I say, "Where"s the film? Who is she, Tim?"
Tim laughs, he loves to laugh, and he bends to one knee and chucks my chin with his fist, so f.u.c.king condescending. I should bite his knuckle or punch him in the groin, but I"m not strong enough.
Tim says, "I don"t know and I don"t know." He gets up and moves to lock the shed doors, but I make my own move. I jam my foot between the doors so they can"t shut. I"m my own five-year-old goon, and my will is larger than the foot in the doors.
I say, "Who are you?"
Tim looks around, as if making sure the coast of our yard is clear, and says, "You don"t know, and you never will."
He lifts me up when I"m not looking. I am all bluff and so very easy to remove from the doors. There"s always next time. Tim puts me on his shoulders. I land roughly; my little body slams onto his stone figure. A sting runs up my spine and makes my extremities tingle. It hurts enough to bring tears.
I"m too high up, too close to that cartoon sun, which doesn"t look or feel all that friendly anymore. My skin burns and my eyes hide in a squint that isn"t getting the job done. The five-year-old has an epiphany. The cartoon sun is why everything sucks.
Tim walks with me on his shoulders. I"m still too high up. I wonder if he knows that I could fall and die from up here.
TWENTY-EIGHT.
Full body twitch. A spasm sends my foot into the kitchen table leg. The table disapproves of being treated so shabbily and groans as it slides a few inches along the linoleum. My toes aren"t crazy about the treatment either. Can"t please anyone.
I"m in the kitchen and I"m awake. Two states of being that are not constant and should probably not be taken for granted. As a kid, I thought the expression was taken for granite, as in the rock. I still think that makes more sense.
All right. Get up. I go to the fridge and keep my head down because I do not want to look out the kitchen window, out in the backyard. I need to let the murk clear from my latest and greatest little sleep, to burn the murk away like morning fog before I"ll allow a eureka moment. I don"t want to jinx anything, not just yet. It"s 3:36.
I make a ham and cheese on some whole-grain bread that looks like cardboard with poppy seeds. Tastes like it too. Everything sticks to the roof of my mouth. I eat one half of the sandwich and start the other half before I let myself look out into the backyard.
There it is, the answer as plain as my crooked face. Down at the bottom of the slanted yard: the shed. The missing film is hidden in the shed. It has to be.
I finish the sandwich and gulp some soda straight from the two-liter bottle. What Ellen doesn"t know won"t gross her out. Then I go into the living room for my jacket, my trusty exterior skin, and then to the great outdoors.
The sun is shining. I won"t look at it because it might be the cartoon sun. I light a cigarette instead. Take that, cartoon sun. I ease down the backyard"s pitch.
The shed has gone to seed. It"s falling apart. Because of the uneven and pitched land, the shed, at each corner, sits on four stacks of cinder blocks of varying heights. The back end is up a couple of feet off the ground. The shed sags and tilts to the left. A mosquito fart could knock it to the ground. My ham-and-cheese sandwich rearranges itself in my stomach.
The roof is missing shingles, a diseased dragon losing its scales, tar paper and plywood exposed in spots. The walls need to be painted. The doors are yellowed, no longer newly white, just like my teeth. Looks like the doors took up smoking. The one window is covered with dust and spiderwebs. It"s all still standing, though. Something to be said for that.
The shed was solely Tim"s domain. Ellen is a stubborn city dweller with no interest in dirt or growing things, other than the cosmetic value live gra.s.s supposedly gives to her property. Ellen does not mow or rake or dig or plant. Even when I was a kid and we had no money, she hired landscapers to take care of the yard and they used their own equipment, not the stuff that has been locked in the shed for twenty-five years. After Tim died, the shed stayed locked. It was always just a part of the yard, a quirk of property that you overlooked, like some mound left by the long-ago glacial retreat.
The shed doors have a rusted padlock as their neglected sentinel. It has done the job and now it"s time to retire. I wrap my hand around the padlock and it paints my hand with orange, dead metal. The lock itself is tight, but the latch mechanism that holds the doors closed hangs by loose and rusted screws. Two quick yanks and it all comes apart in my hand. The doors open and their hinges complain loudly. Crybabies.
