OozLe PoOl

13

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!

Bugs lies on a gurney, still out. He's still in his street clothes and has a tube in his arm attached to a fluid bag. A doctor takes his pulse. The patient opens his eyes. He looks around.

He looks the doc over and sees that she's an attractive woman. "What's up Doc?"

"Hello. Do you know where you are?"

 

"The hospital?"

"Do you know your name?"

"Uuh, John."

"John what?"

"John Leguziamo."

"Wrong. You have no ID but, according to the woman who got arrested at the Monte Carlo apartments, you're Troy Soledad. You're supposed to be in a halfway house for psychiatric patients. Do you remember anything?"

"Yeah."

"What do you remember?"

"Trix are for kids."

A voice calls from out of the examination room, "Dr. Bonham, we need you in ER."

"Someone will be back," she informs him and goes.

He waits a short while and looks right and left. Bugs pulls out the needle and tube from his arm, gets off the gurney and walks out of the room.

The escaped nut walks out of the hospital into the evening streets of Commerce City.

In the late morning a couple of youngsters play handball against a school wall. Bugs walks up and watches from across the street for just a little while. When they finish a game he goes onto the blacktop and approaches them.

"Hey guys," he greets them. "Looks fun."

They both look him over like he's a deranged supernerd.

"Yeah," one of them replies not looking at him.

"Do either of you know a girl named Jacki?"

"Who the hell are you?" the boy asks.

"I'm her father."

"Oh yeah? What's your name?"

"My real name is Troy. But she probably knows me as Bug."

"What do you want her for?"

"Well, I never knew her. I want to be her dad, I guess."

"Yeah, that's what she told me. She snuck a call to me."

Bugs restrains his enthusiasm. "Where'd she call you from."

"A foster home. They don't let her out much. They're nazis I guess."

"Where's it at?"

"1750 Sycamore."

"Thanks bud!" Bugs smiles and walks quickly away.

"Tell her Todd says 'What's up'!"

"Awright."

Bugs walks up to a mobile home porch, looks both ways, swipes the windchimes and sneaks off.

At a street sign in front of a shopping plaza Bugs has hung the chimes low. He sits on a plastic milk crate in front of a 5 gallon upside down plastic paint bucket. He pounds a beat with aluminum rods and punctuates the stanzas hitting the chimes.

Bugs sings, "You are my sunshine/ My only sunshine

You make me happy/ When skies are gray..."

People pass him and a coffee can set out in front of Bugs with change in it. A few people even drop coins.

Bugs comes out of a thrift store with a plastic suit shaped bag that he holds from a protruding coat hanger. He stops and puts on a pair of reflector sunglasses before he continues away.

Dressed in a blue suit, Bugs exits a discount shopping market. By a wastecan he opens a package and throws it away but keeps the contents, a plastic whistle, handcuffs and toy silver badge. Bugs inspects the badge, puts it and the whistle in his pocket and discards the handcuffs. He smirks as he takes off.

Bugs approaches the front door of a big vinyl sided house. It says '1750' right above the mail slot. He rings the doorbell. Nobody answers. He rings again. Still no answer. He pounds the door hard 5 times.

A stern looking middle aged woman answers the door and looks Bugs up and down in his cop glasses and Hawaii 5-0 thrift score suit. "I aint buying nothing."

Bugs flashes the badge quick, "I'm not selling anything, Mam."

"What do you want?"

"I need to talk to Jacki Gibbs."

"Why? Who are you?"

"I'm Detective Judd. I need to question her in regards to her mother's assault charge."

"Her mother's being charged? I didn't know that."

"I really can't discuss it."

"Let me see your badge again."

Bugs sighs in irritation, "I don't have time for all this Mam, please. You want me to cite you with obstruction? Too much hassle. I can just have my pals at Social Services do an inspection of the place, just because I'm an asshole."

"Ok, ok." The woman disappears and returns soon enough with Jacki.

The tomboy looks at Bugs with confusion. The woman looks at Jacki. Bugs puts his index finger to his lips at his daughter and drops his arm again before the woman sees the signal.

"I'll have her back soon," Bugs says.

Bugs leads Jacki across the yard and down the sidewalk. The woman watches for a minute and then shuts the door. The prodigal dad then directs the kid to cross the street and they cut through a yard to the alley.

On the next street at the mouth of the alley Bugs and Jacki walk out. She stops and tugs on his jacket.

"Where are we going?" she asks.

"Away. Big Rock? She'll probably call the real cops in awhile. Do you want to go back?"

"Do you got a place?"

"Nope. I stay under the highway. If you come to Big Rock I can get a harmonica or something and, well, we won't starve."

They cross the street to a bus stop bench and sit down.

"I can stay with friends in their garages and shit. Probably I'll get caught and go to the Juvenile Detention Center till mom gets out of jail. That's better than the Spencer's. I heard mom tell Billy that she thinks you're on the run."

"Yeah. I didn't remember till she tazed me. I remember a bunch of stuff now. If I ever get picked up for anything like vagrancy I'll go back. But it's easy to escape. It'd be cool and all, but I don't like being medicated."

"Did you really torch the DA's house?"

"Yeah. I remember that too now. It didn't really burn too much. Would've gotten a lot of prison time if I wasn't already a bonafide psychotic."

"That's way cool."

"It wasn't. We better split up."

"Thanks for busting me out of the foster home."

"No prob. Be careful. What's the zip code to you and Rose's."

"80927."

"Your mom don't want to see me." Bugs gives Jacki some paper money and a fistful of change from his pocket. "Be careful. I'll try and come see you, but if Rose flips out, I'll write. Whatever happens, I won't be far."

"Nnn k."

Bugs wraps his arms around Jacki's shoulder and squeezes. She lets him. He kisses the top of her head.

"Until I see you again Jacki. Stay out of trouble."

"You too."

Bugs walks away. She watches him and then gets up and walks in the opposite direction.

The wacko walks along singing, "3 little monkeys, Jumping on the bed/ One fell down and broke his head/ 2 kept jumping and Mama said/ Gee I hope my baby aint dead.

The End