The Brickeaters by The Residents

Author:The Residents
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781934170762
Publisher: Process
Published: 2018-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

As Hendricks continued to speak about his relationship with Wilmer Graves, he recalled a conversation he and the old man had the following day. Willy was in a reflective mood as they sped down the highway.

“Hey Stork, you got a girlfriend?”

“Please, Mr. Graves… Willy… I’d rather you didn’t call me that.”

“Yeah, whatever… you got a chick, kid?”

“Well, yeah… Margo… we’ve been involved for about a year now. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I been thinkin’ about Millie, my ol’ lady. You know Storkie, there ain’t nuthin’ like the love of a good woman. Hell, I spent most of my life in the joint, but no matter how many times I fucked up, that woman always stood by me… but you know, sometimes… sometimes I have to wonder why.” The old man pauses, lost in thought for several minutes, then continues, “But Millie’s health ain’t so good these days. She needs a new hip… that’s why I been pullin’ these jobs lately… to make some money for Millie’s operation… but the thing is, well, I promised Millie I’d go straight when I got out… you know, I feel real bad about that, but I had to do it… that woman’d do anything in th’ world for me.” Despondent, the old man broods for several minutes, then, apparently remembering something, his mood abruptly brightens and he changes the subject. “Hey Storkie, so what was you doin’ in that motel when I came along? You wud’n gettin’ some nookie on the side, was you?”

Pleased with his little joke, Graves chuckles in a knowing way, but, blindsided, Hendricks is caught completely off guard. While not exactly hitting the target, the old man’s question definitely nicks a nerve. Flustered, the content screener stammers out a response, “Uh, no… no… nothing like that… it, uh, had to do with my work.”

“Work? I ain’t never heard of no work that folks do in a cheap motel ’cept prostitutes… an’ Stork, you sure as shit don’ look like no whore to me. What kinda work you do?”

“I work in the tech industry. What do you know about the Internet and computers, Willy?”

“I know it’s a damn good place to watch porn… hell, I hear you can see a woman fuck a donkey on the Internet.”

Again the old man’s inadvertent comment hits a little too close to home. His face flushed, Hendricks’ embarrassment is unnoticed as the car rolls down the highway; maintaining his composure, the tech worker continues, “Well, it sounds like you know more about what I do than I expected. I’m what they call a content screener, Willy, and it’s my job to look at photos and videos flagged by users as ‘inappropriate.’”

“No shit… I guess you must see some pretty weird stuff.”

“Weird? Weird is nothing… we’re talking torture, sadism, bestiality… Every horror and atrocity imaginable shows up in my inbox. There’s a lot of sicko bottom feeders out there, Willy.”

As the significance of Hendricks’ words sinks in, a look of revulsion creeps onto the old man’s face.

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