Flesh And Blood

“How’d you know which place is his?”

“Easy. You can’t see the house – it’s set far back, like most of them. But Duke’s got this wooden cable-car doohickey ru

“A funicular,” I said.

“If you say so. Other guys have gone by there too – swimming, kayaking. Especially when Duke’s got a party going. Everyone wanting an eyeful of pussy, maybe catch some looker sucking dick – something you could take a picture of and send home to Mom.” He laughed. “The gizmo’s always at the top of the bluff, locked up, and when Duke’s partying, there’s bouncers there – big meat, like iron pumpers, standing on top of the cliff like they’re waiting for someone to piss ’em off.”

“I hear he uses off-duty cops for that.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me – even scarier, right?”

“Right.”

“Anyway, no one ever gets to see any girls.”

“Does Duke throw lots of parties?”

“He used to. Like every two months. You’d see the superstretches lined up on PCH, valets, heat lamps, caterers’ trucks, the works. But not in a long time.” He thought. “Not in a real long time – a year, maybe more. Maybe he’s getting too old for it – that would be a hell of a thing, wouldn’t it? Cool old dude like that, living on caviar and Viagra, surrounded by pussy but losing the desire. ’Cause it wouldn’t matter how wrinkled his nut bag was and how far down it hung. There’s one perfume that opens up pussy faster than Kama Sutra Love Oil.” He rubbed his index finger with his thumb and sniffed.

“Money,” I said.

“Eau de cash,” he assented. “Does it every time.”

“So old Tony’s on Viagra,” I said. “That a fact?”

“I don’t know if it’s a fact, man, but that’s what you hear. Look, the dude’s got to be what – seventy, eighty, a hundred fifty? My dad used to buy his magazine. Hell, maybe the lead in his pencil still is righteous – he’s got a young wife, I seen her, she comes in once in a while to the Dollar for breakfast – used to, when there was a Dollar.” He cupped his hands six inches from his chest. “Rack on her. Never looked happy, but I heard she popped a coupla kids for Old Tony.”

“What was she unhappy about?”

“Who knows? The dudes who used to work the parking lot said she’d style up in this very cool Expedition – black with gray trim on the bottom, big tires, righteous ru

He pinched his Adam’s apple and touched the canker sore briefly. I looked for a surfboard, didn’t see one.

“You ride, huh?” I said.

“When I can.”

“No shape today.”

He laughed hard. “Never any shape, here. You don’t surf Paradise, man. This is work. That’s my office.” Pointing to the rental shack.

“Thought everything was closed.”

“Hey, they pay me to show up, I show up.” He swung the key ring in a wobbly arc.

“You open for any business at all?” I said.

“I wouldn’t snorkel out there, man. Too much silt, and a sky like this is go

“I was thinking a kayak.”

The crooked white nose lowered as he gave me a long, appraising look. “You don’t know squat about waves, but you don’t have that tourist smell about you either.”

“Tourist from L.A.,” I said. “I used to live in Malibu. Out past Leo Carrillo. Came back for old times’ sake.”

“Over by El Pescador?”

“Past El Pescador. Over the county line, near Neptune’s Net.”

“Livingston Beach,” he said. “Cool riding zone – prime shape – you ever try to surf?”

“Did some boogie boarding,” I said.

“I graduated that when I was in third grade, man. Moved right on to the heavy stuff. I was a hotdogger back in high school – got three minutes of footage in Water Demons II. Then my ears went – chronic infections, the doctor said no more. I said screw the doctor, but now my head hurts all the time no matter how much Advil I drop, so I hold down the rides to once a week. You serious about a kayak?”

“Sure, why not?”

He looked me up and down again. “Guess no reason. It’s cold out there, but it’s glass, except for the rips. Which way you go

“South.” I smiled. “Maybe catch a look at old Tony’s place.”

He laughed. “Figures. But don’t get your hopes high.”

He led me toward the rental shack, said, “It’s a pretty easy day for paddling, but going south you are go

“Thanks for the advice. How much is the rental?”

“Hold on,” he said. “Another thing: No matter how glassy it looks and how good a rower you think you are, your clothes are go

“Make it a combo,” I said. “How much?”

He licked his lips, peeled a speck of zinc from his nose. “First I gotta unlock the place, then I gotta find a flashlight so I can check the suits, make sure there’s no cracks from all the time they been sitting there. Then, I gotta check ’em for spiders and scorpions crawling in – ’cause we get them, here.”

“Scorpions?” I said. “Near the beach?”

“Little black nasty ones. You think of ’em as desert dudes, but they’re here, man, hibernating or whatever. Probably hitched a ride in on some truck from T.J. So I gotta stick my hand in and shake out the suit.”

“I appreciate it. Exterminator fees go

He laughed. “Well,” he said, “normally it’s twenty bucks an hour for the boat, twelve for the suit, six for mask and fins, so that would be thirty-eight up front, and we usually take a driver’s license for deposit.”

“No mask and fins,” I said. “Just the boat and the suit.”

“Your feet are go

“I can live with it.”

“Your choice, man – okay, how long you pla

“Couple of hours at the most.”

“Couple of hours – yeah, I can handle that. So that would be sixty-four bucks, but for you, let’s make it a package – say fifty-five even, and I won’t even take no deposit, ’cause where the hell are you go

Wink, wink.

“Cash it is,” I said, reaching for my wallet.

He selected a key from the ring, slipped it into the lock on the rental shack’s door. “Rusty. The ocean never stops eating – kind of freaky, idn’t it? Cool, too. The ocean’s go

The kayaks made up the mass beneath the blue tarp, and he pulled a yellow-trimmed, white single-rider and a paddle from the shack. I stripped behind the tiny building as Norris – after I paid him he volunteered his name – readied the kayak. Standing naked and shivering in the frigid air, I double-checked the suit’s neoprene sleeves and legs for creepie-crawlies. Once I slipped into the rubber sheath, the warmth was nearly immediate.