Page 14 of Pure Silence

“What? You can’t see shit. We’re on the phone.”

“No, but I can hear that big ass smile on your face.” Florence laughed. “All right, damn. Good for you. I guess you’re too busy to be a guest on my podcast then, huh?”

“A what on the what now?”

“My podcast. Me and you.”

Goldie was instantly suspicious. “You’ve never asked me to be on your stupid show before.”

“Ow, that hurts. Asshole.” Florence chuckled. “Well, I’m asking now.”

“Why?”

“Do you remember your golden cape from your second heavyweight championship?”

Goldie blinked. “The wings?”

“Yeah, the big ass golden wings!”

Goldie laughed in surprise. “Yeah, I do. Totally got the idea for them after I saw RuPaul on the VH1 Fashion Music whatever it was Awards back in, like…” His brow furrowed. “1995? ’96? God, that was a fucking lifetime ago.”

“Yeah, yeah, well, whatever. Listen.” Florence’s tone grew serious. “Those wings just sold at auction for over fifty big ones.”

“Fifty thousand?” Goldie scoffed. “Dollars?”

“Yeah, buddy. Seems like you still got quite the fan base out there. Everybody’s talking about you.”

“Everybody where?”

“On social media!” Florence groaned. “Come on, man. Twitter, Instagram, all that shit. You are literally a trending hashtag right now—”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Where’s Goldilocks gone. Hashtag, WGG for short. It’s insane, man. Everybody is talking about their favorite matches of yours, how much they wished you could have come back from the Syndicate. They’re actually writing to Global Wrestling and telling them that letting you go was the dumbest thing they’ve ever done.”

Goldie did not like where this was going. “So?”

“So, I wanted to see if you wanted to come on the podcast with me.”

Goldie scowled. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, man! We sit down, we hang out, we talk like we always do—”

“Except I’ll be recorded, yeah?”

“Yeah! How about it?”

Goldie sighed.

He could tell Florence was excited, no doubt salivating at the chance to have an exclusive interview with him. Florence had never seemed that interested in having him on the show before. Then again, Goldie hadn’t been a trending pound sign or whatever it was before either.

“I’ll think about it,” Goldie said at last. “I just woke up, I’m tired, but I’ll think about it, okay?”

“Okay!” Florence exclaimed as Goldie had already said yes. “Can’t wait to see you, buddy! I should be by Sunday—”

“Man, I might be busy—”

“No, wait, wait. Next Sunday!Next!” Florence laughed. “Got my dates all mixed up. I’ll be coming into town next weekend.”