The Summer the World Ended (27 page)

She laughed.

The Trans Am devoured the open highway between the dirt road and Las Cerezas. He slowed to twenty-five in town and followed along the curving dirt path that led out toward the trailer park. Riley leaned up to her window to peer out at about three dozen house trailers. Most were white, some pink, and a few adobe brown. Old people sat in lounge chairs. A grandmother stood watch over a pair of naked toddlers running in circles around a kiddie pool squealing with glee. At the center of the park, a large tree held a barefoot girl in a teal dress on a swing. She looked perhaps ten, and had her attention absorbed by an e-reader.

Riley blinked at the piece of technology. Las Cerezas was a mole on the ass of nowheresville, a trailer park here seemed like it should still have donkey powered carts and pump wells.
Hmm, maybe this place isn’t as primitive as it looks.

She faced ahead as Kieran accelerated. A few minutes later, the road curved north, and she gawked at an enormous outdoor movie screen marred with holes and streaks of rust. Before it lay a parking lot full of metal poles, each about as high as a car window, arranged in a grid pattern. Ten rusting cars that hadn’t driven in decades clustered in a spot near the center, but closer to the back. He pulled up alongside a still working but battered jade-green El Camino.

Lyle, Camila, Luis, and three other boys she’d not yet seen sat around on the rust buckets guzzling beer. One of the new boys had a guitar out and fiddled with a chord progression, cringing at the last note as if it bothered him even though it sounded fine to Riley.

The cloud of smoke surrounding Luis explained the mellow look in his eye.

“Oh. That’s why you said ‘movie theater’ instead of ‘movies.’ Geez, this looks like the set of Mad Max.”

“Yeah. Welcome to La Cerveza, where there’s nothing to do but drink.” He leaned right, looking at her with a whimsical grin. “Whenever you want to go home, let me know. If this ain’t your uh… ‘scene,’ you don’t have to stay.”

“It’s alright.” She climbed out, grunting to push the massive door closed behind her.

The sound of it slamming drew all eyes to her. Fortunately, only the three new people gave her anything more than a passing glance.

“That’s Black Chakra,” whispered Kieran. “Luis’s band. They’re all from T or C.”

“Oh.” Riley swiped her hands at her stomach, trying to stuff them in the pockets of a sweatshirt she wasn’t wearing. She grumbled. Her jean shorts were too tight to use the pockets for hands, so she let her arms dangle… feeling awkward and gangly as they approached. Camila offered a friendly wave, and trotted over with an unopened beer.

Doctor Farhi’s voice spoke in her mind.
Alcohol and stress. Hereditary factors.
Dad answered,
S’pose you shouldn’t work for a bank.
“You got water?” Riley smirked.
I don’t wanna wind up like Mom.

“Look at the good girl,” said Lyle. “No one cares out here if you’re underage. Even the cops know it’s boring.”

Riley shot him a sour look. “It’s not that. I’m like, allergic to alcohol. It could kill me.”
Where did that come from?

Camila winced. “Oh, that blows. Sorry. Uh, Ly, did we bring anything else?”

“I got some Jack in the truck… some Bacardi too.”

“Oh, you.” Camila rambled at him in Spanish.

“It’s okay,” said Riley.

She hadn’t been particularly thirsty until she thought about having nothing to drink in the middle of the desert.
Already lied about it, gotta run with it.

“I got it,” said a Chinese-looking kid with midnight black hair and six rings through his lower lip. “I was gonna go for snacks anyway.”

He nodded to her as he passed on his way to the El Camino. The look seemed friendly, if not a little patronizing.

“So who’s the jailbait?” The voice emanated from a white boy with a scarlet streak of hair over his head that resembled a dead ferret, tail dangling in front of his left eye.

“Suck it, Wayne,” said Kieran. “She just moved in.”

“People don’t move
in
to Cerezas, man. Everyone’s trying to get the hell out.” Wayne puffed at the hair over his eye. “Only people who come here don’t wanna be found. What’s she hidin’ from?”

“Nothing.” Riley didn’t feel comfortable sitting on rusting cars with short shorts on, so she wound up cross-legged on the dirt. “Just trying to find the most boring city on the planet for a summer project.”

The kid with the guitar tweaked the last note of the chord, seemed to like it, and played it twice. He let silence linger for a few seconds and went into a delicate intro, singing with a melodic, soulful voice.

