Page 83 of Guarding Glenda

“Just leaving. But I’m stopping at the clinic real fast to check on Manny before I head to the clubhouse. How’s your day been?”

“Same old, same old. Pretty boring.”

“Boring is good,” I told her.

“True. Oh, there’s the dryer buzzing. Let me pull these out and get them folded. We eating here tonight?”

Looking up, it was hard to tell if the bad weather was going to return. It had rained off and on all day but it was currently clear. “May be best to plan to. I may be heading out later for a while.”

“Alright. I’ll be at the bar probably by the time you get back.”

“Can’t wait to see you. I love you, Glenda.”

There was a beat, then she said, “See you soon. Bye.”

Pushing out a deep breath, I dropped the phone next to me. Was she about to say it?

Irritated that I had shit to do, I sped up. It was just past closing time when I arrived, but a few cars were still in the lot. The place stayed packed, and even though they cut off folks from walking in the door after five, they saw everyone who was in the waiting room before then.

I went to the back, though, and texted Sam I was there. Nancy opened the door for me and walked me to Manny’s room.

She waved me in. “He’s a little better today. You can go on in. I gotta help clear these rooms.”

As she hustled down the hall, I tapped on the door as I opened it. Runt was in there with him, staring up at the grainy TV.

“Hey, man,” he said as he stood up.

“Why don’t you go stretch your legs?” I asked him.

He left the room so I sat. “Hey, Manny. Good to see your eyes open.” I stood at the foot of the bed. His short, dark hair needed a wash. The red around his pupils made his eyes look almost black.

“I heard you found me. Got me out,” he said.

“Yeah, man. Gave me a good scare.”

He gave a humorless laugh. “You? Nah.”

“When it’s one of us, yeah, man. How ya feeling?”

He looked down. His legs were covered with the blanket, but they were sitting on top of pillows, and the casts were clearly outlined. His arms and face had some bruises. “Sore. Sam gave me some Oxy. All that does is make me sleepy.”

“Well, you know better than the rest of us how all those meds work. Plus, a little rest is good.”

“I’ll probably have plenty of time to rest after this. I don’t have my phone, so if my boss tries to reach me, I’m screwed. Plus, it’s not like I can work like this.”

I ran my hand over my face. “We’ll sort all that out later. At least you’re not dead, man.”

“I guess.”

I walked to the chair that Runt had been sitting in and plopped down. “So what happened?”

“Well, I’d been out late with Skeeter the night before. Slept at the clubhouse for a bit. Woke back up, hung around a bit. Hammer told me I didn’t have to go out that night, so I went by the house. It had been a few days, so I wanted to just do some laundry and shit. Make sure one of the crackhead neighbors didn’t decide to take a look around if I was gone too long, you know?”

I nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“Well, it wasn’t even that late. I got in and started some laundry and took out the trash. I went to my room to take my boots off and the next thing I know, I’m on the floor.”

Leaning on my elbows, I asked, “How many were there?”