Big Maria by Shaw Johnny Read Free Book Online Page B

room. Ricky gave him a blank stare.
    “What do you want?” Ricky asked.
    “Passing by, saw you. Didn’t expect to see anyone I knew.”
    “What happened to your face?”
    “Long story,” Harry said. He reached for his missing earlobe and touched the soft gauze taped to the side of his head.
    “The wheelchair?” Ricky nodded.
    “Just lazy. I can walk, kind of. Toes is broke, so my balance is wonky. They’ll heal though. What about you?”
    “Mostly my arm. Everything else is supposed to heal. Everything except my life.”
    “I’d say, ‘at least we got our health,’ but I’m not that much of a jerk.”
    Ricky almost smiled, but he pushed it down.
    Harry looked over his shoulder, dug at his side, and pulled out his half-empty bottle of Wild Turkey. He took a quick pull and held it out to Ricky. Ricky reached over his body with his good arm, took the bottle, and swigged deeply. They passed it back and forth in silence.
    “How about a pull for an old man?”
    Ricky and Harry turned to see Frank in the doorway. He wore jeans and a hospital scrub for a shirt. The skin of his neck hung loose without a collar to support it.
    Ricky handed the bottle to Frank. He lifted it to his nose, closed his eyes, and let the piquant burn hit his nostrils. He took a short pull. With his eyes still closed in bliss, he handed the bottle to Harry.
    “How’d the surgery go?” Ricky asked.
    “The piece they cut looked suspect to them. Told me to stay the night. Want to run some tests. Tell you right now, I know what that means. Been living with cancer long enough to know my pluses and minuses.”
    “Sorry, Frank.”
    “Tough news,” Harry said. He didn’t know why, but he immediately liked the old Indian.
    “Thanks. Name’s Frank.”
    Ricky spoke up. “I’m sorry, this is Shitbur…I don’t know your real name.”
    “Harry.”
    Frank and Harry shook hands. Frank stepped back and let out a short burst of a laugh.
    “What’s so funny?” Harry asked, already laughing a little himself.
    “Look at us,” Frank said. “You never seen three sadder sumbitches. Ricky wrapped up like a ’gyptian mummy. Harry, you got a metal nose and a face like a jack-o’-lantern in January. Me, I might be pretty on the outside, but I got homicidal lumps uglyingup my insides. What’s so funny? Not a goddamn thing. Laughing so I don’t cry.”
    Frank let out a big laugh as he grabbed the bottle of Wild Turkey. He took a swig, spit-taking half of it over the front of his hospital scrub.
    Even Ricky laughed.
    B y the time the sun went down, Harry, Ricky, and Frank were solid drunk. Drunk and edging toward maudlin. Ricky had enjoyed that first laugh, but it didn’t take long for his guilt to convince him that he didn’t deserve even brief happiness.
    After they had discussed their various injuries, an uncomfortable silence filled the room. Not knowing each other and having nothing in common beyond their misery, none of them could figure out what to say. They wanted to feel a sense of camaraderie but didn’t know how to accomplish it.
    Ricky finally found the link.
    “Frank knows where there’s a gold mine,” Ricky blurted out.
    “What?” Harry had dozed into his drunk and hadn’t quite absorbed what the kid said.
    “Well, he doesn’t know where it is, but knows how to find it. Kind of.”
    “Did you say ‘gold mine’?” Harry turned to Frank for confirmation. Frank’s nod sat Harry up straight.
    “Fat Mary Mine,” Ricky said. “Ain’t that right, Frank?”
    “Big Maria. The Big Maria Mine.”
    “What are you talking about?” Harry asked.
    Ricky laid out the abridged version of Frank’s grandfather’s story. In his drunken state, he got all the dates and names wrong, elaborated on some of the events, and just plain made up a few details. But for the most part, he got the gist of it. Frank was too drunk to correct him, not remembering all the details himself.
    “You bullshitting, old man? Or is this on the