Read A Woman Named Drown - Padgett Powell for Free Online Page A

me:
"Get in."
    I sat where placed, fingering the large knurled
steering wheel of the Mercury. Mary crossed to the rider's side. Hoop
attempted our old conspiratorial leer behind her, but it fell and he
suddenly yelled, "Go to Florida!"
    " Fine," Mary said.
    " Friggin Jesus."
    Our eyes were stinging.
    " I got to get
Virginia out of here," Hoop proclaimed. He trailed a V sign into
the house. We heard him yell, "Evacuate!"
    * * *
    Beneath the moldy smell of the Mercury was the smell
of a showroom-new car. I eased it out of the garage into heavy rain,
which knocked dust off the hood in violent spore bursts, leaving
craters of fresh, new color. It looked for a moment as if we were
driving on the moon. The car was so high-centered and heavy it felt
full of water, full of water and horsepower. I got it up to a speed
which brought in some wind, and looked over at Mary--her hair flying
about like the photograph in the newspaper she swore wasn't her. I
was on a tear, full of gin and with a woman named Drown, and I drove
us to a club called the Car Wash, where I knew Ebert to hang out. A
naked woman hand-painted on the outside of the club spoke from a
cartoon balloon, NO DRINKIN ON PREMISE PLEASE. The artist had given
her very large breasts, using, apparently, a house brush that lent
them a hairy aspect.
    Ebert came forward with a gaping kind of frozen grin
on his face: This is so absurd I can't quite
laugh and I can't quite ignore it. And we were in an all-black
club. "Man!" he said, when nearly to us.
    " Man what?" I said.
    " I ain't never seen you like this before."
    "Like what?"
    " On the weekend."
    Mary rolled her eyes. She retook my arm, and Ebert
turned back toward the bar as if to shepherd us through the quieted
crowd. The noise slowly resumed, and we went to the bar.
    Ebert was not sober. "Man," he kept saying,
"you a trip."
    Mary whipped a little flask of gin out and asked the
barman if it was all right.
    " She a trip, too," Ebert said. His eyes
were brilliant and looking over my head, as if he was checking the
horizon. Mary had the barman pouring her a drink from her flask,
which he put away for her. They had no tonic, so she took a 7-Up and
the first hit made her wince.
    She winked at Ebert. "My main man, Ebert,"
I said to her, indicating him with a thumb. The jive felt very
artificial and I decided to cut it out. Ebert and I were better
friends when we couldn't manage to shake hands.
    " You a trip," Ebert said again. "Never
seen you like this."
    He was still studying things afar, eyes wet. Watching
him, I lost some time. I suddenly noticed Mary at the pool tables.
She selected a cue and stood, hip out, chalking it.
    " Ebert," I said, "do you have loose
teeth?"
    " Naw, man," he said.
    He didn't want to know why I would ask him something
like that. I could not have told him. Something about his dreaming,
teary gaze suggested old men without teeth, and I thought I saw him
clenching his jaw as if moving his teeth.
    " Your teeth are tight?"
    " They tight. They loose, too."
    Mary had gotten into a game.
    I motioned with three fingers and pointed to Ebert,
myself, and Mary, and the barman gave a quick nod upward and filled
the order. He carried Mary's fresh gin and 7-Up to her and she gave
me a theatrical scowl. Ebert put his head down onto the rim of his
glass, and when he raised it he had a dark ring imprinted on his
forehead. "Never seen you like this."
    He was drunker than I cared to see him as our escort.
I gave Mary a little let's-get-going sign. She had made friends by
amazing all the dudes anywhere near the table. A guy came up to me.
"You carry her back sometime."
    We drove home. The Mercury felt like two or three
boulders.
    In bed I had the spins. I started deep breathing to
burn up some alcohol before throwing some up, and got a saliva run.
    " Put your foot on the floor," Mary said.
    " It's on the floor," I said. "I know
about that."
    " You know a lot," she said. I couldn't tell
if she was mocking.
    " What do you call