Lullaby Town

Karen shook her head. 'No. I wouldn't want anything to happen.'

I said, 'We get the drift.'

Ric said, 'No one asked you.'

I said, 'Did anyone ever tell you you look like Herman Munster?'

Charlie's eyes made a slow-motion move from Karen to me, then he got up from the chair and walked over. A vein pulsed in his right temple. He said, 'Some guys never get it, Ric. Some guys, you tell'm and tell'm, they never get it, and they end up in trouble.'

I nodded. 'Some guys, trouble is a way of life.'

Peter was giving confused. 'What are you guys talking about?'

Charlie took another step closer. He was maybe six inches from me, red-faced and snorting, staring with eyes that were now dead and fishlike, and you could see how he got the name, Charlie the Tuna. 'You got brain damage from too much sun? You wanna go over the top right now?' His voice was a sort of a hiss.

Peter said, 'Hey, this doesn't need to get out of hand.'

Ric said, 'It's cool,' and came up behind Charlie, putting a hand on either shoulder, working him just like he had worked him with Joey Putata, whispering, talking until the snorting and the pulsing had stopped. Keeping Sal DeLuca's kid in control of himself. I wondered if they paid him extra for this.

Peter said, 'Hey, Charlie, you all right? You want a glass of water?'

The deep-sea eyes submerged and Charlie made a little move that stopped Ric. Charlie stepped back and picked up his coat and Ric held it open so that Charlie could work into it Charlie said, 'I'm fine, Peter. Just a little misunderstanding, that's all. Misunderstandings happen.'

Peter said, 'Hey, sure.' Everything okay now.

Charlie looked at Karen again, then buttoned his coat and went to the door. 'It was a pleasure to meet you, Peter. Christ, you know Chainsaw is one of my favorite pictures. I bought a videocassette. Seventy-nine ninety-five. I musta seen it – what? – over a dozen times, Ric?'

Ric said, 'A dozen.'

Peter said, 'You'll never have to buy another. Give Karen a call and let her know your address. I'll send you tapes of all my movies.' He hoisted the St. Pauli Girl and made a little salute.

Charlie smiled. 'I'll give Karen a call.' Then he looked back at Karen and shook his head. 'C'mon, Ric.' Ric opened the door and they left.

Joe Pike peeled himself away from the wall and went across to the window and looked out.

Peter said. 'Jesus, I don't know why you had to make such a big deal about it, Karen. Toby's fine.'

Outside, a car door opened, then closed. Toby yelled 'Bye' from his room. Watching out his window. An engine started. A car pulled away. Pike drifted back to the wall.

Karen went through the dining room and into the kitchen, closing the door quietly after her.

Peter said, 'What's her problem?'

I left them in the living room and went to the kitchen after Karen Lloyd. She was standing at the sink, staring through the garden window at her backyard. There were little clay pots on the shelf in the window for growing herbs. Some of the pots were planted, but some of them weren't.

She said, 'The man came to my home. He actually came to my home. He was threatening my child.'

'Mobsters will do that.'

She stared at the backyard some more, and I thought she was going to cry, but she didn't. Every tendon in her body was standing out. I will change my life. I will maintain control. You had to admire it. She said, 'Oh my God, what am I doing to us? What if they had hurt my son?'

I reached out and touched her back. She didn't pull away. I said, 'They didn't and they won't. Charlie wants you on his side. He hurts the boy, he knows he's lost you.'

She nodded, thinking about that but not believing it. 'I want you to watch out for him. Will you do that? Will you and Mr. Pike stay with us until this is over?'

'Yes.'

She turned away from the window and looked at the door to the living room. 'I'm going to have to tell all of this.'

'I don't see any way around it.'

She closed her eyes and looked tired. 'Christ,' she said, 'that's going to be worse than dealing with Charlie.'

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

I left Karen Lloyd in the kitchen and went back out into the living room. Toby had come back and was sitting on the couch with Peter. Pike was gone. Outside, probably. Peter said, 'You want to come visit me in California?'

'Sure.'

'Hey, you come out,' Peter said, 'I'll make the studio send their jet. They got this jet, it does nothing but fly jerks to places they don't need to go. The studios are scared shitless of me. I got a house in Malibu on the beach. Johnny Carson lives a couple doors down. So does Steven Spielberg and Sly Stallone and Tom Hanks. We can hang out. Won't that be great?'

'Uh-huh.' Maybe meaning Spielberg and Stallone, maybe meaning the jet. Dani was smiling and nodding at how wonderful it would all be. Every boy's adventure come true.

Outside, I could see Pike on the driveway, palms together over his head, standing on one leg. Tree pose. Seeking focus and balance and escape from chaos. Peter said, 'What's your favorite car?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, what's your favorite car? You see TV, you see cars driving around, you look at magazines. You gotta have a favorite car.'

'I kinda like red cars.' He had never thought about it.

Peter spread his hands and beamed. 'Hey, you come out, we'll get a red car to drive around. How about that?'

Toby made a face like his father was speaking Venusian. 'You'll buy a car because I'm there?'

'Sure. You're my son. We'll buy a fuckin' helicopter, you want.'

Toby sort of giggled, maybe for the helicopter, but more likely because Peter had used the F word.

Peter said, 'Dani, go get the thing.'

Dani grinned and went out to the limo and came back with a couple of good-sized boxes. Peter said, 'Open'm up, champ.' Champ. Just like Ward Cleaver talking to the Beave.

Toby opened them. The boxes contained a top-of-the-line JVC professional videotape camera, a turbo- charged videotape player and electronic editor, some blank tapes, and copies of all of Peter Alan Nelsen's movies. I figured the setup would retail out at about thirteen grand, excluding the movies. Toby said, 'Wow.'

Peter patted him on the leg. 'Now you can make your own movies. Just like your old man.'

'Will you show me how?'

'Bet your ass.' Peter leaned forward and ruffled his hair. 'You're Peter Alan Nelsen's kid, and things are going to be different from now on. Your life is going to undergo enormous improvement.'

What a thing to say to a twelve-year-old.

Peter said, 'Whatever you want, it's yours. Anything you wanna do, we'll do it. I'm thinking about buying a couple of motorcycles so we can go riding together. Would you like that?'

'Yeah!'

When Karen came out of the kitchen, Toby said, 'Look at what Peter gave me.'

Karen didn't like it much. 'It looks expensive.'

Toby said, 'We're gonna get motorcycles. We're gonna go riding together.'

Karen didn't like that at all. 'Motorcycles are dangerous, Peter. Toby is too young.'

Peter said, 'I'll get'm a trail bike. We won't ride on the street. We'll ride in the woods.'

Karen's jaw clenched and her eyes went hard. 'That's not the point. Toby lives here. Toby lives a certain way