Page 67
They run their fingertips through my hair, straightening it.
“Let’s go out,” they say. “For saving me, I’ll buy you another one.”
“You’re a student. You can’t afford new coats.”
“Who said anything about new? I’ll show you where I get all of my Lodge outfits.”
They take me to a used clothes shop on Melrose. We must spend an hour pawing through the merchandise. One of the salesclerks, a heroin-thin guy in turtleneck-and-beret beatnik drag, follows us around and hands me things. I don’t know if he’s trying to be helpful or just make sure the scarred guy doesn’t rob the place, but he gets everything wrong. Janet rejects all of his coats without letting me try on anything.
“That’s too long,” they tell the guy. “Not a private eye coat. More like Johnny Cash.”
I’m happy to let them argue. It leaves me time to walk around and examine all the hexed clothes and anti-hex charms. I thought I recognized the intersection when we came in. We’re at the nexus point in a territorial dispute between Hollywood High and private school Sub Rosa brats. There’s enough hoodoo power in this little shop to launch it to Mars. My guess is at least half of the clothes they’re selling didn’t end up in here because someone needed money. This is a turf war in leather jackets, lace gloves, and vinyl corsets. And the staff doesn’t have a clue. They probably just get migraines and the occasional bout of night terrors when someone brings in something truly insidious. I could spend all day in here following the spectral lines of hoodoo power as the dopey kids battle it out over absolutely nothing.
In the end, Janet and Jack Kerouac save the day and I walk out of the shop wearing a comfortable frock coat with only a minimal number of curses attached. I blow them away with one little Hellion bark and, feeling more like myself again, take Janet for a ride on the Hellion Hog.
We blow down the coast to Malibu and I show them how to sneak onto Teddy Osterberg’s estate.
“You enjoy hanging out with all these dead people?” says Janet.
“I’ve known a lot of dead people. Occupational hazard.”
“It’s quiet, at least. And the trees are nice.”
“The
landscape is whatever goes with whatever cemetery. Trees here. A bamboo grove there. Tombs or a waterfall there.”
“Are all these cemeteries real?”
“Every one of them.”
“You know some odd people, Mr. Stark,” says Janet.
“So I hear.”
Janet comes over and bumps me with their shoulder.
“Still mad?”
“I’m mostly over it.”
“Did you see Rodney’s eyes when he saw your gun?”
“Rodney was the clothes store clerk?”
“Yep. He almost shit himself. Me, on the other hand, I like it.”
I take the Colt out from under my new coat and hand it to them. They make a little shocked noise when they feel the weight.
“It’s a cinder block,” Janet says. “How do you hit anything with it?”
“It’s not so bad. You get used to it.”
“Show me how to use it.”
I take it from them and shoot some acorns under an oak tree.
“Me next,” they shout.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67 (Reading here)
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169