Free Little Chicago by Adam Rapp Page A

burnt face beat me twelve games in a row. Some of his face was brown but most of it was pink and rubbery-looking. I think I had a hard time concentrating cause of this fact.
    After he beat me twelve times he played with one hand and beat me twice more.
    He was an excellent foosball player. I imagine he could be a professional.
    When we said goodbye Shay cried so hard snots came out of her nose.
    She kept saying she was going to get clean.
    I’m gonna get clean, Ma, I promise, she said. I promise I’ll get clean, please let me come home!
    She begged like an animal but Ma made her stay at Open Grove Recovery Facility and cried the whole drive back.
    Shay stayed there for a month and when she finally came home she seemed sad and fragile.
    One night I asked her about the dead baby.
    She said that she dreams about it sometimes and its name is Bruce.
    Her boyfriend at the time didn’t even know about Bruce the Dead Baby. His name is Dennis Parker and he’s in the Marines now.
    Ma thought that after being at Open Grove Shay would change her ways but she hasn’t.
    Ma says, What are we gonna do with Shay?
    Ma says, I wasted all my brother’s money.
    Now Shay’s got more than one boyfriend.
    I saw this guy in her room with her once. His name is Speed and he’s got a tattoo of a dragon on his back. He’s so pale the first time I saw him I thought he was a vampire.
    Over the summer Shay had a job at Sizzler but she got caught smoking marijuana in the employee bathroom. Now she doesn’t work and it creates a lot of tension between her and Ma.
    Hey, I say, but she doesn’t hear me. Her room smells like cigarettes and air freshener.
    I come up over her shoulder. Her hands are shaking so bad it’s like they’re someone else’s hands.
    I poke her in the back.
    Shay turns and takes her headphones off.
    A woman is singing to the speedway song now. She sounds like she’s having a multiple orgasm. Eric Duggan told me about multiple orgasms. He said that women in China have them all the time.
    Showtime exclusive, he said. You gotta get that channel, Blacky.
    Hey, I say to Shay.
    She says, Hey.
    I just stand there.
    I’m wondering if she can see through me to the other side of her room where her posters are. There’s this one of a horse with a human leg and I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean.
    What’s up? she says.
    Nothing, I say.
    You okay?
    Yes.
    There’s something about Shay’s eyes. Her pupils are so black it’s like some aliens took her up in a spaceship and made an exchange.
    They used to be a lot bluer.
    What are you doing? I ask.
    Nothin, she says. Ponderin shit.
    What are you pondering?
    I don’t know, she says. Takin a trip. Movin to Chicago. The usual.
    Oh, I say.
    Oh, she says, mocking me.
    Are you really gonna move to Chicago? I ask.
    I’m thinkin about it. Betty says there are these cheap apartments in Logan Square and that her brother would get the lease for us.
    I say, Can I go with?
    No.
    Why not?
    Cause you’re too young, she says. You gotta finish school.
    Then I take out the tongue and show it to her.
    What’s that? she asks.
    It’s a tongue, I say.
    She grabs it and looks at it.
    Weird, she says.
    It’s from the Dave the See-Through Fake Human. I stole it in Life Science. He’s got other parts too. I’m gonna get a kidney next time.
    It looks like a dildo, Shay says, and hands it back.
    Her comment makes me lose my balance and I do a full circle and wind up facing her again.
    What are you gonna do with it? she asks.
    Put it in my box, I say.
    She looks at me like I said something stupid.
    I got this special box that I put stuff in. I keep it in the closet in my room. So far it contains a sweater, a scarf, and a black permanent marker. Later I will try and fit my hardhat in it too, but this will take some special arranging.
    Shay’s still looking at me like I’m stupid.
    What? I