Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story Chapter 7

Chapter 7SuitorsAfter enduring a reason adequate criterion of bitterness from the crew over using his position to ca-ca a move on the girl in the parklanding lot, Tommy was able to deviate them to draw off back to work. Simon, Drew, and Jeff performed nearly mechanical magic on the nucleus case with a hammer, some jumper cables, and a can of Bondo, and by morning everything was running as if greased by the gods. Tommy met the manager at the front door with a smile and a report that his maiden night had g angiotensin converting enzyme gr kill. The best crew he had ever mastern, he verbalise.He rode to Chinatown with troy weight Lee. They found a parking dimension a a few(prenominal) points from Tommys room and walked the rest of the way. The sun was up only an bit, but already the merchants were open and the sidewalks crowded. Delivery trucks luged the streets as they dropped off their haemorrhoid of fresh fish, m flow, and vegetables.Walking through Chinatown with troy weight Lee at his side, Tommy en tangle as if he were carrying a secret weapon.Whats that stuff? Tommy strikeed, pointing to a hatful of celerylike stuff on a produce table.Bok choy Chinese cabbage.And that?Ginseng root. They diffe leadiate its good for the wood.Tommy s crimpped and pointed in the window of a herbalist. That looks like hunks of deer antler.It is, Troy give tongue to. Its use upd to make medicine.As they passed the fish market Tommy pointed to the capacious spiny turtles trying to escape their milk crates. Do people eat those?Sure, people who can afford them.This is like a foreign country.It is, Troy verbalize. Chinatown is a very closed community. I cant believe you live here. Im Chinese and Ive never even lived here.This is it, Tommy said, stopping at the door.So you want me to request them ab break the f kickoffers, and what else?Well, close vampires.Give me a break.No, this ridicule I met, the Emperor, he said it could be vampires. Tommy led the way up the steps.Hes bullshitting you, Tommy.He was the oneness that told me about the job at your store, and that turned out to be true.Tommy opened the door and the five Wongs looked up from their bunks. Bye-bye, they said.Bye-bye, Tommy said.Nice place, Troy said. Ill bet the rent is a sea wolf.Fifty bucks a week, Tommy said.Fifty bucks, the five Wongs said.Troy motioned Tommy out of the room. Give me a minute here.Troy closed the door. Tommy waited in the h either, auditory sense to the nasal, banjo sounds of the conversition between Troy and the five Wongs. After a few minutes Troy emerged from the room and motioned for Tommy to follow him back down to the street.What goes? Tommy asked when they reached the sidewalk.Troy turned to him he seemed as if he was trying to keep from laughing. These guys ar proficient off the boat, man. It was kind of hard to understand them, they speak some regional dialect.So?So, theyre here illegally, smuggled over by pirates. They owe t he pirates like thirty grand for the trip, and if they get caught and sent back to China, they unflustered owe the money. Thats like twenty years wages in the provinces.So? Tommy asked. Whats that got to do with the flowers?Troy snickered. Im getting to that. You see, they want to be citizens. If they become citizens, they can get better jobs and pay off the pirates faster. And they cant be sent back.And the flowers?The Wongs are expiration the flowers. Theyre courting you.WhatThey heard somewhere that in San Francisco men marry men. They embodiment that if they can get you to marry them, hence they can be citizens and hobble here. Youve got secret admirers, dude.Tommy was indignant. They think Im gay?They dont deal. I really dont think they care. They asked me to ask you for your plenty in marriage. Troy finally lost control and started laughing.What did you signalize them?I told them Id ask.You fucker.Well, I didnt want to en confident(predicate) them no without asking yo u. They said that theyd take good care of you.Go tell them I said no.You got something against Asians? Too good for us?No, its not that. I Ill tell them that youll think about it. Look, Ive got to get home and get some sleep. Ill see you at work tonight. Troy walked away.Youre cleaning garbage cans tonight, Troy. Im in charge, you know? You better not tell Simon and the guys.Whatever you say, Fearless Leader, Troy called over his shoulder.Tommy stood on the sidewalk trying to think of a better threat.A half(prenominal) block away Troy turned and yelled, Hey, TommyWhat?Youll make a lovely bride.Tommy, murder in his eyeball, broke into a run by and by Troy Lee.Sunset. Consciousness hit Jody like a bucket of bleak water.She thought, I miss waking up groggy and waiting for the chocolate to brew. Waking up with your worries already in full stride fair sucks.What was I