"Aloha's End" Chapter 20: He Bites The Fish

Aloha’s End by Michael F. Zangari
© 2007 with all rights reserved.

Chapter Twenty: He Bites the fish

“I am gordita” says Patita. “Patita Gordita. She pushes the plate back and picks up her water glass, sipping at it, embarrassed. She looks over the rim of the glass as she sips with big brown eyes that spark like Fourth of July sparklers. She holds a soft amused focus on TrueWest, who leans back appreciating her.
Duck has his hand on her leg. He squeezes it softly, feeling the familiar tingle of contact. Patita looks at him from the corner of her eyes and smiles.
“You’re not fat” he says quietly. “Preciouso.”
The waiter returns sweating. There’s sand on his cheek and his cloths are rumpled.
“Can I take your plates?” he asks.
“You touch my plate and I’ll kill you” says TrueWest with a little too much force. “And that’s a promise.”
“Slow down Tex” says Duck. “You’re not being rousted. Eat. Enjoy.”
The waiter says “Not done yet, eh?”
“No” says Patita. “He’s still eating it.”
TrueWest is embarrassed.
“Shaka” he says, doing the loose hang loose sign with his thumb and pinky extended from his fist.
“Shaka plenty, brah” says the waiter. “Never mind.”
He curtsies and moves back from the table raising his tray above his head like an umbrella. He twists around and he is gone.
Duck brings his rubber beak down over his nose again.
Patita leaves hers on her forehead.
TrueWest smiles weakly as the waiter turns and leaves.
‘I’m not done” he says weakly to the couple.
“Got it” says Duck.
TrueWest plays with his food with his fork before spearing it and eating it. He chews happily. Still embarrassed.
“I’m going to try again to be a good little journalist” he says. He goes again for the tape recorder and slips the pause switch off.
“You worked with kids, right?”
“Yes” says Duck. “And teens.”
TrueWest considers Duck.
“You should wear a dinosaur suit or something” he says. “The duck thing doesn’t quite make it.”
“He was very successful” says Patita.
“It might help with your credibility problem” says TrueWest.
Duck squeezes her thigh again.
“Great idea” he says.
“You’ve made a point of saying that there is a big effort to destabilize and discredit you” says TrueWest. “You’ve gone as far as to say that ‘they’ve” TrueWest pauses dramatically, and continues “tried to kill you.”
Duck nods, the rubber beak going up and down slowly, seriously. “Anthrax” he says.
“Why would anybody go to all that trouble to harass an ex-employee?”
“Money” says Patita. She is serious too.
“I had a feeling there were some yankee doodle buckaroos riding around and hooting in the background” says TrueWest. “Let me get this straight. The whole rig-a-ma-roll is about Saturday night on the town, I mean, somebody taking money ear marked for children’s service being diverted and spent on other things.”
Duck raises his eyebrows and smiles.
“Where exactly did you work?” TrueWest asks.
“The roller rink” says Duck.
TrueWest waits for the rim-shot that never comes.
“The roller rink?”
“Yes” says Patita. “The Rolling Donut.”
Duck smoothes his hair back and raises his eyebrows sincerely.
Patita and Duck nod together.
Waiting.
TrueWest slides the pause switch on again and thinks.
He shrugs, and pushes it back on. What the hell.
“That’s one part of it.” Says Duck. “How services are funded and how the money is delivered.”
“In a bowling bag” mutters TrueWest.
“It’s not a bowling alley” says Patita. “That’s next store. That’s another story.”
“More to the point, the place is toxic” says Duck.
TrueWest looks at the duckbill on Patita’s forehead.
“Poison?”
TrueWest looks at the couple. “I’m here on vacation” he says. “Don’t you something softer to talk about, more human interesty?”
Duck adjusts his bill indignantly.
“There’s a lot of money missing” he says. “It’s that simple and dull. To some wild eyed accountant out there with a fondness for finding crooked figures, these books would be better than sex.”
He spears his last piece of ahi with his fork.
“Human life is cheap” he says.
“Better than sex, eh?” TrueWest considers this. He sucks the fish juices off his fork, then goes for the last bit of fish.”
“Yeah” says Duck. “A little hard core pulp accounting.”
“Pulp accounting?” asks TrueWest, “What in God’s holy turnpike name is ‘Pulp accounting?”
“You know” says Duck, “ You kill a couple of figures here. You kill a couple of figures there. Strange figures appear and disappear. The lights go out. When they come back on, a few more figures are missing. And still the rollers in the rink go round.”
“Embezzlement is really boring as stories go” says TrueWest. “Even when you are stealing the money from impoverished Hawaiian children and other roller skaters.”
“It’s where the money is going that’s interesting” says Duck.
TrueWest fork pauses in front of his mouth.
He’s getting interested. Damn it.
He bites the fish.