Date: 3 Feb 2001 14:23:54 MST
From: Inverse Clown <servo_blue@usa.net>
Subject: The Out-Crowd (Part 6)

Author:  Servo Blue

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
=============
This is where it starts to get kinda violent.  Nothing too gutwrenching,
but still a bit morose.  Just so you know.
                                             --Servo Blue


DISCLAIMER:
==========

This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to persons living or dead is
entirely coincidental, even if it IS based on real stuff.  The author
asserts all legal and moral rights (copyright (c) 2000 - servo_blue@usa.com)
to this work and you may not copy it or transmit it in any way except in
its entirety and with this disclaimer, you silly plagerists.



The Out-Crowd
===========

Part 6:  All About Shelby

I told him the whole thing, twice through.  He said that it was cool, but
it would have scared the shit out of him, too.  He asked what I thought it
meant, but I had not even thought about the whole 'dreams mean stuff' aspect
yet.  He said they always do.  Especially nightmares.

"Everytime I have a nightmare, I know something bad's gonna happen," he said.
"That's why I hate not sleeping.  It leaves me guessing."

I sat for a moment, thinking about how insightful he was.

"That's pretty deep, man." I said.

"Not really.  Just true."

He shifted his position on the bed, and I thought for a quick second.

"Well...what do you think it means?" I asked him.  I was hoping he'd have
said something that would set me at ease, but no, that can't happen.

"Confrontation," he said, leaning back against the headboard of his bed,
lifting his arms over his head to hold it.  "And lots of it, pal."

"Oh, that's just great." I said, looking at the floor.

"And I think I have an idea of who it is," he said, mainly to himself.  At
that, I looked up at him.

"Who?"

"I'm not gonna tell you until I know." he said.

"Why not?"  I was confused now.

"Because I don't want you looking for whatever this may be, just 'cause I
think it's a possibility that I might know who one or two of the people are."

Well, isn't that just dandy.  It's MY dream!

"Oh," was all I had.

After a few minutes of silence, he leaned forward and looked at the clock
radio and saw that it was a quarter to five.

"Hey, bud," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder.  "It's almost five."

I looked up at him and grinned, "You kickin' me out?"

He smiled.  "Well, it's not that I don't like havin' you in my room half
naked, but my dad gets up in fifteen minutes.  It may strike him as odd,
should he decide to check on me and find you here."

I stood up and stretched.

"You gonna be in school today?" I asked.

"Probably," he said.  "If you can, I can."

"That's the spirit," I said with a big grin, and slapped his shoulder.  "See
you there, pal."

He didn't really answer me, but he smiled a little and made a tired whine.  I
went out the window, waved my final goodbye, and walked home.  It was a warm
night, and the stars were all out.  Walking was enjoyable.

I got home by five, and hopped in the shower.  I got out in, like, five
minutes, but don't worry, I was clean.  Just rushing a bit.  I got dressed
in record time, but still took care about what I was putting on:  black
jeans, a cerulean T-shirt, and a red, black and orange plaid dress shirt.
(unbuttoned, of course, but you knew that already.)

I ran downstairs and met my parents, both already eating.  Damn, they're
fast!  Just 'cause they get their own bathroom in their bedroom, they think
they're SOOOO cool!  Mom offered me some eggs, but I declined.  I was way too
intrigued about what today could bring.  I guess Jeremy had done it to me.
All that talk about dreams meaning bad stuff had me worried, but I was happy
as all get out when I was coming home.

After an eternity, Wally showed up.  He never said he would; I just knew from
yesterday to wait for him.

He hardly said a thing the whole walk to school.  This may have been because
I nearly yammered my head off and never gave him a chance to open his mouth,
but that's no excuse.  He just laughed at my hyperactivity and threatened to
destroy me and nuke my homeland of Morning People.

We arrived at school, twenty minutes early, too.  We entered the building and
Shelby was at my locker.  We walked over to him.  The sunglasses made him
even cooler.  I opened my locker to get my stuff.

"What's up, Shelby?" I asked in a cheerful voice.

"Can we talk?" he asked.  I thought I saw the corners of his mouth quiver as
he spoke.  Wally must've noticed it, too.

