Chapter Six
As we walked out of the saloon, Louis stood leaning to his bus’ chrome fender, waiting for us to get in. The sun was shining through a few thin clouds. Its reflection on his big bald head reminded me of Mom’s melting butter in the frying pan.
“Hi there Tiko, you come along for a ride, huh?”
Louis probably knew him from the school bus.
“My dear Louis, he’ll stay with us more permanently,” Lucy said, beaming an admiring and loving glance at Mark.
“Oh well, it is just as Miss Lucy says it is, of course. How about Miss Lucy swing her tiny behind right into my bus, huh? And then, please Miss Lucy, would you take the pleasure of turning the key to my ignition - I mean the bus’, Miss Lucy, dear.”
I burst out laughing, Lucy’s cheeks turned cherry-red and Mark was grinning over both his ears. He walked up to me. I was surprised to see that he wasn’t limping or anything. There was no way you could tell he had an artificial leg.
As if he read my thoughts he lifted his jeans a little to show off his hairless leg : “It fits me like a glove, plastic - made in China, a little yellow, that’s all.”
He grinned and stroked it as if talking about his board. Maybe I just had to get used to the feeling of being with a disabled who doesn’t care. His handicap didn’t seem to pose a problem. And it sure wasn’t cutting down on his mobility. The only disabled I’d known so far were Midville’s brain crippled but those did behave very different from normal people.
Louis let Lucy turn the key and with a bang twice as loud as Mr. Jones’ last fart the thing came back to life. We drove through narrow canyons and over huge empty plains. Nowhere any life in sight. Just dust and us. The clouds had dissolved making the heat unbearable. All the windows in the bus were open, but still we felt like a live barbecue. Tiko seemed to enjoy it all. He blabbered endlessly about all the shit he would stop seeing and about all kinds of unknown opportunities that might await us. He was quite ahead of his age.
“I’m going to meet Lola in L.A. - or even Missy. And if we get along well, maybe they let me star in one of their movies,” he said, his eyes glowing with anticipation. “And who are they, to take you without a decent casting?”
Sometimes Lucy appeared to be from another planet.
While Mark bent over to give her a short introduction to the who is who in porn, Louis asked: “How about the difference in height? I guess you don’t want to be carrying a stool wherever you go, because I’m telling you, L.A.’s yellow pages won’t do the job.”
“Don’t you think I don’t get it that you’re trying to make fun of me, Louis? My father taught me to live in the here and now and that’s what I do. I’ll take care of a problem when it turns up. Worrying about things that might happen would rob me of precious energy. If one day a problem turns out to be too much for me I can always ask Wild Cloud for help.”
Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea after all to let him come along.
“You mean, little man, your ol’ Wild Cloud will grow your willie in a second if you need it?” Louis definitely couldn’t see that happening - neither could we.
But Tiko didn’t give up: “Yeah, it’s all a question of faith. I saw a movie once on ‘The Playboy Channel’ about a college professor who was so in love with this pretty babe but he just had a tiny one, you know what I’m saying?”
“Yeah I heard of the problem, yeah.”
“He knelt down next to his bed and really prayed long and hard for days in a row. Then suddenly his little guy started growing and it didn’t stop until it had become this big fat monster. I mean, it got real big. I saw it with my own eyes! He was happy forever after and the girl too.”
“Oh stop it Tiko,” Lucy yelled. „You’re so gross. Can’t you guys just for once think about something else. This really is disgusting, I mean how old are you, nine, ten? How about thinking about playing soccer or whatever. If I had known you’re such a little pig I would have let you rot in that cellar with Mr.Jones! And you Louis, shame on you to talk dirty to the kid!”
Mark turned sideways to hide his grin while Louis put his face close to the windshield smiling at the dead flies and pushing the gas.
Who the hell did I pick to escape Midville’s nutheads with? Suddenly I wasn’t so sure anymore if this all’d been such a good idea. I looked out of the window. The wind felt good on my sweaty face. Would it have been better to have stayed at home? I imagined Mom reading my goodbye letter. Her crying tore my heart in two. Dad would come running and start yelling at all of Italy’s beheaded saints. But then, realizing Mom was standing next to him, he’d look at her, chubby and yet so fragile. He’d take her in his big beefy arms and hug her. He then would tell her about all the wonderful times we’d shared and that if he would have had the chance, he’d have done it all over again.
“Sometimes things just are the way they are,” he would say. “It’s the only way out for them.”
Mom would start sobbing again but she’d feel protected and somehow would know he was right. After all she’d told Lucy to go show her butt to movie producers in L.A.
“Even if it’s only for the experience. Anything is better than showing worn down George to some lost tourists.”