Waist Deep

29

Clell locked the doors behind us and motioned over to the corner of the lobby.A spartan desk stood there,partially obscured by a column.The only items on the desktop were a telephone and a notepad.My teeth chattered as we walked, my knee grinding like a rusty hinge.I had the perverse thought that if I wasn’t careful, I’d chop off my tongue with my incisors.

“You should probably sit down,” Clell said, pulling out a simple folding chair from behind the desk.

I took a seat, rubbed my arms and tried to control my shivering.Every time I managed to stop it for a second or two, the pressure built up and exploded into one giant shudder.

“Holy cow,” Clell muttered.He slipped off his coat and held it out to me.

I shook my head.

Clell cocked his head at me, and gave me a curious look. He didn’t ask a second time.Instead, he stepped in and draped the coat over my shoulders like a cape.

I could feel the residual body heat still inside the coat and I drew it close around me.There was a hint of the smell of Old Spice and old sweat in the fabric.I nodded my thanks to him, but he was already digging into a black gym bag next to the desk.A moment later, he pulled out a silver thermos roughly the size of a submarine.

“Let’s get some coffee in you,” he said.

Steam rose off the brew as he poured it into the cap.He only poured half a cup and handed it to me.I held it at my chest, warming my hands and making the brown liquid jump and dance as I continued to shiver.

“It ain’t the expensive stuff,” Clell said, sitting on the corner of the desk.“Folger’s or Maxwell House.Just good old Western Family blend.”

“It’s h-h-hot,” I said.

“That it is,” Clell answered.

We sat like that, wordless, for what seemed like a long time.Slowly, my shivering diminished to the point where I could drink the coffee without spilling it down my chin.Clell pulled a sandwich out of his bag and offered it to me.When I shook my head, he ate it himself, staring thoughtfully out the windows.Once he’d finished, he re-filled my cup and then made a quick trip around the lobby, looking outside at passersby and jiggling the front door.

“All secure?” I asked when he returned.

“Always is, it seems,” he said with a nod.“Guess I’m just here for that one time it isn’t.”

I glanced down at the belt around his waist and saw handcuffs, keys, a flashlight and a cell phone, but no gun.

“Feelin’ better?” he asked.He had a slight accent, but I hadn’t been able to place it. It was country, but not exactly a southern drawl.

“Yeah.” I took another drink of coffee.“Thanks.”

He shrugged it off.“No big deal.”

It was, though, and we both knew it.As I’d sat there warming up, I realized how cold I’d actually been.Clell had been right.I might not have made it home without having some serious frostbite.Maybe worse.

I looked around the stylish lobby. “Is this your only building?” I asked him.

“Tonight,” he answered, nodding.“They have a few they send me to.Just depends on who’s working.”

I drank some more coffee.I didn’t know what to say, but Clell didn’t seem to mind.We passed another fifteen minutes that way, with me drinking the last of my coffee and Clell making another pass through the lobby.

When he returned, I knew I was warm enough to leave.The warmth of the lobby and Clell’s coat, plus the coffee, had pushed the cold back to an arm’s length.

But I found that I didn’t want to leave just yet.For one thing, I didn’t know just how to say thank you to Clell.Maybe he hadn’t saved my life, but he’d done something very much like it.Besides that, my day had begun with Principal Jenkins busting my balls and proceeded through to Leon trying to put me through the uprights for an extra point.In between, there hadn’t been a whole lot of kindness coming my way.

Clell lifted out the thermos and offered it to me again.I shook my head.“I can’t drink all your coffee.”

He grinned.“Can’t say I’ve ever polished off this torpedo by myself.”He pulled open a drawer in the security desk and removed a small white Styrofoam cup.He filled it and then offered to fill mine again.

I held out the thermos cup.“Just two fingers’ worth.”As he poured, I said, “You’re not from River City.”

“Nope,” he said, screwing the plunger back into the thermos.

“Where are you from?”

He smiled, replacing the thermos in his bag.“Just outside Minot, North Dakota.”

“How big a town is that?”

He shrugged.“Well, I guess you could say I’m from the almosturban town of Minot.”

I smiled back, more because his grin was so infectious than at what he said. A minor throb from my cheek flared up when I did, but it was worth it.

“Well, Clell, how long have you been in the greater River City metropolis?”

“Metropolis?” He laughed.“That’s good.Haven’t heard that one yet.”He scratched his chin, looking out through the front windows.Finally, he said, “Guess it’s been seven years now.”

“You like it here?”

Clell smiled, “As well as anywhere.Ain’t got no family left back home since my folks passed.And-“A shadow passed over his face and he stopped.

“And what?”

He shook his head.“Nothin’.I like this town all right.It’s got its share of troubles, but most of the people are good people.”

I wondered how he could say that since he worked downtown guarding buildings at night, when all the freaks and idiots came out.

“You’re from here, though, aint’cha?” Clell asked.“I can tell.You’ve got the accent.”

“Accent?I don’t have an accent.”

“Sure you do,” Clell said.“You’ve got a very definite River City accent.”

I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or jerking my chain.He watched me, sipping his coffee and smoothing his mustache.

“Accent, huh?”

He nodded, and motioned toward me.“You ought to be wearing a coat in weather like this.”

I didn’t answer right away.

“You can get them at the Salvation Army store pretty cheap.Or Value Village.They aren’t brand new, but — ”

“I had a coat,” I said.“Someone stole it earlier tonight.”

Clell nodded.“I see.”He pointed to my cheek.“Same someone that roughed you up some?”

“Same someone.”

Clell nodded again.

I set my jaw.For some reason, anger bubbled up inside of me.None of it was directed at Clell, this kind man who’d taken me in and warmed me up, but it surged upward nonetheless.“I’ll get my jacket back,” I said.“Believe that.”

“It’s just a jacket,” Clell said.“And like I said, there’s plenty of ‘em at the Value Village.”

“Not like this one.”

“No?”

I shook my head.“It’s a bomber jacket.You know, the leather ones?”

“I know what you mean.Those are nice jackets.But hardly worth going at some guy that already-”

“It’s all I have left of my father,” I blurted out.For a moment, I was sorry I told him.After another moment, I wasn’t.

Clell seemed to understand.“Your pop was military, then?A fighter pilot?”

I wished I could have said yes, but the best I could do was a derisive snort.“My dad was a drunk and a gambler, that’s all.Hell, he probably won the jacket in a game of dice.”

Clell nodded.“Still,” he said.“It was your pop’s jacket.”

“Yeah,” I answered.

We fell silent.I finished off my coffee.Clell did the same.

“I gotta make a trip around the outside of the building and then through the interior,” he said.“All seven stories.I’d let you stay, but if my supervisor comes by-“

“That’s all right.I understand.”

Clell gave me an appraising look.“I could wait another fifteen minutes, I suppose.If you need to warm up some more.”

“No,” I said.“I’m good.”

I swallowed the last of the coffee and handed Clell the thermos cap and his coat.He put on the coat and walked me to the door.When he unlocked it and pushed it open, arctic blasts came slashing in.Instinctively, my shoulders hunched and I wrapped my arms across my chest.

“You sure you’ll be all right?” Clell asked me.

I nodded.“I will now.Thanks.”

“Sure.”

I stepped out into the night and started west.I heard Clell lock up the door and come trotting up from behind me.We walked together to the end of the block, where he turned right to continue his circuit.Before he turned off, he clapped me lightly on the shoulder, and said goodnight.