Read Online On Archimedes Street by Jefferson Parrish - Free Book Online

on Archimedes Street. He spent as much time as he could there, and Manny now wondered whether the boy got enough to eat at home, wherever that was. The kid had an appetite! Manny had begun to feel protective toward him. Frenchy was all skin and bones, with a thatch of brown hair cascading over his pale forehead and with eyelashes only a girl should have. Manny knew all about not getting enough to eat, from his own childhood. But, he reflected, Frenchy could now throw a football and baseball like a real boy, and he’d begun working on a mean right jab. Dominic had been right. Frenchy needed a dad.
    Manny liked that Frenchy took an interest in cabinetry work. He knew he was the best at hanging doors, building cabinets, installing crown molding, and doing quality finish work in all Louisiana. He’d nursed this business, and now he had them waiting in line—in the French Quarter as well as the Garden District. Dominic showed absolutely no interest in following in Manny’s footsteps. In fact, he was a little worried about where Dominic was headed in life. He showed no ambition. He didn’t seem able to defer pleasure. But Frenchy—obviously dirt-poor and interested—well, he could teach the boy anything. Frenchy was eager to learn.
    “Hey, Dad!”
    “Hey, Mr. T!”
    The boys bounded into the workshop. “Hey, Frenchy.”
    Frenchy stopped to pat Doofus, who accepted Frenchy’s adoration placidly enough. About the size of an Airedale, Doofus had long, wiry hair and yellow eyes that were permanently and comically crossed. But as he stretched under Frenchy’s caresses, he spotted the object of his true infatuation. He saw Elwood with the adored Larceny trotting behind him, and Doofus was on his feet and out of the house like a shot.
    “Shit! Dominic! Let’s go!” said Manny. Doofus was easily disoriented and roamed quite contentedly when he was lost. Once, he had been lost for nearly a week and had to be wrested from the family he’d taken up with. Manny remembered the little boy’s tears when he’d taken Doofus away.
    Frenchy started to take up the chase, but Manny shooed him back. “No, Frenchy. Stay. Wait on the workshop porch. I’m expecting a delivery. If it comes, sign for it, please.”
    As Frenchy waited, he saw Dutch and Flip ride up on their bikes to the shotgun they rented across the street. Just my luck to have him next door here too.
    “Hey, French!” called Flip.
    “Hey, Pogo,” called Dutch. “Haw!”
    “Don’t call me that, you baboon!” Nettled, he decided to wait inside the workshop so he wouldn’t have to deal with Dutch.
    The workshop was Frenchy’s favorite place in Dominic’s Archimedes Street shotgun. The sweet scent of wood shavings permeated all the rooms on that side of the double, and Frenchy was fascinated with Manny’s collection of precision tools. He walked past a door Manny had custom-built out of walnut. He’d been around when Manny had assembled the gigantic door that now leaned against a wall. Spring dogs, brackets with pointy ends, kept the glued joints tight. Frenchy loved learning the lingo from Manny, and “spring dogs” seemed just the right name for those thingies. But the router Manny had used to ream out the mortises had truly fascinated Frenchy. You could adjust it for any kind of mortise penetration and angle. He now idly fingered the lozenge-shaped tenons that fit so snugly in the mortises and leaned in to examine the machine.
    A scrap of unexpected color caught his eye, and he reached around behind the cubby that housed the machine.
    It was a magazine. Frenchy withdrew it from its hiding place.
    Frenchy now stood trembling before the images he saw in the magazine. Such beautiful men. He turned the pages. All completely naked. The things they were doing! Frenchy’s imagined lovemaking had not progressed further than the kissing of mouth and cockhead. His entire view of the world was reframed in that instant. As he looked at the images, he imagined himself