Fire Lake Read Online Free PDF

yesteryear, huh, Harry? I think about that a lot."
    "About what?"
    "About how people go different ways. They spread
out so far . . . you can't call them back." Lonnie dropped his
eyes to the floor. "This talking over old times isn't doing me
much good," he said heavily. He put the coffee cup on an end
table and covered his face with his hands. "Oh, God. What the
fuck have I done?"
    He started to weep. Hoarsely. Uncontrollably. His
hands and shoulders shaking as if he were being shaken. Pulling the
blanket tightly around him, so it shielded his face, he cried to
himself.
    I got up from the couch and walked down the hall to
the bedroom. Caught a glimpse of myself in the wall mirror and didn't
have the guts to look into my own eyes. I dug an old plaid lumberjack
shirt and a pair of jeans out of a drawer, sat down on the bed, and
waited until I could hear Lonnie's sobbing die down. Then I walked
back up the hall.
    "Here," I said, tossing him the clothes.
    They fell at his feet. He wiped his red eyes with the
corner of the blanket, reached down, and picked up the jeans.
    "They're going to be a little long," he
said hoarsely.
    "Roll the legs," I said.
    He picked up the shirt, then glanced down at himself.
"I could use a shower, I think."
    "Down the hall on your right."
    He rubbed his jaw. "You got a razor I could use,
maybe?"
    I must have given him a startled look, because he
said, "Don't worry, Harry. I wouldn't do that to you twice."
    "There's shaving stuff in the medicine cabinet,"
I said, trying to look unconcerned.
    He folded up the shirt and pants, got up, and walked
down the hall. When he got to the john door, he looked back at me.
"You haven't asked me," he said.
    "What?"
    "Why I used your name."
    "Why did you?" I said.
    "'Cause if I croaked, I knew you'd look after
me. And if I didn't ..." He waved his right arm. "Here I
am." Lonnie dropped his arm and said, "Nobody else I know
would have come through for me like that."
    "How did you know that I would?"
    "I knew," he said softly as he stepped into
the john.
 

    6
    When Lonnie came out of the shower, he was singing,
in a mellow baritone that brought back memories of Calhoun Street.
    It was a Bob Seger song full of motorcycles, leather
jackets, and beautiful women. Lonnie toweled off his wet hair. "You
like Bob Seger?" he said, as he walked into the living room.
He'd rolled the jeans up at the ankles, although they were still a
size too large at the waist.
    "Yeah, I like Seger," I said.
    "I used to do a lot of his stuff with my last
band."
    "What was that?" I asked.
"The
Hawks," he said, dropping into the easy chair and crooking a leg
over one of the arms. "We called ourselves the Hawks. Like the
Band, when they backed Ronnie Hawkins. Christ, did you read about
Richard Manuel?"
    I nodded.
    "That's some sad shit there, buddy," he
said, wiping off his ears. "That's a real loss. Not like some
nobody who never was nothing, swallowing pills in a fleabag motel."
    I grunted and he smiled.
    "It's okay, Harry," he said. "It's
gotta be talked about. No way to avoid it. Everything's connected,
after all."
    "How are you feeling?" I said.
    "Don't know yet," he said. He started to
cough again and pounded his chest, theatrically, with his fist. "Who
knows? This cold might kill me."
    I leaned forward on the couch. "I need to talk
to you about something. You feel up to it?"
    Lonnie gave me a tentative smile. "Depends on
what it is."
    I glanced at my watch. "It's ten o'clock. I'm
going to have to leave here for a while. I've got to pick someone up
at the airport."
    "I could come along, maybe," he said, as if
he really didn't want to be left alone.
    "Sure," I said. "You're welcome to
come."
    "Who you picking up?"
    "That's what we've got to talk about," I
said.
    "This is making me a little nervous,"
Lonnie said with a sick grin. "You aren't going to spring any
doctors or shit on me, are you, Harry? You haven't been making a lot
of calls, have you?"
    I said, "No."
    "Good," Lonnie said, looking