Grants Pass Read Online Free Page B

heel.
    “ It’s okay,”
Lucas said. “We’ll get you some more tomorrow. I’ll buy you some,” he added,
laughing, the sound slightly blurred from the beer.
    I retired to sleep as soon as
possible, inflating my air mattress with difficulty. Lucas watched me, but
didn’t offer to help, methodically finishing the six-pack of beer. I
deliberately set up my mattress on the far side of the lobby. When he set up
his mattress, he placed it directly next to mine.
    When I woke it was dark, and Lucas
was gone, his sleeping bag shucked like a snake’s skin. I lay there for a
moment, disoriented by the silence before the pressure in my bladder forced me
to rise and seek a bathroom. I performed my ablutions rapidly, the chemical smell
of the water heavy in the still air.
    The girl in the mirror was a
stranger, her face bare of makeup and dyed red hair limp around her shoulders.
Automatically I dug in my pockets and retrieved a tube of lipstick. I got as
far as rolling the tube up and placing it to my lower lip before dropping it in
the empty sink.
    I dug into my pockets again, finding
loose change, a Metro card, credit card, my pager. Each item I dropped in the
sink, the change rattling against the porcelain like chains against bone. Last
of all, I drew out the piece of paper I had taken from the lobby of my
apartment building. This alone I replaced in my pocket.
    I found Lucas out on the sidewalk,
smoking. He held out the packet to me wordlessly; I took one. When I inhaled
the smoke it tasted stale. He nodded towards the horizon. “You see that?”
    A faint glow lit the sky. “The
sunrise?”
    Lucas smiled. “The sun rises in the
other direction. That’s a fire. New York is burning.”
    I shivered, cold despite the warmth
of the air.
    Lucas threw the butt of his
cigarette to the pavement, where it smoldered balefully. “It’ll take the whole
city if no one stops it.” He pressed the heel of one boot onto the butt. “We
should get you some shoes. There’s a lot of broken glass around.”
    We walked three blocks, me limping
in my heels. There we found a small discount store, the kind of place that I
would never have set foot in before. Lucas vanished upstairs, waving me towards
the women’s department where I picked out a pair of cheap trainers and thick
socks.
    Lucas reappeared while I was lacing
up the new shoes, the Gucci heels discarded among a pile of dollar rubber
sandals. “Look what I found!” He brandished a plastic bag filled to the brim
with apples. All were perfect, identical and shining deep red. I took one and
bit into it.
    The sweetness exploded in my mouth,
more delicious, it seemed, than anything I had tasted before. The second bite
revealed only twisted bitterness. I spat the bite out, Snow White in cheap
plastic shoes. The apple was black at the core, rotten. I lobbed it into the
midst of a display of cheap jewelry.
    “ Bad luck,”
Lucas said. “Want another?”
    I shook my head, nausea thick in my
throat. He shrugged, and polished off his own apple in quick bites, throwing
the core after my rotten one.
    We walked back to the lobby, a task
made much easier by my new shoes. “So, what’s your plan?” Lucas asked.
    “ My plan?” I
found myself looking towards the fire, turning back to see where the sun was
beginning to rise, staining the sky blood red. “I don’t know. Get out of New
York, go somewhere else.”
    Outside the lobby, Lucas sat down on
the hood of a stalled cab, blithely ignoring the dead driver who leered at him
through the cracked windscreen. He reached into his bag and selected another
apple. “I was thinking of heading out to one of the military bases. If anyone’s
left alive, or has a cure, it’ll be there.” He bit into the apple, a wet
tearing sound. “You know, it’s entirely possible that they bred this thing, and
released it.” He took another bite, and spoke with his mouth full. “They did
that with AIDS, you know.”
    I restrained myself from correcting
him.