| Private Dick by Anthony Ainsworth & Lucas Vereline [email protected] & [email protected] |
|
   |
 |
| Leon took his supplies and went to his locker. He quickly stripped, wrapped the blue cloth around himself, and flung one of the towels over his shoulder leaving the other in his locker so that he could dry off later. IT was still early so he was hoping that he would be able to see his friend Max Gladstone. Max was an old Jew who just happened to own a large number of sleazy bars throughout Chicago. Max liked to spend a couple hours each morning in the hot room and a couple more in the evening. HE attributed his longevity and good health to these daily sessions and the rub that he would get each day. Max�s hearing wasn�t so good because his hearing aid couldn�t withstand the heat and water of the baths, but Leon figured he could talk to him on the way out, in the bar. First however, he went to the steam room, which had a strong dose of eucalyptus in it so that he could get the burning sensation of smoke out of his lungs. He grabbed the hose of cold water from outside and sprayed down the thermometer in the room so that the steam would intensify, and then just sat and sweated for about a half hour. Finally, with his ears burning he stood up and left the little room to sit in the pool of water that he knew was ice cold, but barely registered on his senses at first. Sure enough Max was there having just come from the hot room. He stood under the water spraying into the pool drinking it as it cam in. Finally he looked up and saw Leon lounging in the water. �Leon my boy, how you been?� �All right Max, except that some jackass came into my office this morning and lit a cigar.� �Ah good, good, glad to hear it,� Max said nodding and smiling politely. �Say have you met my niece, Francine� She�s a real nice girl, but could really use a more mature man in her life you know. She�s a real looker too, I mean if she weren�t my niece I�d be having thoughts inappropriate for an old man like me. Oh, yeah by the way�� The old man rambled on for a while and Leon obligingly nodded and made the appropriate faces and gestures in response. Eventually Max left the pool to go dry off upstairs and relax before the TV. Leon followed him and ordered a shot of Black Label while waiting for Max to put his hearing aid in. When Max came over Leon finally had a chance to talk to him. �Hey Max, you ever heard of a band called the Twin Titties? Managed by a guy named Squinley.� Max leaned his scrawny head back and rubbed his stomach while he thought. �Hmm, yeah I think they played at one of my clubs about a half year ago. That Squinley character, he�s a real greasy looking guy right? Yeah, �The Neck� helped him get a recording contract recently, you should go have a talk with him if you want to know more.� |
| Page 3 |