Ask the Parrot

5

It’s night,” Tom said, and looked from the window back at the guy he’d grown used to thinking of as Ed, even though he knew that could not possibly in any way be his name. “When do you want to go?”

Ed rose and came over to glance outside. “A little change of plan,” he said.

Tom didn’t like the sound of that. It was very hard to keep up with what was going on here, with the Pandora’s box he’d opened when he’d first seen Ed pulling himself up that hill ahead of the dogs, and when he’d decided to use the man instead of turning him in. That snap decision, born out of frustration and self-contempt, had consequences that just kept echoing, so that Tom almost had the feeling that, without intending to do so, he’d become a rodeo rider, a fellow on a bucking bronco for the first time in his life, where it would be a disaster beyond belief if he were to fall off.

Wondering if his voice was shaking, he said, “Isn’t it late for a new plan? You don’t want to do it tonight, after all?”

“No, it’s tonight. The change is, you drive down by yourself.”

“By myself?” Alarmed, Tom said, “I thought we were doing this together.”

“We are. When you get there, that first place you unlocked, you wait. If I’m not there, I’ll show up a little later.”

“But—” Tom tried to understand what was happening. Ed didn’t have a car. He didn’t have anybody else here he could ask for help. How was he going to get all the way from here to the track?

“How are you going to get there?”

“I’ll get there,” Ed said. “You don’t have to know what I’m doing.”

“I don’t get this,” Tom said. He didn’t just feel confused, he felt very nervous, as though he were at the edge of a cliff or something. A nauseous kind of fear was rising in him, giving him that rotten taste of bile in the back of his throat. “I don’t see why you have to change things.”

“You’ll see when it’s over. Listen, Tom.”

Reluctantly, Tom said, “I’m listening.”

“You leave here, you drive down there. If you see Cory’s truck anytime, don’t worry about it.”

“Why? Are you going to be driving it?”

“No, just don’t worry about it. Keep driving. When you get there, wait. If I don’t show up in half an hour, you can go do the thing yourself, or you can just turn around and come back, up to you. But I will show up.”

“You’ve got something else going on.”

Ed gave him an exasperated look. “We work from different rule books, Tom. You already know that.”

“Yes.”

Why did I think I could control him? Tom thought, remembering the sight of the man coming up that hill. Because he was on the run? That didn’t make him somebody that could be controlled, that made him somebody that could never be controlled.

Ed said, “This’d be a good time for you to go.”

Startled, Tom thought, I’m still supposed to go! I’m still supposed to do this. For Christ’s sake, Tom, you’re not the assistant on this thing, it’s your theft. You’re the one thought of it, you’re the one wanted to hurt those bastards at Gro-More with it, and you’re the one brought this man into it. And it’s still yours.

Very nervous, but knowing there was no choice, Tom looked around his little living room and said, “You’ll turn the lights off?”

“Go, Tom.”

“All right.” Tom looked over at the parrot and saw the parrot was looking directly back at him. Why didn’t I ever name it? he wondered. I’ll do it now. When I get back. No, while I’m driving down there, I’ll think of a name.