Chapter Forty Nine

"Hey kid." Ted was talking to me from the side of his mouth, half whispering, half growling. Smoke came out from his lips and nose and the cigarette that hung from the other side of his face was bouncing up and down with each word. "I'd steer clear of that one, she has a jealous boyfriend named Clive, he works down at the mill, hates men that look at his girl, carries a dog leg pistola in his waistband. He comes from a family of no gooders. Somebody hung his brother from the pepper tree in front of the library and the police searched for his killer for a good 25 minutes before they gave up. Hell of a search Marty. They looked in all the bushes and the glove compartments of several cars. Christ, they even went to the Krispy Kreme and searched through a half dozen Bismarcks."

"She wants me to dance."

Ted turned around on his stool with the grace of a Sumo wrestler in a washing machine. Once he adjusted his position so he could see her without rotating his neck at all he said "I think she likes you." He turned back to the bar in a record setting 10 seconds. "Don't come crying to me when all hell breaks loose."

I danced for about 20 minutes with Temptation, if you can call it that. We did something that could be described as a cross between a Samba and a Tango. If you could make babies from dancing we would have had a house full. If I had been her boyfriend I would've been jealous of the steps we were exhibiting. I felt sorry for any man who wasn't me right then.

The last song ended and she and I embraced for the final note. A slip of paper could barely fit in the space between our lips. We strutted backwards, away from each other with our eyes fixed on one another. I could have married her right there. I broke the stare and turned back to the counter. Ted was gone. Most of the clientele had crawled under their tables. I turned back to the door....there was Clive. I don't know how long he'd been standing there, but from the look of his face, I would guess, long enough.

He was a very masculine looking man, his muscles bulging through his dirty t-shirt. The line of his jaw suggested strength but there was a tear in his eye. He ran his thick fingers through his thick, greasy, black hair and looked to the ground. "I'm sorry fella, I know you couldn't help yourself none, but now I gotta kill you."

I laughed to myself. What kind of drama was playing out here? I had just been reassembled only a few hours ago by Don and previous to that I was mercilessly broken in to pieces by Ted. This had the feeling of a "shootout" at one of those tourist trap western towns. I didn't have any fear, just a little nervous anticipation of what was to happen next.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the top of a hat behind the counter. Ted and Linda Sue were crouching together on the floor. "Marty, I'd start making peace with either God or Clive at this point."

"Stop the bullshit Ted. I know this is all some kind of passion play for my benefit. What can he do to me that you haven't done already?"

"Marty." Ted replied in a broken, unusually high voice. "I think you're confused."

"Ted, I heard you on the phone. You told whoever you were talking to that you were really working me over Down Here. I figure this is some kind of "Tough Love" visit to hell, to teach me some valuable lesson or something."

"Marty, listen to me. This is for real. If he kills you, you're dead."

I laughed.

Clive pulled the gun from his waistband, pointed at my face and fired twice. The bullets raced passed my ears and through the window in to the the kitchen. Mel who was oblivious to what was happening in the dining room never knew what hit him. His head exploded into bite sized pieces and fell in to the Jambalaya. Linda Sue screamed and Ted covered her mouth.

"Marty, listen to me." Ted had a very anxious sound to his voice. His face was a bright red. "When I said Down Here, I didn't mean Hell. I meant Tennessee. This is Tennessee. South is down. We're in the South.

I was numb at first. Ted was shitting me. Right? Whatever Clive could do, Don could fix. Right?

Ted held up 3 fingers." Three things Marty. One, You are in the real world now. Two, Don can't fix what Clive can do to you. Three, Whatever you do. Don't eat the Jambalaya."

Boom! Clive shot a third time.