THE CHANGE - CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

PART NINE - CHARLIE'S MOMENT OF CHOICE / BURGER QUEEN

PART NINE

CHARLIE’S MOMENT OF CHOICE

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19TH

LOS ANGELES, CA

TWENTY-SEVEN

The Los Angeles sun was merciless as I stepped outside, checking the doorknob to make sure it locked behind me. I knew it was risky to leave shit in my room at the Parasite Motel, even for a couple minutes, but I was not about to drag my bags back and forth in such a semi-delirious state. So I stashed ‘em under the bed, taking both guns with me. Just in case.

There was a pair of tragically hot transsexual hookers hanging out in the parking lot, either waiting for trouble or freshly recovering from it. When they saw my miserable visage, wincing in pain at the blistering sky, they wisely looked the other way. Good. Trying to hustle me right this second was the world’s worst fucking idea.

In the distance, downtown L.A. looked like a cheap imitation of an actual city: a tiny cluster of glistening high-rises, surrounded by acres of squat gray and green. Lots of trees, lots of streets, lots and lots of little houses, all full of little people who could not mean less to me. And then that piddly little skyline, like a cup full of disposable forks: a centerpiece of plastic cutlery on America’s shittiest picnic table.

I crossed the street in a hurry, or as fast as I could, dodging my way through the endless traffic. And all the way there, I couldn’t shake the feeling that everything had somehow gone horribly wrong.