Point and Shoot, FL (YU)—Scrib went to booksALIVE.
Pottersville
Press had a booth. He bought an advance
reading copy (ARC) of Michael Lister’s
When he was doing research for the book, Lister invited Scrib to come out drinking with him, in titty bars, but bars, and strip clubs, made Scrib nervous. He had no business in a bar, or a strip club. What if a fight broke out and he had to cold-cock someone?
Scrib was so big that short guys were always picking a fight with him.
Scrib read that the NFL was enjoining T-shirt shops from selling Who Dat T-shirts, for the Superbowl. He wondered if Thunder Beach, Inc., tried to shake Lister down for using the name of the motorcycle rally in the title of his book.
He didn’t see
Mike at the booth, but as he was leaving the vendor hall, Mike came in, and
they spoke for a moment. They agreed to
meet at Chili’s for lunch, at
At
Lister introduced her, but Scrib didn’t hear what he said.
It didn’t matter. He wasn’t writing about her.
They sat down and ordered food and drinks. Lister asked Scrib what he was writing and he said a collection of 750-word columns about this and that. What was happening to him in his life. Whatever happened.
They talked about movies. Scrib talked about Point Blank, and the remake, Payback.
He said that Point Blank was hard-boiled to the point of caricature. They spoke in sentence fragments.
He said the book, by Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark, was hard-boiled, but the movie sounded stilted. Artsy. The director, John Boorman, was reaching.
Apropos of hard-boiled movies, Tony Buoni said he saw Blade Runner the other night. He had never seen it.
Mike Lister and Tony Simmons were fans of Blade Runner. Mike said you had to see the director’s director’s cut in Blue-Ray, on a 52” plasma TV. You can see in the replicant’s eyes he is a replicant.
I don’t remember
what the woman thought about Blade Runner. Or maybe I didn’t hear what she said about Blade Runner.
I was thinking
about how tired, sick, broke, and hungry Phil Dick was at the end of his life,
before
Jim Thompson told his wife that he would be discovered 15 years after he was dead.
That was about right. For Jim Thompson and Phil Dick. Maybe 30 years.
Scrib didn’t have anything to add to the conversation.
He ate his lunch and listened to the others talk. They talked about horror stories, vampire stories, paranormal stories.
Mike said Tony Buoni was editing a book of ghost stories.
“I’ve never written a ghost story,” Scrib said.
“Write one and send it to Tony,” Lister said.
Tony Simmons excused himself to get back to the community college. He was moderating an afternoon session.
Buoni said something. Scrib didn’t hear.
Scrib said, “I can’t hear everything that’s said. I’m about half deaf. I’m really enjoying it.”
Buoni looked offended.
“I didn’t mean you personally,” Scrib said. “I meant in general.”
“Too bad you can’t select what you hear and what you don’t,” Lister said.
“Right,” Scrib said. “Plus, sometimes I hear things nobody said. Things that weren’t said. I hear voices.”
Mike paid for everybody’s lunch.
Tony Simmons had offered to pay for his meal before he left, but Mike said no, he would like to pay for it. So Scrib did not offer to pay.
Tony Buoni said something about back to the book fair. The three of them had ridden together. Tony Simmons drove his own car because he had to get back earlier than they did.
Mike asked Scrib if he was going back to the book fair. Would they see him back at the book fair?
He said, “No, I’m going to go home and write a story. About lunch.”
“Write a ghost story and sent it to Tony,” Lister said.
Everybody laughed.
“I will,” Scrib said.
He might not send it anywhere, but he would write it.