The Extinct

CHAPTER

5





Eric Holden looked over his dorm room and decided it wouldn’t be worth cleaning. Empty pizza boxes, beer cans, clothes, papers, and magazines were piled on the floor. Even if he did clean it his roommate Jason would just dirty it again in a matter of days; he had an uncanny ability to find something organized and mess it up. Eric didn’t even think he did it consciously. But you couldn’t blame Jason; both his parents were psychiatrists. Who knows what they filled his head with when he was a kid.

Eric ruffled through a pile of clothes, grimaced on finding a pair of used underwear Jason had left, and pulled out two socks that hadn’t started to noticeably smell yet. He slipped them on, grabbed his shoes, and headed out the door.

Wendy was waiting for him outside in her new car, a fiery red Jetta, the new rims glittering in the sunlight from a recent wash. Her sunglasses were pushed up onto her forehead and she wore a tank-top and shorts, her smooth brown skin freshly lotioned.

“Hey babe,” she said as Eric climbed in. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and pulled away from the dorms. “What’s up?”



“Nothing much. I called you last night.”



“I was at some party my mom was throwing for her book club. Let me tell you how f*cking boring it was.”



“Was it at your house?”



“No, the Plaza in New York. But like, I had to get all dressed up and we took this little shitty plane that I thought was going to crash any second. And then this sleazy guy who was there with his wife kept bringing me drinks and trying to ask me out and then he wanted to dance and I was like no way, I have a man.”

Eric smiled as she spoke and he looked out the window at the passing shops and gas stations and apartment buildings. He enjoyed the way she spoke; without much reflection. Too many people in college tried to act smarter than they were by making everything into a larger philosophical question. “Pull over here,” Eric said.

“What? Why?”

“I want to say hi to Charles.”

Standing on the corner with a cardboard sign was an older man with gray, dirty hair. He wore a coat though it was warm today and his sneakers were adorned with large holes, revealing his sockless feet.

“How ya been, Chuck?” Eric said as the car came to a stop.



“How you doin’ youngblood?” he said, genuinely happy to see him. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”



“Just busy. You makin’ good money over here?”



“It’s all right, ya know. Now who’s this pretty young thing here?”



“This is my girlfriend Wendy.”



“Hi,” she said, forcing a half-smile.



“Wew boy, you hang on to her youngblood. Not many women can brighten a man’s day just by lookin’ at ‘em.”



“I will,” Eric said. He took out his wallet and held a twenty dollar bill out the window.



Charles seemed offended. “I don’t panhandle from friends my man.”



“Consider it a loan then; pay me back when you can.”



Charles thought a moment, and then grinned. He took the twenty and put it into his pant pocket. “A loan.”



“You take care of yourself, Chuck.”



“You too youngblood, you hit them books hard now cause they don’t hit back,” he said, chuckling.



Eric watched him as the car pulled away; he actually was glad to see him, more than he thought he would be. Charles would sometimes come down to the campus and smoke pot with Jason in front of the dorms, telling them stories about his days in the military and the differences between the prostitutes in the countries he’d been too. When it was snowing and the shelter was full they’d let him sleep in the hallway, eventually keeping a blanket and pillow in the closet for him.

Wendy said with a grimace, “Why do you guys have anything to do with him?”

“Chuck’s all right. There’s a lot of smart people around but they’re not wise. I think wisdom’s something else entirely. I think Chuck might be wise. Or crazy. I can’t tell. Anyway he used to be an officer in the army.”

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know; he doesn’t really talk about it.”

The restaurant was packed but a large round table had been reserved on the patio underneath a red and white striped awning. Jason sat with two girls sipping margaritas and picking at some nachos. He was cracking jokes and the girls would fake laughter.

“Well well,” Jason said as Eric walked up to the table, pulling a chair out for Wendy. “Pele decides to join us finally.” He slapped Eric’s back and then motioned for the waitress to bring two more beers.

“I don’t want alcohol,” Eric said, “I got a game tomorrow.”

