Kevin was surprised to get the phone call from Alan, having not spoken to Alan for the better part of ten years.
He walked in from the grocery store, emptying his pockets on the counter and calling for Lisa, who, if you asked Kevin, was the most beautiful girl in the world. As with most men of a sensitive nature, Kevin’s one weakness was his implicit trust in his emotions and his fallibility when it came to admitting that he had no real definition of love and therefore attached himself to women far too quickly to be safe.
Lisa was beautiful. Locks of golden yellow curls that bounced around her face without any maintenance and a laugh that could power a thousand watt light bulb. He considered himself lucky to have met her a in May, less than one year ago. They were already living together, although Lisa’s job often took her out of the house for long stretches.
“It’s part of being a risk analyst,” she told Kevin one night.
“I know. I just wish you could be around more.”
She half smiled at his needy whine. “I’ll be back in a week.”
Kevin had quickly learned that the timeframe she gave was a rough estimate rather than an itinerary, and he never set his watch to her arrivals.
Both of them had enough secrets to fill a phone book. Lisa wasn’t really a risk analyst, and Kevin didn’t really operate a cement mixing truck.
In the prime season, Kevin would pick pocket. In the bustling streets of Richmond, it was more than easy. Cary Street was often overpopulated with young drunk or stoned college types and it was all too easy to slip his hand into one of their pockets and make off with a hundred dollars worth of drug money. During the summer, he could expect to pull in $800 a day easily without anyone batting an eyelash.
It was enough to keep up the rent on his massive studio apartment on the outskirts of the city, overlooking the James river.
The summer had grown to sweltering proportions, however, driving many people indoors to the safety of the air conditioning, Kevin included. He had enough money set aside in a rainy day jar just in case the world came to a dangerous and screeching halt, forcing everyone indoors forever.
The heat, combined with a vicious drought had lowered the water level of the James, revealing a series of large rocks that spanned from shore to shore. Almost every day, Kevin would watch as young people and old people alike would cross the rocks to get to Belle Island, a blessed shaded sanctuary. In almost every one of the jutting rocks was a hole of some kind that led to a pool of unnaturally deep, stagnant water. Hundreds of thousands of them over hundreds and thousands of rocks.
Kevin watched from one of his windows as a small child fell into one of the holes a few summers ago, drowning. The hole was too narrow to lower any person into and too deep to reach down. They brought jackhammers out, but by the time they had widened the crevice, it was too late. The child was taken by the murky water.
That sink hole was irregularly shaped, but more hidden than the others, making it a dangerous hazard. It was just below the lip of an overhanging rock, so any one person who stumbled backwards after jumping down faced the risk of a very nasty passing. The emergency services hated the summer months, especially when there was no rain to raise the water level. There was nothing they could do to force people off of the rocks, short of opening fire. It was nothing but a huge liability.
Kevin had crossed the rocks many, many times before, always tying his hair back with a head band he had gotten from his college frat, Ki Alpha Epsilon. Naturally, he didn’t graduate college, opting to drop out. He was forced out of his fraternity after nicking the wallet from the alpha male of the group and shortly thereafter found work as a small time thief with a wit and charm about him that made him impossible to accuse.
Alan had found the wallet incident amusing, but to stay in the fraternity, had to cut all ties with Kevin.
Which was why Kevin was so shocked when Alan called.
“Kevin Dunnugh?”
“Yes. Who am I speaking with?”
“Alan Beach.”
Kevin paused. “Alan Beach? Ki Alpha Epsilon?”
“We’ll rock you all night sweet Suzy.”
“Jesus,” Kevin said, sitting down. “What occasions a call like this? I haven’t spoken to you since I got ousted.”
“You were a pretty cool guy back in the day, Dunnugh.”
“You didn’t call me to tell me I’m a cool guy. What’s up?”
“Well, I’m in town for a few days. I was wondering if you wanted to get something to drink?”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure. When? Where?”
“Uh... Soon. Real soon. It’s gotta be soon.”
“Okay... You free tonight?”
“Sooner.”
“Well, I’m free right now.”
“Golden. Meet me on Belle Isle, near the foot bridge.”
“The one near the pond or the one near the reservoir?”
“The one near the reservoir.”
“You bringing the drinks, Alan?”
“Of course.”
Kevin smiled and hung up the phone, changing into a black t-shirt and khakis before stepping outside of his apartment and making his way across the rocks.