“
The world, I call avarice. My soul it tries to own.

This path I see, enlightenment. I know I walk alone.

Free your mind and body both, from tethers to the greed.

Realize that nothingness is your only need
.”

The light acoustic intro gave way to a distorted shredding of strings that sounded reminiscent of ‘
Ride the Lightning’
era Metallica, and he growled:

“
Attachments…. Meaning less.

Free your soul.

Attachments… Mean-ing-less.

Free your sooooul.

Cast aside… Ma-ter-i-al.

Ties that bind.”

Luis played air-bass while making music-ish noise with his mouth. The guitarist repeated the chords again without words and let it trail off to silence.

“Wicked,” yelled Camila.

“New song?” asked Kieran.

The El Camino kicked up a spray of dirt, speeding through a donut and off down the road.

“Yeah.” The kid with the guitar seemed lost in some manner of meditative state.

He could’ve been a football player, as big as he was. Both sides of his neck had black tribal tattoos covering them, and the back of his right hand had one that looked like a Chinese character. Riley tilted her head. It resembled a number ‘30’ with a swoosh and a dot over it.

“What’s that mean?” she whispered.

“It’s the symbol for ‘
Om
,’” said the guitarist. He finally opened his eyes. “I’m Jaime.”

Despite his size, he seemed like the least threatening of everyone here. She accepted the handshake. “Riley.”

“I still think Jaime is a girl’s name,” said Lyle. After a dawning look of enlightenment, he laughed. “And Riley’s a boy’s name. You two should hook up.”

“The Air Force will be lucky to have such a deep-thinking mind,” said Jaime. “Assuming you don’t draw teddy bears and smiley faces in the dots on the ASVAB sheet.”

“Right here.” Lyle grabbed his crotch.

Jaime plucked the strings, playing the same riff through again. “Hey, that’s Camila’s. She’ll stab me if I go anywhere near it.”

“Damn right.” Camila grabbed Lyle’s crotch. “This belongs to me.”

Riley looked away.

Kieran reclined on the ground next to her. A few half-started conversations about music came and went. Camila and Lyle drifted off behind a crumbling Chevy van for predictable reasons. Jaime got re-absorbed in working out the chord progression of his new project. Wayne leaned on the car by Jaime, banging on the hood to add drums. Luis seemed to have fallen asleep with a smoldering joint precarious between his fingers.

Riley gave up trying to keep her flip-flops on and extended her legs straight, propping herself up on her elbows. The wind whistled through the old projection surface, tinged green and streaked with dark red smears around the mangled parts. “What made those holes?”

Kieran got a mischievous look. “Depends on who you ask. Some people think aliens did it.”

“What, like the little grey dudes?”

“Yeah.” He shook his head with a light eye roll. “Most people think it was the military, a bomb went stray from the test range over the hills.”

“That’s like a hundred miles east or something,” said Luis.

Wayne raised his arm to the east. “Yah, man… but planes. They like, go fast.”

Riley squinted at the old screen. Patches of exposed metal glinted bright in the midday sun. “A bomb would’ve knocked the whole thing over.”

“Cluster bomblets wouldn’t,” said Lyle.

“Probably idiots using it for target practice,” said Kieran. “Or kids throwing big rocks. No one really knows.”

The holes looked too large to be the result of bullets, too small for bombs, and no two were the same size. She leaned back resting her weight on her palms and staring straight up. “So, what’s the school like?”

“I dunno,” said Kieran. “Like every other small town high school, I guess.” He squinted into a light wind that teased his hair. “Probably not as exciting as what you’re used to. Not as many people. Bet they’re friendlier here than Jersey. Dad said everyone there’s always in a bad mood. Always like, in a hurry and stuff. Mom says everyone east has lost touch with nature.”

She leaned against his arm. “Your mom like a hippie or something?”

“My grandmother was a shaman.”

Riley let her weight settle into Kieran and watched a pair of clouds drifting by overhead, two wads of cotton dropped in a swimming pool. Wind flapped her hair around her face. “That’s cool.”

“If you’re interested in nature stuff, there’s a couple of hiking trails around Elephant Butte.”

She fell flat on her back, giggling. “I’m not sure I wanna walk near an elephant’s butt.”

“Now I know you’re from out of state,” said Jaime. “No one makes that joke but out-of-towners.”

“And little kids,” added Luis.

