CHAPTER 7--DEPARTURE

November 1996

T

he day I was released from Austin Diagnostic was the day I had that chat with Louie. The whole time I was laid up, he'd spent days away, checking out all that Austin had to offer-the music scene, the river, and the strip clubs. So, when I didn't see him the day between my release and the day Ginny had stopped by to meet me, I didn't think much of it. Turns out he disappeared completely, stood Ginny up, the whole bit. After getting checked out, I walked into the gift shop. She was sitting there, talking on the telephone.

"Hey, gots to go." She hung up the phone.

"Hi!" she said enthusiastically. "He walks. I didn't realize you were so tall.”

"Yeah, hey, listen, I'm wondering if you've heard from Louie."

That's when she related to me the story. And my heart went out to the poor kid. He'd asked her to marry him. She turned him down, saying she'd rather be his friend. That was the same day; she'd stopped by my hospital room to meet me. That night in fact. He was crushed, but had done his best to act like it didn't really bother him. But she could see through that, she said. They agreed to meet the next day to go for a walk out at Lake Travis. He was supposed to meet her at the gift shop, but never did. She got a ride to his motel room later that night. He'd given her an extra key. She spent the night alone in that room, waiting for him.

What the hell was Louie thinking? She was only seventeen. And Rooster had expected us months ago. This little mission was way behind schedule. There wasn't any time for a wedding, let alone, stunts like this. Wait, what was that little punk thinking? Thinking about staying here in Austin?

"You seem to like Louie," I said.

"I like him a lot. He's a real sweetheart. I just don't like him in that way. But I AM worried about him."

"Did you try paging him?"

"Yes. Of course."

He hadn't responded to her pages. Well, at this point, I knew all Louie was waiting for was a page from me. Excused myself from Ginny and went to the nearest pay phone, dialed his pager number, and the code for me, the Jack of Hearts. Figured while I was waiting for Louie to return the page, I'd give Rooster another shout on the pay phone next to the one I had just used, let him know we were out and we're going to be leaving.

"So how's your ass?" he asked laughing.

"It still hurts."

"So you and the boy are going to be real low-key, right."

"Always."

Suddenly, the other pay phone rings.

"Just a minute, Roos'."

"Hey, where the fuck are you?" I knew it was Louie.

Who else could it fucking be?

"I'm sorry, amigo, I just well, I .... got real drunk two nights ago. Met these chicks, we uh ...."

"Say no more. Where are you now?"

"I'm back at the motel."

"Well, start getting our stuff together and come get me. I've got Rooster on the other line, and he's anxious for us to get there."

"Yeah, hey listen Jack, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"Can it hold one sec, Lou, I'm gonna hang up with Rooster."

Switched phones.

"Hey Roos?"

"Yeah. What the fuck are you doing? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. I've Louie on another line. Listen, I'll call you in a few days when we hit Arizona."

"OK, hey Jack just one thing. And this is real important. It's just you and the boy. Right? No body else. OK."

"Sure," I said not really considering what I had just agreed to.

"Talk to you then."

Hung the phone and picked up the other one.

"Louie," I said.

"Yeah," he said sullenly. "Listen, I asked Ginny to marry me."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just outside the gift shop now. Which reminds me Louie, we need to have a talk. You realize this chick is only 16?"

"Yeah. So?"

"You're 25."

"Yeah. So?"

"Ever hear of jailbait?"

"Yeah, so what. Throw me in fucking jail, I don't care. I want her that badly. Besides in Texas they say 17 is legal. What’s a few months?"

"You hardly fucking know her."

"I know, it sounds stupid..."

Cut him off, because aside from whether or not Louie wanted to end up in jail for messing with someone her age, of greater concern was the fact that he had told her about not only our only current means of a livelihood, but about our plans with Rooster-the whole reason why we were passing through Austin anyway-as well.

"No, what's stupid is going and telling somebody about what we do, and where we're headed."

OK, so I'd never really told Louie that he was sworn to secrecy. It was just understood. That this little 17 year old knew about a couple of low profile, petty casino crooks who were headed to Las Vegas to rendezvous with an eccentric, highly secretive genius made me nervous.

"Jack?"

"Yeah, Louie, what? What is it?"

"You better tell Ginny we're leaving tomorrow," he advised me.

Was thinking maybe Ginny might let Louie get lucky that night, their last night together. Give him something to remember his one true love by. Walked back into the gift shop. Some guy was at the cash register flirting with her. He walked off, all flustered, and she had a real pissed-off look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, that guy's such an asshole. You know that guy that was just here. He's like married, his wife is expecting their first baby, and he keeps bugging me to meet him for coffee.”

"Oh. Well, just talked to Louie. He's all right. He got a little drunk the other night. But, anyway, we're going to hit the road tomorrow.”

"Already?"

"Yeah, we're way behind."

"Well, then can you come pick me up at eight here and take me by my house? My parents are on vacation, so it'll be easy to grab all my stuff."

"All your stuff?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, you know, stuff.," she shot back.

I really didn't like where this was going at all.

"For saying good-bye?"

"For saying good-bye?" She looked at me with these gorgeous, puzzled eyes. My jaw dropped.

Oh, my fucking god.

"Didn't Louie tell you? I'm coming with."