Read the first part of The Hourglass Runs (a selection from The Next World is Always Better)
Barbie’s Boys
Everybody loved Barbie. Some of us, more than others. Never thought it’d end this way, though. Her pretty blonde brains spilled out on the oriental carpet Richard had bought her in exchange for three weekends of wild sex.
Jason stood over her now – the pistol, trembling, in his hand.
“Omigod,” he said in a small voice. “She loved me.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
She called us her boys, and each of us in our own way had tried to warn her that her habits would lead to no good. We were thinking of ourselves, of the scraps and fistfights we got into like love-struck puppies. Each of us beat up the other for the privilege of begging for her favors. We were thinking gonorrhea, from that other guy. AIDS.
Not this.
Barbie played each of us for what we were worth. Arthur was worth season tickets to the Broncos. Martin, a Vail condominium. For me, it was my pawn shop (an endless source of gifts), and for Craig it was free beer at his sports bars. It was in Craig’s bars where she picked up each of us, used us for her nymphomaniacal marathons, then tossed us away like used condoms. Barbie was made out for plenty of things, but monogamous sex wasn’t one of ’em.
The ride went on longer for some of us than for others. Take Jason, for example. Barbie knew better than to boot him out. Jason owned the apartment building where she lived – and died. I can’t say she lived entirely rent-free, since I didn’t get a chance to know her well enough for those sorts of details. None of us ever got that close to her.
One thing was clear, Barbie did all right. But living on the edge like that couldn’t last.
I sure as hell never expected, when I rushed out of her bathroom, where I’d only gone to wash up, to find Jason waving her own .38 over her body. That little number had been one of the many presents I myself had brought her.
And I’m sure Jason never realized I was in the apartment at the time. I keep wondering how differently everything would’ve turned out if I’d only thought a little quicker. Been a few minutes faster.
To read all of Barbie’s Boys and two other stores, please purchase the ebook Making Their Own Law:
Also available for most other ereaders