Reel to Real by Joyce Nance Read Free Book Online Page A

surprised to make human contact. “Who is this? Is Patty there? I gotta talk to her.”
    “No, she’s not here. I’m Ethan. You can talk to me,” Ethan said helpfully.
    More sobbing, “Who are you?”
    “Ethan, Tommy’s friend.”
    “You sound like a kid. I’m not talking to you ...”
    “I’m old enough.”
    “Well, I’m too depressed.” Sob. “I can’t talk to someone I don’t know.”
    “Maybe I can help.”
    “You? You can’t help.”
    “Yeah? Try me. What’s wrong?”
    “I think my boyfriend’s seeing someone,” Esther blurted out.
    “Sounds like a jerk.”
    “No, no, he’s not. I just really, really need to see him.”
    “So are you going to see him?”
    “He doesn’t want to see me,” Esther said pathetically. “That’s why I’m depressed. I don’t think I can go on much longer without seeing him.”
    “What do you mean?”
    No answer, just sniffling.
    “What do you mean ’can’t go on?’” Ethan pressed.
    “I mean, I can’t live without him.”
    “What do you mean, ’ can’t live?’ ”
    “I mean I’m sitting in the fucking bathtub right now with a fucking razor blade in my hand and I’m thinking about using it,” Esther said, emphasizing each word.
    “That’s not good,” Ethan said in a softer but more urgent voice. “You don’t wanna do that. He’s not worth it.”
    More sobbing.
    Ethan finally said, “Listen, I could come over right now. Keep you company. Watch a movie or something.”
    Esther couldn’t help herself. She laughed as she was crying. “No, that’s okay. I don’t want to watch a fucking movie.” Despite the absurdity, however, she perked up a bit at the prospect of some man comfort.
    “Just ’til you feel better,” Ethan continued. “I have half a pizza I could bring over.”
    “No, don’t come over. I don’t want anyone here. I just want John, no one else.”
    “Well you gotta eat. I could just stop by for a couple of seconds and give you the pizza.”
    Esther suddenly felt extremely hungry, so she said, “Well, okay.  I guess. For a couple of seconds.”
    “I’ll be there in two minutes,” he said.
    ***
    John lit a cigar stub and squinted at the TV. Wearing nothing but blue boxer shorts, he coughed and spit as he smoked, all the while muttering what a pain in the ass women were. A rented movie about a psychopathic serial killer played on the screen. John tried to focus on the movie to calm himself.
    As Crystal chopped up vegetables for a soup she was making in the kitchen, she heard John grumbling and leaned out.
    “Why did you have to answer the damn phone?” she asked, eyes narrowed. Her thin body fidgeted inside the doorway frame.
    “I don’t know why I answered the fucking phone,” John replied angrily. “I thought it might be someone important, like my P.O. or something. Now she’s gonna fucking freak out. She’s gonna try to cause me trouble. I don’t know what she’s gonna do, but I guarantee she’s gonna try something. She’s probably gonna come over here and try and fuck with you. I can’t have that. I’m gonna have to go over there and calm her down. Stop this damn bullshit now.”
    John snuffed his cigar out in the glass ashtray.
    “That’s what I’m gonna have to do,” he said, still muttering to himself. “I’m gonna have to go over there and get her to knock her shit off. Tell her to stay the fuck away. Leave me alone.” He shook his head.
    “Listen,” Crystal said, with anger of her own, “if you’ve got another chick, go for it. I don’t want to horn in on you and your girlfriend. I’ll just pack up my stuff right now and go home.”
    “No, I don’t have another chick . She’s not my girlfriend. I don’t even like her. She’s just someone that thinks she has something going on with me ’cause I let her give me a ride now and then. She helps me out sometimes, that’s all. She’s fucking crazy. You’re way finer than she is, babe. Way finer.” He grabbed his jacket from the