"Hey guys, I'm gonna get set for first period."  and with that, he walked
off.

I shut my locker.  "Sure, man," I said.  "What is it?"

"Not here," he said, and turned around.  I followed him into the bathroom,
then over to the far wall.  He took off the sunglasses to reveal a pair of
red, puffy eyes.

"Hey," I said, suddenly feeling sorry for him, "what's wrong, bud?"

He turned around and pulled the tail of his shirt up to his neck.  I gasped
as I saw the swollen, red lashes on his back.  A couple spots where the marks
overlapped were bloody, but not bleeding.

"Wake up call," he said.  "Uncle Dave isn't my biggest fan,"

"Oh, shit, man," I said.  "You're Uncle did this?!"

"Yup," he said, lowering his shirt and facing me again.  "He really hates me.
Says it's my fault he got stuck with me.  Like I had any control over it!"

I saw a tear snake down his left cheek, then his right.  He started shaking
slightly, shivering, almost.  "I didn't do it!" he said, then started crying
and would've fallen to his knees had I not caught him.  I held him, and he
hugged me, for a good five minutes.  Neither of us said anything.  I thought
it best to let him just get it out.  When he finally lifted his head, he
swore and apologized for getting my shirt wet, and then for acting like that
the day after we meet.

"Don't worry about it," I said, trying to get him to sustain eyecontact with
me.  "Hey, you don't really want to be here today, do you?"

He looked at me with a questioning expresion on his face.

"No, I'm not really in the mood to further my education," he said weakly.

"Stay here," I said, and darted out of the bathroom.  I found Wally at his
locker, fighting with the thread on his trapper that was snagged in a hinge.

"Hey," I said, jogging over to him.

"Hey.  What did Shelby want?" he asked, thrusting the trapper around and only
looking at me for the 'hey'.

"That's just it.  He can't hang around today, and I need to be with him.
Jeremy is expecting me to be here today, can you tell why I'm not?"

"Uh...soul-searching with Shelby, right?"

"Well, not exactly.  He's got a lot on his mind that he really needs to let
go of.  I don't know why he chose me, but he did."

"Yeah," said Wally, and with a big yank, tore the trapper out of the hinge.
"Just don't let any authority figures see you two before you run off.  Bell
rings in about five minutes."

"Thanks, Wally," I said, then asked,"How does one get his bag caught in a
locker, let alone while he's putting it in?"

"Mysteries of life, Casey." he said, giving me a sly smile, and with a pat
on his back, I returned to the bathroom.

"Let's go," I said, just poking my head in the door.

He spread his arms out and looked at me through the newly replaced shades.

"Where?"

"You'll see," I said.  I led him out of the bathroom and through the halls,
then out into the parking lot.

"We're leaving?" he asked in a surprised voice.

"You are in no condition to stay at school."

"Dude, this is your second day." he said, "I can't let you screw yourself
already, especially not for me."

"Look, 'dude'," I said, stopping to face him,"after what just happened, you
and I need to talk.  It may take a while, and don't worry, because you and I
will both be here tomorrow for a full day of absorbing knowledge."

We just stared at each other for a moment, but he sighed and said, "You
drive, boss?"

"Yeah." I said.

"Good," he reached into his pocket and tossed me a set of keys, then lifted
the front of his shirt.  A large purple streak crossed the right side of
his ribcage, just under his chest.  "Makes it kinda hard to steer." he said.

He pointed me to a dark gray 1980 Ford Ltd.  Huge car.  We got in and pulled out
of the parking lot, against the current of just-in-time-for-school traffic.

"So where we goin, boss?" he asked.

"Is your uncle home?"

There was a slight pause.

"I don't know," he said stiffly.  "Depends on if he felt like goin' to work
today."  I would have kept on the subject, but it sounded like dangerous
territory.

"O.K., then," I said, moving right along.  "My house it out, too, 'cause my
mom's still puttin' the last of our stuff away.  You know any secluded
spots?" I asked, and glanced at him.  He was looking straight ahead, and had
his bookbag in his lap.  He slowly turned his head to look at me.  I smiled.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said, as we pulled up to a stoplight.  "Where to?"

He sighed and pointed ahead.  "My grampa and his best friend own the bowling
alley downtown.  We can go there, I guess."

