Chapter 13
I spent the next two hours drinking and sobbing. after he left. I remembered how I had met him, and suddenly my mind began recapturing in sequence all that had happened in our short but eventful relationship.
There was that first delightful fuck in my apartment, the same place he had torn into early in the morning and cussed me out in. I could now see that he was a man of greater complexity than the fun loving guy I assumed him to be.
Of one thing I was certain-I couldn't take many outbursts like the one that took place early that morning. I thought a great deal of him and if he couldn't treat me the same way then I'd have to break off our relationship for the sake of both of us.
I finally staggered back into bed, not caring if I slept away the next twenty years. I fell into a deep sleep that was interrupted by another series of loud knocks.
This time I squinted my eyes open and discovered by the clock that it was a few minutes past nine. I figured that it was Cliff again, and tremors of fear rushed through me as I slipped on my robe and walked briskly toward the door.
"Just a minute," I said, still feeling on the exhausted side.
I flung the door open and was just about to voice my second hello of the morning to Cliff when I saw Consuela standing before me. Her eyes were even redder than Cliff's had been, and both sides of her face were bathed in tears. Her face was chalk white and her lips were quivering.
"Consuela. What's the matter?" I asked.
"May I come in?"
Sure. Come in."
I showed her into the living room and she sat down on a chair. Her fingers were trembling.
"You look very upset. Let me fix us both a cup of coffee."
"No, please. I must tell you about something." "Whatever is it?" "It's about Cliff."
"Well, what about him?" a sudden fear gripped me. I was afraid that something awful had happened.
"He's dead," she said in barely more than a whisper.
"Oh, my God," my head fell, then spun around.
Then the tears were falling uncontrollably down both sides of my face.
"It happened just an hour ago."
"How did it happen?"
"He came to my house around five. He said he'd been making the rounds of women he knew to get his rocks off. He was in one of those violent moods that he gets into every now and then, after he's been on a long drinking binge. I'm always scared when that happens. He's just not the same person."
"I know. He was here just a short time before you saw him. We made love and for the first time since I've known him he hurt me. Not only physically but with his words."
"Well, he was the same way with me. After he spent some time in bed with me he asked me to drive him to a bar. By that time he really wasn't in any condition to drive and even he knew it, which was something.
"I drove him to a bar nearby that opens at six every morning. He told me he wanted to be by himself for a while and didn't want me to go in with him. He ordered me to pick him up in an hour." Her eyes narrowed and her voice trailed off noticeably as she finished.
"I was back in an hour. They were putting him in the ambulance with the white sheet over his head. Then I had to talk to the police, telling them everything I knew. It was awful. They told me what had happened.
He had gone in the bar and had double shots of bourbon, four of them right in a row. The bartender had wanted to shut him off at that point but was afraid to.
There was a couple in the bar, the only other people there, a man and a wife.
The wife was very attractive, and right away Cliff was interested in making it with her. He started openly making passes at her. The husband realized that Cliff was pretty bad off and was naturally scared of him, seeing as how Cliff was as big as he was."
"So what finally happened?" I asked.
"This guy knew it was time to cut out, so he played it cool, telling his wife to leave with him. He grabbed his wife by the hand and walked out of there. Well, you know how stubborn and mean he is when he's like that. He just wouldn't take no for an answer. He wanted that woman whether she was married and with her husband or not. He got up from the stool and chased them out into the parking lot.
The second Cliff got outside the bar the poor scared bartender called the police. I don't blame him. He naturally suspected there might be trouble. Well, the bartender went outside into the parking lot to see what was going on. The guy was trying to drive his car out of the parking lot, but there was Cliff fuming and swearing, blocking his way. The guy didn't wanna hit Cliff and tried to go around him."
"But he hit him?" I surmised.
"No, that's not what happened," she shook her head sadly. "The guy managed to move his car around Cliff, but that didn't stop him either. He reached out and opened the door on the woman's side. When he reached out and grabbed the woman's wrist she screamed. Her husband saw what was happening and knew he had to put on the brakes. If he didn't his wife would have tumbled to the pavement. He stopped the car and Cliff jumped inside. Cliff knew he would have to subdue the husband before he could get to the wife so he hit the man on the side of the head." "Did he hurt him badly?"
"He stunned him and the man fell to the floorboard. Then Cliff started tearing off the woman's dress so he could rape her. She was screaming violently and the bartender came running to help. Cliff reached out and kicked the bartender, knocking him to the pavement. But while he was kicking the man the husband recovered enough to reach into the glove compartment and pull out a revolver. He took one shot and drilled Cliff right through the head with it."
"Oh, this is the most awful thing I've ear heard of," my knees went weak and I felt dizzy.
"I was afraid he would die this way. I told him he took too many chances and he told me that he would rather live that way. Once I asked him if he would be willing to risk his life to live that way and he told me that he did it all the time. You know, he was smiling when he said it. It's terrible that he just wouldn't learn."
"Honey, I loved him" I sobbed.
"So did I."
"Did you tell Jackie."
"Yes, just before I came here."
Then we looked at each other and I threw my arms around her. We pressed against each other's bodies like we were the last two people left on earth.