Lanny blushed from the Puerto Rican girl's stare.
He'd scratched his ankle on a bent corner of the metal guard that covered the bottom of his fridge.
"What's wrong with these cats?" said the girl.
Lanny was sure she'd seen him staring down her pink tube top.
"Nothing," said Lanny.
She picked the black and white kitten from the orange Nike shoebox. The kitten let out a raspy meow as the girl pressed it against the word "Degeneres" stretched across her tits. She smiled, kicked her sneaker back to stand up, and knocked Lanny's stack of videotapes over.
"For real I could have this cat?"
Lanny picked up a tape, The Hollow Man, and dusted it with his hand.
"My brother's in this."
"Your brother is Kevin Bacon?"
"Josh Brolin."
"Really?" She walked to Lanny's foyer, "So I could have this right?"
"Yeah."
The kitten hissed and ran up the girl's neck. She yanked it off and pressed it against her chest.
Lanny stared at her cleavage.
He let it burn into his head.
The girl glared at him as the door closed behind her.
He looked at the shoebox. Only the runt was left.
A kitten covered with gray cotton candy instead of fur. It mewed, and Lanny thought of Mia Farrow's voice in Radio Days.
Lanny watched James's black tail swat the carpet and figured she'd like to keep one of her kids.
He picked up the runt; it purred and snuggled on his neck.
He let it hang there and took a marker from his "Coke" pencil cup.
He put the runt in the shoebox, bent over with the marker and wrote Josh on the side in block letters.
Josh mewed and the melody of it swam through Lanny's belly. He tore a page from a copy of Men's Health on the floor and crumpled it. He tossed the paper ball to Josh who rolled onto his back and swatted it out of the box.
*
The sheets felt cold on Lanny's feet.
He usually woke up sweaty from the sun that shined through the windows over his bed.
Something pricked his heel as he moved his feet around.
Josh rolled back and forth and stretched his paws. He mewed when Lanny scowled at him.
"You nasty kitty."
The coolness around Lanny's feet was a puddle of yellow diarrhea.
He pulled the sheets off his bed and tossed them into a corner. A pile of mail on his desk was soaked in piss. Josh's booty had been busy last night. No big deal since his SSI check was dry under a McDonald's coupon.
Lanny went to the kitchen and opened a can of Fancy Feast for James & Josh. Josh because the kitten was beautiful just like Lanny's brother.
The first time Lanny watched Goonies he was ten and Sister Ann bought a copy of it for the orphanage. During the credits, Lanny saw someone with the same last name as him.
Josh Brolin.
Sister Ann said his name was Lanny Brolin but she didn't know the rest of it.
His records were lost and all the nuns who were around at the time Lanny was dropped off were dead from a case of carbon monoxide poisoning since some cracked out priest named Father Denny got stoned and left his Mustang running outside the orphanage all night.
Lanny was a baby then but he survived. The orphanage hired Sister Ann right after that. She took care of Lanny until he was too old. When Lanny looked in the mirror and realized that Josh Brolin also had brown hair just like his, even though it wasn't long and curly like Lanny's and he didn't have a rat tail, he knew that Josh had to be at least his half brother.
"Mew?" said Josh Kitten. Lanny thought Josh's fur looked shinier today, like a new dime, like Josh Brolin's hair the only time Lanny saw him in person.
*
Lanny took a cheap flight on Air Tran to LA. He paid for it by skipping on Captain Crunch for two months and buying generic, the kind that came in a bag instead of a box.
Lanny recognized the theater from thousands of stupid shows on "E!" and as he expected there was a bunch of famous people standing around acting pretty.
People like Rebecca Schaeffer and Dominique Dunne, starlets Lanny had assumed were dead. He remembered reading articles about the stalker who shot Rebecca Schaeffer and the abusive boyfriend who strangled Dominique Dunne. But Dominique, her hair dark and black like oil, was right there with her arm around Jon Hexum which confused Lanny even more since he was sure that Mr. Hexum had accidentally shot himself with a blank.
