One Foot Off the Gutter by Peter Plate Read Free Book Online Page B

doctor wiped away the drop with the sleeve of his surgical smock.
    â€œOur marriage?” he repeated.
    God, he hated her when she got into a snit about their relationship. Patsy could be so manipulative. She felt the need to dominate him; she liked to trap him in front of witnesses. That’s when she showed her true colors.
    â€œAren’t you worried about Malcolm and Celeste?” she asked.

    The doctor was aghast. He was taken aback by Patsy’s tone of voice. How dare she try to belittle him. If she thought she could humiliate him before several of the hospital’s employees, she had another thing coming.
    â€œDon’t talk to me about Malcolm and Celeste,” he snapped. “They were your idea, not mine. Remember, dear?”
    â€œOh, now we have the real story...it was my idea,” Patsy mocked him.
    She’d picked up the ability, God knows where, to mimic his voice. During the course of their marriage, she’d learned to twist the way he talked into an unflattering caricature that made him feel like a dunce. She could throw his own words back at him with a venom that made him think he was three inches tall and shrinking.
    â€œYes, it was your idea. That and giving them those ridiculous names.”
    â€œYou don’t like their names? I didn’t know we’d come this far. This is wonderful. It’s so good to hear you be honest for a change.”
    â€œDon’t provoke me. It won’t work. I’m too smart to fall for it.”
    He put his hands over his ears. He tried to reassure himself, this was not happening. To speak his mind, that was a big mistake.
    â€œI told you it would turn out this way,” Patsy said with self-evident satisfaction. “I always knew you’d shirk your duties as a father and as a man.”
    â€œWho’s wearing the chastity belt? Can I ask you that?” the doctor blazed up.

    â€œThat’s it. It’s over. You’ve gone too far, Richard.”
    â€œTake her away,” the doctor ordered. He snapped his fingers. The tableau surrounding the gurney liquefied instantaneously.
    â€œWhere to?” the first medic said.
    â€œTo the incinerator room,” the doctor replied.
    He turned around and took off down the hallway. He was determined to keep her from having the last word. It was too late; he wasn’t quick enough. Before he passed out of hearing range, Patsy used the last of her strength to lean over the restraining bars of the gurney, and to scream, “You’ll pay for this, you bastard!”
    â€œI’m sure I will,” the doctor muttered.

eleven
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    i turned off the engine as the squad car rolled up to the curb near the abandoned building on Twenty-first
    Street. The warm Mission night was quieter than usual. That gladdened me: I was having a hard time concentrating on what I needed to do.
    â€œWhat are we doing here again?” Bellamy complained. “C’mon, Coddy. We don’t need to do this. What the fuck are you trying to prove, ha?”
    â€œWould you look at that? Would you look at that house?” I said with admiration. “This is what I was telling you about.”
    â€œI’m serious, man! Don’t shine me on! What are we doing here? I want some answers!”
    â€œRelax, Bells. I know what I’m doing. If you stay loose, you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
    Bellamy crossed his arms and didn’t say a word. He slunk down in his seat, waxing sullen vibrations while he
watched me get out of the car. I could feel his eyes questioning my sanity.
    I held my riot helmet in one hand. The hulking Victorian with its ruined gables stood out against the moon light. I adjusted my garrison belt and smoothed back my admittedly receding hairline. A bird chittered in a backyard tree. A balmy night like this seemed to be the right kind of weather for a man about to change his life.
    â€œSee, Bells? Is