AllFreeNovel Stories worth discovering

Hollywood Dead (Sandman Slim 10)

Page 181

by Richard Kadrey

“A bad Travolta festival. That is pretty bad.”

“Too bad?”

“Not with the right people.”

“That’s what I thought.”

I get up and so does Janet.

She says, “Can I come to your movie night?”

“I didn’t say I was doing it. It’s just something I’m thinking about.”

“Do you like drive-ins?”

“In fact, I’ve had some very intense times at drive-ins.”

She fans herself like she’s scandalized.

“Really?”

“Not like that.”

“The Devil’s Door is having a seventies festival.”

“I heard about that.”

“I’ll remind you the next time you come in.”

“Next time.”

“Aha,” she says. “Then there is a next time.”

“I mean, I come in all the time.”

Janet puts her donuts in a bag.

“Sure, sure. That’s what you meant.”

I nod at the door.

“I should go.”

Janet points over my shoulder.

“Look at those guys,” she says.

When I turn, I feel her put something in my hand. The two guys, however, just sit there.

When I look back for Janet, she’s gone. And she slipped me a piece of paper with her phone number. Nicely done. She has some disappearing tricks too. I start to throw her

number away, but after a moment’s hesitation I put it in my pocket instead.

Maybe I’ll have a movie night after all.

Or maybe steal a car and go to Flicker’s. Not with anyone necessarily. But maybe. Who knows?

I walk down Hollywood Boulevard in the morning sun for a couple of blocks.