Bill dreamed. Of late he was not sleeping enough to dream heavily, but Marie had started something off and this night he was home relatively early and would get about three and a half hours uninterrupted sleep. That was a lot.
Vengeance. He did not think about getting vengeance with the undercover cop who led the conversation that aired at his trial. He was positive he was entrapped because that same cop he was entrapped by tried to sell him weed about six weeks after the day he’d gotten busted at the riots, which weren’t riots when he was busted, only demonstrations. Undercover FBI and undercover cops started the riots.
Still, no thoughts of vengeance. The only real thoughts were about conspiracy and conspiracy theory—how most anyone who had not actually experienced conspiracy at work had real trouble believing in conspiracy and conspiracy theory.
Marie was more complicated than he’d imagined. Inside what he’d thought was a senseless head were real feelings, feelings of curiosity and wonder which led to desires. He imagined she really did desire trying a white man, that somehow this was important to her in her life. Then there was vengeance. If what she’d said in the car was accurate, Marie was into getting even with her husband. That would explain Henry Lee and any others if there were any. Bill made up his mind to ask her about it.
Vengeance. He dreamed about Jenny, Pam’s cousin. Pam was the girl he’d lived with for more than a year until he’d left her suddenly—one of his first times bolting. Jenny had a coat-hanger abortion on the day he and Pam were having a party. The timing just worked out that way because he and Pam didn’t know about the abortion. Only Nina, Pam’s and Jenny’s other cousin, and Jenny’s boyfriend, Peter, knew. Apparently they drove a long distance to get there, and then a long distance back.
Jenny was on her feet at the party for awhile, but she got dizzy and swooned and so they laid her down in the bedroom where she started to bleed and eventually had to be taken to the hospital. But not before Peter, in his crazy head, came on to Pam in the kitchen while she was getting stuff to bring out to serve since the party was getting into full swing. He tried kissing her and feeling her up, was actually pretty relentless about it until Bill walked into the kitchen to help Pam. Caught in the act, Peter walked back out to the living room.
After Jenny recovered and heard about what Peter had done with Pam, she cornered Bill one afternoon while Pam was at work and Peter was in class. She’d gone over by surprise, told Bill she didn’t know if he was gonna be home or not but wanted to give it a try. She told Bill it was for vengeance and he had to do it, that it had nothing to do with Pam and everything to do with Peter.
“Believe me, Pam will understand completely,” Jenny said.
Bill didn’t understand but he got the message when Jenny leaned down and opened his fly.
“No pleasure for me,” Jenny said. “I’m gonna do nasty things with you, things maybe you never even thought of, then I’m not washing up, and tonight, after Peter does what I tell him to, I’m telling him exactly what I made you do by threatening to tell Pam you came on to me. For the rest of his life Peter’s going to know he got your leftovers and you’ve been inside every orifice I have, and I’m going to know that that shithead paid for what he did to me. And if he doesn’t stay with me, good riddance to bad rubbish.”
Bill woke with a start. His alarm had not gone off yet and of course early as it was, it was still dark outside. He took his fiancé up in his arms and made desperate love to her with a deep fear inside him.
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