Lanny looked down by the marquis where the limos pulled up and saw Sal Mineo kissing a cop with thick, black curly hair.
The cop snatched a cigarette from Mineo and stubbed it out into the brown leather glove he wore. It was Michael Landon.
A blue Toyota Corolla pulled up to the curb. Chinese letters stenciled all over the back windows. Tinted windows.
The one on the driver's side rolled down. Lanny heard the stereo full of base, blasting Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide".
All the dead people stopped what they were doing to stare at the Corolla. The driver's door popped open and out stepped a short dark man in a pink suit and Lanny couldn't tell if he was Chinese or Italian under the purple lenses of his square bifocals. He figured he was both when he saw the vanity plate on the Toyota, "CHAGO".
Before Lanny could register Chago, the luminous angel
Brolin floated out of the back seat. Lanny's brother looked just like he did in "Goonies" except older and more stunning.
"You're the handsomest," was all Lanny could say.
Josh sneered and said, "Get this retard away from me."
Chago turned to face Lanny and with a swift karate kick cracked his nuts. Lanny collapsed and Chago pulled a lumpy sock from his pocket that had a creepy smiley face drawn on it with red ink.
"This is Sneaky Peterson," said Chago as he smacked Sneaky's lips across Lanny's eyes.
*
Lanny came while thinking of the Puerto Rican girl's tits and was careful to aim towards the drain. He didn't want cum on his feet since it would get sticky and turn into gluey balls.
Lanny picked his Jaws beach towel up off the floor and was careful to dry himself off with the picture facing out so the shark's mouth wouldn't touch his body.
He figured to give the cats another can of Fancy Feast but when he clicked the top off only James ran out to stick her nose in the large doggie dish.
Lanny guessed Josh didn't yet know the sound of the can meant food so he sucked his teeth and snapped his fingers.
"Josh, hey Josh."
The little puffball was hiding somewhere, maybe under the futon, but he wasn't.
"Josh?"
He went into the kitchen and opened all the cabinets.
"James? Where's your baby?"
He opened the front door and stuck his head out in the hallway.
"Josh?"
Lanny's throat felt tight.
His lips quivered.
Where was Josh?
He lifted the futon and tried to throw it over, but it slammed back into place on the floor.
When Lanny stood up straight, he got a sharp pain in his side and had to sit down on the futon and prop himself on the armrest.
He didn't have any pictures of Josh.
He went into the bedroom and came out with a bunch of crooked sheets of pulpy paper, Lanny had found a whole dumpster of this stuff in every color behind the general store on Chancy St. like five years ago and he took a ream of it.
Lanny drew Josh the best he could with a black marker. He drew ten signs with stick figure kittens surrounded with squiggly lines for Josh's puff. On each sign Lanny wrote:
Missing Gray Kitten
Call Lanny
829-6830 For Reward
He took his Discman with him and put "Candle in the Wind" on repeat because it was sad. He made sure to grab a
wool sweater and lock both locks as he left and he used his rat-tail like a ribbon to tie the rest of his hair into a ponytail.
*
A week after Josh vanished, Lanny noticed the stink in his kitchen.
It was strongest behind the fridge. The bent corner of the metal guard had popped out even though he'd nailed it shut.
He bent down to sniff it where the round thing that looked like an oil filter was and behind it there was a red glowing coil like a faint neon sign but there was some kind of slime melted over it and a tiny ball of clear goo.
Lanny inhaled sharply to stifle a cry and the sharp scent of the rotten slime stung his nose and he choked down the coppery taste of his egg sandwich as it repeated on him. He went to the fridge, drank directly from his two liter of pineapple soda to wash the acid away, and pulled his t-shirt over his face.
Lanny wrapped his fingers around the jagged guard and tore it off the fridge, which awoke the pain in his back like a sleeping bum.
James walked over and sniffed around the threshold of the exposed fridge motor.