thinking? Giving myself only a half hour to get ready for a date? I slang null to wear. I cant show up in a swe atshirt and jeans and ask this guy to move in with me. I dont even know anything about him. What if hes a drunk, or a woman beater, or a psycho killer? Dont those guys always work nights in food market stores? The neighbors always say that He worked nights and kept to himself. Who would have thought that he stir-fried the paperboy? He did say I was beautiful, though, and everybody has their faults. Who am I to judge? Im aShe didnt want to think about what she was.Jody had thrown on her jeans and was furiously trying to locate on what brusk make-up she had with her.She thought, I can read little print in the dark, I can see heat coming off a hiding rat from a hundred yards, and I still cant put on mascara without poking myself in the eye.She stepped back from the mirror and tried to engagement the self-criticism tried to look at herself objectively. I look like a late-night TV supplication for the fashion-impaired, she thought. This wont work.She broke away from the mirror, then took one stand up look and primped her hair, then started out the door, then took one last look, then started out the door, then paused for a last lookNo she said aloud. She ran out the door, down the steps, and to the bus stop on the corner, where she bounced from human foot to foot as if waiting for the bathroom at a beer-drinking contest.Tommy had spent the sidereal day trying to avoid the five Wongs. He watched the room until he was sure they had all left, then he sneaked in and grabbed some clean clothes, showered, togged up, and sneaked out. He took a bus to Levis Plaza, where he napped on a park bench while pigeons and seagulls scavenged nigh him. Late afternoon brought a cold wind off the bay that chilled him awake.He walked up Sansome toward North Beach, trying to rub the crease out of the back of his head left by the bench slats. As he passed a group of teenagers who were posturing and panhandling at the curb, one pudgy boy shouted, Sir, can you spare a pull out for some eyeliner?Tommy dug in the pocket of his jeans and handed the kid all of his change. No one had ever called him sir beforehand.Oh, thank you, sir the kid gushed in a high feminine voice. He held the fistful of change up to the others as if he had effective been handed the cure for cancer.Tommy smiled and walked on. He figured that panhandlers had salute him about ten dollars a day since he had come to the city ten dollars that he really couldnt afford. He didnt seem to be able to look away and walk on like everyone else. Maybe it was something you develop after a while. Maybe the constant assault of despair callused your compassion. A plea for money for food always made his stomach growl, and a quarter was a small price to pay to quiet it. The plea for eyeliner appealed to the writer part of him, the part that believed that creative thought was worth something.yesterday he had heard a tourist tell a homeless person man to get a job.Pushing a shopping handcart up an d down these hills is a fucking job, the homeless guy had said. Tommy gave him a buck.It was still light when Tommy reached Enricos on Broadway. He paused momentarily and looked over the few customers who were eating on the patio by the street. Jody wasnt there. He stopped at the hosts station and reserved a table outside for a half hour later.Is there a bookstore around here? he asked.The host, a thin, bearded man in his forties, with perfect anchorman-gray hair, raised an eyebrow, and with that small gesture made Tommy feel like scum. urban center Lights is one block up on the corner of Columbus, the host said.Oh, thats right, Tommy said, batting himself on the eyebrow as if hed just remembered. Ill be back.We are giddy with anticipation, the host said. He spun curtly on one heel and walked away.Tommy turned and started up Broadway until he was accosted by a doggie outside a strip joint, a man in a red tailcoat with a top hat.Tits, slits, and clits. Come on in, sir. The show st arts in five minutes.No, thanks. I have a dinner date in a few minutes. tot the little lady back with you. This show can turn a maybe into a sure thing, son. Well have her sitting in a puddle before you leave.Tommy squirmed. Maybe, he said. He hurried along until the barker deuce doors up, this one a buxom woman wearing flog and a ring in her nose, stopped him.The most beautiful girls in town, sir. All nude. All hot. Come on in.No, thanks. I have a dinner date in a few minutes.Bring her Maybe, Tommy said, base on balls on.He was stopped three more times before he reached the end of the block, and each time he declined politely. He noticed that he was the only one who stopped. The other pedestrians just walked on, ignoring the barkers.Back home, he thought, its rude to ignore someone who is speaking to you, especially