It was the most disgusting room, with a blue trash can that had shit smeared on the side and flies excitedly swarming around it. He turned the water on in the sink and violently scrubbed the blood and vomit off of him and put on the clothes he’d found – jeans, some gas station t-shirt with the number 76 on it and the slogan REV IT UP. He pulled the white hooded sweatshirt around him like a blanket and just started crying.
“Clair…Clair…” He missed her. He realized then how much he’d loved her.
There was a timid knock at the door but it made Nathanial jump back against the sink. He stared at the doorknob as it turned. It was him, it was Jimmy! Nathanial made a wheezing sound of fear and wanted to grab something to protect himself with but there was nothing.
“Mommy, the door won’t open,” he heard a child say.
“Because someone’s in there,” a woman responded. Nathanial waited a minute until he stopped trembling. He ran his hand over his face, feeling his ballooned eye. He wanted to give up, but he knew he couldn’t stay here. He pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over his face so it shadowed his injuries and quickly walked out without so much as looking up from the floor.
24 “I Need To Be Electrified By Something”
A very funny looking man holding a briefcase was talking on a payphone outside of an I-Hop, a few miles down the road from the Salvation Army.
“Lopsky,” he said into the phone, running out of patience. “Lopsky Hutchens.” He turned to face the highway, his glasses were crooked because of the way he was holding the phone to his face.
“I’m on the list,” he fussed, turning so he was facing the payphone again. The sun was bright, eager and warm and there was no cloud in the sky to offer solace.
“I know I am, I made a reservation!” he continued. He knelt down to open his briefcase, which was stuffed with papers. A wind came along and took half of them away.
“OH BEJESUS ME!” He panicked, let the phone hang on its on and went running after the papers down the highway.
“AH!” He screamed in frustration, only managing to rescue a few papers before walking back to the phone.
“Hello?! I made reser…LOPSKY! LOPSKY HUTCHENS!!!” Lopsky watched in desperation as his papers went all over the highway.
“NO!” Lopsky cried out, slammed the phone down and ran along the highway, trying to rescue the papers when he ran into Nathanial. He looked up at him and backed away when he saw his shadowed, swollen face. Then he noticed Nathanial had managed to save some of his papers.
“Oh…” Lopsky was relieved and terrified all at once. Nathanial, with his height and current bloodied state, looked the part of a zombie film.
“Thanks…” Lopsky mumbled as he stared down at the papers Nathanial had managed to retrieve. Then he looked up at Nathanial with wild appreciation.
“You saved the Gravett Report!” Lopsky hailed. He didn’t even seem to notice Nathanial’s contusions anymore.
“My god!” Lopsky broke out in laughter. “I was dead without this,” he waved the paper around as he stared at Nathanial. “My goodness are…are you okay?”
Nathanial didn’t speak right away. He looked passed Lopsky and down the highway.
“I…” Nathanial’s mouth was dry. His head throbbed. “Was in…an accident.”
“Let me take you to the hospital,” Lopsky was about to reach out and touch Nathanial when Nathanial threw his hands up in defense.
“Okay,” Lopsky backed away for a minute. He thought about just leaving, but Nathanial had done him a huge favor.
“Listen,” Lopsky turned around, giving it one last try. “You helped me so I’d like to help you, its only fair. You obviously need it. I have to make a presentation in the morning and without these papers I could not have done…”
“Where am I?” Nathanial asked.
“Ohio…Richmond to be precise.” Lopsky was very puzzled. “I think you hit your head very hard…do you know who you are?”
“I don’t care…I want…to…s-sleep.”
“I’m on my way to a hotel,” Lopsky said, managing to sound brave even though he was still a bit spooked.
“The Golden Key,” Lopsky continued. “To be perfectly accurate it’s a motel. Not that it matters. There’s a pool, cable, its quite befitting actually. This town does not have many great options.” Lopsky focused on getting his papers in a neat stack because Nathanial’s silence was making him nervous. The wind was still his enemy. When Nathanial didn’t speak, Lopsky looked up at him.
“Okay, I’m just going to be perfectly honest here, because the only way two people can make progress is by being honest with one another – are you a dangerous person? Because I want to help you out and give you a lift, I think there’s room at The Golden Key, but…even though my life can be a bit daft I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet, you get my drift?”
