Errantry: Strange Stories Read Online Free PDF Page A

drive?”
    “Sure.” Robbie scowled. “What, you keeping an eye on me?”
    “No. But I want you to see something. At my house. Leonard’s coming over, we’re going to meet there at six-thirty. I tried calling you but your phone’s off.”
    “Oh. Right. Sorry.” Robbie signaled the bartender for his tab. “Yeah, sure. What, is he gonna give us manicures?”
    “Nope. I have an idea. I’ll tell you when I get there, I’m going to Royal Delhi first to get some takeout. See you—”
    Emery lived in a big townhouse condo that smelled of Moderately Successful Bachelor. The walls held framed photos of Captain Marvo and Mungbean alongside a lifesized painting of Leslie Nielsen as Commander J.J. Adams.
    But there was also a climate-controlled basement filled with Captain Marvo merchandise and packing material, with another large room stacked with electronics equipment—sound system, video monitors and decks, shelves and files devoted to old Captain Marvo episodes and dupes of the Grade Z movies featured on the show.
    This was where Robbie found Leonard, bent over a refurbished Steenbeck editing table.
    “Robbie.” Leonard waved, then returned to threading film onto a spindle. “Emery back with dinner?”
    “Uh-uh.” Robbie pulled a chair alongside him. “What are you doing?”
    “Loading up that nitrate I showed you yesterday.”
    “It’s not going to explode, is it?”
    “No, Robbie, it’s not going to explode.” Leonard’s mouth tightened. “Did Emery talk to you yet?”
    “He just said something about a plan. So what’s up?”
    “I’ll let him tell you.”
    Robbie flushed angrily, but before he could retort there was a knock behind them.
    “Chow time, campers.” Emery held up two steaming paper bags. “Can you leave that for a few minutes, Leonard?”
    They ate on the couch in the next room. Emery talked about a pitch he’d made to revive Captain Marvo in cell phone format. “It’d be freaking perfect, if I could figure out a way to make any money from it.”
    Leonard said nothing. Robbie noted the cuffs of his white tunic were stained with flecks of orange pigment, as were his fingernails. He looked tired, his face lined and his eyes sunken.
    “You getting enough sleep?” Emery asked.
    Leonard smiled wanly. “Enough.”
    Finally the food was gone, and the beer. Emery clapped his hands on his knees, pushed aside the empty plates then leaned forward.
    “Okay. So here’s the plan. I rented a house on Cowana for a week, starting this Saturday. I mapped it online and it’s about ten hours. If we leave right after you guys get off work on Friday and drive all night, we’ll get there early Saturday morning. Leonard, you said you’ve got everything pretty much assembled, so all you need to do is pack it up. I’ve got everything else here. Be a tight fit in the Prius, though, so we’ll have to take two cars. We’ll bring everything we need with us, we’ll have a week to shoot and edit or whatever, then on the way back we swing through Fayetteville and show the finished product to Maggie. What do you think?”
    “That’s not a lot of time,” said Leonard. “But we could do it.”
    Emery turned to Robbie. “Is you car road-worthy? It’s about twelve hundred miles round trip.”
    Robbie stared at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “The Bellerophon . Leonard’s got storyboards and all kinds of drawings and still frames, enough to work from. The realtor’s in Charleston, she said there wouldn’t be many people this early in the season. Plus there was a hurricane a couple years ago, I gather the island got hammered and no one’s had money to rebuild. So we’ll have it all to ourselves, pretty much.”
    “Are you high?” Robbie laughed. “I can’t just take off. I have a job.”
    “You get vacation time, right? You can take a week. It’ll be great, man. The realtor says it’s already in the eighties down there. Warm water, a beach—what more you want?”
    “Uh,