if they call you sir. I cerebrate Im going to have to learn City manners.She had fifteen minutes before she was supposed to meet Tommy at Enricos. Allowing for an other bus ride and a short walk, she had about seven minutes to find an outfit. She walked into the Gap on the corner of Van Ness and Vallejo with a stack of hundred-dollar bills in her hand and announced, I need help. NowTen salespeople, all young, all change in generic cotton casual, looked up from their conversations, spotted the money in her hand, and simultaneously stopped breathing their brains shutting down bodily functions and rerouting the infallible energy to calculate the projected commissions contained in Jodys cash. One by one they resumed breathing and marched toward her, a look of dazed hunger in their eyes a pack of zombies from the perky, youthful version of The Night of the Living Dead.I wear a size four and Ive got a date in fifteen minutes, Jody said. Dress me.They descended on her like an evil khaki wave.Tommy sat at a patio table with only a low brick planter box between him and the sidewalk. To avoid the titty bar barkers, he had crossed the street eight times in the half block from City Lights Bookstore to Enricos and he was a little jangled from dodging traffic. He ordered a cappuccino from a waiter who fawned over him like a mother hen, then stared in amazement when the waiter returned with a transfuse the size of a large soup bowl and a casing of brown crystalline cubes.These are raw cole cubes, honey. So some(prenominal) better for you than that white poison.Tommy picked up the soup spoon and reached for a sugar cube.No, no, no, the waiter scolded. We use our demitasse spoon for our cappuccino. He pointed to a petty spoon that rested in the saucer.Demitasse, Tommy repeated, feeling reckless. In Indiana the use of the word demitasse was tantamount to leaping out of the closet in scandalous flames. San Francisco was a great city A great place to be a writer And gay guys seemed like pretty tight-laced people, once you got past their seeming obsession with Barbra Streisand music. Tommy smiled at the waiter. Thanks, I may need a little help with the forks.Is she special? the waiter asked.I think shes going to break my heart.How exciting the waiter gushed. Then well make you look marvelous. Just remember, use from the outside first on the forks. The oversize spoon is for winding pasta. Is this your first date?Tommy nodded.Then order the raviolis bite-size no muss, no fuss. Youll look good eating them. And order for her, the rosemary volaille with roasted bell peppers and wild mushrooms in cream sauce a beautiful dish. Tastes horrid, but on a first date she wont eat it anyway. You dont have time to run home and change, do you?The waiter looked at Tommys flannel shirt as if it were a foul, dead animal.No, this is all I have clean.Oh well, it does have a certain Mr. Green Jeans charm, I guess.Tommy caught a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Jody walking into the cafe. The waiter followed his gaze.Is that her?Yes, Tommy said, waving to catch her attention. She spott ed him, smiled, and approached the table.Jody was dressed in a khaki skirt, a light-blue chambray blouse, light-blue leggings, and tan suede flats. She wore a woven leather belt, a green tartan scarf tied around her shoulders, silver earrings, bracelet, and necklace, and carried a suede pile in place of her airline flight bag.The waiter, keeping his gaze resolved on Jody, bent and whispered in Tommys ear, The flannel is fine, honey. I havent seen anyone that over-accessorized since Batman. He stood and pulled the chair out for Jody. Hi, weve been waiting for you.Jody sat.My name is Frederick, the waiter said with a slight bow. Ill be serving you this evening. He pinched the fabric of Jodys scarf. amiable tartan, dear. Sets off your eyes. Ill be back with some menus.Hi, Jody said to Tommy. Have you been waiting long?A little while, I wasnt sure of the time. I brought you something. He reached under the table and pulled a book out of a City Lights bag. Its an almanac. You said you needed one.Thats very sweet.Tommy looked down and mimed an Aw, shucks, it was nothing.So, do you live around here? Jody asked.Im sort of looking for a place.Really? Have you been in town long?Less than a week. I came here to write. The grocery store is just a just aJob, Jody finished for him.Right, just a job. What do you do?I used to be a claims clerk at Transamerica. Im looking for something else, now.Frederick appeared at the table and opened two menus in front of them. If you dont mind me saying, he said, you two are just darling together. Theres a Raggedy-Ann-and-Andy energy going between you two that is simply electric.Frederick walked away.Jody eyed Tommy over the menu. Have we just been insulted?I hear the rosemary chicken breast is wonderful, Tommy said.