Five Beats Four (4)

“Hey freak what’s with the hand prints”?

“You wouldn’t understand, you ignorant lush. Get your beer and please get out. I have work to do”.

L.C. stooped down sticking his head into the refrigerator and spoke. His voice muffled by distance and the carrot he had stuck in his mouth.

“Oh yeah that’s right, your work”. Kerry could detect the mocking tone, in spite of his full mouth. Kerry brought his hand to his fore head and massaged patience into his brain.  The frige door slammed shut with the clanging of glass condiment bottles in protest.

L.C. had finished off the carrot like a mule consuming its prodding snack dangling in front of its face. He took the bottle of Spaten beer and laid the cap against the counter. With a quick slap he popped the bottle top off, leaving a slight gouge in the counter top. The cap fell to the floor with a hollow metallic ping sound. He tipped his head back and drank deeply from the German beer.

From Kerry’s post at the front door he could see clearly L.C.’s Adam’s apple bounce as he drank. He watched L.C. as he began to walk back into the living room still drinking. The whites of L.C.’s eyes looked to floor in straining quick glances, making sure to traverse the room without spilling a precious drop. He finished the bottle off and set the beer on the coffee table, without using a coaster. He knew this game well. He loved to get under Kerry’s skin with untidiness. He sat down on the couch and let out a loud burp. Smacking his lips L.C. looked to watch Kerry squirm. Before L.C. could react Kerry had closed the distance from the front door to the couch quickly and silently. Kerry grabbed L.C.’s arm and yanked. “Get up shit bag”.  L.C. arose enough to get his teeth on Kerry’s hand and bit hard enough to make him let go. As Kerry pulled his hand back L.C. quickly kicked at Kerry’s gut. Kerry deflected the foot with his fore arm and threw a straight right hand jab into L.C.’s nose. L.C. let out a cry that sounded like a cat being thrown into a wall.

Cupping his nose with both hands L.C. whined “you shit head, what’d you do that for”? The way he said “for” came out sounding like “furrrr”.

Kerry pulled L.C. off the couch by his leg, slamming L.C.’s ass on to the hard wood floor.

Talking as he was being dragged across the floor his muffled complaints made Kerry smile in satisfaction.

“I’m going to tell your brother”.

“Go ahead; if he has a problem with it I’ll kick his ass too”!

Kerry dragged L.C. out on to the front porch. On his way inside he stepped on L.C.’s supple beer gut. As the door closed behind Kerry heard the sad threats of how L.C. was going to get his second round in, he was going tell his brother everything.  

Five Beats Four (3)

The smoky glass was blotted out with the outline of a scraggly figure standing in front of the eastern sunrise light. Kerry felt his eyes getting dry, realizing that he hadn’t closed his eyes in the seconds he had been staring at the outline. He quickly closed them and forced them open again thinking that the outline would be gone. A voice from the other side of the door, the voice was nasal and sarcastic “Hey tard open the door”. It was L.C.; L.C. was an anagram for Lance Coummer. L.C. thought it made him sound more tough and manly. Kerry pressed his teeth together and made his left jaw bone pop. “Hurry up Kerry; If you like I’ll count for ya.” L.C. started to count in his best mexicano impression. “Uno, dos, tress” Kerry interrupted him with his real counting and taping on the door handle, loudly. At the end L.C. sang an operatic “ALIVVVE”. Kerry opened the door and L.C. pushed passed him, with his hands made into finger guns. Kerry could smell L.C.’s lanky twenty something scruff stank of body odor.

“L.C. isn’t it a little early for your bum ass to be up”?

L.C. was shuffling his oversized flip flops across the living room floor, making a bee line for the refrigerator. He stopped at the frig with his dirty nail bitten hand on the handle.   

“Very good Mr. Homo” L.C. interrupted himself “do you get the reference of Sherlock”?

“Now I do”.

Opening the refrigerator door, he bent over to survey the land of cold condiments and left over’s.

“Yeah my mom woke me up to go job hunting, I told her I needed to come over here because she didn’t get me the beer I asked for on the grocery list”. L.C. stood up to lean on the containers door and looked at Kerry across the room. Kerry was still standing with the front door open. He didn’t want to close the front door; he knew it would bring mockery from his loser neighbor.

L.C., leaning on the frig door pointed at Kerry with a carrot stick. “Your little bro gets the good top shelf brew”.  L.C. looked around the kitchen and saw the windows and sliding glass door all had smeared hand prints on the window panes. “Hey freak, what with the hand prints”?