Joe was sitting on the edge of the couch, reading a book he’d uncovered from a pile that Frank was in the process of moving.
He laughed, looked up at Frank, and gave him a puzzled look, as if he was trying to recall who he was and why he was there. Then he looked around the room, and the puzzled look crossed his face again.
“I think we’re about as ready for your guests as we’re going to be,” Frank said.
“Guests? Oh, yes. What time is it?”
“Five thirty. I’m going to head home to change.” He pointed to his shirt. “Something spilled. I’ll be back at 7.”
Joe stood up, dropping the book on the floor. He looked around and smiled broadly.
“Thanks. I never would have gotten ready in time.”
Frank picked up the book and put it on the coffee table.
“You might want to stick to the kitchen or your room for a while so this room remains relatively uncluttered,” Frank said, grinning.
He hurried out of the apartment and climbed into his car. I wonder what Jack would say about me at a geekfest, he thought. Then it occurred to him that he just didn’t care.
Something about Joe made him feel more at ease than he had in a while.
He got back to the apartment. As he let himself in, Jack suddenly appeared out of the kitchen, phone in hand.
“Where have you been?” Jack asked with unusual fierceness.
“I was helping a friend get ready for a party,” Frank replied uncertainly.
“I’ll call you back later,” Jack barked into the phone and hung it up. He closed his eyes.
“Sorry,” Jack said softly. “I was, I don’t know.”
He sat on the couch. Frank sat on the chair opposite.
“What’s going on?” Frank asked.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.
"More that normal?" Frank said, trying to lighten the mood.
Jack gestured around the room. "I, it's weird, I feel like I’m being watched.”
“Sohner?”
“No. Don't think I'm nuts. Demons.” He added with a weak smile, “I guess that could include Sohner."
“Come on.”
“Told you. Sounds crazy. And no, I haven’t been drinking. I’m tempted, though.”
“So …”
“It’s since last night at Lilly's. There’s been something .. some things … around here. Following me. Watching me. Spying on me. But I get the idea they’re really after you.”
“Me?” Frank felt a sudden chill. That night at Lilly's. The return through the woods - had something followed him. No, this was nuts.
“What makes you think you’re being watched?”
“Sounds, Things out of the corner of my eye. A feeling in the air, like something’s there. And then you didn’t come back. I was afraid that – whatever – had gotten you.”
Frank looked at the floor for a moment, then back at Jack.
“I wish I could say it’s nothing. But that stuff at Lilly’s. And, well, when I was coming back that night I felt like something was after me.”
“And all the crap going on in town. It’s like the whole city’s possessed.” Jack paused, then added, “Are you going to see her again?”
Frank thought of the feelings – the feelings of raw desire he’d had when with her. Like nothing he’d ever felt before. It frightened him.
“I know you were mad that night. It was like you were jealous.”
Jack scowled.
“No, listen. Like there’s something she could offer to any man. Even one who’s gay.”
“I slept with her,” Jack said. “A couple of times. At first it was just sex, buddy sex, not love. Like we both had nothing better to do, we were in-between lovers, so we did it because we needed to do it.”
“At first?”
“Then it got, weird. I’d had sex with women before, sometimes just to prove that it wasn’t my thing. I never felt anything. But with her, there was something. I … We haven’t done anything in a while.”
“Nothing happened between us,” Frank said. “We just kissed. But I wanted to do more. It was like I had to do more.”
“Why didn’t you?”
"It scared me. The feelings were so strong. I’d never felt anything so powerful. So tempting. And something just seemed wrong. I can't explain it. Like if I did i'd be lost somehow. I left.”
“Are you going to see her again?”
Her face. The way she moved. Her scent. Frank felt uneasy.
“I don’t know.”
Jack looked around the room.
“Maybe we need to do an exorcism of something,” he said in an ironic tone.
“Maybe we should set up a tape recorder like on those fake ghost shows,” Frank said. “You could play it on the radio. See if anyone catches on it’s just the sound of your stomach after some spicy Indian food.”
There was a moment of uneasy silence. Jack broke it.
“You’re still going out?”
“I told you, there’s this guy. Kind of an off-beat sort. Like the old chess club people I used to hang out with.”
“Sounds like a wild night’s in store,” Jack said sarcastically. “Hot Scrabble?”
“Really, he’s a decent guy. Being around him I felt ... comfortable. I guess that’s the word. Anyway, he was totally unprepared, so I helped him. Maybe you could come?”
“The AV squad’s not my thing.”
“It’d get you out of here. And around people.”
“Besides,” Frank continued, “that writer, my teacher, Staples, is going to be there. Maybe you could hit him up for an interview story.”
“I’ll catch him some other time. They say he’s sick.”
“Sick? In what way?”
“Like terminal. How else did he end up here? This ain’t exactly Oxford.”
Frank thought about the way Staples looked. The sound of his voice. It was possible.
“Yeah. You’re might be right. But why here? Even if he is sick, he could have gone anywhere.”
“If I ever get him on my show I’ll ask him.”
“Tonight’s your chance to ask.”
“Truth is, I tried already. He turned me down. But tell you what. You get on his good side. Soften him up, Then maybe that’ll give me an in.”
“But if you
show up with me he might get suspicious?”
"Something like that.”
"If I get a chance to talk to him I'll feel him out."
Thanks." Jack paused, then added, "And be careful.
"Careful?"
Just a feeling. Please, don't stay too late."
"Who knows, we might get caught up in some cut-throat Scrabble."
I'm serious. Keep your eyes open. And watch your back."
Pax et bonum
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