voice was quiet and I couldn’t tell if she had an accent or not.
“That’s what I’m trying to do. That’s what the whole shot is about. It’s all there in that one riff.”
“You’ve done it.” She spoke soft and kind.
“Now what? . . . Now what, baby?” He said this as if he really wanted an answer from her, but this was definitely not the case.
“That’s always the question, isn’t it?” She did have an accent. Maybe Spanish or Portuguese.
He chuckled with a childlike pitch that surprised me. It took some of the edge off his menacing aura. Then, as his laughter subsided, he turned his head in my direction. “Hello.” He said it flatly but his eyes had the intensity of a brain surgeon staring down the tumor in a young boy’s head. “What are you, like fourteen? Jesus Christ! Tell Fernando he can’t send kids to my place! What, is he trying to get me fucking arrested?!”
He scared me. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about or who Fernando was. I wanted to tell him that I lived downstairs but I thought that would confuse him even more so I just held up the bags of food.
“I have your delivery.” When I spoke, the woman
turned her head. She was exotic-looking with high cheekbones and dark eyes. Mexican or Indian or maybe from Spain. She glanced at me and then quickly looked down.
“What?!” He shouted it like he was expecting some kind violence to happen.
“He’s from the diner, Lou,” she said.
“Oh . . . oh yeah.” He relaxed a little. “Where’s the old man? Did you mug him or something?”
“No, ummm. I just started working there a few weeks ago . . . and I . . .”
“I’m kidding, man.” He chuckled again. “What’s the matter? Can’t you take a joke? How much I owe you?”
“Seven fifty-five.”
The moaning feedback echoed from the speakers. He stood up and started searching his pockets. I smelled the kerosene on him again. She looked back up at me. Her eyes were gentle but I was uncomfortable. I felt like she was waiting for me to do something or for something to happen. I didn’t know what that was, but I had a strong feeling that I had forgotten to do it or didn’t know how. I became very confused and disoriented.
Whatever specific energetic vibration they gave off as individuals was new to me—that I understood. But as a couple the voltage was magnified and amplified: a white-hot current looping between transponder towers. My heart began to race, I was nauseous and sweating. Maybe it wasn’t them, maybe it was the recording that upset my equilibrium. Everything became alien and dangerous. My knees started shaking. I wanted to run but my legs felt stiff and heavy.
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