Read Online Creamy Bullets by Kevin Sampsell - Free Book Online Page B

where he knew her. “Oh wait,” he said. “You’re the one who runs the merry-go-round at BK.” We all laughed and Maureen said quietly that yes, that was her. “I did that too for a while,” Larry said. “Down at Oaks Park. I was always nervous that people were falling off.” He laughed by himself this time. “It’s hard to see around the whole damn thing, you know?”
    I told Larry goodnight and he seemed surprised when Maureen and I headed into my place together. I hadn’t told him about Kristi yet. “Have a good one,” he said.
    When Maureen sat on my couch in the front room, I kneeled on the carpet in front of her and held her in an uneven sort of hug. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted. But I did want to feel her body against me. It was so different from Kristi’s. She was smaller but not as soft. Even her head seemed different, and smaller. My mouth felt too big for hers. Her hair was short and dry in my hands. Her neck seemed too thin, and dangerous.
    The couch was noisy, even though we were moving slowly. We slid to the floor and she took off her shirt. I kissed her arms, her chest, and her back. I found myself staring at her shoulder blades as if I couldn’t tell what they were. They stuck out of her skinny frame almost alarmingly, like wings. I rested my face between them.
    Outside we heard Larry putting out his barbecue, the water on the charcoals. We could smell the smoke in the air. Maureen tugged my clothes away. She stood up and took off the rest of her clothes. “I have to go home and check on my mom,” she said, then she got back down on the floor with me.
    The next night I went back to work and my boss called me into his office. He gave me an envelope and told me that Kristi had switched to another dispatch. He said he couldn’t tell me where. Inside the envelope was the extra key to my apartment, a bunch of photos, and a note. Since you like pictures more than the real thing , it said.
    I found my station and started my shift, slipping in the inserts and advertisements. I felt like I was in a trance and wondered if this was a “life experience.” When it was time for my break I didn’t really want to stop. But the guy taking my spot just stood there waiting. Finally, he tapped me on the back, hard. I went outside and looked around, almost expecting to see Kristi, but also wondering if I could see Maureen in these surroundings. I looked out at the empty parking lot, squinting into the dark, and tried to see the future.

Headache
    E very time I put the big truck into reverse it made that awful sounding BEEP BEEEEP BEEEEP— like an alarm clock that you hit the snooze button on. I woke up knowing that something horrible had just occurred.
    My head tapped the steering wheel as I stomped on the brake. I heard the little girl crying, sounding far away. The truck was too loud and so I cut the engine and squeezed my head awake. I was always falling asleep lately and I knew it was getting dangerous.
    I always thought the beeping sound would make people move out of the way quickly. But some people do not move quickly. I set the parking brake and climbed out of the cab. She was already dead.
    The little girl said—”Grandma?”
    I didn’t want to make a scene. I got down on the ground and leaned toward the old lady’s tight, broken mouth. I could simultaneously feel the final breaths and the stiffening bones of the corpse.
    “It’s okay,” I told the little girl. “She’s just asleep.”
    The girl continued to weep and I looked around to see if anyone noticed. What the Hell were they doing on the site anyway? All sorts of cement mixers, cranes and metal girders everywhere. No place for little girls and old ladies. I saw a bag of groceries under there by her feet. I had a couple dozen 20-foot steel beams on the truck bed and it felt like I’d been maneuvering a jet before I dozed off.
    “I’ll take care of you,” I told the girl. “Your grandma needs to sleep for a while. I think