The Hollywood Guy Read Online Free

stares at Little Deep where a kid swings on a tire. “I’m interested,” he hears himself saying.
    Bad things also happened that summer. While playing in the smokehouse, Little Petey dislodged a wasp nest. Bellows, the painter, came to the rescue and Mary Ann ran to tell Franny. Terrified by the little girl’s dramatic rendition of the incident, mother raced to save her little boy.
    Abstract landscapes were tacked to the wall of the Bellows cabin alongside sketches of Little Petey and Mary Ann playing with Boomer. There was baseball on the radio; a whiskey cured voice called the game.
    As the painter applied calamine lotion to Petey’s stings, he carried on a running conversation with the radio. “Come on Chief, they just Indians, mean nothing to you baby, nothing to you.” The boy drank a Coca-Cola trying to understand what he was talking about.
    Bellows explained. “Allie Reynolds the Yankee pitcher is part Indian and they’re playing the Cleveland Indians.”
    Franny burst into the room. “Petey!” She hugged her son.
    He suddenly began to cry. “Daddy’s never coming back. Daddy’s dead!”
    Pete sits by the swimming hole in the drizzling rain, considering the feasibility of buying the Streamside for a million dollars. 200K down, another 250 to restore, that’s 450/500 cash to do the deal. Can he earn his money back, make a profit? Isn’t that why you go into business?
    For the last nine months, he had been living temporarily in his best friend Bobby’s pool house, dried up creatively, losing money playing poker, and being sucked dry by cosmetically enhanced bimbos who wanted to be discovered and thought Pete still had some industry clout. He has the cash but does he have the courage to change his life? The motel could be a money pit? But not if he rolls up his sleeves and does a lot of the grunt work, he’s a hard worker; at least he used to be. He drives down Zena Road, past the Downing Farm and stops at the Four Corners Volunteer Fire Station.
    Carl Downing fronted a Rock and Roll band at the Fireman’s Dance that magic summer. Little Petey and Mary Ann gazed up at her dad transformed by pompadour into a God in rust colored pegged pants and a black satin shirt. He was trading choruses on electric guitar with the tenor sax man playing on his back as the bass spun and the drums rocked out. Bellows sketched Franny and Polly dancing together to Carl singing, “Rock and Roll Music.”
    “Rock and Roll,” whispered Petey.
    “Rock and Roll,” shouted Mary Ann.
    Pete decides to do the deal, buy the Streamside. As for Mary Ann, he learned that the Downing sisters eventually moved away and the younger one died recently of breast cancer. The older sister still owned the farm but lives in Seattle.
    Pete stands on Sully’s Bridge, staring at Little Deep, mourning his first love.
    Floating down the Esopus, Little Petey sort of saved Mary Ann’s life when her tube rolled over. In fact the girl was a strong swimmer and didn’t need his help but that didn’t change the fact that he acted bravely.
    Another time, the children stopped by the Bellows cabin for a Coke and discovered their mothers posing naked for the painter. Franny wore his beret at a jaunty angle and Polly sported a cloche hat with a long feather. The children were fascinated, how beautiful their mothers were. A ballgame played on the radio; Mel Allen’s rich Southern voice rang out. “That ball is going, going, going, it is gone into the center field bleachers. How about that, a Ballantine Blast for Yogi Berra and the Yanks go ahead of the Red Sox, four to three.” Mary Ann led Petey away from the cabin. They couldn’t explain what they saw, but knew it was private.
    On Little Petey’s ninth birthday Carl took everyone to the Sunset Drive In on RT 28 to see “Them,” a movie about ants nuked in the desert during an atomic test mutating into gigantic monsters. You could hear the insects approaching by their high-pitched tremolo. Petey