Might as well be opening a sarcophagus, with all the dust and decay billowing into my face. One who dares disturb this tomb is cursed with a lungful of the stuff. I stagger back and cough a cough that I refuse to blame on my cigarettes.
I take a step inside. The floorboards are warped, forming wooden waves, but they feel solid enough to hold me. There"s clutter. The years have gathered here. Time to empty the sucker. Like I said before, I"m not s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around anymore.
I pull out rakes and a push mower, which seems to be in decent shape despite the long layoff. Ellen could probably sell it in her antiques store. Shovels, a charcoal grill, a wheelbarrow with a flat tire, extra cyclone fencing, bags of seed, fertilizer, beach toys, a toddler-sized sled, a metal gas can, an extra water hose, empty paint cans and brushes. Everything comes off the floor and into the yard. There"s a lot of stuff, but it doesn"t take long to carry it outside. The debris is spread over the gra.s.s; it looks like someone is reconstructing a Tim airplane after it crashed.
Shelves on the side walls hold coffee cans full of oily rags, old nails, washers, and screws. There"s nothing taped underneath those shelves. The shed has no ceiling struts like the bas.e.m.e.nt did, but I do check the frame, the beams above the door. Empty.
The rear of the shed has one long shelf with all but empty bottles of windshield washer fluid, antifreeze, and motor oil. Underneath the long plank of wood is a section of the rear wall that was reinforced with a big piece of plywood. There are nails and hooks in the plywood. The nails and hooks are empty, nothing hangs, but it looks like there"s some s.p.a.ce or a buffer between the plywood and the actual rear wall of the shed, certainly room enough for a little roll of film, says me.
How much s.p.a.ce is there? I knock hard on the plywood, wanting to hear a hollow sound, and my fist punches through its rotten surface, out the rear wall of the shed, and into the sunlight. Whoops. I pull my bullying fist back inside unscathed. There"s less s.p.a.ce between the plywood and wall than I thought, and it"s all wet and rotted back there, the wall as soft as a pancake from L Street Diner.
Ellen won"t notice the fist hole in the wall, I don"t think. When does she ever go behind the shed? I try to pry off more of the plywood, but another chunk of the back wall comes with it.
Dammit. I"ll demolish the shed looking for the film, if I have to. Can"t say I have any ready-made excuses to explain such a home improvement project to Ellen, though.
Take a step back. The floorboards squeak and rattle. Something is loose somewhere. I back up some more, pressing my feet down hard, and in the rear left corner of the shed, where I was just standing and punching a second ago, the flooring rises up and off the frame a little bit and bites into the crumbling plywood above it. Maybe X marks the spot.
I go back out onto the lawn and fetch a hand trowel. It might be the p.o.o.p-scooping shovel of yore, it might not. It ain"t Excalibur. I use the thing like a crowbar and pry up that rear corner until I can grab it with my hands. The floorboard isn"t rotted; the wood is tougher and fights back. I have a tight grip on the corner, and I pull and yank and lean all my weight into it. There"s a clank and the hand trowel is gone, falling into the gap and beneath the floor, making a suitable time capsule.
The wood snaps and I fall on my a.s.s. The shed shakes and groans, and for a second I think it"s going to come down on my head, and maybe that wouldn"t be a bad thing. Maybe another knock on my head will set me straight, fix me up as good as new.
The shed doesn"t come down. The shaking and groaning stops and everything settles back. My fingers are red, raw, and screaming, but no splinters. I squeeze my hands in and out of fists and walk toward the hole in the floor. The sun goes behind a cloud and everything gets dark in the shed.
I go into snake mode, crawl on my belly, and hover my face above the hole. I look down and see the ground and the hand shovel. f.u.c.k it. Leave the shovel under the shed where it belongs. I don"t need it to tear up more of the floorboards. My hands will do just fine.
