Thursday, July 1, 2010

Chapter 8

The roof air flowed through Denny's hair as he dribbled his basketball in solitude. The rippled leather of the ball felt good to his fingers. He liked to come up here to think sometimes, especially when he was high. It felt right to be high up, literally, on the roof of the building, when his spirit was high off of drugs.

Speaking of drugs...

The door to the roof suddenly swung open, and just as quickly banged shut. A man in black tank top, black Addias pants and a black cap stood menacingly at the entrance. Denny knew him instantly. It was Chris R., the drug dealer he'd been buying from. And he knew why he was here too. Denny was late on a payment

Chris R. strode towards him. Denny grabbed the basketball and stared him straight in the eye. For a long time neither of them said anything. After a few moments, Chris. R spoke up first.

"Hi, Denny." he grumbled.

"Chris R. I've been looking for you!" Denny said, a smile stretched nervously across his face.

"Yeah, sure you have." Chris R. took a step forward and grabbed the basketball, snatching it from Denny's sweating hands. "You have my money right?"

"Yeah...it's coming. It'll be here in a few minutes." Denny fumbled. Of course, there was no money and even if there was, he wasn't sure how it would arrive within a few minutes. But Chris R. didn't know that. Or at least, Denny hoped he didn't.

Chris R. dropped the basketball and it dribbled away, each bounce a harbinger of Denny's oncoming doom. "What do you mean its coming Denny?" he leaned forward, his face inches from Denny's. "Where's. My. Money. Denny?"

"OK...just, just give me five minutes." Maybe if he could find Johnny and ask to borrow some money again... "Just give me five!"

Chris R. leaned back and pretended to consider it. But he'd waited long enough.

"Five minutes? You want five fucking minutes, Denny? You know what? I've got FIVE FUCKING MINUTES!" he ripped a gun from his pants, grabbed Denny by his neck and shoved him to the floor. He pushed the cold, hard steel of the pistol into Denny's shaggy hair. "I'm going to ask you again Denny. Where's my money?"

He tightened his grip on the boy's neck. Tears welled up and dripped from Denny's eyes. "I don't have anything!" he choked out.

"Where's my money Denny?" Chris are repeated, "WHERE'S MY FUCKING MONEY DENNY?"

Denny could only cry. Like a bitch.

"What did you do with my FUCKING MONEY DENNY?" Chris R. shouted.

"I swear to God its coming!" Denny pleaded. Chris R. jammed the gun into Denny's temple. "WHERE'S MY FUCKING MONEY DENNY?" he screamed again, over and over.

The door to the roof swung open and Johnny and Mark came flooding out, shock hitting them hard. They ran towards the confrontation, traversing the length of the roof within seconds. They grabbed at Chris R., pulling him off and away. Denny crawled back. Mark grabbed Chris R.'s gun and pointed it at the drug dealer, holding back his left arm while Johnny held his right. The man struggled, yelling, screaming at Denny. "You're fucking dead Denny!" he spat.

"Shut up!" Mark retorted.

"What's going on? Oh, somebody help!" It was Lisa screaming, her and her mother having randomly appeared at the door as well.

Mark and Johnny dragged the drug dealer towards the door while the women ran out to Denny.

"Lets get him to the police!" Johnny offered, and he and Mark disappeared back into the building. "You're fucking dead!" Chris R. yelled out as he sunk into the darkness.

Denny was leaning off the building, tears streaming down his boyish face when Lisa and Claudette reached him. Lisa took him by the shoulders and faced him towards her, shaking the creep frantically in her arms.

"Denny are you OK? What did that man want from you!?"

She pulled him away from the wall.

"Nothing!" he said.

"Oh,that was not nothing!" Claudette chimed in.

"Tell me everything!" Lisa was crying now. This boy was like a son to her.

"You have no idea what kind of trouble you're in here do you!" Claudette lectured.

"I owe him some money." Denny admitted.

Claudette started to say something but then stopped herself.

"What kind of money?"

"I owe him some money." Denny admitted.

"What kind of money?"

"Everything is OK! He's gone!"

"Everything is not OK! Denny, that is a dangerous man!" Claudette had seen too many people murdered by drug dealers in her life time to let her family (and that's what Denny was now, wether she liked it or not) be involved with them.

"Calm down! He's going to jail!"

"Denny! What kind of money! Just tell me!" Lisa was incredibly concerned as to the exact amount.

"What do you need money for?" Claudette began, but Lisa interrupted.
"Mom please! Denny is with me and Johnny!" she screeched.

"A man like that! With a gun! My God!"

If Denny wasn't crying from Chris R.'s attack, he was certainly crying from this barrage.

"Denny, look into my eyes and tell the truth. We're your friends." Lisa pleaded.

Denny took a deep breath.

"I bought some drugs off of him. Things got mixed up. I didn't mean for this to happen!

Claudette rolled her eyes in disbelief.

Lisa broke down into a solid stream of tears.

"Denny..." she choked out.

"I don't have them anymore!"

