Scenes 28 & 29

Myron sits back down, oblivious, his back to Blinky across the food area. Myron’s a combination of woozy and aroused. Across from him, Charlene is playing with her drink straw. She’s an explosive piece of fruit, an apricot injected with gin.

“I could throttle Tom.” She’s been going back and forth between focusing on Myron and talking about her dumb-as-box-of-rocks husband. “He’s not the sharpest guy,” she says. “He thinks he’s a wheeler dealer, but he ain’t. If you wanna know, he’s a dumbass. He’s buying into a franchise deal. But I fixed it. I rewrote some stuff in the contract and put it back. It won’t be legit.”

Myron is not really listening. He’s awash in sexual thoughts.

He’s not exactly well-traveled. His last go-round was with an evangelical schoolteacher named Becky who drew the line at medium petting. That was three years ago.

“I gotta go the girls’ room,” says Charlene. She’s pulling out a lipstick as she walks away.

_______________________

29

Based on what he’s heard on the radio and absorbed from the O P & Q saga, Blinky is giving a rundown on the Sucke Brothers to Mad Anthony Wayne. The General is listening, switching back forth from Blinky’s testimony to the newspapers spread out in front of him. The papers contain exciting news of acquisitions, projected expansions, economic zoominess. The bad parts, which include mass local layoffs in neighboring towns, are in the back. There’s a big story in the Mechanicsburg Crier about a new playground complex with brightly colored plastic parts. The fancy equipment and the park in which it will sit have been donated by SBE, Ltd, which is totally focused on community betterment. Although somewhat buzzed, Mad Anthony is getting the picture. He has concluded that Blinky is possibly a giant goofball. But slow-motion economic mayhem is afoot.