The Motel Life Page #2

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down on him, Frank?

'Ey.

Come on.

Luck of the Flannigans.

Almost worse than mine.

Almost.

Uh...

Jerry Lee said you

owe him some money.

Yeah, I do.

Yeah, look, I owe him that

money and I'd pay you, Frank.

I would pay you but...

I've been betting the playoffs and I

f***ing lost the last three weeks.

I'm down a couple grand, man.

I should've bet it on the Tyson Douglas

fight, that's what I should've done.

Buster Douglas is gonna

win that fight, Frank.

Christ, Tommy.

Besides Jerry Lee, you're

the unluckiest guy I know.

Don't you read the papers?

Jesus, nobody thinks Buster Douglas is

gonna make it outta the first round.

Hey guys.

- Guess where I've been.

- I don't know, where ya been, Al?

I've been in the loony bin.

- Could I get a vodka cranberry?

- Sure, hon.

Ugh, come on.

I happened upon a bottle of liquid

acid. And I couldn't stop taking it.

I ended up walking down Virginia.

Right down the center of town.

All I was wearing was my

underwear and flip-flops.

Luckily I'm still

half sane, though.

They say they try to get you straight...

but they make you crazier than hell.

I ain't never going back

to that place again.

Don't get thrown in a mental hospital

Frank. It's worse than you think.

It's alright, kid.

- Are you alright?

- What?

I said are you alright?

- Hey Barry!

- Yeah, Dad?

- We're gonna go grab a bite to eat.

- Okay.

- Okay, just get me something.

- What do you want?

I don't know, where're

you guys going?

We're gonna eat the ass-end

out of a dead skunk.

Get mine with ketchup!

The boy's sick.

I'm sure sorry to hear

about your brother's leg.

What, six months after

losing your mom?

And you're only what... sixteen?

I just turned fifteen.

I hired you when you were fourteen?

Yeah.

Jesus.

Well, there you go.

What were you thinking out there?

I mean, when you were

just standing there.

I don't know.

Guess I was just... scared.

I'd be scared too.

Look, son...

What you gotta do is think

about the life you want.

Think about it in your head.

Make it a place you wanna be.

A ranch, a beach house, penthouse,

doesn't matter what it is, but a

place you can go hide out in.

Then when everybody's on your ass,

or you can't stop thinking about

your mom, you can go there.

- Could it help my brother?

- I don't know.

Tell him yours.

I used to tell Barry stories all

the time when his life was rough.

They seemed to help him out.

Gave him a place to escape to.

Gave him some hope. Hope's the key.

Hey, boy.

What an a**hole.

Come on. Come on.

This is Mission Control at Houston,

at three hours, two minutes

into the flight of Discovery.

It's hard to tell if

they're awake or not.

You look better.

I feel better.

- Did they say anything about your leg?

- They ain't sure.

Depends if they can stop some

sort of infection I got.

At least I shot myself in the

leg that was already bad.

Yeah.

You're drunk, huh?

Yeah.

You should drink more milk, Frank.

Hey.

You find anything

out about the kid?

Not much. His name was Wes Denny.

He lived in a house, some

sorta foster place I think.

I talked to a guy who

knew him. Said...

his parents died in a car crash,

and he'd been shuffled between

homes his whole life, you know.

I mean, nobody really

gave a sh*t about him.

For real?

Yeah.

- You ain't making it up?

- No.

He was like us, you know.

He didn't have anybody left.

- I might have got us a dog.

- What?

- No sh*t.

- Oh yeah.

- Where... where'd you get it?

- Stole it from some guy's yard.

I mean, he was gonna have frozen

to death if I hadn't, but...

We always wanted a dog.

Damn, that's something, huh?

- Frank, that's really something.

- Yeah.

Frank?

Can we go somewhere else, Frank?

What happened?

- It's nothing.

- Here, sit down.

Can we leave leave?

Just stay here.

You gotta get away from your mom.

Can you at least just tell me a story

like the ones you tell Jerry Lee?

Yeah.

What do you want it to be about?

Maybe it could be you

and me on an island...

in the Pacific Ocean.

With the sun.

And we could go

swimming all day long.

And sleep on the beach.

I'm Officer Cook,

this is Officer Mori.

We'd like to ask you a few

questions, okay?

What kind of car do you

drive, Mr. Flannigan?

It's a Chevy Caprice.

- Where is your car?

- It was stolen.

Why didn't you report it?

It's a real piece of sh*t.

It's been stolen a

few times before.

Uh, we found your car, Mr. Flannigan.

It was burned and abandoned.

Where was the car stolen from?

Uh, The Sands... Sands parking lot.

I leave it there all the time.

I live down... Rancho Sierra,

it's just right down the street.

Are you aware that someone

might have been killed...

by an old beat-up car like

yours in a hit-and-run?

- No.

- A nurse getting off work...

reported seeing a brown and grey

station wagon parked right outside.

She said she saw someone moving

something out of the car

- right where the body was found.

- What color's your car?

It's brown and grey.

Whoever stole it probably

did that, right?

Why are you in the

hospital, Mr. Flannigan?

- My leg...

- What happened to your leg?

Please, I'm just tired,

I've had enough, okay?

Can you just leave me alone,

just for a little bit?

Doesn't look like

you're going anywhere.

We have your room number

at the Rancho Sierra.

We'll be back to see you soon.

F***, Frank. What are we gonna do?

We're not gonna do anything.

They don't know sh*t.

They already know, I can tell.

- They already know.

- No they don't. Okay?

Thy don't know anything for sure.

They will, they'll find out. You know that.

You gotta get me outta here, now.

No. Okay, you gotta stay

here until you get better.

I'm gonna go crazy if they come back.

Just get me outta here, Frank.

What are you doing

with a Winchester?

- What's he got there?

- His dad's rifle.

What is it?

It's a custom gold-plated

Winchester 1894...

and I don't think this

thing's ever been fired.

My brother and I never shot it.

My mom said my dad got it on

one of his lucky streaks.

I think he got it just

before he took off.

Who'd he win it from?

I'm not sure.

I looked it up before.

It ain't on any stolen list

that I've come across.

- What're you gonna do with it?

- I was hoping you could buy it.

I don't think I can give you the

kind of money this thing is worth.

You should put a ad

up on Gun Trader,

or wait until the next

gun show in March.

I'm in a spot.

All I could give you is 400. And

I don't recommend you take it.

That's just all I could

give you for it.

I'll take the 400.

Okay.

Tommy, get him some coffee.

And make him take these donuts.

You guys are leaving, aren't you?

That's what you need the money for?

I don't know.

400 bucks ain't much to hit the

road with, if that's your plan.

Yeah, I know. And we

don't even have a car.

You can get a piece of sh*t

for 300, I don't know.

I was thinking of going over to Earl

Hurley's lot, he'd set up credit with me.

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