"Get the fuck away," Lanny kicked James and reached
around to pull the fridge's plug while it was fresh in his head. When he turned around, he saw Josh's skull wedged between the filter thing and the neon coil. The brain must have boiled and leaked out and the gray fur had been replaced with the mottled browns of roaches.
Lanny filled a pitcher with hot water and tossed it on the roaches. The motor sizzled, some roaches scattered and some wiggled until they drowned floating around on the kitchen linoleum with burnt pieces of Josh.
Lanny saw one chunk that may have been a claw but there was no way to be sure.
Why hadn't he ever called the super about the fridge?
Lanny picked James up and hugged her close to where he thought his heart was and when he looked at the roaches again his egg sandwich sprayed out of his mouth like water shot from a Supersoaker.
*
Lanny soaked the vomit up from around the toilet bowl with his Jaws towel because he knew the shark would munch it all up with his big Texas style teeth. A chunk of gristle from the sausage patty in his egg sandwich hung from the rim of the bowl.
When Lanny was a kid he was allergic to milk and he would break out in hives and vomit at the sight of a Redi Whip can. The time he vomited the most was the three days Sister Ann spent fixing his allergy.
Sister Ann forced Lanny to drink bottle after bottle of warm strawberry milk. On the second day, his throat began to swell from the strain of regurgitation and Lanny thought he'd choke.
Lanny begged Sister Ann to stop and although he could hardly make her out through the hives that crowded his eyelids, he heard her laugh and the sound of another milk bottle popping, the kind with the smiling rabbit on it.
By the third day, the milk had curdled but Lanny chugged it now with lust and smiled at the rabbit and he could see Sister Ann's sexy ass again because the hives were gone and he drank more milk and didn't vomit. He'd been cured.
*
Lanny threw on a gray sweat suit and walked down Chancy Street towards McDonald's.
By the children's play area, he saw a furry gray figure exit the passenger door of a bright white Silverado. His black wheelchair rolled down a ramp that led to the curb.
It wasn't just the gray hair that gave the cripple his resemblance to Josh. It hit Lanny like a shotgun going off; this guy had a kitten face; a little twitchy nose, snub jaw, and thin gray whiskers. But it wasn't Josh. There would never be another Josh, not ever.
A sparky Asian toddler followed the gray kitty man from the truck with purple bow shaped barrettes clipped in her pigtails. The Asian jumped into the kitty's lap.
"Daddy? Can I get a Mac Jr. this time?"
"You don't like the Mac Jr.," said the kitty as he tickled her.
The Asian girl giggled as this fat black guy in an orange "Fat Albert" sweatshirt walked around the corner and said to kitty man.
"Maybe Janet's not a quitter Nick. Maybe she's not scared to try again. Maybe she's not like you," said the fatso.
"Maybe blah blah blah," said Nick.
Lanny wondered if they were some type of makeshift family with two gay dads, like that old sitcom "My Two Dads". The difference was the baby Springer
Spaniel that barked down the ramp.
The black guy snatched the puppy and cradled it against his sweatshirt.
"My wingy Wanger," said the black guy.
"Bellerose?" asked Janet.
"Yes honey?" said bloated Bellerose.
"How come you named the puppy Wanger?"
"Because he's an asshole," said Nick.
It was rude to curse around your own child and Lanny found Nick just rude overall, a true disgrace to Josh's lifted style.
Lanny followed Nick into the McDonald's and held the doors open for him. Bellerose and Janet stood outside with Wanger.
"You best not dare forget my Supersize," said Bellerose.
"Yeah me too," said Janet.
"Whatever," said Nick. Lanny smiled at Nick but Nick looked at him with what Lanny took to be disapproval.
Despite Nick's roughness, it was hard not to be enchanted by him. He looked so much like Josh. Lanny watched Nick and it felt so shockingly painful like someone poured alcohol on his heart.
He had not felt even close to this when Sister Ann died and he loved her more than anything. Cancer could not be prevented by Lanny though, no matter how many nails he hammered or how many supers he called.