"What kind of drugs, Denny!" Lisa sobbed.

"It doesn't matter, I don't have them anymore!"

"It doesn't matter?" Claudette said, "How in the hell did you get involved with drugs!"

"Mom..." Lisa tried to interrupt, but Claudette continued.

"What? Were you giving them to him, selling them to him? Where did you meet that man?"

"WHAT KIND OF DRUGS DO YOU TAKE?" Lisa screamed at him.

"It's nothing like that!" Denny tried to explain but--

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Lisa shook Denny violently in her frenzy.

"I just needed some money to pay off some stuff!" he lied quickly.

"How much do you have to give him?" Lisa pleaded.

"This is not the way you make money!" Claudette piped in.

"HOW MUCH!?"

Denny broke out into tears again. "Stop ganging up on me!"

"Well it is time somebody ganged up on you! A man like that! Where in the hell did you meet a man like that!"

"It doesn't matter!" Denny repeated for what felt like the one-hundreth time. This was an infuriatingly useless and repetitive conversation, and Denny was quickly wishing that Chris R. had just shot him in the head so that he wouldn't have had to endure it.

"It matters a great deal! A man holds a gun on you! You almost got killed and you expect me to forget that happened?"

Denny couldn't take this from her anymore.

"You're not my fucking mother!" he shot back.

"You listen to me boy!" she grabbed his sweater and yanked at him. Lisa hugged him, bringing his head to her chest and sobbing for her mother to stop, but Claudette couldn't be contained.

"Somebody better do something around here!" Claudette threw his hand down violently and stepped back. Lisa cradled Denny's head, stroking his oily hair as they wept together. "It's OK..." she whispered.

The door swung open again and Johnny and Mark returned. Chris R. wasn't with them so Denny could only assume they had managed to successfully get him to the police, explain what had happened and gotten him sent straight to jail in few minutes they had been talking.

"Are you okay, Denny?" Johnny asked urgently, holding Denny around the shoulders.

"I'm okay." he said.

"Are you okay?" Johnny repeated.

"I'm okay!"

"What's OK? He's taking drugs!" Claudette hissed.

Johnny held Denny's head to his chest, while Mark held Claudette back.

"Come on stop!" he commanded, "It was a mistake!"

"A mistake! That he takes drugs." Claudette threw up her hands and shook her head. No one was taking this seriously.

"Come on, let's go home." Johnny said.

Mark agreed. "Yeah, come on, it's clear!"

"What's clear?" Claudette wasn't even sure what that sentence meant in this context, "I am going to call the police!"

"Mom stop! It was Denny's mistake! Just stop!"

"Uh!" Claudette turned her head in disgust. Mark pushed her towards the exit.

"Let's go."

Johnny lifted his hand off of Denny's shoulder. "Why did you do this? You know better, right? Why?!"

"I'm sorry!" Denny whined.

"You know better Denny! You almost got killed!"

"I'm sorry." It was more genuine this time. Johnny could tell he meant it. "It won't happen again, I promise."
Johnny frowned, and pulled Denny's head once more to his chest.

"Denny, you know that Johnny is like your father. And we're your friends, we're going to help you." Lisa said, sounding very much a like mother herlsef.

Johnny pulled at Denny's hair and looked as though he was having an orgasm. And, in a way, he was. An orgasm of relief. Despite his parental objections, he was glad Denny was OK. And now that this was done, he would never bring it up in any way ever again. Johnny was going to make sure that this incident didn't affect anything in their lives and was totally forgotten by everyone involved.

"Lets go home." Johnny said.

He extended his arm over Lisa too, and the three of them went for the door.

And with that, the plot about Denny having drug problems, was gone.

11 comments:

  1. "Johnny pulled at Denny's hair and looked as though he was having an orgasm. And, in a way, he was. An orgasm of relief."

    SO AWESOME.

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  2. You know what? I've got FIVE FUCKING MINUTES!"

    So Chris R. did have five fucking minutes! ha

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  3. "What's clear?" Claudette wasn't even sure what that sentence meant in this context


    Hahaha, chapter 1-8, I've laughed hardest at this chapter...onto 9

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  4. ive always liked to think that mark and denny were getting high together. thats why he and johnny show up on the roof because mark was on his way with the money.

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  5. "All Denny could do was cry. Like a bitch."

    OMG, yes!!!

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  6. "And with that, the plot about Denny having drug problems, was gone."

    Oh, how I love a happy ending in sub-plots. :3

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  7. You can't help but marvel at the speed and effectiveness of the San Francisco Police Department. Even Cole Phelps couldn't put a suspect away as ludicrously quickly and without any kind of official procedure like they can. Bravo!

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  8. These words act better than Tommy Wiseau.

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  9. I actually enjoyed reading through this posting.Many thanks.







    Computer Dealers

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  10. "Lets go home." Johnny said.

    Denny: Hey, Johnny, what was the point of that last sce--?

    Johnny: Another question and I'll cut you!

    -- Nostalgia Critic, The Room Review

    ReplyDelete