Trailer Park Noir

“What?”

“Hi. I’d forgotten you were here.”

Lissa smiled, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She smacked her lips and rubbed her eyes. Looked like Lissa was feeling pretty gummy, too. She had short dark hair and a round face and was plump. Lissa and Sherry had been friends since high school.

“Who else is here, anyway?” Sherry said.

“Rob. Remember? And Philpott.”

“I remember Rob being here. When did Philpott come?” His name was Sherman, but everybody called him by his last name, Philpott.

“I dunno. Oh, and some guy.”

“Some guy?”

“Yeah, some guy, I dunno who he is.” She nudged the body beside her with a knee. “Come on, guys, wake up. It’s late.”

“You want some more, Lissa?” Sherry said.

“Oh, yeah.”

Sherry opened her kit as Lissa got up on the couch beside her. Sherry went through all the motions.

“Oh, God,” Philpott groaned as he slowly rolled over and peeled the blanket back. “My back.”

“What?” Rob said.

“My back. It’s in pain. From sleeping on the floor. How long’ve I been down here, anyway?”

“All day,” Lissa said as Sherry injected the needle. “No wonder your back hurts. Mine doesn’t feel so good, either.” Her voice became quieter and quieter and her head fell back on the cushion, and a big, slow smile spread over her face. “Mmm,” she said, and it sounded like a cat’s purr.

Sherry pulled the needle out and put her things away in the black vinyl kit.

“What the hell is this?” Philpott said.

“Oh, God,” Rob said.

Sherry looked down at the boys and tried to focus on what they were looking at.

There was one remaining lump beneath a blanket. A corner of the blanket was pulled back, and there was a puddle of something on the dirty old cigarette-burned beige carpet, something white and foamy and lumpy that disappeared under the blanket.

“Hey, dude,” Philpott said. “Wake up.” He reached over and shook the body beneath the blanket, but it did not respond.

Philpott grabbed the edge of the blanket and pulled it back in one quick movement.

A young man in his early twenties, their age, lay on the floor on his side with his mouth and eyes open. The foamy substance clung to his lips and chin. He’d vomited it onto the floor. He stared at nothing with dull, flat, milky eyes. His face was pale with a sick, yellowish hue, his messy hair dark.

“Holy shit!” Philpott said as he scrambled to get to his feet and get away from the body.

“Oh, God,” Rob said as he got on hands and knees, then stood.

Sherry gasped and shot to her feet, still holding her kit. She swayed a little unsteadily, then found her footing. “Who is that?” she said. “What… what happened?”

Rob said, “It looks like… he O.D.’d.”

“Oh, dear Jesus,” Sherry whimpered as she pressed both fists to her chin and dropped her kit to the floor. “But who is he?”

“Didn’t he come here with David this morning?” Philpott said.

“When was David here?” Sherry said.

They stared at the corpse for a while – all but Lissa, who sat slumped on the couch, her eyes closed.

Sherry tried to speak, but only croaked like a little frog. She did not recognize the pale, dead young man on the floor.

“Yeah, he was here,” Lissa said, still slumped on the couch with her eyes closed. She opened them and slowly leaned forward to sit on the edge of the couch. “David was here early this morning. Today was still on TV, so it was early.” Lissa slowly looked down and saw the body and gasped. “What the… who’s that?” she said, her voice breathy.

“That’s right,” Rob said, frowning. “I’ve got a fuzzy memory of David being here.”

Sherry said, “What’s he doing here now?”

“Well, he’s… dead,” Philpott said.

“But who is he?” Lissa said as she stood.

“We don’t know,” Philpott said.

“Well… what are we supposed to do?” Sherry said.

Timidly, Lissa said, “Call the police?”

Sherry said, “We can’t call the police, Lissa, there’s a fuckin’ meth lab in the other room.”

“Oh, yeah,” Lissa whispered.

“And we’re stoned,” Sherry said.

“Hey, I’m not stoned,” Rob said. “I gotta go, anyway.” He started looking around for his shoes.

“What?” Sherry said. “You can’t leave.”

“I brought you, Lissa,” Rob said as he put his shoes on. “You comin’ with me now?”

“No, you guys can’t leave!” Sherry said. “We have to wait till Andy gets back. Andy’ll know what to do. Don’t go!”

“I gotta go,” Rob said. “You comin’, Lissa?”

“I-I don’t know,” Lissa said. She put a hand to the side of her head, as if it hurt.

“Come on, Lissa, you can’t go,” Sherry said. “You, either, Rob. You have to stay till Andy comes back.”

“No, I don’t need this shit,” Rob said. “C’mon, Lissa, let’s go.”

“But I don’t wanna leave Sherry here with this.”

“Fine, then, stay. But I’m goin’.” Rob went to the door and opened it as he fished his keys from his pocket. Outside, it was dark. “I’ll see you guys later.” He pulled the door closed after him.

They heard his car door open, then close, heard his engine start.

“I can’t believe he left,” Sherry said quietly. “I mean, we, we’ve got a-a dead body on the floor, and he, he just leaves.”

“Please cover him up,” Lissa said.

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea,” Sherry said as she bent down and tossed the blanket over the staring body.

“I’m hungry,” Philpott said.

“How can you eat now?” Sherry said.

“My stomach’s growlin’, that’s how.”

“Well, have some cereal, or somethin’. Help yourself.”

“What are you gonna do?” he said.

Sherry sighed. “Wait for Andy to get back. I don’t know what else to do. Maybe Andy will.”

Philpott nodded and said, “Yeah, he probably will. When’s he coming back?” He went to the cupboard, got a bowl and a box of Cap’n Crunch, poured the cereal into the bowl, then went to the refrigerator for milk.

“I don’t know,” she said, thinking, Not soon enough.

“What are we gonna do with him?” Lissa said, her eyes puffy. “I mean, if we take him to the hospital, they’re gonna wanna know who we are. They’ll ask about our connection to him, they’ll wanna know who he is, they’ll ask – “

”Stop it, Lissa!” Sherry snapped. She raised her hands and buried her fingers in her hair on both sides of her head. “Just stop it, please. My God, I need a cigarette. And a drink.”

Sherry went to the end table, found her Marlboros, and lit one up with a red butane lighter.

Philpott stood leaning on the kitchen counter and ate his cereal.