Lanny waited behind Nick on line and listened to him make his order, which included chicken nuggets.
"Supersize?" said the cute blonde clerk Elsie. Lanny noticed Elsie checking Nick out around his crotch area and he hoped that dick was no good just like his legs cause the way Elsie stared she looked hungry for it.
"Regular," said Nick.
Lanny almost screamed out about Bellerose and Janet but how cheesy that would have been and he blushed. Bellerose was better off without Supersize anyway.
"No cheese, I'm lactose intolerant," said Nick.
Fancy name for a milk allergy, thought Lanny.
He watched Elsie go back to get another burger from the aluminum slide.
He watched her pack Nick's order, and fold the paper bag.
Nick wrangled a soggy twenty from under his butt.
He rolled away with the change and Lanny saw a packet of barbecue sauce slip out of his bag and fall on the floor.
Lanny pocketed the sauce and rushed past Nick out the doors.
He didn't feel hungry anymore and he avoided eye contact with Bellerose as he walked down the street. He fiddled with the packet of sauce until it exploded. He rubbed the stolen sauce between his fingers and massaged it against the fabric until it soaked through and he felt it on his thigh.
*
Lanny waited for the stop light on the corner of Brancy Ave. and shut his eyes at the sun before they watered up and made him look like he was crying.
His eyes got wet anyway.
When Lanny looked through the teardrops, through scrunched up eyelids it looked like some kind of drowned city.
It reminded him of when he was a kid walking places with Sister Ann, she made him stand as far as he could from the curb and held his hand when they crossed the street.
When it was sunny and his eyes were crazy he used to think he was looking into the sort of Heaven Sister Ann described.
"It's full of fun and if you want filthy sex or murder it's okay forever."
"So our games are okay?" asked Lanny.
"Every time you do something that makes you feel good it is like touching pieces of Heaven," said Sister Ann.
"Dick," said someone after they bumped him. The light switched to walk and Lanny recognized Elsie, probably on a break, with her small, shapely body flattered by her McDonald's uniform, and the freckles on the tip of her elf nose. He'd made a point to cum thinking of her when he touched himself but last time it went awry because somewhere in all that, in the midst of the orgasm was a flash of Josh's face instead of hers.
Elsie kept walking and as Lanny followed her, he saw the white Silverado turn the corner of Brancy. As it slowed down Lanny imagined he grabbed the big antenna off the back, ripped it right off and how good it would feel. He reached out suddenly and tore the antenna out as the Silverado passed him. He hopped to the curb and as he landed, he heard the sound of tires screeching and Billy Idol's "Cradle of Love".
"What are you a fucking retard?" said Nick through the Silverado's passenger window.
"What? No," said Lanny and his voice came out lispy. Other cars lined up behind the Silverado and honked their
horns but Nick just stared at him with that same look he gave him in McDonald's, the way you'd look at a drop of bird shit that fell in your chicken salad.
"I wanna make this clear," he said.
Nick presented a polished yellow ball that had a Waspy face drawn on it in black ink, a face that reminded Lanny of Princess Di and the ball spoke with a British accent through Nick's kitty mouth, "Don't mess with Nick Vaughn."
Nick pegged the yellow ball.
A sharp crack of pain shot through Lanny's nose and his eyes welled up with tears.
He tasted blood when he put his tongue to the swollen part of his upper lip.
The Silverado pulled away.
*
Lanny circled "Belle Vaughn 14 Pauncelaire Dr." in his yellow pages.
He'd gotten home with his bloody nose and black eyes and the first thing he saw was James curled up on the futon with a chunk of gristle, a left over piece of Josh.
He went to the medicine cabinet because two years ago, he threw his back out on the trampoline in Pat Finley's yard and the doctor had given him some Oxycontins.
