When Jokers Were Kings by John Tesarsch

Author:John Tesarsch [Tesarsch, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Published by Affirm Press in 2022
Published: 2022-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Bertie stood aimlessly on the roadside as Murphy drove away in a cloud of dust. Trevor stared into the distance, before turning to Bertie. ‘Didn’t your all-knowing mother teach you any manners?’

‘I didn’t like his attitude.’

‘So what?’ Trevor spat in the dirt. ‘Got a scratch on your hard drive, have you?’

They were still out of mobile phone reception and trudged along that back road raising their thumbs helplessly, hopelessly, at any oncoming traffic. But now there was almost none. The hills ahead were five, maybe ten kilometres away, and there were no towns in sight. There was no possibility that Bertie could walk much further with such a heavy suitcase. He wanted to rest but Trevor wouldn’t let him, kept walking off and telling him to hurry up. So he dragged along the suitcase, scuffing the leather on the gravel, switching it from his right hand to his left, then back to his right, until his fingers were raw and his shoulders ached and he felt the onset of his accursed sciatica.

By now the sun was high and his armpits were sodden. The breeze had switched to the north and was blowing directly into their faces, redolent of the hot, stale breath of an angry mastiff. Around them were barren fields, trodden hard by cattle, untouched by the rain that had pelted down overnight not far south.

Bertie’s lungs rattled, his heart thumped. His throat was parched and he didn’t have anything to drink. In his mind’s eye he saw the headline: ‘Elvis Presley dies of thirst’. Only the promise of Jasmine, waiting for him at the end of the journey, kept him shuffling north.

But could Trevor be trusted? He had promised that Jasmine would be meeting them in Hartville, but what if she had changed her mind yet again, at the last minute, and decided not to join them on tour? Trevor had advised Bertie not to call her, but what was Trevor concealing? Their night in the hot-dog van had taught Bertie one inescapable fact: his friend was an expert liar. It came naturally to him; he even thrived on it.

‘Come on, King.’ said Trevor. ‘We’re gonna be late.’

Bertie wanted to ask precisely where they were going to meet her, and when. His doubts sapped the last remnants of his energy. But Trevor was cursing under his breath, so Bertie held back those questions, at least for the time being.

‘What’s the hurry?’ Bertie dropped the suitcase and flexed his wrist.

‘We’ve got a media commitment.’ Trevor wheezed. ‘This morning.’

This was astounding news. Bertie wondered what else Trevor hadn’t told him.

‘We have to promote the tour.’ Trevor unzipped his suitcase, took out his Ventolin and had three long, deep puffs. ‘And I was lucky enough to get a spot on local radio.’

‘I’m not comfortable with that.’ Bertie’s heart pounded even harder than before. ‘Unless you do all the talking.’

Trevor gave his customary fake smile, with the corners of his lips upturned. ‘Of course I’ll do all the talking.’

There was something unfinished about that sentence.

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.