All I know

Chapter Nine

“B, wake up its eight fifteen” He whispered, nudging her softly. She stirred before her eyes opened and she rubbed the sleep out of them.

“Thanks, Rus. I’m up.” She replied, sitting up on the couch.

He nodded and went back to his room, closing the door behind him and throwing himself into his bed.

She slowly stood and made her way to the bathroom to find the door closed and locked. She knocked softly on it and was answered with the sound of the toilet flushing. The door opened to reveal a short red headed girl. Her eyes narrowed, suspecting it was the slut Dallas had brought home last night.

“Scuse me, doll.” She said sharply brushing past the girl, into the bathroom.

“Sorry, mate” the girl replied in the Australian accent she recognized from the night before, confirming her suspicions. She watched from the door frame as the girl walked back into Dallas’ room, closing the door behind her. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she closed the bathroom door and went to the toilet to relieve her self. She wiped and stood, flushing the toilet before going to the sink and brushing her teeth. Making her way across the hall to Rusty’s room, she softly opened the door and tip toed to her duffel bag, fishing out a fresh pair of jeans, a shirt, and socks picking up her converse sneakers and closing the door on her way out. She dressed in the living room figuring Dallas would be too busy fucking his Australian kangaroo to come out of his room. Ruffling her fingers through her hair, she walked out the door and walked to Santa Monica Blvd for her interview.

A few hours later, Rusty rolled over in his bed and opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling for a moment before getting up and heading to the bathroom. When he opened the door, he was greeted with a cute little red head in a long sleeved red shirt that went down to high on her thighs and hung off of one her shoulders. She was smoking a cigarette, looking for a place to ash it before settling on an empty beer bottle that sat on a shelf in the wall. He smiled. She smiled back.

“Hi.” He managed to get out.

“Hey” she replied, nodding her head.

“Alright…listen up, here’s the deal.” Dallas began as they walked down the alley between Bears’ brother’s sports bar and a hair salon. “I meet this chick, last night at O’Maley’s and to begin with; she’s a fucking ten, okay. Long story short; love at first sight, of course, we go home and we try to make a baby. Now hopefully it doesn’t work ‘cause now at this point I’m thinking about seeing other people right?” he explained with a chuckle. “Then…it gets good.”

“You talking about the red head?” Rusty asked.

“Yeah, you saw the red head? Fine, right?” Dallas asked as he ducked into the public bathroom on the corner of Bears bar. Rusty leaned in the door frame.

“She’s uh…pretty cute” Rusty replied simply.

“Pretty cute, my ass.” Dallas said unzipping his fly and preparing to relieve him self. “So we’re laying in bed, right? She starts talking, in fact she doesn’t stop talking. I mean at first I’m thinking how I’m going to get chatty Cathy out of my life; I mean this bitch would not shut the fuck up. Whole story; ‘Daddy didn’t love me, I need a green card’…but then…” he said looking back at Rusty and holding up a finger. “It get’s interesting” he looked back down to the toilet “she starts in about this guy Rubin. Who she’s sort of been seeing on and off for the last couple of months. Regular job kinda guy, dabbles in the occasional hustle, he used to do more than just dabble. He uh...dabble, dabble” he said in time to the last two drops of urine that fell from his penis before flushing the toilet and walking through the door frame as he zipped up his pants. “He’s trying to straighten out; it’s a whole thing. Right?”

“Does he drive a Caddy?” Rusty interrupted “Black on black?”

“The fuck do I know what he drives?” Dallas snapped

“The redhead was telling me the story-“

“Dude, I don’t know what kind of car he drives. Seems to me like a pick up truck kinda guy. Guys a roofer. He roofs.” Dallas replied getting into the driver’s seat of his car.

“He what?” Rusty asked with a confused look as he slid into the passenger’s seat.

“He roofs, he puts roofs on houses.”

“Rubin, the roofer?”

“Rubin the fuckin roofer; may I continue?”

“Go ahead” Rusty replied with a smile on his face.

“Thank you. So Rubin is doing some patch work on some rich guys house and finds the ultimate roof; sky lights.” Dallas said with a smirk.