Wait. There"s a dark lump attached to one floor joint, a black barnacle, adjacent to the corner. I reach out a hand. I touch it: plastic. Two different kinds of plastic; parts feel like a bag and other parts feel more solid but still malleable. I jack my knees underneath my weight and the floorboard buckles and bows out toward the ground under the pressure, but I don"t care. I need the leverage and both hands.
I lean over the dark lump; it"s something wrapped in a garbage bag and duct-taped to the frame. My fingers get underneath, and it comes off with a quick yank. On cue, the sun comes out again. Maybe that cartoon sun is my friend after all.
Things get brighter and hotter in the shed. I move away from the hole and stand up. There"s duct tape wound all around the plastic bag. I apply some even pressure and the inside of the package feels hard, maybe metal. Jesus Christ, my heart is beating, and-yeah, I"ll say it-I am G.o.dd.a.m.n Indiana Jones, only I"m not afraid of snakes. If this thing were a football I"d spike it and do a little dance, make a little love. But I"m a professional. It"s all about composure.
Through the plastic, I trace its perimeter. I"m Helen Keller, begging my fingers to give me the answers. It"s shaped like a wheel, and it"s too big to be a roll of film. It"s a tin, or a canister, or a reel of film. A movie.
It gets darker inside the shed again, but the sunlight is still coming in through the punched-out hole in the back wall. My back is to the door and I feel their shadows brushing up against my legs. I"ve been able to feel their shadows on me since the first trip to Sullivan"s house.
"Whaddaya say, Genevich?" says one goon.
"Jackpot!" says the other.
TWENTY-NINE.
Looks like I was right about them choosing to wait me out, let me do all the heavy lifting. Seems to have worked out for them too. They get the gold stars, but I can"t let them have the parting gift.
I turn around slowly, a shadow moving around a sundial. The two goons fill the doorway. They replace the open doors. They are mobile walls. The sun might as well be setting right behind them, or maybe one of them has the sun in his back pocket. I can"t see their faces. They are shadows too.
One of them is holding a handgun, a handgun in silhouette, which doesn"t make it look any prettier or any less dangerous. Its barrel is the proboscis of some giant bloodsucking insect. Its bite will do more than leave an itchy welt, and baking soda won"t help.
I say, "If you"re a couple of Jehovah"s Witnesses, G.o.d isn"t in the shed and I"m a druid."
"Looks like you"re having a little yard sale. We thought we"d drop by, see what hunk of worthless junk I can get for two bucks," says Redhead. "Whaddaya say, Genevich? What can I get for my two bucks?" He"s on the right. He"s the one with the gun and it threatens to overload my overloaded systems. Things are getting fuzzy at the edges, sounds are getting tinny. Or it could be just the echoes and shadows in a small empty shed.
Even in silhouette, Redhead"s freckles are visible, glowing future melanomas. Maybe if I keep him talking long enough he"ll die of skin cancer. A man can hope.
Baldy joins in, he always does, the punch line to a joke that everyone sees coming. He says, "Two bucks? Nah, he"ll ask for ten. He looks like a price gouger. Or maybe he"s selling his stuff to raise money for charity, for other r.e.t.a.r.ds like him."
I"m not sure what to do with the plastic-wrapped package in my hands. They"ve seen it already. h.e.l.l, I"m holding it in front of my stomach, so I nonchalantly put it and my hands behind my back. Nothing up my sleeves.
I say, "What, you two pieces of s.h.i.t can"t read the KEEP OFF THE GRa.s.s sign out there?"
They take a step inside the shed and have to duck under the doorframe to enter. The wood complains under their feet. I empathize with the wood. I did say I was a druid.
The goons take up all the s.p.a.ce and air and light in the shed. Redhead says, "We"re gonna cut the banter short, Genevich. You have two choices: we shoot you and take the movie or we just take the movie."
"And maybe we shoot you anyway," Baldy says.
I do register that they"re confirming my find is in fact a movie, which is a plus, but I"m getting tingly again and the dark spots in my vision are growing bigger, ink leaking into a white shirt pocket. Come on, Genevich. Keep it together. I can"t go out now, not now.
