Chapter 19-
Monkey Business
William had come to the realization that he
was an adult now and was entitled to do very adult things. Like drink. A lot.
The
night after Kiley and her children had left the estate William decided to go
back to where his first few drinks had taken place. He had accidentally gotten
a stain on his suit so decided that if he was spilling things his swim suit
would be more appropriate. Many people in town had heard of his most recent
loss and assumed it was just grief that led the young man out to the Bistro
dressed so inappropriately.
In an
effort to show some respect, as one, they turned their eyes away from him. If
he didn’t see their eyes, maybe he wouldn’t see their askance.
The
Bistro’s bartender refused to pour him anything while he had no shirt on.
William had shouted a bit about him now being the owner and that the bartender
better serve him or else. This had only made the manager come over and manage
to walk him through the kitchens before rather roughly shoving him out the back
door.
William’s
eyes narrowed and he decided that first thing in the morning, he would take
care of that.
Still
without his drink and a headache threatening to come on, William went out in
search of a bartender who would serve him. He finally landed here at the
Brightmore. To his very pleasant surprise, the bar was mostly empty save a
paparazzo and Mr. Teal dancing on the counter behind the bar. William didn’t
care for the rag photographer but he still had very fond memories of Mr. Teal.
This
bartender, too, had looked at him as though she would rather him be fully
clothed. She had, however, simply shrugged and went to make his drink.
As she
applied an acetylene torch to her concoction William allowed his eyes to wander
and fix on his old Chemistry teacher.
“Should
I throw you a 20, sugar?” William asked him.
“No
way, son! This,” Mr. Teal responded heartily. “This is my way of making the
world go away. Weren’t nobody here before you came in, so I reckon if you’re
the one that don’t like it, you should head up and go.”
“Sounds
like you need a 50 then.” William teased.
“Still
ain’t enough to take the spring out of my step,” Mr. Teal’s mouth set in grim
lines and he looked at the photographer. The two had a deal going, the
photographer wouldn’t take any shots of him and Mr. Teal would never tell
anyone that the photographer wore woman’s underwear and liked it covered in
strawberry syrup. However, Mr. Teal knew that he still had to make a living and
a drunken, sloshing, slurring William Blue working his way around bars in a
bathing suit was front page stuff. Dead Daddy or no.
“That’s
yours, honey” The bartender put on a pot holder and gingerly nudged the now
flaming drink toward William. “Hope you like it hot.”
William
barely seemed to hear her. He was staring at the drink cabinet behind her. The
glittering bottles in a myriad of colors had caught his whole attention.
William
ignored the fire atop his libation and drank it down quickly, immediately
ordering a second, a third, a fourth, up until his eleventh.
By that
point, even Mr. Teal had finally climbed down, made a passing joke to the
photographer, clapped William on the shoulder while shaking his head at the boy
and headed out.
He was
preparing to order another when the bartender fixed his eye and told him it was
closing time.
“Closing
time,” William muttered. “It’s not time for closing time. I own this bar. I say
when it closes.”
Unluckily,
the bartender heard and waved over a bouncer. He marched over and removed
William from his chair. William was unable to stand on his own power anyhow and
thought the bouncer was doing him a favor.
“Bathroom
first, Jeeves. Then onward!” William’s
words barely sounded like English.
Instead,
the bouncer shoved him in the elevator, pressing a button and climbing back
out.
Velma’s
squeal of delight has he fell out of the doors to the bar caused his eyes to
swim. He couldn’t get them to find the source of squeezing and it didn’t seem
to jive with what he was hearing.
“Oh,
William,” Velma said sadly. “I’m so glad I ran into you! Dedrick and I have
been hoping to run into you for an age! I need to talk to you about Lily Pad,
but first I’m so so SO sorry about your Dad. I know how broken up Mom is
and I can’t imagine how you are doing. How are you?”
William
pulled back. Not much of what she said made much sense. Something about Lily
Pad and his Dad?
“My Dad
better keep his hands way far away from Lily Pad. She’s trouble,” he peered
blearily at Velma after escaping her vice like hug.
Velma
looked at him strangely. “No. No. Lily Pad is trouble, but not with your dad.
She’s been seeing somebody. I think she might be pregnant, but she won’t tell
me who and I’m thinking of kicking her out. If Dedrick and I want to start a
family I don’t want such a bad influence around us.” She paused. Looking more
closely at his eyes.
“William,
are you okay?”
“Never
better. But Jeeves ran off and left me. He was supposed to call my cab. I left
the bike at home.”
