“He’s in trouble, Bear. Can we come in for second and talk?”

Bear didn’t move from his body blockade of the door.

“Wish you could, girl, but Lavonne’s workin’ nights and she gets a little cranky when her beauty sleep’s disturbed.” At last, Bear spoke the truth. Lavonne got cranky when the sun rose, when it set and when the earth revolved around it. Then again, Lavonne had been supporting a ne’er-do-wel for thirty years, albeit a lovable one, that would make me cranky too.

“Do you know anything about Dad?” I asked.

“Un-unh, haven’t heard from Ray in ages,” Bear said.

Back to lying.

Damn.

I sighed, then ran down my latest adventures with Dad, Slick and Slick’s knife.

It was then, Bear looked angry.

“What’re you doin’ workin’ at a titty bar?” Wonderful.

“That isn’t the point.”

“It is the point. You need money?”

Like Bear had money.

Before I could answer, Tex boomed, “Let’s stay focused here, people.”

Bear tensed, stil angry and he glared at Tex.

I moved into Bear’s line of sight. I didn’t need two big, hairy men wrestling amongst a bunch of rusty tricycles. I had to find Dad and then find a Kil er Eddie Date Outfit and make sure my legs had a clean, close shave. I didn’t have time to go off target.

“Bear, I real y need to find Dad.”

Bear looked at me.

“I haven’t heard from Ray. Al right? If I do, I’l cal you.

And I won’t tel Lavonne you’re workin’ at a titty bar. She’d have a shit hemorrhage.”

With that, we had no choice but to say good-bye. Then we trooped back to Indy’s Beetle. We sat in it, me in the back, Indy driving, Tex in the front passenger seat.

We stared at the house.

“Do you think your Dad’s in there?” Indy asked me.

“No, but I think Bear knows where he is,” I said.

“Maybe we should drive around the corner and hang out for awhile, watch the house,” Indy suggested.

“Fuck that. I don’t do stakeouts. I need food. I missed lunch. Let’s rol ,” Tex said in a voice you didn’t want to argue with.

Indy took us to the Einstein’s Bagels on Alameda. Tex got an onion bagel with turkey, sprouts and cream cheese, a bag of chips, a huge cookie and a Rice Krispie treat. Indy and I got Diet Cokes. We sat at a table so Tex could eat.

“You got any more ideas?” Tex asked me, his mouth ful .

I shook my head.

He turned to Indy.

“You were more fun.”

I’d heard snatches of conversation about Indy’s drama, but never the ful story. Since I’d shared my life story, I thought it would only be fair to ask hers. The time was right, Tex had a mountain of food to get through and so I asked.

She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t have anything to hide.

She told me the whole thing, with Tex interjecting every once in awhile. He’d been more than a bit player in her drama. He’d gotten himself shot while protecting her (which explained the sling he wore when I first met him).

They’d only known each other a few weeks longer than I’d known them, which was surprising. I thought they’d known each other for years.

After she was done, I didn’t know what to say. Her story made Slick and his knife seem tame. Then again, she had Lee and his army of hotties backing her up.

Tex wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and threw it on the table. “I gotta go home, play with the cats.” Tex was a kind of nutcase renaissance man: by day a coffee genius, by night a cat sitter. Apparently, he always had dozens of cats coming and going at his house.

According to him, sometimes, if he didn’t like the feel of the cat’s owner, he wouldn’t let them have it back. I didn’t find this surprising, not a lot of people would argue with Tex, even if he was essential y stealing your cat.

We al got up when I noticed Tex tense and look behind me.

I turned and saw two men I’d never seen in my life standing there. They looked like they’d seen the movie Reservoir Dogs and decided to base their wardrobe on it.

Both slim, both dark-headed, both wearing black suits, thin black ties and white shirts.

“You lookin’ for Ray McAlister?” The tal er of the two asked Tex.

Oh no.

This just got worse and worse.

Who were these guys?

“What’s it to you?” Tex answered, obviously not feeling the need to be gracious and polite.

They looked at each other.

I was closest to them and Tex grabbed hold of my t-shirt and pul ed me backwards to the side and put himself between the bad guys and me.

“There’s no need to get testy, we just asked you a question,” the shorter of the two said to Tex, trying diplomacy.

“Yeah, we’re lookin’ for him. These two are Girl Scouts and he owes them cookie money,” Tex said, not feeling diplomatic.

They looked at each other again.

“I’m not sure we like your attitude,” the tal er man said.

Tex stared at him.

“What’s the deal with you? You got two bodies and one brain?”

It was like Tex wanted them to get angry.

If that’s what he wanted, he got it.

The tal er guy stepped closer.

“Fuck you.”

Uh-oh.

“Fuck you back,” Tex said.

Eek!

“Tex,” Indy said, sidling over to me and pul ing me away,

“let’s go.”

The Reservoir Dogs men weren’t done with us.

“You find McAlister, tel him Louie and Vince want to talk to him,” the shorter one said.

“You find him, you tel him Tex wants to talk to him, but first, Lee Nightingale wants to talk to him,” Tex said.

They looked at each other again, then they looked at Indy.

“Thought I recognized you,” the tal er one said.

“Get your f**kin’ eyes off her.” Tex got in between them and Indy and me, which put him dangerously close to the tal er guy.

“Back off, old man. And tel Nightingale to keep his f**kin’ nose out of this. Those friends of his too, the wetback cop and the f**kin’ dealer.”

Looking back, perhaps I should maybe have counted to ten.

Then again, until recently, I’d been mild-mannered and boring, so who would have ever guessed I would have lost my mind like I did. Though, words like the “N-word”,

“raghead”, “wetback” and the like always set my teeth on edge, so I guess my reaction to them cal ing Eddie one of those words wasn’t that surprising.