Flamethrower - Maggie Estep [65]
“Why do people call you Flamethrower?” Ruby heard herself ask. She hadn’t known it was coming.
“Where did you hear that?” Jody sat forward a little and was trying to focus her eyes.
“Tobias. And Elliott mentioned it too.”
“Oh.” She lay back against the pillow. “It was a stripping name.”
“A what?”
“My dancing name. When I was a stripper.”
“What, was every woman under the age of fifty a stripper at some point?”
“Very possibly.” Jody actually smiled. “Just another part of my troubled adolescence. And I seem to remember your having had a brief stripping career yourself.”
“A miserable failure,” Ruby shrugged. She felt a little easier now. They were talking, like old times, Jody remembering particulars of Ruby’s past. The thing that was different was Jody revealing herself.
“How did they come to call you Flamethrower at a strip club?”
“I’d dated the manager,” Jody shrugged. “He’d called me that long before I’d taken my clothes off for money. I suppose he found me passionate.” She smiled a small smile. “Later, Millie, one of my female lovers, came up with the very same nickname without my ever having told her. She said I was always generating heat.” Jody’s eyes had milked over now, and she seemed to be in another world. “Then of course there was Flamethrower the horse. That attractive chestnut colt. I followed his career with interest. Poor Millie,” Jody continued, “poor all of them. I savaged them. You know the way they describe a stud colt as savaging other horses?” Jody looked at Ruby.
Ruby nodded slightly.
“I think you could say the same of me.”
“Oh,” said Ruby. She really didn’t want to hear this. “I actually met Millie,” she changed the subject.
“You did?” Jody’s eyes focused.
“She told me about your place in Trout Falls. I went there looking for you.”
“You did?” Jody’s eyes were big and round now.
“Yeah.”
“You’ve gone to a lot of trouble.”
“Sort of, yes.”
“That was kind of you,” Jody said. “Did you see Dolly?”
“Yes, she was there.”
“She’s been through hell,” Jody said. “Two husbands died in front of her.”
“She mentioned one.”
“There were two. The first was a violent death. A holdup in a liquor store in Philly Poor Dolly was right there.”
“That’s awful,” said Ruby.
“It was. I suspect her body went haywire as a result. The fatness I mean. She wasn’t always that way. I think she had to grow a protective layer.”
“Uh” was all Ruby could muster.
“Don’t you go doing that sort of thing.”
“Eating myself to death?”
“No, I can’t imagine your taking that particular path. But whatever. Drinking. What have you. None of it helps.” Jody suddenly fell back on the pillows, exhausted. She closed her eyes.
Ruby let the silence be.
“What’s that smell?” Jody asked after several minutes.
“What?”
“Are you smoking?” Jody sat up.
“No,” said Ruby.
“Something’s burning.” Jody sniffed at the air.
Ruby smelled it then. “What is that?”
“It’s coming from up there.” Jody pointed toward the roof. “Oh,” she added blandly, “smoke.”
Ruby looked up and saw black smoke feathering in from where the roof met the top of the walls.
“Shit. Let’s get out of here,” said Ruby. She picked Spike up off the floor.
Jody was staring at the smoke, not showing any signs of stirring.
“Jody? Come on, we should go.” There was brown smoke mingling with the gray smoke now, and Ruby could hear something crackling.
Jody looked all around but still didn’t get up.
“Come on.” Holding Spike with one arm, Ruby grabbed one of her psychiatrist’s hands and started pulling.
“I’ll be right with you,” Jody said in a small voice. “Just go on.” She waved Ruby away.
“I’m not going to leave you in here. It’s getting too smoky. It’s dangerous. Come on.”
“I said I’ll be right with you. I have to fix myself. I look like shit.”
Ruby was torn. She didn’t want to leave Jody behind, but she didn’t want Spike