Flamethrower - Maggie Estep [35]
“What do I owe you?” Ruby asked Glenda, digging into her pocket to find the small wad of cash she had there.
“Ah, it’s all right, Ruby. Just don’t do it again. Minimum ten players before you give out the jumbo.”
Ruby nodded then bummed a cigarette from Glenda. The two smoked in silence until another pack of kids walked by. Ruby watched Glenda entice them with promises of prizes and fun. They were teenagers with hard eyes that softened fractionally as they rolled the little balls into the slots.
Ruby hung around for more than an hour, learning the ropes.
“I know you ain’t gonna be doing this long. Just don’t leave me hanging when you decide to quit, y’hear?” Glenda said before Ruby left.
Ruby vowed to give notice when the time came. Glenda patted Ruby on the back and sent her on her way. She slowly walked toward home. It was almost unbearably humid, and people were streaming toward the boardwalk carrying coolers, towels, and boom boxes. An attractive Puerto Rican couple walked by, the man adoringly stroking the woman’s head as they walked. Ruby felt her chest constrict.
As she passed the sideshow, Ruby looked over to see if Bob was hanging around the way he sometimes did before the sideshow opened for business in the evening. He wasn’t. But Lucio, the fire-eater, was lying on top of the little platform out front, apparently napping.
“Can’t say hello?” he called out as Ruby walked by.
“Hey, Lucio, thought you were sleeping,” Ruby said.
Lucio sat up and smiled his slow, enticing smile. He had medium brown skin, green eyes, and reddish hair that he kept cropped very short, presumably so he wouldn’t burn it off. Ruby liked watching him in the sideshow and had particularly relished the times when he’d filled in for the escape artist. She’d savored the sight of Lucio dangling by his ankles from the ceiling, working his way out of a straitjacket.
“What’s up?” Lucio asked. He had inched to the edge of the wooden platform so he was very close to where Ruby was standing. She saw his eyes going to her forehead, but he didn’t ask about it.
“Nothing,” Ruby shrugged. She wondered if Lucio knew about her being fired and accused of theft.
“What are you doing now?” Lucio was looking at her like she was a Christmas ham.
“Going home.” Ruby motioned toward Stillwell Avenue.
“Want to have dinner?”
Ruby admired the way he’d just come out with it.
“I can’t,” Ruby said. She wasn’t sure why she couldn’t. It was an automatic response.
“You married to that tall guy I seen you with?”
“He’s my boyfriend,” Ruby said.
“Lucky guy.”
Ruby was at a complete loss over what to say or do next. She smiled weakly. “See you around,” she said as she walked away.
“I hope so.”
Ruby could feel his eyes boring into her back.
As Ruby came within a few steps of her building, she felt eyes in her back again. She turned around suddenly and saw a man in a baseball cap a hundred yards behind her. For a moment they locked eyes; then the man turned and walked the other way. There was something horribly familiar about him, yet Ruby couldn’t place him. A chill passed through her even though it was 90 degrees outside.
Ruby let herself into the building, looked back once more to make sure the man was gone, and walked upstairs. She’d never been so glad to see Ramirez’s door open. Even better, Ramirez himself was nowhere in sight, but Elsie was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea.
“Oh my god, what happened to your head?” Elsie rose to her feet and waddled toward Ruby.
“Hey,” Ruby said, gladly accepting Elsie’s hug. “Accident.”
“What kind of accident?”
“If you make me some tea, I’ll tell you,” Ruby said. Elsie was always trying to get Ruby to drink tea but rarely succeeded.
“That bad?” She knew it had to be if Ruby was accepting the tea offer.
“Yeah, I guess it is that bad.” Ruby sank down into one of the kitchen chairs.
“Tell me.” Elsie put the kettle on and sat down across from Ruby, who started reciting the events of the last week.
Elsie would now and then interject “Get out of here” or “No way.” When the kettle started whistling, Elsie got