BooksBarbecue
Back Rovers Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. Acknowledgments
  40. Discover More
  41. About the Author
  42. Also by Richard Lange

I set my quarters on the counter and stack them four high. Four makes a dollar and I got four dollars and fifty cents worth. I ask the waitress what time the sun comes up. About five thirty, she says. What time is it now? I ask. She looks at her watch. Five oh five, she says. I shovel my food in and get back to the room when it’s coming light. I got to be more careful. I hang the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the doorknob. I make sure the curtains is shut.

There’s cartoons on now. Gigantor on one channel Bugs Bunny on the other. I put on Bugs but don’t pay attention ’cause I’m worried. It’s day so if Jesse ain’t here he ain’t coming. Could be he ain’t even looking for me. Could be he’s dusted. I wanted that when I was mad but I ain’t so mad anymore. He ain’t been all bad. I know how to do some things but not all of it. I ain’t never hunted. I ain’t never killed. Jesse always took care of that.

The dark where I see things comes. This time all it is is blackness. Blackness and me crying. Crying and saying no. When it lifts I’m shaking like a goose walked across my grave. Where am I gonna go? What am I gonna do? The only one I got to talk to is the Little Devil and all he does when I ask is belch.

I feel like if I don’t do something good I’ll do something bad. I take my CB radio out of the box and set it on the bed. I turn the knobs and nothing happens. It’s got a book of how to work it but the letters are too small and the pictures don’t make sense.

I pick up the microphone and press the button. Breaker breaker this here’s the Wolfman, I say, come back good buddy. I press the button again. This here goes out to Jesse, I say, I know it was your mama’s favorite. And then I sing.

Oh let me die in winter

When the night hangs dark above

And cold the snow is lying

On bosoms that we love

Ah! May the wind at midnight

That bloweth from the sea

Chant mildly, softly, sweetly

A requiem for me

31

31

July 5, 1976, Las Vegas (cont.)

I CAME TO HEARING JESSE ASKING WHERE I’D BEEN SHOT. HE used my shirt to bandage a wound in my thigh. We’d been pinned down by the bikers, but Jesse wasn’t about to give up. He propped me at the window with the .45 and wedged himself in the doorway with the shotgun, and we proceeded to turn two of the Fiends’ Harleys into scrap metal.