"I could use aspirin," said Lanny to the doctor and he remembered the doctor's brown mustache that looked like a dirty toothbrush head and it still made him mad the way that crappy doctor stared at him weird. The way it seemed everyone stared at him, like Elsie and the rest of the gang at McDonald's or Nick Vaughn and his "ethnically challenged" family, or their black & white dog, or Josh Brolin.
And now what? Now Lanny was gonna let this Vaughn character peg a ball at his face and bust his nose?
He couldn't let Nick Vaughn roll around with his fuzzy gray crew cut and lifted Josh Kitty style.
It was a disgrace.
Nick Vaughn's whole ridiculous family was a black eye.
There wasn't any Oxycontins in the cabinet. All he found was a bottle of Nair for Men.
*
Lanny saw Josh's face in everything silver or metallic. The hubcaps on a Dodge, the rain clouds, and the steel colored label on the bottle of Nair jammed in his pocket.
He hadn't been able to sleep so he went for a walk until he ended up on the corner of Brancy, right where Nick Vaughn's ball had hit him. He walked down Brancy, which was safer at night since all the people on Brancy were
assholes and you were better off if it was deserted except he hoped that Nick was out here somewhere, with his family.
Lanny was ready for them, and he'd use Nair to take their eyelashes away.
Pat Finley lived on Brancy and as Lanny came upon his green box shaped house he realized it had been two years since Pat's dad told him to stop coming around.
Lanny remembered it was fucked up because Pat's dad Mick had punched him in the penis on the way out to teach him a lesson and he was the one calling Lanny a pervert just because him and Pat wrestled on the trampoline.
Lanny walked faster and thought about Sister Ann, which helped flush away disturbing thoughts like Mick Finley's knuckles brushing against the tip of his dick.
Lanny saw a bright sign in the distance. It was a 7-11. He'd never been this far down Brancy before and he flinched at the street sign he saw when he came to the end of the block. It was the fanciest sounding street in town, Pauncelaire Drive.
Lanny walked down Pauncelaire to get a better glimpse of a faint white outline in the distance. It was Nick's Silverado.
There were no lights on in the small white ranch house and the Silverado was pulled up to the door of the garage on the left side of the house. There was a path around the
right side of the house. Lanny tiptoed down it until he came around the corner and peeked inside one of the windows.
He could see the girl, Janet, sleeping with a Pokemon sheet pulled all the way up her throat under her chin.
There weren't any more windows before Lanny came upon a low picket fence that looked in the dark like it had been painted green but Lanny couldn't tell for sure. He heard a rumble like someone's stomach growling but heard a small yip and realized it was Wanger behind the fence and he'd picked up Lanny's scent.
"Hey Wanger."
"Arf?" said Wanger.
Lanny put his hand over the fence slowly and Wanger hopped up to lick it. Lanny wrapped his other arm under
Wanger's body and pulled him over the fence.
Lanny pressed the dog against his chest and Wanger licked under his chin affectionately. It made Lanny's throat feel moist and chafed like a rash. He clutched Wanger tighter and freed one arm to reach around and grab the gray bottle from his back pocket.
He clutched the bottle with his bottom three fingers and unscrewed the cap with his thumb and index fingers. Wanger let out a small yip. The Nair smelled the way Lanny imagined imitation shit would smell like and as Wanger let out yet another whiny yip Lanny turned the bottle over and watched the metal liquid pour into Wanger's mouth and run over his lips.
Wanger choked and made gurgling sounds and Lanny could see even in the dark that the gums around his gnashed teeth had turned bright blue. As Lanny dropped him, Wanger looked up with a strange pleading look and Lanny was sure it was the exact same look Josh had given the refrigerator before it murdered him. And unplugging it hadn't been enough. Lanny needed Wanger to kill the fridge. He yanked repeatedly on Wanger's tail and the dog made no louder sound than normal, even as the tail separated from his body followed by a wet string of veins.
Lanny lost his balance and fell backwards against the house with a thud holding Wanger's little black tail with two hands.
A floodlight illuminated the entire yard and Lanny saw it mounted over Janet's window.
