence. victor did not think that sounded very promising, and concentrated on just keeping up with them. at last they found themselves, cold and wet, back in the back room of mister green’s deli, at eleven o’clock on sunday night. the place was closed, and mister green had gone home. “what a fuck up,” cleo said one last time, with one last glare at victor. victor decided not to say anything about his hundred dollars. he would come back on monday after work and ask mister green about it. he went home and went to bed. so ended sarah’s, terence’s, ursula's and victor’s accounts of their weekends. “and how about you, robert?” sarah asked. “what did you do on the weekend?.” robert had spent the weekend drinking pabst beer and eating pizza and watching flintstones and perry mason and big valley reruns. “not much, “ was all he answered. “that’s what i want to do next weekend,” terence replied, and they all laughed. ursula looked up at the clock on the cafeteria wall. it was five minutes past eight o’clock. “we better get going,” she said. “robert, are you going to help me out with the collins and sanchez proposal?” “sure. i said i would.” “bethany will have our asses if we don’t finish it today.” the end