I shake my head and say, "That"s no way to treat the gracious host. Bringing over a bottle of wine would"ve sufficed."
Redhead says, "We don"t have manners. Sometimes I"m embarra.s.sed for us. This isn"t one of those times."
I say, "There"s no way I"m giving you the flick. You two would just blab-blab-blab and ruin the ending for me." I don"t think they appreciate how honest I"m being with them. I"m baring my soul here.
Baldy says, "Sorry, Genevich. We get the private screening."
They take another step forward; I go backward. We"re doing a shed dance. I go back until the rear wall shelf hits me across the shoulders.
Redhead raises the gun to between-my-eyes level and says, "We do appreciate you clearing out a nice, clean, private s.p.a.ce for your body. The way I see it, we shoot you, put all that c.r.a.p back inside the shed, and no one will find you for days. Maybe even a week, depending on how bad the smell gets."
I say, "I didn"t shower this morning and I sweat a lot."
Baldy says, "Give us the movie. Now."
That"s right, I have the film, and until they get it, I have the upper hand. At least, that"s what I have to fool myself into believing. I am a fool.
I can"t move any farther backward, so I slide toward the right, to the corner, to where I found my prize and to the hole I punched through the back wall. The rotted plywood and wall are right behind me.
I say, "All right, all right. No need for hostilities, gentlemen. I"ll give it to you." I pretend to slip into the floorboard hole, flail my arms around like I"m getting electrocuted. Save me, somebody save me! The movement and action feels good and clears my head some. I might be hamming it up too much, hopefully not enough to get me shot, but I don"t want them watching my sleight of hand with the package, so I scuff and bang my feet on the floor, the sounds are percussive and hard, and then, as I fall to my knees in a heap, I jam the film inside my jacket, right next to the manila envelope. The photos and film reunited and it feels so good.
Redhead traces my lack of progress with his gun. He says, "Knock off whatever it is you"re doing, Genevich, and stand up."
I say, "Sorry. Tripped. Always been clumsy, you know?" I hold out my empty hands. "s.h.i.t, I dropped the movie. I"ll get it." I turn around slowly. I"m that shadow on the sundial again.
Baldy says, "Get away from there, I"ll get it," but it sounds tired, has no muscle or threat behind it because I"m trapped in the corner of the shed with nowhere to go, right? Redhead hesitates, doesn"t say anything, doesn"t do anything to stop me from turning around.
My legs coil under me. My knees have one good spring in them. I"m aimed at the fist-sized hole in the wall and ready to be fired. I"m a piston. I"m a catapult.
I jump and launch shoulder first toward the plywood and the rear wall underneath the shelf, but my knees don"t have one good spring in them. My feet fall into in the hole, lodge between the floor and the frame, and then I hit the plywood face first. The plywood is soft, but it"s still strong enough to give me a good shot to the chops. There"s enough momentum behind me and I bust through the shed and into the fading afternoon light. I"m a semisuccessful battering ram.
There"s a gunshot and the bullet pa.s.ses overhead; its sound is ugly and could never be confused with the buzz of a wasp or any living thing. The gra.s.s is more than a couple of feet below me. I tuck my chin into my chest, my hat falls off, and I dip a shoulder, hoping to land in some kind of roll. While dipping my shoulder, my body twists and turns, putting a tremendous amount of pressure on my feet and ankles; they"re going to be yanked out of their respective sockets, but they come out of the corner. Upon release I snap forward, and land awkwardly on my right shoulder, planting it into the ground. There"s no roll, no tens from the judges. My bottom half comes up and over my head into a half-a.s.sed headstand, only I"m standing on my shoulder and neck. I slide on the gra.s.s in this position, then fall.
There are two loud snaps, one right after the other. Breaking wood. I"m on my stomach and I chance a look back at the shed, instead of getting up and fleeing for my life. Most of the rear wall is gone, punched through, and the hole is a mouth that"s closing. The roof is falling, Chicken Little says so. Yet despite the sagging roof, the shed is growing bigger, a deflating balloon somehow taking in more air and taking up more of my view. Wait, it"s moving, coming right at me. The cinder blocks are toppling, and so is the propped-up shed.