He stuffed Wanger's tail into his back pocket and ran.
*
The fridge was unplugged but it still vibrated somewhere inside of itself in its dark soul.
For the exorcism, he played "Candle In The Wind (England's Rose 96) since it was a kick up from the original and he needed the power.
Behind the fridge, Lanny sat naked and cross-legged on his Jaws towel. A strip of foil lay across the towel in front of his feet. Three fetishes lay on the foil: a black puppy's tail, a burnt kitten's claw, and a roach's alibi. The third was not a physical thing and Lanny could not be sure if any of the roaches had an alibi for the time the cold parts of Josh's melted body had been eaten. He guessed he'd have to take the roach's word for it.
As Elton's voice faded, Lanny was dismayed to hear the small vibration of evil that came from the fridge. It was weaker but still there. His spell had failed.
Lanny heard a rustle in the kitchen pantry and the door swung open. James flew out with a cry followed by a bag of sugar and a green braided belt. The spell had worked a little, the fridge was weaker and Lanny picked up the braided belt.
"James?" said Lanny.
James ran towards the bathroom door and Lanny dropped the belt back to the floor and stamped on it as if it were a centipede. He was such a shithead because the stupid belt could not have been a sign; it could not have been part of the spell. The sign was in the bathroom.
Lanny pushed the bathroom door open and saw his greenish face and wrinkly brow in the mirror framed by brown curly locks. He threw the medicine cabinet open and there was nothing, not even Carmex. No signs but then Lanny saw the sink and his blue Mach 3.
*
Lanny rode the G30 Bus up Pauncelaire, down Chancy, then Brancy, then the Vetlerario Conduit, and back down Pauncelaire.
While passing a ghetto A&P on Vetlerario Conduit he saw a bunch of black kids in silver Puerto Rico County Makos jerseys beating up on a spic in orange sweat pants. Lanny couldn't understand why black kids had to be so violent.
It was four o'clock already and there was no sign of Nick Vaughn but Lanny was determined to stay on the bus until he saw him. Lanny had packed his bookbag with a roll of cherry Lifesavers and a carton of generic brand Strawberry Milk since the deli near the bus stop on Brancy didn't carry Quik. The Mach 3 in the right pocket of his purple jeans had a plastic safety cover clicked on it. He hoped by the time he saw Nick that the strawberry milk would be curdled enough to stick to the blades.
He needed to finish what Wanger's tail and Josh's claw had started. The homemade exorcism of whatever it was that gave the fridge its power.
The power to kill Josh.
The power to pinch Lanny's brain at night and squeeze out all the memories of Josh.
The fridge had telekinesis, some kind of hold on Lanny's mind and he guessed the fridge's power source was himself, from a battery or solar panel, something tiny injected in the core of his brain.
The bus turned the corner of Pauncelaire.
Lanny saw a black lady running in front of the small park at the beginning of Pauncelaire which was called Haberman park. The lady was in her forties and looked like Oprah, she wore a white t-shirt that had Bermuda printed on it with pink letters and she wore pink running shorts.
Lanny followed her with his eyes.
He saw her stumble.
Her legs tangled up.
She fell on the ground in a face down position.
She struggled to get up.
Then a hairless ape came running from the park.
The ape carried a long handled mallet that was green down to the rubber grip.
Lanny recognized Bellerose.
He yanked the wire down as hard as he could until the bus stopped.
*
Lanny followed Bellerose towards a close grouping of trees that had a trail running through it.
He ducked behind every bush or rock along the way and made sure to stay as far enough behind Bellerose as he could without losing him.
The curving path made it difficult but he could hear Bellerose's labored breathing.
It was a wonder to Lanny that Bellerose was able to get out of bed.
The path opened onto a clearing in the woods which had benches placed about it.
At the far end of the clearing there was another path leading into more woods.
Lanny heard a giggle.
Bellerose hobbled across the clearing and turned down the second path.
