Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [61]
Gary was back in half an hour. At K-Mart he found a honey for $29.95. With tax, it was thirty-two. Spence said, "I guess you had to take a couple of dollars out of your pocket?" Gary said, "Well, yes."
Spence said, "Gary, how are you going to get through this week?" Gary said he didn't know. Spence gave him another five for gas, and said, "Pay the car off. Then we'll work it out."
The $32 for the dead battery was the beginning of a real run of rotten luck. Monday night, thinking he would surprise her, Gary went to pick up Nicole at driver's training school, and found his lady sauntering down the hall with four guys in tow. As soon as she saw Gary, she rushed right up, gave a big smile, and tried to let everyone know that she was his. But she could feel how the sight went through. On the way home, he said, "I won't tie you down." She knew he was thinking of Uncle Lee, Jim Barrett, the three-day party, a couple of other dudes, and her life.
He told Sterling about it. "She's free. I don't want to lean on her freedom," he said. He crossed over to the cemetery that faced all the houses on Sterling's street, and Sterling went with him. There was one grave that had no flowers. A little boy's grave. Gary went around and took a flower from each of a number of other graves and put them in a rusty little vase by the boy's headstone. Then they got on to some good pot. Right away, Gary had to get out of there. Told Sterling he was seeing himself in a tomb.
One night soon after, Rikki was at Sterling's and Gary was needling him to arm wrestle. Bragged to Nicole of how he had beaten her brother. They got into it.
Nicole didn't know if Gary was worn out from the night but Rikki took him this time. That is, was about to win, but Gary cheated something obvious, and even lifted his elbow off the table.
Now Gary wanted to try with the other arm. Rikki really got him. That left Gary giving dirty looks. On the way home from Sterling's he dropped by a little store that was open all hours and stalked with two six-packs.
It was risky to steal from that small a place, but he had technique. Picked up two six-packs, not one. No hesitation in his walk. At the same time, he managed to make his face look unpleasant. Not for too little would you break into such thoughts to ask if he had the beer.
In the beginning it had been fun. By now it was getting on her nerves. Whenever something bothered him, he got brave. Nicole always been ready to boost if she needed something, and once they got together, she might even have been the first to do it, but Gary showed her how to really walk out with something. It had been a joke for a while. By now she had to notice that if anything went wrong, he'd steal to cheer them up.
Then he'd drink it afterward. Always getting loaded on beer. She came to realize that there had only been a couple of nights he wasn't drinking. She tried to keep up, but didn't like it that much. He wouldn't even let her leave beer. Didn't like to waste it. If she popped a can, he kept after her to finish.
Nicole was kind of irked that Gary was not only ripping stuff off, but letting everybody know. He was even bragging to his uncle. Things weren't right yet, but Gary had to drop by anyway, and offer a case. When Vern noticed that the trunk of the Mustang held two more of the same, he asked Gary how he could afford it.
"I don't need money," Gary said.
"Do you realize," said Vern, "that you're breaking your parole?" "You wouldn't turn me in, would you?"
"I might," said Vern. "If it persists, I might turn