Free How Long Has This Been Going On by Ethan Mordden Page B

Guy in the Park, and having to go to court, and he sat in the armchair and fretted—nothing doing, no radio, even. Just Larken and his worries as the night drew on.
    There came, then, a knock at the door. Larken glanced at the clock: 11:12. Who would visit so late when Larken didn't know anybody in the first place?
    Larken ignored the knock, but there came another, so he got up and looked out one of the side windows at the door. It was his neighbor Todd, the sun-crazed masseur and bodybuilder with the white blond hair and Little Boy Blue eyes. Larken couldn't imagine when Todd got around to earning his living giving massages, as he was always at the gym or, especially, the beach. You had the impression that even his shit had a tan. However, Todd had been kind to Larken the night he lost his job in the record store and helpful when Larken locked himself out; so Larken was responsive to Todd's occasional visits.
    "Sorry to stir you, man," said Todd, with his habitual sly smile. "I ran out of milk just when I felt the most intense need for a banana-fruit-hypo shake, so I—"
    "Let me look in the—"
    "Energy. When you got to have it, you need to really got to have it."
    "Here you go, Todd."
    "Thanks. Hey, you okay, man?"
    Larken was desperate to talk, but "I'm fine," he said, because Todd just wouldn't get it. "It's late."
    "Yeah, sorry about that, okay?"
    Back in the armchair, Larken tried looking at his life. This is hard to do at his tender age. Assessments and projections at twenty-three? Premature. Unnecessarily anxious. Misleading.
    Another knock at the door.
    "Todd!" Larken cried, nearly jumping out of his chair. "Will you please stop running out of things while I'm having a crisis?"
    He pulled the door open and froze, because it wasn't Todd. It was That Guy in the Park.
     
    The Kid knew he'd been onto something, he knew\ But, okay, we'll take it slow. We'll examine. I'm good at that. They think I'm a dumb-bunny sweetheart, but no, guys, I've a head on me. Larken saw it. I've got direction. Oh, and look who's here: Enter Derek backstage with... I think this one's Tresa. Very redhead and stacked. I'll bet he can get hard for her even without my help.
    "You sang our song," Derek told the Kid.
    "Yeah, your sheet music."
    "You don't think you made yourself too... open?"
    "Too open what?"
    "The sailor material was on the touchy side. And, well, a man singing a woman's song?"
    The Kid shrugged. "It's how I feel, so why shouldn't I?"
    "Because people will take the wrong idea from your actions."
    "They'll take the right idea, actually," said the Kid into Derek's face in the Kid's mirror. "They'll find out who I am, which is the thing that is important. And didn't I handle the emcee stuff well? I don't need an announcer. I'm my own act."
    "You're so headstrong," Derek purred. "You know I love you like that."
    "No, you love me crying. Remember?"
     
    "Can I come in?" Frank asked Larken.
    "You're the police."
    "I'm off duty."
    "No."
    "I just want to talk to you. Personal, it's a personal matter. Look, your case has been dropped. And... and I'm the guy who got it dropped. They'll call you Tuesday or Wednesday. I thought you'd like to know now, get it off your heart."
    Larken stepped aside.
    "Thank you," said Frank.
    "Why is my case dropped?"
    "Can I sit down?"
    Larken, still in a whirring confusion, nodded.
    Strictly procedural, deadpan, take-no-sides Frank said, "There were ambiguities."
    "About what?" said Larken, sitting on the other side of the room from Frank.
    "About the arrest and my feelings and your way of living. About how I should handle this. Even about whether I should have come here."
    From Larken, nothing.
    Frank said, "Please don't make this tough on me. Because—"
    "Cops don't visit the people they arrest, do they? And how about you making it tough on me? How do you think my ambiguities feel after... And handcuffs! That's how dangerous I am!"
    Larken got up.
    "Get out of my house, you cop," he said.
    Frank slowly