Read Online King Perry by Edmond Manning - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Edmond Manning
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Perry. We’re leaving.”
He crawls over and picks it up.
“Dude, I am not wearing a ski mask.”
“You’ll thank me in an hour when your neck and face are toasty warm. I brought you a black sweatshirt if you don’t want to wear your jacket. I wasn’t sure how warm you’d dress. Why don’t you lose that bomber jacket and try on the sweatshirt. It’s a hoodie.”
“If you kill me tonight, Vin, with my dying breath I’m going to scream out your name as loud as possible.” Perry’s teeth chatter, and he’s trying to joke, but this isn’t funny to him. “I’ll make sure the guard hears your full name, Vin. Swear to God.”
I offer him the gloves but do not move toward him. He’ll have to stand to take them.
“Perry, the story about the kings? Making love under the stars and all that? Several plot twists are coming, including an adventure in exotic Turkey, but no murder sprees. It’s not that type of story. So take a deep breath and relaaaaaaaaaax.”
“Good,” he says, grimacing and standing to snatch the black gloves. “Good. Let’s think of the non-murdering kings who trick people to sleep on Alcatraz.”
“Coax. Coax people to sleep.”
Using the ambient sky light, we creep back up our limestone blocks, back to the Charlie Brown wall. There, I teach him hand signals for move forward, hang back, and stay perfectly still. Once I have sufficiently terrified him, we’re ready.
“We’ve got to get close enough to see his moves, but we have to stay out of his flashlight beam.”
“You said he carries a gun?”
“Yeah, that’s the bad news.”
Perry whispers, “What’s the good news?”
I pause. “I read recently that eggs aren’t bad for you anymore. There’s, like, new research.”
“That’s not even remotely funny,” Perry says. “This is me not laughing, Vin.”
“It’s hard to tell with you in a ski mask. You might have thought it was hilarious.”
“Trust me. Not laughing.”
“If Peppermint Patty had said it, Marci would have replied ‘Hilarious, Sir.’”
I can’t be sure, but perhaps he’s glaring at me. Maybe. It really is hard to tell.
We hop the wall easily, both of us fairly quiet, and I give Perry a few pointers on how to run in silence: keep your toes pointed up, watch the ground every few feet but glance up regularly to keep your balance. We practice running from debris pile to debris pile, and I give him a few pointers on not scuffing his heels against the ground and how to always be aware of where his shadow lands. We peer around after every sprint, and eventually, during one of our practice runs, we spot the guard’s flashlight beam, still far from us but definitely headed in our direction.
I say, “From this point out, try not to think of my name. That way you won’t be tempted to yell it out if you trip or something. Think of my name as X .”
“Quit talking,” he says, hissing at me. “He’s coming.”
“Fine, you can be X if you want. My Alcatraz name will be Alaska.”
I give him the signal for “forward to the left,” and he hisses, “ I don’t remember that one .”
“I’m pointing to the left.”
“It’s dark out here.”
“It’s not that dark.”
“ Quit talking, Vin. ”
“ Alaska . I’m going by Alaska now. Think about your Alcatraz name and let me know.”
Perry nods hard, I’m sure just to get me to shut up. The nameless night guard is still nowhere near close.
The city’s glow casts incredible shadows all around us. If I thought these fifteen-foot heaps of scrap metal looked like hellish science fiction a few hours ago, the genre has switched now to horror: the steel girder legs jutting askew at all the wrong angles resembling a malicious, deformed creature seething in slumbering rage until its grotesque awakening.
I whisper, “Don’t these look like alien monsters right now?”
He does not answer me, but stares at me from his ski mask.
Well, I think they look alien.
We hide well, and when the
He crawls over and picks it up.
“Dude, I am not wearing a ski mask.”
“You’ll thank me in an hour when your neck and face are toasty warm. I brought you a black sweatshirt if you don’t want to wear your jacket. I wasn’t sure how warm you’d dress. Why don’t you lose that bomber jacket and try on the sweatshirt. It’s a hoodie.”
“If you kill me tonight, Vin, with my dying breath I’m going to scream out your name as loud as possible.” Perry’s teeth chatter, and he’s trying to joke, but this isn’t funny to him. “I’ll make sure the guard hears your full name, Vin. Swear to God.”
I offer him the gloves but do not move toward him. He’ll have to stand to take them.
“Perry, the story about the kings? Making love under the stars and all that? Several plot twists are coming, including an adventure in exotic Turkey, but no murder sprees. It’s not that type of story. So take a deep breath and relaaaaaaaaaax.”
“Good,” he says, grimacing and standing to snatch the black gloves. “Good. Let’s think of the non-murdering kings who trick people to sleep on Alcatraz.”
“Coax. Coax people to sleep.”
Using the ambient sky light, we creep back up our limestone blocks, back to the Charlie Brown wall. There, I teach him hand signals for move forward, hang back, and stay perfectly still. Once I have sufficiently terrified him, we’re ready.
“We’ve got to get close enough to see his moves, but we have to stay out of his flashlight beam.”
“You said he carries a gun?”
“Yeah, that’s the bad news.”
Perry whispers, “What’s the good news?”
I pause. “I read recently that eggs aren’t bad for you anymore. There’s, like, new research.”
“That’s not even remotely funny,” Perry says. “This is me not laughing, Vin.”
“It’s hard to tell with you in a ski mask. You might have thought it was hilarious.”
“Trust me. Not laughing.”
“If Peppermint Patty had said it, Marci would have replied ‘Hilarious, Sir.’”
I can’t be sure, but perhaps he’s glaring at me. Maybe. It really is hard to tell.
We hop the wall easily, both of us fairly quiet, and I give Perry a few pointers on how to run in silence: keep your toes pointed up, watch the ground every few feet but glance up regularly to keep your balance. We practice running from debris pile to debris pile, and I give him a few pointers on not scuffing his heels against the ground and how to always be aware of where his shadow lands. We peer around after every sprint, and eventually, during one of our practice runs, we spot the guard’s flashlight beam, still far from us but definitely headed in our direction.
I say, “From this point out, try not to think of my name. That way you won’t be tempted to yell it out if you trip or something. Think of my name as X .”
“Quit talking,” he says, hissing at me. “He’s coming.”
“Fine, you can be X if you want. My Alcatraz name will be Alaska.”
I give him the signal for “forward to the left,” and he hisses, “ I don’t remember that one .”
“I’m pointing to the left.”
“It’s dark out here.”
“It’s not that dark.”
“ Quit talking, Vin. ”
“ Alaska . I’m going by Alaska now. Think about your Alcatraz name and let me know.”
Perry nods hard, I’m sure just to get me to shut up. The nameless night guard is still nowhere near close.
The city’s glow casts incredible shadows all around us. If I thought these fifteen-foot heaps of scrap metal looked like hellish science fiction a few hours ago, the genre has switched now to horror: the steel girder legs jutting askew at all the wrong angles resembling a malicious, deformed creature seething in slumbering rage until its grotesque awakening.
I whisper, “Don’t these look like alien monsters right now?”
He does not answer me, but stares at me from his ski mask.
Well, I think they look alien.
We hide well, and when the
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