She sat up, tucked her feet under her, and pulled her hair out of her eyes. “So, do you wanna go to school for aerospace or save the animals?”

Kieran straightened, narrow eyes aimed at the horizon.

He looks so… majestic.
She blinked.
He’s not Mexican… he’s an Indian.

“Mother says when the time is right, I’ll make my choice. It will come to me.”

“You can ask the peyote,” said Luis. “I know a guy.”

“You know, I believe my mother wouldn’t have any issues with that.” Kieran chuckled. “Dad might object… cops too.”

“What’s peyote?” Riley frowned, trying to tease out a familiar-sounding name from the rest of not-so-popular culture.
I think that DARE cop said something about it.

“It’s a cactus,” said Kieran. “With hallucinogenic properties.”

“Cops won’t touch you.” Luis held up a finger. “Protected religious freedom and crap.”

“Oh.”
Drugs.
Riley shivered. “So, you’re an Indian?” She blushed. “Sorry, I mean Native American?”

Kieran didn’t seem offended. “Mom is Apache. Dad’s originally from Guadalajara.”

“Cool. I’ve never…”
Seen one before? Geez, stick both feet in your mouth.
“Uhm… Sorry.”

“Eh, I’m not that traditional.” He put an arm around her.

Riley expected every muscle in her back to lock at his touch, but the awkwardness faded at his smile. She leaned against him.

“Sure he is,” said Luis. “A week from now, he’ll be out at midnight dancing naked around a bonfire.”

Riley blushed.

Kieran side-armed a clod of dirt at him with his free hand. The boys laughed, but Riley couldn’t look at either of them. Her imagination gave her the image of a fire dance, and wouldn’t take it back. The crunch of the El Camino’s return distracted her. The lip-ring guy jumped out with a big plastic cooler atop which balanced two red-and-white-striped paper boxes. Riley bit back a whine of protest as Kieran stood and pulled her upright to join everyone wandering over.

Lip Ring Kid set the cooler down on the hood of an ancient car.

“Easy, that’s a ‘62 Catalina,” said Kieran.

“It’s a piece of shit,” said Luis. “Even your medicine couldn’t bring it back to life.”

After Wayne grabbed the two boxes of hot wings, Lip Ring opened the cooler and handed Riley a bottle of water from a six-pack. She grabbed a wing, unprepared for the level of spice painted on it. The first bottle of water vanished in a chug, the second she sipped. Camila and Lyle emerged from behind the old van, adjusting their clothes back into place. Luis held his hands up over his head, slow clapping.

Being among these people felt less awkward now than the first time at Tommy’s, though thinking about what had gone on out of sight a few yards away lent an undertone of discomfort. Riley sat against the front end of the Catalina, careful to only let cloth touch metal. The boys made a Frisbee out of a hubcap for a while. Lyle and Luis hit the Corona hard enough to lose the ability to speak. Whenever Luis got a hold of the hubcap, someone had a long walk.

Jaime and Wayne existed in a world apart from everyone, taken by the muse and working out the rhythm for the new song.

She sipped water, content to watch the boys horse around. Sudden motion on the ground attracted her attention downward. Seconds away from her toes, a pale scorpion ambled over the dirt. Riley screamed and leapt up onto the hood. Her shrieking continued until the creature had vanished under the old hulk, and Kieran had run to her side.

“It’s just a scorpion,” he said. “They’re usually not aggressive unless you step on them.”

She whined at the flip-flops she’d left on the ground thirty yards away by where they’d been sitting. “Will you get my shoes?”

“Those won’t help much,” said Luis. “You step on them and the tail will still come up and over.” He poked her in the foot with a chicken bone. “You got boots?”

“Sneakers.” She frowned.

Kieran patted her knee. “It shouldn’t be too much of a problem… just watch where you step and be careful around dark places.”

“I don’t wanna be near it.” She reached up.

Kieran hooked an arm under her legs and carried her a few steps away from the old car. She stared at his face and her heart pounded. As embarrassing as it was to be ‘the helpless girl,’ having his strong arms cradle her sent electric tingles down to her toes. She held on, wishing the short distance to where they sat would take all night to get there. Her body tensed as if about to step into molten magma when he moved to set her down.

“Scorpions… Great, now I’m going to be staring at dirt all the time.”

Kieran sat on the ground and held his arm out, offering a spot. “If you had held completely still, it probably would have walked right by. You might not have ever seen it.”