[10] Roach Town

[10]

Zone was a dreamer. He dreamed vividly and often. He also remembered his dreams. However, he did not take stock in his dreams. He felt his dreams were a mere reflection on the circumstances surrounding his immediate life. He had no contention that his dreams were something spiritual or un-worldly. Usually when he woke up from a very lucid dream he would spend the day trying to connect the dream to reality. For instance, one time he dreamed of a very elaborate turtle neck sweater that he was wearing to a ball of some sort. A fancy ball with fancy people at it. In the dream he was underdressed. People kept telling him "You better check that sweater, Zone, it is not welcome here." He woke up confused. Uncertain of the meaning. But as the day went on, and right before he was about to join a press conference with Captain Nylon it dawned on him what the dream meant. They were about to announce the arrest of a member of high society for crimes related to embezzlement that was going to ruffle quite a few feathers in the upper echelon of society. The dream had simply meant that he was nervous about what he may say, and that he should choose his words carefully, hence the turtle neck sweater obstructing his neck. Where his words would come from. Or thereabouts. And the sweater was fancy because he would need to use different words than he would normally use. And the party guests were the upper echelon that were going to be pissed about what he said. The dream didn't change anything. He said what he needed to say. The fallout was predictable, and things went along as normal as the would have whether he had the dream or not. But in those moments, when Zone was in touch with himself through his dreams he was glad of it. It meant that he was following his instincts. And carefully as well. Zone was a dreamer. A dreamer that listened to his dreams.

So, that night. Sometime in the middle of July, sleeping under a burlap sack. In a greenhouse where earlier a woman's dead body had been found, Zone had a dream. It was a simple dream. Didn't make any sense when he woke up, but a dream that would stick with him. A dream that he would try to connect to his current situation. A dream that meant something, even if he, Zone, didn't know what it meant at the time. Zone's dream went this way:

He saw an old friend of his. A friend that he had known as Dirty. A bald man in his 40's. White. He was sitting on a chair. Looking quit smug. The chair was a cushioned rocking chair. Much like the chairs at the Park House. Dirty had a woman on his lap. He was whispering to her "I decided to transition." The woman was ecstatic. She kept saying "Oh, that is great! Good for you! That is so exciting!" Dirty rocked in his chair. Smug and smiling. The woman got up. Zone walked over. Dirty said "Zone, I have something to tell you." Zone said "I overheard. You are transitioning. Good for you." This upset Dirty. It took away his element of surprise. He rocked and rocked in the rocking chair. Ignoring Zone. Dirty mumbled to himself, over and over "You don't understand how I feel inside. This is important. You don't understand how I feel inside." Zone was upset. He said "But I do! I do! But I do! I do!" And Dirty with his mantra "You don't understand how I feel inside. This is important."

Another thing you should know about Zone, and his sleeping habits, he snored like a donkey choking on a frog. Especially if he had been drinking. Especially if he had drugs in his system. He would toss and snore and seize. He would talk in his sleep, in-between snores. Kick his legs out and thrash around. Then he would go silent. Then, if one was unfortunate enough to witness this intense sleeping technique, he would stop breathing. If you were watching you would fear that he had just died. You may even have the inspiration to make sure he was still alive. Maybe even try to wake him up. Lord knows there were quite a few partners in Zone's life that had tried to do this. Even Gagger at times, when finding himself sleeping next to Zone for any myriad reasons. But Zone would eventually make a chocking noise. Cough. Then go back to rattling the windows as they say in the reading books. On this night in particular his snoring was second to none. Birds flew from their roosting posts every time that Zone had a pause in his snoring, followed by an eruption of his donkey frogs. This cycle of noise went on for quite a bit of time. And as luck would have it, Zone had the dream about his old friend Dirty transitioning. By luck, I mean, it was lucky that he had this dream when he did, because it woke Zone up. And just in time. Because had he been sleeping when the lights of Gary Alone's car came up the road and turned into the driveway of his house, Zone would have most certainly been discovered sleeping in the greenhouse. And what happened next would never have happened in the first place.

Zone was staring at the ceiling of the greenhouse. Still angry at the moon, but less so now. He was trying to parse the dream out. Wondering what it meant. Slightly confused about how he had fallen asleep in the greenhouse in the first place. But that was of no real concern to Zone. He had waken up in many odd places over his career. Basements. Subway platforms. The backs of cars. One time, inside a water tower in Brooklyn. Mind you, with water in it. Just bobbing like some hungover apple. Somehow not drowning. Naked and freezing. At dawn. But that is a story for another day. What happened next at Gary Alone's place, on Chickadee road, outside Rochester, Vermont was not nearly as dramatic as waking up in a half-full water tower in Brooklyn, but for the sake of this story, it definitely changed things a bit.