“And what? Are you looking for a job?”

“No asshole, I’m not looking for a job. He sees things through the sky light as he does the patch work. And what does he see?” Dallas asked

“I don’t know… a sink… that needs fixing?” Rusty asked completely bewildered by the direction the conversation had taken.

“No, not a sink that needs fixing. Green. Money and lots of it. Apparently this guy, who ever he is; and I don’t wanna know, keeps a lot of green lying around the house. Taxes. Drugs. The buying and selling of underage Asian women, again I don’t wanna know. Lot’s of money in a small safe. Now our friend, Rubin, has been planning on robbing this gentleman but uh...he’s been staling. He’s been staling because he doesn’t want to do it alone.” Dallas let that sink in before adding “That’s where we come in-“

“Whoah, whoah, hold the telephone, man.” Rusty interrupted sharply.

“What?”

“Let me get this straight. You bring home…a red head and she obviously talks a lot-“

“Wouldn’t shut the fuck up.” Dallas confirmed with a shrug.

“Right. Now, people who talk too much are liars. Or they do drugs…you know, speed. In any case; reliability? Zero! But let’s just put that aside for a second.” He said gesturing towards the glove compartment. “You’re going to help ‘Rubin the roofer’, someone who you do not know, rob someone else who you do not know because some hot red head told you that he needed help?! Have you lost your fuckin mind?! Let’s just imagine that everyone here exists, it’s still fuckin retarded.” He let out a sigh. “Have you lost your fuckin’ mind, man?” He asked in a softer tone.

“Dude...” Dallas began shaking his head. “First of all I’m not gonna rob anybody…alright?” he clarified before letting an innocent smile cross his face “Come on…all this guy needs is a driver and a thousand bucks.” He reasoned. “He needs someone to drive him” he said moving the steering wheel with both hands “to the house on the day. The house that he has the fucking key’s to.” He said reassuring Rusty. “Okay and the money is just insurance. He needs to know that the driver’s not gonna pull away if it gets hairy. Okay I put in a thou- WE” he corrected pointing to Rusty and him self “put in a thousand bucks, and we get back twenty.” He said leaning back, his eyes still on the other man. “Twenty thousand American dollars and you don’t have to do a thing except give me a couple hundred bucks. Now we need the money today. Smile.” He said before turning the key on the ignition and letting the car roar to life as Rusty turned to look at him.

“What about what I said about not getting into anything while Butterfly is staying with us?” Rusty asked, anger rising in his tone more and more. “What about that?”

“We’re not getting into anything, bro. This gonna be great for all three of us, just fuckin relax. This is an easy grab. One, two, three; that’s it.” He answered growing slightly impatient. He was expecting Rusty to be completely on board. He expected him to understand that this was easy money for them and they wouldn’t have to worry about shit for the next little while.

“Where are we gonna come up with a thousand dollars, then?” Rusty asked.

“We’ll borrow it.” Dallas answered.

“From who? Who the hell do you think is gonna give us a thousand dollars in cash?”

“I don’t know, dude. Look I’ve three hundred at the house, how much you got?” he asked cutting his eyes to Rusty.

“I got another three, which means we’re still four hundred dollars short.” He replied hoping that the lack of funds would stop Dallas from being so God damn stupid.

“You think your mom would lend you three hundred?” He asked softly. “You don’t have to tell her what it’s for.”

“You honestly think I would anyway?” He let out a sigh. “Let’s go, I’ll ask.”

“Alright.” Dallas answered, turning the car around and heading for Mary’s house. “And we’ll ask Butterfly for the last hundred bucks.”

“No fuckin’ way. We’re not draggin her into this, man.” Rusty said firmly, shaking his head.

“We’re not dragging her into it. She doesn’t have to know what it’s for, dude. ‘Need to know’, okay. Calm down”

“Bullshit, we’re not involving her. That’s it. We’ll have to borrow it from someone else.” he said again cutting his eyes to Dallas.

“Fine.” He replied accelerating slightly. The rest of the ride to Mary’s house was in silence. When they finally got there, Rusty unlocked the front door with his key and walked in with Dallas following him. He walked to her bedroom and pulled back the curtains that hung in the door frame.

