The Heavy Bear by Tim Bowling

Author:Tim Bowling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ball Media Book Factory
Published: 2017-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

THEN WE were outside, in the cool and gritty fried-food air of North American strip mall reality. The light, as light so often is, was almost blinding. We stood in it like Vermeer figures, though, for my part, not at all serenely. Chelsea, however, didn’t appear to share my unease.

“Thirty thousand bucks. Woo hoo!” She didn’t punch my shoulder again, but I flinched anyway. “So? Are you going to sell it to him for twenty ?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to talk it over with my wife. It’s a big decision.”

“No kidding! Hey, I meant to ask, what’s up with the poster?”

I was reluctant to answer, but – trust me, Buster – there was no way out.

“It’s Buster Keaton. I like his movies.”

She squinted, frowned and said she’d never heard of him. I wasn’t surprised. My students often hadn’t heard of less recent celebrities. Marilyn Monroe? Probably. James Dean? Probably not. Delmore Schwartz? Fatty Arbuckle? Robert Frost?

“Do you want to use my phone?”

I blinked.

“To call your wife?”

“No, no thanks.” The phone was so small that I was sure I wouldn’t be able to read the numbers without removing my glasses. And whenever I removed my glasses, I felt as vulnerable as Piggy in Lord of the Flies. “I’ll ask her when I get home.”

When Chelsea offered to drive me there, I realized I didn’t want to go. Not yet. I thought the miraculous day might end once I walked into my house, and the idea leadened my spirit. Then I remembered.

“The homeless guy. I have to find him.” Just then, Delmore appeared, a McDonald’s bag flapping at his throat and then spinning away like froth. He certainly wasn’t lugging a mechanical bank, which was just as well, since he’d have had to walk on his hind legs to free his paws, and that wouldn’t have been a pretty sight.

“More with the Keaton, huh?” He nodded at the poster. “You know, I wrote to Chaplin asking for a blurb for my first book, but I never heard back.” He sighed, and his breath almost knocked me down. “I probably had the wrong address.”

“Listen,” Chelsea said. “I don’t mean to be pushy or anything, but since you cancelled class today, and I don’t have to work until later . . . and I have a car.”

I nodded. “It’s not pushy at all. I appreciate the help. But I think if you just drive me back to campus, I can take it from there.” As far as I was concerned, this unorthodox situation had gone on long enough. I normally didn’t even like meeting students in my office. She looked disappointed, so I added, “Maybe we can lock my stuff in your trunk, since it’s so valuable.” Then I made the joke, even though she wouldn’t get it. “Just don’t put the car in reverse.”

Chelsea was nothing if not surprising. She smiled. “You mean don’t get rear-ended. My grandpa told me all about Pintos. But all that stuff wasn’t true, you know. I looked it up on Wikipedia.

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