Everybody Pays Read Online Free PDF Page A

stage name. Anyway, I asked this other girl, had she seen Tanya?
    The other girl told me Tanya quit. She was working at another place. I asked her, but she didn’t know the name of the place. There are lots of places like this one in the city.
    I told the other girl we had a date. Me and Bonnie, I mean. For Thursday nights. The other girl said I could have a date with her instead, wouldn’t that be okay? I felt bad. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. So I told her about me and Bonnie. About the plans we made.
    The other girl, she said something very nasty to me and she got up and walked away.
    In a minute, a big, mean-looking guy came over to my table. He told me it was time to leave. I asked him, why would he say that to me? I was sitting quietly; I wasn’t bothering anybody. I was just waiting for Bonnie.
    The big guy told me Bonnie wasn’t coming back. Only he didn’t call her Bonnie, he called her Tanya. He said Tanya’s boyfriend took her back on the circuit because she was all played out in that place—I mean, the place where we were talking. Where I used to have my dates with her.
    I didn’t understand a word of what he said. It didn’t make sense. Bonnie didn’t have a boyfriend. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been having dates with me. The big guy sat down next to me. His face got softer. He said that the girls could only work the same places for a little while. Then they needed fresh ones. That’s what he said, fresh ones. He told me Bonnie was never going to come back there. And I shouldn’t either.
    That was almost six months ago.
    I learned a lot since then. About the circuit. And the places, how they work. And the girls, too.
    My boss at work says there’s something different about me, but he can’t say for sure what it is. He wasn’t complaining—my work is still perfect. He said he was . . . concerned. That’s the word he used.
    I get different magazines now. I study different things too.
    I need all that information. I go to work every day. Every night, I go to the places. I made a grid. Of the whole city. I check and cross-check, because I know none of the girls works every night. I spend a little money, but mostly I save it.
    What I do now is, I look for Bonnie. As soon as I find her, we’ll go on our last date.
    for Charles

TAG
    “ H ey! What the fuck is—?”
    “This? It’s just a sprayer, punk. Like what you carry. Only this one sprays bullets instead of paint.”
    “What d’you want?”
    “Same as you.”
    “I don’t get—”
    “There’s three of us. One of you. You try and run, we just blast you and leave your body right where it sits. It’s nice and dark here. Nobody’ll be around for hours. Just like you planned, right?”
    “I wasn’t gonna—”
    “Sure you were. We’re the only ones wearing the masks here. You, you’re ‘MRR88.’ That’s your tag. Now we got a face to go with it.”
    “You got the wrong—”
    “Uh, don’t be stupid. This is the third place you’ve done tonight. We’ve been right there with you. Now just put up your hands.”
    . . . .
    “And here’s your little notebook. With all your punk plans to ruin people’s property with your mess. What’s ‘MRR88’ stand for, anyway?”
    “I’m not—”
    “Yeah, you’re not talking. Too bad. ‘Master Race Rules!’ How’s that for a good guess? And would the ’88’ stand for ‘HH’ by any chance? ‘Heil Hitler’?”
    “It’s just a—”
    “Joke? This time it’s on you, punk. Get in the car.”
    “Where’re we—?”
    “Just a warehouse. Few miles from here. You’ll recognize it. . . . It’s where all the amateur taggers practice. Nice big walls, nobody around. Of course, nobody around means nobody gets to
see
it, so it’s not for the top guys. Not for you, huh?”
    “I just—”
    . . . .
    “Get out.”
    “Look, you guys. I wasn’t—”
    “Keep walking.”
    “What is all this? Look, I won’t—”
    “You
won’t
do anything, Percy. That’s