Taking
a deep breath, he startled Velma, her husband standing behind William and the
photographer all when he began yelling.
“You
see this thumb? This thumb? No body! Not No single body will ever keep me under it
again! I’m me and I’m freeeeeeeeeee!” William ended in a fit of laughter
pulling his thumb out of Velma’s face.
“You,
doll, are Hot, despite your face that
is. But you can’t tap me! Can’t ever keep me down! I’ll keep you in my sights.
But no more monkey business!”
Velma
was truly upset by what she was seeing. She got that he was drunk, and
remembered his oddities from living with him. But no matter how hard she tried,
she was having a hard time putting the two people together. This William was
one good push away from going over the edge.
Velma
backed away from him, Dedrick coming to stand in-between the two. William
looked over Dedrick with contempt.
“Please,
no autographs tonight. I’m far too busy for the little people,” he then turned and flounced
into a cab along with the bartender. The bartender got out again on the other
side, slamming the door and motioning to the driver to quickly drive off.
Night
after night William left the two teenagers alone to go and seek his solace and
fight off a hangover with another drink.
If the
bar was empty and the bartender agreed to use fire, William would sometimes
stay until past closing time. The bartenders had learned quickly that he’d tip
well if he was allowed to stay until sunrise.
William
didn’t speak much to the bartender and even the photographers mostly left him
alone now. The world was bored with this drunken, wealthy playboy. He didn’t
seem to care, the girls he hung onto didn’t seem to care and so the world
decided that his fate was in his own hands and quit caring as well. In fact,
several of the afternoon talk shows had segments now dedicated to how much
people had begun to pity him. They psycho analyzed his behavior, suggested
possible treatment plans and then remembered that he wasn’t their problem. He
was Pipersville’s problem.
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William
had stayed drunk for so long by now that his eyes almost permanently refused to
focus. He could only see straight for so far before the world spun and shook
before his eyes. The rainbow drink provided to him by his latest favorite
bartender, Milkshake, seemed to make the blur worse. However, William could no
longer bring himself to care. He only knew that his head pounded, his heart ached
and his stomach lurched if he didn’t get enough to drink in a timely fashion.
And so he kept it up, until one night his phone rang, interrupting his latest
binge.
“Yes?
If this is not my liver, state it quickly,” he asked crisply, despite the slur
in his speech.
“Of
course I told you to call as soon as you needed anything. Anything at all
Kiley. I’ve been meaning to come and visit you and Fred *hic, sorry, and Macie.
“Yeah,
Marcie. That’s who I meant. She’s such a good kid. I miss her. How are her and
Oliver doing?
“Yeah,
Trenton is what I meant. Macie and Trenton.
“*hic.
Marcie.
“What’s
up step-mommy o’ mine?
“Huh?
............ *hic
“Can’t
you just make it stop until in the morning? It’s a little late. I’m kinda busy.
“Well
shove it back up in there.
“Why
can’t you do that?
“Oh. Okay,
I’ll meet you there.
William
focused on his phone for a moment. He saw how long his nails had gotten.
“Hunh, who
knew it didn’t work that way,” he muttered at the phone which was still alight.
Looking
up at the bar, he shouted, “Put it on my tab! Got a baby on the way! See you
after it leaves me alone!”
And he
walked out the door.
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Kiley had paced in front of the
hospital doors for what seemed like an age. Her contractions were coming on
stronger and closer together and she could barely wait any longer. She didn’t
really want anyone else there, but going through this without Craig would make
the whole process twice as excruciating. She just couldn’t do it alone, and she
didn’t want her older daughters witnessing her in such a vulnerable place.
Kiley
heard the roar of a motorcycle in the distance. Surely this was him. She had
heard around town that his mother’s old motorcycle was his new favorite way of
getting around, helmet-less and without any riding gear that might help in the
event of a drunken fireball. Deciding that she really couldn’t wait for him to
park, she turned and entered the hospital.
William
stumbled up the walk. He had been shouting for Kiley to wait for him but she
had entered anyway. He had nearly run into one of the poles holding up the
glass awning, and then had stumbled into the wall. Finally, he managed to enter
the sterile white building and find Kiley being hustled off to a room, her
moans of pain echoing around his head.
Hours
later, Kiley and baby Carolyn are discharged and sent home. Kiley wa a little
disappointed. She had really wanted a boy. She thought a boy might one day have
been allowed to take part in the Blue Empire, running the town and businesses
in it. She loved her little girl, but right now all she wanted to do was shield
her from William.
