Unfaithful

23. Unfaithful

Willie Marcus dragged the steel sheet from over the hole in the street allowing a small crawl space. Then he lowered himself down into the hole. Willie sat down on one of the two small benches he’d brought into the hole and unwrapped his lunch. Outside the traffic was muffled by the metal cover and the snow. Sharmaine sat across from Willie. She looked down at her lunch. She’d lost her appetite. Salad didn’t appeal to her. She warmed her hands over the heater between them. What Sharmaine felt like eating was a toasted western sandwich with French fries. Or a hamburger like the one Willie was about to eat.

“That looks good.” Sharmaine couldn’t remember the last time she had wanted something warm inside her belly so much.

Willie held the hamburger in his hands with his mouth open.

“You should have said something,” he said, his mouth closing over the hamburger and ripping a corner off. Willie began to chew.

Sharmaine watched Willie eat. Why does he have to enjoy it so much? She looked down at her salad again. She picked out one of the olives and ate it. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and the first thing she had done after breakfast was vomit. Willie told her to see a doctor. That was what Willie said to her anytime she wasn’t feeling well. Go see a doctor. Willie hated to listen to people suffer.

“I like it down here in the hole, below the jingle jangle of the rat race.” Willie licked his lips, preparing to take another bite. “They say that we have a housing problem. The problem is that too many of us are living above ground. More of us should live underground. There’s plenty of space down here.”

“They already do,” Sharmaine responded. “It’s called a cemetery.”

Willie shook his head. “No, you don’t get it. I mean actually living underground.”

“I got it, Willie. I was making a joke.”

Willie nodded. “Oh ya.” He took another bite of his hamburger. Sharmaine licked her lips. She ate another olive. It wasn’t doing the trick.

“Seriously though, Shar, people could live underground. Whole cities could be underground. Our skyscrapers could be turned upside down. I admit that there wouldn’t be much of a view. Maybe the windows could be replaced by monitors. They could show continual movies of other cities. You could have a different view every day of the year. And it’s real peaceful. You wouldn’t be kept awake by your neighbor’s partying, or cat’s fighting, or airplanes overhead, or the sound of traffic, or…”

“I got it!” Sharmaine stared at Willie’s burger.

“And it’s cool underground,” Willie added. “Think of all the money you’d save on air-conditioning. Houses underground would be environmentally friendly. Think of all the extra green space we’d have. Our parks could be on our roofs. There’d be more wall space. I could sell a lot more of my paintings if people lived underground.”

“If you’re not going to finish that burger, I’ll eat it. No sense in wasting it.”

Willie looked at his hamburger for a few moments then shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure.” He handed the burger to Sharmaine who grabbed it and began to wolf it down.

“Jesus, Shar.You really were hungry.”

Willie’s mind wandered off for several minutes as Sharmaine finished the hamburger.

God, I could eat another one of these.

“Can I ask you something, Shar?” Willie climbed out of the fog of his thoughts.

Sharmaine nodded as she wiped the mustard off her fingers with her lips.

“As you know I’ve been dating this girl Brittany Lacroix for a few weeks now. She’s a doll. Can’t cook like you but what a body. First time I saw her naked I thought I was in Playboy heaven.”

“I don’t want to hear this, Willie. I just ate.”

“Oh, sorry Shar. Anyway, everything was great between us until recently. I noticed that Brittany has been out a lot. Not at work. She’s a dancer. Exotic, but she wants to be a professional. Did I tell you that? I phoned at her work but they didn’t know where she was. And when I phone her apartment, I have to leave messages. She doesn’t always get back to me. And then when we do see each other she acts sort of cool. We still laugh and stuff but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, she acts cool. She used to be enthusiastic but now she just…”

“She’s seeing someone else, Willie.”

Willie stared at Sharmaine in amazement. “I didn’t ask you anything yet.”

“Wasn’t that the question? Is she seeing someone else? The answer is yes.”

Willie shook his head. “How did you get so smart? It’s like you can read my mind.”

“I could always read your mind, Willie. What should you do about it? Isn’t that your next question? And the answer is, I don’t know. It’s your life.”

Willie lowered his eyes to the ground. “You never cheated on me, did you Shar?”

Sharmaine shook her head.

“That’s good. So you think that she’s seeing someone else?”

Sharmaine nodded.

Willie sighed. “I know why they call it cheating. You feel like someone has stolen something from you. I feel violated, Shar. I know artists are supposed to suffer and all but this is too much. I’m having trouble dealing with it. I don’t like feeling jealous. Eats me up inside.”

Willie was silent for several moments.

“How come we never talk about your boyfriends?”

“Because,” Sharmaine crossed her eyes, putting a goofy expression on her face, “I don’t have any.”

“Oh.” Willie nodded then laughed. “That was a pretty funny face, Shar. Why don’t you have any boyfriends? You’re not bad looking and you’ve got a winning personality. I know it’s been pretty tough getting over me. I can appreciate that. I really can. But you’ve got to move on with your life, Shar. There’s got to be someone out there for you.”

“Thanks, Willie. Maybe I’m too particular.”

Willie was quiet again. He picked an olive out of Sharmaine’s salad.

“I guess it’s over between me and Brittany. In a way, I don’t mind. I kind of knew there wasn’t much between us. We’re from different worlds. I’m a stay at home kind of guy and she’s in the entertainment world. I’m an artist and she’s a model.”

“She’s a stripper, Willie.”