Zone could hear the car coming up the road. Then he saw the headlights. He waited for the lights to turn. Praying the car wouldn't keep driving, therefore discovering Zone in the greenhouse. The lights did turn. Zone slowly peaked his head out of the greenhouse door. The moon was still in full effect. He could see Gary Alone and Union Dan getting out of the car. They did not suspect that Zone was watching them. Or could hear them talking. Because had they known he was there, they would not have said what they said. Gary Alone, who sounded drunk, because he was still drunk, said:

"That is insane! I can't believe Bondo admitted to doing it. There is no way in hell he is going to get away with it, though, right?" Union Dan said:

"And he is lucky, the cops being here even. Plus those dipshits from the City. If I were him, I would keep my mouth shut about it. The walls have ears." Gary Alone said:

"Don't I know it might do. We need to keep our traps shut too, Dan, you can never tell who is on our side of things these days. Hey, you think there is any of the good stuff left? I think we left the bottle over there." Union Dan said:

"I don't know. A nice nip would do me good. It has been a long day. I really can't believe Bondo admitted it. You think he was just drunk?" Gary Alone said:

"I don't know, I guess we will find out." They moved closer the greenhouse. Zone pulled back and remained as silent as he could. Gary Alone said:

"Man, I can't find shit. Are you sure this is where we were?" Zone could feel the bottle they were looking for. It was basically under him. Union Dan said:

"Yeah, I think so. Either here or over there. Go check over there, maybe it's in the greenhouse." Gary Alone said:

"Oh, hell no! I aint going in there! No amount of booze can lure me into that gate to hell! C'mon, I got beer inside. We can find the bottle tomorrow." Union Dan said:

"Man, you are going to have to burn that thing down, I hope you know it." Gary Alone said:

"Oh, I know it, I know it might do for sure, Dan, I don't even want to think about, I suppose." Union Dan sighed. He said:

"How long do you think Bondo has? Days? Weeks?" Gary Alone said:

"I wouldn't be surprised if they picked him up tomorrow. Loose tongue like his. I don't want to think about it. Let's go. This place is giving me the creeps." Union Dan said:

"And it smells. I don't know, it smells like that Zone asshole. That fucking dick, I must have his stink burned onto my nostrils. If I ever see him again, I swear, I might knock 'im out with my good ol' one-two!" Gary Alone laughed at this. Zone frowned. Like hell, he thought. He would kick that losers ass in a fight. He had six inches on him at least. And not to mention he was drunk as a skunk. Zone got so distracted by this thought that he didn't catch the rest of the conversation as the two boobs walked back to Gary Alone's house. He cursed himself for losing focus. He peaked his head out from the haunted greenhouse again. The lights were on, but the two boobs were inside. Zone took the last drink from the moonshine bottle. He thought it would be hilarious to put it in the car as a way to fuck with these assholes. But then he thought about it. He didn't want them to know that he had heard their conversation where they admitted that Constable Bondo had murdered the woman. Or at least, that is what they implied. Zone put the bottle back where he found it in the first place. Where the boobs had passed out when the State Police had arrived. This might fuck with them a little. Although, Zone thought for sure they wouldn't remember any of the night tomorrow. Considering how drunk they were then and now and before. Zone did sneak over to Gary Alone's car and uncapped the rear right valve cover. He listened for a second to see if he could hear the boobs inside the house. When he couldn't, he found a rock and let the air out of the tire. He thought this would teach those jerks to think that they could beat Zone up in a fist fight. He put the cap back on. This would be quite the pain in the ass for them in the morning, or whenever they woke up and tried to get somewhere. Maybe even tonight when Union Dan needed to get home, or whatever the other option was. Zone wasn't sure that they weren't lovers. They did have a common sense about them. They didn't seem like lovers, but they did seem like an old couple that had been together a very long time. It was entirely possible that they both lived at this house. Zone hadn't considered that before, but now it kind of made sense. He was trying to remember the context of their conversations. There was no reason to not think that. And if that was true, it changed things a little bit. Even if Gary Alone got his name from being the Gary without a wife. And Union Dan also seeming like a bachelor. Zone wondered if this is what the dream had meant, but that was too easy. Or was it? It was, he decided. Being gay was not transitioning. Even if transitioning meant something more abstract than gender conformation.

