Page 45

“Yep. Keep them as long as you like. No one has checked any of them out in at least a year.”

“Thanks. I think these will be a help.”

“I hope so.”

Candy looks back at the shop, then back at me, and makes a small, uncomfortable face.

She says, “I should probably go.”

“I’ll see you around.”

She kisses me gently on the lips.

“I’ll call you.”

She heads back inside the shop, giving me a small wave before she closes the door.

The rat carcass I found under the Hellion Hog is still lying on the ground where I kicked it. Now I feel a sudden kinship with the little bastard. He just wanted to check out the bike and now he’s as dried out as beef jerky. I find a piece of paper, pick him up by the tail, and drop him on the metal dumpster lid. I’m tempted to toss him inside and burn it. Give him a real Viking funeral. But I don’t want anyone calling the fire department and interrupting this tender moment, just me and my rodent pal. So, I just whisper a little hoodoo and he bursts into flames where he lies.

Adios, little rat. Enjoy Valhalla. Get drunk. Break some furniture with another cute rat. Shit changes. Is gone. Maybe comes back. But it’s never the same. Try to remember and appreciate everything. Even the shitty parts.

“What the fuck are you doing, Stark?”

I look up and there’s Kasabian with a bag of garbage in his metal hand.

“Oh. Hi. I’m burning a rat.”

He blinks once.

“Of course you are. Silly question. Get out of the way. Sane people have work to do.”

He starts to brush the smoldering carcass off the lid and I put out a hand to stop him.

“Hey. That’s a friend of mine.”

“Then can you and your friend be anywhere else right now? You’re freaking me out a little.”

“Sorry.”

I whisper some hoodoo and the rat’s body cools. Turns to ashes and blows away. I’m a little sorry to see him go. Kasabian tosses his garbage bag in the dumpster.

“Are you drunk?” he says.

“Not at all.”

He walks away down the alley.

“Then go home and get drunk. And when you wake up, call Allegra. You need medical attention.”

“I’m already seeing Allegra.”

/> “Whatever pills she’s giving you, you need more.”

Before he goes inside something pops into my brain. I don’t exactly know why, but it seems important, so I say it.

“I’m sorry I cut your head off.”

He stops.