Seven Deadly Pleasures by Michael Aronovitz Read Free Book Online Page A

brought an idea along with it. I grabbed the receiver and dialed the office.
    Jessie picked up the line and said, "Rollins and Howell."
    I reared back and kicked the bedpost, hard, barefoot, and arch first. A bright bolt of pain rocketed up to my knee and I yelped.
    "Hello?" she said.
    "This is Joe Kagan," I said through clenched teeth. "I won't be in, and I just cracked my foot on the bedpost."
    "Oh Lordy!" she said.
    I hung up before my thoughts could turn from the pain in the foreground. I fell to the floor wincing and laughing, a private victory that meant nothing to no one.
    The phone rang back at me like a dark intruder pinging a black bell. I stared at the device in dumb horror and thanked my lucky stars for answering machines. I got up and limped to the hallway to sneak in a listen. After the fourth ring the machine clicked on and I heard the odd, displaced sound of my own voice taped from downstairs.
    "Hello. This is the butler. Joseph and Tina are on the yacht right now, but if you must leave a message, I'll hop in my dinghy and get it to them. Thank you."
    There was a beep and I heard a blast of traffic through scrambled voices, with a pneumatic jackhammer deep in the background.
    "Joe? Oh God, Joe, please pick up!"
    It was Tina. She was crying. I rushed back for the bedroom phone and jerked it to my ear.
    "Tina! What's wrong? Where are you?"
    There was a long sigh and I could picture her looking at the sky, thanking the powers of heaven for finding me at home.
    "Joe, honey. I'm at a pay phone. A couple of guys—"
    A big truck or something roared past.
    "Hold on!" I shouted. "I can't hear you! What the hell did you say?"
    The large vehicle faded out and her voice came back in a gush.
    "Two guys jumped me and stole my purse! I fought them, Joe, I tried but the big one knocked me down and they got everything. Credit cards, bank card, all my money, my cell."
    "Then how did you make this call? You can't call collect to an answering machine! Why haven't you called the police? Why—"
    "Because I've memorized our calling card number and I want to get out of here before Christmas!" She erupted into a fresh rush of tears and hiccups. "Why are you grilling me? I'm scared, Joe."
    I looked at my feet.
    "Tina, I love you so much. I want you to know that."
    "I don't need you to love me right now. I need you to come and get me."
    "Where are you?"
    There was a pause.
    "Well, there's a crab shack on the corner, a check cashing store next to a tattoo parlor, and a beauty shop called Slick Divas ."
    "Look for a street sign, Tina."
    There was a clunk, and I knew that in defiance Tina had dropped the phone to go take a better look. My mind's eye could see the stained and chipped receiver swinging on its metal cord like a dead thing on a rope.
    "Sixth and London," she said.
    It was the worst section of the city, a war zone smack in the middle of the fastest route to the downtown business district. Together, we drove down Fifth, a block over, each day with our windows shut and doors locked. And now, Tina was trapped, out in the open, exposed to the wolves. She had probably been mugged on the short walk between the bus stop and the overhead subway trestle. The animals.
    "I'll be right there," I said. "Keep an eye out for the car."
    On the telephone's quick trip from my ear to its holder, I heard Tina plead a last word.
    "Hurry."

    ***

    The streets of my neighborhood flew past as I cheated one yellow light after another. Peripherally, I could feel the sun rays spangle across the Kennedy Middle School's football field and glint off the steel goal posts closest to the road. To the right was a blur of stores and lots that led to the cluster of buildings before Fifth Street, then the Blockbuster Video, Keystone Beer Distributor, and Rosenburg's Auto Tags. I cracked the window, lit a cigarette, and registered in some deep and far-off place that I really had to quit these foul things.
    After the quick right on Fifth the properties withered and