The light changed and we were off.

"They won't mind?"  I asked.

"Nah.  My grampa wouldn't care.  He can't stand Dave, either.  Course, Dave
never belted his back to wake him up, but let's not go there yet."

We got to the bowling alley in about fifteen minutes.  The lights were on
our side.  We walked in, and right away an old man with wrinkly skin and
silver hair walked over with his arms wide open.

"Shelby!" he hollered.  "You little mushnik!  Where've you been?  You don'
like it here no more?  Who's your friend, here?"

"Hey, Steiny," he said, smiling for the first time.  "This is Casey.  Casey,
this is Herman Feigelstein, but Gramps calls him 'Steiny'."

"Ah, nuts to that, everybody calls me 'Steiny'.  You will, too."

I liked this guy right away.  He had one of those cliche Hollywood 'Jewish
Accents' that was almost comical to listen too.  His bushy eyebrows matched
the silver of his hair, and they seemed to dance as he spoke.

"Hey, wait a minute," he said, eyeing us suspiciously.  "This is a Tuesday.
When did they stop having school on Tuesdays?"

Shelby got serious again.

"Actually, Steiny, we were kinda hoping we could use your back room.  We were
at school, but I had a little problem, and Casey's gotta hear about it."

"O.K., O.K.," said Steiny, giving in.  "Take it.  But you gotta promise me a
match when you're through." he said with a twinkle in his eye.  Why do old
people always have sparkly eyes?  Go figure.

We thanked Steiny, and Shelby showed me to the back room.  There wasn't much
in there, really.  A table, a few chairs, and another door.  Shelby sat down,
and I sat across from him.  We looked at each other for a second, then he
began.

"I didn't want to have to tell you this," he said, "at least not so soon.
I've already told everybody that matters to me, and a few of them have just
stopped knowing me.  I don't know why.  I've altogether stopped trying to
make friends, but you got thrown at me, and I like you, so I thought I'd
get this out now, before anybody else does."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"Eleven years ago, my parents took me to a traveling show--a circus.  There
were tents and performances all around, and a crowd of people like you've
never seen.  My father had bought me a balloon, a bright blue one with a
string to hold it by.  We had a great time, everybody was happy.  The
acrobats, the Amazing Grazitto Brothers, had just finished, and we were on
our way home.  Before we left the tent,"  he choked, his eyes still closed.
He swallowed hard before continuing.

"Before we left the tent, I heard a voice behind us say 'move and I'll shoot.'
My parents turned around, and there was a clown in a gray and white suit,
with three red pom-pom buttons up the middle."

I froze.

"He had a gun in his hand, and he was not a foot away.  He said to give him
their wallets or they were goners, and if they screamed, I was, too.  My mom
gave him her purse and my dad gave him his wallet.  He pulled the trigger on
the gun and a pole shot out with a flag that said 'bang!'.  He burst out in
this crazy laugh.  My dad stepped forward to grab his wallet back, but the
clown pulled out another gun and shot him.  For real."

He took another break.

"My mom screamed, along with the rest of the crowd that hadn't made it out
yet, and he shot her, too.  I didn't know what was happening.  The clown got
down on one knee, really close, in my face, and said 'How about you, little
boy?  You wanna play with Skullgrin, too?'.  A cop or somebody must've shown
up, 'cause he looked up and took off the other way.  I looked down at my
parents.  There...there was so much blood.  Everywhere.  Just...red.  But
then it all disappeared.  Turned gray.  I can't see it anymore.  Red, I mean.
The doctors all say it was shock, or something.  But that doesn't matter.
I'll never be able to forget, Casey.  I won't be able to go through a single
day without remembering."

I had no clue what to say to him.  I wanted to have the key to fixing him,
his situation.  But I couldn't think of a blessed thing.

"I'm sorry," I said.  He was crying again, but not as hard as before. I
walked around the table and put my arm around him.  It was then I knew I was
right:  this was going to be an interesting day.


===========================================================================

....To Be Continued....


Yeah, I know, that was pretty long.  There shouldn't be many more that big.
I just had to get through Shelby's story all at once.
Any Comments or Criticism go to me at servo_blue.com