Double Feature by Erika Almond Page A

speeding along the back roads of Hawthorne even
though I hadn’t seen Bishop in my rearview for a while now. All around me was a
deep-green blur from the trees being full with late summer leaves. Now and
again the green was interrupted by a burst of orange or purple from
wildflowers. Mayfield County sure could be pretty, though starting out my day
with the sound of buckshot reminded me that this place had been feeling a tad
small for me of late.
    I blasted the radio when I heard my favorite song, Royals .
I sang along with Lorde saying she wasn’t proud of her address in a torn-up
town. Me neither, baby.
    The air rushing through the car felt good in my hair and
Roscoe loved looking out the window with his little tongue hanging out. I swear
he was smiling as big as I was. Shitfire but life was fine. Another beautiful
morning and I had nowhere to be but wherever I wanted to go. And I had a new
air conditioner for my best girl Josie. That might go a ways in her forgiving
me for fucking the real estate lady. I still wasn’t quite clear on why Josie
had broken up with me. After all, I’d been fucking the real estate lady to get
a break on Josie’s dream house for us to move into.
    All that was over now, probably for the better. Josie was
the person I was closest to in this world and my only true friend. I needed at
least one woman in my life who I wasn’t fucking. Anymore.
    So Roscoe and I both had our heads out the window to enjoy
the breeze and I had a gift for my best friend and I’d evaded a butt full of
buckshot. I was still grinning away as I whizzed past another car until five
seconds later when I saw flashing lights and heard sirens.
    Aw fuck me. Now what?
    Roscoe whimpered as I pulled over. Pugs always look worried
on account of their wrinkly foreheads but Josie swears the dog’s right to be
concerned about me. But no need to fret this time, I thought as the officer
sauntered up to my window. “Hey, Calvin,” I said with a grin. “What’s up?”
    “Your speedometer. And it’s Sheriff Clodfelter. We’re not at
Virgil’s poker table.”
    His stern look sobered me some. So did his harsh lecture
about speeding and questions about what was in my trunk. I was more than a tad
perplexed. Why was Calvin being such a hard-ass when I hadn’t even beaten him
at poker that badly?
    “Where you headed, Riley?” he demanded.
    “A friend’s house.”
    “Which friend? And what for?”
    I frowned. “Have I done something wrong?”
    Calvin leaned a hand against my car door and stared down at
me. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Riley. Everyone around here knows
you aren’t what we call gainfully employed. You got a brand-new air conditioner
in your trunk and you’re speeding down the back roads of Hawthorne. Why aren’t you
in Knickersonville where you Wanamakers belong?”
    I put my eyes on the road ahead and bit my lips to keep from
talking back. My hometown and my last name were never far from the word trash around Mayfield County. Women loved me and I had a few male buddies but I
knew nobody besides Josie thought too highly of me and my family or the town I
came from. The tone of Calvin’s voice said as much and then some. The heat
breaking out on my skin had little to do with the rising temperature outside. I
heard Roscoe whimper and knew his brow was all knotted up.
    “That dog have a license?” Calvin prodded.
    I never was too book-smart but I wasn’t a stupid boy either.
I could tell I was one cuss word away from a baloney sandwich lunch at the
county jail. I knew that’d taste worse than swallowing my pride.
    “My dog does have a license, Sheriff Clodfelter. The air
conditioner was given to me by Virgil for a favor I did him. I’m bringing it to
my friend Josie McCabe.” I ground my teeth before I could say, “And I’m sorry I
was speeding. It won’t happen again.”
    The situation was ended by a call squawking through Calvin’s
police radio about someone firing buckshot into the air