California Dreamers[ 6 Beach Reading] by Mark Abramson

Author:Mark Abramson [Abramson, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, Literary
ISBN: 9781590211441
Google: NommOlXOysUC
Amazon: 1590211448
Publisher: Lethe Press
Published: 2012-04-30T12:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

On Saturday morning Tim woke up before Nick, who was still dead to the world. He measured the coffee and poured filtered water into the Mr. Coffee machine before he took Buck to Dolores Park. It was cloudy and cool and quiet. The downtown buildings were dark and colorless. The gray sky matched the steely bay waters. They ran a lap around the perimeter and Tim wasn’t tired, so they did two. It had to be the inspiration of a smiling dog beside him. Tim heard Nick moan when they came in. “Ready for coffee?” Tim asked, but Nick only moaned again, so Tim headed to the shower.

Nick was still asleep while Tim got dressed to leave for Paulson. He looked down at Nick’s broad back and the way the sheet fell across him, covering half his ass and one thigh, but leaving most of him exposed like a tasteful calendar beefcake shot. Nick rolled over and now he looked like the cover of one of those steamy romance paperbacks at the checkout stand. There wasn’t time for another round, even if Tim had been able to fully wake him, which he was sure he coulddo… but that would have to wait until later.

Tim knew he wasn’t supposed to drink anything before the session, but the coffee smelled so good he poured half a cup and had a few sips. What could it hurt? His brain was still affected by the pot from last night anyway. Then he had an idea.

Tim took a sheet of paper from the desk, folded it and tore it into quarters. He wrote on three of them: Weneedtotalk!Let’smeetatRed’s JavaHouseabout20minutesafterthesessionisover. Now he only had to figure out how to get the notes to the others without being seen.

It was easy to slip one to Harold. He was just outside the doorway on Berry Street when Tim arrived. Malvina pulled up in a cab a second later. Tim bent down to help hoist her bulk out of the backseat and as soon as they made eye contact he gave her one of the notes. She glanced down, read it and looked around to see who might be watching them. They were supposed to be able to see things, but Tim sensed that they were the ones being observed lately, especially in this part of town. None of them felt safe this close to Paulson.

Tim had fantasized about walking in to find that his chair was gone, but it was still there waiting for him. The only change today was that two new chairs had been added. Tim headed for the toilet—he shouldn’t have had those few sips of coffee after all—and ran into Drake coming out. Once again he made eye contact, said nothing, but handed him the slip of paper. Tim hoped no one saw what he was doing, but what if they did? What could they do to him? They were volunteers at this place, supposedly doing something “for the benefit of humankind,” according to Charles.

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