“Your name’s Pele?” one of the girls said. “That’s cool.”

Jason stared at her and then pinched her cheek. “Beautiful isn’t she?” he said to Eric. “Does he look Brazilian? He plays soccer on the school’s team.”

“Oh,” the girl said, still not understanding.



“Guess who I ran into?” Eric said, taking a sip of someone’s water, “Chuck.”



“Oh yeah? What’s he up to?”



“He was begging on the street corner near the Safeway. He looked all right.”



“Why was he begging?” the other girl said in a high-pitched schoolgirl voice.



“He’s homeless,” Eric said.



“WTF, you guys hang out with homeless guys? Why?”



“That’s what I said,” Wendy chimed in.



Jason said, “He’s seen more shit than anybody I ever knew. Been all over the world, slept with all sorts of woman. It depends how you measure success I guess but I don’t think he sees his life as a failure.”

They sat drinking and laughing and eating until well past noon. Eric watched Jason charm the women he was with. It was very subtle but he was seducing them in his own way. He played a game where he’d shower them with affection and praise one second and then pull away and be completely cold the next. Whenever he pulled away, the girls would start showing him affection. He played it masterfully and for a moment, Eric was jealous.

“So where’d you learn to play soccer?” high voice asked as the waitress cleared away their plates and went to bring their check.

“My dad,” Eric said. “He taught me everything I guess. Me and my mom weren’t that close and I didn’t really have any other relatives, so, it was just me and my dad.”

“And he’s cool as shit,” Jason said.

“He is cool,” Eric agreed. “I’m goin’ to New York to see him soon. After he gets back from India.”

Wendy had been watching how the girl was drooling over Eric the entire meal and she was beginning to get fed up with it. The girl had even reached over and caressed his hand once to get his attention. Wendy checked her watch. “It’s time to go hon; I got a class at two.”

“All right,” Eric said as he stood. “Well, it was nice to meet you ladies. Why don’t you guys come with Jason tomorrow to the game?”

“Sure,” high voice said. “I’ll be there cheering you on.”



Wendy sent her a scowl and then wrapped her arm around Eric’s, watching the girl to make sure she noticed.



Eric patted Jason’s head. “I’ll see you later.”



“Yeah, hey, and don’t forget; you were gonna help me with biology tonight.”



“Why don’t I just make two copies of everything I do for that class cause you just end up copying me anyway?”



“Sounds good to me,” Jason said, polishing off the last of a large mug of beer.





*****



The sun was at its peak by the time Eric climbed back into the Jetta. The heat felt nice for a change; this winter had been long and soaked the city in snow almost every day. There’d been a few reported deaths from the cold, one child that got lost on a hiking trail and two homeless men. One of the men had frozen to death behind a grocery store; in the middle of the city. A couple of stock boys who were tossing out empty cardboard boxes found him curled in the fetal position next to a dumpster.

“That girl’s a f*cking bitch,” Wendy said, sitting down and starting the car.



“Which one?”



“I don’t know her f*cking name. The one that sounded like she was twelve.”



“Really? She seemed nice,” Eric said, goading her on.



“Nice! You touch her and I’ll cut your dick off, Eric.”



Eric leaned over, chuckling, and began tickling her. “I’m just kidding.”



“Don’t tickle me.”



He pinned her arm against his chest and then began tickling her until she started to laugh. He loved the way she laughed, throwing her head back, pink lips spreading over perfect teeth. Eric leaned down and put his mouth over hers, her warm tongue with his. She began breathing heavily and hands started roaming over his body and Eric pulled away.

“I can’t,” he said.



“What? What’s wrong?”



“I got the game tomorrow, it saps my strength.”



“Are you kidding me?”



“I can’t Wend, sorry.” He kissed her lips. “But tomorrow night,” he whispered.



She took a deep breath. Though she wanted to be angry, this was something she’d grown accustomed to. He took competition seriously and never hid that fact from her. Wendy just started the car and began driving him back to the dorms, her hand on his lap.