“Right. You always call a spade a spade, Shar. I’m a kind of deep thinker and Brittany… well let’s face it, Shar, she isn’t the sharpest knife in the deck.”

“Drawer, Willie.”

“Right. God, I hate this dating scene. I’m not good at it, Shar. All those games you have to play when you first meet someone. The rules. There are so many rules and I don’t know all of them. It’s like you have to take a course in relationships and I was never very good at school. Remember how you got me through Canadian history?”

“You know what your problem is, Willie?”

Willie shook his head.

“You’re an honest person, Willie. Honest people get killed in the dating game. You say what you’re thinking. Women don’t trust men who are honest. Especially on the first date. It creeps them out. They want someone who makes them laugh.”

Willie thought about what Sharmaine had said.

“Was that a complement, Shar? Or did you just insult me?”

***

Guy Lombardo stared out the window of the van. He had parked the van in the parking lot of Ashbourne Variety Store to talk. Beside him Jimmy Higgs chewed on his gum as he mulled over what Guy had just said.

“I wish you’d told me this sooner, lad.”

“Ya.”

“How much do you owe these guys?”

“Fifty g’s, Mr. Higgs.”

Jimmy shook his head. “Fifty thousand dollars! Jesus, lad. How the hell did you get into that kind of mess?”

“A two of spades.”

Mr. Higgs nodded and mulled over the facts that Guy had set out for him. “These guys are vicious?”

“Oh ya.”

“They know where you are?”

Guy shook his head. “At least I didn’t think so until the other night, Mr. Higgs. I saw someone prowling around the motel the other night when you were sleeping.”

“And you didn’t wake me up!”

Guy shook his head. “You have a gun, Mr. Higgs?”

“You think it’ll come down to that, Guy?”

“With these guys, certainly. I know I should have told you Mr. Higgs. You put so much emphasis on trust in a relationship. I feel like I’ve let you down.”

“That guy prowling around the motel wasn’t one of those boys. I think we can be sure of that. Your boys don’t sound like the type. They’re more the type to be crashing through the front door, not skulking around at people’s windows. At least no one knows where we’ve shacked up, lad. That’s one good thing.”

“Actually, Mr. Higgs, that’s not completely true. The other evening when you were out, I brought a woman back to the motel.”

“You what?”

“I get headaches. I needed relief. I feel much better now.”

“And if I had arrived at the motel room while you and your lady were doing the horizontal tango, what would you have done then?”

Guy thought about for a minute. “We could have shared her, Mr. Higgs. She was pretty drunk.”

“It wasn’t that broad we saw the other night in the Zig Zag, was it?”

Guy nodded.

“Didn’t I tell you to keep your hands off that stuff? Now the bartender will remember you. What if those lads show up at the bar and start asking questions?”

“Jesus, Mr. Higgs. I never thought of that. What do you want me to do?”

Jimmy Higgs thought for a moment. “Get us out of this parking lot for now. I don’t like guns, Guy. Never had any use for them. To easy to reach for a gun then think things out. But, if these lads are as dangerous as you suggest, I think we better get some insurance.”

***

Margaret sat on a stool in the back of the kitchen drinking a coffee. Tears ran down her cheeks. Junior Armstrong stepped into the kitchen. He looked at Margaret who looked up at him. She grabbed a tissue from her purse and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Are you alright, Mrs. Kelly?”

“Ya.” Margaret sniffled.

“Is something wrong?”

“Just my hormones,” she said with an apologetic laugh. “They’re all over the place. I’m worried.”

“Your baby is going to be fine, Mrs. Kelly.”

“It’s not that, Junior. You get all kind of crazy ideas when you’re pregnant.”

“Crazy ideas?”

Margaret sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. “God, I’m going to look a mess when Sam picks me up.”

“Maybe you should talk with your husband,” Junior suggested.

“That’s my problem.” Margaret grinned. “I was thinking that my husband might be having an affair.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Look at me, Junior. I’m fat. God, I walk like a duck and look like a cow. Not exactly a man’s ideal of the perfect woman.”

“I think you look beautiful.”

Margaret laughed. “That’s sweet of you to say, Junior. You’re a wonderful young man. Oh, I know my husband isn’t having an affair. It’s just a thought that runs through your mind when you’re pregnant. My chemistry is a mess.”

“Like a teenager,” Junior responded.

“Yes. Like a teenager.”

***

Phil Harman put down the telephone. He was sweating. The door of his office was open. He climbed to his feet and closed the door then retreated once again behind his desk.

“Shit!” he cursed. He had to think. Why did he have to get involved with that blonde? Why did he take her for a drink at the Zig Zag? What was he thinking? Someone was bound to see them. And what if they found her and she started talking. What had he said to her? All that bragging about how much money was in the bank. Of course, it wasn’t true. The bank hardly carried any money. He had said it to impress her but what if she talked about it to the police. Wouldn’t they have to report it to the bank? Why did she have to be so beautiful?

Phil Harman stared at the top of his desk. He could see his whole career going down the toilet. His wife would leave him. That was for sure. Jeannie had warned him that if there were any more instances that she’d take him for all he was worth. And the kids. What would they think of him now? And Father O’Reilly? God, he couldn’t listen to that sanctimonious asshole again. Fucking slut! And yet he knew that if she walked through the door again, he would go with her. She had been so good in bed. Why couldn’t Jeannie be like that? The pictures. He’d forgotten all about the pictures. She said that she’d thrown them away. Could he trust her? Phil laughed then began to cry bitterly.

“I am such an asshole!” He looked up. Had someone in the bank heard him?