Zone snuck up to the house to try and get a look inside. He stepped on a dry branch that cracked. He ran as fast as he could and jumped into a ditch. Gary Alone came to the door and opened it. He looked around. He yelled back:

"It must be moose or something! I don't see shit! I got two aces, man! Lose the shirt!" Gary Alone shut the door. Zone could hear him lock it. Zone dragged himself out of the ditch. Luckily it had been a dry spell for some time otherwise he would have been covered in mud. As it was, his boots were muddy and his knees smelled like swamp smells, but he was mostly dry. He started walking back to town. Thinking about the conversation the two boobs had had and the dream that had given him the luck to hear the conversation in the first place. Zone didn't know he was lucky about that, but like all things kismet, he was thankful that it had happened. He was in no mood to walk back to town, but what else could he do? Go back to the haunted greenhouse and sleep there until dawn? Under the burlap sacks? A thing of mulch for a pillow? That was not an option. He kept walking. It was downhill at least. His big boots and feet flapping on the dirt road at first. Then the pavement. His body felt floppy. He was very tired now. The moon egging him on. Like some death's head looking over his shoulder. Making sure he gets to hell just fine. To eat the babies of abortions. That all go straight to hell. Where their mothers will soon be. The devil using their tears to make a nice soup for the fathers to eat. As much as Zone was in a poor mood walking up this road, being angry at the moon, he was in a much more sour mood going down the road. He was tired. He wanted to smoke, but he didn't have it in him to roll a pinner. He wasn't sure the door to Park House would be open. He doubted that Gagger had taken shower. The room, even if he could get inside, would smell like manure and anal sex. Anal sex! Zone hadn't had a second to process what had happened with Gagger and the Officer Lindsay, and now it was all he could think about. The moon, blaring down on his shoulders, giving him moon-burn, the boobs talking shit about Zone, and now, when he wanted the most peace he could get, the idea of Gagger having anal sex in the woods when the fucked up State Police were in some insane chaos-mode, or whatever you would call it, the toothpick coward being too upset to do his fucking job, and there was Gagger and the Officer Lindsay having anal sex in the woods!? It was too much to process. Zone thought:

"I mean, how the hell does that work? Did Gagger have some sort of lube in his pocket? The Officer Lindsay? Or is that just what the sex smelled like? And if so, was Zone doing sex wrong?" Gagger was an animal, that was for certain, but why didn't Zone have sex that smelled so intensely? He remembered the Officer Lindsay's breath. Like Gaggers dick being shoved into his nose. Zone thought "What the hell am I missing?" Zone was not a prude in any way. He had some issues, that is for sure, but when it came to Gagger and sex things, he just couldn't figure it out. He wondered if his haunted greenhouse dream was leading him in this direction, but it wasn't. That was something else, he decided. He would have to think about it. Zone got to the bottom of the hill. He took a right. He walked past the bar. It was closed now. He hoped that Siobhan would be coming out at that moment and want to motorboat Zone in the alley, but she was long gone. Zone walked across the town square. The moon finally reached the edge of the mountains. Zone looked up at it as it crested the mountain next to the town. He raised a middle finger and said:

"Get lost, you fucking asshole!" He went around to the front door of the Park House. He did a prayer and turned the knob. The door opened. He sighed in relief. He snuck inside. Taking a left to go to the kitchen. He was trying to be as quiet as possible. He opened a cupboard above the sink and found a drinking glass. Zone filled it with water. He took a drink. Glad to be back. He was about to walk up to his rooms and go to sleep when he heard the front door lock. The grandma Hellen walked into the kitchen. She said:

"We've been waiting for you. What took you so long?" Zone was taking a drink and choked on the water. Helen stood there in the threshold. She was wearing a nightgown. All five foot one of her. The water landed on his boots. Zone said:

"What the fuck, man! You fuck a guy up, now!" Helen said:

"Keep it down, Mr Zone, people are trying to sleep." Zone was indignant:

"Yeah, well, I am just trying to drink some water, Helen." Grandma Helen did not agree. She said:

"I hope you peed before you came inside, because the bathroom is off-limits after-hours." She turned around and walked up the stairs. Zone was confused about this statement. He did have to pee. What the hell could he do about it now? He did not want to start a grandma riot again. Like the one before when Gagger and Bonny got caught boning. He waited for a while. Making sure that grandma Helen was out of ear shot. He pissed in the sink. Keeping his eyes alert for any unseen grandmas. When none of them came out of the secret corners, he ran a small trickle of water. Then, when no grandmas snuck out from somewhere else, he slowly made his way up the stairs. He got to the top of the stairs without incident. Nobody came out and attacked him. He opened to door to their rooms. Gagger and Zone's rooms. It smelled like manure inside, but that was okay. Zone was glad to make it there without incident. Gagger was breathing silently. Zone hadn't woken him up. He put the glass of water on the night stand. He kicked his boots off. The smell over-powered the manure for a moment. Then it disappeared. Zone undressed and got into the twin bed. He was naked. The clean sheets felt nice. He pulled the blankets up. He was laying on his back. Zone smiled. The bed felt good. He thought about his dream again. About Dirty transitioning. Like most dreams, thinking about a dream made him fall asleep again. And that was that. An entire day of mayhem coming to an end. Sadly though, for Zone, he slept like a donkey with a frog in it's mouth. And unbeknownst to Zone, this was about to cause a revolution of catastrophic proportions.