Drowning Tucson Read Online Free Page A

Felipe looked to his left, directly at the chest of a huge man looming over him. A joke? What do you mean? The bouncer’s arms were so thick he couldn’t cross them over his chest. He just rested them on top of his gut and stared down at Felipe. You got ID? You know you have to be an adult to come in here, and I’m guessing, little man, that you aren’t exactly full-grown yet. Felipe shook his head. He was mortified. Everyone in the place is probably looking right at me thinking look at this dumbass kid trying to sneak in here. He turned to leave, and the bouncer stopped him. Hey, little man. Consider that a free-bie. Now you know what you have to look forward to. He smiled, see you in a few years, then he pushed the door open for Felipe to leave.
    If that’s what I have to look forward to, I can wait. He wasn’t thinking about the naked woman. He was thinking about the lonely-lookingman he’d seen just as the bouncer kicked him out. The old man was crouched in his chair at the foot of a stage, where another dancer was shedding her clothes. His back was an exhausted curve, his hair badly brushed over his balding scalp. The man’s arm was extended toward her, a dollar bill folded between his fingers for her to grab whenever she became desperate enough to approach him. They seemed to both be there because of an obligation and not because they had chosen to show up. Felipe always figured if you went to a tittie bar, you would be excited. Maybe there was a small chance you could even score with a stripper. But this guy was sitting there like he was being forced to sit through a midnight mass. Damn, the stripper’s tits were real nice, though. They looked real firm, and he wished he could’ve touched them just once. Still, it hadn’t been a total loss.
    He walked to the street and sat down on the curb to smoke a cigarette and watch traffic. If Ricardo knew he’d been in a strip joint, even if it had only been for a moment, he’d be so jealous.
    He hadn’t noticed it before, but there were women everywhere. They were walking down the street in pairs, laughing and flicking cigarettes onto the pavement. A few leaned against lampposts or lounged in the doorways of bars or under the awnings of hotel lobbies, playing with their hair or checking their makeup in compact mirrors. Felipe couldn’t believe the way the women in this part of town dressed. Miniskirts. Go-go boots with tall, see-through heels. They barely had anything on, and there were so many of them.
    A woman sat down beside him and introduced herself. I’m Rainbow. Her lips puckered with the words, mesmerizing him. He liked the way her toes poked out of her shoes. They were tiny, and the nails were painted metallic blue to match her top. She put her hand on his knee, and he hoped the fuzz on his lip was dark enough that she’d mistake it for a mustache. I’m Felipe. She said his name back to him slowly, puckering her lips again. You got a cigarette? He had one out before she had finished asking the question. They smoked a while in silence, and he looked at her long legs sticking out into the road. Rainbow finally broke the pause by asking if he was lonely tonight. Yeah. I’m lonely. Don’t really know anyone here, and I have nowhere to go. Her thin hand crepthigher up his leg. Do you want a girlfriend tonight? You know, some company? He nodded his head and swallowed, and Rainbow flipped her cigarette out into the street. She stood up and pulled Felipe to his feet. Follow me. I have somewhere we can go.
    They walked across the street holding hands, and most of the women they passed whistled and said you go girl. Felipe blushed, thinking they were making fun of him, a little embarrassed at all the attention being drawn to him, but he was also proud he had gotten a hot girl so easily. Already he had forgotten the shame he had felt for being kicked out of the Swank.
    Rainbow stopped outside the office of the No-Tel Motel and told him to wait. She went in and