“Mom” he said snapping them back.

“Oh! Butch!” Mary exclaimed sitting up in bed and covering her naked upper half with the bed sheets.

“Wow.” Dallas said walking in behind Rusty. “Mary…mother Mary...” he said letting out a soft chuckle. Mary waved, smiling in embarrassment.

“Hi Bob” Rusty said over his shoulder.

“Hey” Bob answered, still reclined in the bed, his hand over his face.

“Hey mom, do you think-“ he paused looking at Dallas who was staring at his mother before he cut his eyes to Rusty and let out a muffled laugh. “Do you think it’d be possible for to talk to you for a second?” he finished.

“Sure” Mary replied trying to sound casual as she got up from the bed, sheets still wrapped around her naked body.

“Stop staring” Rusty whispered, punching Dallas’ arm to get his attention. Mary glared at him as she walked by, thoughts of Butterfly’s behavior flooding back into her mind.

“Hi” Dallas said in a chuckle, receiving another punch on the shoulder from her before she walked out of the room, following her son. Dallas looked back down at Bob. “So…” he began, his arms crossing over his chest.

“So.” Bob repeated, studying Dallas’ body language. Dallas shrugged.

“How you doing?” he asked casually.

----------

“First of all, sorry.” Rusty began, not being able to look at his mother in the eye. Partly because of what he’d interrupted, and partly because of what he was about to ask her.

“It’s fine” she replied shrugging, looking up at the far end of the ceiling.

“Second…” he paused, taking a soft breath “I need to borrow money.”

“For what?”

“No questions asked.” He said still not looking at her.

“I hate that.” She said shaking her head.

“I know” he replied cutting his eyes to the window before looking at her for the first time “Can I?”

“How much?” she sighed.

“Three hundred dollars?”

“No way.” She said looking away from him.

“Two hundred” he reasoned.

“Can’t do it, don’t got it.” she said shrugging her shoulders.

----------


“So Dallas, right?” Bob asked

“Yeah and you’re Bob?” Bob nodded.

“How are you getting along with Butterfly?” he asked. Dallas grew a bit uneasy but it never showed.

“She’s cool.” He replied simply. Bob shrugged.

“Cool? How?”

“Dallas!” he heard from the other room, turning his head at the sound of his name. “Let’s go!” Dallas looked back at Bob and smiled.

“See ya.” He said before walking through the open curtains and past Mary who still glared at him. She closed the door behind them and they walked back to Dallas’ car. Once they were inside, he looked at Rusty. “So?” he asked. Rusty held up a bill. Dallas took it, unfolded it and looked back at Rusty.

“One hundred dollars.” Rusty turned to look at him.

“A hundred dollars buys a lot of bananas”

“Un-fuckin-believable.” Dallas replied, turning the car on. “I can always ask Christian…” he offered, already making the left towards Christian’s house.

“Yeah. Okay. I’m waiting in the car, though.”

“Fine.” He answered.

He stared out the window, thinking about the situation and wishing he’d insisted on Dallas going with them last night. He wanted out of this life and Bob had been encouraging him. Going to see him was the best idea his mother had ever had. But now that he knew that he had to get out, he didn’t want to face the fact that he may have to leave his best friend, Dallas, behind in order to save him self. He let out a deep sigh as they pulled up to Christian’s house.

“I’ll be right back.” He said as he got out of the car and walked to the front door, knocking on it softly before Christian opened it for him. “Hey” he said softly, his hands in his back pocket, as he stepped inside.

“Hi” Christian replied. He was mess, the house was a mess, his life was a complete mess. Thanks to the man standing in front of him…well…at least inadvertently.

“How you doin?” he asked.

“Fantastic” Christian replied sarcastically, throwing his hands up. He began to walk through the dirty house towards his kitchen when he turned abruptly with a pathetic look on his face. “I don’t owe you money do I?”

Dallas shook his head. “No”.

He started to walk away again but then turned once again “What a second, you don’t owe me money do you?” he asked in a hopeful tone,

Dallas shook his head again this time apologetically. “No”.