-
Alan was worse for the wear, pacing back and forth at the bottom of the bridge, hanging out under one of the supports. Kevin didn’t see him at first.
“Hey, over here.”
Kevin turned around, confused, and walked right past Alan. Alan reached out and touched him arm.
“Under here.”
“Hey, Alan. Are you okay?”
Alan nodded. His eyes were dropping like he hadn’t slept in a few days and his clothes were torn up. A festering bite mark adorned his left arm.
“No, you’re not okay. What’s going on, Alan?”
“A fight with my wife. You think I could crash with you for a while?”
“What about that bite on your arm?”
“Dog. Here, have a drink.”
Kevin nodded along, uncomfortable.
“You first.”
Alan shook his head and tipped the bottle to his lips, taking a swig.
“Your turn.”
Kevin grabbed the bottle and took a swig. It was very sweet.
“Should we get you to a hospital, man?”
“No. Let’s not talk about how I look. Come on, just sit down. We’ll play catch up.”
-
They talked at great length about where their lives had gone, the divergent lines since their parting at college. Alan worked for a factory group off the coast of California that was under scrutiny by the IRS for tax evasion and had subsequently been laid off.
“That’s not good,” Kevin said, his speech slurring as he took another swig.
“No,” Alan said. “Not good.”
They both heard feet on the foot bridge above. Alan stared at the sound, unblinking.
“You waiting for someone, Alan?”
“I can’t do this, Kevin.”
“What?”
From his pocket, Alan produced a small box with an orange straw at the end.
“What’s that?”
Alan tossed it to Kevin.
“You remember McKlusky?”
“Sure. Philosophy professor.”
“Yeah. You need to get that to McKlusky.”
“How do I open it?”
“You? You don’t. Blow into the straw.”
Kevin did. The box beeped several times, but nothing happened.
“Came up with that in California. Tried to shop the idea around, it never stuck. Put your car keys in the box, drink too much, box won’t open. Get a clear BAC, box opens, you get your keys.”
“Why’d you give me your keys?” Kevin asked, giggling.
“Those aren’t my keys in there. I can’t do this, Kevin.”
“What’s in here if it’s not your keys?”
“You need to get that to McKlusky.”
The sound of feet overtop grew louder.
“And you need to go now.”
Before Kevin could say another word, Alan had pulled a revolver from his waistband.
“Get out of here.”
Alan moved the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger, sending a fine spray over the support of the bridge. His body slumped towards the river, his arms falling loose at his sides.
Kevin could feel the bile rising in his throat, but he choked it back down.
“Son of a bitch, son of a bitch,” he muttered. The footsteps grew louder and moved down the stairs, around to the support where the three armed soldiers found Kevin slouched against the support.
“Is everything all right here, sir?”
“No, no, no, man, Alan shot himself, he shot himself in the head and –“
“Do you have the box?”
“What?”
“Kevin, do you have the box?”
Kevin paused, staring at the soldier directly in front of him. He blinked a few times, staring at the commendations the soldier had received that crossed his chest. They weren’t from the US army.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
“Where’s the box?” The lead soldier asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The soldier on the right moved forward and slammed the butt of his gun against Kevin’s shoulder.
“Where’s the box?”
Kevin bit his tongue, his eyes welling up.
This just wasn’t his day.
“I don’t have any box.”
Before the soldier could strike him with the gun again, Kevin produced the small revolver that Alan had used and fired once into the soldier’s leg. He cried out in pain and fell forward. Kevin caught him and held the man’s temple against the revolver.
“Back off, both of you.”
It was an empty threat. The lead soldier fired a shot into the captive’s head.
“Where’s the box?!”
Kevin wasted no time bringing up the side arm from the dead soldier and burst firing a few times into the lead soldier. Before the left flank could even turn, he was on the ground, bleeding out of seven different holes.
“****, ****, ****, ****, ****,” Kevin whispered, moving over to Alan.
“What the hell is going on, man. What the hell is going on!”
He reached into Alan’s pockets, looking desperately for car keys, but finding nothing. In his back pocket, he found a folded up piece of paper. He quickly unfolded it and looked it over.
It was a note to him that Alan had forgotten to give before exiting.
“McKlusky is the key to this, Kevin. They’re after me. If you can’t get it to McKlusky, you make sure no one can get it.
“Alan.”
Kevin sighed and stood up as he heard the sound of more boot approaching from the foot bridge.