“I just…want to sleep,” Nathanial repeated in the same exact way as before.
“I’ll give you a ride…I suppose…” Lopsky’s voice dropped to dark levels of doubt. “I know karate – I’m just putting it out there. I broke my father’s neck. He survived, but life is filled with unfortunate factualism. My point in this banter is – I know how to defend myself. I’m not sure what you story is, but I don’t have the time to absorb it. I will however, offer you a ride to The Golden Key, its right down Route 40, if that is what you are requesting.”
“I want to, yes,” Nathanial said. Lopsky looked him over again, frowning.
“Very well then, follow me.” Lopsky lead the way, still wondering if he was making a grave mistake. Nathanial followed Lopsky to a nice shiny blue car in the I-Hop parking lot.
“I just ended things with my wife,” Lopsky decided to share as they were in his BMW. It was actually a nice car, just unloved. It smelled like a rental.
“Never calling her again,” Lopsky swore. “I’d rather spend my life in Kansas getting hit by tornados then see her face again.”
Nathanial was about to speak but a pain in his head prevented him from speaking, it spread like lightning through his swollen eye and down his jaw. He probably had a concussion, but he wasn’t smelling anything odd, just the plain, boring car. Nathanial leaned forward and hid his face in his hands from the bright sun. Lopsky glanced over with concern.
“Oh…you’re not going to be sick are you?” he asked.
“No…please just drive.”
“Okay.” Lopsky tried to stay calm. He had to talk, the silence in the company of a total banged up stranger made him nervous.
“I work for this company over in Indiana, I tell you it’s the most boring thing ever, but I have a plan. Its very important to have a plan…what’s yours…I’m sorry, I never got yoru name.”
Nathanial was very quiet.
“Jonathon,” he eventually said.
“Jonathon. Well, I’m moving to Chicago, Jonathon. I need to feel a city’s energy seeping into me, you know? I need to be electrified by something! Do you like Bob Mould?” He looked over at Nathanial, who had his face in his hands again.
“I’m going to play some music now,” Lopsky informed. He turned it on but not too loud so he could continue to talk.
“I have done the same thing for ten years. But once I turn in this report – the one you, my friend, saved,” he gleamed. “IT’S DONZO!” Lopsky laughed nervously as he accelerated. He didn’t usually speed, but good lord he just wanted to be in his room, make the calls he needed to make, and find out which papers he’d lost.
“I want to go out with them wanting me to stay,” Lopsky continued. “I want them to say, look what Lopsky did, he saved our asses – how will we ever survive without him? I want them to cry in their stupid coffees, but they won’t – they’re dry as paper dolls.” Lopsky paused, in case Nathanial had anything to say. He did not, he was still covering his face with his hands. “You know what I’m gonna do? After I turn in the Graffet Report?”
Nathanial was devastatingly quiet. He
wondered if this guy ever stopped talking.
“Move to Chicago, start over. That’s the great thing about life, Nathanial, it continuously gives you the opportunity to start over.”
And the reasons, Nathanial thought.
32
The Golden Key looked like it had been around since the 70s. There were three little orange and blue buildings surrounding a pool. Palm trees were everywhere.
They got out of the car, Lopsky relieved to still be alive and in a hurry to find out if they’d gotten his reservations debacle straightened out.
“Well you’re in luck, my friend,” Lopsky pointed out the marquee. “Looks like there’s still vacancy. I’ll show you where to check in, lad, and then you’re on your own.”
Lopsky had a funny walk. If Nathanial was capable of laughing, he would have snickered. Lopsky walked like he was trying to keep something from falling out of his butt. He pulled the wooden door open that read OFFICE in big green letters. Nathanial was unnerved to find a few people sitting in the lobby. Eyes immediately turned on him.
Nathanial noticed a very pretty girl sitting on the couch with a sketchbook in her lap. She looked up at him and chewed on her pencil. She was sun-drenched and had freckles all over her face and long reddish brown hair. When she eyed him, he looked away immediately.
Lopsky rang the bell on the desk over and over until a skinny, haggard looking man approached it.
“Yes, what is it?” the man asked.
“Lopsky Hutchens,” Lopsky intensely testified.