Read Online The Lesser Blessed by Richard van Camp - Free Book Online Page B

didn’t want her to see me bleeding to death so I knocked on Donny’s door.
    “Enter,” he said. I did.
    Donny’s room was pretty barren. All he had was a box spring, a mattress and a lamp. He was sitting on the carpet, drawing.
    “Whatcha doing?”
    “What’s it look like, chief?” he said, holding up his picture.
    It was bizarre. There was a kid holding a gun and he was smiling; in the background there were five dogs lying dead, with a hundred lines behind them saying the same thing: “Stab the dog stab the dog stab the dog.”
    “Whatdaya think, chief?” His eyes were looking into me for a reaction, so I told the truth.
    “Pretty grim.”
    He snatched it back. “Yeah, what do you know?”
    As I looked around, I realized he had drawings hung up all over. In the bare closet he had drawn on the wall. There were men and women crying and there were fallen-down scarecrows, thousands of them. He had tried to write swear words, but they all came out like, “Fok FoK fOK.”
    “Shit, man, you psycho?”
    “Gotta be, it’s a fuckin’ war zone,” he said.
    “You’re rude.”
    “I guess,” he said and looked down.
    “It snowed,” I offered.
    “Big deal. Snow melts.”
    “No,” I said, “you should be playing outside.”
    “And freeze?”
    We were quiet.
    “You know,” I tried. “I was reading that playing Mozart helps plants grow.”
    He went back to drawing. “Fuck Mozart.”
    “Sol later, man,” I said.
    “Yeah, sol, chief.”
    Aha! At least somebody knew some Raven Talk.
    I walked down the hallway, and the synthesizer shot Van Halen’s “1984” into my veins. I got piss shivers. I heard the clink of bottles and laughter. I went around the corner and there she was, Juliet.
    But she was with Jazz! Jakka Jazz! The biggest asshole in theuniverse ! The Leonard of all Leonards ! I looked at Johnny, but Juliet and him were hugging and kissing, slopping their tongues all over each other. Johnny had his hands in her hair and she was grabbing him back.
    “Were you pushing or pulling in there?” Jazz asked me. Johnny’s giving him a lickin’ hadn’t changed anything at all.
    “What?” I slurred. That music was too loud. I could see Juliet laughing at me and my fat lips. I could see Johnny squinting at me, and I felt humiliated. Everyone was laughing and I hated it. I could see Juliet’s ass in those black pants that I loved. I could see Jazz and his smug skinny-ass face. He was drinking out of my favourite glass mug and he had beer in it. I could see Johnny giving me the knee and I could hear the hoofs on the pavement again and I could hear the puppy being torn to pieces and dogs roaring. The whole damn world was turning up the volume. I could see the nurses who made me look in the mirror and me screaming when I saw the skin peeling from my cousins as the people pulled the blankets off; and my father doing it—my father fucking, the teeth of the hammer sinking into his soft eyes and me yelling, “I send you to hell, Daddy, I send you to hell!”
    “I said!” Jazz reached out and pinched my nose. “Were you pushing or pulling in the bathroom—”
    I punched Jazz so damn hard his feet touched the ceiling. He hit the floor rolling and I landed on top of him. I was yelling so loud I couldn’t hear the music. Johnny pulled me off him after a bit. I guess he knew Jazz had it coming. I felt like I had water in my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. I just couldn’t take it. I tried to put my fist through Jazz so hard that I heard something snap. After that, I blacked out.
    Next thing I knew, I was on the couch. Johnny and Juliet were looking at me. Juliet’s eyes were huge as she put a blanket over me.
    “Holy shit, Larry,” she said. “If you were Mexican you’d be Rocky!”
    “Larry, holy fuck.” Johnny shook his head and offered me a smoke. “You didn’t have to do that, man. You busted his nose!”
    I waved the smoke away and looked at Juliet. I savoured her hair. It looked like a fire on