“Oh, Christ.”
He walked in from the grocery store, emptying his pockets on the counter and calling for Lisa, who, if you asked Kevin, was the most beautiful girl in the world. As with most men of a sensitive nature, Kevin’s one weakness was his implicit trust in his emotions and his fallibility when it came to admitting that he had no real definition of love and therefore attached himself to women far too quickly to be safe.
Lisa was beautiful. Locks of golden yellow curls that bounced around her face without any maintenance and a laugh that could power a thousand watt light bulb. He considered himself lucky to have met her a in May, less than one year ago. They were already living together, although Lisa’s job often took her out of the house for long stretches.
“It’s part of being a risk analyst,” she told Kevin one night.
“I know. I just wish you could be around more.”
She half smiled at his needy whine. “I’ll be back in a week.”
Kevin had quickly learned that the timeframe she gave was a rough estimate rather than an itinerary, and he never set his watch to her arrivals.
Both of them had enough secrets to fill a phone book. Lisa wasn’t really a risk analyst, and Kevin didn’t really operate a cement mixing truck.
In the prime season, Kevin would pick pocket. In the bustling streets of Richmond, it was more than easy. Cary Street was often overpopulated with young drunk or stoned college types and it was all too easy to slip his hand into one of their pockets and make off with a hundred dollars worth of drug money. During the summer, he could expect to pull in $800 a day easily without anyone batting an eyelash.
It was enough to keep up the rent on his massive studio apartment on the outskirts of the city, overlooking the James river.
The summer had grown to sweltering proportions, however, driving many people indoors to the safety of the air conditioning, Kevin included. He had enough money set aside in a rainy day jar just in case the world came to a dangerous and screeching halt, forcing everyone indoors forever.
The heat, combined with a vicious drought had lowered the water level of the James, revealing a series of large rocks that spanned from shore to shore. Almost every day, Kevin would watch as young people and old people alike would cross the rocks to get to Belle Island, a blessed shaded sanctuary. In almost every one of the jutting rocks was a hole of some kind that led to a pool of unnaturally deep, stagnant water. Hundreds of thousands of them over hundreds and thousands of rocks.
Kevin watched from one of his windows as a small child fell into one of the holes a few summers ago, drowning. The hole was too narrow to lower any person into and too deep to reach down. They brought jackhammers out, but by the time they had widened the crevice, it was too late. The child was taken by the murky water.
That sink hole was irregularly shaped, but more hidden than the others, making it a dangerous hazard. It was just below the lip of an overhanging rock, so any one person who stumbled backwards after jumping down faced the risk of a very nasty passing. The emergency services hated the summer months, especially when there was no rain to raise the water level. There was nothing they could do to force people off of the rocks, short of opening fire. It was nothing but a huge liability.
Kevin had crossed the rocks many, many times before, always tying his hair back with a head band he had gotten from his college frat, Ki Alpha Epsilon. Naturally, he didn’t graduate college, opting to drop out. He was forced out of his fraternity after nicking the wallet from the alpha male of the group and shortly thereafter found work as a small time thief with a wit and charm about him that made him impossible to accuse.
Alan had found the wallet incident amusing, but to stay in the fraternity, had to cut all ties with Kevin.
Which was why Kevin was so shocked when Alan called.
“Kevin Dunnugh?”
“Yes. Who am I speaking with?”
“Alan Beach.”
Kevin paused. “Alan Beach? Ki Alpha Epsilon?”
“We’ll rock you all night sweet Suzy.”
“Jesus,” Kevin said, sitting down. “What occasions a call like this? I haven’t spoken to you since I got ousted.”
“You were a pretty cool guy back in the day, Dunnugh.”
“You didn’t call me to tell me I’m a cool guy. What’s up?”
“Well, I’m in town for a few days. I was wondering if you wanted to get something to drink?”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure. When? Where?”
“Uh... Soon. Real soon. It’s gotta be soon.”
“Okay... You free tonight?”
“Sooner.”
“Well, I’m free right now.”
“Golden. Meet me on Belle Isle, near the foot bridge.”
“The one near the pond or the one near the reservoir?”
“The one near the reservoir.”
“You bringing the drinks, Alan?”
“Of course.”
Kevin smiled and hung up the phone, changing into a black t-shirt and khakis before stepping outside of his apartment and making his way across the rocks.
