If I Should Fall: The Second Book of Geshichte Falls

 WHAT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY

CONCLUSION

From the back seat, David Armstrong was the first to say anything. He took his briefcase from his lap and leaned into his brother-in-law’s ear.

“Bill, are you alright? You don’t really seem yourself.”

Thom waited a second, and then turned to Bill who was in the passenger’s seat, and said, “I was going to say the same thing. But, I thought it might not be my place.”

“I’m fine,” Bill said. “Can’t a guy be quiet?”

Thom only nodded. The spidery David Armstrong shrugged and said, while straightening his black rimmed spectacles, “Well, sure, but you look sort of... desperate.”

“Desperate?”

“You know?”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Bill lied, smiled thinly and turned to look straight ahead at the scenery of Fort Atkins, Michigan. Which was no scenery at all.

“You know,” Gilead said, “and I wouldn’t admit this to too many people, I’m sort of having fun.”

“Friday night lights turns out to not be so bad,” Russell admitted as they stood in the bleachers and the sky overhead turned orange. The crowd roared and Gilead said, “What just happened?”

“I’m not sure,” said Russell, “but our side cheered, so it must be good for us.”

“Is that Chris Knapp?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.”

“Right? He looks like a proper athlete and everything.”

“God, you should listen to yourselves,” a voice from the field said.

They had found themselves in the first row of bleachers and Linh Pham, pom pom in hand said, “Anyone listening to you knows you don’t know a damn thing about football. And—what’s that?”

She turned and started screaming. The band revved up and the cheerleaders began to chant.

“WE GOT TO KEEP FIRED UP! WE GOT TO KEEP FIRED UP!”

What else they said Russell couldn’t tell. He was excited by the excitement, and the girls went out and made a triangle and Cameron helped lift Linh to the top of it. Just the fact that his friends were out there excited Russell even if he didn’t exactly know what was going on.

“That’s the spirit, guys,” someone said, and Russell realized it was Mark Young.

“What the…?” Gilead began.

“Com’on,” Mark said, slithering through the rail and into the midst of the cheerleaders. A pace or so off were the football players and Russell saw Ralph, looking different, looking like an athlete, pour water over his head while he paced up and down.

Mark’s hand was held out to sensible Gilead, and sensible Gilead took his hand and slithered through and Russell slithered after, laughing.

“How’s it feel to be in the in-crowd?” Mark said, and Russell wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. The girls ran back, shrieking and clapping them on the backs. Players switched and Ralph was on the field now. Russell started to pick up on what was happening. They were winning. Ralph made a great pass. He made two. He was good and Russell was unsettled because Ralph wasn’t just the annoying guy he’d known or his friend. Ralph was a football player with black streaks under his eyes, lycra pants, wide shoulders and the ability to bulldoze through people. Ralph was really kind of beautiful, and for the last few weeks Ralph hadn’t been talking to him. Had he let Ralph down? Should he have been a better listener, not cared as much about what he was told?

“You gonna come to my track metes every weekend and support me from now on?” Mark asked Gilead.

“Uh….” Gilead began.

Mark grinned at him. “You can think about it. But don’t think about it too long.”

There was cheering and the band was playing the theme from a James Bond movie

The trumpets went:

BOM BOM BA BOMMMMMMM!

“What’s going on?” Gilead said.

Mark grinned at him.

“You’re a goof. You don’t know anything do you?”

“I know some things.”

Anigel, who heard them, said, “Damnit, Gil, we just won! Even I can tell that. By the way, Jason Lorry’s waving to you.”

“Well, Matt Keller’s waving to me, and I drove us here,” Mark said. “You guys need a ride?”

“No,” Russell said. “We came with Jason.”

“Well, if anything changes,” Mark said, “we’ll be right over there—see—for a few more minutes.”

“Alright, Mark,” Gilead said. “Thanks, Mark”

“I was looking for you guys,” Jason said as Russell and Gilead came toward them, followed by Anigel.

“We were looking for you,” Gilead said. “And then you disappeared.”

Without explaining, Jason said, “And then I saw you guys on the field and I thought, I should have known you would end up here.”

Ralph came toward them, and he was looking at Russell, and he seemed shy and strange.

“That was cool,” Russell said. “I mean, I didn’t know anything about sports. I didn’t know how good you were.”

“Thank, Russ. I didn’t expect to see you here… Ever.”

Ralph made himself laugh.

“You either, Gil.”

“Well, life is full of surprises,” Gilead said.

“Or at least you are,” Ralph said.

“Well,” Gilead shrugged.

“It’s kinda odd,” Chris Knapp was saying to Cameron.

“Huh?”

“Russell hanging out with Jason Lorry.”

“Yeah,” Cameron said. “I guess. I don’t think about it too much.”

“Russell’s Russell, but I saw Jason sneak off to get high with-” Chris stopped himself.

“With my brother,” Cameron said.

“Uh…”

“Well, see, all sorts of things don’t go together on this football field,”

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” Chris said. “I should keep my mouth shut. I think I was just… trying to talk to you.”