The
nurses had finally had William escorted to a waiting room down the hall. He had
been violent and wild placing Kiley in considerable distress and causing harm
to the delivery process. She knew he was trying to catch up to her, but though
every step was painful she would not slow down to let him near them if she
could.
He
climbed into the passenger seat of the car before Kiley could speed home. The
ride home was silent. Kiley tried not to vomit as his stench of drink,
cigarettes and stale sweat reached her.
Kiley
parked in the carport and walked up to the front door as fast as her body would
allow.
She
didn’t stop once in the door either. She left William to figure out the home
while she went to place little Carolyn in her crib. She was startled to smell
William enter the room not long after herself. At least he was standing more
steadily than he had at any other point that long, long night.
William
could sense Kiley was avoiding his gaze. His focus was currently better than it
had been lately and he tried to use his newly sharpened sight to try and catch
her eye.
“Hey,”
he said quietly. “Hey, I thought you wanted my help? Dad would never forgive me
if I let you down. He wanted to be here to see Carolyn. I know that. I still
wish he could be here. Is there anything else I can help you with while I’m
here?”
Kiley’s
silence made William feel, if anything, guiltier for not being there for his
Dad’s former lover. He took a tentative step forward leaning toward her,
planning on a reassuring hug. He was shocked when Kiley exploded at him.
“Get
away from me you little creep!” she shouted loud enough to wake the sleeping
newborn. “I know what you did to all those girls around town when you were
plastered. I’m not going to be another one! And I just got out of the hospital!"
William
had no idea what she was talking about. What girls? The only girl he knew right
now was Helen, his little sister.
“Helen?”
he asked her, astonished.
“Oh my
PlumbBob,” she gasped, horrified. “Your sister, too?”
“Helen,
What? What about my little sister?” William was completely bewildered.
“Get
OUT! GET OUT AND AWAY FROM US YOU PERVERT! NEVER COME NEAR ME OR MY FAMILY, AND
THAT INCLUDES CAROLYN, EVER AGAIN!” Kiley shouted
William
didn’t need telling a second time. Kiley had stopped to take a breath, but he
wasn’t going to give her an opportunity to start shouting crazy at him again.
He pushed past her toward the door.
Kiley
stood a minute, thankful that nothing worse had happened. Even more grateful
that Fred had slept through the whole ordeal. For now, at least, she hoped that
she had managed to keep her family, and her baby safe.
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William
called a cab to go back to the hospital parking garage to pick up his bike. He
rode through the deserted dawn-lit streets trying to clear his cloudy mind.
He had
no idea what half of what Kiley had shouted had meant. He went to a different
bar almost every night. If the bar was crowded, he left to find a quieter spot
to nurse his disillusioned life and a top shelf bottle of sour mash. He rarely
spoke to anyone other than the bartender. He didn’t dance. He didn’t socialize.
Granted,
there were long stretches of bars and nights he couldn’t remember, but he knew
himself better than that. There was still only one girl for him, and he had
ruined that long ago.
William
spotted one of Pipersville’s finest standing near one of the deserted
intersections.
“Probably
doing dusk to dawn duty and bored out of her pretty skull,” he thought as he
drove closer to the sidewalk.
“Let’s
give her something to remember me by.” A devilish grin spread across his face.
He
revved the engine as loudly as he could, wolf-whistling at her in the down
cycle in between.
He
cackled loudly as she spun round, her nightstick in hand. Looking up just in
time, William pulled up short to avoid a collision with the fence surrounding
the pool.
“Shit!”
He screamed, trying his best to keep the beast from rolling. He really didn’t
want to lay this joker down. He’d never get it up again. And if he didn’t get
out of there pronto, the officer might actually try to ticket him.
As he
managed to keep upright and avoid a collision he heard the officer’s laughter
ring behind him, echoing off the buildings that surrounded them.
“Fuck
her,” his anger had a new direction now. “Tomorrow, I’m going to take over this
town. I already own it, time for respect. Time to clean up.”
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Ok… I’m really
trying to make William’s problem as plausible as I can for his character. He
was unstable anyhow when he discovered drinking masked the pain of losing an
absentee father and a pseudo-mother, his girlfriend and best friend. So he kept
it up to keep from facing reality. I know the last photos of him on the bike
should have been drunken blurred/photoshopped but they would have lost any
meaning if I had done that. So just don’t forget, he’s still drunk.
And if
anyone has any ideas about just how to take something delicate of Williams and
show him why you can’t “Shove it back up in there”… be my guest. >:D