-
Alan was worse for the wear, pacing back and forth at the bottom of the bridge, hanging out under one of the supports. Kevin didn’t see him at first.
“Hey, over here.”
Kevin turned around, confused, and walked right past Alan. Alan reached out and touched him arm.
“Under here.”
“Hey, Alan. Are you okay?”
Alan nodded. His eyes were dropping like he hadn’t slept in a few days and his clothes were torn up. A festering bite mark adorned his left arm.
“No, you’re not okay. What’s going on, Alan?”
“A fight with my wife. You think I could crash with you for a while?”
“What about that bite on your arm?”
“Dog. Here, have a drink.”
Kevin nodded along, uncomfortable.
“You first.”
Alan shook his head and tipped the bottle to his lips, taking a swig.
“Your turn.”
Kevin grabbed the bottle and took a swig. It was very sweet.
“Should we get you to a hospital, man?”
“No. Let’s not talk about how I look. Come on, just sit down. We’ll play catch up.”
-
They talked at great length about where their lives had gone, the divergent lines since their parting at college. Alan worked for a factory group off the coast of California that was under scrutiny by the IRS for tax evasion and had subsequently been laid off.
“That’s not good,” Kevin said, his speech slurring as he took another swig.
“No,” Alan said. “Not good.”
They both heard feet on the foot bridge above. Alan stared at the sound, unblinking.
“You waiting for someone, Alan?”
“I can’t do this, Kevin.”
“What?”
From his pocket, Alan produced a small box with an orange straw at the end.
“What’s that?”
Alan tossed it to Kevin.
“You remember McKlusky?”
“Sure. Philosophy professor.”
“Yeah. You need to get that to McKlusky.”
“How do I open it?”
“You? You don’t. Blow into the straw.”
Kevin did. The box beeped several times, but nothing happened.
“Came up with that in California. Tried to shop the idea around, it never stuck. Put your car keys in the box, drink too much, box won’t open. Get a clear BAC, box opens, you get your keys.”
“Why’d you give me your keys?” Kevin asked, giggling.
“Those aren’t my keys in there. I can’t do this, Kevin.”
“What’s in here if it’s not your keys?”
“You need to get that to McKlusky.”
The sound of feet overtop grew louder.
“And you need to go now.”
Before Kevin could say another word, Alan had pulled a revolver from his waistband.
“Get out of here.”
Alan moved the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger, sending a fine spray over the support of the bridge. His body slumped towards the river, his arms falling loose at his sides.
Kevin could feel the bile rising in his throat, but he choked it back down.
“Son of a bitch, son of a bitch,” he muttered. The footsteps grew louder and moved down the stairs, around to the support where the three armed soldiers found Kevin slouched against the support.
“Is everything all right here, sir?”
“No, no, no, man, Alan shot himself, he shot himself in the head and –“
“Do you have the box?”
“What?”
“Kevin, do you have the box?”
Kevin paused, staring at the soldier directly in front of him. He blinked a few times, staring at the commendations the soldier had received that crossed his chest. They weren’t from the US army.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
“Where’s the box?” The lead soldier asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The soldier on the right moved forward and slammed the butt of his gun against Kevin’s shoulder.
“Where’s the box?”
Kevin bit his tongue, his eyes welling up.
This just wasn’t his day.
“I don’t have any box.”
Before the soldier could strike him with the gun again, Kevin produced the small revolver that Alan had used and fired once into the soldier’s leg. He cried out in pain and fell forward. Kevin caught him and held the man’s temple against the revolver.
“Back off, both of you.”
It was an empty threat. The lead soldier fired a shot into the captive’s head.
“Where’s the box?!”
Kevin wasted no time bringing up the side arm from the dead soldier and burst firing a few times into the lead soldier. Before the left flank could even turn, he was on the ground, bleeding out of seven different holes.
“****, ****, ****, ****, ****,” Kevin whispered, moving over to Alan.
“What the hell is going on, man. What the hell is going on!”
He reached into Alan’s pockets, looking desperately for car keys, but finding nothing. In his back pocket, he found a folded up piece of paper. He quickly unfolded it and looked it over.
It was a note to him that Alan had forgotten to give before exiting.
“McKlusky is the key to this, Kevin. They’re after me. If you can’t get it to McKlusky, you make sure no one can get it.
“Alan.”
Kevin sighed and stood up as he heard the sound of more boot approaching from the foot bridge.
“Oh, Christ.”
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