Lanny heard crinkling plastic. When he looked to where the sound came from, he saw black bunnies huddling together under one of the picnic benches.
Lanny kicked a small rock in their direction.
The bunnies hopped away and Lanny was glad because he didn't want them to witness what was about to go down. He tore open the carton of curdled strawberry milk.
He pulled the Mach 3 out his pocket and flicked off the plastic safety clip.
He poured strawberry milk over the blades.
The milk filled the spaces in between with shiny pink. The blade head looked just like a Pontiac grille.
Lanny snuck down the path.
He was glad he'd worn his Converse high tops even though the dirt was messing up the white canvas. He heard another giggle.
"Your Daddy and Daddy are doing something right now," said Nick Vaughn.
The path curved towards the end and Lanny ducked down behind a tree just before he came into the next clearing.
He peaked around the corner and saw Nick and Bellerose both with long mallets.
Bellerose had the green one Lanny had seen him with earlier and Nick swung a longer bright yellow one.
Nick leaned forward from his wheelchair and Lanny realized that he must have only been paralyzed in his lower legs so his dick might work.
The clearing they were in was covered with a bunch of small metal loops stuck in the grass.
Nick and Bellerose took turns knocking colored balls through the loops with their mallets. Lanny saw the yellow Princess Di ball, the one that smashed his face.
Janet sat a few feet behind Nick and Bellerose out of the way of their silly game, which Lanny suddenly realized was the same game Wynona Ryder played in "Heathers".
The razor dripped and strawberry milk ran down his wrist.
Lanny poured the rest of the carton onto the blade and shook out every drop.
Janet rolled a blue ball back and forth.
She had a yellow bunny seated next to her butt, a chintzy replacement for Wanger.
As Lanny approached, she looked up at him and grinned. With her crooked and missing teeth, Janet's smile looked just like a Jack O'lantern's.
"Who are you?" Janet giggled, "Your hair is funny."
Lanny smacked the blade across her face.
It caught, for a moment, against her eye.
As Lanny yanked the razor back, he saw a chunk of flesh from around Janet's eyebrow and some eyebrow hairs caught in between the blades.
The blood had all but washed away the milk and he couldn't tell if the other tofu chunks were curdles or pieces of Janet's eyeball.
Janet collapsed to the grass pressing her hand to her mangled face.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
Lanny saw Nick struggling to lunge at him from his wheelchair.
Nick fell from the chair headfirst and looked up with a mouthful of bloody tooth chips and grass.
Nick was crying, and Lanny watched the wild Charlie Sheen image fade away.
Janet stopped screaming.
Her body trembled on the ground like Wanger's had.
Janet's eyehole gushed black liquid.
Lanny knew the fridge would suffer that like a Freon leak.
Nick dragged himself through the grass by his arms and scooched like a weak baby.
"Janet," said Nick through boogers and tears as he dragged himself closer.
Lanny didn't know why Nick was freaking out so bad. Couldn't they adopt a new Asian and replace her like Wanger?
Lanny wondered where fat assed Bellerose had gone until he saw the green mallet flying at his face.
He felt the crack against his nose again but something sharp like a splinter stabbed his cheek.
Lanny felt a crack against the back of his head.
His scalp tingled and turned cold.
His scalp felt like it was floating off his skull.
Lanny watched Nick kiss Janet's face.
He felt another crack and collapsed to his knees.
Lanny looked up.
His vision and red.
He saw pieces of Bellerose, broken up like a jigsaw puzzle.
Green filled Lanny's vision and his eyelids slammed shut so hard his corneas snapped.
Lanny lay down and clutched the grass around him.
He felt his hair but when he moved his hand over his scalp, his fingers sunk into a cavern filled with something that felt like Jello with chips of ceramic in it.
"Bellerose."
Lanny felt around his hair and knew what the chips were. The location of the fridge's transmitters was exposed. Bellerose found them and Lanny could pick them out.
The gray fragments of Josh lodged in his brain.
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