Mannheim Rex by Robert Pobi

Author:Robert Pobi [Pobi, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781451654950
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

41

It was their earliest start yet, not quite four a.m., and the air was just as cold and just as wet as all the other mornings. Gavin walked toward the dark cutout of the boy in his wheelchair. Finn was spinning in small circles, his tires squeaking on the wet planks, his arms pumping furiously, one of the exercises that kept him strong.

“Gav!” he chortled amid the blur of motion. “You’re late! It’s almost four. You were supposed to be here at three forty-five!”

Gavin stopped rolling the cooler. “I’m four minutes late, Finn.”

“Four minutes is a long freaking time!”

Gavin felt irritation bubble up. Then he thought back to yesterday. And the day before. Watching Finn giving their endeavor everything he had. Fuck it, Gavin thought, the kid’s right. I am late.

“How many carp you bring?” Finn asked, as he reached up and grabbed the metal skeleton poised over the dock and began his climb into the Low Rider.

“Five fresh with two more frozen.”

“Today’s the day!”

“That’s what you said yesterday.” Gavin liked Finn’s optimism, but at four in the fucking morning it was hard to feel it. How the kid managed it was a complete mystery to him.

“And the day before,” Finn responded. “And it’s what I’ll say tomorrow and the next and the next until that thing is caught and dead and my picture is in the paper!” Finn dropped into the seat, snapped the seat belt home, and pulled himself up to the console. He turned on the blowers.

Gavin was tired and cranky and was going to tell the kid to stuff it. All he came back with was, “Aye-aye, Captain!” in a very bad imitation of a pirate.

“So let’s get out there and take care of business!”

“Jesus, first you’re Captain Bligh, now you’re Elvis.” It really was hard to get into the mood this early.

“Who’s Elvis?” Finn asked.

Gavin began his awkward descent into the boat, his bad arm doing little more than getting in the way, as usual. “You’re kidding, right? You, Mister-late-night-cinema-obscura, don’t know who Elvis is?”

“Nope. Never heard of him.”

Between the broken arm, the still-bruised ribs, and the cooler of big rubbery carp, he wanted to put all of his concentration into not hurting himself more than he already had. He didn’t have the brain space for Finn’s idiot act right now. “He was a singer—”

“Like Barry Manilow?”

“No. Not like Barry Manilow. Never mind. It’s too early for this.” When he dropped to the deck and untied the lines, Finn killed the blowers and fired the big Merc to life with a deep roar that traveled through the soles of Gavin’s feet, up his spine, and into his brain.

“Is he like Johnny Cash?”

“No, he’s not like Johnny Cash. Well, sort of, but no. Forget it. I can’t explain it.”

“Is he like John Kennedy?”

“Jesus, Finn, John Kennedy wasn’t even a singer. He was president of the United States.”

“Oh,” Finn said. “I thought he sang with the Beatles.”

“That’s John Lennon. Doesn’t your mother listen to any music?”

Finn thought about it.

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.