Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [65]
In the morning, it was the Mustang. His car would not start. was as if something in Gary's makeup killed off the system every morning.
Chapter 9
IN TROUBLE WITH THE LAW
Kathryne was getting quite an impression of Gary. It began one day around lunchtime when he came knocking on her door. It startled her. He was so covered with insulating material that he looked like a man who had clawed his way out of the earth.
He had dropped by, he told her, to take a look at the room she wanted done. Kathryne just about remembered that the time Nicole had brought him over to meet her, there was a conversation about insulating the back room. Fine, Kathryne told him now, fine. She wanted to get rid of Gary fast.
Well, he took the look and said he'd have to talk to a boy who worked with him. Then they'd give the estimate. Kathryne said that was real nice. Sure enough, he was back that same afternoon with a kid of eighteen who figured the job at $60. She said she'd think about it.
Three days later, at lunchtime, there was Gary in the doorway again. Talking fast. Said, I thought I'd come and have a beer with you. Got some beer? Gee, she didn't, said Kathryne, just coffee. Well, he told her, I'll come in anyway. Got something to eat?
She said she could make him a sandwich. That was okay. He would run down and get a six-pack. Kathryne just looked at her kid sister Kathy.
Ten minutes later, he was back with the beer. While she fixed the sandwiches, he started talking. What a conversation. If the first time he came to her house he never opened his mouth, now, right off, he told Kathryne and Kathy that he had stolen the six-pack. Wanted to know if they might need cigarettes. No, she said, she had plenty. How about beer? he inquired. Seldom drink it, very seldom.
The day before he had gone in the store, he said, picked up a case, walked out, and was setting it in his trunk when a kid not old enough to drink asked if Gary would buy him a case, and handed over five bucks. Gary started to laugh. "I walked in, picked up the kid's beer, walked out, gave it to him, and took off with the cash."
They were careful to laugh. Weren't you afraid? they asked. No, said Gary, act like you own the place.
He started telling stories. One after another. They couldn't believe him. Told of tattooing a man named Fungoo, and taking photograph of a pervert named Skeezix, then there was a fellow hit over the head with a hammer, and he stabbed a nigger 57 times. He'd look at them carefully, say, Now did you understand that? His voice got gruff.
They would put on a smile. Gary, the ladies would say, was something else, you know. They got themselves to laugh. didn't know if she was more afraid for Nicole or herself. About the time he'd stayed an hour and a half, she asked if he wouldn't be getting back to work.
To hell with the job, said Gary. If they didn't like it over at the job, they knew what they could do. Then he told about a friend who gave it to the manager of a supermarket with a hot curling iron. All the while, he watched them real close. He had to see their reaction. They felt they better have a reaction.
Weren't you afraid, Gary? they would ask. Didn't you somebody would catch you?
He did a lot of boasting. Sounded like he was banging a boat from rock to rock. When he left, he thanked them for being sociable.
Nicole heard about the lunch. There was a piece of him, she decided, that liked to tell crazy stories to grown-ups. It must have gotten locked in at the age of eight.
Then she thought of the night up on the hills behind the nuthouse when she wondered if he was a magnet to evil spirits. Maybe he had to act that nasty to keep things off. The idea didn't cheer her. He could get meaner and meaner if that was the truth.
Around midnight, Nicole was feeling awfully cooped up with Gary. She found herself thinking of Barrett. It kept working away in her. There had also been a letter from Kip that afternoon but she kept thinking about