I looked at the clock and it was just about six thirty.
So I brushed my teeth and got undressed and lay down on the futon mattress on the floor of my room and read the rest of my Fangoria and then it was seven and I turned out the light. The homeless couple living in the alley behind our building were drunk and screaming at each other, so I listened to them for a little, and then I fell asleep and I slept for eleven hours straight.
Which was several hours less than Id slept in months.
CODE ENFORCEMENT
I forgot to set my alarm clock. Which was OK because Chev didnt forget to set his and snuck into my room and put it on my pillow when he came home from the shop.
After I spent a minute banging it against the floor to get it to stop buzzing, I swore revenge and crawled back under my covers. Then the phone started ringing. Very loud and just outside my bedroom door. It rang. And it kept ringing. And it kept ringing. And I got up and opened the door and picked it up.
– What? What the fuck?
– Is this Web?
– Yeah, what the fuck?
– Yeah, my name is Curtis.
– What do you want, Curtis?
– Nothing. I was in White Lightning last night and I got this boss Tas-manian devil on my shoulder and the guy, Chev, he said hed knock twenty bucks off the price if I got up at six and called you and made sure you were up.So?
– What?
– You up?
I hung up the phone and threw it across the hall and it put a dent in Chevs door and I heard laughing behind it.
– Fuck you, Chev. Fuck you!
But I was up so I turned on the coffeemaker and got in the shower.
The Cutlass Cruiser station wagon idled at the curb, all gloss black paint, buffed chrome and dark tinted windows. One of the windows slid down and a driver just a shade lighter than his car looked out from behind mirrored sunglasses.