The goons. They"re yelling and there"s a burst of frantic footsteps but those end suddenly. The curtain drops on their show. I might meet a similarly sudden fate if I don"t move. The shed falls and roars and aims for me. I roll left, out of the way, but I go back for my hat. I reach out and grab the brim right as that ma.s.s of rotted wood and rusty nails crash-lands on the hat and my fingers are flea lengths away from being crushed. More stale dust billows into my face. All four walls have collapsed, the doors broken and unhinged. Just like that, the shed that stood forever is no more.
I yank my hat out from beneath the rubble. It has nine lives. I stand up and put the hat on. It"s still good.
Most of my body parts seem to be functioning, though my face is wet. My fingers report back from the bridge of my nose; they"re red with blood. No biggie. Just a scratch, a ding, otherwise good to go.
I have the film. The goons don"t and they"re under a pile of suburban rubble. I step over the cyclone fence and remake myself into a woodland creature. I give one last look behind me.
The backyard of the Genevich family plot has the appearance of utter devastation and calamity, the debris of Tim"s life destroyed and strewn everywhere, spread out for everyone to see, should they care to. Secrets no more. Tim"s stuff, the stuff that defined Tim for the entirety of my life, is nothing but so much rusted and collapsed junk, those memories made material are asleep or dead, powerless and meaningless, but not harmless.
I walk away from the damage into the woods, thinking that Ellen won"t be pleased when she finds the shed. Hopefully, I"ll be around long enough to improvise a story.
THIRTY.
I walk a mile, maybe two. Keep to the woods when I can, stay off the streets. When there aren"t any woods, I cut through people"s yards, stomp through bushes, trample on lawns, cross over driveways. I hide behind fences meant to keep riffraff like me out. I walk past their pools and swing sets. People are home, or coming home from work. They yell at me and threaten to call the police. But they don"t, and I keep walking. Small children run away; the older ones point and laugh. I don"t care. I wave them off, shooing away flies. I"m carrying the big secret. It gives me provenance to go where I need to go.
I"m hungry, thirsty, and tired. Not the same tired as usual, but more, with a little extra spice, a little kick. Buffalo tired, General Gao tired. I can"t do much more walking. The aches and minor injuries from the rumble and tumble with the shed are building, combining into a larger pain. They aren"t inert.
I have no immediate destination in mind other than away from the goons and my house, just to go somewhere they won"t find me. That"s it. No more walking. I find two homes that have an acre or more of woods between them. I go back into hiding, but get the street name and address numbers first.
I call Brill, tell him where to pick me up. He says he"ll be there in ten minutes. That"s a good Brill.
Being the only cab in town during the off-season, this is a risk. a.s.suming the goons have emerged from the woodpile, they"ll do all they can to get back on my trail. They"ll figure out he"s the only way around town for me, if they don"t know that already. I have to chance it. I need one more ride from him.
I sit on a tree stump. The street is twenty yards away, far enough away that I can see the road, but I"ll only be seen if someone stops and searches for me. I won"t be seen from a quick drive-by.
I take the film-what I presume to be the film-out of my coat. The wrap job is tight. After an initial struggle to get the unraveling started, the layers of tape and plastic come off easy and fast, the way I like it. It"s a canister of film, maybe six inches in diameter. I open the canister and there"s a reel of celluloid. I lift it out like a doctor extracting shrapnel, or like I"m playing OPERATION, careful with that funny bone, can"t touch the sides.
The film is tan and silky and beautiful, and probably horrible. It holds thousands of pictures, thousands of moments in time that fit together like the points in a line. It"s getting dark in the woods and I try holding the film up to the vanishing light. There are shapes, but I can"t make out much of anything.
I need equipment. Luckily, I know a film expert. She wears clown pants sometimes.
My cell rings. I dig it out of my pocket. I don"t recognize the number, but it"s the Boston area code.
"h.e.l.lo."
"Hi, Mr. Genevich? It"s me, Jennifer."