The Border (A beginning to an end)

Lonely, cross-eyed with stars in them. Lost for words, empty. Vacant. Nothing, reaching, endless. Twenty hung there like... The border does this to a guy. Especially when a woman is on the other side of it. He hung there in the sky and stared into the desert night. The orange dark sky held the earth in a quite dream. The wet wind blew over the vast mounds of sand and vegitation. Tonight was humid with long deep gulps.

And he could taste her lips on the air. They were close, soft and breathed on his. "God. Focus. The border, a package, 48 hours... uuuugh." Twenty took a look around. He could hear faintly; jazz coming from over the hill. Couldn't be too many juke joints out here near the desert. "Jazz. Nice." The music swept and laughed his way. Twenty saw Sara wet her lips; breath in and let out. He saw the horizon and the night finally eclipse the sun.

Twenty started walking over the hill. The music became clearer and he could start to make out the sign in the dark. "E&J's." Looked like a 1 -level barn with a piano and a bar. People were hangin' out outside. An old man, a crew, a couple and a few others. Somewhere in there were the hunters; professionals and discreet. Old school.

* * *

The ceiling fan wobbled even as the hands turned slowly. The humidity was thick and the desert heaved. Red and Sly lounged away from the bar. They sat by the wall in the sparse bar. They weren't still, just in slow motion, the lazy night framing them.

"I got off lucky. Mexico was the first stop I made", Red started. Sly took a whole 2-man bench to listen - from his back to his legs, stretched out to the other end. He was hunched over and strummed his guitar a slow hypnosis. He seemed not to listen. Didn't matter 'cause Red had himself hynotised. "I was looking for a trace of her. A smell even. Fuuuuuck. Finding thar drop box was the first thing. Jules - you remember Jules. He had all the papers. Jules made contact with somebody. That somebody was supposed to tell me where to find her."

"I just needed a trace of her... something, and I would've found her. I had a point man in the department down in El Paso. For Jules' somebody, whatever he did or whoever he used down there, I would've fucking known!" Red broke his intensity and took in a breath. "I don't even know what happened anymore. And I don't know where she is." "You're killin' yourself man. She's gone. Maybe if it was meant to be..." A warm gust came in. Twenty pushed through the saloon's swinging doors and looked around. He saw the band playing to the side, the doorman having a drink with the bartender. Near the back wall, he caught the eyes of 2 strangers discussing. Thier eyes shot up like thieves and they stayed perfectly still. Twenty took a ride over to the table.

"I'm looking for a guitar player and a drummer." The two held his question for a long second. "That's us alright. I'm Sly and this is Red. You Twenty?"

Posted by Timothy Washington on 2007.04.11| Original post

#archive #frye #thebox