INCOMMUNICADO stepped in since his uniform fit her and she had a gun and knew how to use it and all Temporary or not she keeps a tight rule over the town and I think this Town Hood thing is one reason why She tells us to get out and warns the new Town Hood to make sure I repaint the eyeballs of those two lion statues so they look normal and not like constipated clowns I thought crossing the lions eyeballs was funny and heck kids have done that every year since those stupid lions were put there Same thing with that black jockey statue standing in front of Mayor Schmidtke’s house That poor iron jockey looks pretty darn confused standing where he is on a pedestal in a town where the blackest person anyone has ever seen is leathery ol Babs Bishop after a summer on the beach soaked in her own personal concoction of baby oil and iodine And the closest thing to a racehorse we have is an eighteen-year-old beach nag named Florence Look you don’t go putting up any statues in a town like Sea Park and not expect kids to express themselves with a little paint Then again if I hadn’t been so bored and looking for a way to express myself and some ol biddy Lioness butinski lady hadn’t caught me red-handed then my brother probably wouldn’t suddenly be wearing the badge of Town Hood The badge I deserve 7
CHAPTER 2 Now about Rex and me Guess you could say we’ve pretty much been on our own for a long time Fact is I can’t remember much about our father except just noise Rex remembers more being older He remembers getting clobbered and yelled at and bullied Rex told me one night these men in uniform came cops I guess and all of a sudden poof our old man just wasn’t there anymore Ever If Mom’s had enough to drink and you really bug her about it she’ll let a few clues slip that bum what a rat ruint us all I loved that jerk After a few years I stopped asking about him and I think we all just forgot there ever was a father jerk or no 9
RANDALL PLATT Anyway since we were gettin on as Mom called it we could do for ourselves But since Rex is seventeen and I am twelve that’s twenty-nine years betwixt us and yes we can pretty much do for ourselves When Mom is out to sea cooking or on a binge me and Rex work to keep the forty Stay and Play housekeeping beach cabins neat and tidy but it seems like I am always the one who gets stuck cleaning the toilets after the tourists leave We don’t own the cabins we just clean them We get to live in two of the cabins though connected with a plywood kind of hallway We also get all the food we can pilfer since Mr Kaye the owner has this fancy restaurant next door the Look-Sea Lounge And there’s the Kozy Korner Kafe under the lounge so at least we get what Mom calls hots and cots food and a place to live Mr Kaye I like him a lot He sort of just stepped in when our old man stepped out Just like I don’t remember when my father was there I don’t remember when Mr Kaye wasn’t there I guess if it weren’t for him we’d been out on our butts I figure Tommy Kaye owns most of Sea Park At least that’s what everyone says The cabins the restaurant the café and the bowling alley that turns into a dance floor for some pretty big bands he brings in from Portland and Seattle He also owns the Feed and Seed where I help out sometimes I love it there Something makes me feel good about feeding animals and making things 10
