Beach Bums by Neil Plakcy

Author:Neil Plakcy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cleis Press
Published: 2013-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

WHAT WASHED ASHORE

D. K. Jernigan

A sharp bark near my head dragged me out of the sea of oblivion, and I lay moaning on the shores of consciousness as the pain in my face and body came rushing back. A wet snuffling at my ear reminded me of the proximity of the dog, and I reached up a shaky arm to tangle my fingers in silky fur. “Hey doggy,” I said. My voice was slurred and thick, and I realized I was speaking through a split lip. I moaned again, still not daring to open my eyes. Had my head been injured? There was a rushing sound in my ears, rising and falling in a constant rhythm.

The dog started to lick my face, and then suddenly he was gone and a deep, masculine voice startled me. The dog’s owner, I guessed. “Hey man, you okay? Need me to call anyone?”

I jerked, which set off bursts of pain throughout my body, and I moaned again, feeling like the world’s biggest crybaby. “I feel like I got hit by a truck,” I said. The image of five men standing around me, laughing and kicking, pushed its way to the fore and I did my best to shove it back. The sound of a seabird brought me back to the present, and suddenly the rushing sound made sense. “Holy shit, is that the ocean?”

“Well, you did sort of pass out on the beach,” the voice said. “Look, do you need me to call an ambulance or a girlfriend or someone?”

How the hell did I get to the beach? “Where am I?” My head was throbbing. I raised my hands to my eyes, but the pressure brought a screaming pain and I dropped them again. Damn.

“Seabright,” the man answered, and when that didn’t get a response, “Near the Boardwalk?”

“The Boardwalk? Like in Santa Cruz?” Those assholes dragged me all the way to Santa Cruz?

“Okay, yeah, I’m going to just let you sleep it off, man. No worries, okay?”

I snorted painfully. “I’m not drunk. The last thing I remember was walking out of Spla—um, a bar. In San Jose.” Splash was a gay bar and dance club over the hill, and the last thing I needed was to incite a second gay bashing in two days. Santa Cruz was known for being sort of hippie, but why take the chance?

“You’re from over the hill? Who the fuck did you piss off?” The man’s voice had been drawing away, but he’d returned and was standing over me now.

“Suffice it to say, it wasn’t anything I did wrong.” I cracked my eyes open and when that didn’t kill me, I rolled slightly to one side and moaned as I tried to push up to a seated position.

“Shit.” The man hesitated. “You clean?”

“I just told you I’m not drunk,” I said, concentrating on trying to keep my arms under me.

“No, but you’re covered in blood. You contagious?”

“Oh, yes. I mean, no. God! I mean I’m clean. And I’m Cam, by the way.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.