“Talk to…” Cameron stopped herself and laughed.

“Well, now we would make one hell of a couple. A head cheerleader and a quarterback.”

“I wasn’t event thinking of that,” Chris said, seriously.

“Chris, I was just teasing you.”

Chris looked caught up short and he went a little red.

“Uh… I’m kind of too serious sometimes. But… I just wanted to know…. Would you ever like to…”

“Go to the malt shop?”

“What?”

“Like in the Fifties. In the movies.”

Chris still looked confused.

“I’m not sure if you’re too serious or just a little bit thick, Knapp,” Cameron said. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“I was having a Polish moment,” Chris said. “And yes, I am asking you on a date.”

“Let’s make it happen then,” Cameron said.

“Okay, well, when would you like?”

“What time is it?”

“Not quite nine.”

“If we both get cleaned up I bet we can be ready to do something by not quite ten-fifteen. Does that work?”

Chris grinned at her.

“That works just about great.”

Russell called out to Chris as he was heading toward his car.

“What’s up, Lewis?”

“You seen Ralph?”

“That way,” Chris pointed with his helmet. “Behind the field house.”

Russell nodded and headed in the direction of the long concrete house. He had a feeling that Gilead had wanted to leave with Mark, but now they were all leaving with Anigel and Jason, probably going to Chayne’s. This had been fun, but it was starting to get dark and people were leaving.

The spot Chris has pointed to was almost totally in darkness, the front of the field house was hit by the last lights of day, and a wall rose up behind him.

“Ralph!” Russell called out in a hoarse whisper. And then he called out again, “Ralph.”

He came nearer, and circled the field house, but as he came to the back of it, there was Ralph in his uniform, his football pants pulled down around his knees, and he was fucking some girl whose legs were wrapped around him. He pumped her slowly and kept bringing her face down to kiss him. As Russell watched Ralph fucking her, his face went red, his dick hardened, the ground turned under him, making him dizzy. It wasn’t until he heard someone say, “Lewis!” that he was startled out of his voyeurism.

Hot cheeked he pulled away and turned to see Gilead coming to him in the last of the day.

Russell trotted toward him.

“What is it?” Gilead demanded.

“It’s Ralph. He’s fucking some girl back there.”

“Well,” Gilead said.

He walked past Russell.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to watch,” Gilead said.

He disappeared into the dark and trotted back a moment later.

“I made a vow to myself to never turn away from what I wanted to see, and I wanted to see that,” Gilead explained.

“But…” Russell started. He wanted to say that Ralph had had sex with Cody, so this couldn’t be possible. He wanted to say, “Was that even Vanessa?”

He did say that.

“No,” Gilead said. “That certainly wasn’t Vanessa.”

“Well,” Russell said, at a loss for words.

“Well, indeed,” Gilead said in the tone of someone who, in the end, did not care.  

Returning from the Noble Red, Rob followed Nehru out the window and onto the sloping roof overlooking Curtain Street.

“What,” he began, “is the matter with Nehru?”

Before Nehru could speak, Russell had climbed out of the window and was helping Gilead as well.

“Guys,” Rob said, “Nehru was about to tell me something.”

The look Gilead directed to Rob said, “Fuck you,” but what Gilead actually said, was, “Then he can tell us all something.”

“I ended a relationship,” Nehru said.

“I didn’t even know you were in a relationship,” Gilead said baldly, and Russell shook his head in agreement.

“You’re a very private man, Nehru Alexander,” Gilead said. “It’s hard to open up, but we have to if we’re going to be there for each other.”

“You’re just quoting Mark,” Russell said.

“Shut up,” Gilead said. “And Mark is right.”

“Mark,” Nehru said with a smile.

“We’re not talking about Mark. We’re talking about you and… Who? Who the hell have we seen you with?”

“Brad,” Rob said, and covered his mouth as soon as he said it.

Russell tilted his head in disbelief that became sight of the obvious.

“Is it?” Gilead asked his cousin.

“I don’t feel like answering that.”

“Well, that would explain things,” Gilead continued, “like the lack of chemistry he has with that bland white woman.”

“That’s not fair,” Nehru said. “Marissa is—”

“In the goddamn way,” Gilead concluded.

“She’s not in the way,” Rob said. “Brad is in the way. Of himself. I get it. I spent a long time trying to be in love with what I wasn’t and committing myself to women I felt no commitment for.”

“Oh, cousin,” Gilead said, hugging Nehru. He reached behind him and hugged Russell, “We’re all so fucked up.”

He got up and climbed back through the window, followed by Russell.

In the little upstairs hallway, Gilead said, “I’m such a fool. I should have gone with Mark.”

“You’ll see him on Monday.”

“That’s a whole weekend off. You know what? I should call him, shouldn’t I?”

Anigel’s half open door opened all the way and she thrust out the cordless.

“Thanks,” Gilead said, frowning while he took the phone.

Saying nothing, Anigel closed the door.

When they were alone on the roof, Rob said, “There’s only one thing to do?”

Nehru looked at his friend.

“Get you on top of another man as soon as possible.”