Free L.A. Success by Lonnie Raines Page B

Gertie had a few trees, but the second-floor windows
were clear. The real problem was going to be trying to find somewhere to park.
All the streets in that area were permit only, and if I parked somewhere else
and walked around, that'd only fly for a while. I could take pictures and pull
out the binoculars—everybody does. But after a while people would start to get
suspicious. I drove north up Dell Avenue and then turned around and drove
slowly over the canal bridge, looking right into Gertie's windows. Then I
turned around and did it again, but she had already pulled the curtains closed.
    I tried to make another pass, but
there were so many cars that it was taking forever and turning around was
getting difficult. I decided to park a little to the west on Pacific Avenue and
then walk back on foot. I'd pretend to be a creepy tourist until it got weird.
By the time I got back to her place, the lights were out. I couldn't tell if
she was still there. I did a tour of the entire canal system waiting for any
changes, but nothing doing. I either hadn't seen her leave, or she was in a
room I couldn't see very well.

 
    21
    I walked back to the Charger and got
in. The radio said it was almost seven in the evening. I hadn't eaten anything
in forever, and since I had just done some serious walking, I was feeling light
headed. Then I realized I hadn't ordered anything for my dad either, so he must
have been hungry, too. I drove back to Santa Monica, picked up some sub sandwiches,
and then went over to Dennis'.
    When I walked in, I smelled
something funky. Ballsack had left a little package for me on the tiles in
front of the door. I guessed that it was his way of telling me he was pissed
off at me for staying out all day without him. I also noticed that my dad
wasn't playing chess. He was just sitting on the couch doing nothing.
    “Dad, I'm sorry about this. I got
caught up in a bunch of stuff and just forgot.” He didn't look over.
    I took out the sandwiches and set
everything in front of him. He waited a minute or two and then tore into his.
When I went to feed the big poodle, his bowl was already full. My dad must have
given him something to eat. That made me feel even worse. My dad was becoming
more responsible than I was. I downed my food, cleaned up the poodle poo, and
straightened up the place a little. Then Ballsack came strolling sheepishly
into the room. He must have thought he was going to be in trouble, so I stroked
his afro a little to make him feel better.
    The dog and I went home to sleep
after I saw that my dad was back to normal. When I lay down, I could really
feel my body aching from all the walking I had done, but my brain was going
crazy thinking about everything I had done that day. The caffeine must have had
something to do with that. Even when I didn't want to think, everything was
turning round and round. I had to listen to more frog barking than usual before
I flushed that day out of my head.

 
    22
    I spent longer than usual in the
shower the next morning. I let the hot water massage all the soreness out of my
muscles. I hadn't been so active in a long time, and I certainly hadn't laid
off the booze like that in a while. If I kept this pace up, I wasn't going to
have time to be so fat anymore.
    I got dressed and left Dennis' cool
clothes in the hamper for Tommy to wash. I was thinking about bringing a week's
worth of Dennis' clothes over to my place because going over to his house and
changing again every morning was starting to be a pain in the ass.
    I grabbed a bunch of delivery menus
from the kitchen before I headed over to Dennis' house. I decided I was going
to leave them with my dad so that he could start ordering food whenever he
wanted. I had thought about picking up some groceries and stocking Dennis'
fridge, but I didn't think my dad was going to be ready to cook things, or even
to put sandwiches together. This delivery system would be easy for him. I'd
just leave some more money in the