They had stuck Larry in the holding cell with the rest of the Monday night roundup. There were ten of them. No window and a bench on each wall. The floor slick and stained. The smell of beer and worse. Larry sat with his arms folded, furious that no one had answered his calls. Furious that it was damn near midnight and he was still sitting there. Three guys in the corner across from him had begun to watch him. Everyone else kept to themselves. Cigarettes and anxious feet tapping and faces in hands.
There were two big ones and one little one. The little guy did the talking and pointed at Larry while the two big ones nodded and grinned. Larry sat with his elbows on his knees but when the two big men walked over to him he sat up straight. There was more girth than muscle on the two men and one of them had his head shaved while the other wore pigtails and it looked as if he might have been wearing a soft shade of lipstick. They both wore overalls. Shirtless underneath. The little guy stayed across the room with his legs crossed and his hands folded on top of his knee as if he were posing for a portrait.
“My friend over there likes your boots,” said the big one with the shaved head. The one with the pigtails pointed at Larry’s feet as if to clarify.
Larry leaned around the men and looked at the little man. Eye shadow and mascara and his jeans were rolled to his knees and he wore sandals.
“Good for her,” Larry said.
“What size are they?”
“They’re my size.”
The man with the pigtails began to rub his hands together.
“Maybe you could let him try them on.”
Larry looked around the cell. Thought that some of the others might come over and even the odds but he was on his own.
“How about twenty bucks instead?” Larry said.
The big man with the pigtails sat down next to Larry and put his arm around him and said how about I give you a big juicy kiss right on that pretty mouth of yours. Then the other man sat down on his other side and Larry tried to hop up but they pulled him back down. He wondered if it’d matter if he yelled for someone. They squeezed him like he was their favorite doll.
“You want me to take them off for you or you want to do it?” said the shaved head.
“Let me go and I’ll take them off.”
“Take them off and we’ll let you go.”
“Let’s take him home,” said the pigtails and he blew into Larry’s ear. “I been thinking we need a cowboy around.”
Larry kicked off the boots.
“Socks, too.”
Larry pulled off his socks and tucked them into the boots.
“That’s some ugly ass feet,” said the shaved head.
“They ain’t that bad,” the other one said.
“Let me fucking go,” Larry said.
“You better be nice now,” said the pigtails. “We might end up spending the whole night together.”
The big one with the shaved head stood up and took the boots and told the other one to come on. They left Larry and went over to their friend and their friend gave a playful wave to Larry and then he sat still while they put the socks and boots on his feet.
Larry stood up and grabbed the jail bars. “Walt, you son of a bitch! You son of a bitch! Take me to the telephone! Hey! Somebody take me back to the goddamn telephone!”
Half an hour later the jailer opened the door and motioned for Larry and he followed him down the hallway and into an office where he signed some papers and was given back his keys and wallet. They took him out the door and down another hallway and then through another door and there stood Walt.
Walt looked down at Larry’s feet. “Where the hell are your boots?”
Larry walked past him and out the door. Walt followed and asked twice more about the boots but quit when they reached his truck and Larry still hadn’t answered.
They left the station and drove through Kentwood and to the interstate. When Walt turned north Larry said my truck is at the ballpark you dumb shit.
“Don’t call me a dumb shit,” Walt said. He didn’t wait for the next exit but cut across the median, the headlights bouncing across the night and Walt gunning it to beat an oncoming car. He turned onto the ramp and Larry said I’ll call you what I want. Neither made another sound until they stopped at the ballpark at Larry’s truck.
When Larry reached for the door Walt said hold on. You gotta know something and I don’t want you to go flying off the handle when I say this. You and me both know Russell has got to pay for what he did but I’m drawing the line at shotguns and pistols. I ain’t looking to die and you shouldn’t be neither. And if we push that hard then that’s what is gonna happen and I ain’t ready to be buried. That wouldn’t do me or you or Jason no good. I’ll do whatever else.
Larry opened the truck door and stepped out. Stared at Walt.
“What?” Walt said.
“So. You’re one of them,” Larry said.