“Of course not that would just be too fuckin good to be true” he replied walking to the kitchen and bringing his flask up to take a drink before realizing it was empty. “You want some soup?” he asked glancing back as he kept walking. “PEG!!!” He called, screaming out to his wife.

“No, no. Look Rusty’s in the car, I gotta go” Dallas replied, following into the kitchen.

“Oh my God…” Christian said, bringing his hands up to hold his head after he set his flask on the counter. “She’s not here…” he said.

“Who?” Dallas asked, trying to calm him down.

“Peg, she’s not here. I should know, I dropped her off myself about twenty minutes ago. I am screaming for people who I very well know are not the house…” he explained grabbing Dallas’ arm desperately. “Don’t see, Dallas, I think I’m finally loosing my fuckin melon here…”

“You’re gonna be okay, I promise” he answered trying his best to comfort him.

“How do you know?” Christian asked, tears threatening to strip his pride further.

“I need to borrow three hundred dollars…” Dallas asked softly.

Christians eyes widened and his head fell back. “AHHHHH!!!!!!” He screamed, shoving everything off of the counter frantically and flipping the chair on the other side of him. He ran to the other side of the kitchen and repeated the gesture on the other counter. “IT’S HAPPENING, DALLAS! I’M FUCKIN HYSTERICAL!!!! I’M FUCKIN’ HYSTERICAL!!!” He yelled opening and closing the cabinet frantically.

“HEY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Dallas screamed, holding the other man down before he lifted Christian’s head with his hands. “Hey…listen…listen. I have seven hundred dollars, I need a thousand by the end of the day, just-“

“DALLAS, YOU’RE GOING TO COME OVER HERE AND YOU’RE GOING TO ASK ME?! IF THERE’S ANYBODY ON THIS EARTH THAT KNOWS HOW I’VE BEEN HANDING OUT MONEY LIKE A FUCKING CLUB PROMOTER WITH A STACK OF FLYERS, IT WOULD HAVE TO BE YOU! I’M HANDING MOST OF IT TO YOU!”

“You think I see that shit? I don’t see it! You’re giving it to me to give to somebody else, I’m like the fuckin’ mail man here!”

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT-“

“NO THE POINT IS I NEED THE MONEY AND I NEED IT TODAY!” Dallas retorted raising his voice.

“You’re screwed, booed and tattooed. How’s that?”

“I don’t have any other options. Okay?” He replied grabbing the first thing his hand touched which was a porky the big water bottle.

“WELL, WHY AM I ONE OF THEM?!”

“Do you have the money?” Dallas asked, looking down at his feet.

“Well, yes I do…” he answered finally calming down a bit. “But I need nourishment! A man’s gotta eat sometime, you know.”

“My right hand to God.” Dallas swore, looking at him in the eye and holding up his right hand. “My right hand to God, you will have it back by the end of the month.”

“No. Niet; the opposite of wee wee. Hand’s are tied, I can’t do it” He replied demonstrating with his hands touching at the wrists. Dallas sighed, tossing the bottle back on the counter and running his hand over his mouth.

“I’ll be right back.” He said, walking out of the kitchen and towards the window next to the front door. He leaned on it with his hands, looking out at Rusty smoking a cigarette in the car. He could just ask Butterfly and not tell Rusty; but then he’d be lying to the only person who ever gave a shit about him. Somehow that just didn’t sit right with him, so he’d have to convince Christian to lend him the money. He knew there was only one way to do that. He’d thought about it before, even mentioned it to Rusty one drunken night a couple days before Butterfly arrived but said he was only kidding when Rusty rejected the idea. “Don’t do it” he whispered to himself. He knew this was the only way to ensure that he could land this score with the roofer. He turned his head, pressing it up against his shoulder. “Don’t do it” he whispered again, looking once again at Rusty before pushing him self away from the window. “Fuck” he muttered as he walked back to where Christian stood. “I can’t believe I’m gonna do this” he sighed.

“What?” Christian asked nervously, backing up towards the back door. “What are you gonna do? You gonna rob me?” he asked frantically picking up a bowling pin that was on the corner of the counter. “Kill me” he said holding the pin out to Dallas. “Do me a favor”

“Sit down.” Dallas said softly gesturing to one of the chairs at the kitchen table. “Please.” He added picking up the chair Christian had thrown and sitting in it after Christian obeyed. “I’m not gonna rob you, okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.” He said before he buried his head in his hands and ran them across his scalp in frustration. “I can’t believe I’m gonna do this.” He said to himself before looking up at the other man. “I’m gonna rob Bear.” He said plainly.

“Really...” Christian replied, his eyes lighting up a little.

“Yeah” Dallas said nodding his head. “I’m gonna do it with you.”

“Really?” Christian answered sitting up in his chair, putting the pin down on the table and leaning in towards Dallas, completely engaged.

“Yeah. Fifty/fifty.” He said before he rethought the statement. “No, fuck that, sixty/forty…sorry…look I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and, you know, I was gonna do it with Rusty but he’s been acting really strange lately. I mean, the guy is like my fuckin brother, you know, he’s my best friend in the whole world I love him-“

“But…” Christian offered.

“Right, exactly ‘but…’ I mean, why not you? I was thinking about it. I should probably go to the doctor and have my head examined but why not?” he said looking into Christians eyes. “Why not? I mean you hate the guy, right?” he taunted.

“I hate the fucking guy...” Christian replied feeding right into Dallas’ trap.

“So it’s you and me.” He confirmed. Christian nodded once and rested his elbows on his knees after crossing his legs.

“And you’re sure this can be done?”

“I know for a fact that fat mother fucker has a hundred thousand dollars stashed somewhere in that house.” Dallas replied matter of factly.

“Yes, yes. But he probably keeps in a very safe place, number one, and number two the guy has never left his house.” Christian pointed out.

“Both great reasons why we go in with guns and hockey masks and strong arm the mother fucker.” He replied bringing his hand up, forming a gun and pressing it into Christian’s temple for emphasis.

“You’re not playing any fucking games?” he asked, unable to take any more trauma in his life.

“Hello no, I’m not playing any fuckin games.”

“But, listen, this between you and me” he said pointing his finger at the other man. Christian nodded, crossing himself. “No, none of this” Dallas said mimicking the cross. “If you tell a soul, I will put your ear where your nose used to be.”

“Understood.” Christian swore.

“I'm serious, nobody. Not Peg, not your mother, not your father, not your priest.” Dallas said counting each person on his hand.

“I’m a Jew.” Christian corrected. Dallas looked at him for a moment.

“Your name is Christian.” He pointed out.

“I converted.” Christian replied, smiling softly and revealing the Star of David that hung around his neck on a chain.

“Fine, just don’t tell anybody.”

“That I’m a Jew?” Christian asked.

“No! About what the fuck we’re talking about right now!” Dallas clarified, growing slightly impatient.

“Alright. I'm very skeptical about the whole thing. We’re going have to talk about the sixty/forty thing. But I am in no way saying no. In fact, with every leaning moment, I’m leaning towards the moments of a yes.” He said wagging his finger.

“That’s good…” Dallas replied.

“However, I’m going to need more details. Why did you choose me?” he asked suspiciously.

“Okay, all the details you will get, I don’t have time for the details right now, you know what I’m saying?” he replied narrowing his eyes to make his point.

“Alright” he answered.

“Why did I pick you? Why you? Why the fuck not you?” he asked bluntly. “I mean the guy has been inadvertently robbing you for the last eight months...”

“Yeah” Christian agreed.

“Dude you’re a shitty gambler. Okay? You need a score really fucking badly.”

“I’m not a shitty gambler, Dallas, I’m a victim of circumstance” he said raising his voice defensively.

“Fine you’re a victim of circumstances but more importantly, I need three hundred dollars right now for something totally different…don’t ask.” He said as Christian was about to ask what for. “Give it to me. Give it to me, right now, and we have a deal.” He said looking at Christian dead in the eyes, letting him know that he was serious. Christian stared back at him before he reached into his robe pocket and pulled out the money. Mission accomplished.